Adventures in Traveling

 The missus and I are out and about.

One of the first trips Mrs Hades and I took together was to her Grammy's 90th birthday party in Ohio. That was seven years ago, and we're going to go up and see her for her 97th birthday tomorrow. 

It's not going to be as big a production as her 90th was, but we had thought maybe she was going to fall short of her goal. More on that in a bit, but she lived in a retirement facility where she had her own apartment and the staff checked in on her several times a day to see if she was still among us.

One of those times they found her slumped over and unconscious, so they called the ambulance and took her to the hospital where she was found to be suffering from malnutrition. She's forgetting to eat, and since she lives alone there is no one to remind her to do so. So she is moving into a nursing home and her apartment will need to be cleaned out.

That's where I come in. You see, there are some items of furniture that Grammy wants Mrs Hades to have, so we hooked the trailer to the Scoobydoo and off we went. But first, we were going to go by Brother In Law's new house in Occupied Virginia to pick up a couple of sets of bunk beds that he no longer needs. For some reason Mom Hades wanted one set, and Mrs Hades wanted the other so that we would have a place to sleep when my parents are here this summer. Another to-do that I'll tell you about later.

So off we went, me in the Scooby with trailer and Mrs Hades in her ride with the furbabies. The trip to BIL's was uneventful, and we started loading. Five mattresses, which alone necessitated the use of my 4x7 utility trailer, but then we started hauling out all of the wooden parts. One set wasn't too bad, standard bunk beds, a pair each of headboards and footboards, four side rails, and two sets of slats. However, the other set has a trundle bed (which explains the fifth of the five mattresses).

There are a lot of parts to a trundle bed. And since, of course, that is the one that Mrs Hades wants, it all went into the bed of the Subaru. At least, the parts that would fit in the bed. The rest went into the back seat.

The trailer got topped off with a rolled up rug, which was just long enough to touch the bed side rails sticking out of the back of the Subaru, but no big deal I thought, and off we went again. That's when I noticed the vibration. Not that I could miss it once we got on the interstate since it was bad enough to blur the mirrors.

Aha, I thought, that damn rug is bouncing against the wooden bed parts, which in turn is hitting the back of the cab and causing vibration So first rest stop I came to I pulled over and redistributed the load. It was better, I thought, but still bad. I did this a couple of times and finally thought maybe I had a bad tire on the trailer. So I pulled over to the side of the road and checked the trailer tires out.

Finding nothing I pulled back out and made it about 150 feet before there was a godawful crash and the trucklet pulled to the right. Back on to the side of the road and I checked the Scooby tires this time, to find the right rear collapsed onto the tire. Upon further investigation what I found was the lug nuts were gone and the brake rotor was riding inside the surface of the wheel.

I unloaded the backseat so I could get to the jack and meager stash of tools I had on hand, jacked the trucklet up and surveyed the damage. What I found was three of the five studs broken off with the other two apparently serviceable. The wheel had come off and the brake rotor shield had deflected enough so that the rotor was riding on the inside surface of the wheel. The wheel had not come out of the wheel well, so there was no other damage at all. Apparently it was overtime day for my guardian angel, which was a good thing for a Monday.

I took a nut off of each front tire and put the wheel back on with only two lug nuts, then drove at 20 miles an hour up to the next exit where I found a nice mall parking lot to pull in to. A quick web search (the modern world is good for some things, like cell phones with 5G internet) showed a parts store right around the corner where I was able to obtain a jack stand, a tool set, and more importantly five studs and lug nuts for a 2003 Subaru Baja. Into M's car we went to obtain the needed supplies.

Fortune started (or perhaps, given how bad it could have been, continued) to smile on me at that point and I was able to pretty quickly replace the studs. There is enough room behind the rear hub of a 2003 Baja to extract and insert new studs without removing the hub, if you ever needed to know. Good thing, too, because removing that staked nut on the propeller shaft to take the hub off might have been more trouble than it was worth. At any rate, all new studs (I went ahead and replaced the two apparently good ones since I was there and didn't want to take any chances), wheel back on and appropriate use of a 4 way tire iron to seat them and we were once again mobile.

Three hours later than our previously scheduled arrival time, since our little side-trip had eaten enough time to bring on the evening and I didn't feel like pulling a loaded trailer over two lane mountain roads in the dark and opted to take the longer interstate route instead, we got to Mrs Hades parents house. We had gotten into a few rain showers when we got close, so I decided to cover the trailer and trucklet bed before turning in for the night.

Before setting out I had bought two brand new tarps, one to cover the trailer and one for the truck bed, so I broke them out and found that I may have slightly overestimated the size of tarps I was going to need...as in, one tarp was enough to cover both Subaru and trailer. Completely cover, that is, from Scooby grill to trailer tailgate. Oh well, I reasoned, if a job is worth doing it's worth overdoing, and the load was indeed covered.

Dad Hades has an awning he sets up for the 4th of July that consists of a steel pole frame and tarp to cover the top. The tarp is getting frayed, so he needs a new one. Looks like I'll be leaving at least one, maybe both, of my excessively sized tarps here for that purpose, they are about the right size.

Later this week we will unload the bed parts for the beds that will stay here and then reload the parts for the beds that are going home with us, along with the rest of the furniture that will be going back down south. Dad Hades has already gone to Ohio and picked it up for us, so it's here in PA and we won't have to take the Scooby and trailer to Ohio to get it, which was greatly appreciated. How long it will take to unload the trailer when we get home is another matter. It's a good thing I have the Jeep to drive to work. 

So why did that wheel fall off? I have no idea. I don't have neighbors that hate me as far as I know, and BIL hasn't been at his new house long enough to make enemies. Safer bet is that I didn't get the lug nuts on that wheel completely tightened the last time I rotated the tires. I had been noticing a slight bit of vibration in it and figured it was a wheel weight that had gotten tossed, but it wasn't bad enough to worry me so I didn't bother with checking it out. I did go around and check all the lug nuts on the other three wheels before setting back out again, I promise you that much.

And now for the explanations I alluded to earlier. We need the bunks because Eldest Daughter is officially tying the knot at the Annual Gathering of Clan Hades in Myrtle Beach, and my folks are flying out from Iowa to attend. They will be staying with us for the few days preceding and following Clan Week, so they will be sleeping in our bed and we needed alternate sleeping arrangements for ourselves.

What about that goal I mentioned before? Well, Grammy had an older sister, Flo, who was two years older than her, and her latter life's goal was to outlive Flo. Flo died a couple of years ago, just shy of her 97th birthday, so as long as the old girl holds on until tomorrow, mission accomplished. She's doing much better now, so that doesn't appear to be an issue. Hell, she might end up out-living us all at this point.

Things I Didn't Expect To Have To Do for $1000...

 Last weekend I went to a train show, the first one in a very long time due to all the pan(dem)ic nonsense. That was a good weekend.

Monday I got a text with these pictures:

Eldest Son has had the Subaru since he hit a deer with his Honda. So guess what happened here. Yep, at the same place and near about the same time of day as the Honda. Not as bad as the Honda, it was totaled because there was only one and he hit it at speed. This time there was three, two of them went by and since he was already on the brakes the third one didn't do as much damage. Headlight smashed, fender and hood crumpled and the right mirror cracked. Yes there was definitely some underlying damage because the inner fender was bent, but the frame was still straight.

I got on the Baja group at the Book of Faces and scored a hood and fender in the proper Baja Yellow color. Problem was, it was in Altoona. Well hell, I was going to have the next weekend off anyway so I made a deal. Friday afternoon I tagged the trailer onto the back of the Jeep and off to Pennsylvania we went.

Of course while in Altoona...

That's Horseshoe Curve, on the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline. It's something of a railroading mecca, being a marvel of engineering and such. But I digress.

Parts loaded Saturday morning and on the road. Back home by suppertime. Sunday morning Eldest Son brought the battered Baja over and we started stripping parts. 

He had already bought a set of headlights, so as soon as the old fender was off we commenced to straightening what we could of the inner fender. That went fairly well and the replacement fender went on without too much fuss, but when we put the headlight in we found the radiator support on the right side had been pushed back about 3/4 of an inch. We tried to pull it back with brute force but the distance was just too great, so we cut a couple of spacers out of steel brake line and put longer bolts in it.

The hood and mirror went on without too much drama although now there is a definite mismatch because the right mirror is black and the left one is body colored. It might be easier to just paint the left mirror black instead of trying to match the paint, but the results are acceptable.

We started around eight and were done about 11, not bad considering we had to make a trip to the parts store in the middle. It's not perfect but it's pretty close, the paint actually matches and if you don't look at it with the critical examiners eye you wouldn't be able to tell anything had happened to it until you saw the mismatched mirrors. Under the hood isn't too much more obvious, the only real clue is when you look at where the headlight mounts to the radiator support but I think we did a fairly passable job putting all that together as well. The headlight is nice and solid, but one thing we did miss until we were done is the lense on the right foglight is cracked. It's missing the cover, too, but that isn't anything new. I had to replace that foglight once before, so I'm sure I can find another one again. What the hell, it's not the only scar that little trucklet has.

He has a bid in to buy back his totaled Honda, he thinks he can replace the front clip on it and put it all back to rights. The insurance company short-changed him on it, it's an SI but they only paid him for a regular Accord. They do that, I know a guy that had a Shelby convertible get run over by a truck (he was OK) and the insurance company would only pay him for a regular GT. Dealing with insurance companies is just like dealing with the mob but at least the mob is more honest about it. I hope he will get that Honda back and fixed soon so I can have my scoobytruck back. I like the Jeep but it isn't as comfortable a ride as the Baja.

He's a bit paranoid now going through that stretch of road, so maybe he can avoid impacting the deer population any more. At least with vehicles.

(insert expletives here)

Subaru. Head gaskets. Again.

It started overheating last week, I thought it couldn't be head gaskets since we just put them in. We tried purging the air and a pressure test, found a few leaks and corrected them, but in the end the head gaskets are just blown again.

They have less than 5000 miles on them. I haven't even changed the oil since the last time they were changed.

I'm going with the turbo gaskets this time around, I am told they last longer. Instead of spending a lot of money and time on it this time I'm just going to yank the heads and put the gaskets on it. The heads were just planed and should be fine but I'll check them with a straightedge before putting them back on. That's what I did the time before last and they lasted 90,000 miles that time.

It likewise just got a new timing belt and timing belt kit (pulleys, water pump, etc), belts and hoses so all it should need is fluids and gaskets. Oh, and bolts, $65 for the set, one use and that's it (at times like this I really miss my smallblock Chevy, the finest V8 motor ever produced by anyone at any time in the history of ever, period, and if you don't believe that you are just wrong).

I swear if I have to put head gaskets on this thing again in the next year it's going on the block. The entire reason for getting newer cars was so I wouldn't have to do this all the time.

Either way, this is my very last Subaru.

Baja

When last we spoke of the yellow beastie it was to document this occurrence.

At the time I speculated blown head gaskets, since it is a common Subaru item. Unfortunately...or maybe fortunately since it was the least expensive of the available options...this speculation was proven to be true. Yes, that is coolant pouring out of the header when I unbolted it, the water was getting in to the #1 cylinder.

Having neither the time nor the money to fix it, and having another car to drive, the poor Scooby has sat unattended for a few months. Recently I've been able to scrape the cash together to get things started, though, so by this weekend the Scooby should be on the road again.

Last week the trucklet came apart and the heads went to the machine shop to be checked out and resurfaced. On Tuesday they were ready so I went and picked them up and then went to the parts store for the needed materials.

In addition to the head gaskets I am also putting on a new timing belt with the associated components as well as swapping out all the accessory belts, fuel lines, heater hoses, radiator hoses and vacuum lines. It's also getting a pair of O2 sensors since they don't do well with coolant baths, and I've had a bad one for a while anyway.

 I'm 15K miles shy of the scheduled timing belt change, but since everything else is apart it's a good time to get it done. I sprung for the whole kit this time, which includes the water pump and all of the pulleys. The accessory belts were done 90K miles and six years ago, so it's time for them as well.

I've been smelling fuel on the cold mornings for a while, which is another common Subaru occurrence caused by deteriorating fuel lines, hence their replacement. As far as the other hoses, they have never been changed since I've owned the trucklet and some of the vacuum lines were getting a little soft, so I figured it was a good idea to change them all out as well.

All told the final cost, including labor, is going to run me right around one and a half K, which is still cheaper than replacing the entire motor or having to buy new heads for the darn thing (but not by much). Since I have already done the clutch, struts, ball joints, drive axles* and center drive I am hoping to get at least another 100K out of it before having to do anything else.

Eldest Son is doing the work for me. I could do it myself but I'm getting to the point where I'd rather pay him to do it.

*And strut bearings, which was why the truck would start to pull one way or the other right after a sharp turn in that direction.

Yeah...

So Thursday this happened.

Sunday night into Monday this happened.

Today I went out to move the trucklet over a bit to get it out of the way, and just out of curiosity I turned the key...and it started right up.

The coolant is still mysteriously gone, so I still have a problem, but at least now I know it didn't slip time and possibly damage valves or pistons.

I'll take it apart this weekend and inspect the heads. Maybe I will get lucky and just have to replace the head gaskets. That would be nice.

It's not all bad though. This happened Sunday also.

Valentines Day 2015 was the day I asked her to go out with me and she didn't run away screaming, so we've officially been "a thing" for a year now. It's been a good one.

Well

Damn.

Not really what I'd hoped to be doing with my day.
Boy and I went to Fort Bragg today to get his ID card, mostly so I could quit paying so much for his health insurance. On the way out I thought I smelled antifreeze, but it went away immediately so I thought nothing of it. On the way home the heater started blowing cold air, so I looked at the temp gauge and saw it was spiked. The motor died as soon as I pushed in the clutch. I let it cool down and tried to start it, and it has no compression.

Either the head gaskets are blown (a common Subaru problem) or my timing belt skipped a tooth. I'm hoping it's head gaskets because that's cheaper to fix. It was about time for another timing belt anyway, so either way I'll do it when I'm there, but if it's only the head gasket I won't have to get the valves done. I guess I can't complain, it has 90K on it since the motor was apart the last time, but it is an expense I wasn't planning on.

Seems to be a lot of unplanned stuff happening lately.

This Is Why

I call the Subaru a "trucklet" rather than a "truck":

Yeah...kinda feeling like that little skinny guy at the gym...

The Saga Continues

So in our last installment I mentioned the transmission whine. A look on the forums suggested that, given the symptoms, the problem was most likely the center drive bearings.

Center drive is AWD speak for transfer case. The center drive is basically a limited slip differential with a viscous coupler that is driven on one side by the transmission and on the other side it drives the rear wheels. Under normal operations everything turns at the same speed, but in corners it allows the wheels to turn different speeds.

Like when you are pulling into a parking spot, for instance.

Fortunately you can dig into the center drive without pulling the transmission, it's about a two to three hour process to do so but it's not difficult. So I broke out the took set and pulled the tailshaft cover off of the transmission to check the bearings and sure enough I found two of them to be bad.

But wait, there's more.

Not only were two of the bearings bad, the center differential has come apart as well...which means it has gone bad, too, which is why I was getting the clunk in the front end during the tight turns. With the center diff locked up as it was the car is basically a 4WD instead of AWD, which is why on dry pavement the front tires would slip and cause the clunking noise.

Not struts.
Not driveshafts.
Not wheel bearings.
Oh no, that would be too easy and cheap.

Yeah...that's a $500+ part...but fortunately I found it for $411 shipped.

Looks like it will go back together next week then.

I did dodge one bullet, though, in that I didn't drive the truck too long after the clunking had stopped (the clunking stopped when the center differential viscous clutch came apart. At that point the center differential was no longer locked up and the rear wheels were no longer being driven at full power). It seems that generally when the snap ring comes off the center diff (which is what happened) it usually gets sucked into the gears. Because I didn't drive the truck very far in that condition, the gears were spared.

If they hadn't been, this might be a shorter story.

One Damn Thing After Another

Eldest Son has been driving the Baja for a little over a month now, he took it to Florida and then he's been driving it back and forth to work since he moved back in. This weekend he got himself a little Honda to drive so I get my scoobytruck back. This is good because winter is coming and the Mustang is more of a fair weather friend.

Last weekend he changed out the front struts in the latest attempt to eliminate the front end clunk that first we thought were drive axles and then we thought were wheel bearings.  I took it down to get the alignment done and noticed that it has developed a gear whine in the final drive. I put that in the "deal with it later" category and took it on in to the alignment shop.

When it came down from the rack the machine showed everything (except the right rear where there is no adjustment) is straight, but it pulled to the right. I checked the tire pressure and the right tire was low. So, I fired up the air compressor and topped off the tire pressures all the way around and took it down the road to check it out.

Nope, still pulls to the right darn it, so at the end of the road I crank the wheels hard left to turn around...and all of a sudden now it pulls to the left.

?

When I got to the next intersection I cranked the wheels hard right and brought it about, and then it pulled to the right again but not as hard. Back to the turnaround, hard to the left, and the pull is completely gone now.

Back to the house, up on the jackstands, and check every bolt. Everything is nice and tight, the clunk is gone and the truck tracks straight and true with no pull. All's well that ends well, I guess everything just needed to be settled into place or something.

And now for that gear whine. Eldest Son didn't notice it at all, which suggests that it came about slowly as he drove it for the past month...slowly enough that he didn't identify it as something new. Since I hadn't driven it in over a month I noticed it right away.

The forums (not only is there a forum for the Baja, but there is a book of faces for it, too. Scary right?) suggest the whine may be coming from either the center drive (where the front axles connect) or transfer case bearings. There are detailed instructions on how to change out these four bearings. It looks like a PITA and I really don't want to do it, but it needs to be done.

Fortunately the forums also say it's not something that has to be done immediately, so I can hold off a while doing it until I can build up the car fixing fund again. It will have to be built up quite a bit because the Mustang is going to need another set of $1200 tires soon. I've gotten about 35K out of this set and I hope to get another couple of months out of them at least. Either way the Continentals have outlasted both sets of Pirellis so I'm happy with them and will certainly replace them with another set.

Several sayings about things with wheels come to mind...none of which are polite enough to share.

Mixed Bag

The plan today was to change the right side drive axle on the Subaru because it's making a bit of noise and then go enjoy this 80 degree day with the top down to celebrate my little Firefly's fourth birthday (she rolled off the line at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant on April 1, 2010; daughter thought the cake and ice cream was a bit much but she ate it anyway).

The reality was two bad axles and two bad ball joints.

I already had one drive axle, but of course I didn't have the ball joints or the other axle. Off to the parts store I went (at least I got to ride for a little while with the top down) to get another drive axle and the ball joints. They had the axle, but we had to order the ball joints.

Back to the house with the drive shaft and the disassembly began. The right ball joint separated from the control arm just fine, but it was rusted into the steering knuckle. Son In Law and I managed to get it out after much cursing, sweating, pounding, prying and PB'laster. We then got the drive shaft installed (sans ball joint, which will have to wait until Thursday cause I have stuff to do tomorrow) and went over to the left side.

We were running out of daylight and the ball joint had barely budged, so we called it a day and went inside. After a quick shower I tried out my bacon cheddar broccoli soup recipe.

It must have been good, because it's all gone now.

6 slices bacon
1/2 of a medium Vidalia (sweet) onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups half and half (or 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of heavy cream)
3 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped small
4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bread Bowls

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat fry the bacon crisp. Remove the bacon and add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onions are tender. Stir in the flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the bacon grease is absorbed. Continue cooking until the flour has browned slightly, then transfer everything to a stew pot. Crumble the bacon and add it as well.

Slowly add the half and half and chicken stock, stir until smooth. Add the nutmeg and bay leaves and cook on medium low until thickened.

Reduce heat. Add the carrot and broccoli and simmer until tender. Discard the bay leaves. Add the cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper and serve in bread bowls.

Value

Heroditus Huxley has a post up about car values that got me curious to see how mine are holding up. So, I did a little research.

According to Kelly Blue Book, the Mustang is worth about half what I paid for it, but of course I bought it brand-spanking new and I've put more than the average number of miles on it. The Baja, on the other hand, is worth about 4K less than I paid for it, but I bought it used. I've had it almost 4 years and once again I've put more than the average number of miles on it.

The depreciation on the Mustang is more due to the fact that I went from brand-new zero mileage value to four years old and higher than average mileage value, and the Baja would be worth another thousand dollars if it had the average number of miles on it rather than the 40K extra that it has. And as much as I love my Mustang, I think I would miss the Baja more if for some reason I lost both of them. I could always find another Mustang convertible, but they don't make Bajas any more (and didn't make a whole lot of them to begin with).

Side note, apropos of nothing I suppose, the Baja regularly gets slammed by automotive journalists and internet pundits mostly for the fairly outrageous Pontiac style plastic cladding along the bottom and the short bed, but they are extremely popular among those who own them. KBB has an owner appreciation rating of 9.1 out of 10.

In either case, the enjoyment I've gotten out of not having to put a wrench to either one of them (much, in the case of the Baja, and not at all in case of the Mustang) for other than routine maintenance and desired modifications has far outstripped the value lost on either of them as measured by Kelly Blue Book.

Got It...

So I went the "responsible adult" route with my bonus and put a windshield in the Baja instead of buying reloading supplies. It really needed a windshield, it had a chunk of glass out of it right behind the rear view mirror button; the button was actually mounted over the hole. Two cracks had radiated from that hole, one to the left and one to the right, and the one to the left neatly bisected the drivers FOV.

A little over 2 bills later and the crack was magically gone, but there was something...different. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I won't say I obsessed over it, but it did kind of niggle the back of the mind every time I got in the trucklet. So this morning I got in and reached up to pull the sunshade down and it hit me...the new windshield does not have the tinted strip across the top like the old one did.

And now, that mystery is solved.

Catching Up

I replaced the scraped-up fascia on the Mustang yesterday, now it is restored to like-new appearance once more. I have one wheel that is slightly scuffed (one day I'll quit doing that) so that is next on the list to be fixed, and one day I need to put a windshield in the Scoobytruck as well.

I mowed the lawn today and managed not to knock off the corner of the house again.  I also got up early enough to score 3 boxes of 9mm at the Mart of Walls up the road from me. They also had some boxes of God's Own Caliber, but I'm pretty good on that for the time being and since I could only get 3 boxes total I went for the ones I didn't have rather than for the ones I did have.

Tomorrow Daughter and I will take the new Glock out for it's inaugural run. I'm also going to take the EBS out for another pattern check following its latest modifications. I've also been contacted via email regarding one of the items on the Guns I Want list, but since I just made some new purchases...grrr...

Other than that, it just doesn't get any better than this...

So

This came in today:

I think it goes pretty well with the back window stickers, don't you?

Also, I have verified that both of my new downhill neighbors are not only shooters, but he is also a member of the Mosin Militia. I'll have to invite him and his wife out to the Triangle Open Carry meetups.

That's worth knowing.

Bodges?

We don't  need no steenking bodges!

In an effort to further irritate certain people (not really but it will probably have that effect) I've ordered one of these.

The four tabs I've chosen are: camping, fishing, military and 100K miles. In another 45K I'll order the 200K mile tab.

I also suggested a shooting sports tab, but truthfully I don't expect anything to come of that.

When it comes in I'll take some pics.

Idle Thoughts

Watching that new Subaru commercial, where the guy is going everywhere and painting shitty pictures, gives me an eye tic. Particularly when he tells his wife that the one picture is upside down. I'd just like to punch him to the floor and say "There, how does it look now?"

It makes me think that Subaru is fighting hard for the "pretentious douchebag who can't afford a BMW" demographic. Sad, really, cause I truly like my Baja.

In The Mail

My goodies came in.

First, the lights for the Subaru. They're a bit different than what came on the trucklet, the lenses are flatter, but that shouldn't make a great deal of difference as long as the mounts are right.

It's a good thing they were well packed, it looks like the gorilla squad was in charge of handling.

Also, two extra magazines for the 795, so now I'm all set for Appleseed.

It rained like hell this afternoon, but now that it's gone the forecast is dry and sunny for the next couple of days. Just right for getting the lights put on the Subaru and doing some shooting.

She Don't Like, She Don't Like, She Don't Like...

Reloads.

My Glock, that is.

I attempted to put a few rounds through it at the Blogshoot but the darn thing wouldn't go back into battery, I had to smack the back of the slide every time. The round would eject, and then the next one wouldn't go into battery until I smacked the back of the slide again. The factory loads worked great.

Today I broke it down and tried fitting the rounds into the barrel. Both the earlier reloads and the latest ones with the moly bullets did this:

 but the factory loads were flush.

The reloads would seat all the way if I pushed them in, but then I had to pry them back out. The only thing I can think of is either the dies aren't set right or my Glock is being a picky bitch. Of course, there's nothing to say it can't be both.

I'm going to let Range Partner try the reloads, and maybe I'll invest in a Wolf barrel to see if that cures the pickiness, but until then I guess I'll stick with factory loads. I hope that it's something I'm doing wrong and can correct, with the present state of ammo factory loads are a pain to find.

In other news, my broken tooth is scheduled for a crowning. It's right across from the last one, so now I'll be balanced, at least in the bottom row of teeth department.

I also have a pair of foglamps coming in for the Scoobytruck, when I got it they were fine but within a couple of weeks they had been BB-gunned by a person or persons unknown (I have a feeling one or both of my boys were in the mix somewhere despite their denials). The left one came apart when I took it off the ramps after changing the oil on Wednesday, so it's time for new ones.

And last but not least, AGirl is hanging up her blogging spurs for a bit. I hope she can pop in once in a while now and again.

The remnants of TS Andrea are sliding through the Refuge for the next couple of hours and we expect to see scattered thunderstorms into next week.

That's it for now. I'll be ensconced in skating hell tonight for a few hours while Boy completely ignores me and chats up the girls, maybe I can get some homework done.

And maybe not.

UPDATE: A little adjustment on the seating die and all is, once more, good to go.

Subaru Owner PSA

If you own a Subaru with the 2.5 liter flat 4 motor there are certain maintenance tasks which must be performed without fail.

Number one on that list is a timing belt change at 105K miles. Well, actually that's probably number 3 after regular oil changes and scheduled coolant flushes (yes they are very important, they will help to keep the head gaskets from leaking which is a bane of the Subaru 2.5L flat 4, also pay attention to your battery) but it is the major maintenance at 105,000 miles.

If you are doing this on your own it is imperative that you get the service manual for your car, but while on the subject of timing belts please do note you do not line the motor up to Top Dead Center to remove or install one, as you would with normal engines. You do this at TDC (#1 cylinder compression stroke) + 90 degrees.

For what it's worth, you can install the heads without pulling the motor. You have to put the heads in place with the bolts in the heads. It's easier to have two people to do this, one from the top and one from the bottom, to keep from dropping the head as you are trying to seat it on the block.

Eldest Son wasted most of his day trying to figure out why he couldn't put the timing belt on the Subaru today, when I got home we had it on in 5 minutes and he felt like an idiot. I'm hoping that the rest of the trucklet will go back together tomorrow, it's been down all week and I'm going to need it next weekend.

Until then I'll be forced to ride the pony I guess. The sacrifices I must make...

Scooby Down

If it isn't one thing it's another...

Subaru has a nasty rep with it's 2.5L flat four motors, they tend to leak at the head gaskets.  Fortunately for me leaking at the head gaskets for the early 2000 and up models means external leaks, not internal ones like the earlier versions, but it's still something that needs to be fixed.

I was hoping that the valve cover gaskets would take care of the oil leak, and it may have, but now it is being overshadowed by the coolant leak. The head gasket set is an order item at the local parts store, if there isn't anything wrong with the heads (there usually isn't) a quick check with the straightedge should be all that is needed to put it all back together again. Since there hasn't been any overheating or other problems I'm guessing the heads are OK, if not then it will cost a bit more and take a little longer. I'm hoping to get it done for a few hundred bucks tops, that's the advantage to doing your own work.

It isn't something I was intending to do but it looks like the boat is on it's own schedule (why should it be any different). At any rate the forecast looks like crap with an extended chance of crap this weekend, so it won't get done then. Hopefully I can get it done next weekend, I was intending to haul the trailer out to Range Partner's new abode to help him clean up a bit the weekend after next and it's hard to do that without a trailer hitch equipped vehicle.

(No. Don't even suggest it. Ain't gonna happen.)

Until then, I guess I'm riding the pony. It seems like there is a silver lining to this cloud after all...