No progress has been made to the 109 lately as a couple of health issues prevail.
I did use it during the week to do a nearby parts run, not because it was necessary to put the parts in the back or anything but rather, the blasted gout returned and it was simply easier to hobble over to the 109 as it’s parked only a few metres from my work area, whereas my sedan is parked about 30 metres away.
It went ok, except for when I was parking at REPCO, where the gardeners were finishing up their chores after mowing and a fluorescent lady decided to use the leaf blower right where I was swinging in to park.
Rather than make a fuss about her marching over and positioning herself right behind me so that I couldn’t back in, I just parked right there, half in and half out of the parking bay.
I knew what was about to happen and I kinda prayed for it to happen and yeah, sure enough it happened right on cue.
As I shut down the engine I sprang open the door and hopped out, BANG! The engine backfired, sounding like a .25 caliber gunshot, right when she backed her fluorescent backside up near the back of the 109 and started blowing leaves away.
I was lucky enough to catch a peep at the smug smirk she flung my way, for having successfully stroked me around, but alas, I also got to see her expression change when the backfire occurred.
I’m pretty sure she thought I threw a cracker at her because she scanned the ground around her before chucking a greasy look at me, like, yeah good one smarty.
Ordinarily I’d have jumped out and jokingly chastised her for baulking me but she didn’t look like she’d appreciate a joke so I remained expressionless and just turned and waltzed off.
It only took her a few moments to blast the leaves away from the parking spot but I wasn’t waiting. Better to trump her snakey move by ignoring her and just parking out in the middle of nowhere, like I just don’t care.
Pretty sure the backfire made a statement and it got me to thinking, you don’t hear cars backfiring these days.
Anyway, I waited till I rounded the corner of the building before I smiled.
This weekend I’ll dig out a new dizzy cap, rotor button and spark plugs so that next week I can slip those in and take it from there.
Been looking at prices to have the carburettor rebuilt and while I can do it myself, I’d rather try to suss out the people who originally blueprinted it for me and see if they can go over it again because they really nailed it last time.
I’m also thinking of grabbing a new harmonic balancer as it’s possible the damper has slipped, giving an erroneous timing tab reading, so while the balancer has only done low kilometres, time is the mitigating factor in that it’s possible for the rubber to have shrunk over the last decade or so, causing it to slip.
I can’t remember if I marked the balancer hub and ring with a punch as a precautionary measure when I installed it, for that’s what I used to do back in the day, so that you can tell at a glance if it’s moved. I’m actually surprised that they don’t add punch marks at the factory as part of their assembly process. Weird that.
I also fitted a Dellow balancer guard to it so even if I did punch mark it, there’s no real way to see the marks without first removing that. Strongly doubt I marked the guard, I probably wouldn’t have been that clever.
Time is my enemy, just can’t find the time to do things. Maybe the world is speeding up or something but I can’t rock and roll like I used to, though I constantly amaze myself with the amount of progress I make at work.
I started jazzing another twin steer truck this week, this time a DAF, and it looked like a nightmare to begin with, but it’s coming up surprisingly well so far, and while it’s still got a long way to go, I can already see that it’s going to surpass everyone’s expectations.
Sold a Manitou that I did up last year, apparently it yielded a good price.
Sold a brand new tandem boat trailer that was stashed down the back of the yard, no cleaning or detailing required, just a check over, tyre pressures adjusted and modified the electrical plug to fit the new buyers vehicle. Amazing what can be done in a few moments with a grinder. Wouldn’t fit in a million years then zap zap zap, take that bit off, then grind off that whole section and trim down that, then click, it fits like a bought one, beautiful. The buyer couldn’t believe it. No mucking around, just get it done and oorroo, good luck with it, hope it gives you good service. No clue what he paid for it, I wasn’t interested in knowing as I was just happy to see it gone.
Sold a twin steer Iveco last week, again yielding a good price, after doing that up over a couple of months last year, then parking it down the back of the yard for a few more months, which was annoying as I poured a lot of hours into it and it bugs me to do a full vehicle and bring it up like new, only to leave it to weather again. You can’t restore anything and then park it up for ages as the UV and other factors degenerate it and spoil a lot of your good work, nevertheless, I got the heads up that a bloke loved what he saw in the detailed photographs and I had to find the time to go over it again, just in case he was fair dinkum.
Gave it a bit of attention between other jobs but on Wednesday I got told the bloke was dead set and would be arriving on Friday to pick it up. That gave me 2 days to pull finger and get it ready, phew, mission time.
Then the brakes decided to play funny buggers and give me grief, but a new valve appeared to have sorted that.
Friday morning arrived and the darn brake problem resurfaced, though not in quite the same fashion, so I decided to replace the other valves to ensure the new owner wouldn’t have any issues.
He flew up from Sydney with his wife and patiently waited while I swapped out the valving and did my final checks, like wheel nuts etc, and away he went. We had a few calls back and forth as he drove back to Sydney, just to make sure he wasn’t having any issues and yeah, he had a pleasant, trouble free drive home.
He’s a very happy man. He can’t believe how well that truck presented and performed. As long as he’s happy and that he gets a good run out of it, that’s all you can hope for.
I have to admit, that one came up pretty nice, apparently it looked better than when it was new, according to my employers. They showed me photos of when they bought it and yeah, it was a plain jane alright.
I’m pretty lucky really, in that my employer gives me a free rein to do whatever I want. I don’t have any actual duties, I just do as I please. That said, I’m flat out all day every day because everything I see needs work.
If it rains I might repair a couple of old air over hydraulic jacks, or fix something else up. We don’t buy many parts as I try to restore or repair as many things as I possibly can.
Occasionally a couple of the drivers jump in and give me a hand. They’re kind of drawn into it because they can see the progress being made and can’t help getting involved in it, which is good. Their trucks and equipment are sweet, I always jump to fix any issues they have, immediately. They’re clearly taking pride in their equipment now.
It’s hard yakka maintaining a diverse fleet by yourself, but it keeps you busy, that’s for sure.
I enjoy hearing the jokes and laughter of the drivers, as it indicates to me that morale is high and means that at least I’m having a positive effect and my labours are appreciated.
Oh yeah, I removed the overhead roof console in the 109. I’m going to remove the drivers side sun visor too.
I don’t need any visor as the Hyundai seats have me sitting up pretty high, so that I have to crouch down or lean over onto the console to see the traffic lights sometimes.
Will be transferring the rego over to Qld in the next few weeks.