[ihc] speedos, fuel leaks

[David Raistrick <keen@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey folks.

Gonna drive the truck in tomorrow to get tags, title, and pay the tax man.

Fiddled with the carb to see if I could find the fuel leak...and sure
enough, I found it.  At least the noticable one.  The brass fitting that
the fuel line screws into had loosed up a bit.  Pulled that apart, cleaned
it all up, put it back tight.   Should be enough to get me to work and
back.

Pulled a temporary wire into the cab and hooked up one of my tach/dwells
with the intention of matching RPM/gear to a speed via the cellphone and
girlfriend in the Jetta.  Still gonna do that, but while I was at it...

I fixed the speedo.  It had the needle pegged over near the last digit in
the odometer.

NOTE for anyone who removes their speedo in the future on a dash like
this...put a towel or something over the top of the steering column BEFORE
they unscrew the speedo.

I found where the scratches at the bottom of the cluster come from in this
picture:
http://www.icantclick.org/gallery/b130/20040426_193716

They come from laying the cluster on the steering column without
protection....don't ask how I know.  A few more scratches...

Anyway.  Drawing on a faint memory, I'd heard that some speedos (not VDO
units..) would fail with the needle stuck if the cars they were in were
driven fast enough to get the needle up that far...and it was just a
matter of the needle getting stuck.

So I tapped on the back of the speedo with the handle of my screwdriver.
Needle fell back to zero.

Put it back together, and took it for a test drive.  By the uncalibrated
seat of my pants, it seems about right.

Now...how did someone get this 1 ton truck to 100+ mph you ask, AND do
the same to Ken's truck?

Bear with me..but imagine a speedo cable that begins to stick, somewhere
near the top of the cable.

It sticks, and the cable begins to twist...eventually it cannot twist
further, doesn't break, and SNAPs free.  The twist in the cable is
released suddenly.....and a causes the speedo to run a /lot/ faster then
it was a moment before.  Say 100+mph indicated...

Make sense?  The PO said the cable /was/ binding and he replaced it.....

Back to tires.  Talked to the 18$/tire shop and found out they'll only
mount tires they sell on the rims.  Got a price.  Works out to about $142
a tire for the same Venture HT's that tirerack sells shipped for $85...

18$ mount, $30 tubes and flaps, $10 balance, and then misc fees, and all
told they charge $840 dollars for four tires done up plus tax.  Yikes!

So I called the other guy who gave me a price.  One man operation it
sounds like.  Talked to Fred at Freds Tire Service.  $15 to mount (my
tires, with the understanding that I don't want him to mount 30 year old
tires..:) $16.50 per tube (radial, metal stems), $6.50 per flap, and
another $10 to balance.  That puts FIVE tires on my truck for $722 and
change plus tax.  Still might check about a used tire for the spare, but
figured I'd price it out with a new one.  Not gonna try to keep one of the
bias plys around for a spare.  Momma taught me better'n'at!


Still got an exhaust leak in the same spot.  Bolts were loose so I
tightened them...but I don't see much gasket between there (manifold to
downpipe, or whatever you americans call it:).  Haveta look at that
further.


...david

--
        David Raistrick    http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html
keen@domain.elided	   http://www.expita.com/nomime.html