“Do you smell gasoline?”

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Gasoline has always been a bit of an issue with Minty Fresh (my 1977 Ford F-150). When I bought it (4 1/2 years ago) Paul warned me it drank a lot of gas but no more than you’d expect for a 40-year-old truck.

The gasoline smell reached a peak last summer when I noticed a stream pouring from the rear tank (the truck has two). Less smell after I had a new tank installed.

But it’s gotten stronger in recent weeks/months and I chalked it up to “old truck.” Oh yeah… and my gas consumption was worse than ever.

I mentioned this to Paul yesterday and he popped the hood to take a look. What we saw was a stream of gasoline coming from a carburetor hose down onto the manifold. Which gets very hot. Why I never had a fire is a nice mystery.
Paul replaced the ancient leaking hose in about five minutes (and adjusted the idle for good measure.)

“Your gas mileage will probably double,” Paul speculated.

High tech car theft: Relay attack

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A friend of mine had had his truck stolen recently while on a business trip to Dallas. He parked his truck in the parking area of the motel where he was staying. When he came out the next morning, his truck was gone. Obviously stolen. Here’s what the police told him probably happened.

One of the thieves stays close to the vehicle to be stolen with an electronic device that connects to the electronic ignition system. The other thief –armed with a different electronic gizmo– walks up and down the hallways of the hotel, sending out a signal that connects to the electronic key fob of the truck. A signal is then sent to the device in the parking lot, unlocking the truck and starting the ignition. It’s called a “relay attack” and here’s some video of a car being stolen from the owner’s driveway.

The key was probably on a table near the front door so the thief didn’t have to get any closer than the front porch.

My friend asked the investigating officer what could be done to prevent this kind of theft and was told his best bet was a Faraday pouch. Amazon has hundreds of them.

The sweet sound of the chainsaw

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After cutting –the fun part– everything has to be dragged to a pile near the chipper. Less fun.

Final step before chipping is clipping the limbs to get the trunk < 3 inches.

After an hour of chipping I had enough chips to extend the trail 30 or 40 feet.

As I move down the hill larger rocks (to line the trail) are harder to find so I’m sledding them  down the hill.

Stay Put

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“The key to living during this environmental crisis is to STAY PUT. Focus on living and existing in your corner of the Earth, protect it. Travel and moving around all the time is so overrated. A lot of it is a waste of time. Create your own bliss where you are right now. Stop searching the world for it!”

— David Suzuki

Jeep has crack in engine block

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Took the Jeep to my mechanic for four routine service and maintenance. Oil change, lubrication, etc. Probably been a while. Alas, he found a crack in the engine block. The plan is patch with StopLeak, J-B Weld, etc. I won’t be driving it fast or far and if/when it stops running we’ll look at replacing the block. As far as I can tell, almost all old Jeep blocks have a crack (or soon will). On the bright side, replacing an engine on a CJ-2a is as simple as it gets. And the Jeep won’t be my daily driver, just for fun in the sun. And we just need to keep the Jeep running as long as I am. A lowering bar.