Archive for March 2010

Repairing a Windshield Screen

In Future Plans on 18 March 2010 with no comments

Here’s some good info on repairing a windshield screen from a full-size Chevy message board: essentially, it involves stripping and cleaning the afflicted areas, and welding in new metal to the worst areas. Which will require the purchase of a welder. Priorities, priorities…

Meanwhile, I’m waiting until we have our taxes done to make any major moves on the Scout. I’m leaning towards hustling it down the street to Ridgeway Automotive to have some professionals diagnose the problem and be done with it once and for all; I don’t have a lot of time to fool with it, and now that it’s getting warmer I’d like to be driving it.

Same Old Song And Dance.

In Repairs on 6 March 2010 tagged radiator coolant overheat with 1 comment

Taking advantage of the 50° weather this afternoon, I jockeyed the cars in the driveway around so that the Slattern is at the top—now that the snow has melted, it’s back to the commuting vehicle. While I had everything out, I pulled the Scout across the street, let her warm up a bit, and then took a lap around the block. As I got about halfway home, the temp needle suddenly woke up and pinged to the middle of the gauge, climbing steadily. I hightailed it home and got parked before it had any chance of going further. Inspecting the engine after shutting it down, I noted coolant spitting out of the radiator side of the top hose, meaning I hadn’t tightened that off enough. The top of the radiator was cool to the touch, as was the cap, which leads me to believe the radiator itself is blocked with gunk. Which means I’ll have to buy some flush solution, drain the whole thing, and see if I can’t clean it out myself.

Road Tires.

In Future Plans, Part Numbers, Purchasing on 5 March 2010 with 3 comments

Peer Pressure came with a set of 32×11.5R15 BF Goodrich Mud Terrains, and they are very, very nice tires. However, they’re also noisy as hell and I’d like to have something better suited for everyday driving mounted in their place, so I thought I’d do some preliminary pricing. The first step was to convert the US size to metric, and I found this calculator which translates to 292/74R15, something I haven’t been able to find in mixed-use tires—rounding up to 295/75R15.

FYI, the Mud Terrains I’ve got on now list for about $179 each.