Up in flames
On the way home last night I stopped at Ali’s place to give the girls the presents I bought from the trip. Of course Sadie was very happy to claim the stuffed mule from the Grand Canyon for herself. From Durango I got a miniature NICK license plate and some venison dog treats. I also picked up 5 funny dog drink coasters. I told Ali to pick out her favorite 3 and I kept the other two. I talked to Ali about the trip a little bit but it was awkward as I kind of expected it would be. I understood and cut the storytelling short.
When I got home I wanted to take a closer look at the exhaust joint that was leaking. My hope was to remove the remaining bolts and gasket to take with me to the auto parts store to get suitable replacements. I headed out to the van with car ramps, PB blaster, my socket set, wonder bar and two hammers, figuring that should cover my bases.
Even with having the van up on the ramps my working space was pretty limited. The first thing I noticed was neither of the two remaining bolts in the flange joint had nuts on them, that’s odd. I took my mini-sledge and started banging on one of the bolts, hoping I could punch it through.. After several whacks the bolt broke off, great. Before I started banging on the other bolt I took a closer look at the head of the bolts that are on the muffler side.
There was no conventional head at all, instead the heads of these bolts were round, like they are pressed in place, not turned in. So now I had two broken bolts in the joint and one that was still intact. I whacked the remaining bolt a bit and then used the wonder bar to pop the joint apart with the bolt still in place. These old bolts aren’t going anywhere, they feel like they are more or less welded in place from the years of extreme heat and exposure to the elements.
The van sounded quite ominous with no muffler attached as you can hear above. I put my tools away and went inside to do some further research. I came up with several options.
One option is to take the van to a garage and see if they can remove the bolts by heating and beating the shit out of them. However I think doing so would destroy the flange part of the muffler. Replacing the muffler is the quick but expensive solution as a muffler for a full size van with labor costs could easily reach $300. I didn’t like that option.
As I dug around on the internet I stumbled across exhaust flange kits, hardware designed to serve the purpose of a flange when there is a problem with the original. I think a new gasket and one of these kits will be all I need to get the pipe securely together for less than $50. I am hoping I can simply leave the old studs in place and offset the fix-a-flange around them. It should be yet another interesting automotive repair experience.
So I was considering going to Zookies to watch the Eagles game but my eyelids were already feeling heavy at 8:15 so I opted to just listen to the game on Sirius, streamed to my surround sound system. The game was pretty much a cluster fck from the get go with the Eagles turning the ball over with alarming regularity.
After an exciting 30 minutes to start the season, the team that has taken the field since then has been exposed as one that still has many holes, despite Chip Kelly’s up tempo offense. Going fast doesn’t make interceptions or fumbles any less painful.
I didn’t get too bent out of shape about the game, as I have had the typical high hopes but low expectations for the team this year anyway. I am happy about the new coach, I’m not thrilled still having Mike Vick behind the center. Like the Eagles team so far this year, Vick had a short flash of brilliance 3 years ago but since then has been nothing but mediocre and injury prone.
It must of been a sweet “FU” moment for Andy Reid to roll in here with a team that was 2-14 last year and beat his old team on their home field, convincingly.
Speaking of home field, despite the beauty of The Linc, the Eagles modern stadium that was completed several years ago, it SUCKS as a home field. The Eagles have never had a significant home field advantage at this stadium, nothing approaching the days of the Vet when the deafening roar of fans in the closed bowl stadium combined with the rock hard and treacherous playing surface struck fear into opposing players. The Linc scares nobody and for whatever reason the Eagles have played some of their absolutely worst games at home. It’s maddening.
Last night I had a funny dream. I had installed iOS7 on my Iphone yesterday and despite reports of problems reported by others, my install went smoothly. I like the new UI although I find it ironic that it reminds me in someways of the Metro interface in Windows 8. So anyway, in the dream I had also just completed the os upgrade on my phone. It was plugged into the computer with a USB cable.
All of a sudden I smelled something burning. I looked down at the power plug for my pc and it was starting to melt. I looked at my Iphone and it was glowing red hot in the middle. The glow was working outward, towards the USB cable, almost like a bomb fuse in reverse.
I instinctively yanked out the USB cord, hoping it would stop whatever was going on. The PC was saved but the Iphone continued to glow. As it heated up it started to roll up, like a tube of toothpaste. By the time it was done it looked like a small log.
I was in disbelief of was just happened but I recall thinking to myself “Well I guess it’s time try out a Galaxy S4”
This weekend will be quite busy. If I get any sort of break in the rain the grass severely needs attention. I also will be working the exhaust repair in the van as well as changing the oil since it just pulled what is normally 9 months of driving in 10 days. I am going to show Cindy how to change the oil in her Miata while I am at it. She is very interested in doing car work for whatever reason. I’m happy to share whatever little automotive knowledge I can with her.
I need to mix in a training brick with the various chores I will be mucking my way through as well. For fun there is a mountain of Tivo content yet to be digested.