Blair's Blog

There has been lot’s of fixin’ going on around here this month – some of it fairly routine and some not so much. On the long weekend, I helped my brother Scott replace headlight bulbs on his Mazda 6. Now, you might think that a simple bulb swap hardly makes for a good story – even on this blog. But no, to replace a burnt out headlight on a Mazda 6 requires complete removal of the front bumper, the grill and the headlight assembly. It takes about and hour or so, plus time to run to the parts store after figuring out what bulbs are needed. Scott & I had to do this about 2½ years ago (after he got a $200 quote from a mechanic…) so at least we were familiar with the process. With the cold weather though, we got my other brother, Brian, to organize access to the warehouse where he works so we could work in a heated space. While Scott and I took the bumper off, Brian tested and then replaced the battery – since his work is selling car batteries that went quite well. The cost for the whole thing (6 bulbs, car battery and Frosty’s from Wendy’s) was a lot less than the mechanic wanted.

A couple of weeks earlier we were up to Rocky Mountain House for a visit with Barry and Breana and we took the Behemoth (GMC 2500 HD) and once again the heater blower wasn’t working on all 5 speeds. This was a pretty familiar problem from about 4 years ago. This time though, I figured that I should get right after the problem before the wiring harness started to burn up (again). So while we were in Rocky, I picked up a new resistor – unfortunately there are two styles of mounting. It wasn’t clear if I needed the 2-hole or 4-hole mounting style and, of course, I guessed wrong. So when Barry and I went to swap the parts the mounting holes didn’t line up. At least the resistor fit and there was room to run a couple of drywall screws right into the blower box. If the truck lasts as long as this resistor, maybe I’ll get it right next time…

So, those were the routine fixes. The one that was more challenging started when Brenda flicked the lights on over the kitchen island one evening last week and there was sparking and sputtering and a little cascade of molten metal from one of the light fixtures. Oops. Not exactly something that you can leave for another day to figure out. So, while Brenda started in on dinner prep in the gloom. I stood on the counter and took the light fixture down and then apart. The wires had somehow been damaged/pinched just above the lamp-holder socket (probably a manufacturing issue) and had eventually shorted – the arcing melted the wiring and the threaded rod coupling the lamp-holder to the shade. I had to go buy a new lamp-holder but was able to raid my parts bucket for a new bit of threaded rod. I cut out about 10 inches of scorched wire and then rebuilt the whole socket structure and re-installed the fixture. No sparks, no excitement. Nobody wants light fixtures to be exciting if that means spewing lava into the sink…

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Little British Car.

I’ve had my 1979 MG Midget for over 30 years now. I bought it in the spring of 1985 and, at first, it was a daily driver. However, the first serious cold snap that next winter made me re-think how practical that would be in Calgary. If it was colder than about -25C the carb would ice up and stop providing fuel to the engine within about 6 or 8 blocks of driving. So then it was my summer car, alongside a series of cheap winter beaters, for a few years. It was a great car in the mountains and I made a few trips to Vancouver Island in it. Eventually, after getting married and buying a house, it became the summer sports car and reigned supreme in the garage while the “other car” got the driveway.

For about 10 years it got plenty of use and was pretty reliable – particularly once I sorted out the Lucas ignition issues and removed the air pump. During our Cold Lake years there were lots of great memories and trips to Calgary or Edmonton. Eventually it had some gearbox issues which took a while to sort out and it started to take a bit of a lower profile as life got busier.

For two years in the late 90s my Dad had it while we lived in Australia. We came home to Calgary in 1998 when Steven was one and the demands of a growing family left less and less time to drive or maintain the MG and after about 2008, I was down to driving it a few hundred kilometers a year – just a few little day trips each summer. Last year was a bit of a low point, the only trip that I did was from Chestermere to the new house in Calgary – and a run to the local gas station to fill the tank before winter set in.

This spring I decided that it was time to get serious about the Midget. We are pretty settled in the new house, I have more free time due to cutting the commute in half and the kids are all plenty old enough to amuse themselves while Brenda and I go for an evening cruise in the MG. Only trouble was that 5 or 6 years of minimal use adds up to maintenance issues. In particular, the brake master cylinder had developed a leak and needed replacing. So I ordered a new master cylinder and a bunch of tune-up parts from the US and started to tackle the backlog of issues.

For less than $400, I have done an oil change, full tune up (plugs, wires, air filter…) and sorted out some suspension issues. I bought a bunch of car care products and have given it a polishing like it hasn’t had in ages. I figure that I’ve managed to drive at least a 1200 km over this summer and fall – it is a little hard to tell as one of the things that still needs fixing is the odometer – it stops turning when the speed is over 75 km/hr. Maybe that will be one of the winter projects to disassemble, clean and lubricate the speedometer. Next spring, brakes and rear suspension bushings are on the list, as well as figuring out why it is using up a bit of coolant.

All told, it has been quite a good season with more wind-in-the-hair driving than the previous five years combined.

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Forgetmenot Pond is at the far end of highway 66 into the Elbow River valley past Bragg Creek and today was a fine fall day – warm and sunny. Brenda’s motorbike had been in need of some serious care and attention this summer. Although I had it running in the Spring, it didn’t see any use until after our vacation to Europe. The battery died first and it took a while trying to get it to take a charge, and failing, before getting a replacement. Then it wouldn’t run properly, idle was all wrong and it would stall at the slightest provocation. I figured it was a fueling problem, so I siphoned out the old gas and coaxed it to the gas station for a tank of premium.

25 km of laps about the neighbourhood later, it was really no better. Must be gummed up carburetors. Unless it is a fouled plug or other ignition problem – best to check that first… Must be gummed up carburetors.

Messing around with carbs – particularly when there are two and they will need to be synchronized if I touch them – is a bit daunting. And, which carb is the problem one? The bike does run, although poorly. After some procrastination I finally raised the fuel tank and took off the airbox to have a look. So, which one is the culprit? I don’t want to mess up the one carb that is working. So, I start the bike and seal off the throat of the front carb with my hand. The engine slows a fraction but keeps turning over. When I seal off the rear carb throat the engine stalls immediately. Definitely the front carb is just not working.

Fortunately, at that moment two things happen to save me from what was sure to be hours of work and heartache disassembling the carb. First, I found a very old can of STP Carb and Choke cleaner and second, Brenda calls out to me in the garage to say that lunch is on the table. So, I figure, “what could go wrong?” and spray a quarter of the can of carb cleaner into the front carb, in all the openings and nooks and crannies. Then I head into the house, wash up and enjoy lunch with Brenda.

Once lunch is over it is time to face the music – back to the garage. But, before I grab any tools, I start the motorbike, without much hope. But, a miracle has occurred thanks to the magical powers of acetone and xylene. The engine starts and idles normally! Except for the cloud of smoke from the exhaust. Sealing off the front carb with my hand, the engine goes back to the same lumpy idle as before – and the same thing happens when I seal off the back carb. Woohoo!

I gave the bike a good run that day and all seemed well, but there is nothing like a ride to somewhere with no cell coverage to really see if things are ok. So today it was off to Forgetmenot Pond – about 165km for the trip and the motorbike worked perfectly.

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I discovered this stuff a bit by accident a couple of years ago when I needed to make a quick, inexpensive repair to some scrapes in the paint on one of the vans that we had. I paid about $20 for “QUIXX repair system” at Ukrainian Tire and was pretty impressed with how well it worked. It’s a German product so it likely has a bucketful of engineering effort in its creation – it even comes with some 3000-grit wet&dry sandpaper for use with touch-up paint.

I’ve used it a few times since – before we sold the BBB and the A4, I went over each of them and dealt with all the little rubs and scrapes. The product is basically a 2-part system with a light compound and a polish that are applied by hand with a reasonably high amount of force. For scratches that are only in the clearcoat the repairs are pretty much impossible to see afterwards.  Deeper scratches into the paint layer don’t fully disappear, but 5 or 10 minutes to compound, polish then a light coat of wax on top and the results are pretty good – really hard to distinguish from an arm’s length away, unless the light is just right. Of course, anything that goes through to primer isn’t going to go away without paint – but even those look a lot better after treatment with QUIXX.

Sometime last winter someone/something dragged across the front bumper of the new Lexus and left a flurry of scratches in the paint.  About half of them through to the paint.  It really didn’t look very good and I finally got after attempting the fix yesterday.  The set of pictures shows the results from about 6-inches away in bright sunlight – the scratches are still evident in the final picture, but standing a foot or two in front of the car only the large, deep scratch still shows.

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