What's that noise??

On Saturday July 31st I attended the 5Th Annual Monzaque at Bryan's place. A nice day, and a nice turn out of 11 cars, all H-Body models. Spyders, Coupes and my Wagon.
It was a nice drive out to the location just north of Brighton off Hwy 30. I took the back roads and avoided the 401 holiday traffic. Just me and a nice two lane road.
Now I had to leave early and on my way back on the 401 I noticed a strange noise coming from the engine bay. I pulled off at Grafton and the noise became louder, a knock but not. More like a hole on the exhaust? Also she was running like only 7 cylinders were firing. I checked the engine and there was no leaks, temp was ok and oil pressure was in the safe range.
I managed to limp home using Hwy 2.
Once in the safety of the garage I began to search out the source of this miss and noise. I checked out all the wires, changed the spark plugs and fired her up. Noise was still there. I removed the passenger side valve cover and low and behold the exhaust valve spring on the last jug had broken.
Now its a matter of just replacing this valve spring.....or tearing down the motor, pulling that head and seeing if anything else has been damaged. Aren't old cars and engines fun!
Can't really complain as the old girl has been real good up to now.
Stay tuned.

Off roading in a Harley?

Well on Friday we decided to go on a little ride around Northumberland County. There are some fabulous roads here and the countryside is lovely. Some of the roads twist and turn and go up and down. Most are excellent riding roads that are either paved or hard packed. Now on our adventure that day we sought out the Primrose Donkey Sanctuary. There we met some very interesting characters and took photos of most of them.




After visiting them we decided, or at least I decided that we continue down the road that the Sanctuary was on and see where it went. The maps and GPS said that this road went south about 8 km and met up with a secondary county road that we had already been on. So off we went.
The first couple of km or so was lovely with a forest all around and the road was firm and smooth. After about 3 kms the road began to narrow but was still rideable. It then began to twist and turn and looked more like forest trail. Still not bad. We were about 6 kms into it when this road was no longer a road but a Jeep trail used as a snowmobile trail in the winter! It suddenly began to go up a steep incline and was rutted and rocky! Now a 900 lb Harley Dresser with two people on board IS NOT an off road bike! But I know from my Police training that if ridden right and with the proper ground clearance the old Harley will go just about anywhere. So gunning the old girl and dropping into a lower gear I attacked the steep hill. Dar was on the back quietly shitting herself praying that I wouldn't dump her onto the bush on either side. Up we went, back wheel spinning up dirt and rocks (luckily it was bone dry) in and out of some nasty ruts but standing on the running boards I guided the beast up the hill and onto some level ground. at the top of this hill we came upon a farmer's field access and the road improved somewhat. After another km we emerged from the forest trail and onto the county road. Stopping here I looked back at the sign that was posted at the beginning on the road. UNASSUMED ROAD USE AT OWN RISK OFF ROAD VEHICLE ONLY...well what do you know, we have an off road Harley! Dar was not impressed.

Wobble,wobble.

Today I finally decided to fix the wobble on the Monza's steering column. With a tilt steering the bolts that hold the mechanism can become loose over time and the whole assembly begins to wobble. To fix this you have to tighten those bolts. Easier said then done my good friend. Apparently it is quite common with this model car and there is an excellent description on the H-Body web site that shows you how to do it. But............what a pain in the ass. First I had to acquire the right tools. A steering wheel puller, a lock plate tool, and the special 1/4" shallow E8 torx sockets. That done I began. Now it's a small car to begin with and I'm 6' 4" and 285 lbs. Squeezing into and out of the car and removing all those under dash bolts to lower the steering shaft was a hoot. Then slowly took the shaft apart bit by bit and located the offending bolts. Unfortunately you can only easily access two of them but with a liberal dose of Loc-Tite and a good tightening the whole assembly is once again like new. And....I managed to get the whole assembly back together again and everything WORKS!....

Forgot to mention...the walk.

In my haste to complete the last entry to my blog I totally forgot to mention that the last piece of the puzzle was also done. The walkway to the gate from the deck. Under guidance from the site fore person I was able to assemble a walkway that blended into and enhanced the overall appearance of the yard. I'm also happy to say that due to the increase in local precipitation the over abundance of grass seed thrown down has begun to sprout. Soon hopefully I will be cutting this as the site fore person looks on with her approval.

Wednesday...stain day

So it turns out to be a nice day after we got back from the "Y" (just joined, nice place) and I decided to stain the Fort walls. The directions say don't use in direct sunlight but I don't know why they say that. It turned out alright. Now the outside walls now all have a nice coat of stain and we think it looks a hell of a lot better then just the plain old PT colour. Kind of goes with the house brick and brings out the stone wall. Opinions are welcome. We'll give it a few days to weather then look to see if a second light coat is required. Also we gave the front porch columns their second coat of paint and they look very nice.

Friday, well what do you know.It's finished!

Yes after only a few weeks and well ahead of any anticipated time we have finished the Deck, Wall and Fence. Having all this completed before May is just well, lucky. The weather couldn't have been better and all things seemed to fall into place. We don't know exactly the final costs but we're sure it's about what we thought it would be and several thousand less then if we had a contractor do the work. Having do all the deck and fence was good for us and having the wall done by Davey was the smart thing to do. Yesterday we tilled the topsoil and now only have to roll and seed it for the new lawn to take hold. When the weather gets a bit warmer we will be staining the fence to match the deck. Till then it's time to relax and start enjoying my "us" time. Get the bicycles out, and the Harley and Monza ready for a season of rides and car cruises.

Tuesday-Wednesday

Another of couple of days has passed and slowly, very slowly are we completing the project that won't die! It only took two days to build two, make that three gates. One for the east end and a double barn door gate for the west end of the Fort. Cut down 90% of the 4x4 posts and placed solar lights on the corner posts. After finishing the barn door gate we realized it wasn't quite going to work in it's existing configuration so a slight modification will so take place to make it work. (more post hole digging !! ugh!) but should work and look better. And then, after that we can till the soil and seed it for a new lawn, we hope! Oh forgot we have to stain this monster but that will wait till May or June.

Oops, forgot the walkway still has to be finished...sigh.........

Monday...The Fort has risen...LOL

It's Monday and the weather has turned out nice. We began by going to resupply our wood at Rona and then back to the "build". No wonder contractors charge so much to build these things, bloody wood and hardware is costly. Oh well saved a bundle on the labour costs but not my back? Anyway this is the sort of thing that keeps one fit and active. neighbour walks by and comments that its looking more and more like a Fort!..hey I like that idea so Fort Hilder it is.
We finished all the fence boards and the only thing left on this project is to build the gates. Wonder how much it would be to install gun towers? Dar says no, so I can only pretend. Once all the building is done we can then concentrate on leveling out the topsoil, rolling and seeding the area. Hopefully by June we will have a nice lawn to walk on. Still trying to figure out where to put the Hot Tub...

In the two photos you can see the "before" and "after" shots. Only difference you don't see is a the few thousand spent!....

Sunday, BBQ time.

Sunday turned out to be a nice day, sunny but a bit windy. We had friends over for a BBQ and had a good time. Dar is going to attend something new soon and I hope she likes it. Had a great BBQ, love those Cowboy Steaks, and great conversation. Couldn't help but bring up some work talk (even retired) but after 32 years it kind of sticks in you. (sorry girls) Did a bit of landscaping this morning as I had run out of wood for the fence so I washed the truck. Black truck + construction area = never clean..sigh..and Jimmy, if your reading this then the outhouse in the background is waiting for you..so says Tom..

Saturday...is it a fort?

Well it's Saturday and progress on the fence carries on. The site "supervisor" has stated that she doesn't like the way the wind wobbles the fence (it isn't finished yet dear) so we are installing a third cross member to stiffen up the fence . Actually not a bad idea as it will prevent board spread. Four and one half sections are done and the remainder will be completed next week. Our neighbour was walking her dog and stopped to admire my handiwork. "building your self a fort are you?" she stated. Well I guess you could look at it that way because sections sit high on the new wall. Just a privacy fence, that's all. I wonder how many times she is going to back out of her driveway and into our wall this year? Old dear is not that good in her Lexus. Thankfully the wall should stand up to the occasional bump. (I hope) Sunday we are having friends over for a BBQ so no work, (or maybe only a little) on the project tomorrow.