Mr. Goodwrench

Damn if mechanics aren't expensive.

Good and trustworthy mechanic work, in my experience, can be hard to come by. I've been fortunate to never really had much need for automotive work in my short life, but when I have...sweet mother-of-pearl has the work been expensive.

No, if you read my previous entry, you know how much I like to tinker with things. Vehicles that carry my children, wife, and me need to be handled only absolutely in the most proper way. I've changed tires, wiper blades, refilled fluids, and even an alternator. But as for wheel alignments, tie rods and wheel hubs, they seem fairly easy, but not exactly my specialty.

Knowing my wheel alignment need work, I took the old TrailBlazer in. Long story short, they tie rod was jacked-up and not going to be adjusted. Cost? At this particular place, about $600. Oh, and they would throw in the alignment. Um...okay.

Frustrated, I drove home and thought about who I knew and what my options were. Bingo! I worked with a wonderful lady whose husband is a mechanic. Let's call her and him!

In short, I bought the parts and paid for the labor at a local service shop. Going this route (as prescribed by the acquaintance mechanic) saved my over 30%. Great...almost.

Apparently, the alignment and tie-rod wasn't the only issue. A persistent thumping-noise that became obvious at my last tire-change wasn't eliminated; my knowledgeable mechanic informed my ever so subtly that I had a bad wheel hub. What's that, I asked. He so patiently schooled me on what it was and what it did.

He also informed me that this was something, if I were interested, he could help me swap out in his free time. Knowing that costs are what they are, I said sure. Long story short, a visit to eBay Motors, a drop-shipment, and forty minutes at my new BFF's house got me a new wheel hub installed and removed that nasty thumping sound.

I was, and still am, prepared to pay Byron for his services. As we are simply milling around and talking (and drinking a few fermented waters), Byron quips, "Eh, don't worry about it Dave."

"No, sir; we agreed on a price and I'm gonna take care of it."

"You wanna take care of it? Buy me a twelve-pack and let's sit around and drink it."

That, my friends, is the High Life.

Clutch Shot

It's been a few years since I had to, but after getting in my second accident in two months (with another to follow in the coming month) I was faced with replacing my little Tempo.

The stars aligned and I was offered (Thanks, Dad) a nice little red S-10. The kicker? It was a 4-speed manual transmission. Standard. The truck was delivered on a Saturday, and I had classes on Monday morning at 8:30. Great.

The conclusion of this historic event for me? I learned, but not as fast as I would have liked. The truck was fun, in that shifting gears brought me, in a metaphysical way, closer to the vehicle. I was better able to understand the various moods of the truck and eventually, was quite able to get it up and running without any hurky-jerkiness or stalling out.

Why talk about this? Apparently, according to the editor of one of my car magazines, manual transmissions are slowly being phased out for auto-clutch (aka double clutch) transmissions. Honestly, technology is a working marvel, and the new trannys make shifting faster, efficient, and saves wear on the transmission due to improper or abusive driving/shifting.

I read the article again toda(and thus was prompted to go ahead and write this), but I don't think I'm worried about the standard transmission going fully away. Obviously, we'll still have "vintage" cars that utilize it. But like the record player, tried and true technology isn't necessarily going to stop.

I think that there will be a market for the vintage style of shifting. No, it's not convenient (especially when drinking your coffee on the way to work). It goes against multitasking while driving (oh wait..is that a bad thing?). But it's also takes something special away from that relationship that drivers understand.

I remember that sneer that other drivers would give me when discovering that I did not know how to drive stick. I don't think I ever gave that look, but I sure as hell felt that way a few times. I think every driver should be able to, lest they find themselves in that pinch one day.

But if things keep going the way the are, they may never.

Do you drive stick? Can you double-clutch? Do you even know what "heel-toe" means?

Comments, as always, are welcome.

Shazam!

Race On: Pinewood Derby

It's that time of year again for Boy Scouts across the nation...Pinewood Derby.

For the uninitiated, it's an opportunity to build up a wooden race car and compete against your fellow scouts. Competitions can range from the oh so friendly to down right vindictive. As this is our second year participating, we've only read about those stories.

Last year, Dyl and I built up a Lamborghini Murcielago (it's basically a shaped wedge) and in doing so, we learned a lot.

This year, we've really taken the art of shaping the cars to a new level. Dyl wanted a classic car, so we went with the 1967 Shelby GT 500, a la Eleanor. Luke wanted a Batmobile, so that's what we built, slightly modified. We race on Sunday, so hopefully we do well. It was a lot of fun spending time with the boys doing this. Not too many headaches, and plenty of memories.

I'll follow up with results later.

Follow Up:So we had the races on Sunday and it was on the verge of chaos, but that's not unusual. The Scouts is a great outlet for the kids, in addition to being a superb channel for introducing kids to camping, nature, and self sufficiency (at least thinking about it).

There was a total of six heats: Tiger Cubs, Wolf Cubs, Bear Cubs, Webelos I and II, and Me Too's. The Me Too's are sisters and younger siblings of scouts; think of it as a way to include other family members.

Looking at the cars, the best ones (not counting my sons) were the kits. While quite nice, they lacked that handcrafted imperfection that hints at a handiwork and builds pride and character. In fact, the fastest car there was a homegrown camouflage truck with weights on the bed (more on him later).

With the heats set, it comes down to racing a three-lane incline that flattens out in the second half, probably about twenty-five feet long or so. One of the most interesting facets of this race is the timing mechanism. While I suspected a high dollar multiple timing system with lap and such (typical of track meets and high end race events), this timer that I could make out consisted of a PC, monitor, connections to the track, and a VCR? Yes, that's right. Home brew software took a busted VCR and converted it into a multi lane timing system...accurate to the thousandth of a second. With blue/red/white indicator for place. If that ain't the Scout way...

Dyl's GT500 had a good and consistent showing. His car was a bit big and just not well enough on the low volume/high mass ration. He did improve over last year however, finishing second in his heat.

Lukers's Batmobile was one of the fastest cars at the event. His car's best time was about a 3.7 or so (the camo truck I mentioned earlier ran a 3.51). I was impressed with the little car and Lukers had a great time sitting, cheering and yelling.

Life can be great at times, and this Sunday race was no exception.

Shazam!