Thank you PaulC for reminding me WHY I just managed to remove my trailer before our little "ice-skating-for-the-1st-time" weather decided to hit us here this weekend...

The Weather-Armageddon-Hosts (or WAH) on TV/Radio/Mall-Food-Courts had been screaming 4"-8" inches of white death from the skies for the past two/three days and giving hourly updates as to when all sanity would flow from our orifices and leave us as dehydrated nimrods behind the wheels of all modes of transporation.

In others words, "Stay in and don't go out."

Jim B., how are you getting around? Do you have one of your lady friends helping you out during your time of need?

I'd think trying to operate an accelerator pedal with the leg/foot cast on...or are you working with a "walking cast" type of setup?

Details!!! We need to know how our OD brethren are doing during this holiday season!!!

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

HAW !!!!

HATE "white death"

But LOVE to read florid prose like that !!!!

good advice for sure, "Stay in and don't go out."

Yeah, Cindy is coming on over later today. She's trained in home health care and is a certified massage therapist too.



lolol

I think god got mad and broke my LEAD FOOT !!!!

The Mercedes is lowered, and impossible to lever out of with a full leg cast, so it's under a car cover in the garage and will be in storage till Valentine's day when I am supposed to be walking nrmay and unaided again.

The Grand Marquis is my taxi and ambulance, and since I can't bend down to get anything I dropped, in there, the floorboards make it look like 30 junkies - each with a DIFFERENT habit, lived in there for a month.

I NEVER thought that *I* would be driving it creeping along at 50 mph, as almost all Grand Marquis owners do...a walker in the back seat... a disabled parking hang tag on the mirror, like MOST Grand Marquis owners do, so I must have been psychic or something earlier this year when I got the car.

Before this happened to me, I had just put Mercury Marauder front and rear sway bars on it and had added a Crown Vic type Police Interceptor dual exhaust to it, and was thinking about adding a Police Interceptor MAF/airbox /ziptube and a 3.27 trac-loc rear end, for more speed, --- I had not meant it to be used like some old geriatric car this quickly.

Maybe the typical owners without broken legs stab the accellerator with their canes !!!!






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGWSXNBh6es , <------------

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Paul, I just want you to know that the world is in balance.............

Here's how my Friday went:


Took the BMW back to the tire shop at 7:45 a.m. for a reinspection after if failed fuel trim about a month ago. After a bunch of money tossed at it at the BMW mechanic, it's finally ready to go. Bring it in and I've got to leave it...........too many customers ahead of me. Ask him to check the P6's on the back as the brand new Yokos on the front have not completely solved the vibration problem (but its 90% improved).

Walk home..........25 minutes. Work on a bunch of business paperwork and phone calls ............11:00............tire store calls............car is done.

Grab all the paperwork for the BMW and the "new" 2002 Dodge van that I recently picked up and walk back to the tire store. Notice a brand new Advance Auto Parts right next door to the tire store. Stop in..........well stocked place..........pick up some license plate screws, very well made with tamper proof screws and a special wrench for them. Excellent.

Pick up the BMW............no charge for the reinspection.............rear tires are balanced properly but are out of round. No charge for checking them as well. OK, order some replacment Yoko Avid EnVigors for the rear as well. Get them next week.

Head directly to DMV.

Arrive at 11:50 a.m. on a Friday and am prepared for the worst. Want to get both the Dodge titled and registered and the BMW registered (couldn't do it until it passed inspection). The paperwork is correct (they check it at the info desk), and the wait isn't bad at all..........maybe 20 minutes.

Get called at 12:20 and the BMW goes without incident............$160.

She doesn't want to register the van with passenger plates because "it doesn't have a second row seat in the back". I calmly explain that the law reads that it needs either a second row seat or a piece of permanent camping equipment such as a stove or a refrigerator or a bed. I explain that I have a permanent refrigerator installed............and, she reluctantly accepts it. $520. later (with the sales tax).............the Dodge is done.

I'm out the door at 12:30.

Off to Autozone and a battery for the van. They proffer a fairly decent battery for $104. OK.........I'll take it. "Oh, BTW, how much more is the Duralast Gold battery for the Dodge". Back on the screen.............it's $89.95. WTF.............moron cannot explain why. I'll take it.

Also get some Mobil-1 syn rear diff fluid for the van while I'm there. Most places don't carry it.

Go directly home. Arrival at 1:15. Grab a guick sandwich and go to work. Darkness is at 4:15.

Go to change oil in the van. The PO probably changed it 20K ago and I cannot budge the drain plug. I'm getting real close to rounding it and I realize that it's not happening. Go and get the torch and heat the plug............the hard plastic gasket starts to burn. Heat a bit more and try to avoid the plastic. Stop. Try the wrench again (have a six point box wrench!!)............nothing. Wait a minute or two...........try the wrench again and the damn thing moves with almost no effort. FANTASTIC. The plastic gasket is not harmed much at all. Finish the oil and filter. No need to lift the van to get to the filter...........it's got about 13" of ground clearance.

Go put the battery in the van. Drop one of the retaining bars and have to fish it out with the claw, but, otherwise goes OK. Nuts and bolts don't break and are not rusted away. Put the charger on the battery to bring it up to full voltage.

Put the stickers on the van and the BMW.

Put the plates on the van with the new screws.

The biggest job............replace the right side headlight assembly. This requires pulling the grille to get to the screws. A very poor design with all plastic pieces that don't play together very well. The headlight itself is held to the housing with three screws and another plastic piece that just pushes into the headlight. Not very secure at all. The accuracy of these parts is not great and some "adjustments" are required to get the marker "glass" to align and install to the headlight assembly. It goes without too much difficulty and the grill goes back on fine.

Not quite dark yet............pull out some grease and some silicone lube and get the big sliding door to work like it was brand new.

It's now 4:20............turn on the headlights and watch the new headlight beam converge on the left side headlight beam, about four feet to the left of where it should be. Some heavy adjustments to the brand new adjuster screws (the one and only adjustment that they can ever get), and the beam is now proper.

Leave the battery charger on overnight to ensure full charge.

I'm done.........the van is ready to go to NJ on Saturday morning to pick up some beautiful steel shelves for the van that I stole for $150 on CL.

As I mentioned, Paul, the world is now in balance.