Archive for December, 2005
“We’re nothing like God… Not only do we have limited powers, but we’re sometimes driven to become the devil himself …”
And in the same vein
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.”
… End of Line …
Well, it’s that time of year again for joyous tidings and good will toward men and all that stuff.
So, I made a new friend about a month ago. She tends bar at the bar that has become my “watering hole”, so to speak. She’s a great girl and my only regret about her is that I didn’t meet her sooner as she’s leaving Dallas for San Marcos to go to school there at the first of the year.
Friday night was her going away party at the bar. All the regulars were there, in addition to a couple faces that I hadn’t seen before. I took my usual place at the pool table and began the night with one of the new faces. After a round with him, I had a round with one of his friends. By this time the challengers were stacking up and I was starting to get loose enough to play well (read: I was rounding the 4th shot of bourbon).
Frank was really pretty good and beat me twice, but once the whiskey got hold I had won the two back and won two more. Rick showed up and bought me a shot (I think #6 … I lost track in here somewhere) and Frank bought one shortly thereafter. Frank didn’t like the bourbon though, so we went to Tuaca.
Now … I like to think that I can hold my liquor pretty well, but wow … This has to be in the neighborhood of a dozen shots in a ~3 hours. I was literally wobbling for a few minutes there, but I was able to maintain long enough for that to pass and then I was just groovy again.
And here comes asshole … So I walk over to talk to the guest of honor about something that escapes me now. I was standing pretty close to her and did put my arm around her at one point, but it really wasn’t that big a thing.
I’m rudely interrupted by the voice of someone I don’t know saying “Do you want to stop being so touchy feely with my girl?” as he grabbed her and pulled her away.
I recall thinking “No, quite the opposite in fact …”, but I don’t think I said it out loud.
Anyway, after doing the gentlemanly thing and saying something to the effect of “I didn’t realize she was anyone’s property” I paid my check and was going to leave before things got ugly. Even drunk, I can smell a fight coming, and there was one coming.
The bouncer stopped me on the way out and asked me why I was leaving. I told him that I wasn’t trying to start trouble in his house, but that if I stayed around that bloodshed was almost certain, so I was just going to leave. He asked what the problem was, and I told him what had happened.
He smiles and says ” … Go back inside and have a drink if you want … There is no problem … “and makes a B-Line for the guy and hauls him outside. Everything was pretty much cool after that, though I did make a little bit of a scene on the pool table.
So that’s my piece of “good will toward men” this year. It’s funny that years ago I would have waded into him like ankle deep water, but now I realize that he’s just a stupid insecure idiot kid. I’m sure that he left the situation thinking something along the lines of “That’s right … She’s mine!”. I left it thinking “Well, at least he won’t go to the hospital and I won’t go to jail.” 
So as you’re out rushing around doing your last minute shopping and getting frustrated and all that, try to remember The Point.
… End of Line …
Well, my parents always told me “If something seems to good to be true, it probably is!” … And how.
I’m reasonably sure I have mentioned my DSM (1990 Talon) in previous posts. I recently purchased a turbo kit through ebay from ssautochrome.com.
Now … I’ll first say that the price for the amount of stuff you get here is absolutely killer. Of course, remember what my parents told me …
So I get all the stuff on Saturday and start unboxing it. The header looks decent, but after having a friend how put a big chunk of slag off an ssautochrome header through a >$1000 turbo, I decided to set it aside until I could find someone with a bore scope. After later inspection I found a chunk of slag I was able to knock loose with my finger about the size of a pea… The turbo would have loved that. So the header is banished to the “junk” pile.
“No problem” I think. “I’m still ahead, even if the header is junk. The turbo and O2 are worth the purchase price.” Little did I know …
So after drilling out the holes in the O2 housing so that the bolts would actually start in the holes in the turbo, I get it all in one piece to install in the car. After removing the old 14b, I put the new 16g in and bolt it up (to my manifold, not the header).
“Groovy … Almost done now.”
Pour the coolant back in, pull the MPI fuse and crank to oil pressure. Put the MPI fuse back in and crank it up.
Vroom!
And then, almost at once …
Smoke … Lots and lots of smoke 
So, on inspection, it seems that there is oil *pouring* out the exhaust side of the turbo. In the 2 minutes that the car ran, the turbo drank (literally) 1/2 quart of oil and smoked so badly that the neighbors called the fire department as they were certain the house was on fire… If I still haven’t impressed apon you how badly the car was smoking — All of this happened *AT NIGHT*.
So now, I’ve contacted the seller to ask him how he wants his junk returned to him as the header and turbo are of no use to me whatsoever…*Sigh* … Why me?
While waiting to hear from the seller, I’ll be doing what I should have done in the first place and going to buy a turbo from a reputable outfit.
Oh well … Lesson learned.
… End of Line …
“You may not know this, but there’s things that gnaw at a man worse than dyin’ … “