10/4/06

I did a little more research, which really is too strong a word for what I did but I'm going with it nonetheless, on the Theremin yesterday. I found a site called Theremin World or some such and clicked on a link to a recording of Clara Rockmore playing. I swear, the thing sounds like a soprano singing! I had always thought that the opening theme to the original Star Trek TV series was a soprano, but now I'm not convinced. Ok, ok, I'll stop talking about Theremin music. So Sunday morning I finally drug my ass out of bed around 0900h. I had a parking pass to the air show at Alliance airport that John and I were planning to attend. We had never set a time so I decided I'd call him around 1000h to see when he wanted to go. He couldn’t make it after all so I sat around the house all morning. Mom came in from church and we decided on tacos from Taco Casa, big surprise there. I went and got them then we ate. She was having people over to watch movies on my big screen that evening so I knew I'd be at the shop until dark and thus didn’t need to go early. At around 1530h I did finally go to the shop to finish up Mr. Wiggly. I rounded up the hangers and all the bits to do that job and went out to the van. I had decided during the night that I would “load” the hangers so that they pulled the zorst away from that heat shield. I crawled under the passenger side and found where I wanted the hole and drilled it. I mounted the hanger and it did pull the zorst away but now the tip was dangerously close to the pinch-seam. I moved on. I mounted the hanger on the driver’s side to help pull things the right direction and to get the tip up higher to match the passenger side. It looked good. I was happy. I fired it up. Sure enough, the passenger side tip banged against the pinch-seam. I grabbed a pair of Chanel locks and bent the seam back to clearance it. Now there was plenty of space to move, I thought. The van began to fill up with blow-by smoke again so I decided it was about time to rectify that. I began rounding up stuff to take with me on a parts run. I had the plug from the manifold so I could buy a nipple with the right pipe thread, a section of the PCV hose to get the right nipple size, and the grommet from the breather cap. In my rooting around I found an old fitting from the end of a shop air hose. It was the right pipe thread so I cut off the crimped on hose to see what the nipple size was. It was perfect! I took the section of PCV hose and pipe plug out of my pocket and replaced it with this new nipple and was off to the parts store. I pulled up to Orally at 1855h to find an empty lot. Well, there were the three Orally delivery pickup trucks sitting there but no customer cars. The “Open” sign was lit and the door said they were open until 2000h. Ok, it said 8:00 pm actually. I went in. The two employees were sitting behind the counter and got up when I walked in. I fully expected to be accosted for help by the dude, but the chick beat him to it. Woo hoo! She asked if she could help me and I produced the grommet for the breather. “I need a valve cover breather,” I said, “ to fit either the inside or outside diameter of this.” We looked at the import hot rod shelf first and then the domestic stuff. There it was, a chrome breather cap that fit the grommet. I took it to the counter. She asked if I needed anything else. “I need about two feet of wacuum hose to fit this,” I said as I produced the nipple. “Wacuum hose,” she laughed as she took it from me and went to the back. “Wacuum hose,” I confirmed. I wandered the isles looking to see if there was anything else I might need. There wasn’t, or at least I didn’t find anything. She returned with some fuel line and said that vacuum hose doesn’t come that big. I shrugged and said it didn’t matter. Looking at the hose though, I decided two feet might not be enough so I asked for a double nipple union thingy. She produced one and rang me up. I paid and left. Oh, they both asked questions about how I liked Matilda so I had to rave about her. I said, “Let me put it this way, I've got a 2005 Dodge Magnum and I'd rather drive that.” They both nodded. I went back to the shop and installed the breather and PCV hose. It turns out two feet of hose was enough. I began to wonder what was preventing a test drive. Other than the spiking voltage, there was the old tail pipe still hanging in the back. I took a socket to it and it was no longer a problem. I decided to drive around the complex. During the backing procedure, when the engine does its severe rocking doo-doo clutch slip, the passenger side zorst tip banged against the body. I'll have to get smoother in my clutch engagement. I took off around the complex and wound up in front of Marty Smith's place. I honked and he came out. He hopped in the passenger seat and we drove around the building. Let me tell you, driving a van with the doghouse removed is quite scary! I knew I was going to be fiddling with the alternator soon and didn’t want to have to take the doghouse back out again. I dropped Marty off and went back to my place. I decided to have a look at the alternator wiring and description and stuff in the Chitterlings Manuel. I read the description. I looked at the wiring diagram. I was still confused. Here’s my thinking: the alternator had been running with just one “field” wire connected. That caused it to put out enough amperage to keep the battery charged and run the ignition. When the full load of the headlights was applied it couldn’t keep up and drained the battery, possibly taking out the voltage regulator in the process somehow. When I hooked up both “field” wires, the alternator went into full charge mode and began putting out full amperage at 16 volts, which may have taken out the voltage regulator but I doubt it. I decided to try an experiment. I swapped the red and green field wires but it still spiked as soon as the revs went over 700 RPM. Later, I'll worry about it later. It was getting dark but the church folks were still at my house. I decided to install the K&N on Matilda but I think I'll save that story for tomorrow. I know I've mentioned it before but I have a self-imposed length limit for these entries. Once I pass the page break I feel I ought to stop. I'm almost halfway through page two today, which I totally didn’t expect! So, there you have it. Buh bye.