12/3/07

I got very little done, yet again, over the weekend. Well, I say that, I did get the oil changed in Matilda finally. Here’s what happened. John tells me Friday that he’s meeting Pat at the shop to discuss a KA-24 and transmission for Pat’s Roadster. I know they won’t need me for that so I decide to stroll in around 0900 h or so. Well, it turns into more like 1000 h by the time I actually get out of bed, help mom with some stuff, and stop at O’Reilley’s for an oil filter. I stopped and looked under Matilda’s hood at the existing filter and went in armed with that number. He pulled that filter from the shelf and I asked again what the computer says for a 2007 Nissan Versa. The last two numbers are transposed. I buy the one that is the same as the one on the car. I have the one with the other number at the shop already and will compare the two. I get to the shop and talk to Pat and John for a bit. We decide that moving the Seven will be easier than moving Marty so I do that. I roll the Seven out and John has a look at the Birkini top. I contort myself in to prove, to both of us, that it can be done. I sit for a bit because, well, the car is just pretty darn cool to just sit in actually. I finally reach up and unsnap the top and climb out. John snaps his fingers and says, “I've got it! Take this to Northside Upholstery and have them sew in a zipper right here.” I tell him that that was exactly what I had in mind before figuring out I could actually contort myself in. I snap it back in place and move on to the oil change. I pull Matilda’s nose into the bay and get out. John drags the jack over for me while I round up the other tools and the oil, filters, and stuff. We all have a look at the two filters and decide that the one Nissan wants is the longer of the two so I go with it. I forego jacking the car up because it is actually a bigger pain in the ass than struggling to reach the drain plug. I do have to knock the wrench with a hammer to break it loose because I have no leverage but it does finally come out. It didn’t make too big of a mess either. While the oil was draining, I removed the lower engine cover’s 10 mm headed bolts and pulled it down out of the way. I reached up and felt for the filter. On a lark I gave it a turn. It moved without a wrench! “Cool,” I thought to myself. I did not remove it yet though. I put one of the bolts back in the lower cover so I could replace the drain plug in the pan. With that in place I go to move the pan under the filter. That was when I made a huge mess. The hot oil sloshed out of the pan and onto the floor. “Damn it!” I yelled and both Pat and John came in to see what was wrong. I ‘splained what I did and they went back to whatever they were doing. I re-removed the bolt in the lower cover and pulled it down out of the way again but couldn’t get the pan in place. I decided that since I was going to have to clean up an oil spill anyway, I might as well make it a big one. I reached up and spun the filter off. You guessed it, it made a huge mess. John returned with a handful of red rags while I was pouring oil into the filter. “I’ve never done that,” he said. I questioned him and he said he never heard of pre-filling the filter. I don’t remember where I heard about it so I just shrugged and went on. I knew some of it was going to dump out when I went to install the filter so I didn’t waste too much time waiting for all the oil to “glug” down. I checked for extra gaskets on the block and spun the filter on when I found none. I cleaned up some of the oil spilled on the lower engine cover but forgot to hit the block where it had drained down. Oops. I bolted the cover in place and went to find the funnel. I took the old oil with me and drained the pan into the receptacle then cleaned the funnel and went back to the car. I dumped the rest of the quart from the filter in and John opened another bottle for me. I dumped that in, and two more, then checked the dipstick. He was still standing there watching me so I looked to see if the oil level in the pan was sufficient. Bah-dump-bump! It wanted one more quart. I dumped that in and asked John to fire up the engine. I looked for leaks and it didn’t even drip the old dirty stuff I spilled on everything. He shut it off and I checked the level again. Hmm, maybe it was now that it wanted the final quart. Well, it was finally happy so I asked John to move it out of the bay, please. He did. I cleaned up the spilled oil and said it would be a shame to push the Seven back into the bay. John laughed and said, “So you’re going for a hoon, are you?” I just smiled. I changed shoes and took the shower caps off the carburetor trumpets then contorted myself in. I took off out the gate and drove down to the RV sanitary dump by the lake. It was misting so before long I was totally blind due to (tee hee, I said doo-doo!) the fact that I took off the wiper to install the top. I got back to the shop and pulled into the bay. I decided to go ahead and try to get out without unsnapping the top. I made it. It isn't graceful by any stretch of the imagination, but it can be done. John, meanwhile, has installed the white and red “2000GT” badges on the flanks of Marty and the solid white one next to the trunk latch to cover a chip in the paint. They look really good. We decide to go to Chicken Express for lunch and do so. Gregg calls to ask how long I'm going to be at the shop and I tell him I'll call when we’re done eating. I do that and head back. I have another look at the dash for Marty. I decide that the gauges will probably hold the gauge panel in place without resorting to rivets after all. I mark and trim out the radio hole for the two outer gauges and plop them in. They do hold the panel in place! Woo hoo! I go ahead and mount the tachometer and speedometer as well then Gregg shows up with his new girlfriend and his daughter. He shows the GF all my toys and asks if I will take her for a ride in the Seven. I agree to that but decide to take the Birkini top off first. I run her down to the RV dump and back. She mutters something like, “It is fast,” in a noncommittal, put-upon girlfriend sort of way. Gregg is all giddy about stuff and then they leave. I didn’t really feel like doing any more work so I went home too. I'll tell y'all about Saturday night and Sunday tomorrow.