Hopefully the Mileage Will Improve

Last year when we came back from campground hosting at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore The Guppy started running rough. Thought it was the O2 sensor and ordered a new one. Spent what good weather there was trying to remove the old one. Then in the Spring when I was waiting for the snow to melt, The Old Lady's niece and her family came to stay with us. They were living in The Guppy so I couldn't work on it. When they found a place of their own I started trying to remove the O2 sensor again. Finally I gave up and decided to get a nut that would fit the O2 sensor, drill a hole in the exhaust pipe and weld the nut on. That worked and I was finally able to install the new sensor.

New O2 sensor on exhaust pipe.

It still wasn't running right, so I thought I need to replace the EGR valve. By then we were campground hosts again at Pictured Rocks and living in a tent. On my way to Pictured Rocks I stopped at a parts store and ordered the EGR valve. When it came in I picked it up and went home. I replaced the EGR valve, but while I was doing that I noticed a elbow on a vacuum line that had a hole worn in it. Didn't have time to fix because I needed to bring The Guppy to the campground because living in a tent was getting old.

 After things cleared out and the black smoke lessened to the point where I could hardly notice, it cruised right along. The Guppy ran decent there and back. I think it got about the same mileage as before I did the work, maybe even a slight improvement. 

The part after it was removed.

After I got The Guppy home again I asked my neighbor who is a mechanic to look at the part and tell me what it was. He looked at the part on the top of the engine after I had removed the air cleaner and ducting so could see the problem part. He didn't know (he's not a Ford man, prefers Chevys), so I did a lot of googling of things like vacuum schematics for '89 E-350. Found what I thought might be it, but it was listed as "FPR". What the fuck is FPR? Finally found out it was Fuel Pressure Regulator. It allows excess gas from the fuel rail to go back the gas tank. Bought one, then came the fun of removing the old one.

This is the new part in place after removing the old one.

 There are 3 screws that hold the part on. They are allen head 4mm or 5/32. I had a set with a 5/32 allen wrench. In order to get at the screws I had to reach under the part and one of them I had to reach under fuel lines. I lost the wrench a couple times and found it again. Then I lost it and could not find it. I have lots of allen wrenches, but none the right size and shape. It needed to be a small L-shaped one. So I bought another set.

The Old Lady said why don't you put a leash on the wrench so you won't lost this one? I have some waxed lace that is used to tie wire bundles together on aircraft and thought that would be perfect for making a leash for the wrench.

With the new wrench I was able to remove the old part and install the new one. One of the screws was very hard to get at because I had to reach under the fuel lines and feel around until I get the wrench in the screw. Getting it out was easy compared to putting the screw back in. Two of the screws I could reach and start with my fingers fairly easily. The third one not so easy. I thought maybe a longer screw would be easier to install, found the right size metric screw and got it started. After tightening it about half way I realized it was too long, so I had to take it out and put the original screw in. I did manage to get it in and all the screws tight, put all the parts I removed for access back in place and got it running again. Hopefully the mileage will improve, but won't know until after we hit the road again some time next month.

Follow the Fucking Rubles

Recently I posted a video of Buck Owens song "I've got a tiger by the tail". On facebook I said for some reason it reminded me of the GOP. Now I'm not saying tRump is a tiger, more like a rabid skunk, in that if you are holding a skunk by the tail you better keep it off the ground. If you let it go, you'll either get sprayed or bitten or both. They are afraid to let go of tRump, because they know if tRump goes down they all go down. Not like that would be a bad thing, my fondest wish is to see the GOP become the Whigs of the 21st century!

The reason I say the FuckingRepublican'ts have a problem is they or most of them took so much Borscht-tainted money that now it's the reason their party color is Red! FOLLOW THE FUCKING RUBLES!

I have been saying for a couple years now #FollowtheRubles. How much you want to bet the real reason tRump is fighting so hard to keep his tax returns secret is that much of his income is in Rubles. tRump has been laundering Russian money for decades thru his various properties. FOLLOW THE FUCKING RUBLES!

The NRA (Now Russian Affiliate) laundered $30M of Russian money in the 2016 election. Many GOP Super Pacs accepted Russian money. And I wonder why the GOP is now a bunch of Russophiles? There are several reasons why I'm befuddled by this. 1. I grew up during the Cold War when the USSR (Russia) was the enemy. 2. When I was in the Air Force one of the units I served in was a predecessor to AWACS that tracked Russian bombers to make sure they were not going to attack us. 3. My heritage is Finnish, the Finns have many centuries of hating and not trusting the Russians. FOLLOW THE FUCKING RUBLES!

Linux

For a long time I've had an internet problem, several internet problems. Not sure which is the cause, the ISP, or Windows fucking number 10. Called tech support for the ISP a number of times last year to no avail. Once the phone repairman found a burnt spot in the wires, cut a short piece out and spliced it back together. Didn't make any difference. Lately I've done a lot of googling and it seems that Windows fucking 10 has a lot of internet connectivity problems. Tried some of the fixes and still have the problem. It's really frustrating when you click on a link and the internet goes away, or you go to leave a comment on facebook or Twitter and no internet.

Anywho, I decided I'd try Linux OS. I've been curious about it for more than 10 years. I googled how to install Linux. Found how to download Linux to a flash drive and try Linux from the flash drive before installing it. I did that and did a couple of test drives. Linux didn't seem to have the problems I had with Windows fucking 10 as far as connectivity went. Here is where I found the download.  https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

Now I have it installed along side Windows fucking 10. Am writing this post using Linux, so we'll see how it goes.

Now I have to bookmark the porn sites all over again!

Finally Got To Use A Tool I Bought 10 Years Ago

Biscuit Joiner

Just finished a project where I used a biscuit joiner for the first time since I bought it. I spotted a biscuit cutter at Goodwill about 10 years ago, the price was right ($15 I think), so I bought it thinking I will use this someday. Well, that day finally arrived. Other than doing a few test cuts I hadn't used it until this project. Used it to cut slots for biscuits to glue a trim piece on the front of a countertop I made using flooring.

Biscuits

This countertop is in an awkward space under the stairs. Trying to fit a countertop in there would have been a lot of work. I decided to make it out of flooring as I could do it piece by piece. It worked out pretty good.

Trim across front clamped for gluing. 

I left it clamped overnight and today I applied the finish. Now have to wait for it to dry before I can put the microwave and other things back on the counter.

The finished project.

Solar Panels

I figured out where to put the solar panels where they would be out of the way.

After I removed the window on the front of the cab-over there was this flat area where I could hang the solar panels. I had an old piano type hinge that was on the door of the single wide trailer I disassembled a dozen years ago. I attached the solar panels to it so I could use it to hang them. At first I screwed a couple hooks into a 2x2 that goes across where the top of the window was. Then I had a better idea. I had some plant hanger parts, like a screw where one end had wood screw threads and the other end had 10/24 threads. That way I could secure the panels to The Guppy.

Front view

Side view

The set-up was working fine for a few days and then it quit charging. At first I thought the controller might be bad, but when I checked for voltage coming from the panels there wasn't any. There was a 4 into 1 connector to connect the 4 panels to the controller. When I disconnected the 4 into 1 connector and tried ohming it, I discovered that I had continuity across both terminals on the end.  So now I need to get a new 4 into 1 connector.

 

This is a picture of the 4 into 1 connectors that we ordered to replace the defective one. These are shorter than the one that came with the solar panels, but they will work as the panels have fairly long wires. Also I made an extension from the old 4 into 1 connector as the problem seems to be where the 4 wires connect to the 1. I wasn't able to open that area, but I've narrowed it down to that's where the problem is.

Recently Someone Accused Me of Being Bitter

Am I bitter, HELL NO! I'm FUCKING PISSED! I'm PISSED at the accuser and the 60 million others that voted to put the ORANGE BUFFOON in the White House. From day one he did everything possible to show he was not fit to manage a Blockbuster store let alone be President. I have a hunch that even if he had came right out and said "I'm just shitting you, I don't want the job" the MAGAts would have still voted for the asshole because he represents what they are.

I'm old enough to remember when the Russians were the enemy, not the benefactors of the GOP! Every fucking day there are new revelations about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Every time you turn around there is another Russian in the woodpile!

 

There's the gun nut from Russia who infiltrated the NRA (Now Russian Affiliate) and funneled millions of dollars that the NRA laundered and used for campaign ads. Then there are the Russians that gave money to PACs of various GOP politicians. Like I said there's always another Russian in the woodpile! Where did this lovefest with Russia come from on the Never-Right? #FollowtheRubles

As someone who worked on planes that tracked the Russian bombers to make sure they weren't coming to bomb US, I find the laissez faire attitude of most of the people towards Russia and Putin very disturbing. While I don't think we should go back to the days of Tailgunner Joe finding Commies under every bed, we should be very skeptical of everything that involves Russia.

Just like there is the saying, "Once a Marine, always a Marine", well Putin was KGB and once you are KGB you are always KGB! It may no longer be called KGB, but it is still around and Putin is the MMFWIC (Mean Mother Fucker What's In Charge)!



I am FUCKING PISSED that more people aren't FUCKING PISSED!