What are you doing today? Thread

[ATC King]

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I needed a new front brake light switch for my bike but was able to clean the original one up instead. 25 years old and just needed a good cleaning to get some more life out of it.

Dirty switches are a regular issue on older machines, fortunately most of them can be disassembled for cleaning without much damage. This one did have the welded pins, which only required a small flat screwdriver to pop the ends off and I used a dab of hot glue to reassemble, although it can't come apart once installed.



It's been very hot the past several days, 106 today. I had enough the other day and rode to the river, and sat in it.

[ATC King]

The last old hen we have has been on a roll.

She ate a baby mouse a few days ago and a small tree frog yesterday. Just grabs anything small enough she thinks will fit down her gullet and shakes the dickens out of it, then breaks off pieces and swallows.

[ATC King]

I've been working on a lot of vehicles, friends and family type things, which is all I can handle right now. I'd like to post more about some of it but just don't have the time. Some for them to get running and sell, others they want to keep. I've been eying a Cadillac Edlorado Biarritz for a minute, but it hasn't run in decades. That one and some other Caddys, and hopefully the barn doesn't fall down before this winter when they are planned to be extracted.


A friend just bought another motorcycle. I joked, and his wife did too, it's the last one he can buy this year. He bought it for his daughter though. She's been riding quads for several years, then a dirt bike, and recently a dual sport. She's too young for a driver's license but old enough for a motorcycle license. They've been looking at KTM Dukes for a few months and his daughter liked them, so that's what he just bought.

That really lifts my spirits. She's a world apart from many her age and that gives me hope for the future. She's already has some spills, so she already has a good grasp on the consequences of inattentiveness. Still a teen though and much to learn, but she's quick at it.

Seriously, I'm super stoked to see a young person with an adventurous spirit and such self security. Oh, my lord, there's too many of them hooked on social media and instant gratification for shallow acts, and follow politically charged celebrities.

The girl is tough, I've seen it. It'd be great if there were road race tracks around here, she'd rapidly improve.

[knappyfeet]

I've been eying a Cadillac Edlorado Biarritz for a minute, but it hasn't run in decades. That one and some other Caddys, and hopefully the barn doesn't fall down before this winter when they are planned to be extracted.

I purchased a 1998 Dodge Caravan from a customer who passed for $1500. Her daughter said it needed some work....who also was a customer, but I decided to purchase it anyways. It needed some nickel and dime things but the motor ran perfect. So much so that we decided to take it on a 2000 mile trip. The only problem it had was leaving Vegas 4:00 in the morning the passenger window regulator broke. We went back to the house and taped it up and continued on. From Vegas to Reno to Virginia City to Oregon and on to Crescent City California.... and back to San Diego it ran flawlessly.









Beautiful country. From Temps of 108° to 62°.... a very nice trip.

We were going to originally take the bike but I'm glad we didn't. Van travel is so fun and convenient. I purchased a Thule cargo carrier on Offerup for $120 that seemed a little too long but it worked out nicely. After this trip I'm feeling long range motorcycle travel may be a thing of the past for this old fat dude.

[ATC King]

Minivans, the most efficient and practical motorized private person movers ever invented. If there's a vehicle that makes people look intelligent, it's the minivan.

Some of them are actually pretty easy to work on too, for regular maintenance. They're certainly easier to work on inside, especially with seats stowed or removed. Some of the Chrysler models have plenty of engine bay space, with their transverse drivetrain. RWD and AWD minivans can be a bit of a pain to work on and the early mid-engine Toyotas are a bit strange. At least most modern minivans abandoned the doghouse a long time ago and have an actual hood now.

I've seen one AWD Astro, 4.3 V6, with a five speed. I don't remember what it was in the shop for, but I worked on it. I've seen some other ones, but never another factory five speed. There's 4x4 kits for them, to use an actual dual range transfer case instead of the AWD setup.

I had to look for where the spare tire is on your '98 and it seems like they're under the rear. Much better than later ones where the spare is under the van, beneath the front seats. With a flat, the van may sit so low that those spares don't have enough room to come out until the van is jacked up and having to drag it out from under a vehicle sitting on a flimsy emergency jack, likely on uneven ground, isn't ideal.


Good vehicles. Decent fuel economy, plenty of interior space, good power, stable handling (thanks in part to their lower ride height compared to a compact SUV), and with the slopped hood they're easy to see in front of. That last part may be happening to a lot of the larger pickups and SUVs soon, because of the goings-on lately about safety of vulnerable road users.

[czac]

I drive a brand new Chrysler Pacifica for work and it’s not that pretty to look at but once inside it and driving I gotta say, it’s pretty nice. It’s got a ton of comfort options and rides great.

[ATC King]

I've probably seen more people using their minivan as a truck than people do their trucks nowadays.

Suburban seats have to be removed for extra space and it's just about a two person job but the Stow 'N Go Chrysler seats are so much more convenient. The stow compartments are also a really nice feature for under floor storage when there's not a need for the seats to be retracted.

Looking at the current Pacifica, all models use the same engine and transmission. The $17,000 difference between the base and top model is mostly features, which I can live without. The AWD option tacks on a few thousand more but isn't available on the base model anyway.

Nearly 290 horsepower is plenty and the ones I've drove didn't feel lacking for real world driving. Reasonably quick acceleration for merging onto an interstate and for passing on two lane roads. More stable at highway speeds than something like an old S10 Blazer.


I'm working on a GMC Safari now. Runs and drives but sat for years. Nice van for the year and being a GMC, it's better optioned than a Chevrolet. Tape deck, AND CD player. One feature I really like is the rear gate. It's three pieces. The top half swings up like a typical minivan, but the bottom halves are like a split tailgate that opens in the center and swings to the sides. Besides just being a bit of a quirky setup, it doesn't require as much space to open the rear if it just had the typical full swing up rear hatch. Comes in handy in tight parking spaces.

[knappyfeet]

I drive a brand new Chrysler Pacifica for work and it’s not that pretty to look at but once inside it and driving I gotta say, it’s pretty nice. It’s got a ton of comfort options and rides great.

My niece has a 2023. It's the same color but they are worlds apart in creature comforts, luxury, features, etc..

If it makes sense....mine feels a little more "van-ish" than hers. It's beautiful though..... compared to mine.

I've probably seen more people using their minivan as a truck than people do their trucks nowadays.

We took out our seats and loaded everything for this trip...with things we thought we might use but ended up not using. It didn't matter...with so much room it was a pleasure to tell my wife.... "sure...take it! We have plenty of room".

And best of all parts are available and inexpensive. Someone was already in the passenger door once for a regulator. They got the cheap $30 one from eBay....I saw it. I splurged the extra $12 and got the $44 premium regulator from ebay haha! I ordered some window switches and may need to order some motors for the rear vents and wiper. Still... I don't think I'll be into it for $200 when all is said and done for the little things.

[ATC King]

So it's clear I'm riding and working on trikes through this summer...

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My used, rode, and neglected 200ES refused to start this week. I found the culprit was corrosion in the coil to plug wiring, which hasn't been touched in years. I had a spare new coil, cut some off the wire, and media blasted the cap. That fixed it and I'm still running the aftermarket programmable ignition I installed a few years back.

[Shep1970]

What am i doing today? Celebrating the fact the country still has some hope left. GO TRUMP!

shep

[knappyfeet]

Happy Veterans Day.

Took the van to a remote memorial...originally a WW1 memorial out in the middle of the Mojave desert.

This van is turning out to be the best $1500 I've ever spent.











Also picked up this Baofeng radio. The radio was $20.99 and the external mic was $13.99. So for under $40 hopefully I got a nice HT rig with a tft display and 7 watts.

[ATC King]

That's great you're enjoying the van.

It could be I'm looking but it seems like I'm seeing more minivans on the road. My take is more people are realizing the modern 'compact' SUVs are just mini vans with less utility for the same or higher price. There's also a few mini vans available new with all wheel drive. Maybe the early adopters of the AWD mini van, which have been around since the 80's/90's, were actually pretty observant of vehicle capabilities, regardless of perception.

A manual transmission, AWD mini van with a V6 is more fun than it should be.

The large luxury SUVs aren't as capable as earlier ones. They're basically just oversized people haulers. I've seen plenty of those pulling small trailers and the rear is squatted like they have a loaded horse trailer. Independent rear suspension on the modern SUV is not designed for carrying larger loads, it's designed for a smooth ride and less truck-like handling. Independent suspension also won't last as long for truck duty because all of the moving parts that'll wear and throw the alignment out sooner. A little wear in four leaf spring bushings isn't as much (and both wheels stay parallel) as the same in eight A arm bushings, four balls joints, and four tie rod ends. That's just a simplified example, there are multiple styles of independent rear suspension.

I'm not hating on the modern luxury SUV, just pointing out their limitations compared to appearance. They're a hulking sized vehicle that isn't as capable as a smaller pickup, but they'll carry more people, in better comfort. As for crash safety, they're not as safe as many may think. They don't have to pass the same levels of crash safety because of their size, same as why they aren't held to the higher fuel economy standards. Luxury SUVs and pickups have a higher profit margin, so they're built to fit through the legal loopholes in interest of profit.


Enough about automobiles.

I want to hear more about that mic. It was more than half the price of the radio so it must be something special. Better be a powered mic, with voice effects.

It's funny how things are priced. I know, there are actual reasons, to do with manufacturing, distribution, and whatnot.

[knappyfeet]

My take is more people are realizing the modern 'compact' SUVs are just mini vans with less utility for the same or higher price.

I completely agree.

journeysoffroad.com sells lift kits (2-3 inch) for mini vans. I feel the newer mini vans are more SUVish than VANish..... even more like cars, but this picture of a Pacifica with bigger wheels looks like what a modern Chrysler SUV may look like.





New minis seem to have a lower stance. I guess if you had the itch to get a little more frisky off-road it may be cool.

I saw a Sienna in line in front of me at a Burger King and thought...that's higher than most Siennas. It had that lift kit from Journeys.

[ATC King]

Some of those lift kits look pretty simple and inexpensive. That'd be a nice addition to a used AWD mini, even a RWD. Just enough lift to make driving the more remote forest service roads a little safer, gets the van up enough that random road irregularities have less chance of damaging something.


I was a bit surprised to find a lift kit for an egg, then a little let down they didn't have one for a dustbuster.

[ATC King]

I had to drive about twenty miles home with a failing alternator. It'd try to charge every now and then, but most of the time the truck was just running off of the battery. I was sweating, watching the voltage gauge, slowly getting lower.

It's been a little while since I've had that happen, but it's not the first.

The whole thing was my fault though. I had upgraded the alternator a few years back, to something more modern and more powerful. I had to, because I'm running electric cooling fans on my '79 F150. When I originally installed the alternator, the truck had the original dash, with a charging light. About 6,000 miles ago I installed a digital dash, so there wasn't a bulb to act as a resistor for the alternator. During the digital dash installation I had forgotten about the modern alternator needing a resistor in the wiring to prevent voltage regulator failure.

By most accounts, it should have failed a lot sooner.

I had put a GM 12si alternator on my Ford not long after I got it. When traveling, the GM 10si and 12si alternators are available just about anywhere, which is why I done the swap. My old Ford alternator with it's remote voltage regulator could be an availability liability nowadays while traveling. The original Ford setup was also very low power, which I knew couldn't handle future accessories.

The recent alternator is a hybrid of several modern GM alternator components, for more power and reliability. It also has a custom front housing so it's a direct swap for 10si and 12si mounting points. Intentionally designed for older vehicles that need more power.

I had to dig out my old 12si and put that on until I get the parts to fix the other one. Being winter, I'm not really having to use the cooling fans, so it'll work for the time. I also had to remake the alternator wiring harness because the connectors are different. I did remember to put a diode in it, which I've forgotten in the past. Without a diode, and depending on the vehicle wiring, it can feed back enough power to the system that even with the key off, the engine will continue to run. That's mostly on older vehicles with a points ignition. Most of those vehicles also had remote voltage regulators, requiring simple modification to the harness (jumpers) to use a later internal regulator alternator.

Anyway, fun times, watching the voltage gauge like I'm running on empty.