Posts

Showing posts from August, 2017

The Nissan Leaf Gets a New Rear Axle

Image
Well, I finally have a salvage title for the 2013 Nissan LEAF (Actually I dont have the title yet, but I think they mail it to me. We are far from settled with the insurance company for sure. It has been six months since Angie was rear ended. The following chart shows a very sad and disturbing trend. Insurance companies aren't paying out. It should be criminal. I went shopping for a new rear axle so I can get the car driving again. The rear ended axle was so bent, the car couldn't move. The new one with no connecting bits was over a thousand dollars. The cheapest used ones I could find on ebay were over 500 dollars. I finally scored at a local used parts place for 95 dollars (removed) and with associated bits such as bearings, bushings, parts of the brakes. It took me a concentrated day with cancelled and moved meetings to get the axle replaced and the car running again. The accomplishment felt good. I am now configuring the car with tractor tires and other modifications t...
Image
Amazing what some paint and decals will do to make a machine look good. I was surprised how many little projects I had accumulated on the bobcat. I have worked through most of them at this point. Electronic ignition, fuel pump, fuel lines/petcock, exhaust manifold gasket, exhaust pipe, crankshaft oil seal, new filters, breathers, it goes on...
Image
I welded some little stands on an old grill to stack pizza in my Weber grill. It works great, even better than I expected. The taste of the stuff below really permeates the pizza, while at the same time the pizza is in the hot baking part of the grill, not close to the flames. We had cube steaks, sausage and potatoes on the base level and pizza baking on the second level. I look forward to the next experiment.
Image
In looking closer at my eclipse photos I saw something interesting. During totality, the corona light seems to actually refract around the moon illuminating the surface features (craters). Cool.
Image
Along with millions of other Americans, we went to see the total solar eclipse. It was a few hours drive away in North Georgia. We decided to go to Tallulah Gorge. It is a place I only recently revisited after I passed through in the 80s on my motorcycle. The place really has not changed. Kinda hippy. Traffic was scary, but we managed with out any major delays with live traffic mapping software. It is tougher to take photos that you might first think. I guess there is not much opportunity to practice. Arc welding glass helps when it is partial. It was very dark (and very cool) for over two minutes.
Image
Some recent pics from my Farm in NY. We did some SUV camping on the farm, practicing for Iceland. We had some guests (from Russia and Germany) out for a boat ride in Duluth. I have trips planned for Minnesota, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Hungary.
I enjoy losing arguments. It proves I have the ability to learn, unlike my opponents. --Charles Dowdell
Image
We enjoyed time at home this weekend for a change it seems. I do appreciate it. I have been working on the Bobcat. I put an electron ignition on it as well as some new gaskets and a bunch of other odds and ends. And now waiting for a new fuel pump. I put a new fuel pump in it about 10 years ago.. seems like it should last longer than that.