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Camped on tribal lands adjacent to Phoenix. Thankfully dark and starry. Here it is 85* at 9:00AM. A very nice start to the day to have already warm water for morning ablutions:
Painted the "daily driver" key so I know that it is NaranjaWesty's. It rode from Phoenix to Flagstaff right here:
With a tailwind, we were looking pretty good on I-17 out of Phoenix at about 100* (high of 104*) :
The city skyline is boring:
The approach to Camp Verde is not. It is a seven mile - 6% grade, losing about 2,800 feet in elevation:
You can see the interstate stripe over there on the right:
Soooo much better than the Tappan Zee Bridge at rush hour in the rain . . . remember?
Oh yeah, so here we are in 100*+ sunshine:
Went through Flagstaff before cutting west on I-40. Speaking of "40", the nighttime temp in Flagstaff was 43* thus giving me a full sixty degrees drop in one day. We don't do that AGAIN.
I camped on a cut-off section of old Route 66 under the STARS. So very happy in the great quiet gorgeous outdoors. The moon came late in the night and lit up the interior like snow. Was shaving poorly dressed at 8:30AM when a good twenty or so classic American cars came along towards Seligman. They could not see me because I was in the cut-off behind some Arizona cedars. Checked my valve adjustments, all were fine, then drove to Seligman and got scared when a CHINESE GIRL (remember Los Alamos?) tried to dock a huge rental Chevy Suburban at the pump ahead of me. After about three tries, she successfully came within a hose length of the pump. I was terrified none-the-less. There was a whole gaggle of Chinese tourists here at the pumps taking photographs of every silly little thing, the kitsch, the kutesy, tacky tacky tacky "real Americana" trash . . . made in China. Ain't life ironic?
Drove to Kingman AZ.
Spruced up the newly painted key with a razor blade to bring out the shiny brass perimeters, then hit it with three shots of clearcoat.
Yes, my whole day was about
this key .. .. .. :
.. .. ..
and the item that the key commands. Yes, unfortunately, I got nailed by another hot no-start, even after my lovely fusebox rejuvenation that I thought was going to forestall any more issues with the starter.
Decided to fix the starter at the airport:
After removing the air filter and s-boot, to get to the 17mm mounting nut, the starter came out easily enough. Look at how nice that mounting flange is. This is the electron *supply* to the starter motor:
SEE??? I told you that the electrons come blasting IN at the flange. This mounting bolt almost looks like a white corroded battery terminal:
This is the starter, the factory original starter:
It had good grease (!) in the endcap, looked suspiciously like my favorite Valvoline Durablend Semi-synthetic molybdenum disulfide fortified grease. I re-greased it with same, and sealed the endcap with Indian Head Shellac:
This oddity is the starter, stuffed in a large socket to hold it upright so I can paint it:
Painted starter, barely an hour provided to let it dry, because these days are shorter and shorter these days:
Decided to replace the solenoid with my Commemorative Cheesehead Bosch Starter Solenoid from 2013. Had to paint it, too, Bosch doesn't even try any more. Re-taped the plastic cap to the solenoid (do not forget to do this), masked off the plunger and terminals and shot VHT gloss black three coats:
Assembled solenoid onto still-wet starter, and here it is, ready to be re-attached to the car:
Ain't it purdy without too many fingerprints in the fresh paint?
It is sundown. Perfect timing.
Colin
( bonus: what is wrong with this picture? )
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles