[AMC-list] Still here, not dead yet!

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

I've been sorta lurking, but mainly taking a break from the list. I'm hoping
the list will stick to AMC and car related stuff, personally I have had my
fill of complaints about how terrible the world is today. I'm happy with the
world and have no interest in re-creating the past. You don't want to hear
my politics and I sure as hell don't wanna hear yours. Enough of that.

Drove the Rambler (as I eternally call my '63 Classic wagon patchwork
workbeast) to Burning Man; Los Angeles to the Black Rock Desert, north of
Pyramid Lake in Nevada, about 650 miles. I got all new door seals in it,
bought from Peter Stathes -- what an improvement! Quieter! Colder A/C!
Cleaner!

I had a leak around the radiator upper hose neck, so I brought it to the
local radiator shop to get it fixed. He popped the top tank and rodded it
out. It was new in 1996, I take top-notch care of it, but "calcium" builds
up regardless, and man, it runs a lot cooler now! Runs "low normal" in hot
traffic instead of "high normal".

I had a breakdown on the way though. The alternator bracket broke! About 40
mi. S. of Lone Pine CA a tremendous rattle under the hood. Pulled over, 100
degree heat, saw the damned thing rattling. Hobbled into Lone Pine, bought a
new alternator (GM 3-wire) from NAPA 20 min. before closing on a Saturday!
then a hacksaw and shelf bracket from the hardware store, and fabbed up a
new bracket while parked in front of our favorite cafe (we stop there every
year) while the owner's father monologued bad jokes and encouragement from a
bench outside the cafe. Not another lick of trouble, it's still in there
now. Mark said he's seen one of those break before, it was shock to me,
hell, it's 1/4" steel, and not under any real stress! I'll make a new one
from scratch. As Mark points out the alt is probably fine, but no way I was
gonna find out the hardware on a road trip. It was 5 years old so I'll
return it as the core.

The 1967 Sherwood camper worked out great! Still no pics of it! I swear, we
hauled less mass this year than last. Everything fit nice in the camper, 8
days of gear and food for me and Josh (and Burning Man demands a lot of
gear!!) -- 40 gallons of water, a sound system and speakers, 16 x 20 foot
PVC quonset hut, food, three bikes (one for my brother from Atlanta), ...
haven't calc'ed mileage, but the GM TBI worked great, and no pinging this
year, I think partly because of the cleaned radiator, but mostly because I
figured out home to tune the damn thing!

The camper is popped open in the yard, awaiting cleaning (you have no idea
how much alkali playa dust collects in things...) and when I do, I'll photo
it. I'm totally sold on the pop-up camper, and wonder why they are not more
popular here in Calif. They're all over the Least Coast.
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