Champ and Cub in flight together soon......

Champ Pilot Jim and Cub Pilot Jim are planning a breakfast flight soon to meet up with other pilots.

I may be able to tag along to take in flight pics of the planes as we fly along. Could be very cool! Maybe I can get some neat pics like this one....

Thursday night at Dexter's

There have been a number of folks leaving Fiserv in the past couple weeks. Tonight a goodly # of Fiserv folks gathered for a farewell send-off at the local watering hole, Dexter's.

'Twas a good time and Champ Pilot Jim and Fiero Craigger and I held down the fort for a while. CPJ and Craigger were very entertaining indeed. CPJ is a real camera hound, injecting himself into everyone's photos....quite funny indeed! :0)

The drive home was a sweet one in the Alfa Spider, well at least it was until I saw a black object in my side view mirror rapidly approaching.....turns out it was Fiero Craigger attempting to humiliate me and the Alfa as he zoomed by (grrrrrr).... I decided to let him live to see another day and just continued at my own pace. It was nice and cool and comfortable on the drive home, as the wind whipped through my increasingly gray, yet supple and luscious locks.

More garage time with the Spider

Tonight I spent a few hours working on a couple other bits on the Spider. Job 1 was trying to determine where water was leaking into the driver side footwell during rain or while washing the car.

I finally found the source of the problem...the drain tube in the cowl vent, which runs through the firewall right above the brake pedal, had a large crack in it. Water is supposed to drain out of the cowl vent directly to the ground under the car through this tube, but instead was dumping right into the driver side footwell onto the carpet, leaving the puddle.

Since I did not have a replacement tube, I resorted to silicone sealant on the crack. After it set up I tested it with a Big Gulp cup of water.....and it went right past the footwell to the ground...YEAH!!

I also worked on trying to clean up the area surrounding the gearshift, which is a real eyesore. I think it looks a little better now, but still needs a long term solution. Additionally I cleaned the carpets, whcih had a lot of sand and such in them. It all looks a good deal better now :)

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AFTER:

Readers all around!

I installed a little piece of software on my blog yesterday so I could get an idea of where people come from that read my blog. This map below is just from the last 2 days....cool that people from all over are looking at the blog...

More bits on the way....

A few more bits for the Alfa Spider will be arriving over the next several days. I ordered all new coolant system hoses on the advice of Cap'n Jim. The Spider motor is composed of aluminum and must be protected or warpage may occur if overheating happens :)

I also ordered a "dash cap". This is an item which perfectly covers the original dash, which has a large crack in it. This little beauty will nicely spruce up the Graduate's dash. Here are some pics of the dash with the existing "carpet" style dash cover in place and without.

The renovation continues....

More progress on the Graduate

Tonight I spent a few hours on the Alfa Romeo Spider. I received some new parts in the mail, including a new windshield washer bottle with integral washer pump, two new washer spray nozzles, a couple oil filters and an air filter. Look at the pic of the Alfa oil filter....next to a normal sized filter. It is freaking massive!

So I went about replacing the dreaded Toyota washer pump/container which was under the hood (and never seemingly hooked up) with my fine new Italian pump/container. Eventually I got it all hooked up and the cowl vent and trim pieces all put together and back on the car.

I then turned my attention to buttoning up the carpet trim pieces I had removed the other day to allow the fan to work more efficiently on drying the wet carpet.

With that all completed I gave the new washer setup a test and I must say it is a powerful pump! It shot the washer fluid about 20 feet! I guess I need to adjust the nozzles a bit, but hey, it is working! Another issue resolved. Yippee!!

I found that water is leaking not only from around the windows (I put some new weatherstripping in, so this has been abated somewhat) but also from one of the drain tubes under the vent cowl, which is why I had a good bit of water in the driver side footwell after washing the car.

I really enjoy working on this car. Things are very accessible. The way things are put together makes sense and disassembly/reassembly is not a big deal. This takes me back to my childhood of working on cars in the driveway with my dad. A lotta fun, relaxing and a sense of accomplishment working with one's hands.

Here are some pics and a video. You can see the new washer container/pump assembly installed, the two new washer nozzles, the old toyota container/pump facing THE END and the video of the wipers/washer working!!!

The Spider's web entraps its first victim.....

As I was cruising along the coastal highway A1A in the Spider, enjoying a sunny Florida day, I decided to pull off for a view of the mighty Atlantic.

Little did I know of the magnetic power of the Alfa Romeo Spider, as she drew the attention of a Floridian beauty......

She was so smitten with the Spider that she asked if she could go for a ride, so I took her to see a pelican and a lighthouse.