Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Excellent new Guzzi gifts!
Thanks to my brother Joe I got two cool new Moto Guzzi gifts this week! I got a really swell book with loads of pics of GORGEOUS Moto Guzzis and stuff and I got a sweet sign for my garage to let people know the WHAT FOR when it comes to parking around here. THANKS JOE!!!
I got my Guzzi back!!!
Some of you who check the blog on occasion may know that a few weeks ago I FOOLISHLY loaned my Moto Guzzi Breva 1100 to a friend so he and his visiting father in law could go for a ride at Christmas time. Well as my luck would have it the bike got wrecked but enough of that...you can read about that here
The GREAT news is I got my Breva back today! WOOHOO! She looks and rides great!
Thanks go out to Jim and Fish and the gang at Moto Guzzi-Daytona/Scooter Superstore of America for putting the Breva back together as good as new!
I can't wait to ride in to work tomorrow!
The GREAT news is I got my Breva back today! WOOHOO! She looks and rides great!
Thanks go out to Jim and Fish and the gang at Moto Guzzi-Daytona/Scooter Superstore of America for putting the Breva back together as good as new!
I can't wait to ride in to work tomorrow!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Growly Alfa
Lately my Alfa Romeo 164L has been sounding a little louder, more so than I like. So I decide to remove the center exhaust section and take a look around for leaks/holes in the exhaust.
So I sprayed the exhaust bolts/nuts with some PB Blaster penetrating fluid to help free up the somewhat rusty bits and this morning got to work on jacking up the car and removing the center exhaust section.
I found several pin holes in the center muffler as well as two seam areas that had been compromised. So I sanded it all down as best I could to ensure good adhesion and then spread on a goopy concoction called ThermoSteel.
Now I need to wait a few hours for it to setup and cure and then I get to put it all back together :) Hopefully it will have been worth the trouble and extend the life of this exhaust a while longer as a new center section would cost me about $150.
So I sprayed the exhaust bolts/nuts with some PB Blaster penetrating fluid to help free up the somewhat rusty bits and this morning got to work on jacking up the car and removing the center exhaust section.
I found several pin holes in the center muffler as well as two seam areas that had been compromised. So I sanded it all down as best I could to ensure good adhesion and then spread on a goopy concoction called ThermoSteel.
Now I need to wait a few hours for it to setup and cure and then I get to put it all back together :) Hopefully it will have been worth the trouble and extend the life of this exhaust a while longer as a new center section would cost me about $150.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Gettin' dirty again :)
This weekend I have a couple little repairs to make on the Alfas. I figured I would get a head start on it and get going on the Alfa 164L tonight.
Last week when I was taking my buddy Mike to the airport after his trip down for the Gator Bowl, I noticed on the way to the airport that the engine oil pressure gauge in the 164 was noticeably lower than normal. As we continued to drive along it continued to get lower and lower until it was perched at ZERO! So I pulled over just to check the oil level. That was fine. There were no unusual noises from the motor and the engine temp gauge was not rising. Additionally the low oil pressure light had not come on, so I crossed my fingers and continued on, fretting all the way.
Well, nothing seemed amiss during the trip so when I got home I surfed over the www.alfabb.com to see if others had experienced similar issues. Sure enough, there were numerous posts about sometimes flakey and unreliable oil pressure senders in the Alfa 164 models.
The oil pressure sender is a little electro-mechanical device that screws into the engine and senses the oil pressure and sends an electronic signal to the oil pressure gauge in the car to display the engine oil pressure.
I hoped that the issue was just a faulty sender unit and not something more critical. So off to the web to my favorite Alfa parts ordering place, International Auto to order a sending unit (not to pricey at just over 40 bucks).
Tonight I went about replacing the old unit with the new one I received today. It's in a very tight location which is not too easy to get at but with a little persistence and experimentation I got a wrench on the sucker and got it off. On went the new one and then the moment of truth.....I fired up the 164 and the gauge once again sprang to life, yielding an excellent oil pressure reading. Yahooooo!
Tomorrow I get to replace a couple more bits of fuel injection hose on the Alfa Spider, so I am looking forward to some bloody knuckles over that job :=)
Anyway, at least I'll sleep better tonight...
Buried deep in there, the new shiny silver guy is now in place!
Ahhhh, good oil pressure!
Old sending unit
Last week when I was taking my buddy Mike to the airport after his trip down for the Gator Bowl, I noticed on the way to the airport that the engine oil pressure gauge in the 164 was noticeably lower than normal. As we continued to drive along it continued to get lower and lower until it was perched at ZERO! So I pulled over just to check the oil level. That was fine. There were no unusual noises from the motor and the engine temp gauge was not rising. Additionally the low oil pressure light had not come on, so I crossed my fingers and continued on, fretting all the way.
Well, nothing seemed amiss during the trip so when I got home I surfed over the www.alfabb.com to see if others had experienced similar issues. Sure enough, there were numerous posts about sometimes flakey and unreliable oil pressure senders in the Alfa 164 models.
The oil pressure sender is a little electro-mechanical device that screws into the engine and senses the oil pressure and sends an electronic signal to the oil pressure gauge in the car to display the engine oil pressure.
I hoped that the issue was just a faulty sender unit and not something more critical. So off to the web to my favorite Alfa parts ordering place, International Auto to order a sending unit (not to pricey at just over 40 bucks).
Tonight I went about replacing the old unit with the new one I received today. It's in a very tight location which is not too easy to get at but with a little persistence and experimentation I got a wrench on the sucker and got it off. On went the new one and then the moment of truth.....I fired up the 164 and the gauge once again sprang to life, yielding an excellent oil pressure reading. Yahooooo!
Tomorrow I get to replace a couple more bits of fuel injection hose on the Alfa Spider, so I am looking forward to some bloody knuckles over that job :=)
Anyway, at least I'll sleep better tonight...
Buried deep in there, the new shiny silver guy is now in place!
Ahhhh, good oil pressure!
Old sending unit
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Turtle 911 !!!
Today at lunch Scott the Canuck and I headed to Publix to grab a snack. On the way over whilst walking across the parking lot we noticed a FedEx truck approaching us and then coming to a brief stop for no apparent reason...then continuing on. Odd, we thought.
Well, the reason soon revealed itself. Slowly trudging across the parking lot was a good sized turtle. He almost bought the farm! So we decided a rescue was in order. Scott grabbed the little guy by the sides and we walked him over to the nearby retention pond.
Now he is free to frolic with the fishies and ducks and all other sorts of friends :)
Pardon the crappy camera phone pics...
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Well, the reason soon revealed itself. Slowly trudging across the parking lot was a good sized turtle. He almost bought the farm! So we decided a rescue was in order. Scott grabbed the little guy by the sides and we walked him over to the nearby retention pond.
Now he is free to frolic with the fishies and ducks and all other sorts of friends :)
Pardon the crappy camera phone pics...
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Sunday, January 4, 2009
Mike and Paul sightsee Florida
Well, my pals Mike and Paul have now departed back to their respective FROZEN places of living. But before they left we all did some fun in the sun sightseeing here in Florida.
We stopped in St. Augustine to check out this city which was founded in 1565. We also drove up coastal highway A1A, stopping near Marineland and in Daytona Beach, where Mike and Paul purchased some of the famous Zeno's saltwater taffy.
Additionally, we traveled to the Kennedy Space Center (near where we saw a huge crocodile sunning himself in a ditch) and Cocoa Beach.
It was great to have the fellas down!
***CLICK HERE FOR PICS ON MY KODAK PHOTO GALLERY***
We stopped in St. Augustine to check out this city which was founded in 1565. We also drove up coastal highway A1A, stopping near Marineland and in Daytona Beach, where Mike and Paul purchased some of the famous Zeno's saltwater taffy.
Additionally, we traveled to the Kennedy Space Center (near where we saw a huge crocodile sunning himself in a ditch) and Cocoa Beach.
It was great to have the fellas down!
***CLICK HERE FOR PICS ON MY KODAK PHOTO GALLERY***
Friday, January 2, 2009
Gator Bowl 2009
My friends Paul and Mike and I left early Thursday morning for the trip to Jacksonville and the Gator Bowl, pitting Nebraska vs. Clemson. We arrived a little before 10:00 a.m. for the 1 p.m. game.
There was a lot of pre-game activity going on, with numerous tailgate parties and bars, etc. grilling foods for sale and serving beer, drinks and soda. We wandered around for about 90 minutes soaking in sights, sounds and smells. The weather went form cloudy to sunny to cloudy off and on. Temps were cool at about 60 degrees but great football weather. We even got to see Larry the Cable Guy as he did a trivia bit during the game :)
The game itself started off looking like the Cornhuskers were not going to represent themselves very well, with an inept offense in the first half leading to a 14-3 halftime deficit. However the game became much more entertaining in the 2nd half, as the teams traded scores and some turnovers. In the end the Cornhuskers were victorious 26-21. It was a very entertaining day! Here are some pics and a link to more pics on my Kodak Photo Gallery.
***MY GATOR BOWL PICS CLICK HERE***
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There was a lot of pre-game activity going on, with numerous tailgate parties and bars, etc. grilling foods for sale and serving beer, drinks and soda. We wandered around for about 90 minutes soaking in sights, sounds and smells. The weather went form cloudy to sunny to cloudy off and on. Temps were cool at about 60 degrees but great football weather. We even got to see Larry the Cable Guy as he did a trivia bit during the game :)
The game itself started off looking like the Cornhuskers were not going to represent themselves very well, with an inept offense in the first half leading to a 14-3 halftime deficit. However the game became much more entertaining in the 2nd half, as the teams traded scores and some turnovers. In the end the Cornhuskers were victorious 26-21. It was a very entertaining day! Here are some pics and a link to more pics on my Kodak Photo Gallery.
***MY GATOR BOWL PICS CLICK HERE***
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