The first of many explosions
It almost sounds like a bad bar story, but a violent explosion finally solved the dilemna of
why 'Mills was not running so well. For a few weeks now, she had been hesitating, jerking around,
and causing backfires and strange engine revvs. And I felt alone and unaware, since the Green
Bible had no help for those of use with a non-standard engine. I figured that it was bad gas,
and it would drive itself clean (riiiight...) Then I tried the carb, and that helped somewhat. But the violent
explosion out front of a furniture tipped me off that there were bigger issues. It was a first-rate
banger, with flames shooting out the exhaust, smoke billowing from under the hood, and a violent
quake that I thought was a death tremble or something.
After a friend dragged me home, I peered under the hood. It was easy to trace the source, since
that was where all the carbon and smoke was coming from, along with the remains on an exhaust
gasket. Even I could figure that one out. So, I spent 3 entire evenings trying to separate the
exhaust manifold from the block, a procedure made easier by me figuring out what an exhaust
manifold actually is! But to make matters worse, I could not find a replacement gasket anywhere.
I had no frickin clue what kind of engine it was, other than "a British Ford V6." Fat lotta
help that was. What follows is straight from Monty Python:
Made the first one from cork. That one blew in 35 seconds.
Made the second from cork and hylomar. That one caught fire then blew out.
Made the third from some grey stuff. That one shredded, blew out, then caught fire.
But the fourth one...the fourth one stayed. And that, son, is what you stand to gain.
So, after getting the manifold re-faced and bolted back on, the old girl was back on the road. But
this episode tipped me off to the bigger problem; namely, the exhaust system was crap.
I eventually had a fella put a stainless steel one in, with no cat, no muffler...just a mid-mounted cherry bomb. Darn
if she does not sound good! And bless the state of Florida, with no emissions inspections!
The last major undertaking happened under a time crunch, which is not a pleasant thing for a novice
mechanic. After I got back from 5 months in Afghanistan (Sep 01 - Feb 02), I had a month to pack
and move to my next duty station. That included putting the roof back on Mills, and the door tops.
But the door tops had been sawed off 4 years ago because the bolts were rusted beyond
recognition, and I had to drill out the holes, mount the old glass in a new door top (one I brought
back from a TDY to the UK in my suitcase), and get her ready to move to Maryland. The caulk
was still drying when the fella pulled up to put her on a flatbed and ship up north.
I think that this catches the high points. Now, on to the serious work!
Click here for my grand scheme!
created and maintained by Matt Atkins
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