AAARGH!
This afternoon's simple task was supposed to be installing a new alternator for the Rambler. It requires a special bracket from Galvin's, a CA firm specializing in Rambler parts. That bracket replaces the stock bracket and allows a cheaper modern Chevy alternator to be bolted on instead of the very pricey OE Motorola alternator.
First problem: the specified modern alternator didn't fit in the bracket. After a phone call ("must be the wrong alternator. Have O'Reilly's double check.") and a lengthy visit to O'Reilly's the decision was made to grind 1/16" off the alternator so it would fit in the bracket.
Second problem: the bracket won't mount up to the engine block like it should. Bolts won't clear. Another phone call and Galvin theorizes his bracket supplier has goofed somewhere. It may be an error during the welding process or a design flaw, but something's wrong with the bracket they sent me.
Third problem: even if the bracket did mount to the engine block as intended the alternator wouldn't adjust far enough outboard for sufficient belt tension.
Galvin is sending me another bracket. He says it's possible I got a bracket that was put in the bin for a '66 Rambler when it should have been in a different bin for another car. So the bracket he's sending me via Priority Mail may work. He's also putting a call into his supplier to see if they have a design issue. Re. the third problem, I can get a shorter belt. But if I can't get the bracket bolted to the engine, so what?
Either way, Louise is out of commission until further notice. And I am not in a good mood about that.
I'm surprised the number of people still defending Lance Armstrong. I read news articles that allow comments, and his advocates are rabid. They cite the "over 500" drug tests he took, all without a single positive. It must be a witch hunt.
Today the UCI, the international cycling federation, formally announced they wouldn't elevate any of the other podium finishers for the seven Tour de France wins they took away from Armstrong. We knew that was coming. What we didn't know is that they're suspending their lawsuit against a Dutch journalist who wrote an article exposing complicity with Armstrong in his doping scheme. That 500 number came from Armstrong and turns out to be about 40% higher than the actual number of tests he took. More significantly, others cyclists have testified and the Dutch journalist wrote that the top tier of riders and their teams were given advance notice of tests. Worse, he wrote that the UCI buried positive test results from Armstrong and his teammates.
In an effort to reclaim some credibility the UCI also announced today that they're appointing an independent commission to investigate any inappropriate action by their personnel during that period of time. The goal is to have a report done by next June.
Real answers to history test questions:
- Romeo's last wish was to be laid by Juliet.
- Judyism had one big God named Yahoo.
- Hitler shot himself in the bonker.
- Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100 foot clipper.
- The mother of Jesus was Mary, who was different from other women because of her immaculate contraption.
- Satan Husane invaded Kiwi and Sandy Arabia.
1 comment:
It is a witch-hunt. But it's the type of witch hunt where, even though witchcraft was illegal 10 years ago, there was a blasé attitude toward it and the authorities winked and nudged. 10 years later, we don't like witchcraft after all and instead of cleaning it up from today forward, we'll go ahead and start cleaning it up 10 years ago.
Mike H
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