Hi everyone Long time since I've posted. Hope everyone is well. We had some great snow for awhile here in Illinois, but it appears to be all rain now. The boys and I have been heavy into snowmobiling, so I took a few pictures of the sleds but made sure to get the boat in there, too, so it is a legit post for hydrodyners! I do have some plans for the boat, including removal and re-installation of the rubrail and maybe a stereo, but probably won't get to it until closer to spring. Is anyone still using a Hydrodyne this time of year? California? Florida? How about some pictures for us northern perma-frost types? Best Markbano
Oh... and while I'm at it... I missed the "what is everyone doing" post. I have been working on fixing up some snowmobiles for the boys and I. I've bought some older, not-very-expensive sleds so of course they needed some work. I've been pretty lucky. Until now... I bought a 1990 Ski Doo and it made it about 500 ft before cooking a piston on the left side. Oh well. I've attached a few pictures of my pain...
It is actually part of the house so it is the same temperature as the house. There is plumbing (bathroom, utility rooms, and a bar) so it has to stay heated. I tend to putz around in the evenings so I keep it warm. My heating bills are depressing.
Nice new Escalade Mark! You and Bob have got good tastes in vehicles.... I take it that was the replacement after the wife got in her accident. Greg
Escalades make great tow vehicles. I just love mine. Attached is a picture of my shop area. I heat it with a 125,000 B.T.U. unit (hanging heater) and cool it with a 28,000 B.T.U. air conditioner. I keep the heat at 50 degrees and kick it up when I'm out there working. Without it, working out there in these cold Mid-West winter temps would be brutal. Like Mark, I don't look forward to my montly gas bills, but as the old saying goes... "if you want to play you have to pay !! " Bob
I replaced my 10 year old Camaro SS with a Cadillac STS this summer. When I went to pick it up, my wife saw this Platinum Escalade and decided she needed the 5 TV's. They wouldn't deal on it, because apparently the dealership only had one extended length Platinum to sell. So I said "No." I was overruled, and it went home with us. She believed that this vehicle, with more TV's than kids, would allow each kid to play their own video games, which would bring us peace and harmony in our travels. Didn't work. They still try to kill each other in the car. Anyway, she doesn't drive it much. We fixed the old Chevy Suburban and she drives that most of the time. The kids and I used it to go up north and fetch the boat Labor Day weekend, and enjoyed the ride. I have slowly been convincing my wife to drive it. She bought it, and then is afraid to drive it. She parks it in the hangar because she's scared to pull it into the garage, which has single garage doors. She has removed a side mirror or two from the Suburban pulling it in and out of the garage so.... probably just as well! My STS is black. I tried to talk Lisa into a matching black Escalade EXT but I lost that argument because she wanted this gussied up, floating living room. It has some interesting features, some of which I haven't taken the time to figure out yet. And the 6.2 litre engine turns out a pathetic 12 MPG but gets two tons of vehicle to 60 in a heartbeat. Hard to beat this thing for a large SUV, particularly with the magnetic ride control. If you drive it back to back with a Lexus LX470 and a Navigator, you won't be sitting around scratching your head trying to figure out which one you want. I'm sure Bob came to the same conclusion. Great minds, after all... think alike... :good: It is actually interesting, as I've traded E-Mails with folks on this website, how much many of us have in common. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone sometime.
Bob Love the shop! Why can't I keep mine that nice? Mine looks like a tornado hit it. I'm looking to buy a glass bead blaster and it looks like you have a nice one. Can you recommend a specific brand?
From the first pic in this post, it looks like you are going easy on the wrenching lubricant. Must be a long day
The tear down was only a two beer job. The rebuild is where lubrication is most important. For some reason, the oil line for the oil injection was kinked and the engine wasn't getting oil. The machine had been sitting for two years and apparently that was enough to cause the slow trickle of oil through the kink to become blocked, so it used up the remaining oil in the line and then tore the pistons up. I'm boring them from 69.5mm to 70.0mm and putting in new pistons and rings for 20 thousandths over. I have a gift for spending pointless energy fixing things that probably should be thrown away. However, in this case, I just bought the stupid thing so I refuse to face reality. It will run again... and it is very likely I won't remember the rebuild much.
