THE GUN ROOM

Well the Lt.'s projects are all finished and I got a chance to work on my jobs.

I had three cars that were down and needed fixing. the first was my Jeep Wagoneer. The starter motor was Kaput. Turn on the key and it would just whirl, not go into the flywheel. No problem, I will just pull that sucker and drop a new one in. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.

Four days later the job is finally done.

FOUR DAYS? Yeah if you have one of these big Jeep station wagons you just have to love to work on them. First off I couldn't find the dang starter motor. I kept looking and looking and it had to be right next to the flywheel bulge. Finally I jacked it up and rolled under it and with a flashlight found the starter. It was so well hidden that I will never have to worry about anyone stealing it. But for me to get it out I had to take off the following.

1. Rock guard plate

2. Exhaust pipes (2)

3. Transmission cooling lines

4. Engine oil pan

5. Drive shaft

6. Fly wheel pan

Which ment that a new set of pan gaskets and 5 qts of oil and a filter had to be added to the total. And of course the cap came off one of the drive shaft spiders so all the little needle bearings went into the drive way. And then after putting the new starter motor in, I discovered that I could not put the pan back on. The oil intake would not let me roll the pan far enough to the left to get around the starter motor. So I had to take the starter motor out again. Then wire it up to the frame to keep it out of the way until I could get the pan on with out messing up the gaskets or the gasket cement. That left me with about 1/2 inch of clearance to get my fingers in with the bolt for the starter motor and how do you hold the bolt and then get the socket on it with your hand in the way. AHA a magnet on a stick. Well anyway it took me 4 days of work for a 2 hour job. And the $30 starter ended up costing about $100. But still, had I took it to a garage I would have been lucky to get out with $300 bill. Especially when I would have to pay for the rags, the oil disposal, the hazmat fee, the wear and tear on their wrenches etc.

So after a day of rest I was ready to tackle the '65' Ford which had a horrible gas leak and carburator problem. Figuring for the worst I took pictures of the carburator from 5 directions just in case I forgot where a spring went. I then took the pictures to a small parts dealer in Denver that specializes in classic Fords. It was in a nice neighborhood, under the freeway overpass so I slipped my mini-45 on my belt and had Duke the Dog jump in the shotgun seat for additional early warning. It must have been the day the gangs all fight in the park cause we had no problems. The fellow that operates the shop with his Dad looked at my pics and pulled down a box. Laid out an assortment of parts and said, "No problem, you need this gasket, these 'o' rings and these seals." I hesitatley asked him how much that was going to cost me.

" Seven dollars" he replied. I about fell on the floor. I asked again just to be safe cause my shot ears do not hear as well as they used too. $7 it was. So in two hours including the drive to Denver I had the Ford Converible ready to ride again. I expected that was all the luck I was going to get, but I gritted my teath and went to the little Honda Civic next. I had failed to start the last time I tried to drive it. Opening the hood, I looked first at the distributer and there was the problem. The wire to the outside of the distributer was broken. Run a extention cord to the Honda, plug in the soldergun and solder, wrap with tape and the little red baby started and purred like a kitten. Total 1 hour.

I AM ON A ROLL! So I think it is time to quit while I am ahead and head for the range.

Good idea but this morning we woke up to rain and 40 deg. RATS! Oh well that is the good part about being retired. As soon as the rain stops and the sun comes out, no matter what day of the week it is, I am going to the range. LOL That is as soon as my fingers,knuckles and hands heal from all the sharp edges under that Jeep.

Sarge