Tampa Bay Lightning Lost Tonight, But Not By Much!

We went to the game tonight (11/14/15) and we were able to sit in our season ticket member (STM) seats for the first time. We had selected a different location from last year and we are only 8 rows from the glass, near where the Zamboni comes out onto the ice. They were pretty good views and we watched a hard fought game from the Lightning, but the shootout is one of their weaker points, so the Florida Panthers won the game by scoring 1 point on TBL while their goalie didn't let one go by in the shootout. This was quite an enjoyable evening, and then we will head back to Amalie arena for a 'Skate With TBL Alumni" session tomorrow (11/15/15). I think we're going to stop by the Brandon Ice Forum first so I don't make a complete fool of myself. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 Taa-Daaaa! I did alright. Thought for sure I was gonna end up on my butt, but I was able to call upon my quad roller skating experience to make my way around the rink. The only problem I had was stopping...

A Little 'Surgery' On The Camaro

It has been some time since the Camaro was able to start with the key-fob remote, the reason being that the Check Engine light came on and the trouble code was P0449, which has to do with an electronic solenoid in the fuel vapor recovery circuit. I had to buy the whole section, to include the charcoal canister and the tubing, let alone the solenoid, which didn't make me happy. At least I was able to get a new part for about 1/2 the cost, but $70 for this thing was still a bit steep.

Needless to say, I spent the better part of today removing the exhaust, rear brakes and the whole rear-end from the car, just to get access above the sub-frame where the canister and solenoid assembly is mounted. As is usual for me, I decided that since I was working on the rear section, I might as well install the urethane suspension bushings in the sub-frame before reinstalling it.

Of course, I took some pictures, and here they are.

This is how I pulled the complete rear end out of the Camaro. The straps helped to keep the differential from rolling when I dropped it.

And the axle is out, so now I can get to the evap canister that's mounted above the axle.

The red circle shows where the canister is located.

The red circle shows the complete evaporative canister assembly, and the orange circle is the purge valve that failed. All of this work for such a little part.

What A Weekend!

Tampa Bay Heartwalk 

Luann & I did the Tampa Bay Heartwalk, which routes around the Buccaneer Stadium and north into Al Lopez Park for a 2-mile round-trip. Thing is, I just had to run it and go farther north into the park because there was a geocache that we hadn't found before. I had to climb a tree to get my hands on it and sign the logsheet, but I got it. I finally met up with Luann and her friends at the finish line and since I ran the whole route that I took, I was breathing hard like a greyhoud dog after a race.

Junkyard

Katrina and I made a run to the local junkyard to pick up some parts for the front end of her car and I ended up cutting my arm open. I put a shop rag on my arm and taped it up with black electrical tape to stop the bleeding, then here is our butterfly-stitch 'surgery'.

Here I am, shaving my 'fur' around the cut, which occurred while I was pushing a wheelbarrow with the parts for Katrina's car in it. As I walked along, I brushed up against a junker car with a sharp edge sticking out towards me, and it sliced me open in a heartbeat.

This is after the wound was thoroughly washed out with sterile saline solution then Betadine was rinsed over the cut after that. The Betadine is why my arm has a yellow color to it.

It took 2 butterfly stitches to hold the cut closed.

Finally, I used a non-stick pad to cover the butterfly stitches and wrapped it all up with surgical tape. Good to go!

Which is a good thing, because I still needed to install the parts in Katrina's car... Which, as you can see, I did.
Gotta do what I gotta do!

Draak Runs Out Of Water

Luann & Katrina had gone to the grocery store in the Camaro and they called me to say a warning lamp had turned on in the Camaro's dash saying it had over heated. I met them at a nearby gas station where they stopped and found that the radiator was almost empty. The girls bought some coolant and I put it in, then told them I would drive the Camaro home while they drove my Saturn. I didn't make but a quarter mile down the road before the warning light came on again. Come to find out, using the fill tank to add coolant is not the way to get coolant directly into the engine. I had to take the top cover off of the engine and found an outlet for adding coolant and 'burping' the air out of the system. After I did that (and the girls bought another gallon of coolant) the Camaro made it home with no temperature issue.

I wondered why the Camaro had lost so much coolant and I had my answer the next morning on the driveway. Turns out there is a small fitting bolted to the engine block for a cooling line to the heater that was leaking. I had to take the fitting off of the engine and make a new gasket, then replace an o-ring seal too. After it was all back together, the leak was gone.