Pixel Perfect

I've been working on getting the Midget up and running, but more on that later. I'm just happy one of my cars are on the road. I think as long as that's the case, I'll be happy.

I had washed the Mini last Friday because a man from the insurance company stopped by to take a looksee. They're currently coming up with a value for the car and needed to take photos. I hope they come up with a reasonable figure.

Anyway, I snapped some photos myself and ended up making this wallpaper for my desktop. Though the car is in excellent condition, I ended up doing a good deal of Photoshopping.

Enjoy!

EDIT: The quality seems to have been comprimised quite a bit during the upload. Please view the image here.

May the Sunrise Bring Hope Where it Once Was Forgotten

I think I've fixed one of my problems. I was looking around in the forums last night and came across a poster who said he and his friends just go to a bike shop when they need to replace a throttle cable. I went to one this morning with my old cable and they looked at me like I had four eyes. I also hit up a foreign car parts store that was caddy corner to the bike shop that I never new existed. He was at a loss as well.

So I shifted my efforts to the Midget. As I was trying to get it started, the mailman (who owns a Reliant and other road legal three-wheelers) stopped and gave me a hand for a while. What a super nice guy. Unfortunately, we weren't successful. But I mentioned about the throttle cable, and he, too, suggested a bike shop. He recommended Bike Line on Schoenersville. Now these guys were much nicer and more willing to help me. I ended up walking out with a wire and sheath for 7 bucks. A cap goes on each side of the cable which holds it in place at the firewall and at the carb bracket. So I had to remove those from the old one. Crimping them on didn't work (the caps were cracking) so they're held on with electrical tape right now. I took it for a short spin and it seems to be working pretty good.

I'm still going to order a new throttle cable and keep it on hand in case I ever need it. And maybe I can treat myself to a new shifter knob. Both items are real cheap but I'll see what it turns out to with the S&H.

Also, I never mentioned that I received my wheel caps from the seller and the registration from the notary. I'll fit on  the caps and remove my stupid temporary registration from the window this afternoon.

Mo Problems

Well, I was off to a good start with the Mini. But last weekend I noticed a pretty bad fuel leak coming from the carburetor area. I tracked it down to the tube that carries the fuel from the float bowl of the carburetor to the carburetor itself (it's part of the jet assembly.) There was a decent size slice in it. I removed the carburetor and ordered up a new part. After a painful 5 days, I finally received it today. I was able to get the new  assembly on and started putting the carb back on piece by piece. However, I noticed the throttle cable was in pretty bad shape. I cleaned it up the best I could by trimming some of the loose braids. I got everything else hooked up and fired it up. It seemed to be running okay. But after depressing the accelerator pedal, it didn't want to return completely on its own. The RPMs never returned back to a normal idle unless I manually adjusted the cable/linkage.

So the next thing I need to do is order a new cable. Luckily, this item is cheap. And it's only 1 wrench out of 5 wrenches in my manual's difficulty rating, so I think I can handle it okay.

This wouldn't be so bad on its own. But this morning when I was starting out to work, the Midget started to backfire pretty bad out the exhaust. And it was running rough. This is very disheartening as I just spent a boatload of money getting it fixed up (valve job, tune-up, new water pump, new air cleaners, smog equipment removal, and some other things). My Dad has kept me hopeful by suggesting it may just be water in the gas (it sat for a long time and is close to empty) or possibly a vacuum leak somewhere. But I don't know. As of now, both cars are out of commission and it's supposed to be a very nice weekend.

Although I certainly don't regret buying either car, I'm beginning to reconsider things. If it isn't an easy fix, I may have to put the Midget on the back burner for a bit. I've thought about getting something cheap that I wouldn't mind driving when both cars are off the road, but three vehicles would be CRAZY, right?. I've been toying with the idea of getting a cheap scooter, but then I'd have three "impractical" (I absolutely hate that word) vehicles. My smart fortwo will also arrive at the dealership any day now. But I'll probably go through with orphaning it as planned.

Oh yeah. So I had ended up taking my grandfather's van to work this morning after the backfiring fiasco, and it stalled 3-4 times en route. It wouldn't have been so bad if it started right up afterwards, but it didn't. I'm sure I pissed off a lot of people this morning. No honks though.

The good wouldn't be as good without the bad though. Right?