To The Metal

So since I’ve been driving a VW for nearly a week now, I’ve come to notice waves from other VW drivers, compliments from quite a few unexpected places (like the owner of a Shelby Cobra), etc… Today I pull through Unionville and out of nowhere this asshole in a turbo Jetta comes right up on my rear bumper. In a hatchback, that’s REAL fuckin close. I had taken one or two turns quick when I first saw him barreling up behind me, but then once he was on my bumper I realized this guy is really a friggin asshole. So I come up on an old Ford station wagon and hit the brakes… He immediately snaps off my rear bumper and stays back. I still ended up pulling off onto a back-road when I didn’t have to, the guy just made me nervous. Seriously, I get the comeraderie(sp?) between VW owners, but when the hell did that include nearly driving another one off the road? Ass.

What the HELL?

Kinda funny, I’m 25 and I just realized why my parents always bugged me to pick up my toys when I was a little kid. Now I remember and start putting stuff back where I got it, keeps things a bit cleaner around the home and office. Yea, sounds stupid but it’s kinda funny it took me 20 years to figure out such a simple lesson.

What the hell is the world coming to when simply starting up Winamp displays a Goddamned popup?

For the longest time I have been a through and through Dodge fan. I still am. However, being a Dodge fan has cost me a LOT of money over the past 10 years. I kept getting into the same situations, car is out of warranty, i’ve still got years of payments, and I’m pouring cash into it at an obscene rate. Now could I have just poured the money in, gotten everything fixed, and still been making payments on something that is out of warranty and exceedingly worth less every day… Or I could just invest my money in something that will hold its value and is under warranty.

My weapon of choice? A new ’05 VW GTI. Ok, now wipe all that coffee or soda you just spat all over your keyboard. Back when I was looking to sell off my first Intrepid, I had looked at the VW as a viable alternative. However back then I couldn’t afford it. When my favorable opinion of my Neon was fading, again I looked at VW but couldn’t afford it.

So here I am in a pretty shitty situation, yes I love my Dodge, but it is bankrupting me, literally. VW worked with me, paid off my Dodge loan and together we worked out a payment plan that will allow me to continue saving towards other goals (a new condo for example) and provide me steady predictable payments as well as a car which will hold its value through the time that I’m repaying the loan.

I’m still a Dodge fan, they’ll always be my favorite cars, but it was time for a change. Going by the number of older VW’s on the road still in great shape, I’m sure I’ll be happy with my decision for years to come.

That, and the thing is fast as fuck. HAH!

So last night I install the new K&N FIPK (Fuel Injection Performance Kit) and take the Dodge out for a spin. The acceleration in the car across the range is unbelievable, the sound from the intake is intoxicating, and overall the thing just woke up the demon under my hood.

Course, what do we all do when we first wake up?

I pop the hood to check and make sure everything is still tight as far as what I installed, and find oil on everything on the passenger side of the engine bay… like SOAKED. I couldn’t spot where it came from, the oil level was 1 quart low, and so I took it easy from that point on. I spent at least an hour on and under the car with my brother trying to determine where the leak was coming from with no luck. I ran out of sunlight and decided to bring it to the dealership the next morning. In the mean time I ran it past the folks at www.dodgeintrepid.net to see if they had any ideas…

Morning comes, I get up at 6:30, head out to the car and see that the hose from the breather to the intake had actually split, and there was some oil beneath the breather. Ok, is that the problem? I cut away the damaged and of hose and reattach it… Take the same route I did the night before, get home, and again there is oil running down the compressor, spattered everywhere.

I get to the dealership, hang out for an hour and they determine that it is “blow by.” Essentially the intake is creating a vacuum strong enough to pull oil from the crankcase and spit it all over the engine bay. No other leaks are there. They recommend bypassing the breather (install a hose and point it at a clean spot to see if oil comes out on its own) and block the intake bung. I do that, and sure enough no more oil. The guy at Napa suggests I check out the PCV valve, as if it or the hose running to it are clogged, it could possibly create the blow by situation I was experiencing. I checked the PCV and there seemed to be plenty of vacuum, but I replaced it anyhow. The PCV hose had a couple layers of gunk on it as well so I replaced that.

With the breather detached I drove into work, checked it again and it was still dry. Later on or tomorrow I will reconnect the new breather hose (less likely to split) and see if the problem pops up again. Hopefully it shouldn’t. Now I’d like 1 day to go by without me getting under the hood of my car. Please?

I finally took delivery on my new intake system today for the Dodge. I’m eagerly anticipating doing something to my car which doesn’t involve fixing anything. It’s supposed to put about 9 more hp to the ground, I’ve heard that it could be up to 13 from other R/T owners, so we’ll see. Still, anywhere I went to buy one wanted $350. I picked it up from www.cardomain.com for $227 total. Took a bit of time to get, but the wait was worth saving $125.

The A/C didn’t seem to be blowing as cold as it should have, so I picked up a can of refrigerant which came with a pressure gauge, and the A/C showed its pressure to be at the halfway point (25psi) under load, and at the base of where it should be when the compressor was off. I added enough so that at peak it was at 45psi (max of the range) and at 25psi while not under load. Car cools down like the frikkin arctic now. I may end up needing components at some point as it is a closed system and unless there’s a leak somewhere, it shouldn’t lose charge…but if $20 will get me through the rest of the summer and then some, I’ll worry about it later. Besides, the refrigerant has some sort of stop-leak in it.

On Tuesday evening while returning home from Ozzfest, my passenger side front window stopped working again. It had done it in the past, and eventually sorted itself out after a brief failure. This time it had no intention of working, and I was pricing out all the various parts that may have needed replacement (ie window regulator, regulator motor, etc…). Before I started that shotgun approach however, I shuffled on over to Radio Shack and picked up a multi-tester. Nifty little device automatically detects the range I’m looking at and spits out the voltage in a digital display. So I first check and make sure that with the switches hooked up, the motor is getting voltage both up and down. Sure enough it does. My trusty Haynes manual then tells me if both switches have no effect, to detach the window from the regulator and make sure it doesn’t bind up. I hook the motor back up, hit the switch, and the damned window goes down. The window is working fine. So I take the switch off, and test for continuity, sure enough the switch was defective. $14 later I had a working power window again.

Next fix was the dashboard lamps. I already lost the fuel gauge lamp, after replacing it (which involves taking apart the whole frikkin dashboard) the temp gauge lamp went out. I finally bought a box of 8 type-168 bulbs and replaced all of them. Yay!

Sometimes driving back to the office is fun. I had to pick up a laptop that was out for repair today, so on the way back to the cube I’m stopped at the traffic light in front of Suresky’s. The road ahead is a 2 to 1 merge that is common for we few, we merry few, we band of stop-light bandits. So I see the Jeep next to me and shut off the A/C. It’s a 4.0l Wrangler so I know they’re light and torquey, should be fun. Light turns green and we both nail it, I’m pulling on him right away, the Jeep bucks violently as he hits the top of his range (mistake) and nails 2nd gear. I’m still pulling on him and he finally gives up after I’ve completely passed him. All the torque on those things is down low, he may have given me a better run by shifting a wee bit earlier into 2nd gear. Putz. Can’t wait to play when I finally install my Cold Air Intake this week… 🙂

Then I just slow down, apply my turn signal, and pull into the office.

Boy, don’t ya feel dumb now!

Just got back from the Warwick Drive-In… I haven’t been there for years, last time I was though, the sound quality was crap and it only came through on one channel. I was suprised tonight that when watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the sound was actually high-fidelity stereo. Even more spiffy than that, I made it to my driveway and was able to hear the start of “War Of The Worlds” which was the 2nd film in the double-feature. I’d already seen that twice and well, I have work in the morning… Still, the old transmitter used to crap out maybe 3/4 of a mile from the drive-in.

Just caught wind of this story via Michelle Malkin regarding the apparent “crashing” of a Marine funeral by PA’s Moonbat Lieutenant Governor.

Picture this… Family, Marines, local Police, all there to celebrate and remember the life of a brave Marine who was killed in Iraq… In comes the LG of PA, who sits beside a family member, hands them her card, and says “our Government” is against the war.

Right-wingers are all calling for an explanation, for an apology…I say we take a different page from the Liberal playbook…Tolerance.

Lets tolerate the stupidity. Decry it, but tolerate it. Every time a Liberal decides to take a stand they usually end up eating the microphone and losing elections. The more they do it to support the extremist base which supports them, the less support they get from everyone else…. “Everyone Else” being the majority which keeps putting Conservatives in office. Don’t waste time trying to get an explanation or an apology, that’s another Liberal trick which only works in hand with the media.

I wasn’t suprised when I read the report, I don’t see how anyone should be. It’s just another sign of the Left’s desperation as well as proof that all the happy little Libs got their votes worth.

Lt. gov. crashed Marine’s funeral, kin say