Mark Hayward Is My Hero

Summary: when resurfacing the manifold, leave the exhaust and intake manifolds bolted together.

1. So they will be the same thickness when you’re done
2. Because the bolts that hold them together are often rusted and will disintegrate and not go back together again later. You may have to drill and re-tap the hole, and use bigger bolts.

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Every maintenance saga starts off the same way: someone says something like, “Oh yeah, that should be an easy fix.” This time at least it wasn’t me who said it.

When I first got the engine running on my 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe I noticed that there was an imperfect seal between the engine block and the exhaust manifold. I could see little puffs of smoke coming out. If you’re not a car person, the exhaust manifold is a cast-iron branching tube that funnels the exhaust out of the engine and into the exhaust pipe. I mentioned the leak to my friend Devin, and he was the one who said the famous last words this time, “It’s easy to replace that gasket. You don’t even have to take the manifold all the way off to do it.”

So I bought a new gasket, loosened the nuts on the manifold, slid out the old gasket, and slid in the new one. Easy. Except that it didn’t fix the problem.

I mentioned it to the guys at one of the meetings of the 3 Rivers Region Model A Ford Restorer’s Club and was told that I might have to have my manifold resurfaced. Apparently this is a common problem with Model A Ford manifolds. After a while the flat surfaces that are supposed to be perfectly flush with the side of the engine block get warped and no longer make a good seal. Fortunately Keith Waltower is in our club, and he is a very experienced mechanic of old cars. He told me of a NAPA shop down in Belle Vernon PA that had a giant belt sander that could do the resurfacing more quickly, easily, and cheaper than taking it to a machine shop. Apparently a lot of the cost of getting a part machined is in the set-up, and with a giant belt sander there would be no set-up.

I was trying to get the car ready to drive for a 4th of July parade in Cannonsburg with the Model A club in a couple of days, so I was in a bit of a hurry to get the job done. The place that Keith mentioned was about a 45 minute drive from my house, so I made a few calls to see if I could get the resurfacing done somewhere a little closer to home. Most places couldn’t do it soon enough, and they wanted about $80. So off I went to Belle Vernon with my exhaust manifold. In hind-sight I now know that this is where I made a critical mistake. You may even know what it is if you’re a Model A person, and we’ll get back to it later. (more…)

I got a call as we were driving home to Pittsburgh from the Midwest for a last-minute gig for the Sheetz Company. They have a big meeting coming up and the CEO wanted to have a fun video as an introduction to his big speech. Since the theme is “road trips”, he is going on an adventure-filled road trip in a go-kart with a racing suit and helmet on. My job was to be him when he pops into a Sheets convenience store for snacks and coffee.

Poised with my juggling-sandwiches.

Lookin’ good!

So I juggled sandwiches, grabbed snacks off the shelf with a juggler’s flair, and I even ordered a drink off the touch-screen ordering system while tossing a sandwich into the air with one hand, and holding a whole mess-o-snacks in the other. It was fun. I have to say that I was very impressed at how easy it was to order my drink. If I can do it while repeatedly tossing a sandwich into the air and catching it again with one hand while wearing a racing helmet, then I think the average Joe should be able do it under more normal circumstances. We finished the shoot with me balancing a stack of something like 10 cups and walking out the door. I tried to do it as a real balance, but the cup lids were too squishy, so we had to use gaffer’s tape to stick them together. After the juggling sequence I believe the CEO is going to bust out and do a little break-dancing (with someone else in the suit).

Things I learned while doing this video shoot:

• If you walk into a convenience store with a racing suit on, everyone will stare at you.
• I no longer care if everyone stares at me.
• Racing helmets get fogged up on the inside if you wear them for things other than driving a race car.
• Despite having a camera crew pointed at you, normal people will always think there is coffee in that giant stack of cups you are balancing.
• Some people get scared when a man in a racing helmet comes running at them while juggling three sandwiches.
• Wearing a racing suit in public makes you feel like a super-hero.

Sheetz Inc. seems like a fun company, so I hope I get to work with them again.

Three days after the giant fur wad, I brushed this pile out of my dog. I could’ve gotten more too if he hadn’t been so interested in those stupid squirrels. Also in the picture is the rake that I use to brush him.

This is from just one brushing. No trick photography or fur-fluffing here either. That wad of fur really is bigger than his head. I am astonished at how much fur came out of my dog in the course of an hour. Normally he takes several days to lose his coat, but this seems to be most of it in one go. The fur wad is from yesterday; I brushed him again tonight, and while some more came out, it is negligible in comparison.

I wasn’t sure what to do with the giant fur wad, so I put it in a bag with a note that said, “With love, from Vader” and hung it on the neighbors door handle. We’ll see if they think that is funny.

Zephyr, Wylie, and Vader

This week I’m house-sitting and dog-sitting while I’m in Milwaukee performing at the WI State Fair. I always stay with my mother-in-law for Milwaukee gigs. It’s awesome. Partly because I can bring my dog (he gets along really well with Lynn’s dog), but also because it’s so much nicer and more comfortable than staying in a hotel for 11 days. This year Lynn and my wife decided that it would be a good time to take a trip. They are off in Yellowknife Canada (WAY up there, almost to the Arctic Circle), and at the same time my sister-in-law and her family went on vacation too (without their dog). So here I am with three dogs. It’s just four guys hanging out. Not much talking going on, but there’s lots of sniffing and wrestling. It’s pretty great.

When working at the fair my hours can be pretty variable, but basically I am home a little after six or seven each evening. Monday was my first night where it was just the dogs and me. On my way home from the fair I had meant to stop at the store to pick up a couple of things. The reason to do it on the way home is so that I didn’t get the dogs all riled up with my arrival, and then immediately leave them again, thus making them more crazy. But I was already home and didn’t want to leave the dogs again, so it was time for a bachelor adventure in the car. Two of the dogs (Vader and Zephyr) are fine off leash as long as there are no bunnies around, and the third dog (Wylie) has to be on-leash all the time. I put Wylie on-leash and the four of us got in the car and went off to the store.

It was a nice, quick little adventure, and we were pulling back in to the driveway in 15 minutes. As I pulled in I saw that there was a bunny sitting within 6 inches of the edge of both the street and the driveway. I rolled Vader’s window up enough so that he wouldn’t jump out, and he gave that bunny the major “I’m gonna eat you” stink-eye. Amazingly, even with Vader leering directly overhead, the bunny didn’t move. We got to the end of the driveway at the back of the house, and forgetting about the bunny, I got out and opened the door for the dogs. Vader had not forgotten. I was reaching for Wylie so I could put the leash on him when Vader made a break for the bunny at the front of the house. My momentary distraction of trying to call Vader back meant that I missed Wylie’s collar, and then Zephyr got past me as well. Three dogs on the hunt. It was 9pm, and the street was dark so I didn’t think there would be any car traffic, but it was warm enough that the neighbors had their windows open, so I was trying to not yell too loudly to get the dogs back. Big surprise, that didn’t work.

The bunny sprinted across the street and under the neighbor’s porch. Vader and Wylie were in pursuit, and when Wylie got right up next to the neighbor’s window he let out one of his astonishingly loud, blood-curdling bark-howls. And then another. And then another. In a matter of moments Wylie’s bark-howls and my yelling had all four neighbors out of their houses. I had gotten Zephyr by the collar, and I was trying unsuccessfully to get Vader and Wylie under control. The neighbors, who I had never met before, were all very nice and helped me get Wylie on-leash. Since I only had the one leash with me, I got the other two dogs excited about running home with me, and we were off as I called a thank you and an apology to the neighbors. It was more than a little embarrassing.