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| Finally Moving Again | Short Cuts | ||||
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By: George Reiswig - 8/2002
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Note to Readers |
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I'll bet you're wondering where we've been. Well, we finally got to hit some trails, so we've been more out of touch than when we were hotelling nights and wrenching days. To us, that's a good thing -- trails are better than hotels! Hopefully you'll bear with us, and keep on tracking us as we go. Here are some updates from our recent adventures, and thanks again for 'tuning in.' With the blur of a week spinning wrenches, and in anticipation of longer gaps between civilization and telephone connectivity, I don't know what day of the trip it is. I think I'll give up on that system, if you don't mind: too difficult to keep track... |
Last night, or rather this morning, Fred and I finally got to go to sleep after firing Grog up for the first time following the cylinder head reinstallation. Oh, pardon me... I have to go answer some more questions from gawkers.
There now, where was I? Oh, yes. Anyway, it was a difficult night. We spent a long day working alongside Ron Sutherland to get the head installed, new bolts torqued, valves adjusted, oil change, water filled, etc. We finally got it started, and running, but only after messing up the #1 bore of the fuel pump up trying to time the engine, in an effort to ensure that timing wasn't contributing to our burned pistons. Er, that is to say that bad timing wasn't a factor, not that messing up the pump was. You know what I mean. Anyway, you have to remove some of the small parts from that cylinder to drip-time the start of the injection pulse. If you ever have cause to do this, we have a hint: use a weak magnet, not a strong one. A strong magnet pulls the plunger up, too, loosening it from the teeth that it oh-so-carefully, must mesh. Skip a tooth and you're in trouble.
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| Threading those l-o-n-g pushrods back in was devilishly difficult. This picture shows the inverted reach-around style, with a Canadian twist. |
We weren't sure that anything was particularly wrong with the fuel pump until it had a chance to run for a bit. Then it became obvious. A knock emanated that sounded like someone armed with a sledgehammer trying to get out of the engine, causing Fred's and my eyes to go as wide as saucers. Only Ken and Ron seemed unconcerned. After a couple of minutes of expecting a piece of the block to fly out, they had me shut it down. The hammering was the #1 cylinder -- thanks to the fuel pump problem, it was hugely out of time.
Ken Schultz had some experience working with pumps, and with the deftness of a brain surgeon, finally managed to finagle the parts back together. Once, twice, then at least a third time until it was in the right place, but at last the plunger was properly indexed. The truck ran properly.
We re-timed it, trying to make sure that we were erring on the side of later injection so that it would run cool, then packed up, thanked the crew at PGT&E, and headed out on the road....
Yesterday, the Coast Mountain Crawlers Club from Terrace, B.C. started their weekend of offroading without us. Jim Goodwin had contacted me, but we just weren't going to be ready in time. However, hopefully we'll hook up with the group tomorrow, Sunday. It's a 3-day weekend here this week (Monday being B.C. day, of course), and we should have a day or two of good trails with these patient people from the Coast Mountain Crawlers. They are going to be trying to help us to find them once we get to Telkwa tomorrow.
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| Purifying water in camp with General Ecology's water filtration system. |
In the meantime, we are at a campsite near Fraser Lake. The mosquitoes here are infinitely less numerous than their smaller, more aggressive cousins in Blue River. The size makes them easier to smack. The fact that we aren't choking on them is a good sign. I am still apprehensive about proceeding north after hearing the experienced diesel mechanics at Prince George Truck & Equipment groan upon seeing cracks in the head, then damage in the bores, then burns on the pistons, but what's the worst that could happen, eh? (Don't answer that.)
Speaking of eh, eh? Those of us who are old enough to remember Bob and Doug McKenzie might come to Canada expecting to be told to take off. We might (perhaps even appropriately) be labeled as hosers. Beauty, eh? To the surprise of nobody who is one shade lighter than ignorant, all these phrases in Canada have gone the way of groovy in the United States. All except one, that is...
Eh remains, and is heavily used. It is used as a prompt of sorts, notifying the listener that a response to the preceding comment is invited and expected.
Nice day, eh?
Sure, yah, you betcha.
I like it, and I found it molded itself to the linguistic center of my brain despite my best efforts to keep it at bay. I hope that the locals take no offense at my adoption. Despite the fact that some expressions are forbidden in proper English, such as the word y'all, I can see ample reason to adopt them. English has no discernable second person plural, so why not make one? Similarly, instead of relying on a flippant rise in pitch at the end of a sentence to indicate a question, why not put in something more obvious, eh? I like it.
So... tomorrow we'll try to catch up to the Coast Mountain Crawlers, run some trails, and have some fun after a solid week of working in a shop all day. I am so grateful to have met Ken, Ron, and all the people at PGT&E, but I am happy to leave their friendly shop. And now, Fred, Charlie, and all the rest of us intend to catch up on some much-needed, well-deserved sleep. After we play a bit of guitar and see how many lyrics we've forgotten. Goodnight, y'all, eh?
| Related Links |
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North by Northwest Expedition: - Introduction - Sponsor List - Reviews - Photo Galleries Before Departure Shakedown Cruise Lower British Columbia More Lower British Columbia Busted in BC BC with Coast Mountain Crawlers Upper British Columbia Almost Alaska |
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