Neanderpundit

and sometimes you’re wrong.

In a conversation with Mr Alger, we reminisced about the hot licks of Skunk Baxter. And it gave me pause, and I went back and had a “where are they now” moment, looking up old Skunk, and discovered this.

Money quote:

Mr. Baxter, who goes by the nickname “Skunk,” has become one of the national-security world’s well-known counterterrorism experts.

Damn. Amazing, I tellya. makes you want to call him up and say “hey, thanks for not being the fucktard most of the entertainment industry is” but he’s not an easy guy to find.

Still. Damn!

Here’s the balancer in question:

And here’s a copy with lines showing the “starting” and “Ending” position of the woodruff key.

Was hoping to finish assembly tonight, but an overturned truck on the tri-state insured I wouldn’t get home till 8:30. So it’ll be tomorrow. C’est la vie.

The good- best, news, actually, is that assuming she shakes out OK I have a spare vehicle again.

See, I have so DAMNED many people who bring their cars to me to be repaired etc. that it’s often necesary to have a “loaner” car, and now that my sister hs our Honda we were out a loaner for a long time. So until the Honda comes home, the Van is the “loaner” or spare car. It was great to have it to drive. And now that it’s the “loaner” I have a “spare” car, a safety net, that I’ve been nervous about NOT having for quite some time now.

The mech says it’s like a new one. I go to pick it up in a minute.

The harmonic balancer spun on the crankshaft. It was 32 degrees off. The harmonic balancer is what triggers the spark. So though I checked the spark wiht a timing light, there was no way to tell what the trouble was, because since the harmonic balancer’s encoder wheel controls the spark, it bears the same relationship with the spark/time position. SO though my timing light showed the spark occurring at the correct position on the balancer, it was in a totally WRONG orientation on the crankshaft.

No, nobody had any idea how it happened. Pictures will follow. The mechanic was confirming the timing chain (which was flawless- 288,000 miles on pure synthetic oils has kept the inside of the engine simon-pure) and found the balancer problem by accident. He considers himself lucky to have found it at all. He was about to give up and throw up his hands. he cut me a deal on the repair costs because he considered it a mission, after a while.

Anyway, I’m gonna drive the van another day, so i can go drive the truck around here 50, 60 miles close to the house before I take it on the road.

This is taking a big bite out of my credit, but it’ll be good to have the old girl home again.

Update: She’s home.

Ahhh.

Runs good. Lots of little new noises I need to address. Mostly squeaky idler pulleys.