Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Under Honey's Hood

Fixing Honey. Oct. 2.
Don't get me wrong. I truly love Honey, my 1984 recreational vehicle.

She's brought me 1,300 miles so far on my trip.

But sometimes I think she'll let any dude with a wrench under her hood.

I was the lucky guy last Saturday.

Shapiro Hardware, Bleeker and Lafayette.
While lost on the New Jersey Turnpike and several other highways Thursday night, I heard a loud cracking sound after we went over a bump, and the 354 Ford engine suddenly sounded like a nitro-fuel dragster. Nothing to do at the time except try to get on the right road, find the right exit and make it back to the Liberty Harbor Marina and RV Park on Marin Boulevard in Jersey City.

The next morning, Friday, I crawled under Honey and saw the problem: The bolts that hold the donut clamp to the tail pipe and header had come lose, so the exhaust and sound were coming straight out of the header without the benefit of muffling. Loud. Really loud. The kind of loud that the people in cars next to you stare at you and even point.

All I had to do (I love that phrase) was buy more nuts, lock washers and bolts to reattach the donut clamp.

I  found a hardware store in Greenwich Village at the corner of Lafayette and Bleeker, where I bought what 5 needed. Of course it's all prepackaged, so now I have ten of each.

Saturday morning I crawled back under Honey and re-secured the donut clamp.

Someone even took a picture.

Just another guy who eats problems for breakfast.

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