View allAll Photos Tagged work
His shoulders are slouched his tie is loose,
Judging by his face, you'd think he'd be facing the noose.
But it's work that causes him to feel like this
He starts at nine and his mood is far from bliss
Our Daily Challenge: Nine
Photos posted to link to this car's project thread on the Cadillac message boards.
Wow, I think this marks my greatest length of thread-neglect! Almost 5 months! This isn't the new normal though, I will have some time again to work on the car and clear out my parts shelf which once again is getting a little cluttered with the crap I buy on ebay.
I have not done much to the car since my last update besides drive it until the first snow in December. The alternator remains un-rebuilt. Fortunately (?) I made a discovery that the noise I was hearing under certain conditions was not the alternator at all, so it won't need anything besides diode replacement (coming soon).
Now, I did find where the noise was coming from-one of the A.I.R. check valves had failed and sounded something like an accordion for a few minutes when the car was restarted hot. The A.I.R. system switches between two modes of operation-one in which the pump pushes air into the exhaust manifolds, and another in which air gets shot into the catalytic converter-both of which help to keep emissions down. The mode selected depends on what conditions the ECM sees. The check valves keep the boiling hot dirty exhaust from flowing into the hoses and pump which would ruin them in short order-ironically kind of like a diode! In my case, the check valve for the exhaust manifold had failed or was beginning to and on a hot restart the air from the pump would disturb it to create that annoying noise. So it needed to be replaced. Here is the part in question in case you have never heard of/seen it (I didn't)
It is in the vicinity of the power module
The little bastard screws onto a "T" fitting that looked more like plumbing equipment than an auto part to me. On each side of the T, there is a metal line that runs to each exhaust manifold. Clean air flows through the check valve when the switching valve directs air to it.
While the two lines came off easily, the check valve itself was stuck like you would not believe. The tee fits into a 7/8ths wrench, and the captured nut on the valve is 1 inch, and using my two largest wrenches on each with every ounce of strength I had I was only able to break them loose after soaking in transmission fluid for a few days. And even then just barely.
The exact part number of the failed valve was not available so I substituted another one that was otherwise identical. I suspect the differences in part numbers (there are a ton of them) have to do with unique backpressures for every engine configuration GM made across all their cars. I bought one spec'd for a 307 Olds V8, which I figure is as close to the 4100 in terms of back pressure as I could get. Could be totally wrong on that too. Anyway, it no longer makes the noise!
Now the other part of the A.I.R. system is for the catalytic converter. The check valve on this one was good, and I suspect it lives a much easier life than the one for the manifolds as it is not subjected to the high pressures or heat. But it needed love too, when I had the catalytic converter changed, the shop cut off the end of the pipe which entered the old bead converter at a 90 degree angle and used high temperature hose to make the connection.
I can't say I was happy with the way it looked but it seemed to do the job. Except that when braking or accelerating hard, the hose would allow the metal tubing (now loose) to move back and forth which made for an annoying knock. I wasn't sure what to do but I was certainly surprised when I learned Rockauto still stocks this pre-bent metal tubing unique for the 84-85 Eldorado. Go figure. I ordered it and when it arrived, I was disappointed to discover that it lacked the mounting bracket that goes up near the engine. So I ended up taking my old and new tube to a welder who transferred the bracket to the new one for me.
I also put a new check valve on it. Note that this valve lacks the captured nut. That is a catalytic converter check valve and it is physically smaller than the one for the manifold. They thread size is the same, but the nipple is the part that won't allow you to put the other diameter hose on it.
Here it is mounted to the "new" cat. I have to spin that clamp at the Y fitting, it should face the passenger side. Bah shops! So, that concludes today's edition of what invisible repair I managed to waste my time and money on!
My desk at work. Left some notes to explain. I have a Dell computer setup to the left out of the frame. Best part: This was shot with my new Tokina 12-24 lens at 1/20 hand-held after some tips from award-winning phtographer Dale Omori. LARGE
Well, kind of...this is the building I've worked in for just over nine years, in November we moved just over the road to a fab old terraced house.
Riding in the back of the truck on the way back from delivering a water sanitization lesson to a small group of Pashtun men living in Pul-e Charki, which is populated mainly by Pashtun internally displaced peoples.
The building we delivered the training in is a very accessable community clinic for that area. There are 13,000 people in its catchment area and it caps its patients at around 40 per day to try to ration the medicinal supplies, which come in on a donation basis to supplement the clinic's very meager annual medicine budget.
The guy running the clinic is a very impressive doctor trained in Pakistan and currently working for an Afghan NGO named Muslim Hands. You can tell the doctor really cares about the community. He explained in detail the painstaking protocols they have to give patients the best care over the long-haul, from organizing the day-to-day of the clinic, to implementing policies such as capping patient counts, to proper file-keeping on patients. This is a major feat in an area without easy access to many of the basic things such as folders, chairs, printers, etc. that make such systems possible. There was a lot of work put into the very basic thought processes of the clinic and I am glad that Muslim Hands have taken the project over.
There is a garden at the clinic that was started by one of the people from my NGO murdered in Badakhshan in the summer of 2010. Her memory lives on in the garden, which Muslim Hands is continuing to water and protect. The apricots we ate from the trees today were still sour unlike those farther north where, ironically, the weather is warmer due to proximity to deserts and to lower altitude, and thus where apricot season has already come and gone.
Jalalabad Road was bombed by the Taliban a few weeks ago when Obama arrived to sign the big agreement with Karzai. Today it was beautiful and relatively peaceful, despite the massive military-industrial complexes such as are visible on both sides of the road in this photo. My biggest worry was just my glasses flying off since we were driving so fast!
No rest for the busy artist.
An image showing you a glimpse into how I work. Once the 27 inch screen comes out.. you know I mean business !!
CANNOT WAIT to get this done !!
Cleaning the undergrowth on the streets, even little kids help.
Photo by Marlon del Aguila Guerrero/CIFOR
If you use one of our photos, please credit it accordingly and let us know. You can reach us through our Flickr account or at: cifor-mediainfo@cgiar.org and m.edliadi@cgiar.org
This is a close up of one of my shoes at work. From the layers of paint, you can see how sloppy I get at times..
The ancient necropolis of Dahshur is renowned for two of the oldest and best preserved pyramids in Egypt, both built by pharaoh Sneferu of the 4th Dynasty, c2600BC.
It is here at Dahshur that the familar form of the straight-sided pyramid was first refined, the earliest being the step pyramid of King Djoser at nearby Saqqara (part of the same necropolis and visible from here). A second pyramid at Meidum (much further south) initially followed this same stepped form, but was modified by filling in the steps to give a smooth diagonal surface, the weight of which proved too great a burden for the structure and large parts collapsed. Meidum pyramid was believed to have been started by pharaoh Huni, but continued by his successor Sneferu, who after this ill fated venture turned his attention to a new site at Dahshur.
The first pyramid here is known as the Bent Pyramid owing to the dramatic change of angle halfway up it, which is the result of the building being started at too steep a gradient, and with growing structural instability as work progressed and mindful of the collapse at Meidum the decision was made to lower the angle for the upper parts giving this pyramid its unique form. Behind it is a small satellite pyramid (in a more ruinous condition) probably intended for Sneferu's queen.
Sneferu then learned from these mistakes and built a second pyramid nearby sloping at a much lower (and structurally safer) angle. It is not only the first complete smooth-sided pyramid but also the third largest in Egypt (after those of Khufu and Khafre at Giza). The name 'Red Pyramid' refers to the exposed sandstone of the massive structure, which originally would have been covered by a smooth white facing stone which was quarried away in early medieval times. Whilst the Red Pyramid is now externally denuded, much of this facing however still remains on the nearby Bent Pyramid, and no other Egyptian pyramid retains so much of its original outer surface.
The Red Pyramid is believed to have been Sneferu's final resting place but the tomb itself was robbed out in antiquity. Visitors may enter the sequence of corridors and rooms that lead to the burial chamber, and admire the dramatically tapering corbelled ceilings within. The interior of the Bent Pyramid is off limits to visitors, beings more difficult to access with a complex internal layout.
There are further pyramids surrounding the Dahshur necropolis, all later, smaller scale structures from the Middle Kingdom that are now far more ruinous and look as much like mounds or natural outcrops. The most notable and prominent is the Black Pyramid of Amenemhet III, of which only the heavily eroded mass of the mud-brick core remains, looking more like a natural rock-formation, Like Sneferu, Amemenhet III was also dissatisfied with his first pyramid and frustrated by structural problems, so built a larger second one much further south at Hawara for his final repose.
Dahshur's pyramids were for many years off limits to tourists owing to their proximity to a military zone, and on our previous visit to Egypt we could only gaze at their tantalising distant silhouettes from nearby Saqqara. Now the site is happily accessible again, and whilst only the Red Pyramid may be entered to be finally able to get so close to these awesome structures is more than enough reward.
After many years of delay, the wooden sleeper track on the Portsmouth direct main line has been replaced in a 3-day occupation, replacing 1200 yards of plain track.
This Sunday morning view shows new concrete sleepers being positioned with 66847 on the up line with Salmons being unloaded and bass wagons with some additional sleepers / back loading with the wooden baton separators used between the levels of new sleepers.
Sunday 6 November 2022
This is what my desk looked like when I came back from a long weekend. My team thinks, since I play a Tauren druid in WoW, I should have some mates around me during the day.