All About The Town

Ethanol-free gas in Magnolia!

Golden Gardens upper parking

Golden Gardens at sunset

Seattle Art Museum

Pioneer Square

Southside Commons in Columbia City

Seattle PI Globe

Road Trip!!

To and from Auburn, that is.  The Hondamatic handled well.  Only at the last 30 seconds of the trip, right before I pulled up to the curb I heard an awful CLU-CHUNK  from the middle of the car.  I couldn't even imagine what it could be, but the Hondamatic continued on just fine.  I got home, deposited Itsy in my room, took a flashlight and went back to investigate.  All I found around the area where I heard the sound what a shredded rubber ring, like a seal of some kind.  I don't know if it belonged to the Hondamatic or not and nothing is leaking.  I'll have to check in the daylight again.

But here are some of the Hondmatic's journeys today.  The new Hondamatic engine now has almost 100 miles on it!

Where You At, Little Hondamatic?

Say WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?

The Hondamatic is done!!!

I can't contain my excitement!!

Honda says, though, that there are a few things going on:

1.  The battery won't hold a charge, one of the cells is just shot. No problem!  I will make a stop by Les Schwab and get a new battery.  Next non-problem?

2.  The prop rod is not so secure in its holding place so it could come loose and hit the alternator and short out the whole car.  So we'll reattach it better somehow.  NEXT?

3.  There is a small coolant leak near the thermostat.  Hmmm.  Collin replaced that part and he said that there wasn't a seal on the original so they got an aftermarket one that wasn't quite fitting right, so we will address that later.  Or sooner.

4.  The carburetor is, well, the Hondamatic will run fine buuuuuut this should be looked at.  Yesterday the guys were freaking us out saying that the whole thing needed to be replaced and everything was broken and so on.  Today the prognosis is somewhat better.  We will need new floaters and gaskets, which are hard to find (like everything else) and the pins/needles? are gunky but it will run fine for a while.

5.  Honda expressed some concern about the fact that the Hondamatic seems to be smoking especially while accelerating.  They thought the rings may not be seated or there is an issue with the valves.  I called the machine shop and he said "just put a couple hundred miles on it, the engine is simply too new."  Okay!  Easy enough!

6.  The distributor vacuum advance diaphram has a small tear.  This is not life threatening but it does affect how much power the Hondamatic has to rip it up .

AND

Honda fixed the rear washer and it squirts just fine now!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm on my way soon to pick up the Hondamatic!!  Yahoo!

***

Update and Afternoon Adventures


I drove Collin's car (the "Ru") to Shoreline and dropped it off in his parking space.  I then continued on foot to the Swift Community Transit bus stop just outside of the Campbell Nelson dealership.  I was in luck!  The next bus was scheduled to come in one minute.  Otherwise I would have walked to Honda.  As it was, I rode the 24 blocks in true style.  I picked up the Hondamatic, paid and also got a tube of Hondabond for the coolant seal leak.  They jumped the Hondamatic battery that won't hold a charge and I went on my way.  I made it to the end of the parking lot.  Then the Hondamatic died. After getting it back to the service garages I got a ride to Les Schwab down the street, got a new battery and the Honda guys put it in for me and I was again on my way.  Yay!
I made it all the way down HWY 99, through Greewood and Ballard to the Brown Bear Car wash in Interbay where the Hondamatic got a bath.  After that was done I pulled forward to leave for home.  Again the Hondamatic stalled as I was entering traffic.  No!!!!  I got it started in the nick of time and made it to the light where I saw some wispy smoke coming from the very front of the hood!  What now?!
As it turns out, the second stall was all my fault.  I started and drove the Hondamatic away from the car wash too fast.  It's not fuel injected so there is a specific way to start the car.  Press the gas, turn the car on and hold for five seconds, then idle for 30 seconds and press the gas again to decrease the idle rpms.  Yeah, I just turned it on and drove off.  Oops!  As for the mysterious smoke.  It may have just been condensation burning off from the water from the car wash.  I washed the windows at home and took Itsy for a ride around the block for about ten minutes.  Everything went well.  Then I exchanged the radio in the Hondamatic for the one Collin had in his '89 Toyota Corolla SR5 that he thought was a good idea to buy last fall, but now doesn't want anymore.  I have all my stations programmed already.

The Hondamatic Is Done... Well, Almost

Collin's been spending a lot of time these past couple weeks on Whidbey Island working on the farm (not ours) and at Coach's to fulfill promises and obligations made in preparation for our wedding day yet he still found the time to finish the Hondamatic!!

He says is sounds like there are little bombs going off in it because it needs to be tuned and timed to spec.  So on the 18th - that's next week - 10 days from now - I will have the Hondamatic towed over to Lynnwood Honda.  Why tow it when it runs?  Yeah, after all the work we've (Collin has) put into it the last thing I want to do is burn it on the way to Lynnwood.  Who knows what could happen in 20 miles.  The mechanics there have worked on Hondas for over 30 years and one of them even has a '79 Accord.  I remember talking to him last year before the head gasket blew when I was having trouble with one of my taillights.  I needed to know how to access it and I was afraid of breaking the rear trim panel.  But he talked me through it and it was a piece of cake.

Soooooooooo excited!!!

Oh, and the aftermarket WWFRM had some extension wires that were able to be hardwired directly to the harness, so it worked out after all.