The End of Snow Whitey.....ALMOST!

That's right boys and girls you read the title right! Today, was almost the last day for Snow Whitey! See she's been down and out since the Tuesday before thanksgiving. I had the right side front brake caliper sieze up on me! I'd taken "Duckuby" (that's what she's called when she hauls all the duck hunting STUFF) to the Slater Road corn rows, and on the way back the right side brake caliper decided it was done.....about the time i'd hit the Lummi indian reservation. I wasn't about to stop and leave her there on the side of the road, i'd of returned to a bullet riden, stripped down hulk! So i stompped down on the gas, pounded my fist on her dash and screamed "go baby go" while at the same time prayed to the lord himself that i'd make it home. God must of had pitty on me that day, because i made it. Once parked in the driveway the front wheel steamed and almost glowed red, due to the siezed brake! I wasn't sure what to do, but lucky for me, my father in law was here (in my book one of the best mechanic's whatcom county has ever seen). He advised me on the brake, and even braved the rain, and showed me what to do. I can't say thankyou enough! Chalk up another valuable/usefull lesson learned from Cal! So, we went to Schuck's and he helped me order the part, which wasn't due till after he was to leave, but we went over how to replace everything and bleed the brakes.....leaving me with just enough confidence to do the job.


Now time for a little intermisson, i don't normally type this much.....and i'd guess nobody reads this much on a blog.....so PICTURE TIME BABY!

Snow Whitey..."All jacked up and almost dead"
Another shot.....i call this....."She Rides again"

And my favorite.........i like to call this ......"Grrr!....I'm a BADASS!"

Alright, intermisson over....hope you got your snacks and went to the bathroom.....

So, The brake part came in and as of yesterday i finally had time enough to attempt putting on the new caliper, and preparing the car for the road again. To my surprise, it was just as easy as Cal had said, and i was done in just a little under two hours. Not to bad, in my world of car works.

That being said i still needed to bleed te brakes to be truely done, and that's a two man job. So, a quick call to Chuck...and an 8 p.m. time was set to finish off whitey.

Well, with little effort, and in no time at all we had the brakes bled and Whitey was back in business.....at least so, i thought.

Just as Chuck was leaving he asked...."have you put any ANTIFREEZE in her yet, it's supposed to get down to 14 deg. tonight?"...i Quiped back..."naaaaa she don't need any freaken' anti-freeze" ......oh how i now regret that comment.

Well, you guessed it. This moring i awoke to a frozen solid car! I was sick to my stomach knowing, $5 worth of anitfrezze would have solved this but.....OHHHH NOOO.

After a little trial and error......a call to chuck.....a call to Dad.....a call to Brian...... it finally dawned on me to call the master of car's and there workings....MY FATHER IN LAW!

After much debate in all the other phone calls, call simply says...."Thaw the water pump, and LET HER RIP"......he said she'd steam and steam some more, but that should do the trick.....and that is what i did!

Two hairdryers, a heating blanket, a blow torch, a small brush fire, and a two burner coleman stove all going at the same time under the car did the trick and in no time she was thawed enough to giver her a whirl.

She fired off, steamed a lot and in a little over an hour she was back on the road!

So from the North....where car's freeze rock solid under a moonlight night, we look to the south for helpfull advice, and where free cars drive once again...which is nice!

Mark....."The iron skillet"