New World Datsuns...

OK, so I have had an issue since day one with my shower door(sliding glass doors) leaking between the aluminum frame and the fiberglass shower tub surface, originally I ran a thick bead of clear silicone across the bottom under the frame and 6" up the sides before I ran out, it was not leaking on the sides, it was leaking thru the bottom, I kept trying to seal it without an acceptable result, I tried sealing it from the outside next and it would look great but after a shower that came loose like it was wet when I put it on.
So today I removed the frame to see why it kept leaking, it was not that hard to remove the pieces as the outside where it dried was all that was holding it on after I took the screws out as that silicone never dried on the underside of the frame.
So what should be used, I thought silicone was the greatest stuff until now, what should be used?
I would try bicycle inner tube rubber but it is not thick enough, I believe a vacuum line is too thick, it's about a 1/16" gap on the frame between the sides, maybe slightly less, the bottom is held in position by the sides, no screws are used on the bottom.


I also made a shelf for the master bedroom bathroom vanity, it is being sealed right now, need to put a second coat on it when the first one dries to the touch.

That shelf is done, made out of my broken broken towel bar assembly and extra left over oak flooring.

Well I went over there and changed out the L18 head gasket, Glenn is a funny guy to hang out with, he gives you shit and receives it without too much complaining.

First thing I looked at was the intake side chain guide, it looked bent to me, I bent it back once the head was removed, I also looked down in there and could see the post at the bottom, the chain made that familiar curve it makes, it did not look like the chain tensioner had come out of position, my wedge fit in there perfect once I cut an inch off the end as the L18 is shorter, so I went forward thinking there was nothing wrong with the chain., once the head was off it was obvious what the issue was, a giant piece of gasket was missing from the cylinder to the outside of the block, I spent a lot of time cleaning the block and head surfaces, I also used the set of head bolts I brought with me as his were covered with what appeared to be some kind of sealer or gasket material, we had to pound one of the head bolts out of the head as it would not spin out, I ruined a screw driver getting it out and then we used a drill bit to open up the holes in the head till the head bolts slid in and out without restriction, the driver side head bolts did not unscrew out of the block easily, none were loose but the rear pass side was not all that tight either.

The head looked fine in that area, but the block was rusty and pitted where the head gasket was missing, I cleaned and cleaned the best I could and put the head back on, it went on smoothly without any issues, we put it back together using a new intake/exhaust gasket, I cleaned them surfaces also, this W53 head had no coolant holes.

When we started it it didn't want to start, it took a few times to get it going, once running it did not run very well and would not idle, it was missing badly, I figured out that #2 plug was not firing, I had that valve cover off that engine several times checking the valve lash by feel, none were terribly tight, it sounded terrible, I fiddled with the fuel mixture and got it to idle fairly smoothly but it just didn't sound right, I used another spark plug wire on #2 plug and that changed nothing, but eventually #2 plug started firing using the original wire, but still the engine sounded wrong, I figured out that somehow I got the cam gear installed 1 tooth off so I fixed that, maybe it was off all that time.

The more we worked on it the better it idled, but the engine was very noisy like the valves were too loose, I fiddled with the distributor timing but that was confusing, you see it appears to have an L20b plate, but an L16 pulley, I just adjusted it to where it idled best, it will idle near 700rpms but it just didn't sound right, I did forget to bring a straight edge to check the block and head, it did not leak coolant into the oil or blow coolant out of the radiator, it really does idle very slow but it just don't sound right, but I am comparing that to my work truck engine, mine has dual SUs and his has a Weber, not sure how old the fuel is in the tank, but in my experience these engines will not run on spoiled fuel and he said he had added some a few months ago, in the past when I had fuel spoil adding new fuel only ruined the new fuel, it would still not run, in the end just before I left it started easily, it just seemed very noisy to me, it revved fine but seemed to have an extended/long/slow un-revving, I don't have a word, it un-revved slower than my work truck engine, but this is an L18 and mine is a LZ23.

I expect the first thing I would do is new plugs to see if that helped, next I would either rebuild the Weber carb or at least clean it out, I really don't like down drafts, either they run great or they need replacing, I prefer Dual SUs, I understand them.

If it were my truck I would likely drive it around for a while and see if it improves, I would check the valve adjustment, do a tune-up also, I might even try sucking fresh fuel out of a gas can to see if the gas is part of the issue, it needs timed also, I could do that driving it, but having mix matched timing marks is very confusing, I left when I had done all I could think of.

I really do not understand how people put up with that traffic on the freeways in Portland, they need minimum speed limits and then start passing out tickets for those not doing the minimum, after a few tickets either they will do the speed limit or quit driving during high traffic times, I hate Portland traffic after 3pm.

Here is a photo of the head gasket.

I bought this online a while back, it arrived so I put it together today, I thought I bought white, normally I just stack stuff on the floor, I must be getting all ...............

Oh and I also worked on the garden this morning, figured out some better ways to water as dirt just gets pushed around onto the plants if I use a hose, especially the new row of strawberry plants.



These plants are Pumpkin on the right and Watermelon on the left, I started more Watermelon plants but they will likely not produce much as I started them too late, my original Watermelon plant is not doing that good but this one is taking off.

So I went outside this evening to see if I could find/see the NEOWISE Comet, I looked for a long time without any results, I seen stars, a satellite pass buy, I even seen a falling star, but no Comet, so I came inside and searched where it was supposed to be compared to the big dipper, it was much farther away from it than I thought, so back out I went and I found it, it is hardly a spec, it's supposed to be visible to the naked eye, not my naked eyes it appears, I really need a telescope instead of the binoculars I am using as they really are not that good, even the stars look blurry, I have another set if I can find them, I doubt I will be able to get a photo of this Comet even with the zoom it has, but I will try when it get really dark.

We tried to find that comet a couple of times last week down here with no luck. Too much light pollution.


Poly seam seal works pretty damn well for stopping water intrusion in bathrooms. Make sure everything is dry completely, and you can’t use that shower until it is completely cured. It’ll take longer for it to cure being under an aluminum frame. That is what I used when I installed new fiberglass wall surrounds on the existing cast-iron tub in our spare bathroom.

The shower doesn't leak anymore thru the metal frame holding the sliding glass doors, now I just get out and make water prints everywhere, but that is not on the seam between the hardwood floor and the shower base, I just don't want water getting in there, I put a lot of sealer in that area, I don't think it can get in there, but I thought I had the frame sealed good also, I wipe up excess water now when I never did before.

The Comet is very small, I can barely see it with binoculars and it looks more like a smudge than anything else to me, I could see that last Comet without using anything we had several years ago, this one is not very bright at all, it is actually a lot farther below the big dipper than I thought, it is around one and a half times the size of the ladle bowl of the Big Dipper below and in front of it, like if you pouring fluid out of it and it poured straight down,see the link below, third photo down where it says where it will be on that date, that is how I found it, that Big Dipper in the photo is small so you have to look farther down as the Big Dipper is huge in the sky, I was able to see it all evening, but as time went by it got closer to the horizon.
https://www.space.com/comet-neowise-vis ... -2020.html

I will likely add one more row of strawberries before fall next to the one in the photo below, lots of room for the 3 Watermelon plants and single Pumpkin plant to grow



Here is the Watermelon plant I transferred, one vine has died.



Here are 5 vines I started from seeds, it was likely too late but I started them so I planted them.

I mentioned that the one vine died on that transferred watermelon plant, well it did not die completely, it is growing again, 2 branches are coming out near the main stock.
All I have really been doing around here is tending my garden and cleaning up the house after doing both bathrooms, don't have much work right now so that is the way it is, not a lot of weeds anymore as long as I pull them when they first show.





That corn I planted late has not done very well, out of 40 seeds maybe 7 or 8 came up and a snail got one of them, next year I will plan better.
Almost all my blueberry plants are done except two late type which are just now ripening, I pulled the broccoli and will likely never plant them again, I get 1 or 2 tops from a plant and then they start going to seed before they get large enough to even pick a top, the quality at the store is better, maybe I am planting them too late.

I also have been sanding my hardwood(oak) floors where the sealer has wore thru(I have done nothing to it for likely 15 years), I should have not let it get so bad as this oak is hard and doesn't sand easily, I have done 5 areas and when finished it really doesn't match great, but all I care about is that it be sealed to keep the dirt/moisture out of the wood, even with 36 grit I can hardly sand a 32nd of an inch off the surface if even that much, I can live with what I have done, since I did all that I have the Roomba working again, with saw dust all over I had to really clean up around here so now the Roomba can get around without so much shit in the way. LOL

Here is the kitchen(2 spots or one long one depending on ones perspective), it stands out the worst than all the other spots I did.


If you look you can see the lines made from taping this one off, I didn't tape the others and then blended way better.


I sure do miss the Datsun events, I just am not motivated to work on my Datsuns.

Garden looks great!

When it gets this hot I don't do much of anything anymore except turn the air conditioning on.



I was 1 degree hotter after the photo above, 6:24 and it is still 97 degrees.

I feel your pain. It’s 10pm here now and I’d bet my paycheck it’s still mid 80s.

You wouldn’t hurt anything sanding that with a palm sander.


And I agree, garden is looking good

I am not really worried about the floor, as long as the bare wood is protected I am good with it, but all the other spots I didn't tape the edges and the result was better, this was a large enough area that I needed to be able to see where I had done easily, since then I did another spot and feathered it in like all the other areas I did and I can hardly see the edges, I will not tape again, I can sand the lines and feather them in, but I have another area still to do.

I don't fall to sleep well when it is hot, the colder it is the better off I am, I have good circulation so my feet/hands do not get cold, have not had that issue since I was a kid, and the only reason I had that issue when I was a kid was because of low blood pressure, so low the doctors thought they messed up the first time they took my BP and took it again, but they never gave me anything for it, I remember standing up and having my ears ring and going blind all the time, I think it mostly stopped after I moved out of my parents house.

It is 79 degrees inside and 78 outside right now, I started the fan in my bedroom a while ago, I only have air conditioning in my living room/dining room/kitchen.

I bought this today, I have been looking at the comet with my binoculars but can only see a blurry smudge as I cannot hold them still enough, this hopefully will fix that and it was not that much, $120.00 and 6 months old and rated very high for the beginner, the guy upgraded to a 10" reflector.
It is a Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ telescope.
You can search about it using the name of it above

Well it is very hard to find anything in the sky with this telescope, I could not find the Comet, but I found a planet with what appears to be 4 moons, but again it is hard to focus it also, what I really need is is a telescope with a monitor so I can see what I am doing, it took me 15 minutes or more to find that planet and that was a very bright object in the sky, it is very hard to aim, it's a big sky.

I am getting better at aiming the telescope, that small sight it has for aiming is worthless, but I am not impressed with the quality of what I see, it is very hard to get a sharp focus, I asked the guy if he had ever adjusted the 5" mirror and it appeared he had not so I ordered a lazor Collimator($30.00) to check the alignment as I read that if that is not aligned it is hard to focus, I also ordered a CELESTRON 8-24mm 1.25" Zoom Eyepiece Fully Multi-Coated Scope Eyepiece($76.00), what I have right now is a 20mm eyepiece, this one I ordered should at least double if not triple or more the size of the planet I have been looking at, not the size of the Moon in the eyepiece which barely fits but I could see the whole thing if a full Moon in this eyepiece, both these things I ordered are less than $110.00 shipped.
I really am hoping to see more than a small white round disc and 3 or 4 specks of light that I assume are moons but maybe I have a pipe dream going here, this telescope is not made for deep space observing/observation, but if that planet I am looking at is Mars I would like to see some sort of red at least, but maybe it is Jupiter.

I also figured out that the legs are extendable, I have been bending over to look thru the eyepiece, will not be bending over that far anymore, this shit is new to me, I wish I had bought it sooner to see the Comet better.

My wife is an astronomy nut and about 5 years ago we pulled the trigger on a really nice telescope for her. I don’t remember the brand or model or whatever but I do remember her telling me that she can set coordinates and it being motorized, will go to where you set it. It will also track, or follow whatever celestial body you set it to. Unfortunately where I live is pretty light polluted so we have to drive a good 30 minutes to a place that isn’t as bad. I think we’ve only set it up once or twice.

I bought a clock movement today, it is battery powered, I really need to find a electric version to put in this clock as the headlights are 120V, it is a Mastercraft model T clock made back in the 50s that we(my sister and I) gave to my dad as a X-mas present as I recall, one of the gears in it lost a tooth and it will not run anymore, I have had it apart getting it going again a couple times but this was the last straw, I cannot do anything about the gear, the housing/body of the clock is perfect, no cracks, dents, scratches after 50+ years, this clock is almost older than I am and as I recall only one of the headlights has ever been changed until now.

I live in town and there is a lot of city light pollution, the Comet was on the horizon right over the down town city lights, and the Comet was getting closer to the horizon every night and was getting harder to see as each day passed, I just bought this telescope too late.
I didn't want to spend that kind of money for a computer telescope, I have $230.00 into this one so far.