Wednesday, April 5, 2006

The Great Explosion

As promised, here is the story of the "Great Explosion of '04".

It was the 4th of July. My family, along with my Wife's, was spending the day at our house.

My father-n-law's brother was also visiting for the day. He owns a Honda dealership and repair shop.

Well, Grover was having a timing problem and back-fire problem. A friend of mine said Grover had the farts.

Anyway, my father-n-law and his brother are both great mechanics, but had never worked on a British vehicle. Together, the three of us started working on the timing problem. It didn't seem to be going well and I tried to get them to read the shop manual. That didn't go over well at all. Basically, they shot me the "evil eye" and said they didn't need no stinking manual. They had been working on engines longer than I had been alive.

I just sat there and knew it was going to get worse...

Each time they dickered with it they had me get in and start Grover. He would back-fire, they would grumble, curse the British, curse me for getting such a vehicle, and get back to it.

Right about noon they said they had it finished and told me to start ol' Grover up.

I got in and started him up.

KaBOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!


Oh - did I forget to tell you we were in my tiny, two car garage?

It was so loud! I lost my hearing for a few minutes due to ringing ears. I also checked my pants - no surprises.

My father-n-law and his brother were sitting on the car-port with stunned looks on their faces as the whole family came running! Even the neighbors came to check it out.

After everyone checked out as being okay, I shooed them away and told them to go eat.

I then looked under Grover to see what happened. Well, there it was, the gaping hole of destruction.

After that I walked up to Grover's attackers and gave them the manual. All I said was "now will you read it?".

About an hour latter they sheepishly told me that they had reversed the down stroke.

So, I now have the muffler hanging in the garage and a new stainless steel one hanging on Grover. When ever my father-n-law wants to work on Grover I point to the muffler and ask him if he wants the manual.

I ended up replacing the muffler with a Stainless Steel one from Atlantic British.

Well, till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

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