Posted By RichC on December 31, 2006
It has been a busy holiday week which included Christmas, New Year’s Eve, football and my niece’s wedding. I also wanted to ‘archive‘ at least one photo from from the wedding. (and what a wedding it was!) Here’s wishing both Madison and Nathan congratulations as they begin married life together.
Oh … and thank you Chris and Jerry for a wonderful wedding and beautiful reception out at the Norlyn Manor in Batavia.
Posted By RichC on December 27, 2006
Posted By RichC on December 26, 2006
Christmas has been hectic as usual around our house. We’ve been entertaining and enjoying the festivities including time with our extended families. (which isn’t going to end until after the New Year!) This year was special for my son as you might have noticed above; Santa brought him a ‘car’ … I’m not sure how it fit in the sleigh?
😀
Several years ago we surprised my daughter with a car as a Christmas present in a much different way, and in fairness, it was only right to do the same for my son. His expectation most likely was that he would inherit my VW Jetta TDI; he has been driving it for the past year. I’ve been slowing misleading him in this direction for the past couple years, sort of hoping that it might be the car he wanted anyway? In maintaining the excitement and surprise that we did for our daughter, I slipped the 2007 VW GTI in the garage at 2 AM on Christmas eve. As a present, I prepared a special license plate frame wrapped in a clothing box which I purposely typed few misleading (but not lying) words to denote that the frame was for the VW. (he was ‘politely’ excited even though he expected that my Jetta would eventually be his) As my wife walked out and positioned herself
behind the new car with the video camera and I ‘slyly’ mentioned … “you’ll have to check out the new MP3 player in the VW.” Needless to say, he quickly ran out to check out the new ‘car radio’ — I think his heart nearly stopped as we watch his jaw hit the floor!
Christmas is a wonderful time to burn in family memories … even when kids are ready to leave the nest. Hopefully, we’re doing the right thing in giving both our children cars and providing them an undergraduate college education? Only time will tell. I hope everyone’s Christmas was merry.
EDIT 12/27/2006: For those who are interested and know us personally enough to care about the video, I’ve included it in the next post with a ‘weak’ password: What’s the color of our house?
Posted By RichC on December 24, 2006
Short … and I mean short … ‘no sound clip’ of the new Volkswagen Tiguan mention in an early post. It was displayed at the LA Auto show last week. (the clip was actually a test clip in hopes of better YouTube quality — the encoding didn’t improve it. You can download higher quality test clip here.)
I also want to take the opportunity this Christmas eve to wish each person reading my blog a very blessed Christmas. May the true meaning of Christ’s birthday remain paramount amidst the hubbub of the season. Merry Christmas and Happy New year.
Posted By RichC on December 23, 2006
To celebrate the Christmas season, Brenda (my wife) suggested (to my moaning) that we go as a family to see the Nutcracker performed by the Cincinnati Ballet. I’m probably the only ‘guy’ in America groaning about spending $50 a ticket to go to the ballet … right???
Music Hall. Although it was a wet and dreary evening, after the ‘in the rain’ and tiring 5 hour drive back from Cleveland, the warm and historic surroundings offered a perfect setting to escape the rat-race that most of us face preparing for the holidays. Although we’ve enjoyed performances at the music hall before, the Nutcracker was perhaps the best.
As my son and I sat waiting for the ballet to begin, we both started the annoying habit of fiddling with our cellphones. I tried to take a couple low-light photos without looking too obvious and he of course did what teenagers do — that eventual carpel ‘thumb’ precursor: text messaging. (ugh!) The Palm Treo 700p photo at the top looked a little better in black and white and the one below I left with it questionable incandescent color — its looking overhead at the chandelier. All in all, the evening was enjoyable — thanks Brenda.
The Corbett Christmas Letter for 2006 (PDF)
Posted By RichC on December 22, 2006
Toting my Palm Treo 700p with its handy cellphone camera feature, I decided to stop over and see Greg Allen at the Southwest Landmark fuel terminal in Lebanon, Ohio. (click photos for larger) I have been bugging Greg about putting the biodiesel in his public pumps for a while … ever since he became my summertime B100 or B99.5 supplier. SURPRISE … he finally did and and I just now found out!
The current public pump blend is about 10% biodiesel/ 90% petroleum diesel called B10; it is a start. Greg commented today that keeping the biodiesel through the winter might be a challenge since he doesn’t have a heated storage facility. His concern is that once he picks up load at Peter Cremer in Cincinnati that his only storage is truck or tank. He assured me that higher percentage biodiesel would definitely be back by April 1st because his retail diesel fuel sales have “quadrupled.” (If you are a fuel retailer … take note … “quadrupled.”) So … if there are any locals looking for a place to fill their diesel vehicles with high quality Ohio grown, process and marketed fuel … considered the 24hr ‘card access’ Southwest Landmark Fuel Center in Lebanon, Ohio.
555 N Broadway St Lebanon, OH 45036, US
Posted By RichC on December 21, 2006
Is Yves Rolly a modern day Icarus or perhaps Batman? Maybe not, but when I heard about this “winged man” and his jet powered strap-on wing, all I could think about were the dreams of man flying like birds. Yves Rolly has figured it out and built a set of powered folding wings to strap on his back. He is no amateur tinkerer, but his four jet engine powered wing does leave room for one to question his sanity?
Rolly is an experienced pilot, having flown jets including the Mirage III for the Swiss military. He has work commercially as a pilot of DC-9s and Boeing 747s and continues to chase his aviation passion performing aerobatics, hanggliding, paragliding and skydiving. His experience would indicate that he is not a crackpot inventor, but a man with creativity and talent. If you enjoy experimental aviation, or even if you do not … check out Jet-Man.com and the short video clip below. Not only is this an impressive flight, but seeing him ‘jet’ around with the Swiss Alps in the background makes it doubly impressive.
Posted By RichC on December 20, 2006
I took a quick cellphone photo (Palm Treo 700p) showing the 12/20/2006 updated pricing at the biodiesel and E85 Ethanol Mt. Gilead Sunoco. The prices seem to be pretty stable, at least for biodiesel. The central Ohio station is located very convenient to exit 151 ramps on Interstate 71 between Mansfield and Columbus Ohio. Its an easy on and off both north and southbound. (The McWherter Fuel Depot in Delaware Ohio, which is about 20 miles away, was $2.72 for B20 yesterday)
Posted By RichC on December 20, 2006
I finally pulled some 3 month old VW TDI “How-To” footage off the camera and encoded it last night before going to bed. I haven’t had a chance to put fresh eyes on it or even watch it through, so before I post it to the CinciTDI video section, perhaps a couple Volkswagen TDI oriented readers can look it over?
If you see any glaring errors let me know, otherwise I’ll update the site. (yes … the turbocharger replacement clip is coming … hold on a few more days)
Posted By RichC on December 19, 2006
Its about time for my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI to receive her new timing belt. As I close in on 100,000 miles the recommended services is to replace not only the timing belt, but the serpentine belt, the
idler rollers and the water pump. Thankfully the later models come from the factory with a long life belt, because the service is not for the average weekend mechanic … although will the video information available at CinciTDI or information on the TDIClub it is do-able. Normally I would recommend ordering the deluxe package sold by Jim at Dieselgeek which is an excellent kit, but this time decided to take a friends advice and try Metalmanparts (Marquette Automotive) — thanks Bruce. Currently there is about a $30 difference between the two, the Metalmanparts kit being $305.00.
The Metalmanparts kit also includes a quart of G12 antifreeze, but it does not include the proprietary Dieselgeek water pump removal tool. (see DieselGeek)
Exclusive Dieselgeek.com Water Pump Removal Kit:
Oftentimes the water pumps on the new style TDI engines are hard to remove from the engine block due to a tight fit, corrosion, and water pump O-rings that like to stick to the engine block. We here at dieselgeek.com have had a screw set custom-made that make the extraction of these difficult water pumps MUCH easier. To use the water pump removal screws, first simply remove the three black 7mm screws holding the water pump to the engine block with a 10mm socket and ratchet. Next, for best results, apply a generous amount of grease the threads of each of the three water pump removal screws. (It doesn’t matter what kind of grease you use and the screws will usually work without grease.) Lastly, using an 11mm or 7/16†inch socket, tighten the three screws evenly into the three water pump mounting holes. The water pump will be conveniently and easily pushed out of the engine block by the screws. (quoted from website)
The 31 parts came packaged securely and everything seems first rate. (click on the photos for large versions)
I placed the order online, paid with paypal and received a prompt email back that everything would be shipped the next day. Metalmanparts shipped the carton UPS and it was delivered from Sunbury, Pennsylvania to Ohio in two days.
Injection pump sprocket bolts, motor mount stretch bolts, harmonic balancer bolts, valve cover 5 mm allen bolts and even three extra T20 Torx screws for the lower engine cover are included. All in all, I have no reservations recommending either Dieselgeek or Metalmanparts as a company to purchase the Volkswagen TDI timing belt kits.
