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transportation

The Black Car

thomas rubino

rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 10 months ago

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Hi All;
Liz and I and Molly were driving in the Black car 100 miles from home on a rainy 42F afternoon.
When suddenly the defroster did not seem to be keeping ahead of the fogging window...
Then the cloying scent of anti-freeze started filling the car... I knew right away the heater core had started leaking! Puck! The only way to keep driving was to leave the windows down, of course, the rain started falling harder at the same time... We made it back to Sandpoint, where I went into Walmart and bought microfiber towels to plug the defroster vents and to wipe the windows clear every few minutes... Good, grief what a pain in the ass! At least it did not leak so badly that I had to reroute the heater hoses to bypass it!

As of this afternoon, I am 8hrs into it... I did not start bleeding until quitting time today (funny coincidence that bleeding, a safety meeting, and quitting time all happened at the exact same moment)!
The offending stinky heater core is removed and the shiny new one is installed!
I have the heater box and A/c units bolted back to the firewall.
I have the steel crash bar back in place.

I have a shitton more to do before I'm done!
I predict 5-8 more hrs until the Black car is back on the road.

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Joylynn Hardesty

master pollinator

Posts: 4332

Location: Officially Zone 7b, according to personal obsevations I live in 7a, SW Tennessee

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posted 10 months ago

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You rock!

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Thomas Tipton

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posted 10 months ago

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Thomas is as handy as he is handsome.

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Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3736

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

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posted 10 months ago

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Ack! What a pain! You have more patience than I. Modern vehicles are amazing but they are hardly fix-friendly.

Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3736

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

967

posted 10 months ago

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Thomas Tipton wrote:Thomas is as handy as he is handsome.

I second the motion. All those in favour say "Aye!"

Carla Burke

master gardener

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posted 10 months ago

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Aye, aye!

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Gerry Parent

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Location: Kingman, Arizona

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posted 10 months ago

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I think I would need a safety meeting before agreeing to that .....but can say he sure IS handy!
He can bleed over any repairs of mine any day.

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L. Johnson

gardener

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Location: Japan, zone 9a/b, annual rainfall 2550mm, avg temp 1.5-32 C

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posted 10 months ago

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So I have a limited idea what effort went into the work behind those photos... I've done various car work (I was a car jock teenager back in the day) and I can say I wouldn't have done that much effort. I sit here impressed and amazed.

Thomas must be at least as handy as he is handsome if not moreso, so Aye!

Let's just get this out there... how many times have you rebuilt the engine block on one of your vehicles?

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John F Dean

master gardener

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posted 10 months ago

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I am caught between envy and pity. I am envious of your skills, and I have pity for your situation.

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thomas rubino

rocket scientist

Posts: 5559

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 10 months ago

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That first 8 hours actually took 3 days. I was amazed at how many little time-consuming things I discovered to do instead of tearing into the job!
2 hrs each the first two days and four hours yesterday. I finally had no choice, as nobody else was going to do it for me... I asked Molly for help and all she did was ask for a cookie! Gerry could not get the company jet serviced in time so he could not come help...
As scary as that looks, it is not really that bad. The hardest part while reassembling is getting things connected in order. If you do not, then you get the fun job of removing what you just installed to bring that wire harness behind not in front... Oh yeah and it helps to not break brittle 22-year-old plastic parts...

Today I am taking a break from wrenching to cut and weld up a couple of secondary air tubes, for a fellow Permies Rocket scientist down in the Bitterroot valley.
Will be a nice break.
Thursday I will dive back into finishing up the Black car.
Friday I go to Sandpoint and pick up my piggy, in little white packages and bring him home in the Subaru... maybe even the black car if it cooperates... if not the Blue Subi is always willing to make a run.

For all your Rocket Mass heater parts.
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John F Dean

master gardener

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Location: southern Illinois, USA

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posted 10 months ago

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Your approach makes sense to me. When the task allows it, I find working in 2 hour bursts to be optimal. I could have taken the car apart. It is just that 5 years later I would have sold it for scrap when I admitted I couldn’t figure out how to get it back together. Hell, you have even convinced me that you know the names of the parts!

We live on Blue Planet that circles a ball of fire. Our Planet is circled by a Golden Moon that moves its oceans. Now tell me that you don’t believe in miracles....Unknown

Anne Miller

master steward

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posted 10 months ago

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Thanks for sharing, Thomas.

Those Black Cars are supposed to last a lifetime. I hope mine will, though mine is not black and is just a youngster to yours.

Mine looks like a gray car though the title says blue. That mystery is beyond my comprehension.

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Nancy Reading

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posted 10 months ago

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Hmm...as a former automotive engineer, I would suggest that the design for service could be improved a little on that model! I seem to remember that most of ours you could get the heater matrix out from behind the glovebox. Not a 5 minute job still, but at least you didn't need to take half the car apart! They're never quite the same afterwards. Good luck with the puzzle pieces!

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R Scott

pollinator

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Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 10 months ago

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I swear on some vehicles the heater core must be the first thing installed. It should not be over a day’s labor in the dealer estimate!

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thomas rubino

rocket scientist

Posts: 5559

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 10 months ago

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I finally got back to working on the Black car heater core project today.
It took apx 3 hrs or so to get her back together and running.
I did spend an hour the other day, trooping back and forth from a parts car down in the field.
I was trying to locate where one wire loom connector went... good grief! I could not find it at all on the first trip down and only found it by pure chance on the second, all nicely folded up, covered in dust! An unused connector!!! grrrrrrr. A friend suggested it might be used for the ejection seat option...
So today I approached the job planning on it all coming together easily! And with mind over matter it did! No blood was shed, all bolts and screws found a home, nothing plastic broke and all controls functioned as intended after starting the engine! Whoo Hoo. Once the water temp came up we had heat with no window fogging!!!
A rousing success!

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For all your Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
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Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

Posts: 3736

Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

967

posted 10 months ago

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Dude, that's awesome. Nice work!

Gerry Parent

gardener

Posts: 1748

Location: Kingman, Arizona

506

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posted 10 months ago

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Black car back together and running : ✔
Favorite driving hat and cool shades: ✔
Soon back to playing with RMHs : ✔

Silence is Golden
For all your RMH needs:
dragontechrmh.com

Carla Burke

master gardener

Posts: 6962

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posted 10 months ago

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Yay!!

John Duffy

Posts: 174

posted 10 months ago

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You have my respect. I've replaced 1 heater core in my life and would sooner take a bullet than to attempt it again. I think I invented 217 new swear words that day. It was torture.

Cam Haslehurst

gardener

Posts: 432

Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

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posted 8 months ago

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Great work Thomas. The only work I've done on my little car has been installing a block heater and changing the tires!

Pardon my ignorance but what model is the Black Car? I can see Subaru on the wheel but I'm curious about the model. My dad had a subaru outback for several years, that he eventually got rid of because it seemed as if every time the car started there was some new issue. I loved it though as it had the 'beater' vibe kind of like my little car does now. :D

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thomas rubino

rocket scientist

Posts: 5559

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

2473

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posted 8 months ago

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Hi Cam;
The black car is a 2000 Subaru outback wagon.
Known as the second generation of outbacks.
!996-!999 first generation, Fun but a smaller car with a problem motor.
2000-2004 second generation, Best Subi's made in my opinion
2005 up electronic nightmare... but still good cars.

Here is the 2000 outback wagon I'm restoring for my granddaughter.

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For all your Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
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Cam Haslehurst

gardener

Posts: 432

Location: Northern Ontario, Canada

297

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posted 8 months ago

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thomas rubino wrote:
Hi Cam;
The black car is a 2000 Subaru outback wagon.
Known as the second generation of outbacks.
!996-!999 first generation, Fun but a smaller car with a problem motor.
2000-2004 second generation, Best Subi's made in my opinion
2005 up electronic nightmare... but still good cars.

Here is the 2000 outback wagon I'm restoring for my granddaughter.

Very cool! He had a 2005, so that's interesting to note. Love the station wagons for how much space they have. You've got a lucky granddaughter!!

My car is a little mitsubishi mirage that I call Singer because it sounds like a sewing machine. I think it's valve tap or piston slap or something or other. The guy before me drove the crap out of the thing, but I drive it like a grandma going to get groceries after church on sunday so I'm pretty easy on the thing. I do load it up from time to time though with scrap metal or wood or free bikes :D

Feel free to share more of your repair adventures, I love seeing cars being fixed because it demystifies them for me!

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