T-Minus 5 Days and Counting.....

It's been soooooo long since we've last been on a cruise! Finally we're heading out back to sea! We booked this cruise vacation two years ago!! but as Covid would have it, the cruise was canceled last year, so we had to wait until the coast was clear to cruise again. For the sake of safety, I completely understand I it's worth it to wait- I feel safer sailing now.

The original itinerary that we chose was departing from somewhere in Florida, while the highlights were stopping by the Grand Caymans, Cartagena, Columbia, Panama, and Costa Rica. It was such a rare itinerary- one that we had never seen offered before. But that cruise was canceled. Instead, if we chose not to get a refund with the cruise line, they offered a "similar" itinerary- Cartagena, Columbia, the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), and the Grand Cayman (which later was changed to Nassau, Bahama, since Grand Cayman still doesn't allow cruise ships to dock there).

Well, my packing is almost complete and I'm ready to go!! This is going to be quite a different kind of cruise. The ship's capacity is only at 50% (maybe a little bit more). So it's going to be a lot less crowded than normal. I see it as having all the best parts of cruising without the worst parts of cruising. We will never witness this again. We're all set with a Veranda Stateroom cabin. We've got unlimited Internet and the Premium drink package! I lost 16 pounds in preparation of this trip, so I am planning on eating  and drinking everything in sight!

Stay tuned for pictures!

Holle- Back at It Again!!

Holy shit! After almost a 2 years hiatus on the BMW, I think I'm just about energized to get working on it again! I've been cleaning up and organizing the garages in preparation of getting Holle back on the road this upcoming Spring. But for some reason, last night in my dreams, I started thinking about working on getting that darned starter out.

I dug deep into my archives and found pictures of the last time I was working on her- mid-January 2020. I was a little worried, considering I've got random parts laying around from my last attempt. I went out on errands in the morning and found an array of wrenches at Lowes, wrenches that I returned before, but knowing that these were probably the most suited to do the trick. I got my thoughts organized and went to work on it.

I started by trying to reorient myself on what were the problems I had the last time I was in the engine bay. I spent a few minutes looking at forums on how to remove the started. All were convinced that the intake manifold does not need to be removed, perhaps just the oil dipstick tube and a bracket. I checked my previous work and found that I had removed those things.

There are only two bolts that hold the starter to the transmission bell housing and one of them was already loose. The back one was the problem where I lost my mind. I removed a couple of hoses to get more access for my wrenches. Miraculously, I was able to get the 17mm wrenches on both ends of the bolts fairly easily. I broke tension and was able to get the bolts out! Just like that! With a slight effort in navigating the starter through the space to the front of the engine bay, that broken beast found its way out! Oh my God!! I got it out in about 45 minutes! I didn't even bleed!

I went back to the computer to examine all the old pictures to make sure I got the wires back in the right places. Then I installed the new starter. I used red Loc-Tite on the bolts. I got the driver side bolt snugged up just fine, but the other bolt was a little more of a problem. Maybe the new starter mount is slightly thicker, but the bolt barely had any threads to hold on to. I decided that I'll just run to Home Depot tomorrow and find a longer bolt. No problem.

I hooked up some of the wires, but thought it might be nice to clean up the manifold sensor before installing it back in again. Half an hour later (and a lot of Brasso and elbow grease) it was looking almost good as new! I wrenched it back in and attached the wire. With any luck at all, tomorrow the car will start again! Wahoooooo!!!