It's that time again. The Navy has decided it's time to send me somewhere far away again. This will be move #16 in 17 years. I still hate it, but I'm becoming quite a pro.
I just finished two years on the good ship NIMITZ, our second, and now oldest Nuclear aircraft carrier. We just spent the last 9 months in the Middle East playing the role of proverbial "big stick" used to scare Syria. I'm not entirely sure if it worked or not, but at least we're done, and I'm reunited with my car after leaving her with a friend back in March.
I'm taking a short break in Whidbey Island, WA where the Navy has an AMAZING auto hobby shop. I've got a shiny new set of Danish SSIs, a tune up kit, and some new strut cap bushings. I'm going to install the SSIs, tune her up, change the oil, then I'll be hitting the US101 to go to my new duty station: Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.
There will be a brief pit stop in Corvallis, OR. Gotta visit the old college. (Go Beavers!)
This grand old girl has been my daily driver in all weather, year round, during my two years living in Everett, and has seen some very significant upgrades. They were all actually quite minor, but they were the difference between a pleasant daily driver and a cranky old car. I retrofitted a 70A alternator, solid state voltage regulator, and a wiring mod that became standard in '87. That totally cleared up all my battery woes. She got a headlight relay - (highly recommended), and a replacement rear window defroster, some new shoes, and replaced all the rubber bits in the rear suspension. Less important, but equally nice, was the money spent on a very good set of speakers, a nice Alpine head unit, amp and self powered underseat subwoofer.
Even better, the friend I left her with seemed pretty ambivalent when she was dropped off... turns out he's driven her exclusively for the last 6 months!
His car is a early 90 something Saab 900, which he's loved, but the Porsche totally won him over. A significant guilty pleasure of these old cars is how extroverted they are. He became addicted to the smiling and waving kids, the old timers who remember when that was a new car, the bikers who love anything air cooled, and everyone else who is somehow made happy by the mere sight of a classic sports car. He was sad to see it go.
I'll post pictures of the SSI's. They look great and I can't wait to see them under the car. I'm also REALLY looking forward to eliminating the many tiny exhaust leaks I've endured because of beat up muffler flanges.
She also has had something happen to the steering while I've been gone. There is no "on-center" feel at all. There is nearly a half turn worth of dead zone in the wheel. I'm going to have an alignment shop look at that tomorrow... feels like it's somehow developed some positive toe or negative caster. In any case, it's pretty damn scary to drive right now.
Once sorted, I can't wait to take by beautiful old girl down the Pacific Coast Highway! This is going to be GREAT!
-Dan