THE MONDAY after learning the hard way that it pays to be thorough, Brian Carless - our intrepid fireman, now a pedestrian - returns to Sheldon's in a frenzied attempt to right the wrong part. He makes sure to take with him the old pump. His heart goes through flip-flops as the parts guy has to go through a stack of old stock to find it.
Fortunately for his feet, the right one is eventually found. Luckily, it was his day off, and he doesn't have to ask the fire truck to stop for parts shop between fires! Unfortunately, though, 'Doc' Ainsley Carless (Brian's younger brother, the mechanic), had to be elsewhere. So we pick up the blog Tuesday night
- Mario

Tuesday, November 18 (Day before Reggae Boyz vs Canada)

Tuesday was a workday for me. I was on the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift; I got to see what the inside of a No. 3 bus looks like for the first time in a year. I was at the bus stop from 5:30 a.m. Up with the peenie wallies. Government transport ain't all bad, if you think of your travels as an adventure! And, all that refreshing exercise to look forward to - Gawd, I miss my car.

JUTC bus

An executive bus hustled to the stop, conductor already in the spirit of the morning and pleasantly announced at the top of his shrill voice that he was going to town. So I hopped on, only to have the bus stop a chain from where I took it and dis di programmme, for him linga! Fortunately for us commuters, though, a JUTC bus stopped in front of us and we just made like ghosts and vanished, only to rematerialise in Mr JUTC. So we went to work.

Tuesday, November 18, 6:30 p.m. - The Thrash

I am scrub nurse again. We were working at night, so illumination was provided via one of those long orange extension cords with the bulb at the end, hooked to the bonnet's underside. We had left the car in its torn-down state, so it was just a matter of bolting back on the new parts. This was made more difficult because we were working when other people were looking about going to bed, but we were motivated. It takes a lot of work to keep from walking!

The new pump came with a gasket, so we did not need the velomite - we smeared the gasket with grey silicone, slapped on the pump (which was a lot harder than it sounds) and started with the seals, new timing and balance shaft belts, which took us an hour to complete. We then set the timing. Since Murphy was always looking over our shoulder from the project started, we elected not to reinstall the timing cover. Nothing else left to do but cross our fingers draw for the gospel and turn the key.

True to form, Mitsy wouldn't 'mitsubate.'

Much head scratching ensued. They say that the solution to any problem is in the last place you look for it. Well, we went through plug wires, igniter, fuel filter, and a myriad other problems before coming back to timing.

Lesson learnt

After close scrutiny, we found that there was a slot and an indentation on the cam gear. Of course, we had set timing on the slot - so Doc suggested that we take off the belt and line the gear up on the indentation. So we did, and turned the key, at which point Mitsy purred to life! Lesson number two - It is better to work in the day. Daylight saves time!

After five minutes of victory dances around the car (which was stopped by now, as alternator belts and water hoses were not hooked up) we found out that not all of the demons had been exorcised. The car was haemorrhaging oil on to the pavement. At this point I was wondering 'A wha me do?'

Tuesday, November 18, 10:30 p.m.

Sobering thoughts. Doc tore down into the crankshaft area and found out that the oil leak was coming from behind the oil pump, which is located around the crankshaft. At that point we were demoralised and fatigued. I really was thinking of putting Mitsy out of her misery. I couldn't really ask Ainsley to pull down anything else that night, so we dejectedly called it a night and packed up. I was getting real tired of walking home.

Weird engine

Silver lining? In retrospect, I guess if we never tore down this far into the car, that leak would have been waiting to happen. It might have happened on the road and gone unnoticed until it was too late. Mitsy does not smoke, which means her rings and cylinder walls still have life, and God knows already I can't find parts for this weird engine. I think bearings would give me trouble to find, so I'm glad I caught this when I did! Looks like I will be warming the JUTC bus bench tomorrow, though. If Minister Mike can do it, so can I.

Next week - How sweet it is.