The Parking Lot

After the war, the US Military lined up all the vehicles and drove them off
the pier. Or maybe a barge. We don't really know. But that's what we've
heard. So, over the past couple of days Andy, John and I went to explore
this underwater parking lot.

We found a turtle, a big sting ray, lots of fish, and many vehicles. Fuel
trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, jeeps, bomb-loading trucks and many that
were unrecognizable.

Stay tuned, we'll try to get a pic or two from the video footage that Andy
took.

Engine Success!

It's no secret that we've had transmission troubles. We're still running, but it's making an odd sound, and there is movement where there shouldn't be. We had ordered a new damper plate and adapter flange from the US, and they arrived this week, on (US) Thanksgiving...and thankful we were!!7

We weren't sure exactly what was wrong, but we (ie John) had a few suspicions, so we ordered both the damper plate and the adapter flange just in case. Good thing. We spent Black Friday pulling forward the engine, in order to remove the transmission. We discovered the damper plate had a big crack in the plate, and the adapter flange has severely ovalized bolt holes. No wonder there was so much movement (and a big clunking sound)!!

Yep. That's a pretty significant crack.

Those two holes look perfectly oblong. But they should be round.

On Saturday, we managed to get the transmission put back together, painted, and back in place. By the evening, we had returned the engine to it's bed, and were able to do a test run. SUCCESS.

Once again, John has hero status. There is a tiny, uncomfortable access hatch to the back of the engine, and no room for helpers. I did what I could, but he has managed another triumph in Renova's saga.

John squeezed into the back of the engine compartment.