Well I'm headed out the door the "UNYX Back to School Run '06" in Oneonta NY.

TJ is on the "Mrs. TJ Intro-to-Wheeling Run" at Rausch Creek

Don't let the Spammers take over the site while we're off playing in the mud! :fussball-big:

I will be checking on you webwheelers ;) (my phone has internet explorer).

See ya'll back here on Sunday :wink-big:

Well I'm headed out the door the "UNYX Back to School Run '06" in Oneonta NY.

TJ is on the "Mrs. TJ Intro-to-Wheeling Run" at Rausch Creek

Don't let the Spammers take over the site while we're off playing in the mud! :fussball-big:

I will be checking on you webwheelers ;) (my phone has internet explorer).

See ya'll back here on Sunday :wink-big:

Have a good time Ant!

Hope you have good weather!

As always happens when I plan to wheel, some shit breaks loose.

This time, one of my clients decides to shut down the county court house in response to a possible legionaires disease outbreak...so I am once again stuck leaving late, at the last minute...

On the plus side, the rain's going to stop tonight, and the weather at the park is going to be beautiful!

:D

TJ, what happened??

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g116/jodynstacy/IMGP0241-1.jpg

Sorry to hear about the truck man...

Here are a couple pics from the UNYX Back to School Run:

http://www.anthonydimattia.com/B2SR%202006%20137b.JPG

http://www.anthonydimattia.com/B2SR%202006%20144b.JPG

http://www.anthonydimattia.com/B2SR%202006%20089b.JPG


http://www.anthonydimattia.com/B2SR%202006%20121b.JPG

TJ, what happened??

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g116/jodynstacy/IMGP0241-1.jpg

Sorry to hear about the truck man...


This;

http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m193/jester8484/?action=view&current=0916061343.flv&refPage=&imgAnch=imgAnch3

Here's a quick version of the bonehead move that hydrolocked me:

Chronology - involving Legionella bacteria, air filters and a mud hole...

1. I took Friday off to leave for RC for a weekend of wheelin...and my wife's first time out off road.

2. One of my client's is a county court house in Trenton...they had a "Legionella Outbreak", evacuated the building, etc...so I'm working non-stop starting Wed.

3. Fri AM, I'm changing my air filter...when my phone goes off, and I MUST get to the Ct house ASAP for a pow wow and to coordinate more testing they suddenly decided they must have...

4. I finish work Friday night at around 10 pm...threw the wife an a few gear things in the truck, and head to RC....getting there like 2:30 AM Sat.

5. Meet up with the gang Sat AM, wheel til lunch...then hit a new trail section with a new mud hole....I stick poke the hole, its hood deep right at the deepest part facing a steep slope out of the hole...but only for around 10' or so...then it starts to gradually get shallower, untill the end where its knee deep or less, the bottom is reasonably hard, and the stick drag didn't see any deep ruts..

6. I weigh the choice of doing it shallow end to deep end, with the steep climb out at the end, -vs- the sharp drop in at the beginning into the deep part, with an easy climb out to the shallow end...

7. I decide to do deep towards shallow...and take the plunge...

8. As I enter the water, the engine sucks in water through the still open air filter box, dying instantly....before the winshield is wet.

9. The water goes over the hood and hits the bottom of the windshield, then the truck is up again at headlight deep water just from momentum of coming down the slope.

10. I yell for a strap 'cause I'm locked...Paul (Jeremy's dad) is pulling into position, and water starts to seep into the truck...at about ankle depth, Ms. TJ clambers out the window, anto the roof, and, then, onto the hood, to receive the strap from Paul's Cherokee.

11. Rose (Ms TJ) is helped by Alex, who clambers onto the hood to help, as the shackle mount is under water...I sit there, my ass awash at this point, and steer the truck as Paul pulls it to the shallow end, and onto drier ground.

12. I have cup holders full of water, etc.

:evil:

13. I open the hood, to open the air filter to see how much water got in...

14. :shock:

15. I realize its already open...and there's a rather nasty looking filter sort of hanging out. ulp.

16. I remove the intake tube, and its wet, open the butterfly, water pours out. ulp.

17. Pull all six spark plugs...crank it, geyser time...plus out the exhaust water flow, etc...flashlight the cyls...and I have an aluminum aquarium.

18. Some of the best people in the world are there to help diagnose and do teardown/analysis of the situ (Odds of getting out of the park under own power, etc..)...we try everything, for hours, and conclude that I have at least one bent valve...and no own power options...

19. I'm strapped out to the bar at the emergency exit of the park on rt 209 by a scott behind me / jeremy in front of me/ push me pull you strapfest.

20. Scott figures out that we can put the X on the trailer the Cherokee came in on, as its street legal, and get it back to the hotel at least....which we do.

21. Sunday - I get AAA'd back to NJ.

22. Rose says she'd go wheeling again, she actually liked it.

23. :D


PS - Ms TJ would love it if every one w/pics would e-mail them to us or post them.

See what happens when you use a temporary patch for your blown head gasket.... your engine gets filled with water.

;)

Sorry TJ, had to say it.

Also, don't forget I'm gonna try to stop by this weekend and snag a couple pieces of steel. Is your truck gonna be there for me pay my condolences?

No, I had AAA tow it to the shop that was going to do the Heads anyway, etc...

Its in Hamilton, a few miles away.

By the time you get here, you might be able to smell it from here though.

:D

So, engine swap? Or are they actually gonna try to do a full teardown rebuild on the aquarium?

I don't have the downtime to doa real re-build, and if I have a shop do it, the labor would be so high, it would cost more than the swap anyway.

Plus, on a re-build, if the crank was bent, etc...I might go thru the trouble of getting it all back together, and ending up having to tear it all down again to fix it, and so forth.

I might be able to get a wrecked X's engine for a grand or less, or a Nissan re-built engine in a crate for $2,200 or less...or a new engine in a crate for more like $4k, etc.

I could then give the swap engine to the shop, plus ~ $1,800 labor...or have a mod weekend engine swap party.


:wink-big:

I think buying rebuilt engine is a great way to go.

oh, and definitely MOD WEEKEND.

I'm thinking the weekend of sept 30-Oct 1 Sat/Sun would be reasonable...the NIORA Fall Run is the weekend after it, and it would be awsome if we could swap engines and MAKE IT to the NIORA Run!

:D

My biggest fear is that the guys I need with the engine stands, tools, etc...would be unavailable, and I'd be sitting there with a donor engine, and no way to move or install it, etc.

I would be there, but Kim just reminded me we have the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk that weekend, here in Rochester. :damn:

If you don't get the engine that soon, we could come down another time to help though.

How waterproof is the Xterra? I noticed that the doors on mine are double and in a couple of spots, tripple sealed. Is it designed to go through deep water, and how deep? I'm no scientist, but I heard somewhere that water or liquids for that matter, are not compressable and that nasty things happen when an engine takes in a lung full of H2O.

Water at the bottom of the headlights is fine, as the fresh air intake is about headlight level.

The pathways that will leak are mostly if you don't replace the floor drain plugs, or if you have openings from the transfer case or gear shift, up through the floor boards, or firewall wires going through w/o grommets, etc.

IE: from the factory, its pretty good, and I've spent hours at bumper height water w/o a problem.

If you spray your alternator with silicone spray when its still clean, it will be very dunkable. If you don't crud tends to build up in the alternator, and while not a water leak problem...I count it as a water issue, especially if the water is muddy, etc.

My headache was from leaving the air box OPEN (Forgot to re-clip it shut) after changing the air filter...so I essentially tried to wet-vac up the pond the second I entered it.

:D

And yes, the water isn't compressable, so the connecting rods bent as the pistons were slammed to a stop. :(

That's called Hydrolocking the engine. (A bad thing)