Indy 500 Camaro repo car?

This was going to be in my forthcoming sightings post, but with today's news it deserves its own. GM is making a modern replica of the 1969 Camaro pace car. This particular example of the original, which I spotted last September, apparently belongs to a guy who will take yours away if you don't pay the bank.

It's hard to make out with my shitty cell phone photo (click to enlarge either photo), but those plates are definitely marked "REPOSESSOR." Why someone would put these plates on their car is beyond my understanding, never mind on such a non-subtle vehicle. Aren't repo men/women supposed to be, you know, sneaky?

Running Rich: Final Edition?

I've determined the cause of many of my problems, including the backfiring, tachometer fluctuation, weak cold-weather starting, cold-weather cold-start misfiring, occasional idle droop, and idle droop in frequency with turn signals.

All these issues disappear when I tighten my alternator belt. That's right. Tighten my alternator belt.

Though that belt slackens rather quickly, and it's kind of dismaying. I'm guessing either the crank pulley or water pump is bad, causing the pulley to wobble and putting extra stress on the belt. So it stretches, and I have to re-tighten it. Annoying. I'm waiting for when I rebuild the engine to replace these two things.

Off-Topic: The Man on the Moon

 I work at a lighting company that makes a lot of fixtures from glass. This one in particular, it struck me, looked a lot like the moon. My co-worker Ahmed disagreed. He said it looked like cheese. "There's no man on it," he said. So I made one. And a little flag, too.

Not satisfied with just that, I added a moon rover as well.

I don't have an actual Lego man, so I just made him (and the rover) out of some Legos I have at my desk. The astronaut's helmet is a glass bulb shield that's used in many of our products. The flag is just a piece of clear tape drawn on with narrow-tip Sharpies. The light fixture is actually called Aquarii, because I guess it's supposed to look like sea foam or something. It comes in a couple colors. I still think it's a moon.

Homer Simpson

Snow and road grime on my commute to work recently gave my car Homer Simpson-esque stubble. Notice it didn't spare the side mirror either.

Headlights

Had a burned out headlight when I left work last night. I put rice on to cook, and ran outside to do this. I had picked up the better lights available at Farm & Fleet. Philips Clearvision, or something like that. Strangely, General Electric is actually the brand formed onto the lens. Whatever. These are considerably better than what I had.

What's most unfortunate is that my car's eyebrows -- courtesy of Andre on the day I first met him -- are now gone.

Replacement header goes in painlessly

(click here to see these photos in a gallery)

Replacing the header went well. I'm thoroughly satisfied with Raceland's customer service, and I'm hoping the rusty one was just a slip-up in quality control.

Previous post related to this:
Initial impression and installation guide.
First signs of possible issues.
When it actually broke.
Raceland's response.