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RE: Night moves

To: "'M.Hesselink'" <M.Hesselink@chello.nl>
Subject: RE: Night moves
From: "Banbury, Terrence" <Terrence.Banbury@dnr.state.oh.us>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 09:46:52 -0400
I suggest you leave the list if you are that disturbed by the content.
There was considerably more in that post than the "weather". 

Terrence Banbury
It's been raining steadily here for past 24 hours and should continue for a
few days.

> ----------
> From:         M.Hesselink[SMTP:M.Hesselink@chello.nl]
> Reply To:     M.Hesselink
> Sent:         Sunday, April 02, 2000 10:39 AM
> Cc:   Spitfire List
> Subject:      Re: Night moves
> 
> 
> Could we pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasePLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> stop
> about the weatherconditions in San Diego?????
> 
> I really don't give a f**k, and it gets extremely boring. (Also my delete
> key is
> getting stuck).
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Marc
> 
> 
> Jeff McNeal wrote:
> 
> > Yesterday was the warmest day we've had in San Diego in some time.  Last
> > evening,
> > at about 7pm, I had an errand to run.  A check to put in
> > the mail to Joe Curry for the tach I just bought from him (thanks again,
> > Joe!) and a deposit to make at the bank.
> >
> > The temperature outside was about 67 degrees.  As I made my way towards
> the
> > freeway, I glanced up just long enough to take in the beautiful night
> sky
> > and the bright stars above.  Taking a deep breath of satisfaction on my
> > first night out with "Mrs. Jones", I was reminded of how I felt when I
> took
> > my
> > original '67 Mk3 Spitfire out for the first time at night back in 1976
> when
> > I was 16.
> >
> > Man, it felt SO good.  The feeling REALLY took me back -- seeing the
> freshly
> > cleaned and reassembled guages illuminated in the dark; glancing over my
> > shoulder to see the warm red glow of the taillights (the only car I've
> ever
> > owned where you can see the taillights while you're driving), the
> purring
> > exhaust note; the cool night air, etc.  The experience was marvelous.  I
> > felt like
> > I was in a time machine.
> >
> > Then, I noticed something sort of funky at the stoplight right before
> the
> > freeway.
> >
> > When the car was idling, the lights all went very dim, even at 1,000
> RPM,
> > but they brightened up and seemed fine at about 1,400.  Oh-oh.   I had a
> few
> > silent, yet choice words for my Lucas generator and voltage regulator,
> the
> > light turned green, the lights were bright and I was on my way.  On the
> > freeway, I hit speeds up to 75 MPH, but didn't want to sustain 4,500 RPM
> for
> > long, so I dropped back to about 65 MPH and enjoyed the ride into town,
> > checking those stars, along with the rest of the traffic, on occasion.
> As I
> > exited the freeway, I noticed the same thing with the lights dimming
> again.
> > Loose fan belt?  Maybe, but I sure didn't think so...
> >
> > At the second light after I exited the freeway, where I was in the front
> of
> > the line in a left turn lane at a major intersection, I suffered a
> complete
> > and TOTAL electrical failure, after I let the RPM dip too low.  The left
> > arrow had just turned green for me and BLIP!  No idiot lights, no
> > headlights, no ignition -- no ANYTHING.  S%$!  "C'Mon, Mrs. Jones!
> Speak to
> > me, baby!"  I knew I couldn't stay there and as I opened my door to
> begin
> > pushing the car out of the intersection, horns started to blare from
> several
> > cars back.  I had to push slightly uphill and at that moment, I was VERY
> > grateful that the Spitfire is such an easy car to PUSH, but I still
> received
> > quite a workout.
> >
> > A good samaritan in a Jeep stayed behind me at I pushed the car uphill
> > through
> > the intersection after the light had changed on me and I was grateful
> for
> > the chance
> > to make it safely to the curb.  I thanked the Jeep owner for doing that
> and
> > he
> > offered to "give me a push", but knowing the massive body damage that
> would
> > result, I politely declined.  My first thought was that I after driving
> 350
> > miles with
> > no major problems, I had gotten rather cocky and didn't have my cell
> phone.
> > My wife had it. What's worse, I didn't have a flashlight or any tools
> with
> > me, either.  I
> > did NOT want to leave the car there, open and exposed.  By the same
> token,
> > my wife was out for the evening and I knew that my two boys at home
> would
> > begin to worry if I didn't check in soon.
> >
> > Opening the bonnet, the first thing I checked were the fuses.  I had two
> > spares.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the problem.  All the fuses
> > were fine.  I wriggled the wires connected to the generator, solenoid,
> > battery and coil.  Still, nothing.  I felt around and checked the
> ignition
> > wires behind the dash.  All connected.  The wiring harness is very
> recent,
> > installed by the PO not too long ago.  I've seen messy wiring before,
> but my
> > wires are all orderly (as much as possible, anyway) and good.  I was
> > beginning to stress a bit, muttering, "think, THINK" under my breath,
> when a
> > second Jeep pulled up in front.  A young man got out of the passenger
> side
> > and asked if I needed a hand.  I explained the problem and he had no
> clue
> > whatsoever.  Since the fuses were fine and nothing had burned up, I
> thought
> > that the battery connection just HAD to be the culprit.  I wriggled the
> > positive lead around on the battery post again and --voila!  I had
> > electrical power
> > again and ignition.
> >
> > Greatly relieved, I profusely thanked Corey -- and his father who had
> > stopped to lend a hand.  If push came to shove, I would have used their
> cell
> > phone to call for a tow truck.
> >
> > As I pulled away from the curb, I gave the samaritans a wave and a toot
> from
> > the dual note horns, pulled into the post office, dropped Joe's check in
> the
> > mail after climbing over my passenger seat and headed off to the bank.
> > Happy again, and adding "flashlight" to the tool items I want to begin
> > carrying in the trunk.  The cool night air felt good, since pushing the
> car
> > 30 yards or so generated a sufficient amount of fatigue.  After getting
> > into some strange contortions at the drive up ATM machine, I've decided
> that
> > drive-throughs in my RHD Spitfire are a thing of the past.  I also took
> note
> > that my lights no longer dimmed at the intersections.  At 1,000 RPM, the
> > charging system, now reconnected to the battery, was doing its thing
> > properly.  Although they dip to the left,  must say that I was very
> pleased
> > with the performance of what I'm assuming are the original Lucas sealed
> beam
> > headlights.  Bright enough that I won't be ditching them for halogens
> > anytime soon!  I'll try to aim them a bit better for our U.S. roads, but
> I
> > was duly impressed.
> >
> > Alls well that ends well.  My license plate light is not illuminating.
> > Soemthing that
> > I had forgotten to tend to before my journey.
> >
> > Question.  I've noticed (even at night or when its cool) that my
> temperature
> > gets into the top third region of the scale when I'm idling at a stop
> for
> > any length of time.  I seem to recall this as being normal.  Is is?
> While
> > driving
> > at speed, the temp rarely gets past the first tick of the center
> position.
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Jeff in San Diego
> >
> > '67 RHD Spitfire Mk3 aka "Mrs. Jones"
> > Jeff's Classic '67 Spitfire Mk3 site
> > http://www.ohms.com/spitfire/spitfire.shtml
> > home of the NEW Totally Triumph Auction
> > "By Triumph enthusiasts, for Triumph enthusiasts"
> > http://www.ohms.com/cgi-bin/TRauction.cgi
> >
> > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> 

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