I used to be more nervous on ladders and under cars than I am now; I think
it is the realization that, as I grow older, I have less and less to lose.
But I am not anxious to shuffle off this mortal coil, so I saved cut off
ends of 2x10 and 2x12 lumber from household projects. When I had enough,
I made 4 solid blocks by stacking and nailing 4 or 5 pieces to make a
block about 15 inches long, 10 inches wide, and 6 or 7.5 inches high.
When a job does not require the wheels to be off, one can jack the car up,
put these under the wheels, and let the car rest on its wheels. Oh yes, I
spiked pieces across the ends that stuck up about 1.5 inches to keep the
car from rolling off; having your car roll off the blocks could spoil your
whole day.
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I know how to fix the oil dripping in your face, too, but the solution is
a little drastic. I once followed the instructions in an article on
storing your car for the winter. I changed the oil, refreshed the
antifreeze, and filled the gas tank(s) of my 67 Alpine before parking and
covering it in my driveway. When a January thaw brought temperatures
above freezing, I decided a short ride would lubricate things and be fun.
Halfway to the corner, I looked in the mirror to see that the entire
street behind me was filled with smoke. I crept back home, and put the
Alpine in the garage. The antifreeze was fine, so I checked the oil. It
was an inch or more over the full mark, which puzzled me because it had
been freshly changed when the car was parked. I drained the oil, and
there was two gallons in the crankcase--one gallon of oil, and one of
gasoline. The car had been parked slightly nose down, and apparently the
float valves were not able to cope over the long term (gas tanks in the
Alpine Series V are upright tanks in the rear fenders, increasing the
pressure head).
I dropped the pan to see if I had trashed the bearings, and then I
discovered the one positive aspect of the fiasco. The expected dripping
of oil into eyes and hair never occurred. The gasoline washed engine was
the cleanest I've ever seen, and dried completely in an hour or two.
An additional plus to this approach is that, should you drive very far
with the crankcase filled with this mixture, the pan might remove itself.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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