The Acclaim’s Thermostat is fixed.

The Acclaim’s Thermostat is broken.

The ‘backup car’ plan is moving forward! Provided all works out with the salvaged title information, I will be purchasing Jocelyn’s white ’97 Nissan Altima within the next month or so.

Don’t worry, this is not the end of the Acclaim to Fame. This second vehicle will serve as a means for me to do repairs on the Acclaim when she suffers without the stress of needing to borrow a car, or bum rides off my friends.

The problem is, I need a name for the new car. Something powerful and definitive like Kurt’s THE DIVA, Shaun McQuaid’s BLACKHOLE, or Sander’s THE CHARIOT. Something that works best when capitalized.

Right now I’m thinking THE DICTATOR.
or THE NISSAN ALTIMAMA. (THE ALTIMAMA for short)

other ideas include:
IRON WHEEL.
THE TITAN.
THE SCORPION.
STEEL JUSTICE.

your suggestions and comments are welcome!

I drove the acclaim to work today.

After a wild week last week, I was doing a final inspection of the Acclaim friday night when I noticed something unnerving. There was a huge leak in the brake lines. The kind of leak that made a mini-Niagra whenever the brake pedal was pressed. Being that I had a full weekend planned, I caved in and brought it to my favorite brake place. They were able to finish everything up by this morning and the acclaim was triumphant on the ride to work this morning.

I still need to do some clean up work. I wasn’t able to tighten a few of the bolts as much as I would like… and the oil needs changing. But I think the car will do just fine until the weekend. Heavens I love that car. Despite last week, she’s been so reliable for the 8 years that I’ve had the opportunity to drive her. I love that car.

11:30pm Thursday February 9th, 2006

The aching twist of a compressing spring cut through the quiet lull within the garage of disco as the Acclaim to Fame was lowered from her raised perch. After pushing tools aside and checking and rechecking connections, I rushed inside and gave JonAbad a tentative thumbs up.

mike d: we’re ready.
jonabad: we’re ready?
mike d: we’re ready.

JonAbad zipped up his mechanics suit and I grabbed the fire extinguishers. Jon threw on some safety goggles as we entered the garage. There she was. Not unlike some sort of mechanical aphrodite. I opened the garage door.

mike d: worst case scenario, the fuel line in the back comes undone and starts spraying gasoline everywhere… but I think we’ll be okay
jonabad: why’d you open the garage?
mike d: if the car errupts in flame, I’m going to try and coast her into the driveway so that we don’t burn down the garage.
jonabad: right.

I climbed into the drivers seat. I asked if JonAbad was ready. He stood, like a stormtrooper, fire extinguisher aimed and ready.

She started on the first try.

JonAbad started running around the car checking for leaks. I let her run for about 30 seconds then shut her off.

The process was repeated a second time. I wanted to drive her into the driveway, but a new problem became evident. The Parking Brake does not disengage.

I don’t think the parking brake problem will be a tough one to crack. But it made victory a little less sweet. Still, the acclaim runs. And will dominate the roadways once again.

The Acclaim is slowly coming together. Last night I successfully installed the new fuel pump… so now comes the super difficult task of putting the car back together. The problem lies in the fact that as I was removing the gas tank, the studs that hold the gas tank on snapped off.

tonight I will attempt to drill out or extract the busted studs and tap new holes for some fresh hardware. Then tomorrow I’ll reassemble the beast, lower her to the ground, get a friend or two to stand ready with a couple fire extinguishers, and I will start the car.

That’s the plan. we’ll see what really happens.

In other news…. Jon did some magical stuff with the website to speed it up. And i’ve made a new Acclaim to Fame catagory, as I suspect many more adventures in the future.

I love my car.