Author: chuck goolsbee

GOES Satellite image

So, it isn’t a car picture I know… but I like it.

This is an image captured via the GOES widget yesterday morning. I love several things about this image… The coastal fog, and how it describes the valleys along Gray’s Harbor and the Columbia River so well. There is also morning fog through the Snohomish River valley. Most impressive though is the massive bulk of Mt. Rainier, rising up and dominating its corner of Pierce county, the rising sun illuminating the glaciated eastern slopes, and casting a dark shadow to the west.

If you look closely you can make out the forms of other mountains; Olympus, Baker, Shuksan, Glacier Peak, Mt. Adams, and even Hood and Jefferson in Oregon, but none stand out like Rainier.

I spent yesterday travelling from our house to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island (and back) to attend a wedding of a friend and colleague at digital.forest. Dave & Tanya Anderson married each other on a the day that dawned in the image above… in perhaps one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We drove out to Anacortes, and boarded the 11 am ferry to Friday Harbor, where we enjoyed a lunch, had a brief stop at the “English Encampment (from the “Pig War” that established the final boundary between the US & Canada. We’ve been to the American Camp before, but had never yet visited the English one.) Then on to the wedding ceremony and reception in the garden of the Hotel de Haro at Roche Harbor. It was a truly wonderful day. We returned via the 10PM ferry which stops at every ferry-serviced island in the San Juans, which allowed us a nice car-deck nap of two hours, interrupted only by the occasional docking and an idiot in an Audi who set his frigging car alarm when he wandered off to the passenger deck. (Thankfully the WSF tracks these idiots down and delivers public embarrassment.)

Boxed.

I’ve always liked this photo, I have it framed on my office wall. Of course I have lost the original high-res version of it… I took it, did my editing for my website, and threw away the original – which was stupid… because only afterward did I realize what a great shot it is! It is a wonderfully captured moment with nice composition and lighting.

This was taken on the New England 1000 rally, in 99 or 2000, (I’m too lazy too look it up at the moment.) On the first or second day of the rally the car broke. A clutch hinge pin fell out to be exact. The rally has the good forture of having the Markowski’s as the official rally mechanics. The Markowski’s run RPM, one of the best restoration shops on the planet. On the right is my father, and he is talking to (standing) Steve Markowski and if I recall correctly the kid leaning against the wall of the trailer is named Eben. The E-type has just been pulled into the trailer and my father is describing what happened.

What ensued was a miracle. I firmly believed that the rally was over for us. Anyone that knows e-types understands that clutch and transmission problems are impossible to address in a swift fashion. But somehow … using flashlights and surgical tools these two mechanical geniuses who were weren’t even old enough to drink at the time, managed to re-insert a clutch hinge pin through a hole in the bellhousing and get us back in the rally again the next morning.

I recently fixed the car’s latest ill, and am humbled by the abilities of these guys. I am the world’s slowest mechanic… I do not rush things and really don’t mind taking forever to address an issue. To me working on cars is a thing to be savored and enjoyed. I could never do it for a living, because I’m just too damn slow. These kids (who are now grown men) were born for the task. Good to have people like that around. Yin & Yang.

Adventures in Towing, part 4

The E-type had another trip on a flatbed this past weekend. :p

It has a NON-stock fuel pump, in this case a Mallory, which requires the use of a fuel pressure regulator. The latter device failed. I replaced the pressure regulator and the problem (loss of power, engine dying) did not go away. To make a very long story short: Car died on Chuckanut drive (right about here) not too long before sundown. I went into full troubleshooting mode, looking at the fuel delivery system back to front. We ran out of daylight before we figured it out. I called the insurance company (who provide a gratis 10 mile tow) who had a local flatbed company bring me to a friends house near Bow, Wa. I spent half the day Monday under the bonnet of the Jag in their driveway, until I figured out that the new part was just as bad as the old bad part. sigh. Oh well.

The upside is that I found a GOOD aftermarket pump, that will deliver the native pressure the XK engine requires, and as a bonus, it is inexpensive and comes with a serious endoresment.

The image above is from my infamous “voltage regulator” incident a few years back. Perhaps I have a problem with “regulators”?
You can read about it here. There is even a pic of my Mallory fuel pump there.

Anyway, big thanks to Greg Bilyeau, who came out from his home in Bellingham to help me out. Thanks also to Mike Hinson, who graciously allowed me to use his driveway as a garage for a day, and loaned me some compressed air, and some expertise. Huge thanks to Paul Wigton, my telephone tech support guy!

Bruce MacCormack also offered a bed for the night for us, which in the end I didn’t require. I would have stayed up all night watching “Grand Prix” on his big screen anyway. 😉 Thanks Bruce.

I’ve been pirated!

eBay: E TYPE JAGUAR Print Mounted & Framed (item 280019208603 end time Aug-24-06 13:16:09 PDT)

OK, so now I know how Lars Ullrich feels. 😉

Seriously though, I’d gladly GIVE away this photograph to anyone who asks (and in fact I do) but that doesn’t give you the right to print it, sell it, and not give me a slice of the payout! Grrrr.

I’m going through ebay’s copyright infringement process, and have notified the seller as well. We’ll see how it turns out.

Looking through the seller’s other items seems to be a target rich environment for any copyright attorneys out there.