Fjord running - finally!

October 31, 2007 (5:06am)

55º F, Clear, SSE Wind, 8 mph.

Good morning,

This is crazy weather! At the moment 55º F, warmer than I went to bed, but the temperature is to drop all day and possible snow tonight! Go figure. This morning there are stars filling the sky and the moon is bright. Doesn’t look like snow, but the radar shows some rain coming from the southwest. Yesterday when I looked at the moon it had a halo around it. One of my adopted Grandfathers, Will Moak, would say the “moon is drawing water” and it will rain in a day or so. Guess the old wife’s tale might be right.

FJORD IS RUNNING! ! ! It was a tough battle though. I got the new sparkplug wires on by 10:00 A.M. Fjord started after some urging and I was able to back it out of the shop and hook up the loader just enough to drag it into the shop to install and connect the hydraulics. Again it took a lot of urging to start, but it did and I drove it out of the shop again, turn it around and fill the tires with beet juice. Then it would not start at all, no matter how much we urged it too.

The problem seemed to be electrical, but we really couldn’t get a handle on it. Seemed no matter what we tried, it just would not run. It would fire a couple of cylinders occasionally, but refused to run. Eli was sure the new plugs I put in were the wrong brand, so replace them with the right brand - no start! Went through the wiring to make sure we had solid connections, but they were OK - no start. Checked all of the individual components again - no start. Then we started to think it was the fuel system. Checking the entire system - no start. Thought there might not be enough gas in the tank, put more in - no start. We spent the entire afternoon from lunch to about 4:00 P.M. trying to figure out what the problem was. Finally Mick decided to check the system and change some of the wiring connections while Eli checked if there was spark and I turned it over. After about the 10th or 12th wire switch, it fired - Eli got a jolt and I turned off the system. We at last had found the right combination at about 4:45 P.M.

It turned out that the ballast resistor must have a diode in it and once we had it right (instructions never indicated that at all), electricity flowed and the system worked. Put things back together and Fjord started on about the first turn of the engine several times. It was a sweet sound, akin to music to our ears. All three of us were elated to say the least. It was late and we didn’t even clean up, nor did I take my toolbox home. Tools are still more or less out of the toolbox in the shop.

We did manage to put a new cross-brace above the hood for the loader. The original came very close to the steering wheel and would have done some serious damage to the fingers. Rather than the arched piece of bar stock, we replaced it with a straight one. I also took the snow bucket loose from the materials bucket and replaced the bolts. That should make it easier to remove here. Don’t have impact wrenches here and Eli does. Once Fjord comes home, there will be more things needing my attention, but can do here. Not the least of which will be some lighting and rewiring.

There will be a learning curve for me to drive Fjord though. It drives like nothing I have driven before and the controls are certainly different. The loader will take some getting used to also. I will have plenty of driving time to figure it out before the snow is eyeball deep I hope.
Monday I asked Eli and Mick if they could do some damage to a homemade bread if I brought a loaf for them. They said they would try, so brought one yesterday. Eli had his wife bring in some T-bone steaks for us, but in all of the excitement of getting Fjord running, I left them there. Guess we will have steak for supper tonight! Not a bad deal as the steaks are home grown on his farm. We will totally enjoy!

Eli and Mick have really been a great help and great teachers for me. I have relearned a bunch of skills I really didn’t think I could do anymore. They proved me wrong. I never would have tackled this project, or what will follow, without them. As a way of saying thank you, we intend to take them out for supper some evening. It will depend on their schedules some as Eli’s wife, Pat is scheduled for surgery on the 5th. Either is will happen before then or way done the road after she recovers a bit. Anywho, thanx is in order - big time!

Time to get the day a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><