Changfa 195 starter

[mobile_bob]

weight certainly has its advantages as a diesel mechanic
 i remember when i first started out, at 155 lbs trying to torque 1693 and 3406a model mains
both feet and both arms and a guarantee of a hemmoroid or three!

(and the torque wrench sat there and laughed at me)

now all i have to do is get it in position and lay on the torque wrench!

(and the torque wrench screams for mercy)



bob g

[Doug]

Bob all this disussion of weight has me thinking.

Would one of those cigars you were telling me you are so fond of ever go nice with this nice oak aged Innis &Gunn IPA I'm drinking.....

Screw it all, the important thing is life is to keep buisy and enjoy life's little pleasures.

From this moment onward the Doughnut will be the official currency of Dougladesh and I shall rename them torque wrench ballasts in your honour.

[mobile_bob]

speaking of cigars

last week i went back to kansas and stopped at the first walgreen strore i could find
they had my favorite cigar so i asked the girl how many packages she had,
she said i don't know,, i told her fine and i want them all!
she found 9 packages,, and completely freaked out that some fat bastard had the audacity to buy them all!

before we left at the end of vacation i stopped back in and they had gotten in 4 more packs and i got them too

in kansas they are 1/2 of what i pay for them here,, and
my local walgreens here has not got in any for the last 4 months,, i have heard every excuse in the book
they are on back order, the driver didn't bring any, the manufacture don't make em anymore,, etc

funny how the store in kansas doesn't have a problem getting them...

then came the airport security,, oh boy!
they xray'd our checked baggage in view of everyone,, small airport

i was asked,,, what the hell is in this suitcase,,, they thought it was some sort of explosives!!
i guess they thought it was small sticks of dynamite or something,,
i explained it was my cigars,,,
13 packages? are you serious??
they stopped me and i had to explain that they were indeed not explosives, not contraban such as cuban
and not made of whacky tobaccy!

i guess next time i will just send them back by ups or us mail

but i got a good supply of cigars now,, didn't get detained for long or go to jail,, so life is good again!

what a guy has to go through for his favorite cigar!

other things i learned from my trip
washington state has a tobacco tax of 15 dollars per pack more than kansas does!
in central kansas gas is around 40 cents less per gallon and,, most interesting is you can buy premium unleaded for about
7 cents less than the plain unleaded??? seems the refinery is very close and they have a surplus of premium unleaded so they
discount it to the local stations to get rid of it... so everyone burns premium unleaded,,, wow that took a bit to understand.
food prices are around 20-50 percent less there as well,,, that goes for everything from bananna's to tomatoes (neither of which or locally
grown or out of season,, beef and other meats a bit less expensive as well,, amazing!
a house that sells for 30k there will bring 250-300k here!

oh yes,, and zero traffic! or nearly so even on the interstate hiways,, nothing like here in western washington !
folks are very nice and easy going as well. but you got to have an appointment to get  haircut even if you are the only one in the shop!

all in all, a good trip, and got a chance to meet a great guy from Flint Hills Diesel as well. 
and helped uncrate an original lister 3/1 as well, that was cool    (thanks Russell)

yes it is very hard coming back to this rat race

bob g

[Doug]

Hey Bob....

I'll Ups you a realy good IPA for a good cigar since you seem to have a connection at Wallgreens lol....

Thats a drug store right?

[draganof]

An update on my starter is in order. I received the first starter I ordered from Hardy Diesel. Wrong one. This one is top of engine mount and I need the one that goes on the end. Took measurements and sent photos to Hardy. No problem they said, we know which one you need. Starter # 2 arrives, Big starter! 4kw, 30lbs. Big enough to crank a 3406. Not for a 195 for sure. More phone calls, their working on it. Waiting for UPS to pickup the two wrong starters. Hardy is footing the return bill. Opened my Master Card bill today and discovered that Carroll Stream billed me $94.00 for a starter they never sent me! I had tried to order one from them but they never could get it shipped out. They kept coming up with all kinds of excuses. I finally sent them an E-Mail and phoned them to cancel the order. I never even had a tracking # from them. Looks like I'll be talking to them on Monday. My original starter? It has not failed to start since I ordered the first starter from Hardy. I have a friend in Vietnam that owns a large factory. I wonder what the import fee would be on a crate load of starters? Actually I wonder just how cheap a Changfa 195 is in Saigon. I need to find out if he ships his products to the US. Might be a way to save on some shipping costs.

John