Bad Clutch, Spray Paint, and Super Goo

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

4/9/22

Aloha Ohana!

More maintenance adventures this week here in near-paradise.  First up: car clutch problems. On our way home last Saturday the Miata's clutch started acting funny -- as in not working!  If I pushed in the pedal more than a couple of times it would get real soft and I couldn't change gears even with it all the way to the floor. Fortunately we were close to home and got there ok,  I found that if I just let the car sit for a short time with the clutch out, the pressure would return enough for a few pushes.  My trusty auto

A Kona Style Stop

shop was closed for the weekend by the time I called and I had to wait until Monday to talk to them. This is a garage I've used many times before because they are actually honest and do good work. Bless'm, they said if I could get it to the shop they'd try to work it in as soon as they could. I managed to drive it there by staying in 2nd gear and timing my turns and stops.  By about 3pm they called and had diagnosed the problem as a failed "clutch master cylinder," a relatively simple and "inexpensive" fix they were able to do that day!  So, a mere $280 and some angst solved the problem surprisingly quickly.  It turns out that Miatas of this age frequently have clutch problems, but usually it is something called the clutch "slave cylinder," located on the transmission itself.  Ours seems to be ok for now, but like geezer problems in humans, it's just one more issue to look forward to in the future....

Another maintenance project is in the "One-thing-leads-to-another" or "Whack-a-Mole" category. While I was on the roof last week removing the ventilation screens I looked in through the opening and saw the light fixtures in our bedroom closet, which are mounted at about the same height. They were a mess of rust and peeling paint and in desperate need of replacing or repainting.  A check of price$ for replacements quickly convinced me to repaint.  I got them down, sanded the bad spots, and got a couple of cans of spray paint.  Since they are mounted high up on the wall and thus prevent close inspection, they look pretty good now -- from a distance.  

A third project is still in progress because it has been too wet this week to finish.  One of the pool lanai railing 4"x4" posts has some rot at the base.  It is a major hassle to replace these (which my handyman and I have done), and in this case the rot could be cleaned out and patched instead.  My favorite product for doing this is in the same category as duct tape and super glue -- Bondo.  I call it "Super Goo." I think it was originally developed as filler for auto body repairs, but it will stick to anything: metal, wood, glass, stone, and of course, skin. It's an epoxy putty that you mix with a hardener cream and then apply.  Within 10-15 minutes this stuff is rock hard and can be sanded, painted, or drilled. I figure when the archeologists go through the ruins of my house they won't find much --- except blobs of Bondo all around.  I cleaned the rot out of the hole and it's waiting for its Super Goo, but it should be dry to do the job right -- maybe next week.

No golf this week, but I went to Planet Fitness twice.  Karen and I went on Tuesday, and then I went again on Thursday when she was playing golf. I know this sounds very energetic of me, but I assure you I make sure to counteract the positive effects with a nullifying nap. 

Ok, off to market and the beach.  Take care.  And remember, "moderate," "middle," and "center" are not bad things....