Announcement!

Team Continental Repairs is Cody Campbell and Mark MacDonald!

A great match. Cody Campbell is from right here in the lower mainland, and won the first race I ever did...when he was 14. Mark is from Alberta, but we won't hold it against him, because he's a big fast boy, and probably a good case for eating Alberta Beef.



Grit. Spirit. Our boys are made of all that good stuff. Its a good thing too.

Tuft. Farrar. Holloway. Meier. Pearce. Big names. Big talents. A handful for Team Continental to contend with.

Here is Cody Campbell ripping it up on the Burnaby Boards, looking like he was born to do it.

There goes Mark, testing the torque limit of that rear carbon disc.

Come to the Burnaby Velodrome for two more nights of racing. It starts at 6:30pm. My wife will be racing (Jennifer), so that's especially exciting.

We are really, really proud to support such a great event.

Continental Proudly Presents

We've got a track racing team of our very own. We'll feel like big shots, if only for a week.

I should probably explain.

This December 27-30th will be an exciting time for Vancouver cycling fans. Our very own Burnaby Velodrome ( http://www.burnabyvelodrome.ca/index.php ) will be hosting an international level track race. It's a pretty big deal, because all sorts of famous riders will be there: http://www.burnaby4.com/

Two of those lucky riders will be riding for the Continental Repairs team. We don't know which two, but we'll keep you posted.

This really is very, very cool.

Double Trouble

Always have a backup plan.

Rather than run one engine at full race nick, these fella's ran two moderatly tuned Porsche motors in their race car. The front engine drove the front wheels, the rear engine the rear wheels.

Boy oh boy, that must have been a brute to drive.

Racing cars used to be built over the winter by guys with big ideas in poorly lit barns.

Awesome.

Welder

Grab life by the horns. Seize the day. Anything is possible. The world is your oyster.

Especially if you have a MIG welder.

Lets be clear: a modern automotive repair shop has no real use for a MIG welder. Sure, we'd probably weld the occasional exhaust, but we've been doing just fine all these years without a welder, so we really don't need one.

Or rather, really didn't need one.

But here we are, you at your computer and us with a welder. It's the way things are now. We can join metal pieces together. It's almost like magic, and it's fantastic.

So far, we've made a bottle opener from broken tools. It's a beauty, and very strong. We celebrated by using it.

We're going try to not let this go to our heads.

Snow tires!

As previously noted, we have snow tires in stock. We've got lots of sizes, lots of brands. We've also got steel wheels and aluminum wheels to fit Audi's, VW's, BMW's, Mercedes, Subaru's, Toyota's, Lexus', Volvo's, Honda's, and more. And if we don't stock it, we can get it.

Prices range from $365 for a 14" set of tires for an older VW to $1750 for a set of 17" inch set of tires mounted on nice aluminum rims for a new Audi.

Aluminum rims: $130 each. Cheap enough for winter!

Goodbye, Fair Steed

I sold my 1980 Volkswagen Westfalia today. I owned it for four years. Before me, Erich owned it for at least ten. Before him, it belonged to another mechanic who worked at Continental. It's been in the family for a while, and it was sad to see it go.

I didn't want to sell it, but I needed room in the stable. I hadn't done everything I wanted to do, Westy-camping wise, but I was beginning to realize that that trip to South America or the jaunt to Newfoundland were not going to happen any time soon. I'm way too busy.

The van was fun, but I'm not camper enough to need it.

So I bought an old Volvo, as you do. A 1971 Volvo P1800. What a beauty. It's just the thing for short trips to glitzy hotels in nearby cities. It's just the thing for dressing fancy and going lawn bowling. It's just the thing for string back gloves and twisty roads. It's a dandy.

We're often asked what kind of car is best. Best? Best for what?

I don't know, but I can tell you what I've owned.

My cars, in Chronological order:

1983 BMW 320i. Not a bad first car. These cars have always been underrated. Perfect balance, lots of visibility, reliable and cheap to run. I added an extra "i" to the back, making it a 320ii. In hindsight, I have no idea why.

1966 Volvo 122s, 4 door. Started out mint green, ended up a really nice maroon. It was a beauty when I sold it. When I bought it I didn't know a thing about cars. When I sold it, I was a licensed mechanic. No Joke. I do what I do today because of that car.

1976 BMW 2002. Unbelievably rusty. The rust was absolutely everywhere. No heat and bald tires, so not a great winter car, but I owned it when I was snowboarding, so it saw a lot of snow. Quick and fun to drive, but with all that rust, I'm probably lucky to be alive.

1984 Volkswagen GTi. I'm not sure why the "i" is not capitalized, and I'm too lazy to Google it. Fun car, especially once I put a sport suspension in, added headers and a cam, and ported the intake runners. I spun it at my first Autocross event and cut down an entire shrub. It smelt like burnt foliage for a week.

1979 Volkswagen Westfalia. Absolutely mint. This was a beauty. I bought it with the engine in the back seat in pieces. Two months later I drove it to Ontario with my wife, sister-in-law, and three year old niece. It was a deluxe model, with a perfectly working refrigerator. The three speed automatic forced a level of zen-patience on me that I haven't been comfortable with since. I sold it for $7500, and should have asked more. I've never seen a nicer one.

1988 Dodge Omni. I know, I can't believe it either. Sadly, the newest car I've ever owned.

Q: What do you get when you take a carburetor- automatic 1988 Dodge Omni and put in a fuel injected, turbocharged 2.5L with a close ratio Getrag transmission?

A: A wasted summer and lots and lots of tire smoke.

A 1968 Volvo 122s two door. This was the engine after I rebuilt it. The previous engine blew a hole right through the piston. I passed Aircare with the hole, drove the work with the hole, didn't really mind the hole. My wife wasn't a big fan of watching me change spark plugs every other day though. I also put Jaguar v12 brakes and Mustang II springs on this one. Ugly as sin on the outside!

1985 Audi 4000s. Perhaps the most euro looking car made in the 1980's. Notchy and square looking, with a nice torquey 5 cylinder engine that hung over the front wheels and made the car understeer in the worst way. It only gave me trouble once: the clutch master cylinder let go on a road trip to Penticton. We had a car load of people and all our gear, but the car made it home tugging along with just 4th gear. It had heated seats too!

1980 Volkswagen Westfalia. 65hp. Really. Really. Slow. But that's the point. The adventure was getting there. Being there was good too. Four adults could sleep in comfort all night, make coffee in the morning, and get lost all day in it. I lost at crazy eights a few too many times inside this van.

1984 Volvo 240DL wagon. This is my current car. It's in near time warp conditon. Volvo's last like that. Starts, drives, stops, holds lots of stuff inside, and 4 bikes on top. Perfect. The wife likes the heater.

1971 Volvo P1800s. Watch out ladies, I am now irresistible.

This is possibly the sexiest car ever mass produced. Even better that it's a Volvo. Curves by Italians, mechanics by Swedes. Perfect match. It's got a completely red interior for god's sake. As you read this, you can probably feel yourself wishing you were me.

I don't blame you.

The passing seasons

It's been busy around here. Summer flew on by, and I can hardly remember the sun. That's too bad, because it'll be dark and gloomy soon, and we'll all be talking 'bout next summer.

Why so glum David? Well, someone has to put those things away. We got our order of snow tires in. We bought 60 this year right off the bat. We can get more, usually within a few hours, but it's nice to stock a bunch too.

It smells like rubber in here!

We found space for all these tires in our little shop, but we'd like to sell some of these soon so that we can move around... If you are going to buy snow tires this year, buy them from us in October, and we'll give you a special deal. Lets call it the early bird special.


We've got sizes for most import cars in stock. We can order any size you like, and any brand you've heard of. If we order in the morning, we'll get them by the afternoon.

We've got some nice looking alloy wheels too. They are cheap enough for winter wheels, but nice enough to make you happy to put them on.

So there you go: winter tires. Something to smile about! (even if the picture is blurry)

Check Engine Light- a bit techy, a bit geeky, a bit preachy.

Nobody likes that light. Some people ignore it. I wouldn't, but that's because I'm curious. Despite what some people want to think, it's always on for a reason.

First we plug in the scan tool. We have a scan tool that works with all european cars, and that is what I'm using here. We also have a VW/Audi specific scan tool and a generic japanese/american scan tool.

It takes about 5-10 minutes to load the software and to talk to the computer.

Our codes. These codes are both "wide open" codes, meaning they could have many, many causes. The fact that they are together is a good clue though. Right away, I'm thinking this car has an air leak, which is very common on european cars. Bad German rubber!

I haven't even popped the hood yet. I want to, but before I do that, I'll check see how to properly test the engine when these codes are present. We use Alldata and Worldpac Assist as information sources. We also have lots and lots of books and CD info sources on specific European cars.

As I suspected, on this car these codes are often associated with vacuum leaks and MAF sensor problems. I write down the specifications for checking the MAF sensor live data, and head back to the car for a visual inspection of the engine.

I start at the intake manifold and visually inspect the hoses all the way back to the airbox. Whoa, what's that? Someone has left a giant air hose off.

I guess I should have started with the good old visual check after all.

This is why you don't let quick lube shops touch your car. They aren't mechanics, just salespeople.

Well, that was a quick one, and a good starter. Stay tune for check engine light round two...hopefully a tougher one!

The Oldsmobile

Every once in a while we get a really neat car in the shop. In all honesty, we try to keep the fleet we work on as homogeneous and new as possible. New, normal cars, that's our bread and butter.

As cars age, they develop quirky problems that are time consuming to find, and most of the time it just isn't worth the money it costs to have an old car fixed professionally.

That's why old cars are usually hobby cars. Their owners tinker away on them, giving them the hours and attention they deserve. Occasionally, their owners need a bit of help. If we have time, and the car is well sorted, we do minor work on old cars...usually for old friends.

Today we had a 1936 Olds in the shop. It's owner, our neighbour and friend, brought it over to have some new white-walls installed.

That's our biggest hoist, and the car barely fit. We've had full size SUV's on there!


Take a look at that grill.

That's one long hood.

The reason for the long hood: a straight 8, with one tiny carburetor. Note the massive horns. Also note that those are Robert Bosch wires.
It's actually amazing how little cars really have changed. Sure, this thing is archaic, but 70 years later, we still have spark plugs, thermostats, and starters that look just like this car's!

One door panel, three handles. Yes, even the vent window deserves a well ornamented handle.


It never occurred to me that a car so big would have a manual transmission. A floor shifter. Not sporty. Just the way it was.

An art-deco clock the size of a dinner plate. When I was a kid, if I needed to know the time, I'd always search for a Volvo 240. Their clocks were the only ones big enough to see from the outside. Kids in the 30's would have had an easier time with that particular problem, but they also wouldn't have had calculator watches.

Every cloud, I suppose.

The new boots. Coker Reproductions. Nice.

I've never put tubes in tires that didn't end up on my bicycle. This car got tires made in the USA, tubes made in China. I guess they still use car tubes in China.

Sadly, It was a bit too dark to get a good picture of the final product when I finished. This is one of the left rear wheel.

Someday I'll figure out a way to make money fixin'old cars, and maybe that's all I'll do.

Elac Turntable

We don't repair turntables, but this one's mine, and since it's an Elac from West Germany, I figure it belongs on this blog.


Last week, halfway through my GTB album, the Elac stopped making noise. I traced the fault to a cracked solder point where the cartridge meets the tone arm. I don't have a solder gun at home (oh the shame!) so I heated a jewelers flathead screwdriver on the stove element and soldered with that. Worked like a charm.

I had to remove the tone arm. That little beauty is supported by the teenyest bearings I've ever seen!


Just look at that! They're just wee!


There you can see a tiny preload lock for a tiny preload screw, for tiny preload-able tone arm bearings.

This is what a turntable made in Germany in the 1960's looks like from underneath.

After putting it all back together, the sound was back. The first album played on the repaired Elac? Air Supply.

Shhhh...don't tell anyone.

I'm lying alone with my head on the phone
Thinking of you till it hurts
I know you hurt too but what else can we do
Tormented and torn apart
I wish I could carry your smile and my heart
For times when my life feels so low
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring
When today doesn't really know, doesn't really know


Chorus:
I 'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you
I know you were right believing for so long
I 'm all out of love, what am I without you
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong


I want you to come back and carry me home
Away from this long lonely nights
I'm reaching for you, are you feeling it too
Does the feeling seem oh so right
And what would you say if I called on you now
And said that I can't hold on
There's no easy way, it gets harder each day
Please love me or I'll be gone, I'll be gone


Chorus


Oh, what are you thinking of?
What are you thinking of?
Oh, what are you thinking of?
What are you thinking of?


Chorus(3x)