Monday, May 25, 2009

Damned air dam

austin beretta Austin's new '95 Chevy Beretta still hasn't gotten an oil change or new plugs and wires, but it's not for a lack of trying.

Austin initially discovered he can't get under the car to work because it's frame is too close to the ground.

So he decided he needed a pair or ramps. Our BMW friend Charlie has a pair and he dropped them off Saturday evening. But when Austin aligned them with his front tires, he noticed the plastic air dam was in the way and would be damaged  because of the steep incline of the ramps.

I observed that there was about a 2" drop off of the end of our concrete driveway, which might lessen the problem. We checked it out and found he still needed another inch or two of clearance.

So our neighbor brought over some thick pieces of wood that looked like they would do the trick when placed on the concrete, snugged up against the edge.

Austin lined up with the ramps, crept forward and up, the air dam clearing the ramps. Then he stopped about half-way up. The neighbor and I motioned for him to creep up a little farther. Instead, the car lurched forward and over the ends of the ramps, hanging by its frame.

After some discussion about the relative risks of jacking the car up and removing the ramps, of enlisting the neighbor's brother-in-law to use his tractor's front-end loader to lift the car by its frame, I noticed the one on the driver's side of the car looked like it hardly had any weight on it. With the neighbor lifting on the left front wheel well, we were able to slide the ramp out.

The other ramp was pinned, but Austin freed it by jacking up that side of the car.

It started to rain about this time and Austin decided it made more sense to just pay someone to change his oil, plugs and wires.

He did, however, change one plug and concluded the engine now runs smoother.

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