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Cooper - 1969 1600SSS Bluebird Coupe


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  • 2 months later...

I got a fisheye lens for Christmas.  (Thanks Brenda!!!)

 

It's all manual so I will need to learn more about shutter and film speed to take decent shots but I went out this morning and played a little anyway.

 

Here is what the bitter cold bird looked like through an 18-55mm lens:

 

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And here it is through the fisheye:

 

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I look forward to getting better at photography in general and I'll be bringing this to Canby to shoot your cars with.

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About the above...

Martin from http://www.510garage.com  just sent me this:

 

"Hey Carter,

 I had my co worker look at the tag you found under your seat .

Basically its a good luck charm/amulet.  The words on the front say Hiei-zan Enryaku-ji anzen koutsuu onnoji.  Hiei-zan Enryaku-ji means Enryaku Temple on Mt Hiei.  Anzen koutsuu onnoji basically means safe driving.  So it's a safe driving charm blessed by Enryaku Temple that one would carry in their car.

Hope that helps.

 Martin"

 

Thanks Martin!  Very cool.

 

I'm super late on this but that's exactly what it is.  You can go to a shrine and for a donation you can have your car blessed, or a blessing for whatever other reason (good luck, health, etc.) at the start of the new year.  Here's a pic of my friend's omamori's for safe driving in his car.

 

http://instagram.com/p/xf0O6TweWV/

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  • 4 months later...

One of the rear exhaust hangers broke over the winter.  Soon after, it developed an exhaust leak up front.  I figured it was the gasket between the manifold and the Y-pipe.  I went to fix it this weekend and found the problem was a little worse than that...

 

05252015_cooper_exhaust_leak.JPG

 

I guess now I know what it's like to own a crack pipe!

 

Need to fix this before Canby so I don't risk it falling off completely on the way down.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No confidence in my welding ability yet so I made an appointment with a pro.  Icehouse has been taking his cars to A-1 Muffler in Everett.and has been happy.  I made an appointment with the owner Wayne 2 weeks out!  (busy guy)

I didn't want to drive anymore 'till I got it fixed so I drove Bruiser for a while.

 

The day before my appointment I got back underneath to make a temporary repair to get me safely to the exhaust shop.  It occurred to me that if it was cracked on one side, it was probably cracked on the other as well.

Sure enough...

 

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The only thing keeping my exhaust from falling off was a single weld bead along the bottom of the Y-pipe.  Yikes!

I added a stainless strap from a cast iron pipe plumbing coupling for insurance.

 

cooper_exhaust_leak_06072015_2_.JPG

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Here's the shop.  Doesn't look like much but Wayne's been doing exhaust since 1976!

 

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Never had my car on a lift before

 

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Took a couple underbelly shots while it was overhead

 

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nice floors for a 46 year old tin can eh?

 

Wayne welded up the crack and noted that the upper and lower seam on the Y-pipe were separated as well so he welded those too.   Then he started the car while it was up on the lift and used his torch to find any leaks (there were lots)  He just kept melting filler until the leaks were gone.

 

Awesome job and are you ready for this.  Back on the ground and out the door for $30 bucks!

 

cooper_a-1_muffler_06082015_7_.JPG

 

Sounds so weird now!  I found out why I did not notice the exhaust leak.  It's because it has ALWAYS leaked - not the crack obviously but the Y-pipe seams.  It wasn't an annoying noise though.  From the drivers seat, it used to sound like I had a header, now it sounds like I have a muffler.  So quiet!  (I liked it better loud actually)  Still sounds good at WOT when the SU's are honking though.

 

Thanks Wayne!

 

Look out Canby here I come!

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There isn't much paint or patina left on my poor bluebird but for two evenings I rubbed and polished 'till I got blisters and was able to get enough shine that I was actually able to apply a coat of wax.  Not that you can tell from the photos.

 

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We left Saturday morning after gassing up and made the trip down to Canby without issue.

 

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The camping was already packed and the sun was HOT!

 

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Sundown brought a welcome reprieve from the heat and the tent was soon inhabitable.

 

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175 amazing cars counted on Sunday!  I wasn't going to "show" Cooper this year but Brenda didn't know and went ahead and entered me.  They put me in the "datsun" class with the other unclassifiable/leftover cars.

 

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And at the end of the day, at the awards ceremony, they called my name for first place Datsun!

 

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I've never won an award at Canby (or anywhere else for that matter).  This is really pretty cool!  Thanks for those of you that voted for Cooper.  I enjoy driving it daily and I hope you guys enjoyed seeing it at the show.  It really is a special car. 

 

The blisters were worth it!

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The drive home was HOT and we went pretty slow to keep the temp under control.  I felt bad for Victoria's boyfriend who rode shotgun as I had the heater on high all the way home.  The only time we had to stop though was when we saw the Everett Ratsun Garage crew on the side of I-5 so we pulled over and joined them in case we could help.  Turns out they were waiting for a scraggler with a clogged fuel filter. 

 

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We joined them later for icecream and then went on our merry way.

 

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Sunday night...

It was good to be home!

 

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Here's hoping Datsuns NW finds some good leadership to take on Canby 2016 through 2025!

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