Which way in?

[Amphipoda@yahoo.com]

Amphi chat room was cooking Monday night.
Hope more show next Monday to make it a
total free-for-all. I briefly mentioned an Amphi
moment I endured over the weekend. I know
most of you are buried in snow drifts, so I'll
share this to keep that amphibious candle
glowing in your hearts...
Zipped over to the lake after greasing Amphi's
nipples, I'd forgotten how many nipples were
there. Reckon if Amphi were to breast feed
offspring it would be like ants at a picnic -
all over the place. But I digress... Anyway, we
were alone on the lake just a tooling along, a
singing a song, and then I got the urge to find
a crew. Sharing Amphi rides with semi-perfect
strangers is fun and sometimes great friendships
arise. So I bang half way up the ramp and stop.
Looking for a willing first mate I spied my neighbor.
I should preface the fact that in most of California
we DON"T know our neighbors and most DON'T
care to either. Thankfully my neighborhood is
different and I know this gent and his 2 year old
daughter. So I offer a ride. They accept and I
hand out the micro-mini life vest for the young one.
While dad is fumbling with the vest, the kid is
having a fit, the Park Rangers are giving me the
hairy eye, then it happens... my foot slipped OFF
the brake and BACKWARDS Amphi and I go...
down the ramp! Brakes are still wet, my reaction
time pretty slow, and did not help in the least...
and we're talking pretty steep ramp here my fine
finned friends... we hit the water doing about
15 mph in REVERSE!!! Water crested the back
seat like a surf movie in Hawaii, engine stalled,
(naturally or unnaturally), and Amphi was so
pissed at me that he wouldn't start. Neighbor
came down and returned the life vest, his little
daughter recovered from the shock and, yes,
eventually so did Amphi and I.

Amphipoda
`64 Turquoise
Sandy Eggo, CA

 

[cparada@ix.netcom.com]

> Amphipoda
>`64 Turquoise
> Sandy Eggo, CA
wrote [in part]:

> Looking for a willing first mate I spied my neighbor.
I should preface the fact that in most of California we DON"T know our neighbors
and most DON'T care to either. Thankfully my neighborhood is different and I
know this gent and his 2 year old daughter. ...

- Oh, I don't know that I agree with that. It's not really specific to this
state. Suburban neighborhoods are designed to maximize privacy, and thereby make
"casual contacts" like meeting your neighbor something of a rarity. Yeah,
California does have more than the daily minimum requirement of suburbia...

>Water crested the back seat like a surf movie in Hawaii, engine stalled,
(naturally or unnaturally), and Amphi was so pissed at me that he wouldn't
start...
>

I survived a similar situation on the American River a few years ago! Dang the
fast current and slow brakes...

First, I must make a confession. I have owned more than my fair allotment of
English vehicles. These included an early Mini Cooper and a couple of
Austin/Morris/MG 1100's. Those pioneers of the modern automobile layout had the
first transverse engines, the radiators on the side. As these were not new
designed motors, and turning them transverse brought the ignition right out
there behind the front grill... Several rainy nights went from four cylinders to
three to two to one to... I want to share a few tricks that have served me well
with then and now with the Amphicar.

- Going to solid-core wire for the high-tension leads (bright yellow hot-rod
stuff), means no leakage, no deterioration, and full current.

- The coil is installed with the high-tension outlet down. That keeps the
"cup" from collecting water. Of course, having a nice high-output coil also
helps; although my old Bosch "Sports Coil" seems to work fine.

- A VERY thin coating of Vaseline on the mating surfaces between the
distributor and cap makes the assembly fairly water-resistant. Note that if the
insides of the cap or rotor are damp when it's sealed, everything corrodes.
Since, um, discovering that, I use a hair dryer before closing things up...

- Coating the entire primary and secondary ignition with silicone (not the
silicon used around here) really reduces problems with moisture. I use the
spray-on silicone, and renew it with each tune-up or oil change. Big
difference!

- All of these did a lot for reliability. The next step was really fun.
Electronic ignition! Finding a 12-volt, positive ground E.I. was not that hard,
but took some patience to get it here from Florida (a fore-taste of things to
come, I suppose). Crane Cams produces a Fireball (really, that's what they call
it) XR-700 Ignition Module with an optical trigger for 12 Volt Positive Ground
(Earth) system. Part number 720-0001. As my close-up vision moves further out,
I appreciate having no more points to fuss with!

Have fun! Keep up the fun rides. You know that kid will remember this for
decades!

`64 Turquoise (Berlin assembly)
Craig Parada
Alviso (by the SF Bay) Calif.