Greetings and Salutations!
Great News today in one part.
The car?
Looks like it was possibly temperature related.
The error code at AutoZone came up on the reader as P2101 which is either a Throttle Body ($250 for just the part) or the sensor. I woke up this AM and decided that letting it sit overnight might let the gremlins resolve the issue between themselves, and hey…
Whaddya know? It worked.
I also let the car warm up for 10 minutes when I did start it this time since when I ‘coded’ and went into safe mode, I literally had just went outside per normal Floridaman SOP, started the car and drove off.
From personal experience with extreme cold weather living in NH until I was 22, and literally having had the carburetor on my 79 Camaro literally freeze one night when I was on the Mystic River Bridge in high winds (wind chill was like minus 20 that night) at 0200 in the morning, AND that dumbass me forgot to add the fuel antifreeze?
Yep.
I seem to have forgotten that certain mechanical things don’t like the cold. Got me a hunch that the throttle was feeling the cold (for Florida) at 34 degrees and because of that, coded out as the error is between the throttle body and the throttle plate. My hunch is that it was so cold that my pressing on the gas wasn’t necessarily causing the proper reaction so it coded.
So yeah, went to Autozone after warming it up for ten minutes. Inasmuch for myself as it was for me, as again it was cold-cold even for Florida. Then after I got done at AutoZone (the kid there was really helpful and I made sure to tell his manager) when I went out to go home? Stared the car, and lo and behold, the “engine is fucked” light was off and stayed off, and the car was back to normal. I’m going to keep a close watch on it, but like I said, I think the car was grumpy that it was so frikkin cold, and decided it was -done- for that particular cold-assed night.
So whew.
Crisis and Damage to the Bank Account Averted!
Now, as far as the cold?
Well that ALSO is now part of the hold up (besides parts) on doing up the FrankenMauser. DuraCoat needs at least 50 degrees to be able to work, and right now for the past 3 days, we’ve been at less than 40, with maybe a high of 55+/-.
For Florida that’s cold.
I’ve got everything prepped. Sanded/sandblasted and ready. I even came up with a easy and cheap solution for a paint booth as I was wondering just how I can hit this while the pieces are hanging like I did when I used to do Cerakote back in the day. Don’t know if I ever mentioned it but back when I was doing the Contractor Gunsmith thing for the Army, I took on a part-time gig at a local gun store outside of McDill for Shits and Grins.
Looking back at it, it was because I didn’t want to be at the house where things were pretty much unpleasant at the time between me and the X, and the operational excuse was we needed the $$$. That only lasted for a wee bit as the owner was as shady as the day is long. He was a really asshole who had a “III Percenter” tat on his forearm, and constantly talked about his prowess and what he’d do when ‘things finally started’…
Pssh… he was a three year Air Force vet who’s been from what I found an admin clerk. I never said a word outside of the DotMil Armorer gig to him as I -did- ID him as a poser as well as a potential Fedboi… What killed the job was that I quit when I found out that he had had a ND (negligent discharge) in the shop when I was off, and tried to pay off/cover up the shooting, because a guy/customer actually caught a round! Not sure of specifics, but it was bad-bad.
The way I found out was I went in to collect my paycheck, and his wife (who was a total sweetheart) was all spooked and there was a BIG bloodstain in the back room where I worked. Dude wasn’t there, and his wife suggested I make myself scarce as Dude was looking for someone to confirm his alibi, as the ATF as well as the County and Staties were sniffing around. Yep. Fuck that noise folks…
Apparently he didn’t even call an ambulance, and drove the guy to the ER and dropped him off! Fucking gut-shoot a guy ‘cos you’re a moron, and not even do the right thing except to offer money??? Yeah, that’s a HUUUGE piece of shit IMO.
Needless to say, even though they owed me some ducats, I went and “got gone baby fucking gone” but fucking quick. Told the wife “You don’t know me, you never heard of me, I was a part time worker and baby I’m out!” Later, according to sources, THEY popped smoke as well. I drove by not even two weeks later, and the shop was emptied out and closed. It made the news at the time, but I can’t find a link to it. Thankfully no one ever connected me to that place as they were paying me under the table, so ZERO paper trail. Either way, it was a good job in that I learned how to Cerakote. He may have been an asshole, but he did know a thing or two about Cerakote, which I learned from him.
So anyways, back to the original point: I figured I’d share my idea regarding a paint booth. Cheap, Functional and Easy.
A quick and dirty (but as stated cheap) ‘paint booth’ for the purposes I’m needing/using/doing? Try one of those U-Haul Wardrobe Boxes!

It’s got the metal crossbar to hang the parts off of. Then you can tape the top three folding sides up together, thereby lengthening the top, and then you can cut the front down as needed for length.
$22 at the local U-Haul Shop
You’re Welcome.
Now I just need the weather to cooperate.
On other subjects:
Whilst we were on our Mini-Vay-Kay in Charleston seeing MomUnit, one of the things we like to do is hit the Goodwill outside of Seabrook Island and Kiawah. The last time we went we scored a brand new Keurig… like the latest and greatest $350 model that had never been used. Reason I knew this (that it had never been used) was it still had the plastic on the filter that goes inside the water reservoir, and when you opened the K-Cup holder, it still had the “remove before first use” cardboard insert. I paid $10 for it.
SCORE!
We do the same up at The Villages as the best places to hit a Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity Thrift stores are where, as I am wont to say, “The Rich Fuckers W/Out Kids Are Dying”.
90% of their shit gets donated to Goodwill for those not willing to put the effort into a estate sale. Especially if there’s no relations available. No kids means whomever is in charge of “The Rich Dead Fucker Estate” generally goes the quick and easy way to ‘clear the books’ as there’s no profit otherwise. Unfortunately, this time wasn’t as profitable per se, BUT!
I did score two magnificent tomes.
One being “The Rifle In America”:

A NRA Sponsored hardback and bound heritage edition of the History of the American Rifle. VERY good reference and historical overlook in general of the Rifle overall in American History. $5.00 Not bad IMO. The Zon has it listed at $15-20 respectively.
Then, the exciting one:

“Men’s Adventure Magazines” by Max Allen Collins, and published in both English and German by Taschen in 2004. It’s a panoply of awesome images, an example of such being:

Nazis, Guns, Bondage, Sex…
What is there not to like amiright?
I paid $25 which was a bit much IMO in a Habitat for Humanity store… until I looked it up on the ‘Zon:

Ye Cats and Lil Kittens!
$121 plus shipping!?!
Guess it’s sort of collectible.
Myself? I’m just pleased because I can scan a lot of the pics in it, and use them on Ye Olde Blegg as bloggfodder. I mean what is there not to like?
So… That’s what’s going on here.
More Later
Big Country

Clean the throttle body, the tar inside is probably frozen and causing it to hang up.
Already ahead of you on that Jarhead. Cleaned it up really good this afternoon.
IIRC, it’s a Hyundai, no?
Had an intermittent problem that is very similar to what you describe on our old Santa Fe, circa 2010. Turns out it was the sensor and there was an open recall. Dealer paid to tow from my location and fix it.
Or Might want to check that too. Could be a zero ducats fix.
Taschen generally does a one edition and done with their books. It drives the used prices of them way up.
I lived near Hillsboro, NH from 82 through 86. Good times and fond memories of snow and cold. Left there on May 4th and it snowed. Shame what has happened in that state since the great migration from their southern border. I’m in West Tennessee now and we were in the single digits yesterday morning, but in the afternoon we nudged above freezing for the first time in 4 days. Folks around here told me that I wouldn’t need my winter coat anymore when I arrived 5 years ago. 🥴
Hi, advice from a former dirt poor Minnesota college student. On the sensor, check the contacts. Stuff shrinks when its cold, just ask George Costanza. Note that plastic creeps over time and will not return to original spec dims. Super high temps (Florida summer) have connectors expand, stay expanded and when cold snap hits no longer allows a connection to be maintained. See also corrosion from salt air environs on said contacts. Might not need a new sensor just a cleaning. Also check grounds, had to keep a FIAT alive one winter in Mpls and grounds were my nemesis.
The paint booth, Tape the edges to cut down on cardboard dust and spray the inside surfaces with clear coat for same. Also if extending the sides up, get a few cheap yardsticks to act as wall reinforcements. Tape them to the outside walls over the indentations to make the flaps. Ask me how I know.
If you think your luck sucks, my Florida gulf coast condo is having the old windows replaced for new hurricane ones this winter season. It got hit with 8″ of snow this week kinda screwing everything up.
Some days you just have too laugh, at least some of the J6 political prisoners were let out of Gulag Columbiana in the District of Criminals.
Spin
Ah soft core porn from the pre internet days. Better than National Geographic in some ways. Least it featured white round eyes.
BCE, get yourself a vehicle engine error code reader like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/MOTOPOWER-MP69040-Scanner-Engine-Diagnostic
(link cut off since too long)
Currently on sale for $40 bucks on Amazon. Will read engine error codes just like the ones the dealer uses and the Autozone etc. stores use. Only you can plug it in and read the error codes in your garage or driveway.
Little bugger like this saved me literally thousands of dollars in car repairs once I figured out what the codes meant, which in my case was a “minor” leak in the vacuum fuel monitoring system (or some such nonsense). Additional research showed it was fine to ignore and that the error code sometimes just went away on its own, as mine did. But being able to read the engine error codes without coughing up $500 for the dealer to put your car on its own code reader is worth every penny spent.
There’s about a thousand different varieties of these code readers out there, up to and including the same ones the dealer repair shops use (if you want to part with $3 grand for one). Me, I spent the $50 bucks on the one shown above and it was worth every penny saved at the dealer.
Enjoy the projects. Nice work. Good tip on the moving box. In your AO that’ll work well. Spare drywall in mine. If you get antsy, try and score an old toaster oven. Keep just the heat generating portion and use it as a heat source to cure the Duracoat. If the rheostat works, all the better. A layer or two of aluminum foil on the inside of your paint booth might keep it from catching fire. Maybe not. Used Duracoat on two projects and like it a lot. Get the temp handled and it flows nice, drys even, has not flaked or chipped, impervious to solvents so far. Sorry no pics. Projects lost in boating accident.
Those wardrobe boxes as paint booths are genius.
I just finished unpacking and took 4 of those sumbitches to the recycle station.
DAMMIT!
Dude, if you love that style of art (and what red-blooded American man doesn’t!) do a search for the art of Mort Künstler and thank me later. Links to the artist’s Wikipedia bio and a couple of my favorite pieces of his work:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_K%C3%BCnstler
https://www.illustrationhistory.org/images/uploads/lfQC6AU8SX.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/07/3b/7b/073b7b204f174d121761a4758a1e26ce.jpg
Mort Künstler. Jew.
No wonder he was obsessed with those wicked Germans.
The car problem may be much simpler. I have had it happen three or four time when it went to “safe mode”. Being in much colder MN, it seemed to happen when moist air (or fine snow) was sucked into a cold or lukewarm engine. I suspect a transient problem occurs as frost forms on the airflow sensor or some other sensor, triggering the “safe mode”. Each time, the cure was to let the engine idle to warm up and defrost the other components under the hood or just wait for warmer weather. Then the warning would go off.
Dealing with the loss of father-in-law (liberal nam vet, don’t know how that happens ) recently and we lost mother-in-law in 2016.
He turned into a recluse alcoholic after she died. I saw him drink once in the 35 years I’ve known him.
All the women in this family think he was a saint. I did not care for him. He married a woman with 4 kids from 2 fathers. He is a walking excuse for womens bad behavior.
4 siblings. 1 boy 3 girls. Boy is gay, one of the girls with 2 kids from 2 baby daddies decided she was gay 5 years ago.
I have filled up 2- 14 yard dumpsters with stuff out of their house. I’m having to coordinate all the repairs to make the house ready for sale. Did I mention it’s 35 miles away?
Thank god I have been out from surgery for 6 months but I went back to work this week.
DAMN!
Sorry for the current shitshow. That’s tough AF… Stay Strong Troop! Wish I was there to assist.
Of course MY solution would be to utilize the Flammenwerfer, but that’s just me…
Jes’ Sayin’
My sister scored a full-length mink coat at an estate sale in a rich part of town. She gave $40 for it, and it was in perfect condition.
I went to an estate sale last weekend. All I can say is it was too soon after taking care of my Mom’s place. Didn’t like walking into a house and seeing some dude’s entire life laid out for sale. Plus, there were no guns or shooting supplies.