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Category: High Bridge Trail State Park

  • High Bridge Trail State Park

Virginia’s High Bridge Hike (Our Cat Walks on a Leash for His First Hike)

  • by L
  • Posted on March 22, 2021July 23, 2021

For a moment — for an afternoon — Andy and I were able to escape it all and simply take our cat on a leash for a walk in the mountains . . .

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Coolant hoses, replaced! Sooo… Andy and I had a Coolant hoses, replaced!

Sooo… Andy and I had a bit of an argument — not at each other but at our Cortez after we were stuck in the mud and grass once more between Chicken Houses Three and Four where our journey started… and that argument led us to purchasing our biggest upgrade yet ⚠️

But this isn’t that story.

While we waited for our massive box with tons of different parts, we decided to rip out our old, brittle, and rotting coolant hoses and our rusted thermostat housing and thermostat. We’ve had these new hoses (@pegasusautoracing) and thermostat for awhile so it was a perfect (and quick) downtime task.

Coolant flush though? It will have to wait because we, of course, need our engine to run for that…
***
 #maintenance #coolantflush #musclecar #americanmuscle #v8 #engine #v8engine #dodge #dodgeengine #dodgev8 #360la #chrysler #mopar #moparnation #restoration #clarkcortez #cortez #cortezmotorhome #1965 #rv #rvlife #rvdiary #van #vanlife #vanlifediaries #motorhome #campervan #classiccar #vintagevehicles #retrorides
Alright, let’s go back: After our valve stem sea Alright, let’s go back: After our valve stem seal work, our 1965 Clark Cortez motorhome’s V8 didn’t turn over… and of course that was also when my uncle requested us move our steel beast from the shed so that he could get his cattle trailer. One towing later, and we were between Chicken Houses Three and Four and again, our Cortez humbles.

This patch of land is where we originally started our antique RV journey — After our Cortez was towed from California to Virginia, it was moved exactly where it stands now… three years later… and it still doesn’t start.

Alright, let’s go back: After our stem seal work, our 1965 Clark Cortez motorhome’s V8 didn’t turn over… and of course that was also when my uncle needed us to move our steel beast out of the shed so that he could get his cattle trailer… so we got towed to a grassy area between Chicken Houses Three and Four and again, it was humbling.

This only means one major decision: We determined right then and there we were jumping into ⭐️our biggest upgrade yet⭐️… but that’s another story…

***
#carwork #flashback #v8 #engine #v8engine #dodge #dodgev8 #chrysler #mopar #moparnation #restoration #clarkcortez #cortez #cortezmotorhome #1965 #rv #rvlife #rvdiary #van #vanlife #vanlifediaries #motorhome #campervan #campervanculture #classiccar #vintagevehicles #retrorides #yorkshireman #americangirl #thisisus
Our 1965 Clark Cortez motorhome has been putting o Our 1965 Clark Cortez motorhome has been putting out one heck of a smoke cloud💨, which made Andy want to jump into our next job: Replacing our V8’s valve stem seals.

Andy proudly stood back through a large portion of this work as his apprentice (er uh, me) once again got more oil on hands. Beyond that though, this job was a bit of an anxious one: We started by removing the valve cover and rocker shaft, which allowed us to clean the area and remove carbon deposits. Once that was done, we focused on one cylinder at a time by removing one spark plug and then shoving a rope into that cylinder. This rope is ❗️super critical ❗️because it stops the valve from falling into the cylinder where it would be lost forever more…

So we were holding our breath hoping we had enough rope inside and that it would work while we moved to the next part: Our handy spring compressor (@otctools) then, well, compressed the spring so that we could pull off and replace (@felprogaskets) only one ✨itty bitty ✨ valve stem seal.

And we needed to do this sixteen times…

Have I said yet our Cortez teaches us to slow down and have patience?

Hours (and multiple visits later), we replaced all steam seals and found our exhaust seals were the worst — There were three with serious cracks.

Now the question you and we wanna know: Did this solve our smoke issue? 💨 Who knows — After all that work our, carb refused to participate once again so we couldn’t get our steel beast running…
***
#stemseals #valvestemsteals #v8 #mopar #dodgeengine #360la #enginebuild #enginerebuild #antiquecar #vintagecar #classiccars #rarecar #antiquerv #vintagerv #retrorides #classicrv #rarerv #clarkcortez #clarkcortezmotorhome #1965 #rv #motorhome #camper #campervan #vwcamper #bus #restoration #overhaul #vanlife #rvlife

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