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i haven’t posted a pic recently, so here we go. appearance-wise, i think my car is done.

no, the house is fine. this is the housing — the thermostat housing. my car is currently off the road for a bit while i make repairs.

a slight amount of coolant has been leaking from my car for a while. i decided to order up a new thermostat housing, thermostat, and all associated gaskets (this is a common problem with the focus, apparently). while i was in there to replace the housing, i noticed nearly all of my coolant hoses were swelling on the ends — a sign of age/wear.

eventually this would lead to a hose that was “soaked” — that is, the inner layers of rubber have broken down and allowed coolant to seep into them. this would ultimately end in a burst hose — and LOTS of coolant leaking in a big hurry.

so i made the decision to keep my car up on jackstands for a while longer, and i ordered all new silicone hoses. pricier than OEM rubber hoses, but they’re last pretty much forever.

so, it’s been a long time since i’ve done an exhaustive post about my car. and, for good reason — it’s been a long time since i’ve done significant work on my car. well, wait no longer.

i’ve purchased a set of headlights that come from the factory on the Ford Focus ST170 model in europe. they have a separate low/high beam, an integrated turn signal, and a black colored housing. i’ll get into some detail about the process, but for the impatient — here’s the before/after:

all corner shots of the various light combinations

carrie surprised me with this one day last week:

yep, tinted after owning the car for 6 years. why did i wait so long? when spring arrives i can get the summer wheels & tires back on there, and i’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve.

i’ve created a Google Calendar of the 2007 World Rally Championship. it’s not really a list of the event dates; rather, it’s a calendar that you can subscribe to so that you see it on your own Google Calendar page. go here: Google Calendar of World Rally Championship (WRC) 2007 to view, here to subscribe, or read more to view it on this site!

last weekend we decided to take a “fun day” out from working on the house (and it was raining anyway) so we planned a trip to leavenworth, wa and on to ellensburg, wa to go to Central Washington University.

read on for details — this was the last run through the mountains on my summer tires and rims, so i had a bit of fun along the way.

left everett at 9:30, right on schedule (which is good for us — usually “up and at ‘em” on the weekends is tough to come by). heading east on highway 2. light rain in everett. stopped in monroe, wa at a starbucks for breakfasty things and coffee. moderately heavy rain in monroe.

back on hwy 2, through the cascade foothills towards Stevens Pass. rain getting heavier. traffic is somewhat frustrating. lots of people in big vehicles who can’t go fast in the turns, but speed up to around 80 in the straights (passing zones). got past them, usually in 4th at around 4000-4500rpm. (gosh i need a little more top end).

ended up in 4th for most of the trip, it was pouring pretty consistently so i needed to power through it. this was where the tires were worth their weight in gold — this summer i picked up a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires from the Tire Rack. if you look at the tread pattern, you’d guess that they do well in the wet, and they certainly did not disappoint me. faster, harder cornering, they never lost grip, my confidence continued to build as the trip went along.

i was passing all-wheel-drive vehicles, large SUVs, pretty much everything we encountered. you want good summer tires that do amazingly in the rain, check them out. </advertisement> pull them off before winter, however. down in the 30’s i hear they lose grip because they’re summer compound.

after we stopped for cookies in leavenworth, it was route 97 southbound towards ellensburg, other side of the mountains. more of a desert climate in the summer, but it pours in the winter. kinda weird. the trees are different than we’re used to in the northeast, they actually do turn colors but it’s all generally one color — they were all a really beautiful, almost glowing, golden color. very pretty. definitely not new england oaks and maples in bright red/orange/yellow, but still pretty.

had lunch in ellensburg at “The TAV,” total college bar but the only one in town we could find on short notice with at least a few good micros on tap. went on to CWU, hit the bookstore for aforementioned swag. i have to say, CWU seemed pretty cool, but they pointed us to “visitor parking” that we never could seem to find.

we had planned to take US-90 back home, but we onramped directly into stop-and-go traffic. via cell phone browser we deciphered that said traffic continued for 16 miles ahead; we jumped back off the highway and went to retrace our route back up 97 to 2. stopped at leavenworth again at yet another starbucks, and through the pass just after dark. pouring rain, dark, steep grades, standing water. again, the F1s led the day. actually, i was setting the pace for the large SUVs again.

home just before 9. was a fun trip. next time we’ll probably stick closer; i think we put around 500 miles round trip. going to shoot for 2-300 next time - we’ll be in the Escape anyway so not so much fun on the drive itself.