My Garage - Changing the Oil and Filter on the Passat W8

With my 2002 Passat W8 quickly approaching the 140,000 mile mark, it is once again time for an oil change. As crazy as it may sound to a gear head, I have always taken this car to the stealership to do what is a pretty simple maintenance operation. This because it is usually combined with some other service and my work schedule has made it pretty challenging to keep up with the maintenance requirements of all my cars especially my daily driver.

This time however I find myself with plenty of time in my hands and so I want to do the work myself. The owner's manual specifies that the beast wants SAE 5W-40 synthetic that follows VW 503.01 specification. The service records show that this car has always been given a diet of Castol Syntec 5W-40 so we are good there. But are we? Really? I keep finding all sorts of discussions in the forums concerning what oil to use in these cars. It is painful. I looked around and found a reference concerning VW specifications @ Opie Oils. With a 140Kmiles running on Castrol Syntec without any issues, I think it will be OK. The question really is... Is all this technological complexity really worth it? For a daily driver? A bit ridiculous... This is definitively NOT like my old Dasher (Passat B1). ;-)

Le May Museum - Tacoma Warehouse

Stopped by the Le May museum's Coffee Cruise In. Got there pretty late so most of the people had already left but got to hang around the warehouse for a little while. More photos in my archives.

Spotted - Aston Martin DB7 Vantage

Came across this beautiful Aston Martin DB-7 Vantage this morning at the Le May museum Coffee Cruise-In:

A Brief Visit to the Hat 'n' Boots Gas Station Buildings

The Hat 'n' Boots is one of the most unique gas station buildings I have ever come across. It is a structure that would be perfectly at home somewhere along Route 66 IMHO. I used to drive past this landmark almost every day back in the 90's and it always made me sad to see how they were rotting away.

B-17 Bomber Outside the Museum of Flight

Stopped by the Museum of Flight this morning to take a look at the B-17 Bomber and the Constellation that the museum moved out of the Boeing Plant 2 building last night. A biplane was offering rides and a couple of F-18 Hornets delighted us with some take off action.

Kirkland Concours d'Elegance 2010

Fantastic day at the Kirkland Concour d'Elegance. The cars were definitively worth it. Here are a couple of my favorites. You can find more photos in my archives.

Stratocruisers Car Show 2010 in Enumclaw, WA

Today we drove out to Enumclaw to check out the Stratocruisers Car Show. The weather was close to perfect and the turnout was pretty decent. Best of all, there was a great variety of vehicles for all tastes. From turn of the century Model T to modern machinery. Even a Bonneville Salts flat racer. We had lunch at the Cafe Panini and we can highly recommend it. Some of my favorite vehicles are shown below. You can also see a slide show of all the photos in my archives. Enjoy...

My Visit to the Golden Spike National Monument

The post about the Great Northern 2507 got me thinking about other steam locomotives that I have come across in the past. Looking at pictures of some of my road trips, I came across the ones of Golden Spike National Monument from back in the early 90's. The reproductions of the Jupiter and the 119 are both a great reminder of a by gone era and great works of art in their own right. It was just great to hear them and see them running.

The Great Northern 2507 - A Nice Surprise Along the Lewis & Clark Highway

Yesterday, while driving on the Lewis & Clark Highway along Columbia river, I came across an interesting road sign labeled "Historic Locomotive Ahead". I was really intrigued and so I followed the road down to the town of Wishram to see what it was all about.

Found a Copy of SM - Citroen's Maserati-engined Supercar

Stopped by Powell's Books in downtown Portland yesterday and found a copy of the book "SM - Citroen's Maserati-engined Supercar". Got it at a pretty good discount compared to what they are asking for on their web site. Looking forward to sitting in the porch and reading it later in the week.

My Garage - Replacing the Secondary Fan on the Passat W8

Well, the secondary fan on my W8 finally gave up the ghost the other day so I decided to bite the bullet and replace it myself. The challenge, there is really NO SPACE between the serpentine belt and the radiator to perform any kind of work.