If you submit Bompalicious for "Fergalicious" in the song by Black Eyed Peas front, Stacy Ferguson it makes for a mind numbingly catchy tune...
"Listen up you all, cause this is it; the truck that I'm bringing is suspicious"
"Bompalicious defintion make them guys go loco; They want his skils so they get their kicks from his photos; You can see him, you cant squeeze him; He aint easy, The Camaro's in the evies; He's got reasons why he builds them, trucks just come and go like seasons"
"He's Bompalicous..."
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Chapter 6:
"Bompalicious"
I started calling Bomp somewhere in the Tacoma part of the I-5 parkinglot to let him know we were not going to make our projected lunch time arrival. At that time I let him know what the truck had been doing, and of our difficulties.
As a testament to his character, despite the fact that he was prepping for a large meet at his house, not only did he prepare to come rescue us if needed, but started looking up online what the source of my woes could be.
He is a great friend and a fantastic person, if anyone gets the chance to meet him, I would recommend it.
After we had fought to get the parade off the highway, and after I had installed the new battery, I started checking wires around the engine.
During my days in Air Defense Artillery, the most common reason a cannon would not power up or work properly was loose cable connections. Our weapon system techs would always ask, "Did you check your cables?" before they would even go out on the line and touch the piece of equipment.
I present to you the M-167A1 Vulcan Anti Aircraft Weapon System, the Towed Platform:
Max ammo capacity: 525 rounds of 20mm electrically primed shells in all configurations from armor piercing to short range self destructing rounds.
Max effective range: 4,800 meters approx 2.5 miles.
Cyclic Rate: 3,000 rounds per minute.
When I popped the hood this is pretty much what I was looking at. Center stage in this photo is both my culprit, and my victim....
This truck got a "new engine" at 74k miles (easy to assume it was 174k or 274k miles) but there is no telling what year that may have been. Since owning it I have replaced almost half of the running lights, added the stereo, as well as electric brake controller to haul a 2 axle trailer. During our test runs, loading and hauling the stepside to car shows, we never encountered any troubles with the electrical system. While talking with the retiree fellow on the ferry he suggested I was running too high of an electrical load for the altenator to keep up with.
Some of that conversation made tons of sense, but still did not account for a few things. Like if the alt was being that much overloaded why didnt I catch it sooner, why didnt it fail?
It seemed like that theory was only a part of the puzzle.
For those of us who have gone to the parts store "blind" or with "an Idea" of what they need; know how much it sucks when you replace a water pump and all you needed was a thermostat. I was in this frame of mind during the trip which accounted for a large part of why I did not address it sooner. On top of being excited to be back, on top of being tired, and on top of the fact that I am by nature a pretty lazy person...
So with the hood up in that Sears/K-Mart parking lot, and with a new battery; I discovered the blue wire which runs between the voltage regulator and the back of the altenator to was not making any sort of connection there.
With that quick repair done, the truck started and ran effortlessly the rest of the way to central Oregon that day.
We finally made it to Bomp's house in time for the BBQ, but again the first thing after hand shakes and introductions to the gang, we set about hooking up the battery charger and ampsmeter to once and for all chase down the issue.
During our conversations and mad texting, I determined that no matter what, I was getting a new, higher amp output, altenator as soon as we reached Bomps. I figured that if the problem was even more extensive, I would rather be at his place, with tools and another set of eyes on the issue; than at a rest stop being a nuisance for the Highway Patrol.
Like Bomp said in his thread last August when all this was going on, it was kinda fun pulling up as the spectacle we were and almost immediately popping the hood and getting our hands dirty. After getting the new part installed and the BBQ festivities done, it was time to present to Bomp a gift.
In one of his first videos he happened to mention he liked frogs.
When we saw this fellow, we knew where it was going....even if Bomp really didnt like frogs.
