Mexico!

11/02/2015

Guess where I am! whopwhop! You guessed it! IM IN MEXICO!! WOOOOOOOOOO YEAH BUDDY! such a good feeling! you wouldn't believe, such a relief! helps that i had a super easy border crossing. but we will get to that:

I don’t even know where to start really. Obviously by now you know that the re-build must have been a success, but it did have its ups and downs. It started great! got the engine out in 2 days then I had to strip it down and take it apart, stuff like that. I stripped it down to its individual pieces, it was cool getting a proper look at what is happening. As I was taking the oil reservoir off the bottom a load of pics of broken metal fell out… Turned out that one of the piston heads had imploded, cracking the piston cylinder at the same time. We had to bore out the old cylinder and put a sleeve in to patch it up. While we were down there we cleaned everything up, replaced all the bearings and other things that showed wear, I even gave it a valve job! Pretty much by the time we were done it may as well have been a brand new engine. And I tell you what, now I have got it running it really shows!

Unfortunately the hard part was getting it running. Ever since I got the truck it had problems with the carburettor. So naturally I thought this would be a great place to take it apart, have a look inside and see what I could do to make it run a bit smoother! If you ever find yourself thinking it is a good idea to fiddle with a carburettor, think again. Its not fun, its just a nightmare. There are so many little pieces and they are all so complicated and it works in such a complicated crazy way that it is literally impossible to work with unless you are some crazy good mechanic. my main problem was Greg thinking I could do it all by my self, and every time I asked for help he would just say “keep fiddling about, you will work it out eventually” I just ended up getting really stressed out, I did get it running good at one point! and then I remembered I had forgot to put one of the tiny bits back in so I had to take it apart again, and then after that I just never got it running properly again. The most annoying thing, was that every time you wanted to adjust something you had to take it apart again, which was a nightmare! and then to see if it worked you had to put it on again, and then you had to take it off and put it on and take it of! Jesus! In the end I worked out that the float was broken, but that was after like 4 days of getting pissed off. The carb I had was super rare, they hadn't made many because they didn't comply with the new rules being made due to smog and emissions at the time. as a result the float I needed was not being made any more, and the only ones i could find were like 150 dollars! which is ridiculous. I made the decision to just put a new carb on there, I figured it would make my life easier, the truck would run better and be way more fuel efficient, and if it ever went wrong again it would be an easier fix. But again it wasn't all in vain. Im now pretty sick balls at taking carburettors apart! So there we go!

If I were to write about all the awesome things that have happened these last few weeks then this post would be so long no one would read it, so I'm aleving a lot out, that doesnt meen I havnt written it all down, it is in my journal with all the other entries I have left out. But I did meet some awesome people who I will mention. Firstly is Greg, the most amazing mechanic you could ever meet! Been rebuilding engines for 57 years! Where else in the world could I have rebuilt my own engine with guidance from someone like that! there were also all the other guys in the shop, Denis, Tom and Mike who were also mechanics. Wade the night watch man. all great guys. there was also this guy Robbie... but I'll leave him out...

And then there was Scott! An awesome guy who took me surfing every morning, bought me food, let me stay at his place, helped fix my broken board, painted my truck. all in all an awesome guy who made my stay in San Diego a lot more pleasant. but yeah Great guys!

And so the day finally came! My original plan was to cross over early in the morning to avoid traffic, but you can also cross over at lunch time and not have traffic as well. I still had a few things i wanted to get, and food/water provisions I needed, so I went to Walmart to grab most of it, then popped in to O’reilies to grab the parts I needed. The new carb I have doesn't need replacement fuel filters, because you just need to wash out the one that is in there if it gets clogged! After doing a thorough check of all my fluids, belts and tyres I was ready to go! Baja here I come! I was quite nervous actually, before I had been excited, but when it came to actually leaving my heart was in my mouth.

The border really snuck up on me! one second I was driving along and the next I was in Mexico! I find it hard to believe that the border is so loose on the drive in, most people just drive strait through no questions asked, I did get pulled over just after I crossed, but the guy just kind of opened the back, asked a few questions and sent me on my way! I was like YEAHHH!!! IM IN MEXICO BITCHES! Despite what people said, finding the right road was easy, and then I was cruising down the coast of Baja on the scenic ocean road enjoying the view., watching perfect waves going un ridden the entire drive down to Ensenada, I really wanted to pull over a few times, looking at prefect waves going unridden for an hour and a half.

I had a destination; Salsipuedes (leave if you can). The name comes from the steep dirt track which winds down the side of the cliff to the fast and super hollow right point, tales have been told of 5-10 second barrels coming through on a regular basis. If there is any rain the road becomes in passible. To my disappointment, when I pulled up at the to of the dirt track I was greeted by a locked gate and a sign saying the road was closed, and had been closed for 7 years!! I was gutted! it is the perfect spot with cheap camping and great waves! upon further investigation, I have been told that the people who live down there don't want tourists coming in, and if you know the right people you can still get down there. Im in half a mind to go back and see if i can find another route in… there must be a way…

It was not to be, so I headed to the next spot on my list; San Miguel! It turned out to be a good option anyhow, because I was greeted by a perfect, empty right had point break with a camp ground over looking the beach over looking to waves. As you can imagine I was in there like swim-wear! On it like a frothing Gromit! Super fun, prefect little rights. I had one bigger one that was super fast, and it went around the rock on the inside where most of the other waves ended and carried on for like 300 meters down a different part of the point to a beach on the inside! it was sick! when i kicked out my legs were shaking!

When I got out the sea I saw this young couple pull up in an F-150 really similar to mine, with the camper shell on and boards on the roof. I went over to say hi and ask them if they wanted to share my fire. I had been collecting wood and was going to make one to cook my soup on. They were Skee (Matthew) and Roxy, and they were driving from Baja to Panama it their truck! can you believe it! I wish I had enough time to go all the way down like they are. As you can imagine we had a fair amount in common, they had built a bed in the back of their truck similar to mine. We just sat around the fire for a few hours chatting about plans and putting the world to right. Supper cool guys, we are pretty much doing exactly the same trip and rout and have the same spots on our lists, so I’m almost certain we are going to spend some time together.

But yeah! so far so good, one day down and loving it! lets see what tomorrow brings!