Elvira's Enhancement Log

ELVIRA LINKS including vendor sites for parts and tools as well as sites for GM organizations

ENHANCEMENT LOG includes log entries of repairs and enhancements between the time of arrival in Florida and the present.

ELVIRA MAINTENANCE Ever changing detailing, oil change, lube, etc. maintenance routines developed for Elvira based on what Cadillac will allow, including required tools, materials and procedures.

1. Lost Virginity

May 16^th 2017  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a slight dent in Elvira's rear deck between the spoiler and the license plate. The best guess is that some careless nozzle ran a shopping cart into her when I was in the supermarket. Elvira, with barely 2,000 miles on her, is no longer a virgin.

June 21^st 2017 Hurricane season is here and there is no shade outside the BillyBob Shop so, I tried to rearrange the deck to get Elvira inside with the idea of detailing her in the shade. When I'd cleared enuf space, I made several attempts to steer her inside. I eventfully had to thread a complicated S-path to get'er done and it ended badly. All the proximity sensors, front, back and sides, were going bonkers during this process, giving me the impression I was in a giant pinball machine. I also had to exit the car at times to move more stuff.

The passenger side quarter panel was damaged considerably when it came in contact with the fittings of an old storage chest. Damnation! With Elvira inside, there is no room to move about the shop. Detailing under cover is not gonna happen. I couldn't even get a good look at the damage until the car was outside again. The only good result is that I know I can get her inside the next time we have storm conditions. I didn't even have the beer of the day. Maybe I'd have done better if I had been a little looser.

July 28^th 2017 Damnation! The BillyBob Shop is in a warehouse district. Some of my neighbors are sloppy with their debris. I get more than my share of tire punctures.  Elvira has suffered her first this week. It appears to be some type of roofing clip. I can feel it going down the road. Last night I got my first view of it. The temptation is to pull it out but the tire is not losing air and I am holding off until I'm ready for the repair. I've got my Saturday cut out for me.

As my brother,JR, is fond of pointing out, I tend to overthink things. When I actually got around to it on Sunday morning, plugging the tire took less than twenty minutes. Managed to position the front end of Elvira in the shop with the front turned to the right to lock and the puncture at 2 o'clock. Removed the offending clip/screw, prepped the puncture, installed the plug, trimmed it and aired the tire up in short order. OnStar dutifully notified me by e-mail that the right front tire pressure had fallen to 17 psi. In the past, I wouldn't have even thought of doing this with the wheel on the car until good buddy, John Carey did it that way at a Sunday morning coffee cruise-in to another buddy's ride.

September 7^th 2017  Hurricane Irma is about to wreak havoc on Florida. I've wanted to get a shot of Elvira in front of the office for some time. The Arbors, where I work, is an early eighties wood-framed building surrounded by big ficus trees all of which is likely to be flattened if the storm center is anywhere near here. Better take the pic while I still can. We are about to close down the office and my last task is to secure the computer system in case we have an office to return to.

November 23^rd 2017  Still trying to locate my ambition. When tenants moved out at our office, it freed up a parking space under the building for Elvira. At the shop, the economy has things bustling. I can not always park Elvira in my favored spot. These developments inspired me to try to get Elvira under cover again. I pushed and pulled BillyBob and Deerslayer around until I had a space big enuf to park Elvira and work on her. I don't have the strength for this anymore, so it took a lot of gruntin' and cursin' as force multipliers. Moving about the shop now is a campaign of maneuver but it's not as hard as the old days at the Krash Lab when I was pulling tools out of the storage shed to work in the parking lot and dodging raindrops all day.

June 29^th 2018  Had Elvira now for eighteen months and eleven thousand miles plus. Time to post her first log entry. She continues to be a joy to drive. The CUE infotainment system is malfunctioning, off and on, but it is minor and the dealer will most likely replace it next time I take her in for service. With the indoor BillyBob Shop parking and the covered space at work, I can almost travel, portal to portal, without getting wet from the South Florida summer daily monsoon storms. Life is good.

You can email me at  webmaster@laroke.com

Issued Friday June 29, 2018

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