My thoughts and prayers are out there to 92sunbirdpuertorico. He is presently battling Hurricane Irma's full fury down in Puerto Rico.

I hope he and his family are safe and successfully weather this horrible mess. He is one of the "good ole boys" that has helped many of us out on here over the years.



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I second that.

Also to Butch in Florida.

I have a daughter down there, I haven't been able to reach her.

I PM 92sunbirdpuertorico earlier today. Haven't heard anything.

Thanks Mike.
I hope you soon hear for your daughter soon. Currently all of FL is well, but by Saturday evening that will likely change, on way of the other.

I've been sorting the garage and getting ready to get the cars off the ground, if it appears we will be catching much of this here in the Tampa Bay area. If so, I'll board up the garage door to make it as water tight as possible. Then I be heading out to North Carolina. I live just a few hundred yards from the gulf (west of US19, New Port Richey). Flooding is very likely here, if we get the storm.

God Bless and stay safe.

Glad to hear you are getting out of the area Butch. I know it must he hard living in an area so wonderful, and deadly ,at the same time.....



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I'd rather be living in NC, to be honest. But I like my job here, even though it is 26 miles one way to work. Summers are rough here, winter is the "wonderful" bit of FL.
But NC gets some hurricanes once in a while. I recall Hugo in 89, I think it was. Made a huge mess of forest land 200 miles from the coast. The white oval shows the area. We were in the north right quadrant of the storm as it was winding down. For about 30 minutes there were some very powerful down drafts, as it played out. They completely wiped out hundreds of acres of trees in places. Flattened 40-60 acres spots scattered around the area.

Anyway, I have to get to work battening down the hatches.

God I pray everything is okay with sunbird and everyone for that matter. He is likely out of power and who knows how long it might be to hear from him.

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Hugo Track.jpg (51k)

I just heard from him. He is fine and thankfully only some damaged electronics and they had a power outage for awhile.
Sounded like things were a bit hectic, so he probably reply here, when he can.

Thanks Butch! So glad to hear some Good News!!

I'm hoping your situation is manageable as well. From what I've studied Tampa is going to get a lot less horrific damage then area south and especially east. Still a storm surge of any kind is nothing to be at ease with.

Guess we all will be so glad when this mess is finally over.

Please keep us informed if you can!


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Thanks to all that were concerned, as Butch said we lost power for 15 hours, my modem's power supply fried ( made another one with another one using the original ones plug) and a piece of our basil plant broke off and thats all. We didn't lose anything in the fridge because we had plastic bottles frozen that helped keep everything good. My generator's coil quit so the $45 worth of gas I had on hand was worthless. Still had a 300 watt invertor I ran off the truck to power a fan and TV. The people up north had it worse than us, the mountains saved us from the most damage. Went to work today, alot of the bananas were down on the ground . Only worked 12 hours this week, due to the storm. Another one is on the way tomorrow but hopefully its tracking north more. A lot of stuff to redo if its coming close like Irma.

Hopefully Butch's home survives ,our prayers are with you Butch.

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

Thanks to all that were concerned, as Butch said we lost power for 28 hours, my modem's power supply fried ( made another one with another one using the original ones plug) and a piece of our basil plant broke off and thats all. We didn't lose anything in the fridge because we had plastic bottles frozen that helped keep everything good. My generator's coil quit so the $45 worth of gas I had on hand was worthless. Still had a 300 watt invertor I ran off the truck to power a fan and TV. The people up north had it worse than us, the mountains saved us from the most damage. Went to work today, alot of the bananas were down on the ground . Only worked 12 hours this week, due to the storm. Another one is on the way tomorrow but hopefully its tracking north more. A lot of stuff to redo if its coming close like Irma.

Hopefully Butch's home survives ,our prayers are with you Butch.

Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

92Sunbird PuertoRico wrote:Thanks to all that were concerned, as Butch said we lost power for. 28 hours.

Doug in P.R.

92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

So blessed is your good luck and fortune my friend! Grateful and Glad to hear from you. Tis a miracle you fared so well out of a storm so devastating...

Your 'Bird surviving is icing on such a sweet cake , indeed!! :-)

I hope Butch and his family is as fortunate as well! I can't help but feel so guilty having dodged this mess here in Virginia knowing so many are about to loose everything , if not including their lives. How insignificant it seems then - that I know without a doubt an unknown number of vintage J-Bodies (and all kinds of other vehicles for that matter) that have survived countless years of storms wont make it through this one!

I hope clean-up and recovery projects go well for you Doug!



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I'm still working on getting things up. Here are some pictures of my progress.
I bouilt a set of 19" tall pedestals that can be 22 with 2nd base and top block (or more even). Anyway, I had the supplies so I put them use without buying more jackstands. Besides, these will come in handy, I bet.

I'm also going to dam up the door. More pics to come.

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Parts.jpg (399k)
Dam Base.jpg (522k)
Stands.jpg (323k)

Butch is about to get a direct hit this am, so pray for him. 15 foot storm surge predicted!

Another casualty today, the Bosch battery in the truck has a dead cell, so off to Pep Boys tomorrow for my free replacement since its only been 2 1/2 years out of the 3 for free. (8 year total) . Even found the receipt ! It was the Sunbird's battery until the Duralast quit in the truck last year.


Had better luck with the other Bosch battery the Sunbird came with.

More storms coming off Africa , going to be intense this fall......

Stay safe Butch...,Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

Did anyone see a final storm surge amount for the Tampa area?

Seems like the news just bounces all over the place when they describe the damage. All I can gather is it wasn't as bad as they predicted, but that doesn't say much.

Just wondering how Butch made out....,.


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My daughter made it thru ok in the area 5 miles east of Tampa Bay (Valrico, FL). Lots of heavy wind and rain, but the house and cars survived.

Others were not so fortunate, many of her friends suffered significant loss.

Hopefully we will hear from Butch soon.

Wonderful News about your Daughter, Mike!

From what I am reading things are a real mess down there. Mid 80's temps and no electricity which means no A/C. When it gets hot - A/C becomes more than a simple convenience - you work all day long cleaning up what you can, then can't sleep at night sweating all night long. A week like that will drain all you got to give. Several years ago we got hit with a Derecho and lost power for nearly a week. It was tough! Food rotting in the fridge - no ice. Gas stations with fuel in the tanks but no way to pump it up. Poor Florida going to be a lot longer than a week in many places. My experience was the worst was ice and gas. People drove ridiculous distances for both. People fighting over gas for their cars from people getting gas for their generators.

I guess the wealthy will just live somewhere else while they pay someone else to clean up their mess and rebuild their property. The rest will toil, suffer and rebuild as they can afford to. There are a whole lot of folks in Florida that run the super markets,gas stations, and clean up the hotel rooms - so on and so on - that simply live paycheck to paycheck. For these folks - there will be no picnic.


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All was fine here. No damage or flooding at home. Power was out until sometime this morning though. I'll not complain about that, piece of cake compared to what could have been.

Here are the pictures of the dam and the car on the blocks I built.

I took the 92 and 94 to Clearwater where I was in a Zone C. My home is in a Zone A. Still, thankfully the surge wasn't what could have been and there was no flooding at my place. Nor was there any at the home in Clearwater. Both were without power though. I haven't checked if the Clearwater home has power now or not. I'll be over there in the morning.

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19 Inches Off Ground.jpg (889k)
Dam Built.jpg (1022k)

Good to hear Butch!

Like a dummy I ordered a new coil from Miami for the generator so it was delayed but finally shipped yesterday.

Orlen, people complaining about the heat? Its mostly low to mid 90's in my house every summer day!

We are currently getting drenched by hurricane Jose. ( just sitting northwest of us pulling up moisture from the south.

Virgin Islands are a total devastation......... Could of been us. Trump is coming next week to see the damage here and there.

Doug in P.R.




92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

I have a lot of tree limbs to get up at some rental properties. Worked on it some this morning. Just racking up the leaves, so far and still not done. Got to cut up the bigger limbs and get them by the road for pickup. Here are pics of some of the mess. Nothing to complain about. Very lucky the limb didn't hit the apartment.

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Big limb.jpg (602k)
Structural Failure Point.jpg (885k)
Tracks where limb was blown.jpg (494k)

So Glad the see and hear good news your way!! I'm can imagine the anxiety upon coming back home - waiting to see what you have left after some of the news reports.

I hope all of you get back to normalcy very soon. It has been great to see the President so directly involved with his own people for a change! Past Presidents barely managed to fly overhead and run back home in time for lunch. I was also relieved to see the Government move quickly to appropriate funds to help our own people out immediately! In my opinion there is plenty of time in the months and years ahead to haggle over budgets and deficits - not now when people are in the middle of disaster!

Likewise there is plenty of time to tinker on your J's now that they are survivors. Looks like there are going to be a "flood" of flooded cars and trucks dumped on the auction market. Soon they will patched up as cheaply as possible and flipped causing unsuspecting motorists all over the place tons of headaches and woe. God help us when a growing proportion of these time bombs on the roads will be self driving machines!! No one cares to consider the implications the machines are going to have on us.

Doug - it happens all the time with those Generators. Same thing goes on here - folks don't think about them till they need them. It is so easy to forget about. Usually , here - it is the case of bad gas ruining the fuel system. At least you found the failed component and are able to source a replacement.

Again - so glad everyone is A-Ok!! :-)

Lee and Maria on the way here....already expecting 4 inches of rain from one of them. Should know more by Tuesday.


Doug in P.R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

Photo worth a thousands words - Doug, looks VERY Bad!!






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Looks like its going to be a direct hit right near us on the south side Orlen,category 4 Hurricane!

Doug in P. R.


92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!

2 in one season? Seems mother nature trying to give you the extra special treatment Doug....

How many Hurricanes have you and your Sunbird survived in PR?

Looks like if you have any trees left standing around, you might as well just cut them down and be done with them!! I think I am beginning to understand the concrete construction technique now!! Need a fortress to survive these storms. I can't imagine living there!

Meanwhile Jose just keeps on going round , round and around. Makes me wonder if Jose and Maria will eventually meet up and go out on a date?



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