Highway Star, Part 2

Since our three-wheel truck is finally legal to drive, we’ve taken it out for a few jaunts, and following each I’ve fixed some newly broken thing(s). As of now, the cooling system leaks no more, the engine doesn’t randomly shut off, and the door lock works like it should. Having previously gone over the electrical system, and getting a good overview of the quality of design and build of this vehicle, I have frequently remarked that if Ed Wood had made cars, this is what one would be like. Ed Wood, for the uninitiated, was a writer, director, and actor who produced some of the most memorably awful (and delightful) movies of all time, and I can say without reservation that his Plan 9 From Outer Space is my favorite movie, bar none. As such, I also love this extremely inept attempt at truckage.

While repairing some cooling system components, I thought I’d fill the windshield washer reservoir, as I’d repaired the washer switch when I sorted out all the lights & dashboard stuff. (All of this is under the driver’s seat, so if you’ve got it out already…) So I poured the blue stuff into the reservoir, and then watched the blue rivulet running from under the truck to the floor drain. Of course. Fast forward through some investigation, etc, and I’ve installed a universal replacement windshield washer system (reservoir, pump, tubing, etc- $40,) and of course the hose barb on the spray nozzle breaks off. The replacements included in the kit are not the right size/shape for this buggy, so I’m scratching my head, and think… Preeeety sure there’s a couple old draft towers upstairs from a kegerator overhaul… thus:

Now, you might observe something like, ‘That’s pointed the wrong way!’ And you wouldn’t be incorrect, except I modified the faucet to serve in its new role, and thus:

I am quite pleased with this thematically appropriate solution.

Postscript: Apropos of the Ed Wood association, we have decided to name our little truck Kelton, after a recurring character in Wood’s movies. Kelton, a cop, was feckless and comical. ‘Nuf said.