I Built A Woodshed

Here at Zembecowicz Manor we heat our house with wood.  Wood heat is carbon neutral, and modern wood stoves have efficiency ratings that rival a gas furnace.  On top of that, you aren't dependent upon heavy industries that you have no control over to heat your home.  If  you're interested in maximizing your autonomy, wood heat is the way to go.

Last Winter I rigged up a series of racks to store my firewood in, and covered them with a giant tarp.  While this did work, dealing with the tarp became an enormous pain in the ass.  Last Winter, I resolved to build a woodshed.  I did just that.

My property is sloped, which is great for drainage, but a pain in the ass for building things. I dug three trenches and filled them with 1" minus gravel.  After that I built a level floor on a series of piers.

The next step was to build a floor of 3/4" plywood.

I built a frame from 4"X4"s on which to construct a roof.

A roof was then constructed from 2'X6's and 1/2 inch plywood.

I installed a standard tarpaper and shingle roof.

After adding some fence planks and staining it, I have a shed.

Product Review - Echo CS400

    The Echo CS400 is advertised as a professional grade chainsaw.  I don't know if that is actually true, because I am neither an arborist nor a logger.  I also never plan to become either.  With that out of the way, the CS400 is a much better saw than the one I was using before.  I'm going to go into the things I like about the saw and the places where it could use some improvement.
    Out of the gate the first thing I noticed was how easily it started.  My old saw was a real bear to get going.  It wasn't that it didn't start up after the number of pulls described in the instructions, it was that the recoil was very difficult to operate.  I would sometimes have to pull it so hard that the saw ended up getting jerked away from where I was trying to start it.  This absolutely is not the case with the Echo.  I am able to start it very easily, using my weak hand no less.  I'm pretty sure that most people could get one of these things fired up with very little effort.  The saw also is built so that it has some flex to it (they call this the vibration reduction system).  This seems to work, as I didn't end up with numb fingers like I did using my old saw.
    Another thing I like about the Echo is the chain brake.  The thing that I like about the Echo's is that if the brake ends up getting engaged (shit happens), it doesn't kill the saw.  The chain doesn't move until the brake is reset, but you don't have to fuss with the saw to get it running again.  Granted that this isn't such a bad thing with a saw that's really easy to start, but it's a nice touch.
    The last thing I really like about this saw is where the chain tensioner is placed.  On my old saw, it's on the front, parallel to the bar.  On the Echo, it's on the side.  This is a much more convenient location.
    Now I'll get into what I don't like about the saw.  The worst thing about it is the chain that it comes with.  It's fine for cutting small branches and things like that, but if you're cutting larger stuff it just doesn't quite do the job. I replaced the factory chain with an Oregon S62, and it was like I have a different saw.  I cut up a pine tree with a 14 inch thick trunk today, and the little saw didn't miss a beat. 
    Another thing that I noticed is that if used horizontally (like for felling and limbing) for a while, the throttle response slows way down.  This does correct itself after a few minutes of cutting.  My guess is that the float in the carburetor doesn't work right sideways.
    My only other gripe about the thing is that it seems to run out of bar oil before it does fuel.  This may simply be because I need to adjust the oil flow a little bit, but I cannot honestly say because I haven't tried yet.
    At the end of the day my little Echo has managed to cut up about a cord of various softwoods with few problems.  Changing the chain out made a tremendous difference.  The real test will be how the thing works five years from now, but I hear good things from other people about that.

Stepping forward and back.

Mostly out of frustration from the cold weather turning my hands into useless flippers, I took my Bronco in to the shop.  It turns out that the only mechanic within 20 miles of where I live only has open flames for heat in his garage.  Since he isn't too keen on catching on fire, this means he has to turn the heat off to work on fuel problems.  His current plan is to try and jury rig things so the choke is just wide open and see if it still starts.  One or the other of us will fix it properly when it's a bit warmer out.
Back when my uncle was still alive (seriously, watch your cholesterol folks) I'd go work on crap like this at his brake shop during the Winter.  Maybe I'll get a garage built some day.
Mrs. Z's Volvo also decided it doesn't want to go forward anymore today (reverse still works).  Hopefully the problem is relatively simple.  If it's more than say $1500 to fix I'm probably just going to buy her another car.
On a more positive note I found a place to park the BMW where it doesn't get stuck.  Having 400 ft/lb of torque at the wheels in a small car means that it likes to dig holes when there's no traction.  I'm getting studded tires on Monday, so getting stuck on ice won't be a thing for much longer.
I'm actually starting to get some of the workspaces set up here, finally.  I have several projects I'd like to work on, but I lack the proper facilities.  Once I have all this stuff set up I'll probably post something.

Chokin' the chicken

I did a test drive of the Bronco today and was getting single digit MPG.  Because of the whole snow and no garage thing I tried to take it to the mechanic.  Due to high demand he's only taking non-running cars right now.  Hew suggested that I see if the choke is stuck and come back in about five days if I can't get things figured out.

The choke isn't exactly stuck, but it sure isn't opening.  If I push it open manually it rebounds to where it was as soon as I remove pressure.  Since the choke is opened by a bimetal spring, to me at least this means that it just isn't getting hot enough.

Apparently converting to a manual choke is an option, but I haven't found the details on doing so just yet.  It may be easier.

Winter has arrived

Winter has arrived on the mountain.  We've probably had a foot of snow in the past week.  I have lots of firewood and pellet fuel.  There is plastic film over the crappy old single pane windows, and it's nice and toasty inside. Unfortunately I still wasn't as prepared for it as I should've been.

My wife and I both drive rear wheel drive cars, and they were parked in a way that had my truck blocked in.  Yesterday we spent probably three hours fucking around with snow shovels, pieces of cardboard, and ultimately a propane brush burning torch to get them moved around enough to get the truck out.
We ran some errands, and the truck was misfiring.  I picked up some spark plugs while we were out.

This morning I swapped out the plugs.  The existing ones were unsurprisingly carbon fouled.  I also leaned out the idle mixture a little bit (it's an old carbureted model) for good measure.  It still seems to be missing a little bit, but not nearly as badly as it was.  If a good jaunt on the highway doesn't get it to fly right it'll be off to the mechanic.  While it is true that I do need to learn more about carburetors,  I am currently without a good workspace.  When I changed the plugs it was about 33 degrees out and raining.  I was dressed appropriately, so it wasn't exactly miserable, but it wasn't pleasant either.

From here on out, I'm going to make sure that the truck is in a different spot the moment I see the word snow in a weather forecast.  Had there been some kind of situation that required leaving immediately, it wouldn't have happened.  Also, I'm going to drive the truck more frequently.  It currently is only driven when something needs to be hauled somewhere.  This won't quite do anymore.

I ordered some tire chains for Mrs. Z's Volvo.  I'm debating getting some for my car too.  The thing is that I have far less ground clearance than she does, so I'm not sure if they'd actually do me any good on the one hand.  On the other hand my car gets about double the mileage that the truck does and has nice things like fuel injection.

On the subject of lacking a work area, the house has a garage of sorts, and it is my intent to make it a workshop.  Unfortunately there is currently too much stuff in there to actually do any work.  I've gotten rid of most of the things that I don't need.  Mrs. Z and I put together a small storage shed this evening, and I'm going to move all the yard and garden type stuff into it.  I have a ladder showing up tomorrow that will let me get into the attic of the house.  A plethora of things that are currently in the garage are much better suited for the attic, and they'll be up there soon.  I picked up a workbench at Hazard Fraught yesterday, and I think I may be able to get it set up after I move all that stuff. 

In short, I have problems, but I also have solutions.

Election Thoughts

The election has been over and done with for some time, but I only just now have the spare time to pontificate upon the subject.
The single axis, left/right political graph doesn't represent my world view well.  On some issues I track pretty far to the left, and on others I'm pretty far to the right.  I also absolutely loathe authoritarians, and look toward their supporters with a mixture of pity and contempt (the ratio varying from person to person).
Both candidates are authoritarians who oppose people's basic rights, they just happen to oppose different sets of rights.  Ultimately the election simply altered which set of contingencies I need to plan for.

I have some slightly different messages for people who voted for either of these two people.  If your candidate lost, bear in mind that this is exactly why some people have very strong feelings of discomfort about growing the size and scope of government.  If state power can be abused, it will.  Now that the shoe is on the other foot, hopefully you'll remember that the next time your candidate wins.

For the people who supported the winning candidate and are excited that their guy won I cannot stress enough that you don't have a guy, he has you.  Anyone who has that much power is not looking out for the average man or woman on the street.

For people in either camp I suggest that you get your house in order.  Pay down your debt and acquire skills and tools that make you less dependent upon others.  Perform the maintenance you've been putting off on the things that let you live in the way that you're used to.  Pay attention to your health and make changes if necessary.

If enough people become the captains of their own ships, the idea of a great idealogical savior of one kind or another will become much less interesting.  The best thing you can do is trade in that Make America Great Again hat or I'm With Her sticker in for a garden hoe or a wrench set.

New York and the Terrorism Tax

Some douchebag with an overly manicured beard and shit between his ears managed to badly injure about 30 people he'd never met.  He tried to hurt far more people, but his incompetence prevented him from doing that.  He was also captured alive, so he'll probably be spending the rest of his life in prison wishing he was dead.

Another asshole went to a shopping mall in Minnesota and started stabbing strangers for no good reason.  An off duty cop who happened to be carrying a pistol shot him before he could kill anyone.

If you look past the fact that these guys are/were repulsive sociopaths, one thing that is worth thinking about is that the bomber probably spent a few hundred bucks on his attack.  Knives are so abundant that they might as well be considered to be free.

A few years back John Robb (he wrote Brave New War, you should read it) described what he called a terrorism tax.  Essentially, Joe and Jane average begin to scale back on various economic activities because they're worried that people will kill them.  An article on CNN states that one billion dollars are spent yearly to keep New York safe.  Granted, in a city that big the per taxpayer cost probably isn't exactly huge in and of itself.

This begins to be a bigger problem if people stop going places because because they're afraid that someone will try to murder them because it just happens to be their unlucky day.  Revenues go down.  People lose their jobs.  People don't go out because in addition to being afraid, they're broke.  This creates a feedback loop where the weakened economy creates an even weaker economy.

We also have to consider that with a problem like this, the cure may be worse than the disease.  My wife is a food nerd, so we have a couple dozen different kinds of knives in the kitchen.  I have a variety of knives for general use, fishing, camping, etc.  Where I live both black and smokeless gunpowder are sold at a many stores.  Even if it was to be banned, black powder is eighth century technology.  People are going to make it if they want it.

The only sensible response to these little pissant terrorist attacks is to treat them as just another risk.  If I die of unnatural causes it'll most likely be on my commute to work and back.  This doesn't stop me from jumping in my car every morning, and it doesn't keep me from going ninety miles an hour every now and again.  It does cause me to wear my seat belt and to not drive if I've had too much to drink.  The equivalent response to these little Junior Terrorist Club asshats would be to do something like get first aid or self defense (armed or unarmed) training, along with the requisite equipment.

Using your head is increasingly important in our modern world.  Your instincts developed in a world that no longer exists and often provide bad information.  Going with your gut leaves you vulnerable to people who are actively working against you.

Poulan Wild Thing

As I mentioned earlier, my property is badly overgrown.  I had a working electric chainsaw among things my dad left me when he passed away, and there is also a gas one that needed a little bit of help.

I pulled the cover from the top and swapped out the fouled spark plug.  I also hosed out the carb with a healthy dose of carb cleaner.

The saw had thrown the chain off the bar.  In addition to this, the chain had rusted.

There was quite a bit of sawdust and oil mixed together.  I cleaned it out with carb cleaner and a rag.

It's back together and ready for action now.  It only takes a couple of pulls to get it going. This isn't exactly the Stihl Farm Boss that I have my eye on, but it'll get the job done in the meantime.

Montague Issues

As I mentioned previously, I bought a folding bicycle for a portion of my commute into the city.  I went with a Montague instead of something like a Brompton because they use 700c wheels and other standard parts.

On Thursday, the handlebars came off.  I was not in motion at the time so I was not hurt, but I could have been.

The Montague uses an Octagon handle bar mount.  To begin the process of finding out exactly what fucking happened, I watched the installation video:

The bike came with two of the spacers mentioned in the video installed:

I measured the space above the spacers with my cheap digital caliper (seriously, spend the $10 on one of these things) and found there was only 13 mm available.

With a single spacer we now have the requisite 18mm.  I used a clamp and a chunk of 2x4 to compress everything into place and torqued the bolt to spec.

I'll probably post something about this fix working (or not) down the road. I really like not having to pay to park and need the exercise to maintain my health.  It'll be a shame if this bike doesn't work for me.

In which we discuss why I left the city

A drive of a few miles and a walk of fewer miles bought me here.  Nary a trustafarian nor a man-bun in sight.

An assortment of links

Insepctrum - an offline singal analyzer.  Once I finish cleaning up my property (or the weather gets too shitty for me to work on it any more) I'll play with this and post something.

The DOJ is trying to weaken the War Powers Act.

While getting a sunburned hide and sore muscles, I've been thinking of Aldous Huxley.  Could it be that soma, the orgy-porgy, and centrifugal bumble-puppy  (or their real world equivalents of beer/weed, porn, and xbox)  are a bigger worry than Miniluv and it's face stomping boot?  Maybe I should bump this further up in my reading list.  Either way here is an interesting web comic.

Firewood

I had three cords of wood delivered yesterday.  In the name of getting things squared away here as quickly as possible I put together four racks as described in this instructable.  The "no tools required" part of the title is a bit of bullshit, you need to have a saw.  I have several, so it doesn't exactly matter.
Another gripe is that the 8' 2x4s I purchased at America's favorite big box hardware store are in fact 7'8" long.
Pics below:

I still need to build a few more racks to hold the remainder of yesterday's delivery.  I also have another cord coming next weekend.

I'm planning to grab some blue tarps on my way home in the near future as well.  The guy next door told me that I should build a woodshed because he has had problems with his tarped wood molding.  I plan to do that, but it's a question of if it happens this year or the next.  I still need to cut back a lot of overgrown crap to even have room to build one, and the ground here will require considerable work to get level.

Relocation

Over the past few years I became increasingly fed up with Portland for a variety of reasons.  Most of them could be summed up as the city council essentially just doing whatever Richard Florida thinks is best.
About two months ago I sold my house and bought a psychologist's vacation cabin up on Mt. Hood, along with a nice diesel BMW and a folding bicycle to commute with.  The locals up here are much more like the dope smoking firearms enthusiasts I grew up with.  I do still have to deal with the transplant influence in state politics, but at least I can cut down a tree on my own property without having to file a bunch of paperwork.
The property is a mess right now.  In addition to several previous owners odds and ends having been left behind, the property is badly overgrown.  Lots of the big trees have dead lower limbs, and there are saplings everywhere.  I've   lost track of how many times I've been to the dump and Goodwill, and once burning season starts again I'm going to have one hell of a bonfire.
Not everything that was left behind was useless.  The previous owner did leave behind a few hand tools and a bit of lumber, along with some oil lamps and oil.  I got a cord of wood delivered over the past weekend and got it stacked in racks I built from the lumber that was left here.  Three more cords are coming on Saturday, and then one more a week later.
I have a lot of caulking to do in order to seal this place up still, but it's going to happen.  At this point I'll say I plan to spend more time writing here, but who can honestly say.

Bus Pirate v3 Direct IO Pins

My wife got me a Bus Pirate (among other things) for Christmas/Saturnalia/Yule/Whatever.  For the unfamiliar, a Bus Pirate is a small USB device used to communicate with various chips over standard buses such as I2C and SPI.  It also has some other neat features like pulse with modulation and frequency measurement, and can even be pressed into service as a JTAG programmer and (very low speed) logic analyzer and oscilloscope.  Essentially, it is the Swiss Army Knife of electronic tools.

I don't have any I2C or SPI stuff laying around to mess with right now, but I am planning to start working on something in the near future that will require me to bit bang a very simple protocol.  Because of this, I'm messing with writing data from the pirate in direct i/o (DIO) mode.

When writing data in DIO mode, you simply give the pirate an 8 bit value and it sets the pins appropriately.  You only have five pins (CS, MISO, CLK, MOSI, and AUX) to twiddle your bits with.  These are represented by the five least significant bits. The table below represents the bits

Bit	Pin
1	CS
2	MISO
3	CLK
4	MOSI
5	AUX

If you want to turn more pins on, simply do a bitwise OR of the values you wish to change. For example, entering a 5 would turn on CLK and CS. (0b100 ^ 0b001 = 0b101 = 5). More to come later.

Tomahawk

I've been developing an interest in bushcraft lately.    While on a recent excursion the members of a group I was with I became interested in a lightweight chopping tool.  Some internetting lead to reading about tomahawks.  The Cold Steel Trail Hawk seems to be pretty popular.  I ordered mine from that online retail giant that everyone loves to hate.

As you can see, it doesn't look like much from the factory.  With that said, I am happy that it fits in my Goruck.

The first thing that I did was take it apart, sand the polyurethane off the handle, and coat the head in paint stripper.  After that, the Elder Sign was added to the handle for protection from the Great Old Ones. 

After the paint was removed, I soaked the head in vinegar for two days to put a patina on the metal.  I did the same with my Mora Compantion.

After a light coat of stain and some tung oil on the handle, she's looking great.

On the air

I got my ham license about two years ago, but never really did much with it despite intending to do otherwise.  I managed to finally reach a turning point regarding that when I picked up a gently used Kenwood TM261A (and a power supply) from a local Craigslist seller.

As a budget-minded individual, I decided to try constructing my own antenna before buying one.  The basic ground plane antenna described in the ARRL Operator's Manual seemed like a pretty easy place to start, so I went with that.  My build consists of three pieces of brazing wire connected to a SO-239 connector.

First I went about making loops so that the ground plane wires could be connected to the SO-239.  I bent small L shapes with a bench vise, then squished them into something I could connect with a screw.

I then soldered a third section of wire to the part of the SO-239 that connects to the core of the coax using a propane torch.  I neglected to take a picture, but I doubt the complexity of the operation will astound you.

After running some 50 ohm coax up to the attic, I secured my new antenna in place with zip ties.

I am now able to hit a repeater about 15 miles away and am getting reports of good audio.  As time (or money) allows, I'll probably either build or buy a J-Pole.  Regardless of this, I'm happy for the time being.

E36 BMW Refresh Part 2 - Leaks and Alerts

A while ago I changed the drive belts.  The tight engine compartment makes getting good photos hard, so I'll just say that it is easiest to swap them out from underneath the car with your head by the driver's side wheel.

On top of that, while changing the spark plugs I noticed that some of the spark plug holes were full of oil when I was changing the plugs (not inside the cylinder, the recess the plugs go into).  There are gaskets for these, but changing them requires that the valve cover be removed.  This means that the valve cover gasket must be swapped out too, leaking or not.  It is important to mention that the gasket is different on pre-VANOS and VANOS equipped cars.  Be sure to get the correct gasket.

Just as before I removed the decorative cover from the engine, the coils, and the spark plugs.  Next the valve cover came off.  I should mention that the rear driver's side bolt for the valve cover is a little bit hard to reach.  Be careful that you don't drop it someplace that it cannot be found, because it is a special item that they don't carry at the hardware store.  A decent auto parts store will be able to order one for you.

With the cover off, we can see the old gaskets.  They can simply be removed by pulling them off.

The old gasket is on the right, and the new one is on the left.  The old gasket has hardened significantly and doesn't even feel like it's made of rubber.  It is not surprising at all that it was leaking.  Re-installation was a simple but unphotographed process.  I did use a small amount of RTV at the corners of the gasket and inside the half moon cutouts at the back of the engine.

Another problem I was having is that the car was claiming it was low on coolant, even though it was not.  The issue in this case was a bad coolant level sensor, located at the bottom of the radiator overflow tank.

There are two hoses that connect the overflow tank to the radiator.  First I unhooked the top one from the radiator (driver's side).

After that I carefully worked the hose free from the fan shroud.

The next step was to remove the bleeder screw and the retaining clip from the tank.

At this point in time you can move the tank around freely.  I disconnected the other end of the top hose from the tank and pumped as much coolant out as I could with a hand pump.  There is a second hose on the bottom and an electrical connector for the sensor.  I removed both of those as well.

When I removed the old sensor, it came out in pieces.  Reinstallation was the same job, but in reverse order.  I am happy to say that I no longer have a stupid warning about being low on coolant when I in fact have plenty.

E36 BMW Refresh - Part 1: Spark Plugs

Back in the Summer a friend sold me his E36 325is for a very low price.  Normally you'd expect to pay very little for an 22 year old car in the first place, but this one is a bit different.  It's original owner was a motorsports enthusiast of some kind or other.  He'd added a bunch of fun stuff to the car like a cam kit, catback exhuast and header, strut tower braces, aluminum flywheel, an aftermarket ECU ROM, and all other types of goodies.  Needless to say the car is pretty quick.  With that said, it has a lot of small irritating problems.

When I bough the thing the first thing I noticed was that the brake rotors were warped quite badly.  I wasn't thinking about bloggy things at the time, so I didn't document the process of replacing them.  I'll just simply say that for the most part the hardest part was getting the calipers off.  This was because the person who last worked on the brakes torqued the bolts far tighter than the manual calls for.  My wife's Mini has essentially the same brakes, and changing those was much easier.

I have more free time lately, so I've started paying attention to getting the car back in fighting shape.  Today I squared away the spark plugs.

Here we see the engine compartment.  There isn't exactly a lot of excess room under there.  The ignition goodies are hidden under the black plastic covers seen atop the valve cover.

Now we've removed the strut tower brace and the first of the covers, exposing an attractively blocky fuel rail.

Once the other plastic cover has been removed, the ignition system is exposed.  Each cylinder has its own ignition coil.  There is no spark plug wire, instead the coil connects directly to the plug.  The coils are easily disconnected from the wiring harness without tools, and detached from the valve cover with a 10mm socket.

Once the plugs were pulled, they showed only normal wear.  Given that the car ran pretty well anyway, this wasn't surprising.  It was still pleasant to see.

After the plugs were replaced, I simply reversed the steps I took.  As I continue to repair the car I will continue to make updates.

Cheap VHF Communications

The high power rocketry club I am a member of uses two meter amateur radios for communications. We do this on the drive to the launch range and while walking around and doing ground crew duties as well.  My money has a variety of places to go right now, so for the time being I needed to simply find the least expensive setup that works.  I've found that.  Serious amateur radio enthusiasts probably won't care much for my choices, but from a purely utilitarian perspective they work well enough for me, at least for the time being.

Sorry, the radio still has desert all over it.

The transceiver itself is the (in)famous Baofeng UV5R-A.    A lot of the complaints people have about the menus being poorly laid out are frankly true.  With that said, when I talk into the radio people hear me and are able to understand what I said.  I am also able to understand them.  I programmed the repeaters in my area into it with CHIRP, bypassing the obnoxious menu.

One common (and in my experience valid) complaint about the Baofengs is the shit-tacular antenna they come with.  I picked up a knockoff of a Nagoya antenna from eBay for about $5 a while back (they don't seem to be available any longer).  After doing this, I was able to pick up a lot more traffic than I could previously.

For just walking around, this is really all that you need.  However, if you want to use your radio in a vehicle this won't quite do it.

This is a Nagoya magnetic mount antenna.  It has a reasonably strong magnet at the bottom, which sticks to the roof of my truck quite nicely.  I simply ran the wire in through the passenger side wing window.

Picking up the transceiver while driving and it having a big wire coming off of the end of it is no fun, but fortunately a remote microphone/speaker combo is available.  Some users have complained about poor audio quality from the speaker, and of others not being able to hear them well when speaking.  Personally, I've had no problems with bad received audio quality.  I have personally had no problem with the received audio quality.  With that said, I have noticed that I need to speak directly into the microphone to be heard well.

I don't want to risk draining the battery while on a long drive, so I picked up a cigarette lighter adapter.  It is clearly made from a hollowed out battery (it even says "Li-ion Battery" on the thing), but despite its chintzy appearance, it works.  Some users have complained about their radios heating up when they use it, but I haven't experienced this.

This gear allowed me to communicate with other people a few miles away.  It is true that I had some issues while crossing the Cascades (line of sight stuff), I wouldn't be surprised if people with nicer radios had similar problems.  At the end of the day, the Baofeng gives you a lot to work with for very little money.  I would like to get something nicer at some point, but this will do for the time being.

KE Jetronic Fuel Mixture Adjustment

In the mid 1970s, Robert Bosch GmbH developed a mechanical fuel injection system called K (konstant) Jetronic.  It was a very clever system, which could compensate for variables like engine temperature and air density without the use of electronics.  As time marched on and emissions requirements became more strict, the folks at Bosch added electronic controls to the system to extend its life.  This was called KE Jetronic.

My daily driver (a W124) is equipped with KE-Jet.  Recently I began having problems with the spark plugs fouling.  The car doesn't burn oil, and various sensors used by the fuel system tested okay.  Some research lead me to discover that as these cars age, they end up running too rich.  The fuel distributor can be adjusted to correct the problem.  The problem with this is that federal regulations required anti-tamper equipment be put in place to keep the fuel mixture from being trivially adjusted.  I suppose there was a belief that some shithead hammer mechanic would think they could get more power out of their car by dumping more gasoline into the engine.  Fortunately, it is pretty easy to get around the anti tamper stuff.

Here we see the throttle body and fuel distributor.  The little metal tower at the base of the fuel distributor covers the adjustment screw.  The cap at the top of it is actually an extremely thin piece of metal.  If you drill through it slowly and carefully, you'll find a small metal disk and a couple of pieces of felt.  Under that is the mixture screw.

After you drill through this, reassemble the air cleaner box.  Start the car, allow it to warm up, and connect a multimeter in duty cycle mode to the X11 diagnostic connector.  The negative lead goes to pin 2, and the positive to pin 3.  There is a small hole in the top of the air cleaner box.  Carefully insert a long #3 Allen bit into this hole.  Pressing down and turning will adjust the mixture (counter clockwise is lean, clockwise is rich).  Make your adjustments slowly, no more than a quarter turn at a time.  You will want to wait a little while between each adjustment.  The initial article I read said you wanted to wait at least 10 seconds.  I found it to be more like 30.  When the duty cycle is alternating between 45% and 55% (it will move), it is set properly.

Since making this adjustment, I have found that my car idles much better.  I expect to see improved fuel economy (since I'm not sending unburned fuel out the exhaust pipe) too, but time will tell on that one.

This is yet another example why I consider attempts to restrict access to a person's own property to be hostile.  I have a right to repair my car.  The anti-tampering stuff was put in place with the assumption that I am some kind of moron who would dump more gasoline than can be burned into the engine.  Bypassing this  created a small but real risk of drilling through something other than what I intended to.  The risk paid off for me, but what if it didn't?