Worth A Watch

Condensed

Because we had to dump the R134 from the system to get the fan/radiator/condenser assembly back in the car...

We took the opportunity to flatten the bow that had formed in the condenser.

This created a chance for additional worry that I'd broken it.

Last night we attached the vacuum pump to the now resealed AC system.

Dragged it down to -30 psi and gave it a five minute wait.

Gauge had fallen back to -25 psi.

PANIC PANIC PANIC

Happily I have a supply of strong drink to shut The Hated Brain up to allow sleep.

Marv's the AC guy here, so I've been blindly watching him run his gauges.

Duck-Duck-Go to the rescue.

I read up on how the gauges work and what readings you're supposed to be seeing.

Turns out, when there's moisture in the system, it's not unusual to see a dramatic drop in vacuum on the first go as the water is evaporated out.

So, I hooked up the gauges and pump again and cranked it down to -30 psi again.  After 20 minutes, still showing 30.  Ten minutes to go on this initial run.  After 30 minutes, still holding!

Looking Like An Engine Again

This is as far as I can take it until I have a tee-fitting, any tee-fitting.

Brass is supposed to be here tomorrow.

Then the fan shroud can go back on, then fill and flush the cooling system and charge the AC.

I see a light at the end of the tunnel and I don't hear a train.

To A Tee

Because they weren't really expensive... individually, I've got several 3/8 x 1/4 x 3/8 reducing tees on the way.

Polypropylene, brass and stainless steel plus the expensive GM assy that someone put on ebay for half price new in wrap.

The poly looks closest to the GM part, but I am nervous about the spec sheet at McMaster-Carr saying the material is only good from 32° F to 250° F.  How hot does that line get?  While it's been a while, I have had The Precious in freezing weather overnight before.

Brass was easiest to find and will arrive first.  Brass raises the specter of electrolysis in the cooling system because DexCool™ has a reputation of being hard on brass, bronze and copper.  That reputation was earned years ago and there's been at least one reformulation to deal with the issue since.

Stainless appears to be the ideal here.  No corrosion or temperature problems.

The genuine GM part...  I think I might take it apart and dimension the plastic tee and see about having some made in stainless and see if the Vette stores will carry it.  Might be a money maker if I can get the price well below the GM assy.

Nothing Else To Do So Pictures

The offending tee fitting:

When it's finally all buttoned up, it needs to be level.  And it needs to be raised so you can get under it.

Real mechanics have lifts that do this naturally.

I am not a "real" mechanic.

The two reasons it needs to be in the air and level is to check the transmission fluid level (because some leaked out the cooler line) and because I plan on flushing out all the old fluid.  Rather than raise and lower it several times, I'm just going to leave it up.

It's A Reducing Tee

There's a hose that goes from the pressure tank, tees into the throttle-body and keeps going to a nipple on the radiator.

The tee is plastic.

The tee is fragile.

The tee is broken.

GM does not sell the tee.  They sell the entire hose assembly.  P/N 10305352, $103.68.

$103.68 because a plastic fitting broke, and appears to be made from a plastic which is destined to fail.

99¢ nylon barbed union and bypass the throttle-body; here we come.

I've found a 10mm x 6mm x 10mm brass fitting which would replace the broken tee, but I'm getting conflicting reports about how bad this is with the DexCool and aluminum in the system from electrolysis.

Eyes crossed.

Update:  The tee fitting is required since they plumbed it into the steam-pipe crossover for the heads.

I'm getting sick of this project.

Every step forward has encountered a step back.  A week in and I'm not any closer to getting done.

As much as I love Amazon, the retail apocalypse means that simple projects now have built in wait times.

I Was Afraid Of That

It turns out that you cannot get the condenser back on the clips on the radiator with the condenser still in the car.

You've got to dump the R134 and clip it to the radiator outside the car, making an assembly of the fan, radiator and condenser.

We took the opportunity to take the bow out of the condenser and give it a really thorough cleaning.

The combined assembly drops right in, like it was made to.

Tomorrow I'm going to jack it up and start attaching lines.

Friday Marv is bringing up his AC tools and we're going to recharge the system and hope the condenser is still good after straightening.  Arms crossed.

This is a poor design for servicing.  I am not happy.

Quick Clip

The quick-detach tool I bought on ebay is still missing in action.

Seeing that the new radiator came with new clips, I got brave yesterday and used my smallest precision flat-blade to pry out the clips.  One went flying to parts unknown, probably coming to rest near an AR front take-down pin detent.

This retainer clip is kind of elegant in its simplicity.  The three indentations snap over a flare in the cooler line and hold it against an o-ring in the radiator's trans cooler.

It's also fiddly as all get-out.

The proper tool has three teeth which go into the wider sections and the gap, then you rotate it to lift the clip by the indents.  Then you can remove the line without removing the clips from the fitting.  In fact, there are rubber sleeves over the clips to help retain them when using this tool.

Ready For Reassembly

I cleaned out near a pound of debris off the condenser.  Ick.

Found the crack in the driver's side tank that started this week long adventure.

Transferred the fan assembly to the new radiator.

Just need a mechanically inclined helper to guide it into the engine bay.  One hand on the radiator, one moving the hoses and wiring out of the way.  FUN!

Tear Down Complete

Every single thing on this removal is made more difficult by design decisions which make it easier to put together on the assembly line.

There is virtually no consideration to fixing it later without access to a very complete shop.

The condenser, radiator and fan assembly are supposed to come out as a single unit.

Except...  The shade-tree mechanic doesn't have the expensive AC refrigerant recovery system so the condenser needs to remain in the car.

Then all of the hoses are retained by the bane of my mechanic existence, spring clamps.

Then, there's the hard to reach wiring harness retainers which you cannot free.

Plus the special tool needed to detach the transmission cooler lines from the radiator.

Nevertheless, I have persevered!

There was a whole forest of leaves between the condenser and radiator, and the fan appears to have sucked on the condenser so hard as to have bowed it in.

I'm going to be doing some foliage removal tomorrow before I even consider putting the new radiator in.

Double Or Nothing Progression

Over and over getting my business degree it was repeated that the target inflation was 3%.

It was also stated that deflation, stasis and inflation were all bad.

Currency value is going to do one of those three.

How long until 3% inflation halves the value of your money?

It's not very hard math, but every 23.5 years it takes twice as much money to buy the same thing with 3% inflation.

This is why the surge in property values and box-office receipts are illusory.  The money to buy them became less valuable, not they became worth more.

There's a fun little chart showing how much an ounce of gold would buy back when as compared to today.  They're remarkably similar lists.  Like the value of gold did, pretty much, stay put.

Except for its dollar value.  It takes a lot more dollars to buy that ounce now.

3M For The Win

There's a reason Permatex is $1.50 at Wal Mart and the 3M stuff is $7.92 at Advance-Auto.

Mirror mounted!

Edit:

You have no idea how much situational awareness you lose without that center inside mirror with the teeny-tiny outside mirrors on a 91-94 B-Body.

What About Mak?

One thing you can say about many 9x18mm Makarov chambered pistols is they're cheap affordable.

On the surface you'd think they'd compare well with The Shield.

GURPS stats:

The Shield gets more shots and does more damage for the same weight.  Plus you get better sights and an easier safety to operate (unless you count the 20 lb. double action trigger on the P-64 as a safety.)

Average of 8 per shot and 64 per load with the Smith, 7 per shot and 49 per load with the Pole.
Changing to hollow points gets the same sort of spread with 10.5 per shot and 84 per load for the Shield and 9 per shot and 63 per load with the Łucznik.

Double Or Nothin'

Marv and I have a fake bet running.

Palmetto still has M&P-9 Sheilds on sale for $249.99.

Joking around when I'd ordered mine, I told him to hurry and order one for himself because the sale ended at noon the next day.

He "bet" me a nickel that it would be extended.

It was, and he "demanded" his nickel.

"Double or nothin'!" I cried in reply.

Day 1 I "owe" 5¢.
Day 2 I "owe" 10¢
Day 3 I "owe" 20¢
Day 4 I "owe" 40¢
Day 5 I "owe" 80¢
Day 6 I "owe" $1.60
Day 7 I "owe" $3.20
Day 8 I "owe" $6.40
Day 9 I "owe" $12.80
Day 10 I "owe" $25.60
Day 11 I "owe" $51.20
Day 12 I "owe" $102.40

My, that escalated quickly.

Dear Florida Carry

I know you're all excited to be participating in the suit to reverse what amounted to an executive order to redefine bumpstocks as machineguns...

But let me point something out.

The Federal redefinition has zero effect on Florida.

Florida banned them by law in overreaction to Parkland.

So, even if you win the suit, bumpstocks are still banned in Florida.

Thanks for all your hard work in the other 49 states FLORIDA Carry.

Rearview Mirror Glue

The inside mirror on The Biscayne has fallen and can't get up.

Two different applications of the Permatex brand adhesive have released the button while trying to get he mirror to click back into place.

Mutter mutter mutter.

Going to try the 3M brand this evening.

Eyes crossed.

On Top Gun Maverick

I will petition Cinema Sins to take off 1,000 sins if Maverick's back seater yells word to the effect of, "Shut your stick-monkey pie hole and let me concentrate!"

Additional 500 for muttering under their breathe in a close-up, "Goddamned chatty nose-gunners."

Poetic Justice

Rhino poacher trampled by elephants and eaten by lions.

I quote:

(FOX 13) - A poacher who was hunting rhinos in a South African park was reportedly trampled to death by an elephant, and his remains were then eaten by lions.

and

“Entering Kruger National Park illegally and on foot is not wise, it holds many dangers and this incident is evidence of that," Glen Phillips, Kruger National Park's Managing Executive, told the Letaba Herald. "It is very sad to see the daughters of the deceased mourning the loss of their father, and worse still, only being able to recover very little of his remains."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!

No Darwin, he's bred already.  His kids should consider getting their tubes tied.

Of MiG-28's And Exocets

Now that the F-14B is in early release for DCS, people are doing recreations of various scenes from Top Gun.

The end scene is sticking in my craw.  It has been for decades.

The big deal about the Hollywood/Wolfman, Iceman/Slider fight against the six MiG-28's is the concern about them carrying Exocet missiles, thus if they break a certain distance the carrier is vulnerable.

First off, all of the carrier aircraft for the AM39 I've been able to find are NATO spec, and nearly all of those French.

The Soviets would have sold their own anti-ship missiles to a MiG customer rather than trying to integrate a NATO missile.  The Soviets never really developed an equivalent to the Exocet.

So, Exocets and...

Why not Mirages?

The Mirage was widely exported.

Mirage III and V both have been adapted to carry the AM39.  The F-5E is used to simulate a MiG-21 at TOPGUN and the Mirage III is kinda in that same envelope.

So from now on when they say "MiG-28" in the movie, think Mirage III or Mirage V.

Second:  The "MiGs" are dogfighting Hollywood and Iceman, who have closed to visual ID ranges before the fight starts.  They can see that the enemy aircraft aren't carrying air to ground stores, and the dogfight kind of proves it as well.  The Exocet is a fairly large missile and you don't want to bring it to a dogfight, you'd jettison it before the merge.

So our bad guys are pure air to air.

What Hollywood and Iceman will want to do is get the fight moving back to the carrier to shorten the alert-5 response time to their location, this appears to be happening because of the concern about the range to the boat.

Third:

Just two planes up for the CAP?  In a place where they've been warned if they see a hostile act they will respond?

Fourth:

The loadout of all three F-14A is two AIM-9 and two AIM-7.  Obviously the E-3 is airborne because Enterprise has an excellent picture of what's going on.  That means the LINK-4 is up.  That means that Maverick/Merlin know what's friendly and what's bandit.  From BVR ranges.  This means that they could have taken two Sparrow shots long before Maverick gets all emo from some jet-wash at the merge.  Actually, it'd be Merlin who fired those at that range.

I feel better.

Why Would I Want It

Watching Mr Bartocci talk about the differences between the P320-M17 and M17 Commemorative and I am struck...

Lacking a collector motive to buy one, if I have a Glock 17 or a S&W M&P-9; do I need one?

Odds are, you don't.

Odds are, I don't; I have both a Glock 17 and a S&W M&P-9.

I only have a Beretta M9 because I was, briefly, issued one.

I've never been issued an M17 and I never will be.  The urge to own one is much lower.

It's got no service history to make me want one.  No cachet of, "what has this gun seen in its life?"

My M1911A1 has both the issued to me and service history cachet to get me to buy one.

My semi-auto M16A2 clone has the issued cachet.  The M16 and M16A1 clones have the history...

I do, kinda, wanna shoot a 320 to see if I like it so much I'd sell all my other plastic fantastic 9mm's...

Except the Glock 17 is in the pile from "issue" nostalgia too.  I bought one when our M9's got held up after we'd turned in our M1911A1's and ammo but had drawn 9mm NATO already.  I carried one for our one trip to the Czech-German border.

Damn Cryptids!

So, in the midst of financial distress from car repairs, I try to distract myself by seeing what it would take to get a machine that will run VR with DCS...

The fookin' video card that's recommended runs $500!

I do recall when a top of the line vid card was a mere $150.  Damn!  I got old and inflation got past me.

I am reliably informed that the reason video cards are running pricy is these are what crypto-currency farmers use to work on the Al Gore Rhythms.  Music is important to cryptic dollars, apparently.

I Wasn't Tony Stark

In the way-back I played Champions quite a bit, all the way through 4th Edition.

My principle character was a powered suit guy.

He could fly, teleport, and shoot energy blasts in every iteration.  Some had claws for a hand-to-hand killing attack, some had a prehensile tail.

My inspiration was Alpha Flight's Guardian, not Iron Man; but my constant tinkering with the suit led to an arc more reminiscent of Stark's various marks.

The public ID started as a research scientist for the in-game equivalent to Stark Industries, he basically embezzled the tech he used to make his first couple suits.  The GM was learning stock options and stuff in college, so my guy took some and got rich.  Then he founded a competing company for consumer "super" gear and got richer.

Being an aviation buff, I named the suits (and the character) after the 'Cat' series of fighters from Grumman.

Wildcat was the starting point.
Hellcat was the Wildcat updated with experience.  Just more of everything.
Bearcat scaled back a little on the firepower and upped the Speed stat.
Tigercat was really fast, had powerful attacks and could see in the dark.
Tomcat was the pinnacle of the series.  A flying energy projecting brick at this point.

At some point my character's son became a costumed hero too.  Alley Cat.

Later on we had to reboot the world somewhat with a lower point level.  My character's public ID had lost everything fighting criminal charges... industrial espionage from adapting tech from a defeated villain.  It was either go through the legal drama or admit where he'd really gotten it.  The other side wasn't eager to admit they were funding a powered suit villain than I was willing to admit to being a powered suit hero.

So a stealth, infiltration version got made...  Prowler.

Prowler has even been converted to GURPS.  The others?  I don't seem to have the character sheets anymore.  I could probably recreate the whole character.

Bite Me

The CMP has posted:

It has been brought to our attention that some customers are receiving their 1911 and posting on Gun Broker and other such sites for resale. This was not the intention of the program. If you are found to be reselling these pistols you will be banned from purchasing from the CMP for an indefinite period.

Red and bold in the original.

Sorry, guys, but it's MY property now; you don't get to decide what I do with it.

It's bad enough to essentially force everyone to prove they're not criminals three times before taking our money and giving us the guns; now you seek to dictate what we do with them?

What if I wanted a gun that was all Colt?  What if I insisted that I get the same Colt/RemRand mix I had in the service?

What if I was simply unhappy about the amount of sandblasting present?

Marv's is a lot more blasted than mine, and the proceeds from selling it would go a long way towards getting a less worked over gun.

But if he does, and they catch him, then he can't buy a Garand later?

Bullshit.

Some have commented that the paperwork we signed in requesting these guns says we agreed to not resell them.  That same language is in the paperwork with Garands, and there are a couple guys in the local show circuit who're definitely buying the annual limit and selling them on rather than using them as agreed.

This ain't going to affect me.  My CMP M1911A1 is part of my estate.

As soon as the cars are all fixed, I might just wander up to Anniston and see if there's a Garand with my name on it.  I kinda miss Rosie.

How Many Miles On Your Car?

Those are actual miles on my 29 year old Biscayne SS.

It's been an amazingly reliable car and if I'd just kept driving it, there'd be fewer things wrong from sitting around.

The oil pressure guage is marked wrong.  The sender for my engine is a 0-80 psi calibrated sender, so 30 = 40 and 60 = 50.  So it's actually reading 35 psi here not 20-something.

In Common

Florida, unfortunately, had three mass shootings in a relatively short period of time.

The Pulse Nightclub shooting.

The Fort Lauderdale airport shooting.

Mary Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

It needs to be hammered home, hard, that these three places have something in common.

Two things, really.

First, they are gun free zones.  The common citizen is forbidden, by law, to have a firearm on the premises.

Second, law enforcement completely fucked up their response.  They are far more interested in their own skins than ours and made damn sure they were completely safe before they advanced on the situation.

In the case of the Pulse Nightclub, they might even have been the ones who shot some of the injured and deceased.

It's morally wrong to be forced to depend on the protection of a group who has no legal requirement to offer that protection and cannot be punished for failing to do so.

Let that sink in.

When you call 911, they don't have any obligation whatsoever to even pick up the phone, let alone send anyone.  The courts have ruled on this over and over.

Your only sensible recourse is to not go anyplace where you cannot provide your own security.

It's Unfair?

Mark Wahlberg got paid a shitload more for reshoots than Michelle Williams.

It's got to sting to find out that Marky Mark is smarter than you are.

Why did he get paid more?  Because he put an extortionate price in his contract in case of reshoots in an attempt to not have to do them.

Why didn't you think of that, Michelle?

I have a theory as to why Mr Wahlberg thought of it.  He came up from the music industry, where you get a hard lesson on contracts shoved up your ass dry every day until that first contract is finally fulfilled.

In essence, he got more money because he's more experienced, just not more experienced with acting.

It's not because he's a man and you're a woman.  It so very rarely is.

Mostly Dead

Put the charger on The Biscayne.

Managed to ignore her and had dinner with Marv while we watched a couple movies on his gotta-be-compensating-for-something big TV.

Got home and she sluggishly turned over and fired up.

Drove around for about an hour on the dry-rotted tires, doing laps around the area.

Leaving the car sit for so long flat spotted the tires pretty bad too, but that cleared up after a couple miles.

It acted like a couple of valves weren't closing all the way until it got warm, but that cleared up too.

Steering is still sloppy, but that's to be expected with the idler out.  Last generation B-Bodies eat idler arms and center links.

But Wait There's More

I can't even do disassembly of the Vette yet.

The transmission cooling lines and the oil cooler lines both use a quick-detach fitting.

This is GM code for "you need an expensive special tool" to take them apart.

A tool that absolutely nobody stocks.

The front shroud is captured by the oil cooler until the lines are disconnected and the radiator by the trans cooler lines...

UGH.

Can't get the tool here before Wednesday so I am without wheels until then, at least.

I remember when a radiator was a simple chore which just needed some wrenches.

The Joy Of Two Dead Cars

The driver's side tank on the Vette's radiator split today.

162k miles...  $225.

The Biscayne has been yard art for a while.

It's needed tires for a while.  $540.

The steering linkage is worn.  $200.

Probably needs new control arms.  $400.

The AC compressor is locked up.  $300.

The paint is shot.  $ let's not talk about it.

The carpet needs replaced, but I have new carpet in the closet.

The seats need reupholstered.  No idea on that.

The tach needs calibrated.  Got the stuff, need to get up Marv's ass to do it.

The dash is apart because the tach needs calibrated.  The dash bezel needs lots of fixing because the plastic is ancient and brittle.

The gas that's in it has been there for at least a year.

This is not a small revival.

There's a part of me that screams that I can get a mini-van for what getting it running would cost.

I like to work on her, but I need the time and the money.  Those are not forthcoming.

Thag Hub!

My blog is marked as porn on several DNS filters of the sort used by workplaces.

I didn't even post any pics of dicks or tits.  Could it be my fucking potty mouth?

This is interesting.

I wonder how one appeals this decision.

Yes, Helen, I Know

“There is nothing like sitting in the cinema.” Dame Helen Mirrin.

I am aware of this, that's why I simply don't go.

The last new release I saw in a cinema was Moana.  I saw it on a weekday matinee when The Boy and I had the run of the theater.

I have walked out of movies I'd paid for because my fellow patrons were simple insufferable.

Super-tolerant Marv has followed me on occasion.  It's not just that I'm more sensitive because of my misophonia.

Going to the movies can be fun.

I saw Blazing Saddles at The Tampa Theater last year and it was great fun.  But the audience wasn't the normal crowd.

There's a bar in Safety Harbor that has a teeny dinner-theater setting that's great fun.  Die Hard on Christmas Eve rocked!

But go to the theater for a new release?

No.

Last time I tried was Ghost In The Shell and the affrontery of assigned seating, followed by the asshole bringing the entire snack bar with him...  With assigned seats you can't just move.

I left before I got so angry I couldn't drive.  Marv gutted it out to the end, but expressed a great deal of anger at the amount of noise coming from him.

The cinema experience has been intolerable to me for a long time, so I love the fact that I can get a TV that's the same angular size as a movie screen in my living room.

In my living room where I can eat anything I'd like, drink whatever I want, pause it for potty breaks and rewind if I missed something (or just want to see it again).  Where I can say, "Marv, can you be quieter?" and know that he'll at least try to make less noise and not assault me for it.

Even You

In the way back...

I was going to be a psychologist.

One of the neat things, for a starving college student, is psych students get asked to participate in all kinds of studies and experiments.  They pay you!

I signed up for one which, to my disappointment, had me attend a series of lectures.

It's easier to skip to the end rather than trying to keep you in suspense.

The experiment was about influencing groups of people and the lectures were translated and repackaged Hitler.

They hired an excellent speaker to give us that lecture and we got caught in the moment and were ready to do his bidding!

The last lecture had us a bit nervous because they brought the cops.  Not campus cops, real State Troopers.

There was no last lecture.  It was the reveal.

They explained what the experiment was and how we'd be influenced and if we needed counseling it would be provided for free.

It was a jarring experience.

One interesting thing, that led to my political awakening, was the part about how the people we were being riled up to hate was chosen.  At random.  It didn't matter whom, as long as they were different from the carefully vetted audience.  The difference didn't even have to be very big.

The explanation stuck with me, and it's very scary shit.  Be extra wary of anyone sowing division among the citizenry.

Because anyone can be the Jew.

No More WWSD?

GWACS Armory, maker of the CAV-15 Mk II polymer lower has dropped off the face of the earth.

There's nothing listed in stock.

Their Facebook page was "Mk III and IV coming soon" until 17Jan19 when they say, "Interesting developments, we have had to vacate our location. We are in the process of finding new space and will be transferring our FFL license's. We will be off grid until we get set back up."

Two and a half months without a peep?

There's a couple of messages from people who apparently ordered something from the web page and didn't get their stuff and can't reach them.

Bad sign.

Fingers crossed that they come back, I kinda wanted one.

Nearly Sold Out

Palmetto State Armory and Rainier Arms will both ship normal capacity magazines to California.

Apparently, there's been something of a run on them and, Palmetto at least, shows many makes out of stock.

Go freedom and capitalism!

Like So Many Democrat Shibboleths

Minimum wage has its roots in racism.

How is that?

You see, recently emancipated slaves would work at a far lower rate than their white counterparts.

Can't have that!

So you pass a law that establishes the salary the white workers draw as the floor.

Add in other Jim Crow bullshit and you squeeze black workers from the labor market for anything but the most unskilled jobs.

Privilege My Ass

If a straight, white man had hired a couple of buddies from his apartment complex to pretend they were black and beat him up and called the police...

The straight white man would be in jail for false report at a minimum and probably more.

But a gay black man?

You can talk to me about privilege when the above is not true.

If You Had Told Me

Even ten years ago, if you had told me that they would take the characters from The Super Friends and make live action movies that didn't suck.

I would not have believed you.

If you went on to tell me that the best two films of this group were Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

I would have called you dangerously insane.

Yet; here we are.

Just Relax And Let The Hooks Do Their Work

With my new 2/3 scale pockets...

Pocket carry of the Shield is out.

Strong side IWB is the most comfortable and easiest to get to overall.

Cross-draw IWB is best for the car, but is awkward otherwise because fat-fuck.

Both IWB modes require some sort of cover garment, and if it's cool enough for that; it's cool enough for a full-size pistol in the Miami Classic.

So the Shield will be delegated to summer carry, replacing the SIG P238.  At least I'm moved up from .380 all year now!

Great Minds

It would appear that Leatherneck Simulations is going to be making an F-8 module for DCS!

Excellent!

Fail

Ordered two pair of jeans from Amazon.

I thought I was ordering the same size and brand I was already wearing, except without stains and holes.

Apparently not.

The front pockets are 2/3 the size of the old jeans.  I'm having trouble getting my wallet in there.

So I look hard at the labels.

Amazon stocks Wrangler Authentic.

The jeans I was seeking to replace were simply Wrangler.

The Authentics lack the wee little red tag and have a different back pocket stitching as well.