Vincent The Dragon

After standing around Walmart for several hours to get very much needed tires for my car I went home to check on Williams car, because he mentioned the power steering was whining. While we have been doing pretty good with money right now since Williams job is paying pretty good, the tires used up all my cushion....Will's car is out of steering fluid, like bone dry so a little investigating and sure enough, one of the lines has rusted through and is shot. Trip to auto store and like $200 in parts later I get to figure out how to replace these things. The $200 ate all of Williams cushion as well....It's now 9pm, i have not eaten. I think it may be fixed but i don't know. Extremely frustrating job as cars are horrible to work on now a days, everything is in the way, you cant reach anything and serviceability was the last thing on their mind. First time i fired it up after the replacement it promptly blew out all the fluid. One of the seals on the steering gear fell out as i was inserting the hose. Hour and a half later and its back on but i don't know if its sealed or working due to being out of fluid.

Wow...was that a job.
I have gotten pretty good at removing the intake and various parts that gain access to the drivers side of the car but this...this makes you want to strangle and entire office of engineers. Car is up and running ans all is well but the shear number of hours it took me.

Next time I will have to have someone help, the special tools i picked up Reeally helped. One day when we win the lottery, i'll have a kickass shop with a lift and a proper set of impact tools.

Alright, I have everything I need to replace my timing belt thats 30k miles past its due date.
Going to kick this off this weekend, who wants to help?

nice cat bed...

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Do NOT stare directly into the cute.
...
..
.
I warned you.
Presents from Wuf

So...after a bunch of driving around and not seeing anything worth having or outside of our price range...we had to go back into the buy-here-pay-here thing.
but, we found this
Its a 2004 Chevy trailblazer 4x4
Interior is good, nothing seems dented or busted, no leaks, 110,000 miles.
Bose sound package, Onstar, Navigation system (still seems to be active), DVD player and screen.
In the glove box is what looks to be a complete service history...and it was cheaper than I would have expected at the lot we got it from but they did not have it long.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that we got a good one.

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So had to buy the starter($105), put it on on Tuesday. Car boiling over...took radiator out and rinsed the crap out of it Wednesday, seems still clogged and car still overheats.
Bought radiator and thermostat Friday($160) and have been putting it in today. Car seems to run very cool now and no leaks....

You know that part earlier where I said I can't catch a break?
...
So my car is not wanting to start, you have to push start it about 50% of the time.
Something you can only do with a manual transmission by the way, so that odd third pedal has another use.
The car is also starting to overheat and is 30,000 miles past do to have the timing belt replaced.

The starter is not so bad, should run me $100 for the part and I can do that myself.

timing belt is a different matter... timing belt kit with water pump, radiator hoses, radiator cap, serpentine belts, new coolant, new refrigerant and PAG oil ...should run me about $300 in parts ....oh..and.

Thats how to replace it....

This is a project I have been putting off until I could afford it, i had a backup vehicle, i had vacation time, i had help...I am going to need help with this one.

offered to take over payements of 200 a month buuutttt.
once it got here...nope...the list of what is wrong with this thing is long, it was not taken care of at all.
Also the final price is much more than we were thinking so...

thanks but no, we will just have to scrape and pinch and come up with money for a better car somehow.

...

I Cooked up some food for me and Wuf

^_^

Okay, remember that bridge from
http://vincentthedragon.com/index.php/ow-2?blog=2

Well here is something to put a little perspective on the size and also what we did about it today.

Also, today was the day we had to turn in Williams car for his bankruptcy, so we are less one car...

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We went to a candle vigil tonight in remembrance for the victims of the Orlando shooting.

Okay...so i know little to nothing about auto body and paint.
Here is a piece of aluminum from the bike.
There are these little black thready looking things on the outside, they feel smooth and will not wash or scrub off...
took some 800 grit and water to the center there and you can see the result...
Is this a clear coat that has failed or something?
???