Of Wheels and Deals

I have had quite an adventure over the course of two months. I have been doing nothing but fix cars, it seems. First, the brakes went on my truck.

Mr. R. willingly gave of his garage space, time, and experience to help me rebuild them. He's such a blessing!

Finishing up at 9:30 PM...

...And we're back on the road. Sure glad that's done; I had an hour-and-a-half drive the next day.

(Thanks to Amy for the pictures!)

But alas, when I replaced one of the rear brake lines, I snapped off the rust high-pressure fuel line. I spliced it and we were good to go again. Then a couple weeks later a large wate tank in the bed of my truck pushed down on the top of the fuel gauge sensor conector. The old, weak plastic broke, rendering the fuel gauge useless and allowing dirt and gravel to mix with the gas. Of couse, soon my fuel filter was clogged. I replaced it, but the fuel pump was evidently ruined. I sized up the job.

*Fuel tank: $160

*Pump:        130

*Sending unit: virtually unavailable.

It looked like the poor truck had outlasted its usefulness. So I took it to a junkyard/used car lot up the road and offered to make a trade. The fellow had afew decent cars, and I had my old jeep and truck to work a deal with. I settled on a '97 chevrolet Malibu with the 3.1L V6, and we did a straight-up trade. 

So goodbye to the truck...

...and my once-trusty jeep, with all its good memories.

And welcome to my latest steed.

I've replaced wheel bearings, strut assemblies, pads and rotors, and hopefully it will take me a good many miles. I'm already enjoying the gas savings!