MuuMuu101's 68 Dart, A Learning Process...
*ALERT!!! LOTS OF VENTING IN THIS POST!!!*
Back story on my life this year. Lots of good things going on, don't get me wrong. But life is pretty crazy. So, in February, I proposed to my gf and she said yes. That's right, I'm engaged. April, I left my old job as a design engineer in Aerospace because I just wasn't happy and am now working as a Process Engineer for a large medical company. I'm super happy with that as I get to be really hands on and am working on some cool technology. In June, I graduated with my master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and am so thankful for that. Unfortunately, due to stress, school took a tole on my body and energy and now I'm working at getting healthy again by working out 1.5+ hours a day (5 days a week), eating healthy, and trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. And now I'm planning a wedding for next February while trying to buy a home in Southern California this winter.
So, as you can see, I'm pretty busy. Usually when I get home, I'm pretty drained and don't have much time or energy to do anything but prepare for the next day. And the Dart being down is really a pain in my butt because it just adds stress instead of relieving it. Don't get me wrong, I want to work on it (to relieve stress) and have been inspiring myself by watching Youtube shows like Mighty Car Mods and Roadkill. I'd like the car to be running and reliable before I move, because when I move, I'll likely be in a condo which means there will be a lot less room for me to work, if my HOA even allows me to work on the car. Not only that, it sucks I worked hard and sold a bunch of parts to purchase all of my EFI components, but now I can't install it, because I'm having trouble making the car reliable first. If I could convince my fiance to bring the car to the wedding, I think that would be a cool and memorable moment, but it's not looking likely with the car in a constant cycle of breaking down for 3 months and running for a month.
On to today. I finally had the time and energy to work on the car. The plan was to pull the spark plugs and the starter, turn the crank and ensure all the teeth are on the flywheel. So, I pull the spark plugs, jack the car up, and remove the starter. No problems. Go to turn the crank with my breaker bar and, it was probably the fact that I was trying to turn the crank from underneath the car, but the car moved a little and freaked me out. I was only able to see about a 1/4 of the teeth and they seemed ok. So, me being freaked out, I said, "F it! The teeth are good, let's just put the starter back on!" I got to put the starter on and the small connector (I'm assuming for grounding) snapped off when I was tightening it. As I was unbolting everything (for the millionth time), the starter falls out of my hand and bashed into my teeth. Luckily, I brush twice a day, so my teeth seem to be fine, but I cut a little bit of my lip. So, now I have to replace this wire (I hate electrical work) and the shop who built the car has this really nice wire wrapping around it that will all have to be removed to replace the wire. I'm so over everything breaking whenever I touch this car.
So, that's where I'm at right now. My per-marital counseling pastor took real interest into my car this past Sunday and gave me a contact to a really good guy who works on classic cars not too far away. The guy has 5 stars on Yelp. Now that's tempting me to ship the car off again, which sucks because I feel like I am a quitter every time I do that. But, I'm trying to buy a house, so I may not have the funds to do that. I wish I wasn't so busy.
Sorry for the vent...
*ALERT!!! LOTS OF VENTING IN THIS POST!!!*
Back story on my life this year. Lots of good things going on, don't get me wrong. But life is pretty crazy. So, in February, I proposed to my gf and she said yes. That's right, I'm engaged. April, I left my old job as a design engineer in Aerospace because I just wasn't happy and am now working as a Process Engineer for a large medical company. I'm super happy with that as I get to be really hands on and am working on some cool technology. In June, I graduated with my master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and am so thankful for that. Unfortunately, due to stress, school took a tole on my body and energy and now I'm working at getting healthy again by working out 1.5+ hours a day (5 days a week), eating healthy, and trying to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. And now I'm planning a wedding for next February while trying to buy a home in Southern California this winter.
So, as you can see, I'm pretty busy. Usually when I get home, I'm pretty drained and don't have much time or energy to do anything but prepare for the next day. And the Dart being down is really a pain in my butt because it just adds stress instead of relieving it. Don't get me wrong, I want to work on it (to relieve stress) and have been inspiring myself by watching Youtube shows like Mighty Car Mods and Roadkill. I'd like the car to be running and reliable before I move, because when I move, I'll likely be in a condo which means there will be a lot less room for me to work, if my HOA even allows me to work on the car. Not only that, it sucks I worked hard and sold a bunch of parts to purchase all of my EFI components, but now I can't install it, because I'm having trouble making the car reliable first. If I could convince my fiance to bring the car to the wedding, I think that would be a cool and memorable moment, but it's not looking likely with the car in a constant cycle of breaking down for 3 months and running for a month.
On to today. I finally had the time and energy to work on the car. The plan was to pull the spark plugs and the starter, turn the crank and ensure all the teeth are on the flywheel. So, I pull the spark plugs, jack the car up, and remove the starter. No problems. Go to turn the crank with my breaker bar and, it was probably the fact that I was trying to turn the crank from underneath the car, but the car moved a little and freaked me out. I was only able to see about a 1/4 of the teeth and they seemed ok. So, me being freaked out, I said, "F it! The teeth are good, let's just put the starter back on!" I got to put the starter on and the small connector (I'm assuming for grounding) snapped off when I was tightening it. As I was unbolting everything (for the millionth time), the starter falls out of my hand and bashed into my teeth. Luckily, I brush twice a day, so my teeth seem to be fine, but I cut a little bit of my lip. So, now I have to replace this wire (I hate electrical work) and the shop who built the car has this really nice wire wrapping around it that will all have to be removed to replace the wire. I'm so over everything breaking whenever I touch this car.
So, that's where I'm at right now. My per-marital counseling pastor took real interest into my car this past Sunday and gave me a contact to a really good guy who works on classic cars not too far away. The guy has 5 stars on Yelp. Now that's tempting me to ship the car off again, which sucks because I feel like I am a quitter every time I do that. But, I'm trying to buy a house, so I may not have the funds to do that. I wish I wasn't so busy.
Sorry for the vent...