That T-bird's still running, believe it or not

[fury]

It's been a while, but let me see if I can recall everything that's happened to it in the last 6 or 7 years...

The odometer stopped counting up a few years ago at 192,335. It ticked up one mile randomly somewhere between then and now, and is sitting pretty at 192,336. My oil change sticker still says 195,336 and I'm still waiting to drive those 3,000 miles before I change it...yeah, j/k :lloyd:

I've replaced shocks and struts at least once each, a couple oxygen sensors, one fuel intake valve (it was stuck open and drenching the system with gas, I forget whether they replaced the entire cylinder or not), had some brake line rust out, a wheel alignment or two, another set of tires... the list goes on.

I think I've bought at least a T-bird and a half worth of parts.

 

[Professur]

I'm in the middle of rebuilding the tranny on my '85 parisienne. loads of pics, and maybe a video or two will appear on Facebook

 

[fury]

That T-bird ain't running anymore.

Still got some life left in it, but I've busted an idler pulley and harmonic balancer. Prolly need to replace the belt too.

And I'm fresh out of impact wrenches, ratchets, sockets, jacks, and pullers/installers. This is gonna be fun

By busted an idler pulley, I mean lost an idler pulley.

 

[Professur]

You don't need an impact to replace an idler or a harmonic balancer ... but how the hell did you bust the harmonic? honestly .. that's less than an hour's work, at any reputable scrap yard. For certain, it'll cost you less in labour than buying the tools to do it yourself ... if you don't already have most of them anyhow.

 

[Nixy]

He already fixed it or got it fixed...

 

[Professur]

Not my fault if the boy doesn't report in

 

[fury]

You were correct, it cost less than buying the parts and tools to do it myself...

It was the rubber ring around the balancer that was the culprit of the wobble. It wore out, which is apparently pretty common after a couple hundred thousand miles.

New belt, new balancer, new idler pulley for $425 at a place that has done good work on my car before. They had it done within a few hours. Not as painful as I feared. It's running good again. *knock on wood*

 

[Professur]

I'll tell you what I do myself owning older cars. Set yourself an honest limit for a maintenance budget. Treat it like a new car payment. I set $100/month. So long as the old dear stays within that limit, I keep her running. Last year, I changed the engine in the van using that very method. 2 months later, a CV joint went. When the shop was looking it over, they found 2 blown out ball joints too. They wanted $450 for the lot. Sorry .. only $200 in the kitty. I paid the lift charge and drove it home. A few hours on the phone and I'd rounded up all the parts for the job ... at $125 and did the work myself. Took a lot longer than the garage would have done, but since it didn't take any new tools, I could justify it. Every month since then ... $100 into the kitty every month.

 

[fury]

Yeah, I rearranged (read: castrated) my expenses late last month, partly so that I could start putting together a plan for either getting another car or keeping this one running smoothly. Then this happened