Intrepidation

Time for some JB Weld. That sucks though. I have the factory spare for the Prizm, I keep it in my wallet. It's a nifty spare key that slides in a credit card shaped holder. I didn't have a spare in for my car in my wallet because I had never locked myself out of it. I have a routine where I get out and lock it with the remote. If I forget the keys I can't press the remote button to lock it. Problem is that I was picking up tires one day at a shop, unlocked he trunk but not the car, placed the paperwork and keys in the trunk, placed the tires in, then realized as I had just let the trunk close that I left the keys in it. Very annoying. Luckily they shop had a nifty unlock kit that uses an airbag to pry open the top of the door without scratching it, and then used a tool to unlock it. Had to bend my door frame back into place though, because the force from the airbag prying it opened left a 1/2 gap that bugged the crap out of me. So right after I left the shop I went to teh hardware store and had a spare made for my wallet.

I sure hope the Coronet isn't in there, surrounded by trees with leaves still on them.

Up here in New England we're on the dry side of the storm, so we're only expecting 2-4 inches. The wind is the concern, as between 12pm and 9pm gusts could get as strong as 50-60 mph. Spent the afternoon doing some work to the garage roof yesterday and the flat section on the house where the rubber mat came loose, all the stuff in the yard has been put away. If we lose power a friend has a small generator we can use to keep the fridge powered, that's all that really matters, and we an cook on the grill. The garage roof is my only real concern. Be safe.

C&D too big issue with it, good to see it's being fixed.

Me too!

Anything can be repaired if enough money is involved. For example, a P-38 Lightning buried and crushed for over 50 years under more than 200 feet of ice in the arctic can, and was, recovered, restored to certified flying condition and currently tours air shows. While it makes much more sense for a rare P-38 than a Neon, if he's got the means and wants to do it, more power to him.

Yeah road salt's not fun, but the rust is pretty much all limited to suspension parts not the body itself. Those struts are most likely 12 years old with 210k on them, so I'm not surprised they look the way they do. I'll be doing the other side next day I have off, I only had the time yesterday to get the broken one replaced. Gone are the days when the sun was still up at 8pm. As an aside, for anyone who uses Haynes/Chliton manuals as a guide, take their torque specs with an enormous grain of salt. They call for the small link to strut nut to be torqued to 75 ft-lbs! That's more than the torque spec for the much larger link to bar nut. A check with the FSM confirms that it should only be 17 ft-lb!

C/K trucks of that era are notorious for frame rot, although it's usually worst around the rear axle.

Speaking of which, go to /mlp to really see some f@#ked up horse $h!. I dare not go, but I've heard things.

What that Neon guy is doing is exactly what I would do.

For anyone who wonder the difference between economy brand parts and Moog parts, here's a case study. On the right is the cheapy part, on the left is the Moog part. Notice how much larger the diameter is of the bar on the link. It uses thermoplastic bushings rather than plain rubber for where the link connects to the sway bar. The bolt that connects the link to the bar has a hex head so you can hold it in place while tightening the nut (neither the cheap one nor the OEM part has this). It's also forged as opposed to cast. Compared to the OEM part, the cheapy actually looks pretty close, but the Moog part has design improvements (forged, thicker metal) to prevent failure like that again. Since the bugger was snapped in two I used a jack stand to support the sway bar and vise grips to hold the other side of the bolt in place, since it has no hex head. And the the vise grips to hold the rest of the link in place to remove the top nut. Much better. Might as well do the other side soon. Just look at those rusty (original) struts, those are being replaced come spring. Interesting that the sway bar bushing, on that side at least, look fine.

That awesome music is being let down by lousy audio quality and poor cinematography. Nifty gadget though.

http://www.cheersand...about-anal-sex/ Do it. FOR SCIENCE

Yeah they're awesome promos. "Some people think they can outsmart me, Hmm, maybe... Maybe... I have yet to meet one that can outsmart bullet." I think Meet the Medic is my favorite one.

Well I guess you could say fullmoon has become a butt of a joke.

I was going to make an anal sex joke butt f@#k it.

Keep in mind that he's said several times he's not really a wrencher, and being in school he probably doesn't have the time for lots of DIY repairs. Lots of alternators and starters ordered. As well, while the number of them old plays a part in their frequency, the F-150, though common a common order, is less common for parts orders than the C/Ks and we all know how many of those Ford has sold.

If you're looking for something reliable let me share with you a little observation. The vehicles we get parts orders on more than anything else are 90's C/K trucks. If you didn't like replacing a couple sensors on the Astra you're going to loath replacing parts on a C/K, because odds are you'll be doing it a lot.

Same/next day depending on time of order.

Sure, I'll do it tomorrow.