So last Wednesday night we got Victoria’s car back on the road. It was one of those four steps forward, two-and-a-half steps back things. We got the carpet, seats, and seatbelts in, but some of the belts are upside down, so I’ll need to adjust the buckles eventually. One of the niggling issues I wanted to fix was the stuck heater control. I climbed under the car to try and lubricate the linkage at the heater box, but couldn’t reach it. I ended up jacking and supporting the right rear of the car, removing the wheel, reaching up past lots of sharp bits and blindly spraying WD-40 on what my fingers told me were the cable end and heater door linkage. Here’s a newsflash, “WD-40 dripping down over lacerations stings.” All of this while asking Victoria to push and pull a lever until her fingers hurt. Ah, good times. Another good time happened earlier when I opened the garage door too hard and it bumped into a sawhorse hanging from a rafter causing it to fall on the car. While wanting to use all the four letter words I could think of, I restrained myself (for the sake of my daughter’s ears) to only saying, “Well that’s never happened before.” That little reenactment of the mousetrap game caused a small dent in the roof near the windshield.
With all that over, we pushed the car around to line it up with the garage door and uneventfully lowered it off the wheel dollies. I then poured a little gas down each carburetor (lucky not to have set anything on fire), and had Victoria turn the key. The engine started right up and idled decently even when put in Reverse. After backing out of the garage, I sent her on her way to make some rounds in the neighborhood making sure she had her phone with her in case a tow home was required. Next I got my turn behind the wheel, and put my foot in it to fully check things out. I immediately found that I’ve still got carburetor work to do since pressing the accelerator too quickly caused the engine to die. I think there’s still an issue with the accelerator pump. When I blip the throttle while looking down the carb throat the strong stream of fuel I’m supposed to see is more like a dribbling brook. Once the rpms rise, though, the car’s got pretty good oomph. It brakes nice and straight and steering is responsive. In the end, I’ll say the pros exceed the cons.
Afterward, Victoria, the lovely Loriann, and I sat in the family room, and I asked Victoria to make a list of issues that still needed addressing. As the list grew with entries like Carburetor Rebuild, New Heater Hose, Carbon Monoxide Detector, and Fuel Hose At Tank, she become obviously distressed, saying, “I thought we were done.” I don’t think my reply of, “We’ll NEVER be done,” did much for her attitude, so I added, “None of these will prevent you from driving the car to school,” and that perked her back up.
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