Ace-Garageguy

Cooler than cool. Cold in fact. Much fun. Thanks.

Built models, if well done, are interesting historical artifacts, and if poorly done are challenging but rewarding subjects for rebuilding and modification...just like full-scale junkyard rescues.

Finding a shop isn't easy these days. CV joint replacement is a relatively simple straightforward job, but a ham-handed monkey can cause a lot of problems...besides the dealers' SOP of hiring $15/hr "technicians" and charging well over $100/hr in most places. Finding a competent independent shop will take some research, reading reviews, talking to other Asian car owners, etc. There ARE online sources for OEM old-stock Toyota parts (usually bought from dealerships when they dumped "obsolete" stock), and as far as aftermarket parts go, in general, if you can find parts made in Japan they're usually much better than the Chinese "equivalents". Buying aftermarket online can be a roll of the dice though, 'cause there's no shortage of re-boxed bottom-of-the-barrel garbage, and sellers often lie about part country-of-origin. Good luck. EDIT: Though it may sound pretty bleak, that little car is definitely worth jumping through a few hoops to keep it running, and it will run a long, long time with good people working on it.

I've encountered several vehicles that have idiot TIPM issues too. And again, as these vehicles age, they become "not economically viable to repair" in many cases. An old friend was going to junk her PT cruiser, literally, because at 203,000 miles, lots of small things were failing, and she trusted idiots, hackers, and crooks. Even though I'd saved her thousands of dollars on the little car over the years she owned it, she still took it to a shop that told her it needed a new transmission. So she bought a clean low mileage Celica for 10 grand and called me to help her dispose of the PT. I suspected there was nothing actually wrong with the trans internally, and there wasn't. So somewhat chagrined, she ended up just giving the PT to me, and I've since fixed everything but one (probably) TIPM-related problem. It's a great little car otherwise, FAR from being mechanically worn out, starts, runs, and stops fine except for the one problem I'll finish sorting out when the weather gets a little nicer. Between incompetent engineering, planned obsolescence, and lousy dealerships and shops, it's amazing anyone gets anywhere in older cars at all.

Grade school should turn out students who are proficient in basic arithmetic, able to read and comprehend sentences, paragraphs, and easier books, able to write coherent paragraphs explaining what they've read, who know how to look up information in dictionaries and reference books (not just google everything), and who know basic geography (like where Europe is and the countries it encompasses) and basic science (like fire is rapid oxidation, what the periodic table is, and the different kinds of energy).

Anything that used to be "common knowledge" isn't apparently being taught much these days; I vividly recall having learned how an internal combustion engine works, how a wing makes lift, how electricity is generated, and that the Sun is a star all by the sixth grade, and I've encountered a lot of folks fairly recently "educated" who know none of that.

If it's intentional and not simply incompetence, the evil goes deeper than that. Assume, in this case, the fuel pump relay lasts well into the second or third ownership. By that point, the vehicle may very well not be "worth" putting a $4000 repair into (and few "mechanics" today have the ability to pinpoint a problem, thoroughly understand it, and devise a cheap work-around like this guy), so the vehicle gets scrapped, taking an otherwise perfectly serviceable vehicle permanently out of the used pool.

A veritable heat wave.

Lunches be hanged, "trades" are frequently looked down on by the college "educated" today, those elite personages who couldn't change a tire or their own oil or cook a meal if their lives depended on it, and who believe any mouth-breathing knuckle-dragging chimp can perform any physical task equally well, from scrubbing a floor to building an automatic transmission.

Stairclimber, for some odd reason, makes me think of Thigh Master.

Dream a little dream of Jeannie...

Plain and simple...it's going to depend on the specific epoxy used, where and how it's used, and the prep. There's no one-size-fits-all answer.

Interest compounding for decades could have made me much more comfortable today than I am.

Line dancing used to be pretty big around here, but it seems all the local "cowboy" clubs have closed.

Out in the cold is where GM dumped its legacy brands like Pontiac and Oldsmobile (one of the oldest car makers on the planet [1897] that had been building them since before Mercedes existed [1901]), and is credited with many industry firsts (like the moving assembly line, and being the first "mass produced" car manufacturer). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile (Though the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen is defined as the world's first IC-powered automobile, Oldsmobile wasn't far behind.)

Club de Mer is a showcar built in 1956 by Pontiac.

"Polite" seems to mean different things to different people, some seeming to be completely unaware of the concept, and some interpreting it as keeping your head down and going-along-to-get-along with any ridiculous pronouncement unmuddied by facts. Never mind.

Yummies is a word I wouldn't touch with a ten foot chewy-candy bear.

I missed the coupe first time around, but have multiples of the others. Definitely in line for at least three coupes, and I already have a resin woody transkit. Price seems fair to me, considering inflation, quality...and especially as it's not pouring more money into China.

You obviously didn't know MY mom.

Snack eating is the only reason I'm not losing weight as fast as I'd like to, but when the store has buy-one-get-one-free, how am I supposed to resist buying junk, and if I buy it, I certainly HAVE to eat it, right???

Wonderful career opportunities for the morality-free folks that "technology" has provided. Should be interesting when all the thieving little weasels figure out how to get AI to do it better.

"Bottoms", ah yes, now there's a word that conjures up pleasant images.

Dead men don't drive Teslas or wear plaid shoes.