Rain delays for my projects... Yet another trip to Harbor Freight...

As we all know, or at least I hope we all know, water and wood aren't always the best of friends. Particularly untreated wood. It tends to deteriorate, warp, and do all sorts of not nice things when water is introduced into the equation.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am needing to pick up a couple of sheets of 3/4" maple plywood for my lumber cart project. The price is reasonable, and the quality acceptable, however my plans for pick up last night went away when the first clouds opened up on me...

So change of schedule, although not quite change of plans... I need to postpone my materials pickup for a dry day, which doubtless will be here soon. Mind you I am not complaining about the rain, we need it, bad... I have huge cracks in my lawn even though I have been watering...

Now that the truck is running well, albeit with some body damage that needs to be fixed, I am on my way to fixing up the Saturn. Which means swapping pulleys off of the engine, power steering pump, and air conditioner... I need a pulley remover / installer tool. I have done a LOT of searching around for tools of this nature, including calling up friends to see if anyone has one. Nobody has one. Apparently most guys just do the loan a tool thing from Autozone, but I figure I will be back in this sort of work again, probably several times... After looking at the reviews on all the commonly available pulley remover / installer kits that would work in this situation, This is not the same as a pulley puller, similar in many ways, but this also presses the part ON. The best rated one, is oddly enough the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh Automotive Item #40749 Pulley Remover and Installer Set. Current price is $19.99 and slap the 25% off coupon on that, and you are out the door for $15.00 + tax.

I also have a coolant leak to diagnose. I am pretty sure the water pump is the only source of the leak, but I need to make sure. My old Stant pressure tester from back when I was a professional mechanic has long ago failed, repair parts for it are few and far between, and to top it off, I will need a series of adapters to get it to fit either the truck, or the Saturn let alone anything else. More research, and again, well with the exception of the tool truck models, the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh Automotive Item #69258 Radiator Pressure Tester Kit fits the bill at an affordable price.

And of course, while I am there, I will pick up the casters I need for the sheet goods rack. I am figuring on opting for a different caster than I had blogged about previously. Paranoia is getting to me, and I want more load handling capacity than the 3" rubber wheel casters provide, so instead I will be opting for the Haul Master Item #69538 3 inch Clear Polyurethane Swivel Caster With Brake. This gives me a total load handling capacity of 800 lbs, way above where I figure I will be, which will give me a comfortable safety margin. And while this is a dumb thing to consider. I actually kind of like the look of the clear casters.

While I am there I figure there are some other minor things that I need. My existing socket rails don't have enough clip things to hold all my sockets even though there is lots of rail left, so I was figuring on buying a couple of 3/8" and 1/2" socket rails that I could raid the clips off of.

My experience with the Pittsburgh wobble impact extensions was very positive, as was the experience with the 12" quick release extension, and I need impact rated regular extensions, so I will grab a set of them as well...

And of course I have a pocket full of freebie coupons, so I will pick up probably a couple more flashlights and tape measures... I have a plan for them...

So all in all it should be a good trip to Harbor Freight...

Of course given the weather playing nice on my way home, Home Depot is right on the way.... So the plywood, wood screws and lag bolts may just be coming home with me...

I have been thinking it if comes down to needing to overhaul the engine itself, I might try to source up a rebuildable long block from a 96-99 SC/SW/SL2 series. The lower end was much stronger, and valve train more efficient, but no real bolt on differences or programming differences, and just do a full on rebuild. I will need to ask around to some friends about auto shop space and specialty tools, specifically a cherry picker, and an engine stand.  I have a friend in Santa Fe Texas that recently rebuilt the Diesel engine out of his Jeep Liberty TDI that has the equipment, and I bet with the right proportion of beer & pizza might just be willing to assist with this project. And another mutual friend that is more or less a big Saturn guy, including what mods to do for maximum reliability and economy...

While I am digging around sourcing that long block, I also need to source up a seat recliner mechanism for the drivers side. The original literally failed the day before I parked it. I never really liked the seating in the 2001 Saturn although I did really like the seats in my 96... so if an opportunity to snag a pair of front seats from a 96-99 come up and they are in good shape, maybe just needing reupholstry, I will snag them and get them recovered and go ahead and install them in this car. Failing that, I need to find good aftermarket reclining seats that won't break my back, or the bank...

Now there are those, some of which we are related to that will ask... Why keep fixing up / nursing along an old cheap car like the Saturn? The answer is actually a bit complex. But I will give it a whack. An old econo box parked in some of the funkier parts of Houston Metro like around the Medical Center, or the Rodeo, isn't going to attract the attention of the thieves quite as easily as say a newer Benz... Combine that with the fact that I have owned this car so long, I KNOW exactly what has been done to it, and what to expect from it. Unless I buy another car brand new, I won't have that history... And lastly, no car payments... Can't beat that!