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Ruminations...

I think there exists a special place in "Automotive Hell" where Satan brings you the first car you ever worked on, and he then makes you correct all the dipshit "repairs" you did to the poor thing in the first place. I have the unique benefit of still owning my first car, so I get to gaze upon my past "repairs" with a bitter cocktail of awe and horror; what the fuck was I thinking when I did that?!

Pictures to follow soon, but of particular note are 2 floorboard repairs done at least 2 years apart from one another. I got better from one to the other, but not by any largely noticeable degree.

#1 happened during my first year with the car... I think i was 15 when I "repaired" the spare tire well. This more or less consisted of cutting out the worst of the rust (at the time there wasn't a large amount) and filling the well with several layers of fiberglass cloth and maybe a gallon or two of resin. I'm exaggerating of course, but not by much. Nearly a decade later, I learn that fiberglass over bare metal does little more then trap moisture between the metal and the 'glass. Given the choice of which one to eat through, the moisture attacks my trunk floor in an effort to escape, and I'm now looking at a heavily pock-marked wheel well with at least 2 dozen more rust holes. Genius.

#2 was a repair done in College. The area under the passenger rear seat had all but disintegrated; this time I knew fiberglass would not do the trick. Coincidentally, I had been taking a welding class at school. I pulled the car up to the shop one weekend, and patched the floor with some spare 12ga sheet that was laying was laying around. So far, so good.

Thing is, I must have been in a rush... or severely drunk... or possessed or something, because I never primed or painted the underside of the car. I painted the inside, sure. The underside, however, was treated with roofing silicone spread over the bare metal in about a 1.5" thickness. I know this material very well now - I spent the better part of four hours peeling it off from the underside of my car this weekend.

I'm very glad I only really have to deal with my own idiocy where my car is concerned. At least this way I know who to get mad at.

Gas can refurb and CV refurbs are finished. Like I said before, pics to follow. This time, it almost looks like I know what the hell I'm doing...


...almost