| OK, ok, better late than never On 6/13/2005 1:00:00 PM, Mike wrote : | Viewed : 460 |
| Well, its been a while since I’ve written anything on here. SO, I’ll get everyone caught up so nobody feels left out.. Ok…wow…where to start? The Australia trip was an amazing experience. I have the travel bug something fierce now and am really looking forward to traveling again. Pictures from the trip are HERE . I know I got home and I really felt like I had a vacation even though the entire trip was exhausting and I can’t remember being that tired since I was pulling 2am guard duty at Ft Jackson. I have finally managed to resurrect the Neon from the dead!! Wee, its so nice having a car that actually gets out of its own way. The truck is a blast, but it’s not exactly going to thrill you when you “put the pedal to the metal”. Turns out there were a lot of stuff to do to it. I pulled the head with my friend Joe’s help and took it down and had the valves replaced with new stainless steel ones. (Very sexy) The head was completely rebuilt and had all the valve seats ground and cleaned up. Graves automotive in Ontario did a fantastic job. It was a little pricey to have done, but after having seen their work, it was worth it. I began putting the neon back together and ended up moving it to Michael’s house in the process. Well, after sitting for several months in his garage, he needed the space back and so I had it towed to the dealer to have them complete the work and reassemble everything. I know, I know. That’s the easy way out. But they had all the tools to reinstall the timing belt, recalibrate the computer, and reinstall the damper (which is a press interference fit). I picked it up from the dealer at the beginning of June and have been futzing around in it ever since. I haven’t had a chance to take it down for its smog check yet and that is holding up from finishing it up. That and the laundry list of things to do to it are pretty extensive. (Tires, shocks, tune up)….But everything on it works. I started to notice a slight hesitation that I cannot explain yesterday when I was driving around. Its not throwing a CEL, so I am not sure what is causing the problem. I think it might be that the dealer reused the old plug wires and they just need to be changed. I’ll have to pull them out and take a look when I get a chance. Till then…. House…whew. Well, I got a call from my friend Paul in Sacramento looking to buy some investment property. So, he and I decided to go in and buy a house together. Good part of this for me is that I didn’t have to come up with the down payment and I get to have the house to myself. Paul lives in Sacramento and isn’t planning on moving down here. The house “should” close escrow on June 28th. I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes well and there are no hiccups. But, as with anything complicated, only time will tell. Pics of the house are HERE . Look for more pics and another update as time gets closer. Short of that, I may change jobs as my mom suddenly resigned unexpectedly. I am not as connected with the business as I’d like to be and I feel like I could learn a lot more in another business. Should be interesting to see. Currently CSU San Bernardino has a few openings that I might explore given that its around the corner from the new house. I will keep you updated with any new info. Hopefully the next update won’t take so long to get back to. Life has a funny way of keeping you busy. Where is that night in shining armor when you need him? | |