Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!
So… Ummm… Yeah. The car is kinda toast.
Looks like the timing belt jumped a couple of teeth and there was some piston-on-valve action.
I think I know what that means, but the mechanic said “You’re better off just swapping out the engine”.
Dave asked what the likelihood of the engine being actually rebuildable was. The mechanic said pretty high, it had plenty of oil, just probably some bent valves and maybe rods. The fact that the car got pulled over very quickly when it stopped meant that damage was probably limited.
Dave said “thanks,” and had the car towed back to the house.
Looks like… I’m rebuilding an engine.
Well, that’s something.
Dave said I’m going to pull the engine out, take it apart, find all the stuff wrong with it, get whatever machining that needs to be done, done… and then put it back together again.
Not gonna lie, that sounds hard.
Like, really hard.
But Dave’s already busy getting all the tools we need, that we don’t already have. He has the air compressor, but there are a few more specialized tools he’ll need. Well… I’ll need.
And this is my project too. Beth isn’t too interested, and besides she has her hands full with classes and spending time with her mentor.
So.. I guess I’ll be telling you how that’ll work out over the next few weeks.
In other news, David”s going to summer camp again in a couple of months. So is one of his girlfriends. The other one, well, her parents really kinda don’t want her and David hanging out. And, well… given what I learned when Ai visited, can’t blame them. She’s pretty upset, but she’s ten, I guess she’ll deal. The other one seems pretty smug. Guess they learn fast. Wouldn’t be surprised if it just becomes his one girlfriend. Which is probably better for everyone, if we’re being honest. Little player…
And I got the sheet music for the concerto, so I guess it’s time to really really practice. It’s actually pretty fun to play, though. Especially the finale.
Busy times for everyone, I guess.
I guess the most important thing is: I need really short jean shorts! At least that’s what Jack tells me. Sigh. Boy’s incorrigible. And I love that about him. But I am NOT working on a car in really short shorts. That’s just asking for scars on my legs!
Okay!