Five Minute Envoy Project...

This was the last thing that I knew the Enovy needed when I bought it.  It wasn't a huge deal, but I wanted to get it fixed.  It was missing the little plastic "button" that is on the seat belt that prevents the seat belt buckle from sliding all the way down to the floor when it isn't being used.  I figured this would be a $5 - $10 part at the dealer.  NOT EVEN CLOSE!  The dealer wanted $25 and only sold them in pairs!  I wasn't about to pay that, so I did some searching online and found that Dorman Products makes them and they are available at O'Reilly Auto Parts and are $5.69 for a pair!

The installation was super easy.  I could still see the mark in the seat belt strap where the old "button" was located, so I snapped in the new one, snapped on the cap and that was it!  The new seat belt stop "button" is the exact same color, pattern, and style as the original ones and looks great!

Springtime Snowmobiles!

In keeping with normal fashion, Dad and I just got the snowmobiles "summerized."  We always have good intentions of doing this in March, but it always gets put on the back burner.  The one nice thing about waiting is that we can use the outside water to wash the sleds up good!

The "summerizing" went well, we got both sleds greased and washed up.  I got mine fogged, but Dad's got some water in the electrical system and wasn't running right, so we will have to wait and get his fogged once it dries out!

My snowmobile cover started to self destruct this year.  After a day of riding on one of the trips we took, we all put our covers over our sleds so we wouldn't have to brush off the predicted 6+ inches of snow in the morning.  This worked out great, but the heat from the snowmobile engine actually melted the snow as it fell and created a layer of ice on my snowmobile cover.  When I went to tighten the cover down for the trip home, the ice wouldn't allow the cover to tighten and ripped the material.  Since I didn't want to leave the cover all ripped open for the summer, I started looking for a new one.  I found one online from a local used snowmobile part supplier HERE for $70 shipped.  The was an actual Ski-Doo cover for my style of snowmobile.  After a couple days it arrived and it fits great!  I am very happy with how it looks and the quality of the construction.  If you look close you can see the stretchy material around where the handlebars go, this is the same area where my old cover tore at!

Wash Those Dishes!!!

The other day Shannon mentioned that the dishwasher was acting funny.  This wasn't a huge surprise because our dishwasher has always been a pile.  It was installed in 1998 when the kitchen was remodeled by the previous owner and matches the other appliances in the kitchen.  The soap door doesn't open during the wash cycles, it randomly has power faults and trips the circuit breaker, and it is VERY loud.  However, despite these issues, it has always worked.  This time, not so much.  I don't know if the control panel broke or something else, but the display didn't work right and it wasn't powering up.  Normally, when something like this breaks, I give fixing it a shot before replacing it, but with this dishwasher, I didn't really want it fixed!

We went dishwasher shopping at Home Depot and after a few minutes we decided on one.  We got a great deal because it is an Energy Star rated unit and they were having a sale!  You can see the one we purchased HERE.  I was hoping to take it home with me that night, but Home Depot doesn't carry any appliances in stock.  They do, however, have free delivery and old appliance haul away!  So, I spent a few minutes gutting the wiring out of the old dishwasher before they took it away...appliance wiring is very high quality and great for automotive uses!

The installation was pretty straight forward, but we ran into a couple issues with the old water line.  The fitting for the new dishwasher uses 3/8" line and the old line was 1/2".  We tried using a couple adapters (and were sold an incorrect one by Home Depot staff!) to convert the line, but ended up just cutting the line back and installing a new 3/8" line from the shut off valve to the dishwasher.  After we got the new line installed, the installation was a snap!

The new dishwasher is great!  It looks awesome and is almost completely silent!  You can watch television in the next room and you don't even have to turn up the volume!  This is one of the times, when replacing an old appliance was better than repairing the old one!

Green Grass!

We just started our third year with TruGreen and it is really starting to show.  Not only was our lawn one of the first to get green this year, it is still greener than all of our neighbors!  It is far from perfect, but the amount of crab grass, clover, and the number of dandelions is down and much less than the neighbors!  For the first time, I am proud of our yard!

12th Annual Thomas Jefferson High School Car Show

Mileage: 88,457

Once again, this was my first car show of the year.  I always look forward to this car show because it kind of starts of the car show season and the summer driving season.  Just like the last couple of years, I spent the day before the show getting the Trans Am washed. 

Once again, the weather was an issue with this car show.  It looked like it was going to be terrible this year: rain mixed with cool temperatures and wind.  It actually wasn't raining when I woke up and left my house, but by the time Dad and I got to the parking lot, it was raining lightly.  The rain was light, then would get heavy, but basically never stopped.  I would say there were about 40 cars that attended, down from the normal 200 or so.

Despite the rain and cool temperatures, Shannon, Mom, Maeve, and Will all stopped out to see the cars and have some treats!  They didn't stay for too long before the kids started getting cold, but it was really nice of them to come!

Overall the show was still fun, despite the rain.  I didn't win anything, but Dad and I both got some nice door prizes!  It sounds like they are going to schedule a rain/alternate day next year since they have had such horrible luck with the weather!  Hopefully next year the weather will be nice and the show will be enjoyed by all!

Oil Evaluation...

Mileage: 88,455

After I got the exhaust system replaced, I finally got a chance to do a little routine maintenance to the Trans Am.  I performed an oil and filter change for only the second time!  I am really going to make a point of doing this once a year, for some reason I spaced it last year.  While doing the oil change I checked and topped off all the fluids.  I noticed the coolant was low again, which means the looming heater core project might be coming sooner than later!  After dealing with the fluids, I also applied silicone to the rear sway bar bushings (which were squeaking) and reconnected the fast idle wiring harness on the carburetor (which some how came unplugged).

While under the hood, I found a random bolt that wasn't attached to anything.  It was a longer bolt, wasn't broken, and had a rubber bushing on it.  It was just sitting in a hole on the radiator core support.  It looked like it could have belonged there, but didn't really have anything to attach to.

After doing a little research, it turns out this is the radiator core support bolt and bushing.  It actually holds the assembly the radiator is mounted to onto the front sub frame!  It doesn't appear it was every attached from the factory!  So, I need to find the other half through a parts supplier and get it bolted together!  I'm glad I found it before it just fell off and I never knew it was missing!

Seating for Six!

Our upstairs living room is a very weird shape.  It is long and not very wide and has a brick fireplace in the middle.  It is a cozy room, but it makes furniture placement very difficult.  Shortly after we moved in, we bought a love seat (2 seating spots) and a leather recliner (1 seating spot).  This gave us three places for people to sit.  To accommodate more people we bought a leather bench/storage box.  This gave us two more "modified" places to sit.  It wasn't perfect, but we made it work.

This year, we wanted to put a end to the seating issues.  We went to Becker Furniture World in Burnsville, MN and ordered a new couch!  It is a sectional sofa with a hide-a-bed!  We picked out the colors we wanted and submitted the order.  That was in February.  They FINALLY called to set up a delivery date for May 9th!  I guess the fabric we wanted got back ordered because of the earthquake in Japan?!

Getting the room set up around the new couch took a little bit of time and the relocation of the cable outlet, but we eventually got it!  We LOVE the new couch!  It is so nice to be able to lay down and relax and not be sitting on top of each other.  The kids really like it too!  We ended up keeping the leather recliner upstairs for now, so in total, we have six dedicated seating surfaces, but in all reality, we could get a couple more than five on the new couch!  I really can't wait for the first get together we have and everyone will have a place to sit!

Exhausted!

Mileage: 88,450

Not long after I purchased the Trans Am, I noticed the original exhaust system had some leaks and was starting to rust. After a long time kicking around what I wanted to do with it, and letting the exhaust leak noises finally get to me, I figured out my plan! This started with the removal and disassembly.

The original rusty exhaust actually came off the car very easy. I even got the one original exhaust clamp (intermediate pipe to muffler) off without the nuts breaking. I love working on cars that have never seen salt!

After I got the exhaust off, I figured I needed to freshen up the exhaust hangers and brackets. So, after I removed them, I media blasted and painted them using a black and silver, high temperature, Rust-Oleum® BBQ & Stove spray paint.

Since I wanted the new exhaust to look as stock as possible, but have a deeper sound I went with Walker brand replacement intermediate ($40.89) and tail pipes (LH $70.79 & RH $77.89) and a Dynomax Ultra Flo™ SS Polished Muffler ($151.79). I got all the parts from RockAuto.com and am very impressed with the quality and originality of them all. I then had Dad weld on 2 1/4" to 2 1/2" adapters so the intermediate and tail pipes would fit the new muffler. After we got the adapters welded on and after much debate, I decided to paint the intermediate and tail pipes. I have seen this look a few times and really liked it, plus after welding on the adapters, I needed something to seal the welds and seal where the galvanization was burnt off. I used a silver, high temperature, Rust-Oleum® BBQ & Stove spray paint. This paint is awesome to use and looks even better!

The installation of the new exhaust, brackets, and hangers went really well. I used stainless steel exhaust clamps on the muffler to ensure it would last another 31 years! I think the entire system looks really good!

(Note the two-tone paint scheme on the hanger in the lower right picture so I wouldn't have a black band going around my freshly painted exhaust pipe!)

Overall, I am VERY happy with the way this exhaust project turned out. I love the look of the system and love the sound!