Another week without carwork

Well, at least my Passat is fixed. A line from the radiator to the cooler went bad. Has anybody else noticed it is really hot?

Now I have 3 non-functioning cars.

My Cobra got no attention this week. My Passat started alarming with coolant system issues. I have an appointment for a test on Monday. So I borrowed my mom's Toyota RAV4 for the week and it broke down too with a very nasty tapping noise in the engine. Could be a lifter or timing belt problem maybe. That waits til the Passat gets fixed.

Add to that, my 1990 RCA TV died this week. I got a replacement Panasonic from 2001 via Craigslist for $25. Works great, but the one problem I had was getting it put into the cubbyhole of my entertainment center. My neck is still so bad that I can't lift a can of soda, much less a gargantuan old TV. A little ingenuity for a car guy and the problem was solved.



Oh, here is the picture I promised of my ignition system installed on the passenger side footbox.

I got my motor running...

on my lawn mower! That is the most mechanical thing I did last week and none of it involved the Cobra. The lawn mower had a leaky connection of its gas line to the tank and I tightened it up, so my garage won't reek now.

Slowly getting back

I did manage to spend a few minutes on the car this week, as the neck pain has pretty well diminished, but I still have very little left arm strength. My physical therapy exercises will hopefully work, but may actually take a couple of months. Ugggh.

Anyway, I had an easy task to do this week. Or at least I thought so. I mounted the ignition control box to the passenger side footbox. There were 4 little rubber feet that cushion it from vibration that simply needed holes drilled and nuts tightened. Simple enough...except the instructions from the manufacturer, MSD, were wrong. They said to use a 1/8" bit, but that was not near big enough for the threads of the feet to pass through, so I had to re-drill them (twice actually as I was guessing at the perfect size which turned out to be 3/16"). I placed it so that I can later install footbox vents if I so decide. Pics will follow.

Another lost week

I am sure ready to be done with the arm/neck problems. The pain is a lot better, but I have almost no strength in my left arm and cannot raise it above my chest. I start physical therapy on Tuesday.

No Work

I had my MRI and epidural steroid injection this past week. The results were not all that I hoped for. The pain is greatly reduced, but I am still taking the medications as well as the effects of the shot. I have cut back a bit and the pain does not seem bad. However, I still have very little strength in my left arm. I can only raise it a few inches and cannot keep it up on its own. I am trying some stretching and it seems to be working just a bit, but I may need to take some physical therapy treatments. Anyway, it makes car work too difficult.

I have done a little thinking about whether or not to install fresh air ducts into the footboxes. Many people say they are needed, but they are not part of the kit per se. Now would be a good time to put those in. Still thinking...

Bad week

I did not work on the car this week. I started out putting time in searching for my nephew's lost dog. Happily, after 83 hours of being AWOL, Snowy turned up over 3 miles from home. She is home and doing fine now.

The really bad news was that I re-injured my neck. Three years ago I suffered a terribly painful couple of months with a some protrusions of nerves in my neck between a couple of vertebrae. Well, this week it came back. Not that surprising; if anything, I was lucky to be good for so long since the last treatment. Anyway, I am set for another MRI and hopefully another ESI (epidural steroid injection) right after that. Last time I got relief almost immediately. Right now I am drugged enough to be out of the worst pain, but I can't really lift my left arm. So the car is back on the back burner for now.