Busy day off

On Sunday I took a nap after work, and it was dark when I got up.

I had to wait until today, my day off, to see where the water had leaked out of the green car.

I was happy to find that the coolant was not leaking from the water pump.

It was leaking from a heater valve that diverts coolant from the water pump to the heater.

I had never had one go bad before, so I assumed it was the water pump.

(You can't even see the water pump in these pictures. It is buried way far down)

This valve is located on top of things and only has 3 clamps, so it was an easy fix.

I got the clamps off with pliers. 

The hardest part was pulling the hoses off. The hoses had shrunk tightly onto the part.

The new part went on easily. No more leak!

Next I drove over to the painters to try to get my parts back.

I tried to suprise him but he wasn't there. 

When I called, he said he had found a lot of my missing things.

I will try again on Wednesday.  I didn't lose my temper at all...

Don's shop is a mile away so I stopped by.

I needed a light bulb to go over the license plate on the green car so I can drive it at night.

The painter lost this plastic lens for the green car that holds the light bulb over the license plate:

I tried to tape the light bulb so it wasn't dangling, but that didn't work.

Maybe I can make a holder shaped like the lens, out of cardboard, to keep it out of sight.

It was a hot day and I didn't want to drive back home and get the red car, to put the rims on it.

Don's friend Larry came by.

He brought a Camaro owned by a family member. It had been in a wreck. Everyone is OK.

They are going to take all the useful parts off of it.

We did the same thing to my old green car, but that was before I started this blog.

Right away I saw something useful!

I found some sun visors that fit my red car, because they are for a T-tops.

The best thing is that these don't flop down as you are driving!

A while back, mine kept flopping down, so I removed one to see why, and the dog ate it.

These appear to be newly reupholstered.

This wrecked Camaro also had decent seats.

They are not fancy, and not tan like the ones in the green car.

But they are also not ripped up and stinky, so I swapped them into the green car.

I've never removed seats before but it was really simple, just 4 bolts into the floor.

I still need to find an upholstery place to do the carpet.

Larry, who recommended Roberto the painter, also knew of an upholstery shop.

I said no thanks...