Rebuild Update

As you may recall, if I have bothered to post anything about it, I bought a dump truck a little while back and it turned out to have a bum engine. Of course. Because that's my luck.

But it's a piece of engineering and it can be fixed. So my friend and I have set out to find an engine and rebuild it. He knows all this stuff and I fetch and carry, so it works out. I had $2k set aside for this to get the dump truck up and operational to start earning income from it.

A professional mechanic told me it couldn't be done, which just annoyed me to no end. Tell me you won't do it or how much it would cost and let me make the decision. Don't try to scare me away with ridiculous price quotes.

The first engine we found was a 350 out of an old Monte Carlo. It wouldn't fit. Starter was on the wrong side and the engine mounts were wrong. Bah. It was $175.

So we kept looking and we found another 350 that came out of an old truck. The guy gave it away for free due to some complex web of favors owed back to my friend. But since our investment is now $0 and I have an engine, I'm not complaining.

It needed a new clutch. The old one was ... shot. Just absolute wreckage. I'm surprised it didn't catch the whole truck on fire and burn down the county.

So coming out of the supply store we're up to $290 in a new clutch assembly and a wide assortment of gaskets, plus some spark plugs and new engine mounts.

Two days of work so far and the engine is ready to go into the truck tomorrow. I'm pretty pleased.

Except I've got a chunk of rust in my eye and it's hurting like heck. I may get the dump truck fixed and have to wear an eye patch for the rest of my life. Small price to pay. Yarrrr. I'll tell people I lost it during a boarding off the coast of Marabar.