All my children

Well, all my cars - actually. If they were my children, they'd both be on medical aid.

I've been more than a little peeved this week.

The FFord decided yesterday to develop a new sound - a little bit like a diesel bakkie, to tell the truth. It's whining on take-off, and my commute requires a lot of take-off. Add that to the rattle (which my dad informs me is timing - will be Googling "how to use a timing light" shortly). And the back wheel scraping noise, which only disappears at high speed because it's spinning so fast the sound merges into one continuous noise.

Day before last I hauled off the Ford wheel, crawled underneath to examine things (fending off the neighbour), then whacked the hub nut with a hammer a few times. It helped. Briefly. As did doing 120 on the highway recently. But that's not going to go away on its own, and I need to do replacing instead of rebooting (or re-kicking, as the case may be). Meantime I get peeved at the various noises going to and from work - much worse than the drivers who nearly rear-end me at speed or tear along like complete and utter idiots. And then I get equally or more-so peeved at my lack of ability to just fix the damn thing.

Enter Landy. I really do enjoy fiddling in Oliva, and have already managed to:

* sort out fuel starvation so she Actually Goes
* sort out fuel filters, fuel tank (x1)
* figure out why the lights are acting up (with help - and add to my idiocy levels on one account (no, not going to confess here too))
* check and top up all the oils in various oily bits under and in
* replace half the spark plugs (and figure out how to do the rest - have recently invested in a proper plug spanner to do them with)
* clean all air filter bits and breather cap
* get the idling at the right speed
* replace one flat tyre (with difficulty) - one of the hard ones to replace, involving removal of the wheel hub winch

Which is a good start. But I know nothing (yet) about wiring, timing, half the engine, most of the underneath bits and assorted interior and exterior things that need sorting out. And that gets me both peeved and frustrated.

Fortunately, the Landy comes with a mahoosive instruction manual. Unfortunately, the FFord doesn't. Therein lies a lot of the frustration. And both Googling and "phone a friend" comes into play, with aid of a digital camera and the internet. There's some pretty helpful forums too with people quite forgiving to blonde chicks who like to fiddle with cars. Especially when they ask stupid questions or don't click first time round.

I guess I'll get there.. *sigh* .. eventually. The plan is to fix up Olivia, then drive her while the Ford gets thoroughly sorted, then sell the Ford for as much as I can and invest in a small, nifty commuter-car. That's the plan, anyway.

Meantime the extra-long weekend approaches. Closely followed by a darn cold front which is going to make working on cars most unpleasant. Nevertheless, I will persevere. I'm armed with an AutoZone shopping list and my favourite expert on speed-dial (I should probably just import him... :-) ), will stick the cellphone in cellophane to protect it from grease, and sally forth to swear at things mechanical / garner a fresh crop of bruises, cuts and assorted injuries.

Peeved, frustrated, or not - these things will be sorted. Just wish I had a big covered garage, unlimited knowledge and full range of tools to do so.