Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A Small Victory

Today I had to solve the problem of how I am going to get to work. My Camaro was not starting and I had a pretty good Idea what it was. When I turned the key the lights in the dash would come on but the car would not crank. That was a good indication of what the problem was (the starter). I couldn't find the damn thing but after taking a look in my car manual I figured it out. Now what? I thought to myself. I sure as hell am not going to replace it today. One I have no money to buy the starter and two i don't have to tools.
I remembered and old trick I have seen people do to get the car started. I went to the back yard and found a 3 foot slim tube. I stuck the tube into the engine until I reached the starter. Then I had my brother try and start the car as I hit the tube which was hitting the starter. In two bangs my Camaro was running.
I know its not a good fix but it got me to work and back.
In the end I felt pretty good about it. You have to appreciate the small victories as well as the big.

Oh and I also washed it.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Replacing the Clutch on My Camaro

Here is the BlueArrow getting ready for a brand new clutch. I couldn't afford anything fancy like a Zoom clutch but I did get a clutch by Perfection the makers of Zoom. I purchased the clutch from Advanced Auto parts and it wasn't to bad in price. I paid $99 plus tax for it and it also has a lifetime warranty so ehhh.
I do plan on upgrading the clutch as soon as I get some cash flow from my Internet marketing attempts. If you are wondering what I do to make some extra cash online visit my Project Payday Review. I am also going to drop a new transmission because I damaged the third gear along with my old clutch. So right now the BlueArrow isn't running or looking so good, but soon.

Here is a picture of the destruction I caused to the old clutch. I guess what happened is that the ball bearings broke loose and ravaged the entire clutch set. My mechanic told me that I was probably holding down the clutch to much. Which I do recall some occasions like anticipating the green light where I would hold down the clutch for a few seconds, but I have never ripped a clutch before for doing that. I think it may have to do more with the reverse gear in my transmission. Every time I put my car in reverse I can hear the gear scratch. It is like something is still spinning in there and takes a very long time to stop when I press down the clutch to shift in to reverse.