The Leaky Culprit

No painting was done last night but I did make a respectable mess of myself.

When the work is over whistle blew I closed my door and changed into cut off jean shorts and an old T-shirt and headed out. Instead of heading south and west, I headed north and east. Traffic was not bad yet and in no time I was paying my $1 entrance fee and walking the long isles of Pick and Pull lugging a heavy toolbox along with me.

It seems like whenever I go there I head strait to the domestic big trucks vans and SUVs section. At first I was thrilled to see a big Ford Econoline. I assumed I could find my parts on one of them or a F-150 or maybe even a Bronco or various other old Ford.  I started with the easy part, a replacement seat belt. The first Econoline didn’t have any but I quickly found there were lots of Econolines. I eventually found this one and though the seat belt was not a perfect match the bolts and all were so I figured I could just swap both ends.

It used the same size socket and everything so I was well prepared and had it off in no time and in my tool box.

The fuel hose deal was a bit harder. It seems like lots of people go to Pick and Pull for a new fuel tank or pump and to get to it they just cut all the rubber hoses right in the middle. Also the older Econolines didn’t have the same size hose. I found just the right one under an F150 and got to work.  The hose is in a bit of a tough spot. one end is right near the side and not too bad, but the other is in there deep. Here is a shot of mine:

You can’t even see the tough end. It’s up in a little tunnel in there on top of the fuel tank. So it took me a little while to get it out but eventually I did get it out and it looked just like what I needed. I wondered around looking for and big Nissan vehicles but didn’t find any. I did find another truck with a trailer wiring harness in tact so took it so I could pull the trailer with the Van someday and have working lights.

Then I headed home. It cost me under $10 for my things and I kind of think it would have been cheaper if I clipped the ends of the seat belt together first and they were rung up as 1 item. I was a little dirty so I decided to get to work taking off my old hose and putting on the new one.

Taking off my old cracked one seemed to take just as long or maybe longer since my van was not as high off the ground and I still had the tough area to get into. It was very satisfying though when I got both the clamps loose and gave it a good tug and felt it come out. I unwrapped my tape repair job and inspected the two hoses.

They were pretty much the same other then the giant holes and cracks.

Geoff was coming to dinner and I had about 30 minutes till he would arrive so I didn’t try to put the new one in. Instead I took a much needed shower. I scrubbed on my hands, arms and legs a bunch but they are still a little black. After the shower I made a salad and tossed a Salmon on the grill. Heath had gotten rice going and prepared some asparagus and rubbed some brown sugar and soy sauce on the salmon.

Geoff arrived with some beer just after I got everything cooking.

We showed off the basement and the progress in the nursery then headed out back to eat some dinner. Everything turned out really good.

(the salmon was cooked with a little sour cream on top, this takes away any fishy taste and does not taste like sour cream once done)

We ended up eating a whole big salmon fillet and all the asparagus and a bunch of salad and rice. Geoff

and I had several beers and caught up on old times and such.

I think it was 8:30 when Geoff headed home.  Heath did not want to paint anymore so we went for a walk. It was pretty nice out and we took Berry and just headed west on 97th for a while.

It got dark while we were out walking and we turned around and headed home. There were no raccoon attacks or anything too exciting. We tried to make a plan for tonight’s date night but didn’t really come up with anything set. If you have ideas please let me know.

Once home Heath still did not want to paint so she talked on the phone and I got ready for bed. I fell asleep pretty early.