thaywood
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  • Haven't posted on here in a week or so. My grandmother passed away on Sunday 10/17/12. We had the funeral on Tuesday. She was 94. She lived a long and full life. She will be missed.
    I finally got new front brake pads put on the Exploder. Turns out they weren't as bad as I had originally thought. The pads were worn paper thin, but no metal-to-metal contact so the rotors were not scarred. However, I figured out that the grinding noise I was hearing was probabaly from the pads being crystalized due to excessive heat. My stepson drove it to Asheville and back and I bet he rode the brakes the whole way back down the mountain:eek: Plus, I'm going to need new wheel bearings. The passenger side rotor was tight with no play at all. But the drivers side wobbled like it was barely attached. I don't know how the hell that happened because those rotors and bearings are less than two years old! But I can't drive it with that much play in the hub. If it's not one thing it's ten others...:(
    Haven't done a damn thing to the car except drive to work and back. Front tires are just about worn completely out. They're wearing really bad on the inside becuase of the worn out SRB's and lower ball joints. I've got new SRB's and LCA's ready to install, but I can't afford the alignment and the Exploder's brakes are shot and I can't afford to fix them so I can have something to drive while I work on the LSC. Life sucks...:(
    My car and I have a love/hate relationship. I love her when she's running/driving good, but I hate her when crazy $hit happens and I know I can't afford to fix the problems that she's having.
    Greased my upper and lower ball joints and tie rod ends yesterday. No more squeaky!! For now. Now I need a ball joint boot for the P/S UCA. Gonna try to find one after work today. Still trying to get the suspension to lower a little more. I've moved the front height sensors up as far as I can and adjusted the rear sensor as low as it will go. Yet the car still sits at what appears to be just a smidge below normal height. I just don't fuggin' get it.
    Frustrated. Ill. Pi$$ed off! Bought a bottle of Clan McGregor scotch Wednesday. Drank a couple of shots at my grandma's house Wednesday night. Put the bottle in the trunk Thursday morning and by Thursday afternoon, it had all leaked out on my clothse and duffle bag and trunk carpet:eek: That sucks!!!!!!! Wasted money and whiskey!!!!! And the whole damn car smells like alcohol!
    Haven't had a lot of visitors lately. Maybe my new profile pic scared people off:D I haven't done anything to the Mark lately either. We're broke as usual rihgt now so I haven't had the monetary resources to have a 4-wheel alignment done yet so I haven't installed my new LCA's and SRB's yet. I'll get to it eventually...hopefully. In the mean time, it drives like $hit and it's wearing the tires out. Life sucks when you're broke and driving high maintenance car...
    Well, my stepson moved to Asheville to stay with his girlfriend's parents. Unfortunately, he destroyed the Exploder's front brakes before he left. I was going to drive it to work the other day and when I pressed the brake pedal all I heard was a horrible metal-to-metal grinding noise coming from the front left. So I turned around and parked it. I'll fix it this weekend hopefully. I just wonder how long he was driving it like that:eek: The rotor is more than likely toast.
    My stepson still hasn't gotten another vehicle yet. Dammit. He's still driving my Exploder and it worries me. He's basically destroyed both vehicles we've given him and now he's driving my Exploder that is NOT his (even though he drives it like it is). I don't know what to do. His GF says her brother is going to give them a car to drive. I sure hope that happens. Because I am not going to give him another car.
    Shampooed the carpet in ye ole Mark VIII yesterday. Holy crap that car was nasty! I don't think it's ever been cleaned like that before. I had to empty the canister twice and the water was totally black both times. It was horrible. Just horrible. The most horrible thing one could possibly imagine. I can't wait to tackle the Exploder! It'll probably be even worse...if that's even possible...
    Finished polishing my headlights last weekend. And all I can say is "HOLY CRAP!" they look fantastic! I can't believe the difference it made.
    I'm getting worried now. The p/s front end is "popping" every time I hit a pothole or a good bump in the road. I don't have any choice but to drive it though. I don't have a spare vehicle now because my stepson is still driving my Exploder. He's supposed to get another ride this weekend so maybe I will be able to work on the Mark a little then. I just don't know when I will be able to afford to get it aligned after I install the new LCA's. It SUCKS being broke!
    I'm frustrated. There's so much wrong with my car it just ain't funny. And I'm so damn broke I can't afford to fix it. I need to install my LCA's but I can't afford to get it aligned afterward. And I can't park the car and drive the Exploder because My stepson has to drive it because he hit a deer with his POS Honda and totalled it:( So I'm stuck. After we get done with my daughter's pagent expenses, maybe I'll have the extra funds to work on my car. It needs LCA's, alignment, rear brake pads, blend door, MLPS, trans fluid/filter change, headliner, driver's seat side trim, various other interior bits and pieces, and a paint job. She still runs great but I just don't know what to do about all her little issues. It's funny, when I got my first Mark VIII, I wasn't married and I could afford to own it. Now, married with two kids, two stepkids, and two step grandkids later, I think I need to downgrade:D
    Got three of the Exploder's windows fixed on Sunday afternoon. I just need one more bushing kit and I can fix the p/s rear door window. I didn't know this before, but GEN1 Explorers have scissor-type regulators on the front doors and cable regulators on the rear doors. Weird...
    My son had a Cub Scout meeting last night and I didn't get to work on any of the vehicles at all. Well, the Exploder's windows will get fixed this weekend. I am determined to get that schmitt done! I'm tired of having to wedge the windows to keep them from falling down. And I want to start driving it more often.
    Didn't get the windows fixed on the Ex yet. But I did attempt to lower the Mark a little. Drilled new mounting holes for the sensor brackets and moved them up about 1/4" and moved the sensor mounts up as high as they would go in the slot on the bracket. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to lower the car much. I noticed a very slight lowering, maybe half an inch. But not as much as I was expecting. I'm wondering if I should let the air out of the springs and let it pump itself back up again and see if it sits where I think it should at that point. Only problem with that is I really don't want to mess with the solenoids because with the Arnott springs I might not be able to get them to seal again if I take them out:D
    Hopefully I'll get to work on the Mark a little this weekend. But first I have to fix the power windows on the Exploder. I got my bushings yesterday so I just have to remove the window motors and rebuild them. It'll be an all day job. Rebuilding the motors is a cake walk, but getting the door panels off and back on is time consuming. But it will be nice to have 4 working windows again:)
    Didn't get my headlights finished like I wanted to. I still don't have any 2000 grit sandpaper. Hopefully I can get some this weekend. Got a holiday Monday so 3 day weekend here I come! Might get my door panels fixed too.:)
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