Shifting Priorities

I just read through my last post. Geez, it's been over a month since I last updated my this blog. I feel as though I owe everyone an explanation. We're having a baby!

If you're a car builder you're likely thinking "Well that build is over" - not so fast. My wife is pretty ridiculously awesome. The only change in the build is now Proffitt's will have to fab up some baby seat anchors - that's it. I don't foresee me painting it now, so that's changed, but it's been my decision. I may get some cheap work done, but nothing too entailed. I think it'd be a waste not to take advantage of all the work that I did to disassemble it and not get it freshened up - maybe I just won't get a clear coat. I really like the flat dune beige look (it'd save me some $ too).

Moving on

As it stood - before the death in my family - my TSX has entered the great beyond. 

I've cleaned up the frame and cleaned up the frame and cleaned up the frame. I degreased everything. My hands could attest to the degreasing work. Degreasing removes grease - similar to fat in your body. My hands were tight (like I was wearing nitrile gloves that were one size too small) and red for about 2 days afterwords. I wire wheeled the hell out of it.

How cool is that?! I've always wanted something to pull apart and make better. I am so thankful that my wife let's me make a spectacle in the driveway. 

My super clean, super cool TSX is in the background! Pardon me while I wipe the tears out of my eyes. Geez, I miss that car.

I found my frame stampings under the grime on the passenger front side. 

I tried to catch the grease from the knuckles. What the catch pans didn't catch, the carpet scraps and tarp got (mostly).

I sanded the tough stuff off the frame. In hindsight, I would've been fine just cleaning it and wire brushing it. Sanding some areas and not other areas messed it up because I took it down to the bare metal and then I had to use rust convertor to cover the bare metal. If I would've painted it after I cleaned and wire wheeled and sanded it I would've been fine. I don't really work that way and here's why - 

In addition to the baby news, which we've known about since March, my Acura died on me. I loved my TSX. It was an '04 and had 150k, so it was no spring chicken, but it was paid off and looked good and ran good and I like it. I really had no intention of getting anything to replace the TSX. Until my a/c went hot.

My a/c has gone out before. I was lucky when it was a $25 switch that kept the cold air from the vents. I was lucky. I was hoping for luck again, but it was not to be. I dropped the TSX off at the dealer to have it checked out. I got the call about 45 minutes later - cue dark ominous tones.

Service Writer - You're a/c compressor is seized.
Me - Oh no.

SW - Yea, it doesn't get much worse. We're looking at about $1,200 parts and labor.
Me - Ohhh. (me thinking - I have to buy tires this summer which will be $700 if I'm lucky). Would that be it?

SS - Well, sometimes when compressors seize they send metal shaving throughout your a/c system.
Me - Sounds about right. How likely is metal shavings?

SW - Not too often. We wouldn't know until we get the new compressor in and if the system isn't charging then we'd have to start figuring out what else needs to be replaced.
Me - Oh no.

SW - Worst case, we could be looking up to $3,500 total.
Me - Oh no (me thinking - that's $4,200 for a car that is likely worth $7k if I'm lucky). Ok, we'll let you know.

I hung up and the wife and I had a talk over our eggs at The Buff in Boulder. We decided to see what we see. Maybe we'll get lucky. We already knew that we wanted a (deep breath) Prius.

I've wanted a Prius for a while now. Back in '08 we had one on loan for a few days from a local dealership. I could not get comfortable behind the wheel of that car - so we ended up with the TSX. I really liked the next generation when it came out in 2010. I liked the 2010 - more adjustability with the tilt/telescoping wheel and the adjusting seat pan height and the interior doesn't look like a concept from the 1980s.

I didn't want a basic package 2 or 3 Prius. I wanted a package 5 - with the 17in wheels, leather, HID headlights, navigation, bluetooth. We got lucky. The dealer had 2 - a black one w/ about 25k miles and a red one with 57k miles. We ended up with the red one. The previous owner bought the car from the dealership. We talked to the salesman who sold it to him. That guy owned 4 Pri before and was an older guy with no kids or dogs - good thing. The black one was just a mess.

I've never been afraid of miles. I'm afraid of poor condition. One look a the all terrain sport Michelin tires and I knew the red one was the better car. A helpful tip - no one puts sport tires on a Prius unless they recognize that it's important to put quality parts on your car. The black one had discount winter tires - nope.

Just brought it home. Red was about 3rd on the list of colors, but it's doable and I still like it. 

So we bring the Prius home to a full garage. One side was the body and the other side was the rolling chassis. I was planning on continuing to make a mess with the chassis, so it was time to move it to the area beside the house. Thankfully, I have an area that enclosed with privacy fencing, so I don't have to worry about my crabby, nosey neighbor.

It's been cleaned and cleaned and now rust convertor is sprayed over it - everywhere. 

I used the hose to (attempt) get all the dirt, gravel, everything from inside the frame. I tried using air too. I'm sure there's still 10lbs of dirt hidden inside the frame rails, but I got what I could with what I had so it is what it is. 

Before paint - after rust convertor. 

It's back in the garage now and painted. I've got my suspension and front-end rebuild kit. Geez, I've got so much work to do.