Heavy Sigh (Post #91) 5/29/2008

So a year and a half ago I bought a poly-bush kit for the Classic. I thought, “I’ll just go up to JagGuy’s shop and throw these on and be done with it.” I found out this is an eight hour job and mostly not much fun. So I’m looking for a shop that will do it for me. I went to one today (I’m not going to mention the name) and they had a policy that prohibited customers bringing their own parts in for replacement.I got red onesI got the red ones.

I’ve to respect that in some small way, due to watching too many people “bring their own knowledge” and parts to the computer industry I work in. If you told them up front, if you work on it before I do, it will cost you double, most people would laugh. But it often does. First you have to un-do their mistakes and then work on it yourself.

So now I’m still looking. I’m thinking though that I can’t afford the 8 hours of labor a shop is going to charge me and I’m probably going to do the job myself. Gone are the days when I could just whip out the credit card and worry about paying later. Heavy sigh…I hate being broke.

The Classic sounds like CRAP. The exhaust is screwed. I need new catalytic converters for sure. I know this due to hearing the ceramics bouncing around in them for a year. But even though I don’t drive it…it’s bothering me how it sounds. I’ve got two routes: new catalytic converters or a new Y pipe. Either way I’m out several hundred dollars. If I had a welder and the knowledge I’d do this myself. Heavy sigh…I don’t know how to weld.

Girl Welder of girlwelder.comI have a feeling that I will be driving it again before the end of next year on a daily basis. So I need to keep it up and take good care of it, even though it goes mostly unappreciated and depreciated by a daughter who uses the ample leg room in the back much like she uses the floor in her room to “store” things. Considering the last time I cleaned out the back for her, I’ve been in cleaner dumpsters. I fuss about it…and she continues to trash it out. Heavy sigh…teenagers.

Teenagers are the bane of many a Land RoverThe leather in the Classic is also visually telling us it’s had better days. I found Lexol at a local feed store. Surprised I made an impulse purchase only to find I already had a bottle at home I haven’t been using. Good news, it was slightly cheaper than the online places and I helped out a local guy with a sale. Heavy sigh…too much crap in the garage.

Our current house doesn't look like this, not at allMy garage at our previous house.

So I need to get out there and save what is left of the leather in the Classic. The driver’s seat is a goner. Nothing to do there. But the rest of the leather can be saved if I religiously put that stuff on and possibly some “leather feed” my Jaguar buddy is always telling me about. So I’ve got to find a seat to replace the trashed one. Just getting the leather and putting it on is, I’m told, a huge undertaking. So I can buy a seat from Rover Cannibal, I heard Ryan mumble one day, “they have plenty of seats”. Heavy sigh…another project I don’t have time to do.

Rover CannibalStill the coolest logo in the business.


Today we added a fourth to our carpool. The drive to work just got a lot cheaper.

Thanks for reading, and happy rovering.