And just about a year ago, I saw a little old Ford Bronco 4WD here that I really liked. And I came to an arrangement with the owner to "hold onto it" till I came back... Which he did :)
So, now that Im back from my inter-continental wanderings... and the little 4WD is still there :)
So, today I spent "getting a closer look" at it and seeing if I could get it going and how much work it would be to get it into "road-worthy" condition to drive it back to Canada...
It wasnt great but it wasnt bad either...
I ended up spending the whole day working on it.
The first half of the day was spent just getting it going... I had to get a battery for it cos it didnt have one !
Then after I got it cranking over (needed a jump from another car too because it was so stiff from having no use) it wouldnt fire up... Turned out it wasnt getting any fuel.
It turned out that it had a small hole in the fuel line that had drained the fuel tank... And it took me a while to figure it out and find it... And then fix it and get enough fuel into it...Including the mandatory mouth-full of fuel as I tried to siphon fuel into a bottle to fill the fuel bowls in the carby! :))
But I got it going eventually.
And then I got air into the tires and washed off the mud and cleaned out the spider webs and wasp nests etc...
Then I thought I was about done... But just as I was about to move it back to where it had been parked for the year, it decided to almost burn its self to the ground!
It turned out that the alternator had decided to short its self out (I dont know why it chose this moment to short out, but things like that just happen!) and it was causing wires to melt!!
Again it took me a while to figure out what was going on and disconnect the alternator... And in doing so I managed to break the high pressure oil line (old brittle plastic) that ran inside the cab for the oil gauge... And I got sprayed with quite a bit of hot oil in the process :))
... And by that time, the day was over, so I left it at that :)
Actually, just a couple of doors down the road there was a "auto-restoration" business, and there was a really nice little Bronco (same type of little 4WD) parked out the front of it. So, during the day, (lunch break) I walked over and took a couple of pictures and spoke with the business owner... They've worked on quite a few of these and they do a really good job.
We talked for a bit, and Im thinking that Im inclined to have them do the rust repairs and repaint the body. Its stuff that I cant do myself and Ill have to have someone do it either here in Oregon or back in Vancouver...
So, I asked about roughly what that would cost and I agree its a lot of labour to remove the body and all the glass, and all the wiring and lights etc... But His numbers are about double what I would have hoped for!
Hmmm, Ill have to think about that for a bit!!
So anyway, I got gas in my mouth and sprayed with hot oil, and covered in mud and grease and dust...
I think that qualifies as being a mechanic for a day :))
