What Manly Things Did You Do Today?

Wife was out garage selling on Friday and the timing belt on the Sequoia broke. Got it towed home and finished up the repair today. My mechanic friend told me that there was a good chance that the engine was toast. After about 10 hours of work (I had no idea what I was doing and was working from Youtube vids), it fired up and after a few moments ran like nothing ever happened. My first timing belt job and hopefully my last.

 

Oh, you got lucky. Ive known several friends who had timing belts break, and the engines were totaled.

 

I know. I prayed hard and held my breath the entire time hoping she would start. The hard part was that all of the vids talk about replacing the belt (meaning the timing hasn't bee disturbed). I had to search hard for an article that explained how to set both cams and the crank to the correct timing position before the belt can be installed. Having to buy another vehicle (and we need a big one with a third row) would have put a strain on us.

 

Luckily most engines these days are what's known as non-interference engines, meaning that if the timing belt, chain, or gears break the pistons wont hit (and bend) the valves.

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The 4.7l Toyota engine is an interference engine. That is why I held my breath the whole time. I knew that there was a chance that after all that work the motor would be ruined.

 

Toyota and Nissan have always been famous for the interference engines. I have seen more than a few of those with valves embedded into the pistons....being the reason they stress replacing the timing belt at certain intervals.

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I really dodged a bullet. I was about 8k miles past replacement time and she was driving at about 45mph when it happened. The truck has 308k miles on it and now I'm hoping it will continue to run well. A lot of the stress and time came from the fact that this was my first time putting a time belt on and I had to learn to time the engine correctly (not something you wanna mess up with).

 

Well it's a great learning experience and in the future knowing what you have learned you will have the confidence and capability to do the same with any other vehicles you own.

I grew up in the used car sales/ auto body/ auto repair business. Started working for my father at 10 years old kept at it until graduating College.

To this day I still won't pay anyone to repair any of my vehicles.

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I grew up poor. My first car was a gift from a great uncle that had been sitting in disrepair. I got it and kept learning (old 4 bangers were pretty simple engines). I have been learning and wrenching every since. I have a pretty good set of tools, so I figure there isn't much that I can't tackle. I agree with not shelling out the money to have someone else do it. I saved about $1000 by doing it at home.

 

I can't say that I grew up poor, but I had to work my a## of for everything that I have ever had. I was definitely taught the value of a dollar and it's served me well because I was able to retire at 33 years old. Been retired for about 15 years now and I absolutely love it.

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Not sure how manly, but thrifty.

Made another batch of homemade laundry soap. Cost less than $18 and last a family of three well over a year.

 

Put down milky spore on the lawn and have the tractor sprinkler watering it in. Used my lawn tractor lift to get under the deck for an overdue cleaning and blade sharpening. Cooled off in the pool afterwards.

 

An old pastor I know uses an obscure study Bible that I hear elsewhere spoken of pretty highly. They're not in print anymore so they're not cheap. But I found one on the bay from 1931...$20 shipped because the leather cover, while in very good shape, was almost completely loose, so there was a lot of badly crumpled, wrinkled, and dog-eared pages.

Went through it today and ironed everything flat. Got the cover back on as best I could with a combo of flexible glue, thin paper tape, and white cloth (athletic) tape. Turned out pretty well. From the outside you'd never know it was almost a total loss.

 

Recipe please?

 

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax– Found in the detergent aisle
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda– Found in the detergent aisle
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean–I purchase three one pounders at Dollar Tree
2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap– Found in the detergent aisle
1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda– Found in the baking aisle

I cut the Zote in to chunks and put it though my food processor or you can grate it up on a grater.

BTW The Zote soap is kind of sticky and likes to clump. So I found that when you use the food processor, to sprinkle some of the Baking Soda in with the chunked up Zote so that it keeps it from clumping. Then mix all the ingredients together in a large bucket until its homogenized.

I bought most everything from Walmart, but I purchased the an off brand Oxyclean at Dollar Tree.

For each load you use 1-2 Tablespoon ... I just use the small scoop that comes with the Dollar Tree Oxyclean.

I hope that helps.

 

A man never stands so tall as when he... crawls around on his hands and knees pulling flooring staples and hand scraping off underlayment paper and adhesive so that his Better Half’s kitchen remodel stays on schedule. I am so glad that job is done! My knees are even happier.

 

It is good to have some luck. It is way better to have the tools, the smarts to use them correctly, and the self-confidence to tackle the job! Glad it ran, what a great moment when you turned it over.

I was pumped when a complicated run of PEX plumbing held water when I turned the pressure back on. I would have been down about $20 bucks and a few hours labor if I needed a do over. Nothing like the job you tackled. Congrats!

 

Made my own gun patches. Rinsed out some baby wipes (unused!), let dry, cut into rectangles.

 

I got my looooong-awaited haircut. NOW I once again look like a man...not a long-haired hippie freak.

 

I just wrote down that recipe and may give it a go. Thanks!
I have used Fels Naptha Laundry Bar for several years for rubbing on stains or just shave off some to add to the laundry load.
Is that a similar function to the Zote Bar in your recipe?