I got the things I was doing with the car mostly done last night, and finished it off today – for this round… I still need to buy/install a CV joint and axle for the driver’s side, and do the timing belt. It’s pretty loud when it’s cold out, but the noise goes away as it warms up. I also discovered that the reason the car’s been so noisy all along is *NOT* a cracked exhaust manifold, like I thought. It seems that one of the pipes further along the exhaust stream is rusted through in places, since the car is still 90% as loud as it was before. Oh well, I suppose that’s an excuse to replace it with a 3″ exhaust down the road, since a Ken’s 3″ mandrel bent exhaust will be even a little cheaper than the a 2″ exhaust from Midas or someplace… In the mean time, I’m enjoying the (somewhat) improved response from the ported 1st Generation manifold. The turbo spools now below 3000 RPM, and it feels like it pulls strong all the way to 6000+, rather than falling off above 5k RPM the way it used to.
I’m also trying to get out of high tech, possibly once and for all.. I’m looking for work doing Administrative Stuff, since there seems to be a smaller shortage of jobs in that field. Furthermore, based on what Meg’s had to say about her jobs in the past, I think I’d be good at it, as well as enjoy the heck out of it. I think I’m much better at keeping other people’s stuff organized for them than I am at doing it for me… 🙂