Before and After

I finally got the new door for my car.
Yes, I decided to fix my car. I figured I could probably do it pretty cheaply and have the car last awhile longer. It has 204,000 miles on it, so its trade-in or resale value isn't that great. I figured it would be best to fix the car I have now, meanwhile saving for the future of a different vehicle.

Here is the old door from my car. I had to really mangle it to get it off the car. The door had been locked and when it got crunched, it was permanently set in the lock position.



So I bought the new door from a salvage place in Lincoln. The website had called the color of the new door "gray". I figured gray would be a closer match than the green one I had found in my hometown. Plus the one in Lincoln had the glass in it and was $25 cheaper.

I had gotten an estimate at a local shop of $1600 for the door plus labor. I was pretty sure I could beat that if I was able to do most of the work myself.

When I saw the new door, my heart jumped. The door was the exact color of my car. (Proving to those of you out there who think my car looks pink-ish or some other awful color that my car must indeed be more of a gray color.) I was able to get the old door off my car in about 3 and a hald hours. It was a pain in the neck. It was a pain in the arm, too, when I put a gash in my right arm on a rough edge of metal. I was able to put the new door on in about half an hour with a little bit of help from my roommate whose strong arms held it in place and helped me adjust it while I tightened bolts. The frame around the door had not been bent at all in the crash which was a huge relief. The door fit almost perfectly. Here it is!



Praise God I was able to find the right door, the right color, at the right price. I saved about $1300 by doing all the work my self.

BTW, the sideview mirror, which was slightly damaged, is back in place now.

Long Lost Tuner

When I used to live in the house next to my church, I had a roommate who played the guitar. One day he misplaced his guitar tuner.
Almost two years have passed since then.
A few weeks ago, one of the people who live in the house now handed me a tuner at church and wondered if I knew who it belonged to. They had found it under some furniture in the house.
So I called up my old roomate and told him about it. The tuner is on the way to Sioux Falls in the mail now.
My grandpa turned 85 years old today.
Thats the big news.
-RM2

Cable TV - - Car Update

I got a new roommate. He wanted high-speed internet for his computer. So he wondered if he could get cable hooked up. I didn't really want internet on my computer, but it was okay if he got it on his. Then he told me that for just a little bit more per month, we could have basic cable, too. So now we have cable. Chances are, there still won't be anything good to watch.

I've decided to keep my car and get 'er repaired. Actually, I'll try and do all the work myself that I can. I have found a new driver's side door and window. I haven't gotten the chance to pick it up from the salvage yard in Lincoln, yet.