I am still vertical!! It has been really hot this year for sure.I stayed busy wrenching over the summer in the heat.
I installed a new engine and transmission in my 07 Escalade ESV and I just put a new transmission in my 05 Envoy XL. The Envoy was my daily driver till the transmission went out and I started driving the black Mini. I flip flopped around deciding what to do with it and decided to put a transmission in it. That way I can start driving it and start doing the body work on the Black Mini. I think every panel on it has a dent.

The recirulation accuator went out on the Cabrio but other than that it's doing great. Finally getting cool enough to drive with the top down. I need to change the fuel filter in it before I tow it to the Florida Keys next summer. I also have a new fan assembly to put in it too, do not need the cooling fan to go out while on vacation.

 

Good to hear from you, Chief! You’ve certainly been a lot busier with vehicles than I have. It’ll be fun to see the black Mini after you’re done with the bodywork.

Both of my projects are back to non-running until I put some more work into them.

 

I finally got around to changing the points, cap, and rotor on my van and resetting the dwell so that I could move it and get the Mini into the garage for some maintenance.

I still haven’t managed to change the coolant or brake fluid, but it at least has fresh oil/filter, cabin filter, and a new serpentine belt. I also swapped the lower motor mount to a Vibra-Technics and replaced a broken fog light. I still don’t know how that happened without any apparent bumper damage. One tab on the fog light was snapped, and a piece of core support is missing.

One of these days I also need to swap the fuel filter, fix a broken zerk fitting on a rear control arm, and work on the shifter box. At this point I’m telling people that I have 2.5 project vehicles…

 

Nice to see an update from you!
Kudos to you for having the fortitude to work on a car during these cold temps!
It's been so cold during the holiday I can't even look out the window....let alone muster the nerve to leave the apt.
Did you wind up needing to replace the gas tank in the van? - I think I may have seen a sport van (months ago) off in the distance at a salvage yard (Stockbridge).

Your mentioning of replacing the cap and rotor took me back to the old days of having to do that often on my 65 Baja bug.
To this day I still have a bad habit of fearing that I'll "burn the points" when I leave the key turned to the second position in my R53.
I sometimes find it silly that I still think that way from time to time.

Have a safe and happy 2024!
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Haha. Well, fortunately I had an enclosed garage with a heater to knock of the chill, so it actually wasn’t bad at all.

I ended up just cleaning out the tank since they aren’t available new, and mine was still in good shape for the most part. I may have to go hunt that one down if it’s a second gen.

Mine were in pretty bad shape - misaligned and a bit burned. I do have to occasionally remind myself not to leave the key on, so it’s probably partly my fault.

A happy and safe new year to you as well!