So as of this past week I have a new issue–the car violently shakes when engaging first gear (or reverse). My Dad convinced me it’s a motor mount issue. I worry that this may have happened when I pushed the car off of the scissor jack while trying to work on the audio system. The car ended up falling on the driver’s side front (left front) rotor rather abruptly so it may have shocked the motor mount. It’s also possible that 135k miles is just the life of the motor mount. Regardless, I have a new motor mount (part id 1237122060) en route. Sadly, the car is staying put until this is corrected–I have seen the damage that broken motor mounts can cause firsthand–it gets expensive. It places new physical stresses on other engine components which can lead to cracks. I don’t want to risk anything with this all-aluminum block.
Once the motor mount is swapped, if the issue persists, I’ll need to look at the front motor mount (part id 1236122030) in addition to the rear. Once both of those are replaced, if the issue exists even then, I really need to figure out this clutch kit and flywheel. Really, that needs to happen regardless. It’s still sitting a foot away from me in my office.
So the slump that I am referencing has to do with this past weekend. I simply did not have a lot of energy. We are leading into summer and I am now mowing once a week. The past couple weeks I try to knock it out on Monday morning’s just so I can get my time back during the weekend. Saturday my wife talked me into watching the newly released Mortal Kombat movie at the local AMC Theatre. This is the first movie we have attended since at least early March of 2020 so it was nice. The AMC was just finished being built when the pandemic went full send.
So on a giant tangent, I have some other things going on I wanted to chat about as well. I picked up playing Gran Theft Auto San Andreas recently. I got the game for free some time back (on PC) but couldn’t get into playing it because of its joystick integrations failing. I was finding it exceedingly difficult to identify what button did what in the game. This time I found a website with joystick mappings to help so I was able to keep at it. This link follows a DualShock (PS4) controller instead of the Xbox controller I have but they were similar enough that it worked out for me.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2193132937
The graphics aren’t the greatest but the mechanics of the game are very, very good. I’m also glad as I was worried that I was simply getting too old to enjoy video games, especially considering how therapeutic it can be to just leave things behind and really engross myself into a digital RPG.
I’ve also decided that with my MX-5 being sold that I have some funds I can put to use. As much as I do not want to engage in another loan, it looks like I may engage in another loan. My wife has been dropping hints about a wood fire pizza oven for as long as I’ve known her, and I think I’m ready to try and make that dream come true. We are both going to get things we want as I am interested in pavers for my driveway as well as an extended patio while she is interested in what is called an outdoor kitchen. I have some meetings set up with contractors who are experienced in this sort of work so we can bounce ideas around and see if we can make financial sense of it.
Lastly, I’ve been daydreaming about my next car as I am a goal-oriented person and like setting dreams for myself and then accomplishing them. For a while now I’ve always had a dream of having an expensive garage queen car while having a workhorse on the side. I’m closer now than I was last year as I sold the MX-5 for the Celica. The Celica is not the workhorse–the Civic is definitely filling that role. I have a cargo tray back there which I have loaded mulch in (along with a tarp) without issue. This car is as close to a pickup truck as I will get. Eventually the goal is having an actual pick up truck along with a dream car. If I were to buy a dream car today I would probably look at the BMW M4. I know… not a Porsche! I just can’t swing that kind of money. It’s definitely fun to window shop though.