The Manic Mechanic

Well, there's Jeff's S-10 (another "S"), my old '89 Dodge w250 Cummins, and my '69 Dart that's been mothballed for 20 years. The Dart is somewhat of a sad story these days, for the longest time it sat quietly in the garage awaiting some attention (there are two burned valves, all the fuel lines rotted, the carbs need rebuilding, and lots of bodywork). About six years ago I got supplies to redo the garage, insulate more walls, new cabinets and workbenches, electrical additions, general cleaning, etc.. I pushed the car out and started on the work, and about that time my body fell apart. The poor car sat outside all this time, the vinyl roof, which was still in passable condition, has now become a shredded mess, and the carpeting I installed years ago has faded badly. I really need to get back in the garage and do that work, but during all this time I've had issues, a lot of other work piled up on my with the house and other stuff. I am working my way through priorities and doing them as I am able to, within my limitations. I can't get anyone to help, it seems everyone I know that would be able to do that kind of work has mostly disappeared. So, anything mechanical, electrical, construction related, work on cars, computers, all the renovations and upgrades fall to me and me alone. 30 years ago I would be bombing through all the projects as if there were no tomorrow, these days, I can only do what I can, in the time I am able to do it. The few times I get help moves things along nicely, and I wish I could keep up the momentum. Even the W250 is out of commission and has been since 2007, when the transmission gave out (again) and I wasn't able to crawl around underneath. While it sat, the brake lines rusted out up front, and apparently either a fuel supply line on the frame rusted or the pickup in the tank has a leak, since air is getting in the fuel lines and few things keep a diesel engine from running than air pockets in the fuel. I want to yank the bed off and make new lines for everything. I had started on that years ago, I bent and assembled lines for the front axle (the ones that originally rusted out) but crawling around underneath to out them in has been not possible. I could probably do it these days, a little at a time, but I got other irons in the fire. I miss that old beast.