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Aug. 7th, 2005 08:38 pm*sigh*
Yesterday didn't go as planned. Because Megan was on the hook for the sewing workshop, the morning began with me shuttling her down (by way of the rail station to pick up a unit member without transportation) and then hauling freight back for the apartment. The part we needed (or believed we did) was located, and Bill (the older gentleman downstairs, a capable mechanic) and I hared off after it. On arriving at the yard, some... inconsistencies were noted. Consulting the boneyard's interchange listing, we discovered that the 1995 model year for the Saturn S series was a standalone model; nothing else would apparently fit it. A second boneyard was tried, with similar results, and the everything-else-GM dealer had -nothing- referencewise for the Saturns, so we struck north for the Ellicott City Saturn dealership. The exploded view in the dealer parts breakout brought the full magnitude of the problem into the light: though the car itself was indeed a 1995 model, the ENGINE in it was most certainly -not-. The engine used in the 1991-1994 models looks virtually identical (to non-Saturn mechanic eyes) to the mill used in the 1996-2001 models, and -that- exploded view looked like what was actually in the car, leading us to a second and more critical issue.
What year power plant was it? While the early and late mills are very similar, the parts are (for the most part) NOT interchangeable. The parts man acknowledged that the dealer had run into the issue before... but that their resident master mechanic was on vacation and he was likely the only one who could be specific enough without physically seeing the vehicle to ID it properly. A phone call to the Silver Spring dealership turned up that their master was on duty... and on the way out to the truck it occurred to me that there was a way to simplify the mess: Megan's small digital camera could give us a visual cue that the mechanic could check against. We looped back to the apartment and shot a half dozen photos of the top, front, and sides of the engine, and then headed south to Silver Spring.
Said mechanic surprised me. Seeing the digital camera in my hand, he proceeded to produce a USB cable and import the pics to his machine and magnify them. And then things got a bit strange. The bulk of the engine is in fact a 1999 block assembly.... with a 1994 model cylinder head and cam pan atop it. *shakes her head* The joys of an aftermarket remanufactured engine. Some phonecalls from there have since located the needed part, and it'll get picked up (weather permitting) tomorrow, as it'd gotten late enough that the boneyards were closing.
The evening panned out a bit better. Plans for Megan got rearranged, leaving me free to go loiter at Crys and Kelly's place last night. Some time was spent BS'ing, and then Kelly and I set to work dismantling the non-functional laptops he'd scavenged for me. The net result is a 95% functional IBM Thinkpad P-III/800 laptop to replace the Gateway Solo P-II/266 that was my 'good' one. It took a good three plus hours at their dining room table, me doing the surgery while Kelly stepped me through the service documents, but it works. There's a driver issue with the sound, but that's well down my 'minor' list, more a midge annoyance than anything
After the clusterfsck yesterday trying to nail down parts for the Saturn, I felt no guilt about vanishing to 'waste' a day gaming. The nausea that's been plaguing me the last couple days is dragging at me, though. The nigh immediate-upon-arriving-home spat with Megan didn't do much to help my rapidly crashing mood. I'm sitting here, trying to recenter and refocus a bit, hoping to get things back to some semblance of balance; pardon me if I sound a bit blue, I'm trying to push through it.
*sigh* Well, enough whining, anyway. It doesn't help. Time to find something to do.
EDIT
( There were two meme-things I meant to tack on. I'm ... not on all cylinders, so pardon me on the forgetting, please... )
Yesterday didn't go as planned. Because Megan was on the hook for the sewing workshop, the morning began with me shuttling her down (by way of the rail station to pick up a unit member without transportation) and then hauling freight back for the apartment. The part we needed (or believed we did) was located, and Bill (the older gentleman downstairs, a capable mechanic) and I hared off after it. On arriving at the yard, some... inconsistencies were noted. Consulting the boneyard's interchange listing, we discovered that the 1995 model year for the Saturn S series was a standalone model; nothing else would apparently fit it. A second boneyard was tried, with similar results, and the everything-else-GM dealer had -nothing- referencewise for the Saturns, so we struck north for the Ellicott City Saturn dealership. The exploded view in the dealer parts breakout brought the full magnitude of the problem into the light: though the car itself was indeed a 1995 model, the ENGINE in it was most certainly -not-. The engine used in the 1991-1994 models looks virtually identical (to non-Saturn mechanic eyes) to the mill used in the 1996-2001 models, and -that- exploded view looked like what was actually in the car, leading us to a second and more critical issue.
What year power plant was it? While the early and late mills are very similar, the parts are (for the most part) NOT interchangeable. The parts man acknowledged that the dealer had run into the issue before... but that their resident master mechanic was on vacation and he was likely the only one who could be specific enough without physically seeing the vehicle to ID it properly. A phone call to the Silver Spring dealership turned up that their master was on duty... and on the way out to the truck it occurred to me that there was a way to simplify the mess: Megan's small digital camera could give us a visual cue that the mechanic could check against. We looped back to the apartment and shot a half dozen photos of the top, front, and sides of the engine, and then headed south to Silver Spring.
Said mechanic surprised me. Seeing the digital camera in my hand, he proceeded to produce a USB cable and import the pics to his machine and magnify them. And then things got a bit strange. The bulk of the engine is in fact a 1999 block assembly.... with a 1994 model cylinder head and cam pan atop it. *shakes her head* The joys of an aftermarket remanufactured engine. Some phonecalls from there have since located the needed part, and it'll get picked up (weather permitting) tomorrow, as it'd gotten late enough that the boneyards were closing.
The evening panned out a bit better. Plans for Megan got rearranged, leaving me free to go loiter at Crys and Kelly's place last night. Some time was spent BS'ing, and then Kelly and I set to work dismantling the non-functional laptops he'd scavenged for me. The net result is a 95% functional IBM Thinkpad P-III/800 laptop to replace the Gateway Solo P-II/266 that was my 'good' one. It took a good three plus hours at their dining room table, me doing the surgery while Kelly stepped me through the service documents, but it works. There's a driver issue with the sound, but that's well down my 'minor' list, more a midge annoyance than anything
After the clusterfsck yesterday trying to nail down parts for the Saturn, I felt no guilt about vanishing to 'waste' a day gaming. The nausea that's been plaguing me the last couple days is dragging at me, though. The nigh immediate-upon-arriving-home spat with Megan didn't do much to help my rapidly crashing mood. I'm sitting here, trying to recenter and refocus a bit, hoping to get things back to some semblance of balance; pardon me if I sound a bit blue, I'm trying to push through it.
*sigh* Well, enough whining, anyway. It doesn't help. Time to find something to do.
EDIT
( There were two meme-things I meant to tack on. I'm ... not on all cylinders, so pardon me on the forgetting, please... )
