bad karma
Another Epic with the Acclaim to Fame Crap!
Thursday night around 8:40pm after rock climbing Jesse dropped me off at a parking lot to pick up my car. We both started heading home with the intention of going to the food store and then back to the house to cook some tasty eats.
As we pulled out of the driveway, I got a flat. So I pulled over, Jesse, driving behind me, stuck his head out of his window and said “dude, something’s seriously wrong with your tire.” So I drove 40 ft down the road to the gas station across from the home depot pulled in and geared up for some tire changing thrills.
We got out the spare and jack for the tire replacement, took the hubcap off (which cracked and snapped in numerous spots), and started loosening the bolts. We soon learned that two of them were stripped. We decided that we needed tools, so we drove back to the house in Jesse’s car and got my tool box. Back at the acclaim, we used clever mechanical skills to get one of the bolts off, but the other was still badly stripped. I called my dad who suggested we go to home depot across the street and buy the necessary gear to get the bolt off. Jesse and I applauded his suggestion, put all my tools in the car, and then I shut the door.
Locking all my tools, tire-replacing gear, and keys in the car.
Then I freaked out a bit because the keys were locked in the car.
So we went to home depot and bought some tools. I called Galecki because I rememebed him once saying he had a slim jim, which can open locked cars. Sure enough he did, so he got his stuff together and started heading over. Jesse and I got back to the car, and decided to go McGyver on the doors. Jesse had two old winshield wipers in the back of the car so we took those apart and pulled out the two thin metal strips that support the blade from each. We then pried open the door a bit from the top, and slid the pieces into the car trying to hook the lock with the metal strips.
After 20 minutes, we actually got the door open. While it sounds simple enough, it was a minor miracle. We were extremely proud of our ingenuity and clever manipulation of junky windshield wipers. I called Galecki to tell him that we didn’t think we needed his help anymore, but he said he was only 2 minutes away and he had a bunch of tools that would most likely help with the stripped nut. So we started the process again of trying to take off the stubborn nut.
Galecki arrived with a good tool which we used to get the nut off and quickly replace the tire. While we had the tire off, we figured out a few of the other problems with the car. first, the shocks need replacement badly, and second, the two big springs in the back of the car have broken stops. The stops inside each spring prevent any violent actions when the spring is fully compressed. But my stops had fallen off into the springs. So the spring was acting as a mini-prison for these metal and rubber stops. That with the shock problem is a likely cause for all the banging and clanging as I drive anywhere.
I have hopes that I will be able to fix these problems this weekend. The car will be might be as good as new!
