SCCAForums.com

So, I've been neglecting this journal for a while. Both of my Saturns survived 100+ inches of snow in Grand Rapids this year. The Goodyear X-Ices and Dunlop Gaspic DS-2s worked well, though I didn't get to run any ice events with them this year.

I mounted my four-year-old Kumho Ecsta HP4s to the SC2 for temporary use. These dirt-cheap all-season Kumhos have worn very evenly despite the occasional autocross and frequent abuse. It looks like I will finally say good bye to them soon to reuse the Saturn Teardrop 3 rims for the Kumho V710s. I haven't found an alternative affordable and light set of 15x6 45mm offset rims to use instead of the Saturn's 50mm offset OEM rims.

The SC2 plodded through the winter with 10W40 Mobil 1 in the crankcase, though I added a quart or two of some cheap 5W30 to it a couple of times. I drained what remained of that mixture and refilled it with Shell Rotella 5W40. I also added a new Motorcraft FL400S oil filter.

The big project was replacing my year old KYB GR-2 struts with a new set of Spring Tech struts. I had the left front strut off the SC2 and taken apart and began unpacking the Spring Tech struts when I noticed that the Spring Tech units all acted very different. Only one of the front Spring Tech struts seems to have any significant pressure left in it. These are brand new struts that had just been sitting in their shipping box since late last summer. Also the rebound damping on the two front struts feels noticeably different. So, needless to say the Spring Tech struts aren't going on the SC2.

As I said I cut the stock exhaust on my 1995 SC2 in front of the front axle and stuck a cheap Cherry Bomb Glasspack Muffler (#87021 -- 14" long 1.87" In/1.75" Out) to make a side exhaust. The exhaust is otherwise stock: Stock manifold, original down pipe, flex pipe, cat, resonantor, and piping.

The engine has been missing a lot when warm at low rpm (<2,000) when under any load with the throttle at all open. It does this with and without the muffler installed--the muffler may have reduced it slightly, but I can't tell for sure. Above 2,000 rpm the engine just sings now. Seems to be an improvement in torque at all higher speeds over the stock muffler.

One thought is that the stock 1993+ stock Saturn exhaust manifold sucks and is causing the stuttering with the removal of the backpressure. My other thought is I need to clean/replace the EGR valve. Replacing the EGR on my other Saturn fixed some intermittent idle/stuttering/SES issues.

Probably unrelated but should be mentioned: the threads on the negative battery terminal are somewhat stripped. Also I recently pulled off two spark plug connectors out of their boots/wires during a MMO soak and had to crip them on again using a vice grips. This all happened prior to the exhaust modification, and the car didn't have any stuttering issues then. I had reset the ECU when I cut off the exhaust. I soon thought that maybe I shouldn't have reset the computer. I didn't reset it again when adding the Cherry Bomb.

When the air temperature is much cooler and the engine is mostly pulling fine when warm at ~1500 rpm and half throttle. I haven't replaced any electrical parts or done anything else to it (I've been too busy with homework for a graduate summer course I am taking).

I'm sure I am also down a quart of 10W40 Mobile 1 since I haven't checked that for a while either. I also have a new turn signal lens and bulb to install in the front. Just need to find time to do it all before Friday. I should rotate the tires again too. The Azenis are almost down to the wear bars already.

I put my new negative terminal bolt on the battery cable last night and put more than a quart of oil in. Then I looked over to the spark plugs and noticed the spark plug boot on the first cylinder was sitting up almost an inch. I pulled on it and of course the wire wasn't connected to the plug terminal.

Anyway, I pulled the plug, pulled the wire out of the boot, cut the end of the wire and reassembled everything. The enigne now pulls fine in fifth all the way from 500rpm. Didn't even have to buy anything.

The offending plug was covered in white powder, so those Autolites plugs probably are too hot. And it is probably now a good idea to replace the wires now--even if they are working okay. I was bending the one all around figuring out how to take the boot off and then putting it back togeter.

I'm not much of a mechanic, I haven't even checked the plug gaps on my Saturns! I've spent all my time working on the suspension.

The car has been performing excellently. What a strange feeling to hold FTD for a while! No big changes to the coupe's setup. I did an engine flush/Marvel Mystery Oil piston soak/filter and oil change last week. I switched from the Shell Rotella 5W40 to some Mobile 1 10W40. The middle plugs were covered with oil when I pulled them, which is evidently sign of a leaky valve cover.

I added some more front tire pressure for my last runs at Saturday's test 'n tune: 36 psi front, ~52 psi rear. My final run with a passenger was the fastest for the day. The only change I made for the autocross the following day was purchasing a quarter tank of 93 octane instead of the normal cheapest 87 octane I can find. The SC2 was flying yesterday!

I am planning on heading down to Kalamazoo this weekend for the one and only West Michigan Region SCCA Solo event this year.

Here are all my autocross results in the SC2 together in one place.

28 May 2007, Detroit Region SCCA, Clarkston, MI
Memorial Day Solo at DTE Enegry Music Theater
Street Tire H Stock: 5th out of 10
Fastest dirty time (52.380”) in class

1T 21 Douglas Harvey 02 Chevy Cavalier
54.810 53.750 53.610 52.773+1 53.610 -

2T 55 Frank Putman 91 Ford Escort GT
54.461+1 53.685 53.393+2 52.567+1 53.685 0.075

3T 3 Stephen Dormann 99 Nissan Sentra
56.200 55.185 54.724 53.934 53.934 0.249

4T 91 James Kuo 02 Ford Focus
55.623 56.204 54.471 54.048 54.048 0.114

5 9 Matthew Huizing 95 Saturn SC2
56.775 55.884 54.583 52.380+3 54.583 0.535

3 June 2007, Furrin Group, Martin, Michigan
Knoll Gas Motosports Autocross, Rain
H Stock: 3rd out of 8
PAX: 15th out of 70

1T 79 VanDuren, Curt 98 VW New Beetle
1:03.955 1:02.784+1 1:03.944 1:04.297+dnf 1:03.944 -

2T 17 Bahnsen, Rudy 72 Volkswagen Beetle
1:07.580 1:09.714+1 1:08.546+dnf 1:07.209+dnf 1:07.580 3.636

3T 9 Huizing, Matthew 95 Saturn SC2
1:07.973 1:07.935+dnf 1:07.437+1 1:05.879+4 1:07.973 0.393

16-17 June 2007, Detroit/Saginaw Valley Regions SCCA, Oscoda, MI
Rumble on the AuSable, Wurtsmith AFB, Rain
Street Tire H Stock: 1st out of 4
PAX: 44th out of 91

1T 15 Matthew Huizing 95 Saturn SC2
D1 60.467 59.615 59.450 120.428
D2 60.978 -

2T 3 Stephen Dormann 99 Nissan Sentra
D1 61.855 60.922 60.801 123.327
D2 62.526 2.899

30 June 2007, Furrin Group, Moline, MI
ABC Auto Auction Autocross #2
H Stock: 1st out of 8
PAX: 6th out of 72

1T 11 Huizing, Matthew 95 Saturn SC2
0:58.352+2 0:59.194 0:58.540+1 0:58.894+1 0:59.194 -

2T 79 VanDuren, Curt 98 VW New Beetle
1:00.695 0:59.251 0:59.470 0:59.898+1 0:59.251 0.057

3T 6 Armstrong, DJ 84 VW Rabbit
1:04.007 1:03.208 1:00.682 1:01.688 1:00.682 1.431

4 3 Dormann, Stephen 99 Nissan Sentra
1:02.762 1:01.272 1:03.302 1:01.222 1:01.222 0.540

21 July 2007, Furrin Group, Allendale, MI
GVSU Test and Tune
H Stock: 2nd out of 7
PAX: 4th out of 44

1T 79 VanDuren, Curt VW New Beetle
0:54.271+1 0:53.263+1 0:53.916 0:53.365+1 0:53.916 -

2T 11 Huizing, Matthew 95 Saturn SC2
0:54.269+1 0:54.374 0:52.204+dnf 0:54.305 0:52.739+1 0:54.305 0.389

3T 111 Holdridge, Cody 95 Ford Escort
0:58.058+dnf 0:57.098 0:57.764+2 0:57.582+2 0:58.673 0:57.098 2.793

22 July 2007, Furrin Group, Allendale, MI
GVSU Autocross
H Stock: 1st out of 11
PAX: 2nd out of 69

1T 11 Huizing, Matthew 95 Saturn SC2
0:51.060+1 0:50.916 0:49.542 0:49.572+2 0:49.142 0:49.142 -

2T 79 VanDuren, Curt 98 VW New Beetle
0:51.469 0:50.656 0:50.310+1 0:50.240 0:50.209 0:50.209 1.067

3T 17 Bahnsen, Rudy 72 Volkswagen Beetle
0:52.869 0:52.901 0:53.109 0:52.443 0:54.606+dnf 0:52.443 2.234

4T 6 Armstrong, DJ 84 VW Rabbit
0:55.496 0:52.619 0:57.400+1 0:57.057 0:53.439 0:52.619 0.176

I finally got out to one of these. I had signed up for last year’s Cone Clinic in Peru but wasn’t able to attend. I had some unexpected vacation time, so I took work off Friday and a half-day on Thursday and booked a hotel room for my wife and I.

All of my Saturns use oil rapidly, and I had planned to bring a quart of Shell Rotella 5W40 Synthetic to top off the SC2’s engine prior to the event. I forget to put the oil in the trunk when we left, but I manage to find another quart at the Walmart down in Kokomo. I add this quart in the morning before heading to the event, but it doesn’t bring the oil level to the full mark.

I am in the first run group and pull up behind an Acura Type R. A couple of STS Civic Sis are parked to the left of my car in the same run group. I definitely have the slowest car at the Cone Clinic, not to mention I only have the RT-615s while the STS guys are running the Bridgestones and everyone else is on R-compounds. Brian Davis is parked right next to me. He had the Bridgestone freshly mounted to 1989 Civic Si just before this event.

To get the car ready I decide to try higher rear pressures and pump up the rear tires to 50 psi, but leave the fronts at 30 psi. One of the pictures Christina takes shows the inside rear wheel lifting nicely through an offset. The front outside tire looks like it is getting flattened, so I will try a little more front pressure at the next event.

Perhaps partly from the overly soft front, the short practice course is difficult to drive well. I had recently read Per Schroeder’s comments in the Grassroots Motorsports article about beginning autocross drivers coasting too much through an autocross course. I did decide to really attack the course, but my first run is especially bad. Some of it may also be due to nerves with having an instructor in the car. My second run is much smoother, but it still doesn’t feel very good to me. My time for this run is 33.256 seconds.

For the next couple runs Ann Hollis takes the driver’s seat and scoots the SC2 around the course pretty aggressively. It definitely feels like the car reacts quicker to her throughout the offsets and the slalom. As she is driving she mentions that I need to think about the rear tire cutting across the backside of cones. She finishes her first run in 33.089 seconds and the second run is 32.521 seconds.

At the end of her second run she notices the Saturn’s valve lifters ticking and asked if I had checked the oil level. I mention that I knew it was a little low. She goes to work with the next driver waiting in line while I look to borrow some oil. Someone says that there is some oil in the timing camper, so I add a quart of 20W50 Castrol to the SC2. It will be time for an oil change when we get home.

With the oil topped off, I drive around the course alone quite a few times. Ann had taken the time sheet with her when I had stopped to add oil, so I don’t record those times, but most of the times were in the 33-second range. The toughest section was the long 7-cone slalom at the end. I hit the first cone a couple of times and the car got sideways a couple of times at the end. On some of the smoother runs I hit the third cone.

Mrs. Hollis finally returns to sit through three more of my runs, and I post some sub 33 second times with more trouble on the slalom, on one run I enter the slalom too fast at the wrong angle and loose all front grip. Before leaving the car she repeats her suggestions and suggests that she would like to see some sub 31 second times.

I make a couple more runs one at 32.747 seconds and the final one was 31.667 seconds. The last run felt pretty good, though perhaps I just didn’t push as hard that time. It seemed like a decent enough time compared to what the faster cars were running.

The course working time goes by very quickly. I don’t see much as the slalom requires a lot of attention—I’m evidently not the only person hitting those cones today. We are all done before 10 am, and pack up the baby and everything into the car and head back to Grand Rapids. Maybe next year we’ll stay for the National Tour, but I have a local Furrin Group event to make it to tomorrow.

The 1995 Saturn SW2 is having some intermittent issues. After driving for fifteen minutes or so the engine will sometimes start stumbling and sometimes die. After it dies sometimes it will crank and not start for a few seconds, but then it will crank and start and run normally.

So Saturday morning I remove and thoroughly clean out the throttle body on the SW2. When I reinstall the throttle body the engine starts and revs to 4,000 rpm and stays there. At first I think it is just running on the throttle body cleaners fumes, but it keeps doing it. I pull the throttle body off and notice that the throttle body gasket had been bent and was worn thin in a few places. So I spend the rest of the day looking for a replacement for its throttle body gasket.

The big Napa warehouse by the airport supposedly has two new gaskets in stock, but they can’t find them when I drive over there. So, I stop at Saturn of Grand Rapids on the way home only to found out that their service and parts building is not open on weekends. Several auto parts stores can special order the gasket for me, but no one besides Napa claims to have any in stock.

I decide to just straighten the gasket out and begin pounding it flat with a hammer. I also wrap a little strip of aluminum foil over the thin section. With the repaired gasket reinstalled the car idles normally and seems to run fine—except it still has the intermittent stumbling problem.

My best guess to the source of the stumbling problem is a faulty engine coolant temperature sensor (ECT). So, I order a new AC Delco ECT sensor along with a couple of throttle body gaskets, a couple of AC Delco PCV valves, and a Fram Airhog filter online from RockAuto. The whole order comes to only $44 with shipping. The Saturn dealership wants $8 each for the gaskets and PCV valves.

The Fram air cleaner doesn’t look as well made as the drop-in K&N I have in the SC2, but it looks like it may flow slightly better and it only cost about half as much. I was actually hoping it was just a nice paper filter, as I am not sold on the filtering ability of oil soaked cotton filters, but I put it in the SW2 anyway. Hopefully, the K&N cleaning kit will work on the Fram.

I decide to replace the ECT last night. I raise the left side of the wagon as high as possible using my “SUV” floor jack and remove the old sensor. A little bit of coolant rushes out, but not much. The new sensor seems to go in fine, but the radiator fan and warning lights come on a few seconds after starting the car. I fiddle with the electrical connector thinking it may be loose, but I finally pull the new sensor and notice that the connector on the sensor itself doesn’t match the one on the old sensor. I evidently had ordered the coolant temperature sensor for the dash gauge not the one for the engine computer. So I put the old sensor back in and call it a night.

On Sunday, I wake up early, pack myself a small lunch and head down US-131 towards Martin, Michigan. The sky had been clear when I had left but now it keeps getting darker and rain begins falling as I drive through Grand Rapids. A blue 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix passes me driven by Furrin’ Group Speed Chair, Curt Rosentengel. Curt pretty much single handedly coordinates all the Furrin Group autocross events. He has a couple of cars he runs at local events. His Grand Prix has shown up a lot in STX and his Triumph Spitfire has run in H Stock and Vintage class.

I pull the SC2 into the gas station at the Martin exit and look for a rain poncho. Of course they don’t have any. Martin isn’t exactly a tourist Mecca of West Michigan. I buy a bottle of generic Pepto Bismo, as my stomach doesn’t feel well.

I drive into the Knoll Gas US-131 Motorsports Park and past the empty entrance booths--evidently the park management hasn’t bothered to come out in the rain. Very few people have arrived, but it is only around 8:30 am and registration isn’t scheduled to start until 10. The rain lets up enough for me to put “11 HS” in white duct tape on both doors. The tape actually sticks great on wet cars.

I am surprised when one of the next cars to pull up is another Saturn Coupe. Not only is it another Saturn, but it is the same year and model—it even has “11 HS” written on a sheet of paper in the rear window. Mr. David Reed’s Coupe is the mid-nineties dark green with tan interior. I am not fond of dark green Saturns, even though I now own my second dark green 1995 Saturn, but dark green actually looks nice on a 1995 SC2. Maybe it’s the only color that really works with the Coupe’s factory gold stripe.

David had seen [url= http://sccaforums.com/forums/permalink/238471/233905/ShowThread.aspx#233905]some of my postings on here about running a Saturn in H Stock[/url]. His SC2 is also running the 205/50R15 RT-615s. At registration I find out that I am actually pre-registered as “9 HS”, so I change my 11s into 9s, only to find that Mr. Reed had added another 1 to his 11s. At least we both have unique numbers now.

I spend most of the morning sitting in the SC2 with the heat and A/C on trying to dry out, but during one of the brief lulls in the rain I get to walk the course a few times. The autocross course doesn’t actually use the dragstrip. It uses some of the staging area, some of the parking lot and a small loop around part of the paddock/camping area. We had run an autocross at this site last November. The Storm GSi had needed a shift to third on the fastest straight section.

Today’s course design is pretty haphazard, but it basically consists of a whole bunch of slaloms—at least five distinct slaloms. There are two optional elements, but one impacts the other making four distinct possible paths. I stick with one path for my first three runs and try the other way around the loop on my forth and final run. This final run is my best time but I hit 3 cones. My first run time ends up being good enough for third out of 8, which earns me my first trophy teeshirt in the SC2. Considering this was only my second autocross trophy ever, I was happy.

I manage to get a covered location to stand for snagging cones for the second heat, and the weather also mostly clears up. Overall it is a fun event, though my lack of driving progress disappoints me. The SC2 handled the wet course well, but clearly the Azenis aren’t the best tire for wet grip.

After spending the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend attempting to pound and twist out the left front suspension bolt, I decide to just cut off its head with the Dremel. First I need another bolt to replace it with. I drive over to a nearby Chevy dealer to see if they might have something. They don’t carry Saturn parts, and they don’t have any bolts that hard in that size. Since there are always a dozen Saturns at the self-service junkyards, I decide to just pull a used bolt.

There are mainly per-1995 Saturns at the Wayland LQK. The earlier Saturns have a lot more plastic shields around the inner fender area. The suspension arm bolt and bracket are actually behind a stapled on flap of rubbery material on these cars. I manage to get a clean bolt out after trying a couple different cars.

Since I drove the wagon so I have some room for bigger parts. Both rear quarter window frames on the SW2 are rusted through. This is a common problem on Saturns. The frame there is just a piece of thin folded sheet metal. On the 1995 SL1 I had filled the holes left there by the rust with clear silicon. I had seen a Saturn without visible rust on this part on my previous trip to this junkyard. So, I find the car again and pull both rear doors.

They happen to be on a 1995 SL1. I would have pulled the suspension bolts and front tension strut off this car, but someone had already taken the entire front subframe and suspension off it. A few minutes latter as I am checking out I am surprised to recognize a Saturn subframe sitting alongside the counter. The counter guys say that someone had already purchased it, but it wouldn’t fit in the hatch of their Honda Civic. The yard only charges me for the two doors and four door hinges. The suspension bolt and some plastic parts I had pulled I get for free.

Back home the sparks fly and soon the old bolt losses it head. I pound on the remains of the shaft, and, of course, the bolt won’t budge much in that direction either. The cut off end does slip inside the frame bracket. So I just grab the arm and pull and twist it. I mangle the bracket, but I get the arm off.

I pound the bracket back into shape and give it a coat of spray paint before assembling the new arm in place. Before bolting the arm on I disconnect the right control arm and pull off the old front tension strut. There is a little surface rust on the front subframe, so I get out the drill and wire wheel, clean it up, and give it a coat of cheap glossy back enamel.

The Energy Suspension bushings seem to fit the smaller SOHC Saturn tension strut all right. I add about half the package of the lubricant supplied with the bushings to inside of the bushings before slipping them over the freshly painted bar. With both control arms disconnected from the frame, it is easy to guide the ends of the tension strut into the rubber bushings set in the middle of each control arm. I start both nuts on the end of the tension strut to keep it from falling off while I attach the brackets to the subframe. Those screw in easily, but then I have to shove against the tension strut to get each control arm back into their subframe brackets.

The SC2 suspension is now back together. I take the old arm and place in a bench vice to see if I can pound the bolt out, but all I manage to do is drive the sleeve out of the rubber with the bolt still in it. I keep the arm, as it is still be useful if I ever get polyurethane control arm bushings.

At this point the SC2s alignment seems to be pretty far off. It changes direction at every bump in the road and the steering wheel is about 10 degrees off center. So on Sunday I take it over to my parents’ garage to begin correcting it. I find that the front is toed in more than half an inch. The rears are fine—about 1/16” of toe out. After about five or six iterations I get about 1/16” of toe out in front and the steering wheel centered. I don’t adjust the camber at all, but I had already set the front for the maximum amount without grinding the slots in the KYBs.

I don’t have time to do any testing, but the SC2 now drives wonderfully. The suspension feels pretty stiff, but, likely, this is mainly due to the high nitrogen pressure (>40 psi) in the stiff sidewall Falken Azenis. Anyway, Tomorrow I have the opportunity to test it out at the Annual Detroit Region SCCA Memorial Day Autocross event.

I woke up much too early the next day. I had done a few 12-hour drives out to my Sister’s house out in Delaware last year. I had even made the trip to Boston once before when I was looking at undergraduate schools. So, a 14-hour drive to Boston didn’t sound too bad.

For its part the Saturn SW2 drove fine this day. We did have a few other traveling problems. First the border agents single us out when we cross the Canadian border. I had neglected to scrounge up my daughters’ birth certificates before we left Grand Rapids. They make some pretence of searching our car, but, evidently, decide that we actually look like a family. They do ask the girls if we are their parents. Luckily, they don’t want to disown us. Back in the car we discover that we have both of their medical cards with us, which we do use to expedite our entrance back into the USA.

Of course the big problem with long road trips with newborns is stopping for feedings. We make a long stop at Niagara Falls to do some sightseeing. Unfortunately, when we leave the falls I follow the local road signs to get back to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). We end up driving quite a while out of our way on local roads and missing our exit, so the sun is setting behind us as we enter New York State. Around 2 in the morning we cross into Massachusetts, but I decide to keep driving. We finally make it to the hotel around 4:30 A.M.

Though I am a little groggy, the business meeting that day goes fine. And we sleep well the next night. The next day we had planned on walking around Boston’s historic sites on the Freedom Trail. After driving around Boston for a couple hours looking for an exit to Old Ironsides we manage to find it and get to go on it. However, it begins to rain we are walking towards Bunker Hill. So we decide to just leave Boston early and head down I-95 towards Delaware.

Probably choosing this single highway route wasn’t the fastest way to get from Boston to Wilmington on a Friday afternoon, but we do get to experience a little bit of New York City traffic and smell in the Bronx before heading across New Jersey in the dark. We even get a glimpse of the Empire State Building lit up as we pass Manhattan.

We spend a nice day in Delaware with my sister before driving back to Michigan. I like to avoid the Pennsylvania Turnpike and instead take US-322 up out of Harrisburg to I-80. This is a nice scenic route, though this time we don’t cut over to I-80 at State College but instead stay on US-322 directly through several small of towns.

My wife Christina had been driving for a while and so we switch at a gas stop after when get on I-80. Merging back into the Interstate traffic I keep the car in 4th gear a little bit longer than normal. Oh, well, a little bit of time at 4,000 rpm is nothing to worry about. Pop. Slap. All the warning lights go on. Great, I pull over on the shoulder and pop the hood to find a split serpentine belt and some puddles of coolant.

The belt itself looks like a picture of all the things they show in the manuals about when you should replace your belt. It is severely dry and cracked. It is a wonder that it had been working fine until then.

Luckily for us there were some nice people who live right next to the highway. The man gives me a ride back to the previous exit where there is a fleet garage that happens to be open on Sunday. Of course they don’t carry car belts, but they know about an Advance Auto Parts in the next town 20 miles down I-80 in the other direction. They even call them up and verify that they have the belt in stock.

So, things are looking up when I get back to the car with a new belt and some borrowed wrenches. I find a State Tropper checking out the car. He runs my license and seems satisfied with my ability to get the car repaired and back on the road. Installing the belt is a little annoying, but I get it on, and hop in the car to start it. It starts but immediately begins smoking. Evidently the belt is just a symptom of a bigger problem. I fear a bad water pump—probably from too much reading about 4 cylinder Porsches.

I decide that this is not something I should try to repair alongside the road. In fact, I am ready for someone else to do it for me. The nice man who had been helping us offers to call a friend in the towing business. An hour and $90 later my car is sitting in front of the Midas shop just behind the Advance Auto Parts we had picked up the belt at.

The Midas shop is definitely closed. My family is 20 miles away back at the person’s house. Okay, I can fix this thing. I open the engine bay and quickly look at the nice belt diagram Saturn printed there. The pulley that is stuck is not the water pump; it is just an idler. Okay, into the store for a new idler pulley and some wrenches.

I get the bolt off the idler pulley, but the pulley itself won’t budge. I get some penetrating oil from the store. I get it to rotate, but it still won’t come loose. Fine, I put the belt back on and start the engine. Besides the familiar grinding noise it runs fine.

Here I am. The car is working. I am twenty miles away from my family and I can’t put a new pulley on, through I have it and all the tools I need to install it. So, I get in the car and head back down I-80 keeping the engine as slow as possible while driving at 45 mph. After about 6 miles I hear a clunk and pull to the shoulder. Well, the pulley had loosened itself, and luckily it had just wedged between the motor and the top motor mount and hadn’t damaged anything besides itself in the process.

The new idler pulley slips on just fine, but there is basically no clearance between the pulley and the motor mount bracket on the subframe. Semi-tractors are rushing past rocking the car. The sun is setting, and my hand is shaking trying to get the pulley bolt between the pulley and the frame. I give up. It isn’t going to happen here.

Even sans bolt the car runs fine. Luckily, there is one of those Authorized Vehicles Only turnarounds. So I take it and head back towards the parts store. I get off at an exit between and inspect the pulley, which seems to be staying put just fine without the bolt. I make it back to the Advance Auto Parts parking lot and try to park in the spot best lit by the light poles.

First I ask the nice part store employees if I can use their restroom to wash up and then for a bucket of cold water to cool the engine. After several more minutes and purchasing some extra tools, I finally discover the trick to the pulley nut. I go inside the store and ask for a piece of tape. I tape the bolt inside the pulley and then wiggle both into position. A few turns starts the bolt and I am able to peel off the tape and then begin tightening the bolt down.

At this time one of the Advance Autoparts employees comes out of the store to tell me that my wife has called. I go in and tell her that I am almost done fixing the car, and I had left the car seats up on the hill above the expressway. She said the family they were staying with could bring them in an hour or so. We had thought about staying at a hotel for a night, but by the time we are all back in the car, we just want to get home, but we do end up stopping latter that night at a cheaper hotel further down I-80 towards Ohio.

After all this I am more ready to get a cell phone and roadside assistance policy, but I still haven’t purchased either. There is something uniquely humbling about relying on the hospitality of others and getting my own hands scarred and dirty. I am not planning on testing God’s providence, however, so I will check the belt and pulleys on the SC2 before going up to Oscoda this weekend.