brainnnss!!!

I replaced the rusted fuel line and the leaking fuel rail hose, and attempted to make a flare fitting for the new metal line, but the stupid $25 flaring tool won't do it. (Every time I buy cheap tools I suffer, oh how I suffer.) I'm going to have to get someone with a real tool to do it. In the meantime I just used a hose with clamps, pressurized the system, and cranked away for a while. Nothing happened, which is about what I have come to expect. At least gas wasn't spraying out of every orifice, or any orifice actually, which is a legitimate achievement. I poked around a bit under the hood, finding and fixing vacuum leaks, and cleaned a couple of spark plugs, and then tried again. The engine turned over and over, and suddenly one cylinder gave the tiniest little cough. I got excited and cranked away, then another cylinder coughed, and I teased it into life, choking and missing but finally settling down to a bumpy idle. It clattered horribly and I traced that in about two seconds to the water pump, which is banging around and wobbling on its shaft like Britney Spears after midnight. I was somewhat surprised to find that the power steering still works. I can't run it long since the cooling system is in bits so I killed it, finished installing the master cylinder and started it again, and then actually backed it out of the garage under its own power, coughing and spitting and leaving a trail of dirt. I had to borrow Ian's little chair to sit on. The clutch doesn't feel too good, but at the moment I can live with it. I pulled it back in (so we know first and reverse work) and now it's time to start actually putting things back together, and getting the brakes to work. I have exactly four weeks to go.