My wife once told me I was absolutly right. I of course immediatly battened down the hatches. I just try to make a valid contribution from time to time. The adding of a little levity is to moderate the stress and frustation that can occur while in the middle af a problem. If I were smarter it might be like water rolling off a duck. But I am not. Other than understanding that if I get mad or frustrated with a problem I loose. My knowledge is minimal. I also find it very hard to venture an opinion as the only insite into the individual is by what he has previously posted. Also I am physically removed from the problem so my senses of feel, sound and sight are not allowed to aid what little judgement I posess. A while ago I suspected you already knew the cause of your problem but could not grasp it. I was not sure of the cause but suspected you really might have been aware of it. Your experience on this model car led me to that conclusion for one thing. So I got out on a limb and thats why I qualified it as not really sure I should respond to your post. I always encourage newcomers as well to start to work on their own cars. That way they will bond with their cars. There are far worse things to get involved with and by and large our wifes are somewhat tollerent of the activity. One of my favorite expressions. The road to restoration is paved with dollar bills. I advocate that newcombers again have the destination well targeted and understood before travelling on that road. A person should do at least one partial refubishment just to gain the insite of what the whole trip would involve. You have done that. It is a loss to themselves if they do not. The educational component alone is worth the trip. You have kind of partially inoculated yourself from being ripped off as well. It will of course still happen from time to time but at least you are then aware of it. I watch people get ripped off almost on a daily basis unfortunatly. They posses no awareness at all it is occuring. Another skill it promotes is learning the art of buying cheap during parts hunting. There are many many more skills involved as well. That knowledge and ability impacts other components of your life very heavily. Keep starting new threads as they are interesting and informative and make people think. I know I learn a lot from them. Although you cannot paint my car. Now that was a classic. This site is also a premium quiz show. The only difference from a normal one is we all win. I hope this site goes on for future generations.