Any Mechanics Here? Help, We Need Advice

I almost cry seeing the picture, although they weren't photogenic..Their beauty didn't come thru in pictures.

 

The St Bernard's are the real killers, they hate other dogs and don't need an excuse to attack one. I knew one fella in Nevada that had two of them, he lived on the outskirts of the valley I lived and there were lots of coyotes up there in the hills. The coyotes would come down and lure peoples dogs away then they would attack them in a pack. Cats had no chance to outrun the pack either. So the guy lost several of his cats and he had an old Toyota without an powertrain and it sat down on the wheels , the shifter was removed from the floor hump and open for the cats to escape just jumping up and inside. All the windows were up so the coyotes couldn't get at the cat. He had two St Bernard's that would come out and kill the coyotes. One of my friends I worked with had a Toyota the same model and the body this other fella had was in a lot better shape so he ask him if he could buy it but the guy said not until the cats were all dead or that he decided to move. He did in fact get into touch with this other co worker after I had moved back to Texas and he sold him the Toyota like he promised. We also had Mountain lions coming down out of the mountains after dark to drink and they would take a dog or a cat, the dogs were perfect targets if on a chain or a rope. BLM had a tracker who would come in and track a killer lion down and put him down. I've seen tracks on the 5 acres where I was living after a hard rain and there were two sets one time, the male and the female who were chasing a rabbit because there was also a rabbit trail in front of the two. The width of the paw print of the male was as wide as my hand spread all the way out. It looks so peaceful but they were up there in the higher altitudes just watching down on us. Coyotes would hang around the local dairy farm hoping to snag a calve , and also they would hang around a large pond where the birds would hang around during the heat. They would sit out there all day long waiting for the sun to go down then go down and drink. There were a lot of geese living there in the pond so there was no danger to the other foul , the geese would give out a very loud warning when the coyotes came in close to the waters edge.
24 miles out of town was a 400 acre man made lake that a local silver mine had carved out. All around it was all game reserve and there were dozens of fresh water springs where the game would come in at night and water and sleep all night. I have passed several spots where you knew it was a large animal that had spent the night at a spring due to the size of the spot that it was curled up. Wild Horses and other wild life, really beautiful place and protected. They station a game warden on the acreage. I met one guy there that had lived there in the early 70s and they were trail riding horseback out to the lake to camp and spend the night. That was long before people moved in. It was mostly people living there where I lived that were working at area 51.. Eventually the town got popular and a lot of people moved in over the next 30 years. My Brother moved there before myself and he told me he met the old coroner who had the town on his large area to accommodate, he told the brother that when he first started servicing the area there were no lights and people that needed a coroner would hang a lantern on the porch or fence to help him find the place. There were no paved roads until late 70s going to Las Vegas and the other direction to I-95.

 

I'd never thought of a St Bernard being so aggressive and protective.

 

This reminded me of Elie, a big German Shepard, who when we were coming back from grocery shopping one day, was out in the middle of a dirt road, so we stopped and opened the door and asked her what you doing, you lost.

She was a beautiful dog and jumped right in the Van so I tried to get her out but she was sniffing all the groceries then laid down and wouldn't get out. So we brought her home and Molly and Becky wanted nothing to do with her they just growled at her. She was twice their size.
Anyway, she loved it here inside the house, fed her then bathed her, and that night took her back where we found her and asked different folks if they knew who owned her. They sent us to the house they knew had shepherds. Sure enough one of the girls said does she have a red collar, I said yes, then she said yeah that's Elie. I told her well, I fed her and bathed her so she is good to go. She looked at her sisters and said, can you believe that; he bathed Elie? I opened the truck door and Elie didn't want to get out. They had to drag her all the way into the house.

This was little Becky, she lived to 13 yo. If she didn't like something both sides of her top lip would stick out until she was over it.

So back on topic, headed out to remove alternator smog pump bracket off Van, truck already torn down awaiting new head.

 

"What we working with".
1986 Nissan and 1995 E350 Ford Van.

 

Now mine are gone too, so much for bragging..

Today or tomorrow parts are to be here. i have, fingers,eyes,legs everything crossed in anticipation.

 

They are here for my van.

 

Van parts came, I went out this morning and took all the parts off the van, so I would be ready for new ones. Then figured I would put all tools and everything up till I got parts, as soon as I did, they came in the mail for the van.

So I will get them back out, and get her done.

Still waiting on truck parts.

 

Test; "just to see if the photo stays up".
1986 Nissan and 1995 E350 Ford Van.

 

It's a MIRACLE!!!! I can see!!!

 

If this van is fixed 'which I hope to goodness it will be tomorrow 'we think it will be we may just be here off and on for a few days or we may take a little trip and we have errands to run since we have basically been stuck or limited transportation, just letting you all know.
Also, I need to catch up on some housework.

 

Thanks john and wish us luck on starting that van.
Poor hubby has really beat himself up working on it. He can hardly move his right arm.

 

Got up at 5:30 am, drank a couple cups of coffee and by 7am he was back at it, so hope todays the day.