Yikes! I wonder if it is lack of skilled labor to repair lines. Could be that way all over the country. My neighbor was a lineman but he died years ago.
It makes a world of difference. Both Walmart (online only) and Amazon sell them, within a few cents of each other ($26.) If you're not already doing it, grease those o-rings with something like these that they sell at Lowes: Either one will get you an improved seal and make the canister easier to remove later (and will make it less likely to rip the o-ring.) Get some disposable gloves to wear when you apply it because the stuff is extremely tacky and it does not wash off your fingers easily. Last bit of unsolicited advice is to replace the o-rings if you've not done it in a while. I [usually] change my filters 3x/year and replace the o-rings every 2-3 years. It's such a pain-in-the-butt job, I do whatever it takes to make it easier.
Back to staining the deck. I got it bleached out and clean and then it rained and rained and... So I gave it some days to dry and now will attempt to actually start staining one level at hubby's house. By the weekend, I hope to do the decks at the farm. I will pick some beans today too.
I have been moving along since I feel better and there is so much to do. My pumpkins look fantastic and I will need someone to help me pick them up. But they are not quite there yet. Still working on decks. Should I stain the railings? They don't look so bad...Of COURSE I should stain the railings. 4 days of no rain coming! Cub mower running again. Should I mow the small lawn for which it is perfect? Hmmmmm... And then there is my favorite house cleaner on youtube. Addressing another project for fall: But she leaves out the most important suggestion: What to do with the big garbage bags of stuff that was ON all the horizontal surfaces? I don't think the house looked that good when it was new
My Mazda has been out of warranty for a year so I bought some performance parts to put on it. There is a place called Corksport that specializes in after-market stuff for Mazdas. I bought a Short Ram Intake (SRI) for the turbo with the optional heat shield, and a "boost tube" replacement for the factory turbo tube. I installed the SRI and the heat shield this afternoon. I am not a mechanic, but I can swap parts. The SRI replaces the factory air filter assembly, and the heat shield prevents hot engine air from going into the intake, keeping the turbo relatively cool. When you use the heat shield, you scavenge the OEM fresh air duct, since the shield partly walls off the filter. These pics are from the installation manual: ............Factory Air Filter Assy...........................SRI Installed....................................SRI With Heat Shield.............. I'm not certain that I like it. I'll have to live with it for a while. The idea is that it increases responsiveness, you eke out maybe 16hp, and more importantly, you can now hear the turbo whine and you can also hear the Blow Off Valve release (pffffffff.) The factory air filter and it's housing are designed to dampen these noises. The sounds are rather fascinating, because you can hear when the turbo kicks in and you can hear it operate. I also want to see how (or if) it will affect mileage. I also bought a Turbo Boost Tube. This goes from the air supply to the turbo. The factory tube is very thin, and a lot of energy is lost because it expands so easily. Reviews talk of how much more responsive the turbo is with this upgrade, so I really wanted to get it installed. This should be a very easy swap, except that one of the factory clamps is inaccessible (you know how vehicles are assembled these days.) I took the tube in to the dealer when I just had work done for them to install. I figured that where is goes was obvious...no paper instructions come with it (they saved a sapling) and I did not print the pdf. After all, you just take out the factory tube and replace it with this one. Well...apparently there are 3 turbo tubes at different locations, and the mechanic thought it belonged elsewhere so he hacked off 1/3 so it would "fit." THEN he went online and realized what he had done. It's not really his fault. They reimbursed me for it, and said the next time I come in for an oil change, they'll install it for free. Apparently that one clamp is readily accessible from underneath the car while they're changing the oil. I'd do it myself, but there are panels covering the underneath (cuts down drag to get 0.5MPG extra) and I've not even looked to see how they remove/install. I'm not sure what I'll do. I don't want to wait a year to get this installed.
Comparison............A 1970 Buick Riviera... One of the old guys I worked with in 1970 was complaining that the engine compartment was too big and you had to bend over to work on it. He had worked downtown Houston for Al Parker Buick for 35 years. He told me how he and his sister would ride a mule to Rosenburg for a weekend dance, then as he got a bit older had a Model A Ford that he would drive to the dance. His engine started knocking so he said he crawled under the car and used a pair of pliers to remove the bolts from the oil pan saving the oil, got it off and found the loose rod so he took off his leather belt and cut a piece to wrap around the crank. He put the pan back on and drove on to his dance. Heh In those olden days there were no bearings only babbit and splash fed so I believe him that the knock stopped. Mains and Rod caps had to be re machined when overhauled. A lost art for sure. I ran into the guy after I had left and worked at several other dealers and he had retired long before I ran into him but he still looked healthy and was working on cars at home. The first time I saw a new Ford ROD that was not flush machined I actually thought it was an accident at the factory. They used a cold hi power press to snap the caps into. Each rod cap was unique and would not interchange because it had small little pyramids on the rod and cap surface area. It really blew my mind seeing that. I loved working on those Turbo Volkswagen, it was the Bug model late 90s and it was really spunky and fast using a different brand engine which for the moment I forget, but it was very nice because it had just a couple sensors and that was all it needed. I think it was a Perkins Diesel but they used so many different 4 and 5 cylinder engines it would be hard to say.
The only time I ever heard my hubby swear out loud was when he was climbing around the engine compartment of a bullet nosed Studebaker I got him as a present.
My Brother bought an early Commander for 90 dollars in San Diego. He drove it a while then pulled the engine to rebuild it. He did get the engine rebuilt and it sat in my Mother's garage for several years before he finally sold the car. I think he paid 75 dollars for one connecting rod. I don't know how it is today but if you needed hard to find parts back then, you could find it in California. The interesting thing about the Studebaker Commander was the simple engineering, which the Commander had toggle switches on the dash. It had a 2nd radiator under the front seat to heat the car seat and they named it the Climatise-r. The air cleaner on the engine looked like something you would see on an old aircraft, a large formed rubber hose to the carb, Filter can bolted to the passenger side of the firewall. I would think that car is still around today after 50 years. The guy that sold the car to my Brother gave him the actual factory service manual which in it's own right would be worth a lot today. I ran across another Commander in Las Vegas with original paint and it looked really good. I believe the owner said he wanted 16000 for it like it was. Of course my Brothers was all intact also and looked as good but that was quite a few years before I saw the one in Vegas. My second car I owned before the Army was a 54 Chrysler Fluid drive. Really great car and I only paid 50 dollars for the car.