I just needed to post how satisfied I am with my weekend's projects, and how grateful I am to this board for giving me the confidence to do it all.

Friday night when I got home from work, my new odometer gear was there, and I replaced that. BTW, odometergears.com rocks. When the first the gear never showed up in the mail, I sent an email to Jeff Caplan, who immediately sent another. First rate service and FAST.

My next project, started on Saturday morning, was the dreaded blower motor!!! I reviewed all the posts from the past to get my bearings, and dove in. Started at 10:30 a.m. and finished around 3:00 p.m. Not bad, from what I've read about other's experience. Granted, I knew what I was getting into, because this was the 2nd blower motor job I've done (different 240). The first one I've done was BEFORE I discovered the brickboard.com. What was the most helpful bit I learned here? Remove the seats!!!!! Makes the job tons easier. I wish I'd thought of that the first time.....

Sunday was the day for a quick oil change. I used to use Fram filters (I know, I know...) but when I placed my order to eeuroparts.com I splurged on a case of Mann filters. I was suprised to see that by buying the case, the price was comprable to the Frams at Walmart. For now on, its gonna be a no-brainer for me. BTW, I use Walmart brand 10-W30 synthetic oil. Does anyone have any comments or opinions (proverbial can o' worms here...) about the Walmart brand oil? I change it out more often than most people say you need to change synthetics, about 3000 to 4000 miles.

The final jobs were to try to clean up the hazy, faded headlight lens and to try to fix the annoying chattering windshield wipers. I was pleased to see that the rubbing compound removed about 75% of the yellowing. My wiper job was not so successful. I've tried bending, twisting, everything to the wiper arm to get them aligned properly. I've tried scrubbing the heck out of the windshield with a mildly abrasive product made for windshields. I've tried cleaning and replacing the wiper blades. The one variable that I haven't accounted for is that I like to use RainX. Could that be the problem??? Does that stuff collect road grime and cause the blades to stick and jump? Does RainX break down or soften the rubber in the blades? I put on RainX brand blades, and the problem still occurs, but not as soon or as severly, yet... Comments please...

Thanks to everyone for their advise and encouragement. The amount of $$ I save by doing my own work is incalculable, not to mention the satisfaction of being self-reliant.

Respectfully,
Doug