Truck passed inspection. Nice thing about old vehicles is that they only check safety...which I 100% assure you is legit. Heck it even still has it's catalytic converter intact.
Cruised around town a bit and the trans is not happy at all. In addition to the (possible) throw out bearing rattle, the trans itself sounds like a blender full of broken glass. Really regretting cheaping out the no name ebay rebuilt special now. Never felt quite right from the get go and I've driven other manual explorers including another member's manual Explorer with a stock trans and it felt completely different.
My spark with this truck has been dwindling and it kills me to watch it sit in the garage in pieces. The whole 20 minutes on the road today helped rekindle something in me. I was at a light next to an Aston Martin Vantage, sexy little green machine, yet people were staring at my rolling Mad Max reject of a vehicle. I missed seeing those looks of "Nice!" and absolute disgust from some yuppie in a Lexus. My mechanic was happy to see it roll into his shop this week.
Then there's the thrill of driving it. It's slower than I remember. Like whale poop on a cold day slow. But the engine still sounds happy and shifting at 3K RPM brings that satisfaction that you can't quite describe but tickles the happy part in your brain. Chirping the tires leaving every exit makes me giddy. She still got the torque that picks that sagging front end right up. The cabin, while a little cramped, is pretty comfy with the leather seats and bat-wing vent windows. All my efforts of sound deadening paid off well enough that you can still hear the rattles and the cam lope but not annoyingly so. Sure there's misc wires hanging from the ceiling and switches that don't work anymore but it brings a sort of Millennium Falcon charm to it. Except she starts. Every. Single. Time. Them OHV's want to run.
Realistically the plan is to run it til the trans grenades and start accumulating replacement parts. I want to get some enjoyment out of it before it goes back in the garage for another six months. We'll see what comes up on marketplace if I replace the trans completely or have it rebuilt. Investing in a trans jack this time.
Sorry for the tangent. I haven't slept much the past few weeks. Here's some proof of life to let y'all know this isn't just a fever dream. (The grey primer is really growing on me over the rat rod flat black.)
