Haven't had the chance to sit down and write lately - been spending a lot of time in the temporary man-cave I setup in the garage. I took all the cars out and parked the Samurai on jack stands while I spent the last week (trying) to swap out suspension parts, and other doo-dads in preparation for this year's Death Valley excursion. I am by no means a mechanic, which pretty much explains a 5 hour turnaround last weekend to remove 3 tires. Wheel threads were all seized up and one stubborn stud broke free from the rear drum so it was rotating along with the nut. I had to drill it out. Fun times.

Last night I installed new window channel guides, new window regulators, and cleaned up the muck on the windows using Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. That stuff is truly magic, I took out a LOT of paint overspray on the glass from the previous paint job. Hopefully I get around to doing the same to the windshield, there's a lot of paint I want to get rid of, and this Magic Eraser deal really just rubs it out without damaging the glass at all.

I'm expecting more parts to come in through the mail (thank you Low Range Offroad), and should hopefully have the Samurai back on wheels tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Other stuff I need to do is replace the defective thermostat (taking it to a mechanic for that one, I don't want to drain anything from the cooling system), wire back up the cigarette lighter assembly, scrub the muck and grease off the flooring, pack my stuff, and of course, plan our route around the desert!

There's nothing like heading out and away from the familiar city. Samurai, you shall be my mountain goat. Hehe.