Took the first step towards building my shop

[Frank S]

That Mazda saga reminds me of my old axe - I've replaced the handle three times and the head once. It's been too useful to just retire it.

I had an axe like that.
The masda saga all started with my bud making a nuisance bid on an auction so low we thought it would be impossible to win. When he went to pick it up after winning the bid just for giggles and grins he tried to start it, it started but the starter didn't disengage and burned out the Bendix the little truck was straight body wise with still good paint and the interior was surprisingly like new inside. So he drove it up on the trailer and headed straight to see about getting it safety inspected and the starter replaced. after replacement of the starter and a couple emissions sensors it passed inspection He drove it around a few days and noticed the diff had a sound in it and the clutch felt weak so He brought it to me mainly because we wanted a little chase vehicle and one that could be towed behind an RV or a truck for a mode of transportation after delivery or to drive to pick up a truck. the rest so they say is history.
But my rebuilding the engine was because it overheated on me on my way back from inspecting the Prevost RV another friend was buying I could have gotten away with merely replacing a head gasket but with 220,000 miles I decided to pull the engine and go through it instead. it really didn't need the new rod and mains bearings the cam bearings the timing chain or new pistons wrist pins and rings but it got them anyway. I didn't bore it because there was less than 0.003" taper to any of the bores might as well still been a new block the same with not turning the crank as there was no appreciable or even noticeable wear to the old bearings I even saved the old bearings in case we wind up with another engine that just needs a patch job which is something that I would almost never do except for a stationary engine used on a pump or piece of aging equipment, that wouldn't justify the cost of a proper rebuild.
My dad would have done this in a Texas second but not me, he would have split a frog's hair 4 ways if it saved fifty cents, I draw the line on splitting frog's hairs to 3 ways