There are some things money can't buy...

For everything else there are garbage bags full of pop bottles in the garage...

Hose clamps: 4 at 29 cents each.
Radiator hose, 3 feet at 1.20 per foot.
Super cool Tool Kit, christmas gift from the in-laws.

Grand total: $4.76

Fixing the wifes van before she has to leave for work, priceless.

Those of you that read Jen's blog know that her van sprung a leak, and we went and got it this morning to limp it back to Brighton. After crawling under there to look we noticed the leak was from the steel pipe that lead from the front of the van to the back. It was rather rusty in one spot, just behind the front tire. There where two lines, one I assume to take the coolant to the back of the van, the other as a return line. Both had about 6 inches of rubber hose in the, in exactly the same spot. The one line rusted out right at the rubber hose. So, I cut the rubber hose off, bought some more and slipped it over the rusted out spot and clamped it down. Apparently I didn't get enough though because it sprung a leak a littler farther up from there. Right at the bracket that held the two steel lines to the top of the van.

When it didn't work I got pissed off and came in side, figuring I'd have to replace the whole steel line, which has pressure fitting on it, so there was no way I was going to get it off. After about 10 minutes of playing FFXII I figured what the hell, if I have to replace it anyway I might as well see if I can fix the problem before hand, the worst I can do it fuck it up, but it already has to be replaced. So, that in mind I grabbed the hack saw and cut the line just behind the rusty parts. So that there is good steel showing. Then I headed up to Autozone and got another 2 feet of hose and cut it to the right length. I pushed it on to the steel until there was a good 2 inches of steel inside the hose and then put on two hose clamps. The other end went on just right. We now have a little over a foot of rubber hose as apposed to the 6 inches there was before, but it appears to be holding. I took the van out and got it up to temp the brought it home and let it idle for about 15 mins. No leaks as of yet.

Just going to have to let Jen drive it for a bit and see how it holds up. There is a gallon of anti-freeze in the van just in case.

Oh, and everything was payed for with Pop bottles.