After having dinner with Ethan and Meredith, I got to work on the car for day 3. The timing belt cover was back on, so this time I had to replace the valve cover, crank pulley, alternator, and power steering pump. Then I had to refill oil and coolant.

The valve cover turned out to be harder than I thought. The gaskets needed to be replaced, and it was hard to get the old gasket around the perimeter off. Plus, the gaskets for the spark plug holes and valve cover bolts were a pain. This is an instance where it's easy to do once you figure out the right way, both in getting the gaskets off and replacing them. I'm not sure I found the best way to do it, but my methods worked. The hardest part was pressing the gaskets for the bolts, which keep the gasket between the bolt head and a flanged out area closer to the threads. The only way I could press it in was with my bench vise (a great investment!) using a socket from my socket wrench set. The socket held it right and allowed the bolt to go past the pressing point. Until I figured this one out, I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

The alternator was a pain as expected, but the power steering pump gave me more difficulty. First I sheared the bolt that held the tensioning assembly in place using my torque wrench. I found another bolt holding some wiring down and used it in the sheared bolt's place. Then I got the whole thing reinstalled and realized that I couldn't get the bolt that holds the power steering fluid reservoir into place. There wasn't enough clearance. Trying to work around this problem cost me probably a half hour.

But when I started the engine, it worked fine! It was quite exciting, in fact. I had turned the crank for the engine a couple of times previously to make sure that the pistons didn't hit the valves. But this was the real test, and the car is running!

My last mistake was forgetting to tighten the wheel nuts after I lowered the vehicle. I drove it all the way to work and realized my mistake. Thankfully I hadn't driven on the highway and lost the wheel. That would have been bad!

This last day took a while to finish up. I was done at midnight, and it probably took 4.5 hours. That brings the total to about 13 hours. Was it worth it to do it myself? I think so. The job at the shop I normally use would have been $650. I spent about $200 on parts and $100 on tools. That's a savings of $350, which is higher when you consider that money saved is like tax-free income. If my marginal tax rate is 25% (a low figure), then I would have had to earn $466 (about $35 an hour) to offset the extra money I would have paid someone else to do it. I can handle that.

My wife and son, however, are a different story. I did miss out on being with them. It consumed most of my free time for three days. I did get to interact with them somewhat, but from that perspective it may not have been worth it. Meredith was a trooper, and Ethan was asleep for most of the time. The original plan was for me to do it all on a weekend, but Ethan would definitely have not liked not playing with daddy for that long.

Of course, if I ever choose to do this again, the numbers will change:

• $350 of savings becomes $450 because I don't have to buy tools again.
• 13 hours becomes maybe 10 hours because I understand the job better.
• $35 an hour becomes $60 an hour.

That definitely sweetens the deal, doesn't it? I just hope that Meredith sees it that way.

-Brent