Get the old ford running
A few things need to do to: change battery, check/change oil and coolant, check mechanics and get a new MOT. Talked to a local garage, a full service plus change battery costs around 200 pounds.
I decided to change battery myself, so to save 20 quid. And forget the full service, just get it on road safely will be fine. After all, it is a temporary one.
Brought a new battery from local halfords. For 1993 Ford 1.8 TD, it is HB093-with square terminals. (I didn’t check before going there, so had to go there twice.)
Change battery is dead simple; first release the red terminal (carries 12v power) then the black terminal (earth). Mount in the reverse order: black then red.
However, I have trouble on removing hex blots that fix the battery. There is no enough space to put the wrench in and build the torque. After 30 minutes or so trying with sore arms, I gave up. What I really need is long arm extended socket wrench that can be used virtually from above space. So went to a local home improvement shop and borrow the tool, problem solved in one minutes.
My old mate is shiny and sound now, one turn start: the familiar tractor like engine noise and suffocating fume.
Lesson learnt:
1) Get yourself ready before crack-on; it will only cost more for paying the debt later.
2) Having right tools are important. It saves time, energy and money. In my case, it is mission impossible without the right tool.
3) Use it or lost it. If I could spend one hour a week to get the old car warm up and running, probably I wouldn't need to spend this money now. And it cost nearly nothing to run it one hour a week.
Archaeology sake, invention on tools such like sharp edge stone, wheels are the turning point of human civilisation. So as in software engineering, synchronous business change request and code implementation seemed like a dream before we have Continuous Integration and Test Driven Development tools: CC.NET, NUNIT. We should always ourselves: can we have some tool to do this? (So we can have more time drinking coffee.)
