The Beast: Archival Footage Found

I haven't been posting much on the Beast recently.  That will change.  One of the wonderful lifestyle features of living in the suburbs is the requirement to drive.  And, not just around the corner, mind you, I mean EVERYWHERE.  We have a family car we bought in June 2009.  Less then three years old, and we just ticked past 48,000 miles.  The Beast was purchased so we can ride around in a little style.  The kids love it, because there are no airbags, so the boy can sit in the front seat.  Ah, the little things when you're 9.

The Beast is a 1972 International Harvester Scout II.  I bought it in May 2010.  Since purchasing it, we've replaced the fuel system (tank, hoses, filters), rebuilt the transmission, replaced the clutch, purchased new tires and added an exhaust system as previous owners had cut the tailpipes right in the middle of the car under the front seat.  Imagine the smell coming through the rusted floor at stop lights.  Yummy.

Searching for parts on Google, because let's be honest, having an old car is a never ending search for parts, I came across the above video.  I'm guessing it's a previous owner showing it off for sale.  Those beautiful tires you see I think were sold off by a later owner before me, as we received four mismatched tires.  Try keeping a truck with four different sized tires and a shaky front suspension on the freeway.  Scary.  We, however, will be using the video as a good reference point to show where we started.  And, don't worry about any of the rust you see, Scout's actually rolled off the assembly line with rust.

Rodents are F-ing up My Day!!!

Damn rodents.  And, no, not the gopher this time.  Although, it's still a son of a bitch.  However, it seems to have vacated as we threatened it with the new contraption and then said we'd throw good ol' medieval at it for shits and giggles!  And eat it!!  That seems to have done the trick.

No.  These are cousins, I believe, although I'm not sure what rodents they are.  Rats, is what I'm guessing.  Maybe opossums, but I think those are too big.  Anyway, came home from work today and was planning on enjoying (and reviewing!) a proper beverage.  When I got home, I decided to first fire up the old Scout, as she hasn't been driven in a while and the last time I started her she, well, didn't start.  It was pouring down rain at the time, and she doesn't like being soggy, so I chalked it up to that.  Today, she fired right up.  Atta girl!  Went for a drive around the block, please all take note I did this BEFORE embarking on the proper beverage.  That's called planning.  Make a note.

So, we come on back home and she's making a slight knocking sound that she normally makes when the oil gets a little low.  She leaks oil like it was going out of style.  So, I popped the hood and Sweet Jesus to Betsy the engine's smoking!!!!!  So, I of course froze, because I find sometimes procrastinating for a moment works out for you.  And, it did.  Rather then have some sort of breakdown and run for a fire extinguisher and all the mess it causes I stared at it...and said...that smells like shit.  The old Scout doesn't normally smell like shit.  Exhaust...yes.  Gasoline...yes.  Oil...yes.  Shit...no.  so I took a closer look and found this:

And this:

My engine is covered in feces!!!  Sons of..............blahhhhh!!!!!!  Obviously, some vermin decided to use the warm engine as a home.  As I'm typing, I don't think it was rats.  I did a pretty thorough examination of everything and none of the rubber has been chewed on.  Also, you can see the white fur in there, which is quite fine, so I'm thinking something was trying to nest.  I also found some partially eaten olives on top of the starter.  I think opossums are too big to fit in there, as there really isn't much space.  Maybe I should set a rat trap in there and see what I get.  In the meantime, I cut into my planned beer drinking to clean up rat shit.  So, you'll have to wait for the beverage review.  Try and contain your disappointment.