Carrying spare parts under the hood.
I put a new fan belt the suburban today, the old one wasn’t broken, so I put it in the box the new one came in and tucked it inside the front fender.
There’s a surprising amount of space inside a fender, I’ve tucked old radiator hoses, tuneup parts, belts, whatever fits. And they’ve come in handy. One time, I hit a really big pothole up the the national forest, hidden by snow, that cause the fan to slice the upper radiator hose. Luckily, I had an old one in the fender, other wise it would have been a long cold walk (20 miles of deep snow). And the box? It has the part # on it, so when I need a new one I can be sure they give me the right one.
Good post. It reminds me of a trick my dad used with his 70’s model Pinto. He used to keep an extra quart of oil (just in case) in a cavity near where the hood/fender/firewall all met, I believe behind the washer fluid resevoir–but I can’t remember exactly as I was only about 9 at the time.
At any rate, keep up the interesting posts. I enjoy reading your blog.
Comment by yelkeew — March 15, 2006 @ 3:48 am