Another project for Igor

Last night I posted our September expenses report. And I mentioned that didn't include the mechanical repairs we had done to Igor since they will go into our capital expenses which include the cost of the vehicle itself. So I wanted to tell that part of the story.

As well... we just ordered a fancy new furnace for Igor... more money!

Just to give you the backstory on the mechanical repairs... we have just finished driving Igor to Nova Scotia and back. Overall, he ran really well. But there was a minor shudder in between gear shifts that only happens occasionally. I stopped into a transmission shop to get their opinion, and the guy suggested that it wasn't the transmission at all... that perhaps there was a misfire. I did some research, and other stories corroborated this idea. I had a quick look at the spark plugs (without actually removing them) and they looked ancient. In fact, I'm convinced that Igor has never had a tune up!

So, back in Ottawa I had booked him in for a tune up. Also, I noticed that there was a pulsation coming from one of the front brakes and it seemed to be getting worse quickly. I asked to have that looked at as well.

The tune up consisted of spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor. I would normally do something like this myself, however I had read that three of the spark plugs are very difficult to access without the right tools, and even with the right tools, it's a 6.3 hour job... at $153 CAD ($113 USD) per hour! 

The parts were definitely worn and needed replacement. The mechanic agreed that they were probably original.

Igor was running well before, but he runs even better now. And probably with more horsepower and improved fuel economy. The minor transmission problem seems better, but it's still there. They wanted almost $1,000 to do a flush and filter and refill, without knowing if that will fix the problem either. I'm going to get another opinion from a specialist transmission shop.

The brakes had passed both safety inspections, one in Ontario at the end of June, and one in Nova Scotia at the beginning of August. But the front pads were getting worn, and the calipers were sticking. We decided to do it properly and machine the rotors and replace the front pads and calipers. The rear brake shoes and drums will also need replacing soon, but they are fine for now and that type of work is much cheaper in Mexico!

The bill for the tune up and brakes was parts $1,164, labor $1,786 and tax $388. Total of $3,374 CAD ($2,500 USD).

Yikes. 

But, now it's done.

We said thanks and goodbye to Glynda, and went and picked him up yesterday morning. Then we did some grocery shopping to restock the fridge, and headed over to say hi to my mother and older sister.

Kevin, Glynda, and Ruth.

While we were sitting there talking to my mom, I received an email from the company that does this fancy gasoline fired furnace. I had sent them a note last week asking some questions, including a delivery time frame. It has to be shipped from Vancouver.

This is what we are buying... https://generalcomponents.com/product/bison-2000a-heater-kit/

Igor's current 31 year old furnace works perfectly. However, perfectly isn't very good. These old propane furnaces are notoriously inefficient. They use a lot of propane and a lot of electricity. 

Of course the idea is to be in a climate where you don't need to use the furnace. However we know from our 17 years of motorhome experience around the world that we will occasionally be in areas where we need some heat, usually in the evening or first thing in the morning to take the chill off.

They have been selling these types of heaters for several years now, but normally only running off diesel fuel. These gasoline fired ones are fairly new, and there aren't a lot of reviews out there. I asked in the Airstream B190 group if anybody had installed one, and one guy had installed a slightly more expensive brand and he was really happy with it and said it took him about a day to install it.

The fact that it runs off gasoline means that I can tap right into Igor's main fuel tank. In fact there is already a gas line that used to run the generator that has since been removed. And it will use far less electricity.

Total cost including shipping and taxes was $1,247, although I see on their website that the price is now lower than it was yesterday. I'm going to have to ask about that!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bedroom Air Purifier. Take 50% off at checkout using code OLZ8WDAS

And in Canada...

Check out the deals at Amazon.ca.