The Truck is Finished

Today, we’re all back to the office after a three-day weekend, but the to-do list is short. We knew that the tailpipe replacement needed to be done at an exhaust shop, and then we had to paint over the rust converter we laid down yesterday. With the help of the time change, I got up before work and ran the truck over to a shop in West Tulsa that Evan recommended.

The original tailpipe was entirely rusted and made of holes, some of which coughed their way out at the start of this enterprise. But the exhaust shop called me mid-afternoon to let me know that it was worse than I realized — because of course it was. The muffler was a) also full of holes, and b) too rusted to have a new pipe welded onto it anyway. But for less than I had feared, he could replace the whole business and he could do it today. So I asked him to proceed.

The new tailpipe doesn’t stick so far outside the body of the truck and both it and the muffler are properly drained to that steam and condensation can drip out. On further inspection the catastrophic rust in the old system — and potentially the epic steam clouds I get when I start the truck in cold weather — could be blamed on no drain holes anywhere on the old muffler or exhaust pipes.

I should also point out that it was fun to drive it around town.

Back at the house, I went out for a run before it got dark. Then we laid down a few layers of “rusty metal” color primer in the rust spots we treated yesterday. Between coats, I ran down to UHaul to fetch another tow-dolly.

The paint job is pretty contained and the color is decent — but definitely noticeable. It may not be a good look, but it is definitely not the worst area of paint damage. It also buys me a good amount of time to figure out what, if anything, I want to do about all of that.

As I walked back in, Evan and I came to the realization: The Truck is finished.

Well, this round anyway.