Battle of the Bolt. Pt 2

A cold breeze blew over the open bonnet and ruffled my hair - I evidently needed more gel in it, it wasn’t supposed to move. I shivered, it was a chilly morning, clouds sat low in the sky and there was a hint of rain. I hoped it’d hold off long enough for me to get this bolt off. 1

I’d spent the previous day making a tool to anchor the pulley to the chassis to remove the bounce - it would make things easier to smack the bolt off. 2

Bending over, I bolted the tool on, feeling proud of my amazing machine work - and at the same time lucky to have the skill to be able to make up tools when I needed. 3

Re-attaching the socket and my nice sturdy, high-tensile steel bar to the bolt I went to fetch a hammer - sledge out of preference - but I couldn’t find it. So I grabbed a smaller one and stomped back to the car. 4

‘Alrighty there,’ I growled. ‘I tried to be nice to you, I just wanted to change one belt to keep you from blowing up - but you don’t want me to, so I’m going to have to get pushy. Hope you’re ready for that!’ 5

With that, I took hold of the bar, and swung the hammer. 6

Clunk. 7

Clunk. 8

Clang. 9

Ding. 10

‘ARGH! Bloody hell! Friggen hammer…’11

Bing.12

Bong. 13

Bounce. 14

Bend. 15

Shudder. 16

Clunk. 17

Boing. 18

Pant.19

Clang. 20

Clang. 21

Clang. 22

Clunk.23

With one final swing, and yet another clank I dropped the hammer on the grass and stood, chest heaving and glowering at the car. 24

‘Screw this…’ 25

***26

Returning after having a drink and cooling off a bit, I pondered. How the hell was I going to get that bolt off? Maybe I’d have to send it down to Toyota for them to stress over it. 27

Ah well, while I couldn’t get that bolt off for now, I could change the oil. 28

I fell over backwards on the tarp and lethargically worked my way under the car until I could see the oil plug. Quickly working out the plug size I set to work getting it off. 29

‘Come on you little bugger…’ I muttered, straining against it. There was a creak and I felt the plug move. 30

‘Ah-hah! Thought you could hold out against me did you? Well take this!’ I gave another mighty push and felt a bit more movement. 31

Feeling happy that something was finally going my way I worked on the plug. Soon it was turning easily. Grinning from ear to ear I kept unscrewing. 32

And unscrewing. 33

And unscrewin…34

Wait a moment… Which direction was I turning the plug?35

Frowning I mentally flipped myself over and tried to sort out which direction I should be undoing it. 36

‘Oh shi…také mushroom!’ I shrieked, banging my head repeatedly against the grass as I realised I’d been tightening the plug. So tight, in fact, that I’d stripped the thread off it. Which was why it wasn’t unscrewing. 37

***38

It took me a day to get the plug out, and make another one to replace it. But eventually I managed. 39

I sent it down to Toyota a week later to change the timing belt.