so after a week of bullshit...
friday night she calls me. there is steam/smoke pouring from the motor, and the engine is knocking like a mofo. since its raining, fuck if im going to figure out the problem. leave the car that night, take mine to go grab a bite to eat - it dies a mile from the house. wtf?
looking at the 240, the coolant REEKS like it's burnt. there is ORANGE shit all over the motor. makes me think its a bad water pump. makes sense, right? the overflow tank is almost full.
next day, replace the alternator and battery in the mirage, good to go. drive hers to the shop (remember, its still pouring) and they will fix it tuesday. good. it sits saturday, sunday, and monday.
get word that its a blown radiator hose, and the two injector o-rings i didnt replace are now leaky. lovely. they replace the hose/o-rings, flush the coolant and let the car idle for an hour. no overheating. no knocking.
pick it up yesterday to a bill of $100. not bad for a few hours diagnosis and $20 worth of parts.
this saturday begins the removal of the busted p/s pump and idler pulley, the looping of the p/s lines, moving the battery to the trunk, using that fucking maf adapter finally and putting the air filter on the throttlebody side of the motor instead of up over the fan shroud like stock. also ordering a slim fan to mount to the radiator so we can remove the fan shroud and clutch. then removal of the REST of the a/c system. if i feel like it, then the front end goes on