“Absolutely, not a problem,” he says.
I’ve come to realize that Reno is not only a mechanic but one of the best around. He’s always helping people out and making a lot of money in the process. He does something he loves, something he is passionate about. I’ve watched him work, and it is a sight to behold. He’s talented. There’s absolutely no doubt about that.
People come from all over for his expert hands.
I fight a smile, thinking that after last night, I know exactly how expert those hands are.
CHAPTERTHREE
Reno
Ever since I was a prospect for the club, I have always appreciated the garage. It’s better than what I ever saw growing up, which was usually someone’s way too packed garage attached to their house. My father would always slide under the car and try to fix it, but he never had enough room or tools to really see what the problem was efficiently. At least, not for a while. He eventually saved and bought a one-bay garage on the other side of town and eventually had enough to purchase a lift and then the rest of the tools he’d need to work on cars. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t know anything about vehicles.
The garage here at the Iron Vex MC clubhouse is vast, seven bays long, and two of them have lifts for cars. It’s ironic, considering the club is a motorcycle club, but it’s one of the many ways we can bring in business and help our friends out when the time calls.
Iris asked me to check out her car when I had a free moment, so I have it up on the lift now. She’s told me that she hears a ticking noise that comes from the engine and that sometimes she hears something else. It was hard for me to get an answer out of her, but eventually, I discovered there was a squeaking sound happening on occasion. Those aren’t the only problems. She said that sometimes her car doesn’t want to start at all, and I have a theory I know what the culprit is.
I’ve already been working on her car for about twenty minutes with a bucket rigged under the water pump. Her car’s an older one, and since her timing belt is already worn out, I figured I might as well replace this while I’m down here. It’ll eventually go out, too, so instead of getting back underneath this six months from now, I’d rather take care of them both.
I’ve already loosened the bolts that hold the alternator in position and tapped it until it gave way. The fan belt came off very easily, so I turned my attention over to the power steering belt, but instead of taking anything off, I pushed it out of my way so I could get to the timing case and crankshaft pulley.
Now, this is one of the hard parts. I have to loosen the crankshaft pulley, so I grab a long-arm wrench off the garage floor that I grabbed a while ago and put it over the bolts, loosening it. It takes me a minute since I doubt the car has been fucked with since the last time I did it, but it eventually gives way.
Now I need to remove the timing case. The timing case covers the timing belt and the water pump, and I need to get to both of them.
I proceed to remove the motor mount brackets and then remove the mount. After that, I have to loosen the bolts holding the upper timing cover in place, and it gives me better access to the crankshaft pulley. Finally, I remove the crankshaft pulley and get a good idea of what I’m working with.
The belt looks like it’s about as old as the car is, so it’s about time it gets replaced. I loosen the middle tensioner cog in the middle of the timing configuration, and as I’m loosening the bolt, I push down on the spring and move it downward. Quickly, I tighten the bolt to lock it into place. This gives me some extra room and will give me the ability to remove the belt. There’s absolutely no tension as I take the belt off, and I’m careful, so I don’t turn any of the cogs.
Since I’ve removed the belt, I can now go over to remove the water pump. This is the relatively easy part, so I loosen the bolts on the water pump a little bit at a time, so I’m not draining the coolant too quickly. If I remove them any faster, it could cause the coolant to spray around violently, and I sure as fuck don’t feel like dealing with that mess.
I stand and wait while the coolant slowly drips into the bucket, and eventually, it’s pretty much seizing. I finally remove the bolts and take out the water pump when the drips are barely coming down, meaning it’s practically empty. Once the water pump is out, I remove the old gasket, and since the replacement pump I ordered has a new one, I don’t need to go out and buy another one.
Taking everything off is always the hardest thing to do, in my opinion, and getting the new water pump and belt on barely takes me an hour. Then I’m just putting everything back together the way I found it. I grab every tool I have out on the floor and put them back, then lower the car down. Once I have it off the lift, I open up the door behind it, slide behind the driver’s seat, and start her up. The moment the engine purrs, I take a sigh of relief. I love it when shit goes my way. That’s one of the things I love about doing mechanic work. There’s always an answer to the problem, and it can always be fixed.
Iris told me she hoped that she’d get everything fixed tonight before her master’s degree classes at the college, and thankfully everything went off without a hitch.
I turn the car off and decide to go take a quick shower since I have some grime all over me from working on the car. I scrub away every bit of grease and grime until my skin is clean and change into some fresh clothes before heading back downstairs. Iris is working at Mamie’s right now, and sometimes I forget she’s one of the women who run the joint. It’s been a long time since her sole duties have just been being a barmaid. Those were back in the good ol’ days.
Since Mamie’s isn’t too far away, I walk down the block until I get to the restaurant and walk in through the front door. Iris is behind the counter, putting a ticket on the bar for the cooks when I come up to the counter.
“Reno! How’s everything going?” Iris seems anxious to get an answer from the get-go, so I’m not going to beat around the bush.
“It’s all sorted. I had a spare belt and water pump in the garage, so I got ya fixed up right away.”
Iris’ jaw drops. “What? Really?”
“Yeah, you said you had classes tonight, so I wanted to make sure you were good to go.”
“Wow. Thank you so much. How much do I owe you?”
I wave my hand, “Nothing, but if you wanna pay me in something, pay me in breakfasts.” I love coming here to get food, and she damn well knows it. Mamie’s is pure comfort food, the best around here if you ask me.
“Okay, you got it. There’s one slice of cherry pie left, so let me get that for you,” Iris says, and I nod while I take a seat at the bar.
Valencia comes up in her uniform, and I don’t know how she makes the damn thing look so good. Their uniforms aren’t anything crazy either, just what you’d typically see in an older diner. It’s a yellow dress that stops just above the knees and isn’t really form-fitting, but the girls cinch it around their waists from the aprons they wear, which shows off their body types a little bit. They have a white collar around their necklines which fold out and have a border around the end of their sleeves, which hangs halfway between their elbow and their shoulder. In Valencia’s case, her hair really makes the uniform stand out. “I take it fixing Iris’ car went well?”
“Yeah, it went as smoothly as it could. I’m grateful for it. I don’t like dealing with headaches all the time.”
