With a little bit of the Saturn profits I purchased a used Miller 135 tig machine for $300. It came with the cart and a full 11 lb spool of .024 wire. I am pleased since my old tig machine was a Solar brand and the wire stayed hot all the time, what a pain to weld with plus it only held 1 lb spools of wire. I will use my exisiting 75/25 bottle on the new cart!

I went to pick a part today after Alero parts. Car-part.com said they had 3 Aleros. I called first and they told me how long they had been there and that the ones that had been there over a year were probably gone. All three were still there, I got a color correct bumper cover and all the plastic parts to make it fit for $100.00. I even grabbed the twin horn set for my Saturn.

Got the nose fixed on the Alero and took it for a short drive. Still a nice car, now for some maintenance. Parked it in the shop overnight and I came out to coolant on the floor. I ordered a new waterpump, thermostat, belt, tensioner and gaskets. Another $125 from Rock Auto. This car has brand new Toyo Eclipse tires and a new battery just before my grandson tore the nose off it. This will make someone a good car, not as nice as the Saturn but still a good car. This car has the same L61 4 cylinder engine as my L200.

Welder update, I purchased an 11# spool of .030 and some tips at Harbor Freight. I used the welder again today on some free standing oil heater maintenance. These are the inexpensive ones from Walmart. The heaters work well but the supports that come with them are way to light duty. They have small wheels that are really not needed. I made new cross supports out of some 1” channel and some 5/16 carriage bolts for feet. Two heaters back in service for winter. We heat the main part of the house with wood so these are just fill in heat at the extreme ends of the house.

Still using the .024 so I don’t know yet.