Thanks so much!

I bought a '93 XLT from my son's girlfriend for $1K a while back. Body was good, ran OK, motor was tired, tranny whined a little, but since I was just going to use it for small jobs aroung the home (Home Depot pick-ups, etc.) it was perfect.

On the way home from her house, the tranny whine got worse and worse, but since it was a Sunday night and I was 100 miles away from home (first bad move), there were no open places to have it checked. By the time I got home, the tranny was so hot, it actually froze in gear in my driveway! Came out the next day and "rocked" it until it popped out of gear and it's been running and shifting OK since then (I filled the tranny with gear oil), but the whine in everything but 4th IS LOUD!

I let the truck sit for several months, debating whether to fix it, sell it, or scrap it. While looking for information on the tranny, I stumbled onto TRS, and I kept coming back to get information again and again. The point is, I got the bug! I'm not a young guy anymore, but I realized that the reason I bought that particular truck in the first place was because I thought it had great lines and reminded me of the simple (good) styling of some of the cars and trucks I owned in the past, plus, it's FUN to drive!.

Since then, I've replaced the tired 3.0L engine with a rebuild from Jasper, put in a new clutch and flywheel and currently have a rebuilt tranny in the garage to replace the "Whiner."

You guys have helped me at every step of the rebuild. When I couldn't get the new clutch to work right, it was MAKG's comment about not overlooking the obvious that led me to find that my carpet got stuck under the master cylinder when reinstalled (just as he said). I was able to fix it. I learned about the Mazda trannies and found that the stupid rubber seals on the top of the tranny had leaked all the fluid out in the first place. You guys taught me that. I found out why my Brake and ABS lights both came on and stayed on when I was driving.

I could go on and on about the things I've learned here, but the point is; this is what I had hoped to find when I first got on the internet in the first place (at the time, it was AOL chatrooms) ; a sense of community between people with similat interests.

Even though I used the site for months, I only joined TRS three days before the site went down, and I sent Jim an e-mail that day saying that the people on this site would help him rebuild, and to hell with everything else! That's exactly what has happened. You guys are really something special. The sense of dedication and professionalism to a "hobbyist" site is amazing.

I just wanted to take a couple minutes to say "thanks" to all of you who contribute to the site, and especially to Jim Oaks and his staff for the foresight to develop the site, the dedication to make it great, and the determination to keep it going at all costs, for the benefit of all of its users.

In my middle age, I've got a new hobby that's giving me a lot of FUN! Who'd a thunk?

Give MAKG some props by adding to his reputation--there's a little balance-scale icon for that on the bottom of the left-side strip of any post a member makes.

Hope you stick around. It's been people like you that have been the core membership of this place through the thick and thin.

Welcome. Stick around, you now have experience to contribute. got pics?

Thank you for your post, RadDadsRanger. Wow! You have described perfectly what makes TRS what it is. Welcome aboard, sir, and by all means please stick around and share in this RBV insanity that we all share. I've never seen a better first post from a member.