W: Imperfect Parts Donations Welcome.

PurdyDot

PurdyDot

True Classic
Thought maybe if somebody had done some upgrades and was disposing of the old parts, or happened to be getting rid of some less-than-perfect stuffs, I would ask if they would like to donate them to help turn my little "ugly duckling" into a Pheonix:)
I'm attempting to get my poor little car to the point where it's "drivable".
"Drivable" as in, able to start, stop, and handle speeds up to maybe 45 mph.
Unfortunately, until I can get the car on the road, I have very little in the way of funding.
I can pay for the shipping, but I don't yet know how to go about paying regular people/individuals as I've only used paypal for online purchases through stores.
So I will have to learn or be instructed on how to do that.

Car is a 1980 FI 1500cc with 5-speed.
Location is winfield kansas, which is pretty much the sticks, so shipped is unfortunately the only option since I doubt anyone lives close to here:\
Currently what I know I need the most are:
**List updated to reflect which things have been already taken care of**
**I think the necessities are covered now, thanks everyone:D

**I'm going to cover this myself. You guys took care of enough of the necessary parts that I can fit a new clutch master into the budget:) --Clutch Master cylinder: Mine is totally locked, so even a slightly leaky but still functional one would be better than what I have right now.

**Already Covered, Thanks double again Pete. lol, you're going to get tired of me saying that if you donate much more:) Break pads: All- don't have to be in great condition, just hopefully with enough meat on them to last maybe a few hundred miles.

**mikemo90 says he has these. Thanks sir:D The advice about taking a step back to relax when the project gets frustrating is useful as well;) -Rear brake hoses: PO cut the original ones.

**Pete the Omni-Potent is already sending his old front hoses, so only need them for the rear.

**The xweb member from wichita thinks he has one for me. If not, Rob has kindly offered to fabricate one. Thanks guys:D Right rear steel brake line: this one is cracked open. **will not** be able to repair/splice it because I got in trouble for even thinking about it. but if somebody replaced theirs and was going to trash the old one, that would be better than what I have.**update: met up with the xweb member from wichita over the weekend and he kindly provided the right rear steel brake line and also some rear trunk hinges as well. also some manuals, catalogs, and a book on how to work on sheet metal that should all come in handy. thanks swizzmixx! :D

**Being taken care of, thanks *again* pete. you are starting to look like the Easter bunny. In a good way:D (I would have said Santa Claus but it's a bit early for christmas) Front turn signals: both mine are smashed/broken, old junky cracked ones would be enough to pass the simple road inspection.

**Being taken car of by Pete the Magnificent. Hinges for front trunk: PO cut the originals. old Junky rusty ones would at least hold them onto the car.

**This is covered, Thanks pete!!!** Radiator: mine is twisted, partially rotted, and seems to have a leak up top. So just about anything that still circulates water would be an upgrade.

**TPatcher kindly covering the emergency brake cables I forgot to add to the list. lol Thank you sir:D

**TPatcher also says he found some stuffs to throw in the box that should be useful, don't know what yet, guess it will be a "surprise box". Just wanted to say thanks again, every little bit helps:)
Forgot to include:

**rjplenter says he has these. Thanks Rob! --Driver's side exhaust support bracket and springs. Bracket on my car rusted through and fell off. have one spring that appears like it would work, but I think I read that it needs 3. I could probably build something to replace the bracket when the time comes to drive the car, so this might not be absolutely necessary.

Currently that's the most basic stuff that is needed.

Some other things, which are not absolutely necessary, but would be really nice:
**Kindly donated by Jim. Thank you greatly sir:D 78 or earlier center console in just about any condition. My center console is in good condition, but it's just too wide. I know that my legs fit around the 78 and older consoles from previous experience.

**JimD also going to see what else is handy to throw in the box. Thanks again Jim. You guys are amazing, don't know what I would have done without everyone's help. This has been somewhat of a lesson in buying a car which is supposed to be "Not running, but complete". "Complete", as it turns out, is largely a matter of perspective. As in, if a brake hose is cut in half, and both halves are provided, that is *technically complete*, but not in quite the same way I had imagined:p

**Swizzmixx had one for me. Thank you sir! Thanks for the offer wcarter4, good luck on your X and spider projects! Now when/if I get around to changing out (or just removing) the big ugly 1980 front bumper, I wont feel so much like the car is "naked" ;) -78 or earlier grill: purely cosmetic, not really a need. currently mine has no grill, but I really didn't like the ones from 1980. I really liked the older style ones like my 78 had. would love to find one even if it was cracked up a bit.

**Swizzmixx took care of most of what was left on the lists in one big haul. I still haven't gotten it all cataloged. Thanks again big guy. Hope the JAG is coming along nicely:D

**Russe11 donated some weather stripping for my front trunk/hood:D
Thank you kindly sir!

Rear Brake Dust boot: not an absolutely necessary Item, just happened to remember I am missing one.

Right Front marker light: Broken with a little less than half of the assembly and lens missing, but enough left of the lens to cover the bulb and this light/lens probably isn't necessary to pass the basic inspection necessary to get it on the street. So probably not really a necessity.

I've got a much bigger list of things I need or want to get eventually, but primarily I'm just trying to get it on the road right now.
I'm not expecting to be given all this stuff, but if even one part gets donated, that makes one less thing the car needs, and that money that was saved can be used towards the other, more necessary parts.

Anyway, thanks you for your time, and I hope everyone had a happy Easter:D
 
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I can cover the....

radiator, brake pads and front hoses.

I MIGHT be able to cover the hinges and front turn signals, I'll have to check my parts stash and let you know.

Please do not try to splice your split steel brake line - can be dangerous, brake systems see very high pressure (more than 1000 psi) and if the splice pops it will be very bad news for everyone involved. That's not an area that can be skimped on.

Pete
 
Okaaay, forget I mentioned splicing. I've seen it done so I thought maybe I could get away with it temporarily. I admit it was a naughty thought and I promise I won't do it.

As far as those other parts go, I can't believe it pete.
I mean, seriously. wow.
My little car thanks you greatly and I just wish there was something I could do to return the favor. If you ever think of anything, please feel free to let me know.
When I asked for help getting my little bird off the ground, I didn't mean for you to make it fly single handedly. lol
I will tell my wife that you are donating the parts in trade for making me promise to order the replacement brake line. How can she argue considering what you just saved on my project?
:)
This is something I learned from a thing I came across online, which was actually geared toward helping women to get along with the men in their lives. "Tell them it was on sale, sometimes they just need to hear those 3 little words in order to understand."
It really does seem to help smooth things out sometimes. Either it's on sale, or It saved (this much) money.
She was already impressed when I told her you were sending me brake hoses;)
Anyway, I joke, but seriously. Thank you sir:)
I'll update the post to reflect what is no longer needed.
 
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I have a 77 console that you can have

I have a "not horrible" 77 console that is yours if you want it. You will probably need to alter that dash supports in your car in order to use it, but this console has been sitting in the parts pile since about 2004 and "gone from here" would be an improvement. It was removed from a clapped out 77 in Colby, KS so it is kind of coming home. :) The switches are mostly there with a bit of wire still present where my buddy snipped them.



I will look around for anything else that's in my way and send you a box. PM me with your address. It may take a week or so to get it shipped out, but I really have no use for it.
 
Woohoo!

My right leg thanks you greatly:D I was kind of wondering if I'd just have to mount everything to an old piece of plywood just to get my leg in there. No worries about mount brackets, I've got the motivation and time to work that out, just didn't have the part itself:)
I'll send the address info and update to reflect changes.
Thanks again Mr Jim:D
 
Wife was amused by my post.

She got a bit of a laugh out of that, but the was a bit frustrated that she couldn't add a comment pointing out that she is not actually an ogre and that I'd be much more likely to get a brake line if I do some work on her car.
Suspect that if this were Facebook rather than a FIAT forum, she'd be posting a few more comments as well:p
Unfortunately, it's not nearly as easy to work on her car. It's much more modern which makes it much harder to get my head around it since I was sort of an old-school shade-tree mechanic. So because of some of the weird ways things things were broken and then linked back together as my brain healed, it's sort of like, less a case of apples and oranges, and more of a case of apples and beef or something.
It's just very hard, sometimes even impossible for my brain to consider a 1980 FIAT and a 1992 ford escort as being closely enough related to think of them in the same way. They are just two completely different things to my brain.
I certainly admit that it's somewhat of a mental block and that it's "just me", but the reality is, knowing that doesn't help much because i'm fairly stuck with my own mental capacity/ability and not really able to be somebody else for the sake of convenience.
In other words, it might be "all in my head", but unfortunately, I'm somewhat stuck with my own head. lol
if that makes any sense:p
Anyway, all of that doesn't make it completely impossible to work on her car, it really just makes it so it is a lot harder, and takes me a lot longer to do the same sorts of work on a non-fiat as my already slow fiat pace.
So that actually makes it somewhat of a risk to start working on her car say, friday night, because if I can get it finished and back together by monday morning, she will have no way to get to work.
That's a world of difference from working on my car. As I could pull the engine out friday, get halfway through the job, have a brain seizure or glitch and completely forget what I'd been doing or how to even work on the car for a week or even a month before I could finally get back to the point where I could complete the job I was doing, and in the grand scheme of things that wouldn't be a real problem because nobody in the world is really *depending* on my car being able to drive.
Things wouldn't be as difficult if the economy of this town wasn't in such a bass-akwards state as well.
For example, $10 an hour around here is still a *really good wage* and is actually more than my sister makes teaching kids as a para out at our high school, yet shops around here wanted over $300 just to replace the serpentine belt on her mercury milan.
Her income was really just enough to stay above water with rent/utilities/car payments/etc so no real way to save up that much in any reasonable amount of time, so what's to be done?
Well, I'm free labor, but have a broken brain. So the car had to just sit for 2 weeks while I kept attempting to understand the manual, until finally one day everything just sort of *clicked* and I suddenly knew what I was doing, so I went out and did the job in one day.
Things like that tend to be hard for people to understand, even for my own family who is around me all the time and has a lot of experience with my the weird strengths and weaknesses I have due to the brain damage, so it's no real wonder that they had a hard time believing I'd be able to get this poor little fiat and turn it into an actual running car.
It's simply not even easy for them to understand why/how I can regularly being able to work on the FIAT considering how it's virtually impossible for me do the same kind of thing with other, more modern cars.
Essentially, to my brain, every broken car is sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. But with the FIAT, I have a mental picture of what the picture is supposed to look like when the puzzle is complete, so I can keep slowly working towards putting the puzzle together.
But with other kinds of cars, it's like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle *without* having any sort of reference picture. So it's just tremendously harder to figure out how a lot of it goes together, even if I know that eventually the picture is supposed to be some sort of car.
Anyway, I don't want to weigh you guys down with my life story or problems, I just felt like I should explain why my family is somewhat reluctant to invest money into my FIAT project, at least until I can actually get it going down the road.
It's not that they are bad people, or that they are unsupportive of my attempts to improve myself and get back out into the world, it's just that it's hard for them to see how having a FIAT to work on is any kind of special "key to success" the way I am seeing it.
I think they are definitely starting to see how different things are though, because there's no way not to notice how I've continued to keep putting everything into working on the car since I got it, and the physical health benefits of all of this extra activity.
So it's not that they aren't coming around and becoming more supportive of the project itself either, it's more a matter that things have been changing and happening faster than they've been able to really adjust to.
So yeah, they aren't really ogres or anything, they just haven't caught up yet because for once I'm actually going faster than expected:p
Anyway, thanks again guys for your contributions and help. It's taken a huge load off trying to figure out how to get all the parts I needed to get the car onto the road. Even little things like the used brake pads will be enough to get me by for now, and can be replaced after the car is going down the road.
Heck, after the car is running, if I can come up with a little trailer, maybe I could even like tow around a lawn mower and have a way to earn a few bucks of my own to put into the car or something now that my body is getting better able to handle being out in the weather and stuff.
There was a little thing in the game "the sims" where a crystal ball told a little story. The story went something like, "One day, a house cried out,"Clean me! Clean me!"
A Sim cleaned this house only to find himself the cleaned one."
That's how it is with this project, I'm working on the car not just to fix a car, but in order to help fix myself as well:)
And I thank all of you for helping me to make that dream into a reality.
~~^_^
 
grill

I might have a grill from a '76. next time i get to the "barn o fiats" where i have my parts car i will check and get a pic for you.
 
If you want that console black, I cannot recommend this prodect enough

images
 
It's a Surprise

The only thing I'll tell you that is in the box I just sent, is a working heater valve to replace the one in your car that you will eventually find out is frozen tight! :grin: The rest is a secret. Happy to help and looking forward to the day you pull it out onto the road.
 
Haha! I was just thinking about that last night:D

Remembering how useless things like the Vinyl dyes available back when I was a kid were...
I was kind of wondering what my best approach might be to recoloring that would be.
Actually, the multiple colors of the cans in your picture just gave me an extra idea/inspiration...
I had just been thinking of *black* because the current interior is black...
*But*
What I've been sort of imagining as an eventual goal for the car was a predominantly black interior, but with sort of red highlights and such.
So maybe with the center console, black for the plastic, and red for the vinyl pads?
Seems to look good in my mental picture anyway. lol
I hadn't been letting myself think too far into the future on the sorts of "cosmetic details" because there was so much mechanical stuff that had to be first priority.
*but*
At the same time, I certainly cannot deny how big of a motivator it is when completing even one little thing along the lines of a "finishing touch".
Like getting all of those hoses and wires figured out and connected in the engine compartment was a huge amount of work that I should be amazed that I was even able to get through, but that doesn't even feel like an accomplishment, because it was just one little piece of the initial *getting the car running* step. Like, it doesn't feel like I've accomplished any more than say, tightening a loose bolt.
However, finding and installing a round black shift nob like I wanted to eventually have gave me a disproportionally **HUGE** feeling of accomplishment and sense of pride.
Heck, I even took a picture of it and posted it. lol
All that had required was being lucky enough to find one buried in a box of old parts, and if feels like one of the biggest bits of "progress" that I've made so far.
All that, even though I can't even consider that *completely finished* until I find a little paint pen or something to repaint the lines and numbers on the nob to white.
It's funny how motivation and sense of accomplishment work.
Anyway, thanks for the input.
There's just one problem.
The picture is to small for me to be able to see what the brand name is. lol
Any chance you could send the name or a link so I can look up things like pricing/availability?
If the stuff works really well, I could probably use it for adding various red highlights throughout the interior.
One quick question I have is, if you've used that stuff before...
Would I need to like, do a white "base coat" before using red? or will it end up being bright red either way?
 
Awesome:D

That's seriously great:D
I hated to even mention wanting a grill because you know, it's not really something the car *needs* to be able to drive.
But I just wanted one so darned bad because it's one of those things that makes these cars look so good to me.
Strange as it may seem, I am actually very *proud* of this car despite it's rust and dents and flaking bondo.
How the lack to the cool style *grill* can be the one thing about it's appearance that embarrasses me isn't something I can really explain. lol
For that matter, why having a new style grill wouldn't really feel any better than having no grill at all probably doesn't make much sense either.
But who can explain something like the "passion" that certain old sports cars can bring out in a person, or why they appeal so strongly?
Anyway, thanks again:)
I'll go ahead and mark it off the list.
Happy Easter!!
:D
 
Did you know mine was frozen up, or do you just have ESP?

I can't remember or not if I mentioned it back when I found that a PO had routed around the heater core or not, but I had tried moving the heater sliders and found that it seemed like the valve or something involved was all locked up.
I'd sort of forgotten all about it, so that's great that you anticipated that I'd need one. lol
When I originally noticed it I was sort of like "well, it'll be a while till next winter so I guess I don't really *need* a heater..."
Then when I got car up in the air and saw how bad the radiator was, I was like: "Hmmm, well maybe if I got the heater working and ran it all the time the condition of the radiator might not matter as much..."
haha:p
And the rest is a surprise huh?
This is really feeling a lot like Christmas. Special goodies coming in the mail, Mystery Surprise packages containing... who knoooows? whatsintheboxwhatsintheboxwhatsinthebox!?!?!? Wait, NO! Don't tell me! It's so much more fun this way:)
I'm really going from somebody who could barely handle change, into a person who loves surprises.
It's great:D
Thanks again and Happy Easter!!
~~^_^
Chris
 
Its a safe bet

I don't have ESP :). When an X sits a long time its highly likely the heater valve is frozen. Mine was and even the PO couldn't get it closed. I shot it with PB Blaster with no luck either. Took it off , replaced with new, and threw it in a box. When collecting parts for you I pulled it out (after six + months and to my suprise it broke free. You'll need new seals though. Enjoy!
 
What do you guys think?

When I decided to ask to see if anybody would like to donate some less-than-perfect items to my little project, I scanned over the list i'd been making of *all* of the parts I'd found so far that the car needed, and selected only the ones that were keeping the car the car from being drivable.
My thinking was that if it wasn't *absolutely necessary* then I shouldn't be including it.
My personal weakness did cause me to include the grill and center console which weren't really necessary, but couldn't resist asking, but I tried to limit myself.
Anyway, my question is this: Do you think I should post the rest of the list?
I neither want to be greedy, nor selfish, and know there are plenty of others out there with projects needing parts and fighting against limited budgets, and my project is no more worthy of contributions than theirs.
And also that this forum is really for people negotiating to *buy* and *sell* parts, it's not a really a place to beg for handouts.
On the other hand, considering that while I have a virtually unlimited time to put into my project, my budget is such that I really can't afford to turn down anything that anyone might like to contribute.
And that there may be other people who were in a situation like Pete mentioned. That they had several things they felt were basically "not worth trying to sell, but too valuable to throw away" and might just want to see some of those things "go to a good home" or just rather something is used by somebody, anybody, rather that sit and gather dust.
So, what do you think? Should I post the rest of the list just in case people might want to send some of the stuff? Or should I just leave it where it stands?
I am certainly more than happy with what I've already gotten. Even just one of those things was more than I could hope for, for free, and you guys have already lined up almost everything I'd originally posted, which is far more than I could have expected.
So yeah, what are your thoughts, should I post the rest of the list or not?
I don't want to wear out my welcome, or seem like I'm asking for too much, or taking too much from what others in the community could probably use.
I'll let you guys decide:p
Anyway, thanks for everything, and I hope you all have a Happy Easter!!
You guys are awesome. lol ~~^_^

Anyway, thanks
 
Sometimes Experience trumps ESP

Back in I was in highschool I started "collecting" FIAT 850s, and after getting the first 2 or 3, I really had a pretty firm grasp of what to look for, what to expect to find, etc. So when people who found the cars interesting would ask about how to find them or what it might cost to get one and keep it running, etc, I could rattle off all this stuff like, Oh, well you'll probably have to pay this much for one that runs, but expect to have to buy/replace/etc this, and this and this, and these parts are rare, and these you can get anywhere so don't overpay for them, yadda yadda yadda...
Experience like that is somewhat cumulative and after a while it can sort of seem like ESP from the uninitiated.
But with my X1/9 it was somewhat of a different story. It was such a reliable and forgiving car by comparison that I never ended up gaining any real experience with what they might "commonly need" or what that models weak points might be etc.
So I only every learned what my particular car needed and since that was all pre-internet days, there wasn't really any easy way to just browse pages with tips and info and whatnot. there was just like, *the library*, and the *chilton's manual*. lol
I like, *WAS* the FIAT community in our area, so there wasn't anybody else to ask, and it was more the reverse since people would occasionally end up tracking me down and asking *me* since I was "the guy that knows about FIATS".
I think that actually gave me a fairly big blind spot when I went to get an X1/9 because since I had such a strong mental image of "reliability" from my previous experience with the model, i couldn't help but assume that I wouldn't need to worry about all the kinds of stuff I'd have to consider if I'd chosen to track down an 850 instead.
It's like, "It's an X1/9, how bad off could it really be? With my old X1/9, I never even had to keep a pile of spare parts. It was more reliable than our toyota or my jimmy". lol
Heck, now that I think about it. It was the probably the most reliable car I ever owned. lol
I guess that probably says more about my previous "luck of the draw" than anything else.
Replaced a clutch. Replaced a timing belt as preventative maintenance. Had to sand out a little surface rust and do a cheap repaint. Had to order a wheel bearing because one wheel wanted to shimmy/shake/wobble at speeds over 70 unless I used one of the tiny little rims/tires it came with (I was using 850 wheels, didn't know these cars were hub-centric, so the wheel bearing might not even have been bad. never found out because I couldn't get the old one out when I had the car)... Think that was about it other than a weird thing with the carb sometimes freaking out after a high G turn, which would make it only run under full throttle (it'd die out if throttle wasn't pressed to the floor) until I would pull over, pop off the lid on the air cleaner, and pull the jets. for whatever reason, every time it would act like that, if I pulled out those jet tube thingies with all the little holes (excuse my momentary lack of vocabulary) they would both be all full of blades of grass and stuff. So all I would half to do was tap that junk out, screw the jets back in, and the car would run great again. No idea where the grass was coming from, how they were getting past the air cleaner, etc. It's not like I went driving through fields on a regular basis. that was one mystery I never solved. Then there was the second gear syncro problem that eventually happened.
Not bad at all considering how long I owned the car.
Anyway, yeah, I had some "rose colored glasses" on when I went searching for an X1/9 in the first place.
I don't regret getting this car though. In the year and a half I waited for the PO to dig it out of his storage lot, I ended up falling in love with it. So I don't regret getting it, but really hadn't anticipated how much work it would need or the expense involved. Actually even the expense part changed between when I found the car and when I actually got it, because I'd found a place online where all the body parts were really pretty cheap, and by the time I got the car and went looking for parts online, practically everything I'd looked at before had at least *doubled* in price. some things skyrocketed. I suppose due to availability. but I'd priced that nose piece before and found a couple around $60. Later I looked again and found them running between $178 to (amazingly) $350. THAT'S what I call inflation. lol
Anyway, thanks again for everything, can't wait to see what kind of little surprises you put in the box for me:)
Once again, Happy Easter!
:D
 
Post your wish list...

Post your wish list.

This forum is great in that often when you post a "wanted" item, someone may offer it for free + postage or something like that, or at least a very reasonable deal. I can't count how many times folks have given me something. Hopefully I've returned the favor adequately, although I do try to sell things if possible.

Someone may have what you are looking for, and simply wants it to go to a good home rather than the trash can.
 
Seals and other goodies that tend to get forgotten.

Forgot to say thanks for the heads-up about the seals. Hadn't thought about that.
It's sort of like the copper washers for the brakes. Supposed to replace those when brake hoses are installed. Just something I don't automatically think about in advance, but will need when I go to do the job.
So I need to force myself to try and remember those things, because it'll be a little late to order them when I'm in the middle of doing the work.
Heck, I'd already forgotten about the copper washers even though I'd just been reminded last night. The only reason I remembered them now is because you mentioned needing seals.
Anyway, since both those things are written down here now, and I tend to skim over the posts on my threads on a fairly regular basis to keep the infomation sort of "fresh" in my mind, I should be able to remember it when it's time to do an order.
I think I'll probably be able to do one more "big order" before summer.
Maybe a few little expendatures after that here and there.
So I'll need to try and fit whatever is left, or as much as possible, of the "must have" list here into that.
Cap for the order will probably be able a hundred bucks give or take a few bucks.
These donations of parts from everyone have turned that from something resembling an attempt to scoop up a quart with a teaspoon, into something that actually looks *possible*.
Thanks again:)
 
Oh hey!!

Something that didn't occur to me until now...
I know what all is in the box that is coming next Wednesday is a Surprise, and I actually think it's really kind of great and fun that way.
However, you mentioned that there was at least one thing "from my list" in there.
Thing is, you were the only one that actually saw my "big list" and I assumed it was a random item that was on that list, but not my "necessities list" I posted here.
Now I've realized I don't know which list you actually meant.
That could be a problem if I do my "big order" this weekend since I was going to be trying to order whatever was left uncovered from my "necessities list".
So like, I don't want the prize to be spoiled, and don't really want any hints...
But I guess if there's anything from my "necessities list" on this page hiding in the surprise box, then maybe you could just like, *imply that I should postpone my order till after Wednesday* or something like that. lol.
Or let me know if it's safe to order whatever is left on the little list or something.
I dunno, this isn't a problem I expected that I ever might have, so I don't have a pre-made plan:p
Anyway, it's not absolutely necessary that I do the order this weekend, it's just that knowing how the people in charge of the finances tend to do things, it's best to use any money that gets marked as "available for use" as soon as possible, because if it isn't used fairly quickly, it can get reallocated for other things and one has to wait for the next time there happens to be some money that isn't spoken for yet.
In other words, even though I've essentially got the go-ahead to put together one more big order before summer, If I want to make that order this month I can't wait too long, and then I'd have to sort of "re-apply" for the money next month some time.
Ugh...
 
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