[CJFusco]

Well I think the issue is that they don't want me working all summer just to dump money into my car (although I still haven't spent more than $800 on parts and upgrades since I've owned the damn thing), especially when they are paying $28,000 per year for a very expensive college, and another $700 per month for room and board (I am actually paying rent this year, but they did over the past couple years).

I make plenty of money with my country club job (mike, does Chippanee Golf Club sound familiar?), and my mechanic - who I also bought the car from - is only charging me $600 for parts AND labor for the clutch job. That is like a drop in the pond for me right now... especially compared with what I would spend on it anywhere else. If I did the clutch with myself and a friend, the clutch alone would cost almost $400... doesn't seem that much more cost-effective to me.

I took my father for a ride last night, and he saw how bad the clutch sounds are... I get a knocking when accellerating, a loud and sickly-sounding wind-down when I decelerate in 2nd gear, and ancient-sounding thumps when I engage the clutch to grab a gear... and this is all with leisurely driving. One of the reasons the car was sold to me so cheaply ($3000) last spring was because - and the mechanic told me this - the clutch would need to be replaced within 2000 miles. Here we are, 15 months later... it lasted longer than I thought it would... and the deal with my parents all along was that I would get the clutch done this summer.

It would suck if the clutch just WENT on my way to work one day, and then I would have to walk everywhere because I am not allowed to put a clutch into my beloved car.

On the plus side, I was making some minor repairs to my car yesterday (one of the air vents had the little slots misaligned - fixed that, fixed the idle problem - car runs better than ever, etceteras), and discovered that the heat tray that is mounted over the exhaust was missing a bolt and very loose. I fixed that, and it turns out that some of the little sounds that I attributed to the clutch (just a strange vibration when the engine revs) was actually this heat tray moving about freely over the muffler. But the fact remains that I need a clutch immediately... that is really all my car needs at this point.