That one year I only had like a couple days off, between house building, work, repairs and other troubles there was just no time for it.
So I finally decided I gotta have at least a few days off the grid or I'd lose my sanity, packed the black gryphon and went into taiga forests. The trip did not go well, after crossing a shallow swamp the engine stopped and just won't start again, I spend a whole next day there trying to revive it. It finally did start and I have returned home. I did not find the exact reason what's caused the trouble, even though I have got dealer-level computer diagnosis for it and I know this unit really well... Later that same autumn the engine has had a major failure which would cost to repair more than buying another used engine. After all the troubles I had with the 4JX1 unit I did not want to replace it with the same model, unreliable and over-complicated as it is, not quite fit for my life and work conditions. I wanted to swap it to the 2nd diesel engine in line available for this car, which is mechanical, easy and has a reputation of bulletproof one, but, whole the swap process needed quite a lot of money I didn't have. Since that day the black gryphon is sitting at my backyard waiting for the swap. I've gathered some loans and bought another vehicle, an old toyota 4wd in a trash-like condition, but it was working and running. I'm slowly rebuilding it to mechanical perfection since then, as my survival depends on it. I did not give the toyota a nick name or character like the black gryphon, but it appears in my underdesk art some times too.


I'm not sure if those life journal sort of pictures/stories are even interesting to you guys, sorry if they are not - they do not take place of a real high quality art which will appear as usual.