irish girl. You wrote "My main mechanic found nothing wrong with the car but said that the cat. converter was hot so it must be plugged and he sent me to the guy who welded my muffler to have it changed. They changed it but did not believe that that was the problem. That cost $110.00. It didn't help" First of all, a hot catalytic convertor is one that is working. If it's glowing RED HOT, then it's overworking because there is a problem in the engine allowing too much air, and unburned fuel into the exhaust. On top of that, find one good shop and tech and stick with him/her. Stop ping-ponging around. Your only compounding your own misery. You wrote" The other day the check engine light came on and I went to Auto Zone who told me it was the O2 sensor just before the convertor." Looks like you fell for the "free diagnosis" and you got what you paid for, an O2 sensor that cannot be proven you actually needed now. You wrote. "My mechanic changed that, changed the plugs and fixed my brakes and rotors for a grand total of $289.00 and my car is still wanting to stall or stalling." Don't lump in your brake work as part of the total you have spent to fix the stalling symptom. They have nothing to do with each other. Treat them as if the brakes were replaced on a different car. You wrote, and now we are concentrating on the stalling. " It stalls or tries to at lights, in drive-through's and now it stalls if I'm going along at a pretty good speed and stop. I told my main mechanic it was still bad and he said that he would clean the throttle body for me that that could be it." That is a plausible answer to the stalling, a good tech can prove if this service is required, and can perform it easily. It's also possible the symptom can be caused by something else affecting the air entering the engine at low RPM's, and the computers response to correct this is exactly the same as a dirty throttle body, and that is for the computer to command the IAC to open wider than normal. This would be a "cut a tree down to see the forest step" in some cases. Sort of once you find something that can cause a particular problem, you stop looking until you prove the problem still exists. You wrote" The mechanic who changed the converter hooked a machine up to my car drove it around with that thing hooked up to it. He said that all of the sensors are working and things are firing or whatever and he seems to think that the tune-up should have been taken further. He suggests that the boots and coils and that plastic thing that holds it all should be changed." Some more specific information would be invaluable here. I can guess what I think he is feeling in the car, and that is still a missfire. The Quad 4's are prone to having trouble with the coil cover and spark plug boots. If there is a problem there, the plugs should be changed again! The reason the plugs need changed again is the boots could be carbon tracked, and allowing the spark to leak right down along the outside of the spark plug, where the boot contacts it. This causes the new spark plug to also carbon track, and it will in turn result in a missfire, and damage the new boot starting the cycle all over again. "I'm running out of money. What is your opinion?" One shop, one tech for everything. Stop ping-ponging. Find someone that can not only diagnose and repair this, but will communicate exactly what they are going to do and why. The O2 sensor replacement is a clue IMO, to an air/fuel ratio issue. This can cause excessive spark demand under certian conditions, and contribute to the coil cover/ spark plug boot problem. There is no more expensive way to attempt to fix one of today's cars than to pull a code and throw a part at it. That's the limit of the ability of a parts store employee when it comes to diagnosing a check engine light. Just because you pull a lean exhaust "O2 sensor" code from the computer, that does not condem the O2 sensor. If you had showed up here with an O2 sensor in your hand telling me Auto Zone had diagnosed it, I would have sent you away. I definately would not have just installed it, because that is not enough proof to me that you really need it.

> Friends, I really need your help. I want to buy a car. More precisely not only myself. For the whole family. Have you considered hiring an architect? An architect can design and build a car you will love. He will interview your entire family to gather the requirements and will decide the proper car orientation. Your crazy aunt Sally wants a space on both of her sides for her favorite cats - no problem, she will love our new design. Space for your pet hamster - we will provide the wheel. 60 Gallon aquarium in the center for your pet shark - what a great idea. An architect can help you avoid costly car mistakes like: closets with no window, the gas chambers, wardrobe closet at the end of a bathroom. [Sorry could not help it] -Pizdabolka

According to the Looney, Ricks, Kiss website, the Tucker Bayou plan got an Aurora award for homes in the $1,000,001 - $1,500,000 price range. So there's that. And you don't know whether that's a real retail price, or a price less donated materials (from advertisers), never mind land, legal, permits and site development. In my neck of the woods, this plan, at the finish level shown, would easily be a couple of million. This plan is going to be relatively expensive whether it's on a basement, crawl space, or slab. The framing itself is not simple, and all the little features that make it cute cost serious bucks. Also the large, numerous windows. And lots of porches. And custom millwork, custom cabinets, lots of upscale appliances and plumbing, hardwood and tile, etc. You're in the classic conundrum of a budget that won't budge, so you have a choice between a smaller house with more detail, or a larger house that's plain. IIWY I'd revisit the sloped part of the lot. See if you can put the kids' bedrooms, lauundry, "family" room, etc. down there on a walk out. Then put the rest of the rooms upstairs. Try to make it a one story with some high ceilings, and a simple shape, e.g., a rectangle. Build simple decks or gravel terraces instead of wraparound porches. Stuff like that. The point is, to save money, the whole house should have a much smaller footprint, an overall simpler concept, and that gives you a shot at making your budget. Unless you've really got a couple million to spend, in which case you might as well give Looney, Ricks, Kiss a call.

How wide is your lot and will you have a detached garage? Can you post an overhead view of your lot and house site? I'm posting an overhead of mine just for an example because we bought an existing house with a narrow-ish driveway. (Older neighborhood.) It had a small semi-attached garage on the right, which we tore down and replaced with a larger detached garage, but still only had room for a single car driveway. The apron flares out between the sidewalk and the street, but you can't really tell because of the trees. The driveway flares out in front of the garage to access the two separate doors. We staggered the front so that it's not just a flat expanse of one giant door, and to give a bit more space b/w garage and house when backing out of the left side garage door. (Backing out on the left was good practice when the kids were learning to drive.) Also the deeper right side gives it room for an interior stairway up to the 2nd floor storage space, which has windows on 3 sides and is suprisingly bright and roomy. Now that we have 4 cars it's kind of a PITA when everyone is home. But there's enough room to pull up a big truck (F150) on the right side in front of the garage and still have room for my son to pull his car (Taurus) up to park on the left. DD and I get to park our cars in the garage. :)