"I wouldn't have either. IF it is torqued to spec. I wouldn't touch it again unless absolutle necessary." yeah, trust me i won't - hopefully it is in there good and will withstand the vibration of the engine. "Looks like the hole that originally was leaking?" yes, the leak was right above this screw... i'm starting to think the guy probably stripped the screw and put some thread lock or something similar on it and just screwed it back in there. after i realized it was stripped i pulled it out and it had what looked like some really lightweight aluminum or aluminum-like substance wrapped in the grooves of the bolt. this of course could be aluminum but seemed to be a little too brittle for engine aluminum. again, this is just a guess. "Now do me a favor and email me what camera you used for the pictures and how you got them from the camera into your post. I think you have my email address." sure thing! i'd be glad to Walt. the camera is a Fuji e510 5 megapixel digital camera that i've been happy with... they should be quite affordable now as i got it for $150 or so after rebate almost a year ago. i'll get that email to you in a bit.

beachnut, I just saw your old post, and the name looks like "G. Cox" to me. I checked askart.com, and I don't see an artist by that name. He may be European, or I may be reading it wrong.

A while ago my mom stripped the mirrored tiles off her hallway wall - really dirty yellow oil-based(?) gloss paint from the 70's. I primed the ripped paper with Kilz and then skimmed with pre-mixed joint compound. I really didn't want to sand (lead?) so planned on skimming the entire hall (it's only 10ft long or so by 7'6" or 7'9" high, the other walls have lots of doors). Now I'm thinking I really don't want to skim around doors, though I think I'll have to skim the blank wall just to feather out all the patches. So, what should I do and in what order? Skim over the old dirty wall on Sat, let her handyman paint the ceiling Monday (she doesn't want him painting the walls "since he's not a painter", though why she's hiring him to paint kitchen/FR/hallway ceilings I don't know)? Wash the other walls with TSP substitute or DW detergent powder to degloss, then prime and paitn all the walls after the ceilings are done? Or should I try to clean the bare wall before skimming (afraid of getting patches wet)? Or do I spot-prime the patches, then clean the wall - by then, will it be deglossed so I can prime over it? BTW, we still have some adhesive from some kind of tape stuck to the wall, so I was thinking skimming was the way to go - I tried scraping and this stuff is not coming off. I used Kilz to prime the bare paper from the ripped drywall before I patched. She only has a quart, I don't think it'll do the whole hallway, so what should we buy a gallon of? I was telling her about Aura but 1) I don't know if it'll stick to the gloss paint even if I try to degloss it by washing with DW powder 2) would it be less $$ to buy a separate primer to go over with Regal (hopefully I can talk her into Matte or Eggshell not semigloss or gloss) if I end up skimcoating? How many coats of primer over joint compound if I skim? I'm hoping for 1 coat of light green paint over white or green-tinted primer. I'm not looking forward to doing this, wish she'd had one of my brothers do it when they were visiting last year, or hire someone (she's hiring a painter to do trim and interior doors later this year, don't know why she's have "nonpainter" do ceilings now). But I didn't think it was a good idea to have skimmed wall when grandkids came to visit next month - I think we should at least get primer on before then (but after ceilings are painted). Would it be best to paint (only have a couple of weeks to let it cure b4 visit) or just prime (and then touchup and spot prime again b4 painting if needed) before the visit? Any/all help greatly appreciated!

I have tried painting my porch 3 times now with Duron oil paint. The paint NEVER dries! I went back to Duron 2 times and both times the salesman said I put the paint on too thick. I made sure it was so thin this time and it still smears after 3 weeks of painting it. So it cannot be because I've put it on too thick. It's like a soft texture that keeps smearing and really never seems to dry! I'm so frustrated. What is a good paint to paint a porch a dark color? Is oil or latex better? I'm painting my porch a dark Eggplant color and the oil paint never seems to dry. Do I have to use oil? Can I get dark colors in latex? How do I get this paint off again? Do I need to prime it if I want to go over the oil with latex? I dont' like to knock paint companies but this Duron paint really sucks. Has anyone else had a problem with Duron oil paint? If anyone has some advice...please help. It looks like I am going to have to sand and scrap yet again! It's a nightmare to work with and I will never buy it again. I used Pratt and Lambert in the past and it went on like butter...and i don't remember this type of problem. It's hard to find though. Thanks all! Have a good one! Lark