Scotty, 

One of my favorite other guys on YouTube is AVE. He does a bunch of cool tool teardown reviews and autopsies.

One of the things he says about trying to fix something that's broken before throwing it in the F-it bucket is- "If it is already dickered, what more harm could you do."

With that in mind-

If you have an older car that has an expensive problem for a mechanic to fix, that is within the range of your skill toolbox to attempt to fix yourself. Is there any harm in setting a small strict budget to attempt to diy it. At the very least, you can learn a lot and keep your hands from being idle.

I love your content and hope you enjoy your new home in Hickok45 and 22plinkster country. 

God speed good sir.