I say take a break from your truck for a while. A few weeks at least. Set it aside, so to speak. It's burning you out. Once frustration and anger seeps into the restore equation, it's pretty much downhill after that. Working on the car becomes a hate mission, and nothing good comes from that. You should look forward to working on the truck each day and enjoy the project you're working on. If you feel that's gone, then set it aside and don't touch it for a while.
I may be wrong, but it seems like you're having to do some things twice if not more to fix something. That's a red flag right there that you're not being careful enough the first time around (we all do it, myself included). You're wasting your time and creating frustration. It's frustrating for anyone.
I think if you slow down a bit and carefully go over all the possibilities of a repair before even touching it (persistent manifold leak) then you'll hit home runs on the first swing.
Then after you've fixed some little thing, go over it again in your mind ensuring that nothing was overlooked. I've caught my own mistakes in the past by doing that - a mental audit of a repair. And instead of auditing the repair after its completely done, do it in sections. Like after something gets bolted up. Then move on to the next section.
From my experience, I found that the faster I tried to work, the more I hated the project and the more likelihood I would screw up or injure myself. It wasn't until much later on in life when I had the luxury of time that working on the cruiser became a fun puzzle to figure out. Very slow and careful. Like chess. Really slow. No mistakes, No rush. The thinking part can often take a lot of time. If a bolt took an hour to deal with - well that's how long it takes. The slippery slope to hell wrenching begins when we try to turn a time consuming project into a 15 minute swearfest (not to say that's what you're doing).
Those are my thoughts at least.. though I may be off the mark and full of it. But with the correct mind set (Zen Wrenching) you'll be AMAZED how easy and fun working on the cruiser can be - and how everything will then work as it should.
Land Cruisers have feelings too. He's probably upset you're dissing him online so he's loosening his bolts and breaching his gaskets out of spite. Give him the love he requires and you'll be pleasantly surprised what he gives back in return. Ha!
I've disabled iMessage on my phone so I no longer use it with anyone.
