2024: What are you doing today?

kb426 · February 20, 2024, 06:26:15 PM

The god of sunshine smiled on me today. It got up to 71 degrees. The Dakota and the 48 both got a bath. I put 25 miles on the 48 out in the country at 75 mph. When I got back to town, I stopped at a store and when I went out, I confirmed that this morning's decision to purchase a new starter was the right thing to do. When the truck is hot, it will barely start. This was a Rock Auto starter. To make starters cheaper, they use less windings in the fields and armature. It barely works when cold. When hot, it struggles to start the engine. The starter never sounded quit right from the 1st time to start the engine. Oh well. One more time with new parts. I had the bike out twice today. If I live long enough to no longer ride, it will be a sad day. Hope you all had a good day and put a smile on someone's face. Crazies are more fun.

WZ JUNK · February 20, 2024, 08:11:33 PM

Johnny's paint and body shop was outdoors today. I sanded the parts with 60 grit sandpaper and applied 3 wet coats of single stage. I was amazed at the finished product. It is not a quality paint job but better than you would think. It is shiny and looks good from 100 yards away.

WZ JUNK · February 20, 2024, 08:26:07 PM

I thought this photo was interesting. It was taken today. The car on the left is the one I had in the shop yesterday a 327 4 speed. The car on the right is a 409 4 speed. The photo was taken in front of my friends shop.

kb426 · February 20, 2024, 09:17:27 PM

Cool pic.

Crosley.In.AZ · February 20, 2024, 09:51:44 PM

I was able to work long enough today on the RV to get the suspension on the passenger side buttoned up.

The short straight grease zerk may not work as I had hoped. Can not get my 90 degree slotted grease fitting on it. I modified another grease gun fitting and that was a bust.

I ordered a misc of grease zerks... Maybe something will work like I want? I hate it when my anal attention to detail is a pain in the ask like this over a dang grease zerk and access to it. LOL

kb426 · February 20, 2024, 10:16:22 PM

Tony, when I used to operate heavy equipment, they had a flat zerk that took a special grease gun fitting to adapt to. This came up when I googled it. https://www.huyett.com/all-products/lubrication-fittings-accessories/grease-fittings/button-head-fittings

58 Yeoman · February 20, 2024, 11:25:34 PM

Wanting to sell the blue Corvair, and the tires on it are about 26 years old, whitewalls. The tires that came on the red Corvair are only about 3 years old with very few miles. Seems everyone wants whitewalls on the Vairs, so I finally found some to fit on ebay, and I ordered 5 as I wanted the spare to match. They came today and I started installing them, only to find two of them are blackwalls. Dammit. Contacted the seller and they said to send pix and to start a return on ebay. Their site on ebay says they are out of stock. I found another seller off ebay that has them and they are actually cheaper, but I have to find out first if I'm getting a refund, or they're going to get more tires. Working on old cars didn't used to be this bad, finding good parts.

idrivejunk · February 21, 2024, 08:38:21 AM

Phil, you are onto something with your observation. The level of dedication and tolerance required now just to replace tires is only a tip of the iceberg example. Each and every aspect is a big mail order hassle. Who even has the capability to align a Corvair? Or Grand Prix. May as well sell out as soon as possible and forget the lifetime of automotive pleasure. That is ruined for good. Like I like to say, I'm making the dreams of others come true at the expense of my own. Just to be able to touch old cars in some way. For the exceptionally affluent.

Notches are tacked in and I am cutting the roof off. The 73 job.

WZ JUNK · February 21, 2024, 12:38:58 PM

Final photo. Yard art project is done except for the selling. I will wait a couple of weeks and then advertise it.

Crosley.In.AZ · February 21, 2024, 08:24:15 PM

Quote from: kb426 on February 20, 2024, 10:16:22 PMTony, when I used to operate heavy equipment, they had a flat zerk that took a special grease gun fitting to adapt to. This came up when I googled it. https://www.huyett.com/all-products/lubrication-fittings-accessories/grease-fittings/button-head-fittings

Thanks.. I have not seen that design in years, I remember them on some tractors.

Will give them a look.

58 Yeoman · February 21, 2024, 11:16:35 PM

I got an email from the tire vendor asking if I was sending all five tires or just two. I decided all five. He emailed me the labels, one for each tire. I unmounted the three tires that I had mounted yesterday, attached the labels and loaded them in my truck. We're going to Peoria tomorrow for a dermatologist appointment, and will drop them off at the FedEx store there. I ordered four tires from another vendor, and they should be here Friday. Almost double the price for only four tires, but I'll use one of the old tires for a spare. For now.

idrivejunk · February 22, 2024, 08:38:29 AM

If it is cold where any of you are at right now, count your blessings. Unseasonable warmth here has the idiot knob cranked way up. Insanely aggressive bloodlusty drivers are at full blast and people with super high opinions of themselves at work are trying to put me down at any cost, as always. Look left, look right, do right, plan ahead, be polite... still only surrounded by hostiles. wtf.

Engine is bolted in my work project. So much metal had to be cut away that engine and trans just drop straight down into whats left of the car. Trans mount sitting on a jack awaiting fab of a crossmember in the right spot.

Crosley.In.AZ · February 22, 2024, 11:59:28 AM

I had a different issue with 5 tire purchase a few years back from Walmart. My Car trailer tires were tired, aged out, falling apart and the spare was worse.

I ordered 5 tires online from Walmart. Shipped to the Walmart store we were near. The tires arrived, the store called. I took all 5 wheels in. Tires were installed. No balance job since I use balance beads in the trailer tires.

A few daze later Walmart sends emails about the sale of the tires. I receive a $ credit for 1 tire that was returned and my $ charge was reduced to 4 tires.

I look at my receipt and it shows 5 tires purchase. 5 tires installed. 5 tires AZ recycle tax paid.

kb426 · February 24, 2024, 05:01:58 PM

Yard work. On the south side of the yard, the weeds are starting to bloom. I spent a couple of hours pulling up henbit. There's a chemical that you use in October that kills it but the grass won't grow back in around it so I pulled as much of the roots as I could. They are deep like dandelions. 2 hours was enough that my back was telling me to quit.

58 Yeoman · February 24, 2024, 05:43:01 PM

The new tires came in Friday, and it was the last stop for the FedEx guy, so he was really chatty. We have DSL for our internet, and a 40' tower with antenna for the local stations. No local stations last night, so I checked the indoor wires etc. and decided it was probably the pre-amp on top of the tower. Not good. When I put up the tower years ago, my buddy made a plate that mounted on top of the buried section with heavy duty hinges welded to it and the other plate welded to the bottom of the bottom section.

I tied a rope to the top of the tower, ran it to a pulley on a large maple tree and used the truck to pull it up. Worked great. I also have a pulley at the top of the tower so I can raise a rope to the top in case I have to take it back down. I put a small sacrificial rope on it so I could change it now and then as it weathered. Last year, I went to change the rope and the new one slipped off the pulley. No way to get it back on.

Today, we bought a new antenna at Menard's and I installed it in the attic, and it works just as well as the one on top of the tower. I'm going to put the tower and antenna on MarketPlace and see if I can sell it in this rural area.