What are you doing today 2016?

[idrivejunk]

Bob, keep that chin up    His spirit is only out of sight  

I bought some hammers / dollys and gloves today because my old ones are all wore and tore up.

[moose]

Sorry for the family loss Bob.

Playing in the snow moving about 8" of the nasty stuff so far. Found out the 98 GMC has lost the front drive for the four wheel drive plow truck. Oh well gotta did into that tomorrow...

[kb426]

I'm preparing materials for a book case to go in the room I redid last weekend. I'm not sure how much time I can waste on this.

[enjenjo]

Condolences Bob.

We pup up a new ceiling in the kitchen yesterday, replaced 40 year old tile with new stuff in the same pattern.

Today we had a birthday party for Shelby's son, he just turned two.

[phat46]

Everytime I've worked on a house old enough to be before modern construction tech, it's been a fiasco unfolding.

I hear ya, I will have been here 40 years come January, and have had to work on every system in thus house. I have the abstract deed for this property that goes back to it being bought from the Fort Gratiot military reservation, Fort gratiot was built nearby at Lake Huron and the St. Clair river during the war of 1812 to protect the upper Great Lakes. It was decommissioned in 1879 and the land sold to the public. This house had no electric or indoor plumbing when built and was on 40 acres, it's now nearly in the center of the city. When I resided the house years ago I found 1901 newspapers and burlap feed bags under the wood siding where the bathroom was added on the house when it got indoor plumbing. I also found a lead bullet imbedded in the sheathing under the wood siding. Some of the sheathing boards were more than 20" wide. Every system in this house had been cobbled by series of previous owners and some of the stuff I have fixed really made me wonder what made someone do THAT! I have seen and replaced everything from cedar shakes on the roof to cutting out old gas lines for gas lights to replacing stranded steel wiring that was bared then had other wire wrapped around it to go someplace else then just wrapped in friction tape! I recently was doing work for a widowed gal and realized her father was who we bought the house from, I really had to bite my tongue when we talked about the house and his "updates" he had done to it! 😉

[chimp koose]

I got working on the T today . Mostly grinding as the trunk gutters were rusty . I removed the thingies that center the trunk and tried putting in the rear panel below the trunk lid . Not working . If anyone knows the secret to this install I am all ears . Otherwise I am going to beat that mother in there! The floor panel I made for the trunk floor looks like it will fit , I tried it today . I am hoping to have the trunk area floor and lower panel in by new years . Next is to finish building a trunk lid I started a few years ago and make the hinges to have it working . Then make the fuel tank . I am working my way forward from the back , trying to get things done . I think in reality I am stalling on making the windshield taller and fitting wipers to it . I also have to make upper door hinges . I can use the stalling time to plan these jobs out while getting the grunt work completed .

[Beck]

I've been doing a little machine work for a friend's big pulling tractor. It seems like quite a bit of work until I think about everything he has been doing to the tractor. Then I realize it is very minor. It lets me feel like I am a part of the group if I do something that the others can't.

It is different working on a big tractor. We take things for granted with the automotive parts. For example on a tractor you have to break it in half at the bell housing to take the motor out. The motor stand is a major piece of equipment. You need a lift to get the crank out of the block. This is the 3rd time I have been involved getting it apart/together. Hopefully we will be able to start putting it back together after tonight.

[kb426]

Beck, when I was in high school, I worked for the IHC dealer 1 winter. A level floor and the right stands and the breakout was easy. I liked working on tractors back then. everything was heavy so you used a hoist instead of trying to hurt yourself. Feeling needed by a good group is always nice.

[wayne petty]

finally got the finishing touches on the dual quad 428FE..  got the air fuel ratio display installed and verified that its not running lean ...  i might pull the carbs off after the engine goes it.. as they will be leaning the other way..  so now the engine is ready... time to do the car... pull old FE and C6.. clean and repaint engine compartment..  rebuild front suspension..  re pipe the brake system probably..  diddy up the stuff on the front of the car...  replace a door that got bent when it fell out of park and backed into the steel post..  install new springs in the rear and check out the rear brakes.

did get to talk to the new guy next door down at the shop... he runs 360 and 410 class sprint cars here on the west coast..    the FE owner was amazed at the amount of power the sprint car motors made..

it was a ton of fun talking to somebody who understood what i was rambling about ..  port bowl shapes.. spring failures... exhaust /header flow issues..  i think i may have come up with a new collector design insert for sprint car exhaust.   i don't know how it will work yet..

[Arnold]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   Ahhhhh.....   Tony has changed to his "Winter" shoes .......  

 Went to services for my brother yesterday ...    
LOTS of people I didn't recognise ....  
My brother sure knew LOTS of people .....
People actually flew in from around the country for the service .....  
Cathy & I were the only attendees from my family ......  :oops:    

Bob...

Condolences to all Bob..

[58 Yeoman]

A month or so ago, I bought a Cub Cadet tractor that came with a  snow blower attachment that wasn't made for it. I traded the snow blower today for a pull behind cart that I can use, and he can use the blower for his tractor. One less thing to have sitting around that I can't use.

[GPster]

When I bought the trans fluid and the filter to change the filter in the Jeepster's 700r4 transmission I bought two 4' sections of 5/16" steel line to make new plumbing for the transmission cooler. I didn't know how much line I'd need so I bought plenty so I'd have enough. With the engine set-back in the frame and the new radiator mounts and what I had to do for radiator hoses and the fact that the radiator now sits just 2" from the water pump pulley there was no way I could get the cooler in front of the radiator with plumbing on the passenger side. The simplest under the frame mount for the cooler wouldn't work because the muffler is on this side too. The driver's side under the frame looked like a good possibility anc air flow would be less restricted on this side too. I could do this with probably 2' pieces of line but maybe I could make some fancy bends and not have to use so much rubber hose to make the final connections and I already had the line. I tried but the mess I bent up didn't suit me. Ended up with two nicely bent lines out of the transmission that went to the transmission crossmember and crossed over to the drivers side that could be fastened to the crossmember at the steel line/hose adapters and I'd go to the cooler with rubber lines. Cut the lines to double/flare the shorter lines for the adapters yesterday. The flaring was todays job and the first line took me five tries to get a passable flare. After the first three flares I had cut the line so much shorter getting a new edge I had to cut shorter so that the fittings wouldn't be at the trans mount.The second line I got with the third try. Then I had enough straight line left from my bending fiasco with one factory flare on it to make a straight piece that I could use with coupling to get around the trans mount. That piece took me three tries. Are these new line that the parts stores are selling with the black coating on them of a different grade of tubing? I'm using a new, good brand flaring tool and even though This is the first time I've used with this tool on 5/16" line I've flared 3/16" and 1/4" with it having no trouble but these were the old standard type of line without the coating. Of course this comment has taken a few tries for me to type. GPster

[348tripower]

GPster,
I have been using the hew copper nickel line for brakes and transmission cooler lines. Its very easy to bend and flare. It will not rust either. It cost a bit more but the advantages far out weigh the extra cost. I am not a fan of these coated lines. Seems that you compromise the coating when you clamp your flare tool on to them. So why coat it?
Don

[Beck]

I bought a new pickup truck. The old one I bought new in 2000, so it's 16 years old with 105K miles. The dealership didn't want to give me much for it so I kept it. $700 for new tires, $250 for shocks, plugs, and wires. The window regulator quit (again) so that was another $80. Windshield wipers $48. This morning it wouldn't start. Grrrrr! I'm hoping it is the fuel pressure regulator which was replaced last year. It has already had 4 fuel pumps. This week I started hearing some strange noises from the rear. Grrrrr!

Now I'm wishing I would have let the dealer have it in trade. I'm well over $1000 into it again and sure don't need it with the new one. I will need fleet insurance soon.

[kb426]

Gpster, I fully understand your situation. I think Don has the simplest answer but I bought a hydraulic flaring tool to avoid that happening. I didn't buy it until I was finished with all the lines on the 51. Color me a slow learner. Had I used the nicop line material, I might not have needed it at all.