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Mom wanted to "help clean" at my house today so I picked her up and we went over and put more stuff away and cleaned a little. She mostly just sat and directed. She did load the dishwasher and get it going. Tiger watched.
Don't think I mentioned going to the junkyard the other day. There was a small Saturn wagon there with wheels like mine, that were in pretty good shape. I wasn't prepared to buy wheels but will go back some time this week and grab a couple. Mine have curb rash in a couple places. Now I need to get the folding cup holders for the back of the Aura. When I was taking Mom's walker out of the back seat it snagged the back of the console and ripped the cupholder out. It's always something.
Been raining off and on all day, and yesterday too. I heard it's supposed to rain all week. I'm getting tired of that game. Flooding up north of here. Jamesbo I hope you are high and dry.
Well the three day weekend was fun. Now back to work tomorrow, a short week. Got other things to do after work during the week. Maybe I can have a little fun at something mixed in there. Eh, probably not.
Got Chinese take-out for dinner. One of the items my wife usually gets is their deep fried chicken wings (no BBQ or hot sauce). Alway's thought about trying them but never have. We were at Walmart 2-days ago and I got some Frank's Red Hot wing sauce knowing we'd probably get Chinese sometime in the near future. The wings were absolutely delicious with the hot wing sauce on them, plus I had pork fried rice as a side. I'm stuffed!!!
I cut the fuel filter apart that sat in my Monte Carlo's fuel line from pump to carb for 20 years. Some of the pictures got sideways, but you can get the point.
Two conclusions:
1. After loosening the clamps and twisting, one plastic barb on the filter tore open, instead of breaking the hose loose from the barb. The plastic was close to going. I am not a fan of plastic fuel filter housings, nor being in the pressure side, and had meant to change this out for a while.
2. The filter paper is perfect after 20 years and 21k miles including one Hot Rod Power Tour Long Haul. It caught nothing. The sock filter in the tank is fine, and I have been using good gasoline. This is unnecessary to be there.
If you can find this you'll never go back to Frank's. The wife buys gallon jugs of it. Seriously.
Kenneth - I'm pretty sure I've seen that on the shelves at the larger stores. I wasn't sure how I'd like the Frank's, so I bought a smaller sized bottle. I didn't buy the regular Frank's Hot Sauce, I bought their Buffalo Wings Sauce which is thicker and tastes a little different, but it was good. After I finish the bottle I have I'll definitely give your brand a try, always up for trying something new. Thanks for the tip!
Also painted a rebuilt water pump Chevy Red-Orange with Duplicolor's engine paint and sanded rust off and touched up top and bottom rails on a 3 core Harrison radiator for the car.
Pulled the valve covers; they were on fairly well and the left one was a pain to route off the engine without taking everything apart. Had to take half of everything half apart to get it out. Heads look good after 50 years with a small sludge at the main drains able to be wiped away with one finger swipe.
I cut the fuel filter apart that sat in my Monte Carlo's fuel line from pump to carb for 20 years. Some of the pictures got sideways, but you can get the point.
Two conclusions:
1. After loosening the clamps and twisting, one plastic barb on the filter tore open, instead of breaking the hose loose from the barb. The plastic was close to going. I am not a fan of plastic fuel filter housings, nor being in the pressure side, and had meant to change this out for a while.
2. The filter paper is perfect after 20 years and 21k miles including one Hot Rod Power Tour Long Haul. It caught nothing. The sock filter in the tank is fine, and I have been using good gasoline. This is unnecessary to be there.
John - Does your last sentence mean you are not going to replace it with a new one in front of the pump? One of the few things I've done to my car is put on an Earl's brand metal filter, that has the sintered bronze element inside, before the fuel pump. Even though my car got a new tank and all new lines during the resto sometime between 2014 - 2016, I felt I'd rather be safe than sorry when it came to filtration. I've read too many horror stories about guys cross threading and stripping threads when trying to change out the tiny filter in the carb.
Right now this inline tube gas line is going on. With one tweak, it actually fits. I may put a gas filter in on the suction side of the pump later. I will replace carb filter while I'm here. Gas filters should not be on the pressure side, which is where mine was.
The quadrajet is not bad, as long as one takes the line off, then takes the housing off and puts it back on before connecting the tube. You cannot leave the tube connected and expect good results.
Also painted a rebuilt water pump Chevy Red-Orange with Duplicolor's engine paint and sanded rust off and touched up top and bottom rails on a 3 core Harrison radiator for the car.
Pulled the valve covers; they were on fairly well and the left one was a pain to route off the engine without taking everything apart. Had to take half of everything half apart to get it out. Heads look good after 50 years with a small sludge at the main drains able to be wiped away with one finger swipe.
Nice job on the painting, the pump and radiator look great!
Drove the Miata up to my house from the equipment shed, fun drive, somewhere around 50 miles, may be my last jaunt in the Miata, getting ready to sell it. Handles better than the BMW, but like most, I miss the power of the bigger engine of the Money Pit. Oh, the Money Pit is in the BMW shop, where they all go to rest and deprecate. They're looking for a couple of shorts in the AC- heater that are a mystery. BMW's only come with red lights on the dash, it's always Christmas when you drive a BMW....Tedd
Drove the Miata up to my house from the equipment shed, fun drive, somewhere around 50 miles, may be my last jaunt in the Miata, getting ready to sell it. Handles better than the BMW, but like most, I miss the power of the bigger engine of the Money Pit. Oh, the Money Pit is in the BMW shop, where they all go to rest and deprecate. They're looking for a couple of shorts in the AC- heater that are a mystery. BMW's only come with red lights on the dash, it's always Christmas when you drive a BMW....Tedd
But what will you drive when the Money Pit is in the shop and the Miata is sold?
The dirty Durango, or most anything on the ranch. The old man is getting to where he doesn't drive much at 95. His birthday is in December, and he needs to renew his license! We will see if that happens, kinda hope it doesn't for all of us.... Tedd
Not a bad day so far for the first day of the work week. And considering it's Tuesday we're a leg up already. We're at the close of the afternoon break so it won't be long now.
I just walked past the roll up door and it's beautiful out. Mom said she heard the all week rain was going to be mostly on the north side of the city. Sorry Jamesbo. Maybe I can get some gas and do some mowing this week.
Along with the ever need for mowing, I need to make it back to the junkyard, take Mom to the doctor, and take her to the laundromat. Maybe if there were an automat in the laundromat. Um, maybe not.
John maybe the MC thought it was a Chrysler.
Okay we're on the back stretch. Hope everyone has a good day.
I was going to use my hand truck dolly to move the four yard debris 32 gal. containers to the road for pickup. One tire completely out of air. Both tires are tube (30psi max.). I just filled them up three days ago, hand truck dolly is ~15 yrs old. I figure I'll apply some rim sealant, can't find the little can of rim sealant, must have tossed it out. Oh well, I have a can of tire repair glue so I lathered the rim/tire and began filling it w/ air. Now, I knew this tire had a tube, and I knew the tube was going bad as there was a massive bulge in the tire the last time I filled it up x3 days ago. I thought maybe it isn't sealing well and thought a little extra psi might help it to seal. That's when the sound of the .12ga shotgun went off & immediately blew out an 8" section of both tube & tire. I stopped to consider how fortunate I was to still have a face. THANKFULLY the pieces blew AWAY from me. To top it off I wasn't wearing safety glasses which I usually wear for nearly everything. I have to tell you, that was a wake-up call.
Went to Ace Hardware purchased a new hand truck dolly wheel + tire, four cans of hornet/wasp spray, a pkg. of dust masks & 7 bags of rock salt (H2O softener). I noticed someone is following me home and they pull in my driveway right behind me - a friend stopped by. So that shot most of one hour. I already had the miter saw, sawzall, and various tools assembled to tackle the fascia board. Yesterday, I realize why my bathroom exhaust fan vent (2nd floor) has not been working (opening) correctly to draw moisture out of the bathroom. Three large wasp nests built into the exterior exhaust fan vent opening covering the exhaust fan vent flapper door. I needed rock salt for the H2O softener, opened the door and a humongous wasp nest with a gazillion wasps hanging from a board nearly over the rock salt container. Killed every single wasp, destroyed the nest, filled the H2O softener w/ salt and ready to tackle the fascia. Looks like I have better wood than I initially thought and maybe not quite as large of a moisture-ridden piece of wood, so I re-evaluate my approach. Instead of sistering the fascia (which would really have been far faster) I elect to cut-out the bad moisture ridden area and simply replace the bad area - which takes longer but will provide a much better appearance to the fascia and there's plenty of good wood remaining. I cut out the bad area, then measure the thickness of the fascia board - crap, it's true 1 3/4" thick. Recall, the house was built in 1930. I'm not going to buy 1 3/4" thick board to replace this small piece. I have excellent 5/4 (thick) and true 3/4" (thick) stock boards in my stock pile of lumber. So, now I'm fashioning (laminating) two pieces of board (5/4 + 3/4" thick) to make the fascia board. I hear lots of thunder in the near distance and see big gnarly towering Cumulonimbus clouds forming. Packed everything up and called it day. It still hasn't rained but I've called it a day.
Jim - It takes more than that for me to **** my britches.
That looks like a fine piece of equipment. Do the side mowers fold up? I see the larger wheels/tires in the middle which I suspect supports the weight of all three mowers.
I hope Mike can spot you a loan...it would make a nice addition to your family.
Norm - You got damn lucky, glad you didn't get hurt! You've had one helluva day! I usually don't bother with safety glasses because 99% of the time I'm wearing my prescription glasses which are made out some type of polyacrylic compound that is supposed to be extremely shatter resistant, at least that's their claim.
Norm, I got you beat on exploding tires (not that this is a contest anyone wants to win). Yard Bug front tire got hung up while turning a couple of years ago, and when I leaned over (while still seated on the mower) to look, the plastic rim exploded and rocketed past my head. I found it about 60 yards down the street. It wasn't until a few hours later that it dawned on me that I had escaped serious injury. This was the first time that mower tried to kill me, the second time was when it caught on fire. Before I sold it, I replaced the plastic wheels with steel rims, and rewired & rerouted the wiring away from the throttle cable.
Last edited by Weezer; September 6th, 2022 at 01:41 PM.
Jamesbo if you get that machine you'll have to mow the entire cemetery. My neighbor, the guy who sold me the bum mower, comes over and sees the new mower and says, that is way too big for this yard. I said the only way it's too big is if there's not enough room to turn around. I think that was his way of being jealous. hehe
Norm I'm not understanding what you were doing. If the tire had a tube in it, why were you worried about sealing the bead? To keep the air in the tire that came out of the tube? Was your face right next to the tire when you were filling it? I would guess that you'd have blown off your ***** if it went the wrong way. Anyhoo I'm glad you are unscathed. And wasp-free. Those are little bastards for sure.
Spent a good part of my day trying to analyze a quote, and corresponding with a PM from a roofing company about their quote for replacing our roof. When I was in government contracting I used to write Performance Work Statements (contracts), along with their official government estimates. Trust me when I say this company's proposal is confusing and shady at best. I reached back out to their PM with multiple questions about it and have yet to hear back from him. Set up an appointment with another company for this Friday to get another estimate. Trying to get another recommendation from someone I trust whose used someone they liked to schedule a 3rd estimate with no luck yet. Our roof's over 16-years old now, and if you recall I've had a couple minor leak issues in the past. Looking to get something done before the middle of October when my wife has to have surgery again.
Last edited by Dream67Olds442; September 6th, 2022 at 04:08 PM.
Mike - Honestly, now that you mention it, I'm not quite sure why I thought sealing the rim might help. I was thinking the tube might not be holding enough air to force the tire to seat. Well, anyways, the tire was below my waist and my face was well above the tire so it wasn't like my face was right next to the tire. It surely would have punched my nuts into my stomach had it blown-out in my direction.
Jeff - Holy crap!
Last edited by Vintage Chief; September 6th, 2022 at 02:07 PM.
Reason: sp
Mike - May have mentioned this some years ago, at any rate - I was working outdoors on the house windows (~12 yrs. ago) next to shrubbery - no shirt on - blazing hot outdoors. Damn if there wasn't a wasp nest in one of the shrubs. By the time I realized what had occurred, I had about a dozen of the little bastards flying in like little bombers repeatedly stinging my back. I was literally doing the jitter bug bouncing around as they continued to make minced meat out of me. I'm not allergic to any bees, wasps or hornets. The pain went away in ~30'.
Jeff, glad you are not dead. Norm, also glad you are not dead.
There were black wasps in a bush in front of my house. After being stung two different times, I went in with a fogger with the button taped down, a point and shoot foamer, and a respirator, and laid waste to 20 of them. I then cut down their bush after drowning it in wasp spray. Plan B was the roofing torch and the burning bush.
Worked late today. I have a problem hanging powertrains from east engine line to east front suspension. These sit sideways to how they should, and I am not getting good results, so I will probably be yelled at. I have to go in *** early for a trial someone scheduled at 0545. I need a transfer to an "approver dept."
Norm... Can you reattach cable to house freeze board instead of fascia?
Ray - That's a good idea. I brought the service sub-panel cable out through the frieze board no reason I can't attach the insulator to the same freeze board. I'll have a look - I may need to add more steel cabling to support the insulator & sub-panel service line.
-Norm, I have one of those cheap hand trucks and the tires wont stay up. I dinked around with that sealer stuff ,etc. Then was at harbor freight one day and saw new wheels with tire for $5. So I bought 2 and put on. After a couple years or so now they go flat -- cheap ****...
-Well I got the ethanol tolerant carb kit for the old truck and rebuilt carb again- There is a diaphragm in the carb that did look deformed, but needle tip "looked" OK. I think that tip was deformed from ethanol. Well anyway, truck runs good again- hope it lasts more than 2 years...
- I have a huge wasp nest up by a cable box on utility pole by driveway to barn, my neighbors and I were looking at it a week ago or so. Then yesterday I put up a new posted sign on that pole, forgetting about the nest. One of them brushed against my head, I panicked, swiped glasses off onto ground, tripped on something and fell and rolled away. WOW missed a wasp sting or more. Then had to carefully retrieve my glasses, but no stings. Lucky that time.....
Still morning everyone. Hope it's good. Though this will probably post after 12.
No lead, so things are going smoothly. Everyone has had it with him. He will sense this and then bring in food of some sort. At least he realized the value of a good bribe.
Norm twice in my life I've seen large wasp nests, at somewhat of a distance, and had to warn someone to get away. First time was years ago, I've probably said this before, my Mom and I were sweeping off her porch and I happened to see a large nest of yellowjackets right where she was sweeping, right by the front door. She couldn't have been more than a foot from them but it was later in the evening and they were calm. I said, Mom go in the house now just go. Of course she said, what for? And I yelled MOVE IT!! and we both ran in the door. Mom said what on earth... and I pointed to the nest I thought she was going to have a fit. I went out the back door with a new can of Raid and that was the end of them. The second time I was at my friend's and we were working on a car that had been sitting outside untouched for months. He opened the door and got in and there in the upper corner of the door opening was a huge wasp nest. My friend doesn't see real well and he was just sitting in the driver's seat messing with something, and I saw the nest and said Randy get out of the car right now. He ignored me. I said it louder. A couple wasps were flying around him. I yelled get the f*ck out of the car right now! He said what happened did I step in mud? An odd response. He saw the nest in the car and said Mikey you saved me. Again a can of spray made short order of them. He wanted to move the car after that. Neither time did anyone get stung which I think was a miracle.
Chris the bad contract writers won't know what hit them. It's like when my friend(who used to be in hotel hospitality) goes to make reservations for the car club. I say, they have no idea who they're dealing with.
Like I said no lead, and the wheels are coming slowly. No one has said what our number is so no one cares. Great way to run the shop. Eh, I come in, I go home.
Chris the bad contract writers won't know what hit them. It's like when my friend(who used to be in hotel hospitality) goes to make reservations for the car club. I say, they have no idea who they're dealing with.
Mike,
Thanks for the vote of confidence! Don't know I was ever that savvy or ruthless, but I will say the American taxpayer and the end user always got what we were paying for on every contract I administrated.
By the way, the roofing contractor I got the 1st quote from has still not gotten back with me to address my questions. I'm sure he's in a quandary of how he's going to explain his fictionalized quote without looking like a complete crook??? I won't be surprised at this point if I don't even hear back from him!
Chris that's like when I needed repairs on my roof a couple months ago. I agreed to the first guy, but then he would email and ask what it would take to get me off the fence. I said, I already agreed. Then it took a week for him to get me a quote. By that time I already committed to the second guy, who was prompt and cost me less.
So I've pretty much decided to spend the big bucks and get the dogmobile fixed. Now I have to find a car just for me to trade the Saturn on. I really need to trade the Saturn because I don't feel confident it would be an easy sell privately. My criteria: big, straight shift, easy to get in and out of, quick. Shouldn't be too hard to find that.
Things have slowed to a crawl. One more hour. We'll try again for the doctors office this afternoon.
September 4th, 2022, 07:07 PM
