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What did you do "IN" your garage today?

02Xterra

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 1, 2015
Messages
525
Location
Lynchburg, Va
I unfortunately cut my left hand on Sunday bad enough to require some stitches, so my wife insisted that she be the one to replace the thermostat on her '13 Sonic. No complaints from me! She got the old one off, new one installed, and we were burping the coolant system in under an hour this evening 😁

1000235641.jpg
 
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GrayFlattop

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Messages
1,051
Location
Chicago
Swapped brakes on the 04 Sienna. Thing just keeps running. On Saturday I am swapping out a blown air compressor on the same car.. I may be putting too much money in a 21 yr old vehicle but oh well.. no car payment for me!

https://abideres.com
Keep a goin’! My ‘08 sienna is still going strong. That said, the cable for the passenger side sliding door just snapped today. I replaced the drivers side cable a few years ago, so I suppose it’s due.

That, and we had a brief brownout late this afternoon. No big deal, except it took out our main refrigerator and we just went shopping today… Nice GE French door fridge, only 5 years old. Checking on parts tomorrow, grrrrr.

The good news is I finished setting up a new desktop for my bride. Cloned the original drive and upgraded it to a 2tb ssd. Installed a second 2tb hdd to serve as the target for automated backups and moved all her files from the soon to be obsoleted box. I’m not crazy about playing tech support. I can do it, but I’d rather be doing a hundred different things.
 

mike93lx

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Messages
37,920
Location
Richmond, VA
Keep a goin’! My ‘08 sienna is still going strong. That said, the cable for the passenger side sliding door just snapped today. I replaced the drivers side cable a few years ago, so I suppose it’s due.

That, and we had a brief brownout late this afternoon. No big deal, except it took out our main refrigerator and we just went shopping today… Nice GE French door fridge, only 5 years old. Checking on parts tomorrow, grrrrr.

The good news is I finished setting up a new desktop for my bride. Cloned the original drive and upgraded it to a 2tb ssd. Installed a second 2tb hdd to serve as the target for automated backups and moved all her files from the soon to be obsoleted box. I’m not crazy about playing tech support. I can do it, but I’d rather be doing a hundred different things.
That's a spammer.

Air compressor on a sienna? And a new user posting a random link
 

Old Man Roger

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2017
Messages
17,846
Location
Palm Coast Florida
I fixed a decoy owl eyeball. It's been the greenhouse. It got so hot it's eyeball slipped out. Heat gun and a little pushing. Guess they used low temperature hot melt.
The eyeballs gotta be shiny too. I had to give mine the headlight restore treatment. If they aren’t shiny, the birds think it’s dead, and they try to eat it.
 

CoogarXR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
6,871
Location
Ohio
Replaced my suddenly-squealy alternator on my van. I have to go out of town in a couple days and I didn't want to risk it seizing up on me.

While I was in there, I was finally able to see what was causing an RPM-specific "groan" that had been happening since I had the transmission rebuilt. It was resonating through the heater lines and the heater core, and I couldn't find the source of it, and it's been driving me absolutely nuts for months. Well, I had to tear half the van apart to get the alternator out, so I finally found my groan source too. It was the L-bracket that holds the transmission dipstick to the block. It had broken, and the dipstick was rubbing up against the heater core line. I fixed the bracket, and put it all back together and crossed my fingers.

Fired the ol' van up, no more alternator noise, no more RPM-groanin', it was so quiet I wanted to cry tears of joy, lol.
 

rzims

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 25, 2006
Messages
461
Location
Grass Valley, CA
Went to adjust the side view mirror on the ranger the other day on the way to town and it broke. I guess 32 year old plastic gets brittle :) Ordered a new one off the web, spent some time on YT watching videos and viola! A new side view mirror! Not as difficult as I was expecting...and things actually went according to plan....
ranger mirror inside.jpgranger mirror.jpgnew mirror.jpg
 

Beelzeboss

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 31, 2020
Messages
555
Location
Sydney
Backstays for the roll bar on my hot rod build!

54369544011_0945b8a629_b.jpg

Follow here:
 

KFBR392

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 4, 2025
Messages
142
Wow. What brand is that scoop? Are they findable?

It has a Perfect handle!
This is a Gilchrist #31 scoop. Very findable, but they pretty much all need work to be food safe or presentable.

Thank you! I slightly reshaped the profile by chucking it into my M18 drill and hitting it with sandpaper. Followed that up with scotchbrite pad and stained it with Minwax red mahogany.
 

Jgaz

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Messages
1,709
Location
AZ
Been working on a quick refinishing of my work bench while I have boat parts out for powder coat and new windshields in the works, A few of my recent router sled projects had me screwing stop blocks directly to the table. The top is designed to be replaced, but its been there 20 years now and I've redone the polyurethane a few times, I like the character so I can't bring myself to replace it. Used some plugs and dowels to fill/ repair the wear and use its taken since the last go-round. I've used bondo previously, I like this process better. Plus I got to test my new Milwaukee cut off tool, Easy work for it. Pictures, no order
I can relate. 20 years ago while living in Michigan I built my woodworking bench. When I built it I knew that, lord willing, I would be moving back to AZ.
I laminated 4 thickness of 3/4” BB plywood figuring I would have to worry about wood movement when moved the bench to the desert. Thought that if the top got too beat up I‘d replace it later.
Not sure I’ll ever have to. It’s scared but still flat

I have however had to plug and smooth over holes from screw mounted fixtures, and yeah a few oops.
Like you, I use a wood plug if necessary and Metal Set epoxy.

In this photo you can see the various plugged holes for different attempts at fitting a tail vise along with other repairs. The plugged and filled counterbores don’t hurt the function at all.
IMG_5198.jpeg

The scratches look much worse than the are. Most can’t really be felt with the palm of my hand.
 

Hooked

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 24, 2010
Messages
445
Location
League City, Texas
Replaced my suddenly-squealy alternator on my van. I have to go out of town in a couple days and I didn't want to risk it seizing up on me.

While I was in there, I was finally able to see what was causing an RPM-specific "groan" that had been happening since I had the transmission rebuilt. It was resonating through the heater lines and the heater core, and I couldn't find the source of it, and it's been driving me absolutely nuts for months. Well, I had to tear half the van apart to get the alternator out, so I finally found my groan source too. It was the L-bracket that holds the transmission dipstick to the block. It had broken, and the dipstick was rubbing up against the heater core line. I fixed the bracket, and put it all back together and crossed my fingers.

Fired the ol' van up, no more alternator noise, no more RPM-groanin', it was so quiet I wanted to cry tears of joy, lol.
Your "groan" problem reminded me of a similar 'phantom' noise on my daughters Expedition a while back. She lives a couple hours away but mentioned having an intermittent noise when stopping. When she came home we drove around and it sounded like possibly a disc brake cylinder sticking then when enough pressure was applied it would 'jam' the pad against the rotor. Long story short, I replaced two calipers to no avail. Few weeks later she was home and I was driving the Expedition around and when approaching a stop sign I simply took my foot off the gas and 'coasted' toward the stop. That's when I found the problem. Transmission would slip/grab/rub/whatever when it downshifted to first/low gear. Every time. She took it to a shop when she got home and they suggested first putting some 'instant fix' additive in the transmission which resolved the problem. Been probably 6 months and all is quiet. (y)
 

CoogarXR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
6,871
Location
Ohio
Your "groan" problem reminded me of a similar 'phantom' noise on my daughters Expedition a while back. She lives a couple hours away but mentioned having an intermittent noise when stopping. When she came home we drove around and it sounded like possibly a disc brake cylinder sticking then when enough pressure was applied it would 'jam' the pad against the rotor. Long story short, I replaced two calipers to no avail. Few weeks later she was home and I was driving the Expedition around and when approaching a stop sign I simply took my foot off the gas and 'coasted' toward the stop. That's when I found the problem. Transmission would slip/grab/rub/whatever when it downshifted to first/low gear. Every time. She took it to a shop when she got home and they suggested first putting some 'instant fix' additive in the transmission which resolved the problem. Been probably 6 months and all is quiet. (y)
I also had a plymouth van that had a weird groan that only happened at highway speeds. I got it up to speed, shut the engine off and coasted, and it still made the noise, so that ruled out anything drive-related. Long story short, I did a hillbilly wind-tunnel test by pointing a leaf blower at the front of it, and it ended up being the electric AC fan behind the radiator. The AC didn't work in that van, so that fan never actually ran, and it was a separate fan from the engine cooling fan. But as soon as I pointed the leaf blower at the grille "grrrooooaaannn". When you get up to highway speed there was enough air coming in the grille to spin that fan with it's bad bearings.

Fun times.

Now if only I could find the mystery suspension clunk in my wife's VW, I'd love to look back on that and laugh some day, lol.
 
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Bob Heine

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
10,708
Location
Boca Raton, Florida
The endless weekend!
@Outlawmws, I'm at weekend 1,352 as in 26 years. My break-even day is approaching fast. Collected a paycheck from IBM for 30 years and now I've collected their pension for 30. I believe the pension payments will surpass the paychecks next year. The payout from the SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) IRA from the 4 year gig at AOL will take a little longer.

One of the best features of retired life is the retirement of the alarm clock. My locomotive alarm clock occasionally works when there's a morning appointment with one of my witch doctors.
 

zmotorsports

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
21,469
Location
Northern Utah
@Outlawmws, I'm at weekend 1,352 as in 26 years. My break-even day is approaching fast. Collected a paycheck from IBM for 30 years and now I've collected their pension for 30. I believe the pension payments will surpass the paychecks next year. The payout from the SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) IRA from the 4 year gig at AOL will take a little longer.

One of the best features of retired life is the retirement of the alarm clock. My locomotive alarm clock occasionally works when there's a morning appointment with one of my witch doctors.

That's awesome to hear Bob. I love hearing of happy retirement stories and hope to one day in the near future turn the page to that chapter in our life.
 

Outlawmws

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
39,326
Location
The Badlands
I barely sleep when I need to set the alarm for some early event. I wind up going to appointments looking like the cat dragged me in.

Most of the time, I wake up before the alarm ever goes off. If nothing else, my bladder will usually do as an alarm clock...

A buddy's FIL always drank a large glass of water before bed - that was his alarm!
 

SMOKEYBEAR

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2016
Messages
466
I can relate. 20 years ago while living in Michigan I built my woodworking bench. When I built it I knew that, lord willing, I would be moving back to AZ.
I laminated 4 thickness of 3/4” BB plywood figuring I would have to worry about wood movement when moved the bench to the desert. Thought that if the top got too beat up I‘d replace it later.
Not sure I’ll ever have to. It’s scared but still flat

I have however had to plug and smooth over holes from screw mounted fixtures, and yeah a few oops.
Like you, I use a wood plug if necessary and Metal Set epoxy.

In this photo you can see the various plugged holes for different attempts at fitting a tail vise along with other repairs. The plugged and filled counterbores don’t hurt the function at all.
IMG_5198.jpeg

The scratches look much worse than the are. Most can’t really be felt with the palm of my hand.
The character tells the stories. I built mine in '05 in my late G'dads shop. It was the first thing we put in place in the garage to my first house. The house remodel followed from the studs out, one room at a time. As I think about it, I could always just flip it and let the bottom surface become the top if the damages become to much. It gets another coat of polyurethane this evening, then maybe one more. I'll decide once this coat cures.
 

Jure

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
1,786
Location
Croatia
Do you think not having it vented to atmosphere will impede the flow of brake fluid from the caliper?
I dont think that motorcycle master cyl can pump that much air inside the bottle to stop the flow... but i might be wrong. In can i need a vent its easy to grill a hole and install a tire valve with removed core or something like that.
 

zmotorsports

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 20, 2009
Messages
21,469
Location
Northern Utah
I dont think that motorcycle master cyl can pump that much air inside the bottle to stop the flow... but i might be wrong. In can i need a vent its easy to grill a hole and install a tire valve with removed core or something like that.

For motorcycle applications you may be okay due to the low volume of fluid, or ratio of fluid to air. It may still try to compress the volume of air a bit and create some unwanted backpressure when bleeding however.
 

Jure

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
1,786
Location
Croatia
For motorcycle applications you may be okay due to the low volume of fluid, or ratio of fluid to air. It may still try to compress the volume of air a bit and create some unwanted backpressure when bleeding however.
Will give it a try soon,i hope it will work...if not i will figure something out to make it work😅
 

niget2002

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
11,249
Location
Josephine, TX
Carried an Amazon delivery out to the shop. Did a quick validation that I ordered the right parts.

Then carried a raspberry pi out to the garage to plug in with the rest of the networking gear for a new pi.hole server. Used a POE power supply to power the raspberry pi.
 

Wrench97

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
12,158
Location
Southeastern Pa
I barely sleep when I need to set the alarm for some early event. I wind up going to appointments looking like the cat dragged me in.
I have not set the alarm since I retired(Semi), The shop opens at 8am I'm there at 7 and sleep in til 5 every day.......
New wrinkle my alarm clock in the last year has decided it's day light savings time a week early since it's the type from the 80's that automatically correct the time there is no setting it back to standard time it just changes itself back at 2am and 2pm every day........
 

Bob Heine

ALLIANCE MEMBER
Joined
Oct 24, 2009
Messages
10,708
Location
Boca Raton, Florida
The piston seals on a brake caliper don't slide along a surface, they are a bellows type so as the pads wear and the piston protrudes the machined outer diameter surface will not get dirty or corrode. If it wasn't done this way you couldn't risk retracting the pads/piston(s).
@cannuck, all the calipers I've rebuilt have two seals. Mine have an internal seal, either on the piston or in the cylinder and it makes the high pressure seal for the fluid. They also have an outer dust seal that moves with the piston, as you say, to keep dirt from contaminating the inner seal, piston and cylinder walls.

My '72 Corvette brakes have four pistons and each piston has an inner and outer seal on the right in the photo below. I took this photo to show the rust caused by using DOT-5 (Silicone) fluid in a daily driver because it doesn't absorb water.
DOT 5 Rust.jpg
My '87 Corvette has the pressure seal in the cylinder wall and the dust seal on the piston. I butchered the piston getting it out so I replaced this caliper.
Bore and Piston.jpg Old Caliper with Pads 1.jpg
 
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