kitdoctor
Well-known member
Geoff, all the best for Xmas and New Year's too. I'm quarantining as I've caught a second cold for the year. We've had a record wet December too, so this is the year I won't forget.
Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT New home and 3 car garage in Melbourne, Australia
- Thread starter Geoff289
- Start date
Workspaces between 705 and 1200 squarefeet.
kitdoctor
Well-known member
Reminds me of the time we almost clocked one driving back from Melbourne to the Sunshine Coast in our new Hilux.
It was late afternoon and dappled shade covered the long, reasonably steep and straight decline we were on heading towards a bridge.
I had a B-double semi on my tail (I sit on 90 km/hr) and I saw the little ****** jump onto the bitumen but I didn't see him cross to the other side. Then I saw him in the right hand lane in a dark patch of shade. I thought if he moves to my lane I can hardly brake hard with the B-double behind me. Whether the driver of the B-double had even seen him I don't know.
So my choice was to back off slightly, the B-double semi flew past and took the hit. New Hilux okay!
It was late afternoon and dappled shade covered the long, reasonably steep and straight decline we were on heading towards a bridge.
I had a B-double semi on my tail (I sit on 90 km/hr) and I saw the little ****** jump onto the bitumen but I didn't see him cross to the other side. Then I saw him in the right hand lane in a dark patch of shade. I thought if he moves to my lane I can hardly brake hard with the B-double behind me. Whether the driver of the B-double had even seen him I don't know.
So my choice was to back off slightly, the B-double semi flew past and took the hit. New Hilux okay!
Coolabah
Well-known member
Wait.... plastic panels there ? Not seen that before , I must be well behind the times.
Glad all are OK , thank goodness it wasn't the Mustang, and for the record we have kangaroos "up here" at Narooma too
( yeh I know you were referring to "down here" as in : "in Australia" for our international friends LOL. Sorry/not sorry just can't help myself ) All the best to you and yours too.
Yeah, the apparent plastic guard (fender - see what I did there, catering to our American friends) was news to me too. Both my old Benz and my new Bimmer have aluminium bonnet (hood) and guards (see above) but I haven't struck this before.Wait.... plastic panels there ? Not seen that before , I must be well behind the times.
Glad all are OK , thank goodness it wasn't the Mustang, and for the record we have kangaroos "up here" at Narooma too
All the best to you and yours too.
I had a FB thing from a mate of mine today with photos of his extended family's annual Christmas get together in Narooma. This seems to consist of drinking as much beer as possible on the beach there. If you see a group of a dozen or so blokes in their 60's and 70's with a lot of empties around them give them a wide berth.
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hewey
Well-known member
Merry Christmas Geoff. Glad to hear you're doing okay, and that things are progressing okay with your mum's estate.
Three months ago, we lost my Mum. Regrettably I now have to report another death in the family.
My disheveled but much-loved old truck, The Eyesore, has turned up its toes for good. If you've been along for the ride, you may recall that it developed a cracked head a couple of years ago (see posts 694 and 702) which, consistent with the policy on this vehicle of not spending money on it, I "fixed" with a bottle of stuff. Dr. Google advised at the time that such repairs were not permanent, so I knew this day was going to come.
One day last week, a pretty hot one, 36 or so C, I was commissioned by daughter # 2 to go pick up a large sectional couch thing she'd bought on FB. This was located in a new housing development that wasn't there five minutes previously at Clyde, fortunately only involving a modest detour from the direct route down the freeway from my place in Mount Waverley to the daughter's in Pakenham. The item was large enough to require both the Eyesore and the box trailer.
On the way to Clyde the temperature gauge was worrying me but it settled down when I got off the freeway. I picked it up and delivered it to Pakenham, enjoyed a couple of the son in law's beers, then hit the freeway for home. Again, the temp gauge started climbing. By about three quarters of the way home it was becoming clear I wasn't going to get home so I exited the freeway. By this time a faint death rattle was increasing in volume and eventually it just died. I was able to roll it into a bus stop so I was out of the increasingly heavy peak hour traffic. Lifting the bonnet (hood) revealed not just steam but also smoke and fumes from under the valve cover. Toast.
My journey had been halted just a couple of k's from a mate who has a car trailer. He was still at work but came to my rescue an hour or so later. I had stopped over the road from a pub so that wasn't too much of a problem. He arrived with just his Ranger first to take my trailer back to his place, then returned with his car trailer and took me and The Eyesore home. The next day I accepted an offer of $500 from a wrecker for the remains and she went off yesterday on a tilt tray. A sad day.
I bought the old girl for $2,000 in August 2016 just after we took possession of the address where we now live. With a new house to build, landscape etc. two houses to empty and sell and numerous other tasks, she provided faithful and mostly reliable service for eight and half years, so i think I've had my money's worth.
What to do next? For the last maybe three years it hasn't had that much use until we started to empty my Mum's house, a now completed project. It's hard to justify replacing it. My initial thought was that I'd get a towbar on the Bimmer - not much point in having a trailer if I have nothing to tow it with - but not to my great surprise it looks like that would cost more than the truck cost me back in 2016. On the other hand, the used car market is still inflated post Covid so my objectives of cheap, reliable and at least 25 years old so I can put it on a Club Permit will be challenging. For the moment I'll do nothing while I consider my options and prevail on my brother if I need to use the trailer.
So there you have it.
My disheveled but much-loved old truck, The Eyesore, has turned up its toes for good. If you've been along for the ride, you may recall that it developed a cracked head a couple of years ago (see posts 694 and 702) which, consistent with the policy on this vehicle of not spending money on it, I "fixed" with a bottle of stuff. Dr. Google advised at the time that such repairs were not permanent, so I knew this day was going to come.
One day last week, a pretty hot one, 36 or so C, I was commissioned by daughter # 2 to go pick up a large sectional couch thing she'd bought on FB. This was located in a new housing development that wasn't there five minutes previously at Clyde, fortunately only involving a modest detour from the direct route down the freeway from my place in Mount Waverley to the daughter's in Pakenham. The item was large enough to require both the Eyesore and the box trailer.
On the way to Clyde the temperature gauge was worrying me but it settled down when I got off the freeway. I picked it up and delivered it to Pakenham, enjoyed a couple of the son in law's beers, then hit the freeway for home. Again, the temp gauge started climbing. By about three quarters of the way home it was becoming clear I wasn't going to get home so I exited the freeway. By this time a faint death rattle was increasing in volume and eventually it just died. I was able to roll it into a bus stop so I was out of the increasingly heavy peak hour traffic. Lifting the bonnet (hood) revealed not just steam but also smoke and fumes from under the valve cover. Toast.
My journey had been halted just a couple of k's from a mate who has a car trailer. He was still at work but came to my rescue an hour or so later. I had stopped over the road from a pub so that wasn't too much of a problem. He arrived with just his Ranger first to take my trailer back to his place, then returned with his car trailer and took me and The Eyesore home. The next day I accepted an offer of $500 from a wrecker for the remains and she went off yesterday on a tilt tray. A sad day.
I bought the old girl for $2,000 in August 2016 just after we took possession of the address where we now live. With a new house to build, landscape etc. two houses to empty and sell and numerous other tasks, she provided faithful and mostly reliable service for eight and half years, so i think I've had my money's worth.
What to do next? For the last maybe three years it hasn't had that much use until we started to empty my Mum's house, a now completed project. It's hard to justify replacing it. My initial thought was that I'd get a towbar on the Bimmer - not much point in having a trailer if I have nothing to tow it with - but not to my great surprise it looks like that would cost more than the truck cost me back in 2016. On the other hand, the used car market is still inflated post Covid so my objectives of cheap, reliable and at least 25 years old so I can put it on a Club Permit will be challenging. For the moment I'll do nothing while I consider my options and prevail on my brother if I need to use the trailer.
So there you have it.
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hewey
Well-known member
I think it's well and truly paid it's dues. $2000 is really $1500 once you take off the wrecker's bounty. And for 8 years, that's $187.50 a year. Sure there's other running costs like rego and insurance, but you'd be struggling to hire a trailer for that kind of money.
kitdoctor
Well-known member
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Rest in pieces, Eysore. 
Thanks guys. I guess like everyone on here, cars are not just inanimate transport from A to B objects to me, even scrappy old light trucks. I do feel a sense of loss and certainly disappointment.Rest in pieces, Eysore.
It owed me nothing after 8 years of usefulness. When I got her she came with enough full rego to get past her 25th birthday the following February and become eligible for a Club Permit, which she stayed on for the rest of the time. For the first several years this was a 90 day permit which is about $160 a year currently but for about the last 3 years it was a 45 day one for $80. Contrast this with about $950 for full rego and you can see why I wanted such an old truck. Basic third party plus fire and theft insurance was only about $250 a year so the cost of ownership has been pretty negligible.
Apart from oil and filter every two years, arguably unnecessary given the limited k's it did, the only other money I spent on her was due to low lives breaking in or attempting to steal her. The first such break in involved a broken passenger side window which I replaced with one from the wrecker for, I think, $100. After that, on unofficial police advice I left her unlocked (but with a club lock on the steering wheel) so no more damage would be done trying to get in and discover there was nothing to steal.
Then, as documented on here at post 780, an attempt to steal the vehicle resulted in having to fork out for the insurance excess (deductible) which was $650. After this I added a wheel clamp to the visual deterrents to would be miscreants.
So, as I say, she owes me nothing, really.
As I type this my rescuer the other day, my drag racing buddy Nino, is on his way to return my trailer and then I'll buy him lunch to thank him.
hewey
Well-known member
I also meant to say, nursing it off the freeway to gasp it's last death conveniently outside a pub, and close by to your mate with a car trailer, is about one of the luckiest failures I've ever heard
You forgot the bus stop I rolled into to get out of the peak hour traffic. A couple of bus drivers were not impressed, particularly while we were loading it on the trailer as we took up every metre of the bus stop.I also meant to say, nursing it off the freeway to gasp it's last death conveniently outside a pub, and close by to your mate with a car trailer, is about one of the luckiest failures I've ever heard
It was mostly luck, but I was actually trying to make it to Nino's place. He has an acreage and plenty of room for a dead truck and trailer. The pub, the Stamford Inn, was a welcome bonus as it was as hot as blazes out in the sun and I knew I wasn't doing any more driving that day.
Like most new cars these days, my Bimmer came without a spare tyre, instead relying on something called run flat tyres. Yeah, right!
While that might be fine for tootling around the suburbs, I wasn't happy with this situation for any extended road trips we might do so invested in this.
https://braumach.com.au/products/bm...ver-spare-wheel-kit-braumach-models-2018-2024
It arrived a couple of days ago and inspection suggested it was pretty good quality really, and while it might seem expensive to American members, I think it's a surprisingly low price while it's discounted as it is at the moment.
I tried the jack out when it came, and it works fine. Today I had time to make sure the wheel, which comes in this nice bag, actually fits. It does.
I won't lug it around all the time, just on longer trips for peace of mind. Even as a space saver, a 19 inch wheel and tyre take up a lot of space and the boot (trunk) in this car is not so large as space that is there in the ICE only version, the 330 i, is sacrificed to the battery bank. This isn't a big deal as it'll only ever be the two of us on any trip where I would want to take the spare and with the rear seats folded there's plenty of room for luggage.
I also learned in this test fit that the car has lug bolts and threaded holes in the hub rather than wheel studs permanently in situ on the hub and wheels nuts. This is tedious as holding the wheel up in place on the narrow flange provided while trying to align the holes in the wheel and hub to get a bolt started is a bit of a pain. The Merc was the same and I had two bits of threaded rod (all thread) about 90 mm (3") long, plastic coated for half the length that i screwed into a couple of the holes to provide locating pins for the wheel enabling me to get a couple of bolts started, then remove the pins to put the rest of the bolts in. it worked very well. The thread size may or may not have been the same as this car requires but in any event I sold them with the car, so I'll be making some for this one.
While that might be fine for tootling around the suburbs, I wasn't happy with this situation for any extended road trips we might do so invested in this.
https://braumach.com.au/products/bm...ver-spare-wheel-kit-braumach-models-2018-2024
It arrived a couple of days ago and inspection suggested it was pretty good quality really, and while it might seem expensive to American members, I think it's a surprisingly low price while it's discounted as it is at the moment.
I tried the jack out when it came, and it works fine. Today I had time to make sure the wheel, which comes in this nice bag, actually fits. It does.
I won't lug it around all the time, just on longer trips for peace of mind. Even as a space saver, a 19 inch wheel and tyre take up a lot of space and the boot (trunk) in this car is not so large as space that is there in the ICE only version, the 330 i, is sacrificed to the battery bank. This isn't a big deal as it'll only ever be the two of us on any trip where I would want to take the spare and with the rear seats folded there's plenty of room for luggage.
I also learned in this test fit that the car has lug bolts and threaded holes in the hub rather than wheel studs permanently in situ on the hub and wheels nuts. This is tedious as holding the wheel up in place on the narrow flange provided while trying to align the holes in the wheel and hub to get a bolt started is a bit of a pain. The Merc was the same and I had two bits of threaded rod (all thread) about 90 mm (3") long, plastic coated for half the length that i screwed into a couple of the holes to provide locating pins for the wheel enabling me to get a couple of bolts started, then remove the pins to put the rest of the bolts in. it worked very well. The thread size may or may not have been the same as this car requires but in any event I sold them with the car, so I'll be making some for this one.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Geoff, like your BMW, my Cadillac CTS-V has no spare tire. Not even run-flats. However, it does have a compact spare compartment under the trunk (boot) floor panel. There's a can of tire seal and a 12V compressor in a foam case, held in place by a large stud and wing nut. I also have the four lug nuts and key for the security lug nuts in the compartment.
Your $441 compact spare price is right in line with the ones on offer here in the US. For the Cadillac, the compact wheel and tire alone is $407.95 ($359.95 +$48 shipping). The complete kit, is $517.95 ($469.95 +$48 shipping). I drive the car so rarely I probably don't need the spare considering I have AAA roadside assistance.
Based on your recent experience with The Eyesore, I would want the compact spare in the boot all the time. If your roadside assistance timeliness is anything like mine, you might regret missing a couple of meals with nothing to do but politely texting the AI roadside assistant for updates.
Your $441 compact spare price is right in line with the ones on offer here in the US. For the Cadillac, the compact wheel and tire alone is $407.95 ($359.95 +$48 shipping). The complete kit, is $517.95 ($469.95 +$48 shipping). I drive the car so rarely I probably don't need the spare considering I have AAA roadside assistance.
Based on your recent experience with The Eyesore, I would want the compact spare in the boot all the time. If your roadside assistance timeliness is anything like mine, you might regret missing a couple of meals with nothing to do but politely texting the AI roadside assistant for updates.
Coolabah
Well-known member
Man after my own heart. I have never liked the fill your tire/tyre full of goop strategy and even though not a true fan of these "temporary" spares ( compared with the now terribly old fashioned and I suppose regrettably extinct full size spares LOL ) ......they are a country mile ahead of goop stuff.Like most new cars these days, my Bimmer came without a spare tyre, instead relying on something called run flat tyres. Yeah, right!
While that might be fine for tootling around the suburbs, I wasn't happy with this situation for any extended road trips we might do so invested in this.
https://braumach.com.au/products/bm...ver-spare-wheel-kit-braumach-models-2018-2024
It arrived a couple of days ago and inspection suggested it was pretty good quality really, and while it might seem expensive to American members, I think it's a surprisingly low price while it's discounted as it is at the moment.
I tried the jack out when it came, and it works fine. Today I had time to make sure the wheel, which comes in this nice bag, actually fits. It does.
I won't lug it around all the time, just on longer trips for peace of mind. Even as a space saver, a 19 inch wheel and tyre take up a lot of space and the boot (trunk) in this car is not so large as space that is there in the ICE only version, the 330 i, is sacrificed to the battery bank. This isn't a big deal as it'll only ever be the two of us on any trip where I would want to take the spare and with the rear seats folded there's plenty of room for luggage.
I also learned in this test fit that the car has lug bolts and threaded holes in the hub rather than wheel studs permanently in situ on the hub and wheels nuts. This is tedious as holding the wheel up in place on the narrow flange provided while trying to align the holes in the wheel and hub to get a bolt started is a bit of a pain. The Merc was the same and I had two bits of threaded rod (all thread) about 90 mm (3") long, plastic coated for half the length that i screwed into a couple of the holes to provide locating pins for the wheel enabling me to get a couple of bolts started, then remove the pins to put the rest of the bolts in. it worked very well. The thread size may or may not have been the same as this car requires but in any event I sold them with the car, so I'll be making some for this one.
I now have tyre-plug repair tools+ cheap and cheerful compressor in all my cars and have even bought a jack for one car that did not even come with one of those- you need the option to remove the wheel for some cars due to clearance/access issues !
I've now repaired about 6 punctures- a couple for daughter type drivers- in the last few years ( once in a shopping centre car park when I couldn't open the station wagon boot as some idiot parked HARD against the rear bumper and the boot was full
.... easier and quicker to just plug the tyre/tire as serendipitously the compressor and kit was under the front passenger seat )PS I have little understanding as to exactly why , but I am seriously mourning the loss of your crackhead family member "The Eyesore"
Those USD prices you quote make me even more pleased with what I paid for my spare wheel kit, Bob. I'm surprised.Geoff, like your BMW, my Cadillac CTS-V has no spare tire. Not even run-flats. However, it does have a compact spare compartment under the trunk (boot) floor panel. There's a can of tire seal and a 12V compressor in a foam case, held in place by a large stud and wing nut. I also have the four lug nuts and key for the security lug nuts in the compartment.
Your $441 compact spare price is right in line with the ones on offer here in the US. For the Cadillac, the compact wheel and tire alone is $407.95 ($359.95 +$48 shipping). The complete kit, is $517.95 ($469.95 +$48 shipping). I drive the car so rarely I probably don't need the spare considering I have AAA roadside assistance.
Based on your recent experience with The Eyesore, I would want the compact spare in the boot all the time. If your roadside assistance timeliness is anything like mine, you might regret missing a couple of meals with nothing to do but politely texting the AI roadside assistant for updates.
I've been a member of our local AA equivalent, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), for over 50 years (maybe you belonged to the NSW one, the NRMA, when you were here) but I never had the Eyesore on the coverage. While there was a very sound argument that it was the fleet member most likely to need it, she never went too far and it wouldn't have been worth it. Had Nino not been able to rescue me, calling them and adding the old girl would have been Plan B but this would have cost. I have just checked and it would have been $203 p.a. for the cover level that would have included getting the trailer home. Furthermore, joining up and then cancelling when it went off to the wreckers would not have generated any refund. So, covering it for the eight and a half years I had it would have cost nearly as much as the purchase price. It's final trip was actually the only time it let me down at all in that time, a flat battery while it was at home excepted.
I too am not keen on tyre repair in a can. Also, you are not alone in being in mourning. Apart from me, a few family members and a couple of Mustang Club members who have benefitted from her **** carting usefulness over the years are also wearing black.Man after my own heart. I have never liked the fill your tire/tyre full of goop strategy and even though not a true fan of these "temporary" spares ( compared with the now terribly old fashioned and I suppose regrettably extinct full size spares LOL ) ......they are a country mile ahead of goop stuff.
I now have tyre-plug repair tools+ cheap and cheerful compressor in all my cars and have even bought a jack for one car that did not even come with one of those- you need the option to remove the wheel for some cars due to clearance/access issues !
I've now repaired about 6 punctures- a couple for daughter type drivers- in the last few years ( once in a shopping centre car park when I couldn't open the station wagon boot as some idiot parked HARD against the rear bumper and the boot was full
PS I have little understanding as to exactly why , but I am seriously mourning the loss of your crackhead family member "The Eyesore"
I consoled myself with a nice drive in the black car today.
Ralf99
Well-known member
Many decades ago one of the part time jobs I had while at university was at a service station that did tyre repairs. Repairing tubless tyres that have been pumped full of Finilec is a particularly hateful experience!
As a motorcyclist I have a number of older bikes with spoked wheels that require inner tubes. If I use these on longer trips I often carry a can of Finilec (or similar) as well as a patch kit and tyre levers. If schedule allows I will patch a puncture, but if its cold/dark/wet i’ll pump in the goo and hope for the best.
More modern bikes with tubeless tyres and plugs along with CO2 canisters are the go.
I did a trip up through Cape York up to the top of Australia on a big dirt bike in the early 90’s when the old Telegraph Track was still a thing. I damaged the rear tire in a deep rut about 50km out of Cooktown (the last town of more than a few dozen people) which caused a puncture in the tube which was patched and we continued on. Unfortunately I couldn’t identify what part of the tyre was causing the problem, and the tube punctured another 25 or so times from something in the casing in the 2100+km round trip back to Port Douglas where I managed to get a replacement tyre.
I got the wheel removal and patching routine down to less than 20 minutes after the 7th or 8th puncture.
As a motorcyclist I have a number of older bikes with spoked wheels that require inner tubes. If I use these on longer trips I often carry a can of Finilec (or similar) as well as a patch kit and tyre levers. If schedule allows I will patch a puncture, but if its cold/dark/wet i’ll pump in the goo and hope for the best.
More modern bikes with tubeless tyres and plugs along with CO2 canisters are the go.
I did a trip up through Cape York up to the top of Australia on a big dirt bike in the early 90’s when the old Telegraph Track was still a thing. I damaged the rear tire in a deep rut about 50km out of Cooktown (the last town of more than a few dozen people) which caused a puncture in the tube which was patched and we continued on. Unfortunately I couldn’t identify what part of the tyre was causing the problem, and the tube punctured another 25 or so times from something in the casing in the 2100+km round trip back to Port Douglas where I managed to get a replacement tyre.
I got the wheel removal and patching routine down to less than 20 minutes after the 7th or 8th puncture.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
@Ralf99, as a kid I could walk or ride my bike but the bike meant I had to learn to fix it myself. Bicycle tires and tubes in the 1950s were prone to going flat so I carried a patch kit in the tool bag on back of the seat. I'd fix most flats without even taking the wheel off. The puncture was usually obvious so I just had to pry one side of the tire off the rim, pull the tube out and patch it. Hardest part was pumping the tire back up enough to get to a service station where there was always a free air pump.
hewey
Well-known member
That looks like a fun run in the Mustang.
My favourite flat tyre was when I was going to see a movie with my girlfriend at the time. Noticed the tyre was too low when we got out of the car. Spent the entire movie thinking how afterwards, I had to get in and swap the wheel over before driving home....
My favourite flat tyre was when I was going to see a movie with my girlfriend at the time. Noticed the tyre was too low when we got out of the car. Spent the entire movie thinking how afterwards, I had to get in and swap the wheel over before driving home....
Having to change a tyre after the movie would be a mood killer, I think.
As you probably figured, my drive the other day was up into the Dandenong Ranges. The black car is no Ferrari when it comes to bends but it's fun squirting it from corner to corner with the exhaust note bouncing off the hills.
hewey
Well-known member
While I don't know the specific boundaries of the Dandenongs, I knew enough to realise the drive was in that direction. And your map had more than enough twisty lines and green bits to know it had some fun bits! Our brief commute through the area was enough to confirm there must be some great roads in the region. Our timing was super busy peak Christmas holiday period, so we just took it easy and took in the scenery.
On January 26 the Mustang Owners Club had its regular Australia Day event. This was held down at Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula down past Geelong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portarlington,_Victoria
Weather was great and the seaside location very pleasant. Getting there does involve the worst road trip in Victoria down the Geelong Road freeway. Being a Sunday with a public holiday in lieu on the Monday the traffic wasn't too bad but the roadworks and dismal scenery were still a dominant feature of the drive. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all. The club BBQ trailer was there serving breakfast and later on lunch, there were a couple of new cars not seen before and some new members at their first club event.
Some pics here, a few too many of people and too few of cars if you ask me.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMOCAVIC
So that was the black car's last outing. Today the boss and I have been down to St. Andrews Beach at the bottom of the Mornington Peninsula in the white car for lunch with some friends who've retired down there. Another pleasant day with a more enjoyable drive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portarlington,_Victoria
Weather was great and the seaside location very pleasant. Getting there does involve the worst road trip in Victoria down the Geelong Road freeway. Being a Sunday with a public holiday in lieu on the Monday the traffic wasn't too bad but the roadworks and dismal scenery were still a dominant feature of the drive. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all. The club BBQ trailer was there serving breakfast and later on lunch, there were a couple of new cars not seen before and some new members at their first club event.
Some pics here, a few too many of people and too few of cars if you ask me.
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialMOCAVIC
So that was the black car's last outing. Today the boss and I have been down to St. Andrews Beach at the bottom of the Mornington Peninsula in the white car for lunch with some friends who've retired down there. Another pleasant day with a more enjoyable drive.
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kitdoctor
Well-known member
...and if the movie was a romance, well the mood for you know what was probably dampened/extinguished too.
It's been a while since I had anything much to add to my thread. Life is kind of on hold at the moment as we have a daughter, son in law and grandson camping with us while their house is on the market. The young bloke is 21 months old and just loves coming out to the garage with Grandad but is a bit too helpful if I'm trying to do anything, and his Dad works from (our) home two days a week so there hasn't been a lot of fun projects or anything going on for a while. Their place has just sold and should settle in early May.
Nevertheless, I've had a fair bit of (quiet) garage time over the last week or so. For a while its been getting more and more difficult to get the black car into first or reverse gear while at a stand-still and all shifting is a bit crunchy, signs of the clutch plate not fully disengaging from the flywheel.
By way of background, these cars originally had a mechanical z bar linkage and an old style three finger pressure plate. Even in perfect working order this required a fair bit of foot pressure, but the mechanism was prone to bending, binding and wearing at the pivot points, as well as getting in the way of headers etc.
https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/66-stock-clutch-linkage-issue.1184312/
When I built my car and put the five-speed transmission in it I went with a modern diaphragm clutch and a hydraulic mechanism from Modern Driveline in Idaho. They provide a linkage between the clutch pedal and the master cylinder that that does two clever things. Firstly, it multiplies the force placed on the pedal to provide a nice light pedal. Secondly, it puts the master cylinder hard up against the inner guard (fender) that enables the use of a bigger and better brake booster in the cramped confines under the bonnet (hood) than would otherwise be possible.
I thought it unlikely the issue was the clutch itself and pedal feel didn't suggest air in the system so faulty actuation between the pedal and the master cylinder was the most likely cause so went looking there. The challenge this presented for a bloke a couple of months away from commencing his eighth decade on the planet is the contortions required to get at this under the dash. My back still remembers installing it all back in 2014.
First step to make it a bit easier was to remove the gauge cluster, steering wheel and driver's seat. The seats are removed by undoing four nuts under the car so this involved getting the car up on the Quickjack. In the pic below you can see through the windscreen the seat sitting on the bench - i took the opportunity to adjust and lubricate the sliding mechanism while it was out of the car.
After the gauges and wheel were out but with the seat still in place I was able to sit in the seat and depress the pedal while looking through the hole in the dash and it was apparent the linkage mechanism had somehow unadjusted itself and the MC piston wasn't travelling the full length of the bore, thereby not moving the slave fully and not fully separating the clutch plate from the flywheel, hence the difficulty shifting. I did actually take a video of this but seem to have inadvertently deleted it so can't include it here.
So, just re-adjust it, add some loctite or something to the jam nuts and button it all up. Easily said. I recalled that the hardest part of installing it all originally was removing and reinstalling the fresh air vent that's under there and is physically in the way of getting any spanners (wrenches) in there. It's held up under the inlet from the cowl by three nuts on studs and two of them you can only get to with a long extension on a ratchet by feel without being able to see the nuts you're trying to get the socket onto.
With various pinched nerves, scratches and bad language I eventually got it out.
Then sorting out the clutch linkage was reasonably quick. I put the seat back in so I could try it out and pronounce it job done. Then I realised I hadn't actually opened that damn fresh air vent in the 11 years since the car went back on the road - if I want fresh air, I just open the window (the car has quarter vent windows which are also useful) so I decided to avoid the hassle and not put it back in. Instead, I made up a plate to block off the inlet from the cowl. I started with some MDF as a template to transfer to some sheet steel or aluminium but then decided to just use that
as it would be less likely to rattle and drum.
I added some strip caulk after that photo was taken and fitted it up on the studs with the original nuts. This was way easier as the plate doesn't have the cylindrical depth of the vent assembly, and the fixing points could be reached with relative ease.
So there we are. I'm yet to road test it but did run it through the gears while it was up on the Quickjack and all seems back to its smooth shifting self.
Nevertheless, I've had a fair bit of (quiet) garage time over the last week or so. For a while its been getting more and more difficult to get the black car into first or reverse gear while at a stand-still and all shifting is a bit crunchy, signs of the clutch plate not fully disengaging from the flywheel.
By way of background, these cars originally had a mechanical z bar linkage and an old style three finger pressure plate. Even in perfect working order this required a fair bit of foot pressure, but the mechanism was prone to bending, binding and wearing at the pivot points, as well as getting in the way of headers etc.
https://www.vintage-mustang.com/threads/66-stock-clutch-linkage-issue.1184312/
When I built my car and put the five-speed transmission in it I went with a modern diaphragm clutch and a hydraulic mechanism from Modern Driveline in Idaho. They provide a linkage between the clutch pedal and the master cylinder that that does two clever things. Firstly, it multiplies the force placed on the pedal to provide a nice light pedal. Secondly, it puts the master cylinder hard up against the inner guard (fender) that enables the use of a bigger and better brake booster in the cramped confines under the bonnet (hood) than would otherwise be possible.
I thought it unlikely the issue was the clutch itself and pedal feel didn't suggest air in the system so faulty actuation between the pedal and the master cylinder was the most likely cause so went looking there. The challenge this presented for a bloke a couple of months away from commencing his eighth decade on the planet is the contortions required to get at this under the dash. My back still remembers installing it all back in 2014.
First step to make it a bit easier was to remove the gauge cluster, steering wheel and driver's seat. The seats are removed by undoing four nuts under the car so this involved getting the car up on the Quickjack. In the pic below you can see through the windscreen the seat sitting on the bench - i took the opportunity to adjust and lubricate the sliding mechanism while it was out of the car.
After the gauges and wheel were out but with the seat still in place I was able to sit in the seat and depress the pedal while looking through the hole in the dash and it was apparent the linkage mechanism had somehow unadjusted itself and the MC piston wasn't travelling the full length of the bore, thereby not moving the slave fully and not fully separating the clutch plate from the flywheel, hence the difficulty shifting. I did actually take a video of this but seem to have inadvertently deleted it so can't include it here.
So, just re-adjust it, add some loctite or something to the jam nuts and button it all up. Easily said. I recalled that the hardest part of installing it all originally was removing and reinstalling the fresh air vent that's under there and is physically in the way of getting any spanners (wrenches) in there. It's held up under the inlet from the cowl by three nuts on studs and two of them you can only get to with a long extension on a ratchet by feel without being able to see the nuts you're trying to get the socket onto.
With various pinched nerves, scratches and bad language I eventually got it out.
Then sorting out the clutch linkage was reasonably quick. I put the seat back in so I could try it out and pronounce it job done. Then I realised I hadn't actually opened that damn fresh air vent in the 11 years since the car went back on the road - if I want fresh air, I just open the window (the car has quarter vent windows which are also useful) so I decided to avoid the hassle and not put it back in. Instead, I made up a plate to block off the inlet from the cowl. I started with some MDF as a template to transfer to some sheet steel or aluminium but then decided to just use that
as it would be less likely to rattle and drum.
I added some strip caulk after that photo was taken and fitted it up on the studs with the original nuts. This was way easier as the plate doesn't have the cylindrical depth of the vent assembly, and the fixing points could be reached with relative ease.
So there we are. I'm yet to road test it but did run it through the gears while it was up on the Quickjack and all seems back to its smooth shifting self.
hewey
Well-known member
Working under the dash is the worst. Hope the roadtest goes well.
Coolabah
Well-known member
Nice work Geoff and I feel ya on the not-so-bendable body !!
Apologies if I missed it in a previous post , but what are your thoughts on the quickjack ? I have a full height scissor lift but my brother is looking around for something and I suggested ( from other sources) to look at the quickjax. Your opinion would trump a lot of others
Apologies if I missed it in a previous post , but what are your thoughts on the quickjack ? I have a full height scissor lift but my brother is looking around for something and I suggested ( from other sources) to look at the quickjax. Your opinion would trump a lot of others
I'm pretty happy with the Quickjack. it obviously doesn't get the car up as high as other options like a two or four post hoist or a scissor lift but it gets it up about 600 mm which is higher than you could get it on jackstands and its way more stable than jackstands. You still have to get down on a creeper to get under the car but there's plenty of clearance to do anything you need to do under there. I could easily get the transmission out for instance, which I know from experience ain't that easy on jackstands. It leaves the wheels free like a two post or a scissor lift.Nice work Geoff and I feel ya on the not-so-bendable body !!
Apologies if I missed it in a previous post , but what are your thoughts on the quickjack ? I have a full height scissor lift but my brother is looking around for something and I suggested ( from other sources) to look at the quickjax. Your opinion would trump a lot of others
Before I got it I had looked at a scissor but for me there were two major disadvantages. Firstly, too much in the way under the car - I couldn't have got the seat out on a scissor I don't think. Secondly, I'd then have a pretty bulky bit of kit in the way when it wasn't in use. Now, both of these would be non-issues with a flush fitting scissor but I never thought of that when planning the house.
The QJ is kind of portable and effectively takes up no space in the garage when not in use as I store the two lifting frames under one of the cars, i.e. within the track of the car. It is a bit fiddly to set up, but overall it works well for my needs.
Coolabah
Well-known member
Thanks Geoff, awesome reply and will take that to heart.
When I was building my shed I was considering a 2 post lift but was concerned about footprint/ in the way, and I had never used one so was a bit wary of going all-in ( and I do a lot of other stuff like woodworking etc so my shed is not a purely automotive workshop !!) but decided on a scissor lift and the slab was poured with a recess so that the lift is flush with the floor when not in use. Can still trip over the ******* if you try hard enough !
I do love it almost as much as my dog but now that I have been living with it for 10 years I would , on life rewind , have opted for the 2 post.
TBH , ANYTHING beats working on a Toyota Corolla , on blocks of wood on a main Sydney road with the 373 bus barrelling past my feet every 15 minutes when I was in my 20's.
I think I proved Darwin wrong more than a few times in my past years !
When I was building my shed I was considering a 2 post lift but was concerned about footprint/ in the way, and I had never used one so was a bit wary of going all-in ( and I do a lot of other stuff like woodworking etc so my shed is not a purely automotive workshop !!) but decided on a scissor lift and the slab was poured with a recess so that the lift is flush with the floor when not in use. Can still trip over the ******* if you try hard enough !
I do love it almost as much as my dog but now that I have been living with it for 10 years I would , on life rewind , have opted for the 2 post.
TBH , ANYTHING beats working on a Toyota Corolla , on blocks of wood on a main Sydney road with the 373 bus barrelling past my feet every 15 minutes when I was in my 20's.
I think I proved Darwin wrong more than a few times in my past years !
Another long gap since I posted anything on my own thread. It could get longer if I restricted myself to garage, car or house related stuff as I have nothing to report on those fronts really. In the spirit of the supportive GJ community I'd like to update and rule a line under something else.
If you've been along for the ride, you may recall that we lost my Mum in September last year. Thanks for all the condolences at the time, no more needed now. As executor of her estate, I've been busy sorting everything out. Apart from legal stuff like probate the main task has been selling her house. I've reported on this previously and noted her hoarding tendencies which made emptying the place and preparing it for sale a very big undertaking.
We pretty much had it empty by Christmas but then needed to either organise or do ourselves a fair bit of cosmetic improvement like gardening, patching and painting, new carpets and a bunch of other stuff as a minimum. That is without deciding whether or not to do more substantial things like updating the kitchen and bathrooms which some, but not all, of the agents I had look at it recommended. Obviously, those latter things would be expensive and involve long lead times.
Then we got some serious interest from within the extended family in buying it as is (I did get it professionally and thoroughly cleaned once it was empty). The interested extended family member, not a beneficiary of the estate - that's just me and my two brothers - would be happy to take on the improvements themselves over time. The advantage for the estate was the avoidance of agents' commission, advertising costs, probably auctioneer fees and the cost and hassle of whatever level of improvement we went with.
The other side of the coin, though, was how to come to a price in the absence of any market-based competition for the property. I had both a legal obligation to act in the best interests of the estate and a self-interest to maximise the value of the estate. On the other hand, while any other time I've sold a house i would have been quite happy for the purchaser to pay too much for it, we didn't want to feel like anyone had been ripped off in this case.
Anyway, in consultation with my brothers, I came to a figure that I thought balanced up all the considerations. I factored in the range of potential sale prices the agents I'd had in had quoted, the reasonably easy to pin down agent's commission, advertising etc. we'd avoid and a sort of informed guess at the cost of improvements. I presented this figure, and how I'd reached it, to the prospective purchasers as the figure I'd be prepared to sell it to them for on a non-negotiable, take it or leave it basis. They took it.
As things stand today the sale is due to settle (I think you call it "closing" in the US) in early June. There are one or two loose ends like cancelling the insurance on it, but I should then be in a position to finalise and distribute the estate to my brothers and myself.
Now, this next bit I've thought about whether to include or not and decided i will. In doing so I really hope I get the tone right and don't come across in a way that I don't intend.
My partner and I are very fortunate to be quite financially secure as a result of successful careers, prudent management of our finances, and a range of other factors, including an element of good fortune at various times. Mostly, we don't find ourselves restricted if there's something we want to buy or do. We couldn't buy a private island or a private jet, but we don't want to. Our income and assets are such that we'll never be eligible for any aged pension or other government income support. The specifics of my own primary source of retirement income even mean that its immune from both inflation and the vagaries of share markets and other investments. As I said, I really hope I've got the tone right here, I don't want to come across as showing off or big noting.
I make the previous point as a basis for noting that this substantial inheritance that's about to come my way is all cream. Obviously, a good problem to have, but I need to give some thought as to what to do with it. i could just stick it in my superannuation (retirement income system) account (over a few years as there are annual caps on how much you can put in) and both let it grow and generate more income, or I could spend it.
I'm not one to rush into decisions like this, a trait that has contributed to my existing comfortable situation. At the time of writing my broad intentions are to:
- give a meaningful but not over the top sum to each of our children
- make a (further) modest contribution to the bank accounts I established for each grandchild at birth
- buy my beloved a new car, almost certainly a full EV
- a one-off increase in the annual donations we make to a few charities
- possibly provide some additional assistance to one of my brothers who is not in as fortunate a position as I am. This would be over and above his share of the estate and on a basis that it came back to me or my estate on his passing (despite being younger than me, he has some health issues that will likely result in him predeceasing me). Our other brother may join me in this if we all decide to do it).
- park the rest of it for the time being, while keeping my eyes out for another Mustang. Nothing wrong with mine and it still gives me great pleasure but if the opportunity comes up to indulge myself with something better I might do so. There was a very nice '69 Super Cobra Jet auctioned in Queensland not that long ago. Had the timing been right and I was able to go and look at it (I would never buy a car I hadn't seen up close) I would have been very tempted.
So anyway, all that has probably bored you all to tears, but I wanted to rule a line under it all.
On another matter, due no doubt to an unforgivable bureaucratic error resulting in a typo on my birth certificate, there is view held by some that I am turning 70 next month. While I personally think this can't possibly be right, its a good enough excuse for a party. Therefore, the current focus of activity in this household is the planning of just such an event for Saturday 14 June, the day after my birthday. Some may recall that the most recent grandchild shares my birthday, so we are due at a two-year-old birthday party on the Sunday, hopefully without a hangover or anything.
If you've been along for the ride, you may recall that we lost my Mum in September last year. Thanks for all the condolences at the time, no more needed now. As executor of her estate, I've been busy sorting everything out. Apart from legal stuff like probate the main task has been selling her house. I've reported on this previously and noted her hoarding tendencies which made emptying the place and preparing it for sale a very big undertaking.
We pretty much had it empty by Christmas but then needed to either organise or do ourselves a fair bit of cosmetic improvement like gardening, patching and painting, new carpets and a bunch of other stuff as a minimum. That is without deciding whether or not to do more substantial things like updating the kitchen and bathrooms which some, but not all, of the agents I had look at it recommended. Obviously, those latter things would be expensive and involve long lead times.
Then we got some serious interest from within the extended family in buying it as is (I did get it professionally and thoroughly cleaned once it was empty). The interested extended family member, not a beneficiary of the estate - that's just me and my two brothers - would be happy to take on the improvements themselves over time. The advantage for the estate was the avoidance of agents' commission, advertising costs, probably auctioneer fees and the cost and hassle of whatever level of improvement we went with.
The other side of the coin, though, was how to come to a price in the absence of any market-based competition for the property. I had both a legal obligation to act in the best interests of the estate and a self-interest to maximise the value of the estate. On the other hand, while any other time I've sold a house i would have been quite happy for the purchaser to pay too much for it, we didn't want to feel like anyone had been ripped off in this case.
Anyway, in consultation with my brothers, I came to a figure that I thought balanced up all the considerations. I factored in the range of potential sale prices the agents I'd had in had quoted, the reasonably easy to pin down agent's commission, advertising etc. we'd avoid and a sort of informed guess at the cost of improvements. I presented this figure, and how I'd reached it, to the prospective purchasers as the figure I'd be prepared to sell it to them for on a non-negotiable, take it or leave it basis. They took it.
As things stand today the sale is due to settle (I think you call it "closing" in the US) in early June. There are one or two loose ends like cancelling the insurance on it, but I should then be in a position to finalise and distribute the estate to my brothers and myself.
Now, this next bit I've thought about whether to include or not and decided i will. In doing so I really hope I get the tone right and don't come across in a way that I don't intend.
My partner and I are very fortunate to be quite financially secure as a result of successful careers, prudent management of our finances, and a range of other factors, including an element of good fortune at various times. Mostly, we don't find ourselves restricted if there's something we want to buy or do. We couldn't buy a private island or a private jet, but we don't want to. Our income and assets are such that we'll never be eligible for any aged pension or other government income support. The specifics of my own primary source of retirement income even mean that its immune from both inflation and the vagaries of share markets and other investments. As I said, I really hope I've got the tone right here, I don't want to come across as showing off or big noting.
I make the previous point as a basis for noting that this substantial inheritance that's about to come my way is all cream. Obviously, a good problem to have, but I need to give some thought as to what to do with it. i could just stick it in my superannuation (retirement income system) account (over a few years as there are annual caps on how much you can put in) and both let it grow and generate more income, or I could spend it.
I'm not one to rush into decisions like this, a trait that has contributed to my existing comfortable situation. At the time of writing my broad intentions are to:
- give a meaningful but not over the top sum to each of our children
- make a (further) modest contribution to the bank accounts I established for each grandchild at birth
- buy my beloved a new car, almost certainly a full EV
- a one-off increase in the annual donations we make to a few charities
- possibly provide some additional assistance to one of my brothers who is not in as fortunate a position as I am. This would be over and above his share of the estate and on a basis that it came back to me or my estate on his passing (despite being younger than me, he has some health issues that will likely result in him predeceasing me). Our other brother may join me in this if we all decide to do it).
- park the rest of it for the time being, while keeping my eyes out for another Mustang. Nothing wrong with mine and it still gives me great pleasure but if the opportunity comes up to indulge myself with something better I might do so. There was a very nice '69 Super Cobra Jet auctioned in Queensland not that long ago. Had the timing been right and I was able to go and look at it (I would never buy a car I hadn't seen up close) I would have been very tempted.
So anyway, all that has probably bored you all to tears, but I wanted to rule a line under it all.
On another matter, due no doubt to an unforgivable bureaucratic error resulting in a typo on my birth certificate, there is view held by some that I am turning 70 next month. While I personally think this can't possibly be right, its a good enough excuse for a party. Therefore, the current focus of activity in this household is the planning of just such an event for Saturday 14 June, the day after my birthday. Some may recall that the most recent grandchild shares my birthday, so we are due at a two-year-old birthday party on the Sunday, hopefully without a hangover or anything.
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hewey
Well-known member
Hi Geoff, sounds like a fair and reasonable approach to selling the house for all parties. Easy to say quickly, but no doubt the end result of much internal deliberating and pondering. And likewise I'm sure a relief to get the 'admin' of being the executor wound up, as well as the physical jobs of sorting things out.
You're certainly in a well earned position for whatever you choose next. Practically, if another pony car was added to the stables, where would you stable it?
And wishing you a happy birthday too, that's going to be a big weekend!!
You're certainly in a well earned position for whatever you choose next. Practically, if another pony car was added to the stables, where would you stable it?
And wishing you a happy birthday too, that's going to be a big weekend!!
Cheers, Hewey.
if I get another Mustang, it'll replace the current one. As your question implies, I don't have the garage space for an additional car and I don't drive the one I've got as much as I'd like to, so I only need one. I would have to deal with the short-term logistical challenge of them overlapping while I sold the black car but that could be overcome.
Anyway, may never happen, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open. I am quite pleased with myself for building my current one myself. While the body and paint were done when I got it everything else, and I do mean everything, was completely worn out and I replaced it all. I farmed out a couple of things like rebuilding the diff and transmission, also installing the headlining, but otherwise did it all myself, fulfilling a long-held ambition.
However, harking back to the impending birthday, I won't be doing that again, so I'd only contemplate a car that had everything done and didn't need work to meet my pretty specific requirements.
This is the '69 Super Cobra Jet I mentioned in my previous post, a really great car.
https://www.seven82motors.com.au/lo...69-ford-mustang-428-cobra-jet-double-rr-code/
The resto work was done here in Victoria at CRS in Castlemaine.
https://www.rodshop.com.au/about-us/
They are well known for very high quality work. They had a display at Motorex recently and I had a chat to them about this car (after it had been sold), which confirmed that it was everything it was cracked up to be.
Anyway, we'll see.
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Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Geoff, I appreciate your post. Liane and I are also very fortunate to be financially secure. My contribution was a modest paycheck and Liane's was an even more modest spending habit. She was the one at the grocery checkout with the stack of coupons. She was the one buying high-end clothing at thrift stores. The money she didn't spend on things allowed us to travel and still have a little money to invest. We rented our island in Lake George, NY for $3 a night. Our campsite came with a dock for our
When the opportunity to retire at 50 presented itself, we decided to take it, knowing we would be poor once again. Without children at home, debt, a modest home, paid for vehicles and no need to spend money on all the stuff that going to work requires, it wasn't that bad. A gig as s sole proprietor consultant at America Online helped get us to a better place. By better place, it made a Scandinavian/Russian cruise possible as well as stock and retirement account additions.
My mother passed away on Mother's Day 2008 and the property appraiser's office valued her condo at just over $200,000. The real estate market in the US (but not Australia) had gone into free-fall so selling her condo was difficult. Expecting a reasonably quick recovery I rented the place for a couple of years. I eventually sold the place for $84,000 and after closing netted $76,000. My mother wanted to leave the condo to our son to help him out but she didn't specify that in her will. Like you and your brothers, Liane and I did all the work to make the condo sellable/rentable and I did all the paperwork and government filings before we sold it.
From the day our son married his wonderful wife, they handled their finances like drunken sailors and built up debt in every way possible. Much as I wanted to bail them out with a lump sum gift from the condo sale, Liane and I agreed an in-ground swimming pool and new SUV would magically appear while adding to their debt. Making the lump-sum gift was especially tempting because they were raising seven wonderful children whom we love dearly.
My frugal ******* decision was to open an investment account that plowed dividends and capital gains back into the account. When the grandchildren graduated high school and some went off to university, we took money out of the account to cover whatever tuition, room and board that their scholarships didn't cover. When the grandchildren bought their first car, that account helped with the down payment. All seven grandchildren are working full time and living their lives without our help. Even with the withdrawals, the account is triple what it was when I made that first deposit fifteen years ago.
The hurricanes that hit Florida in recent years dramatically increased the cost of hurricane and home insurance. The bank increased our son's insurance by $9,000 a year so we send a $600 check to them every month to help with that insurance increase, They have paid down all their high-interest debt and have established retirement accounts. They have improved their double digit credit rating to a decent three digit one.
Liane reacted poorly in 2016 after a Mother's Day party at our son's house. During a discussion about the first John Wick movie, our son said "If I had $84,000, I'd buy a Chevelle Supersport just like the one in the movie." The odd number triggered Liane and on the way home said: "Go buy your Cadillac!" She was referring to my frequently repeated: "I'd love to own a Cadillac CTS-V now that it comes with a 6-speed automatic." That evening I found a 2011 CTS-V advertized by a dealer six miles from our house and unlike all the one's I had seen recently with 100,000 miles plus on the odometer and in mostly rust-belt states, this one had 11,700 miles and had never left Florida. I didn't touch my mother's account because I had my own 'car payment' account. At $41,750 I had my dream car for less than half what my son wanted to spend on his.
I'm pretty sure financial wisdom comes with age. For me, that age was 21 and for our son that age appears to be 61.
I could have continued working beyond age 54 (when I left AOL) and might have amassed a larger nestegg but my paternal grandfather died at 53, my father died at 55 and his only brother died a month after he turned 56. I didn't feel like I was at death's door but I suspect neither did my ancestors. That history did factor into my early retirement decision and not having a huge nestegg meant I could collect Social Security and the Grim Reaper suggested I take my Social Security payments as soon as possible. The bonus at 62 didn't change our lives dramatically but I'm rarely in the company of a gift horse and never check their mouth -- that would be rude.
I can really relate to your birth certificate misprint. I used the original Phelps Dodge Hospital certificate my parents were given as my birth certificate. That is, until I used it to apply for a passport when I was supposedly 35. Hospital certificates mean nothing to the US State Department. A tearful call to the Bureau of Vital Records in Phoenix, Arizona resulted in a FedEx delivery of an embossed copy the next day and a passport the next week. That white on black microfilm certificate copy has the same barely legible misprint that falsely indicates I'm over 80. I'm pretty sure I'm 150 because I have no draft card for World War II. Everyone age 18 to 65 got one so I must have been 65 when pearl Harbolr was attacked in 1941. OK, maybe I really was only 1 in 1945. It's a little depressing either way,
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kitdoctor
Well-known member
Geoff's post reminded me I have to install a NOS speedo cable in my XA to replace the reproduction cable I installed. Same process, seat out, steering wheel off, instrument cluster out...
I joined GJ back in 2013, having stumbled across it while in France and unable to find anything on the tv there I could understand. It wasn't until 2018 that I started this thread, when we were gearing up to begin building our house. On my third post in this thread, post # 10, I expressed my absolute honour that you had not just visited but contributed to my thread, as I'd worked out well before that you were GJ royalty. Every time you've posted on here since I've felt the same honour, Bob (the site keeps wanting me to say "honor" instead of "honour" but I'm persisting with the way we do it here).
I hear you, Bob. Touch wood, as things stand these days, my kids - 40. 38, 34 and 34 - are all pretty responsible with their finances but there have certainly been times in the past when I despaired. I have always seen it as my role to educate them in this area, and I started this when they were very young. From when they first started to get some pocket money (allowance) I required them to bank half of it. This was only a couple of dollars initially but as they got older and it was appropriate to increase it this regime continued to apply. For some of them, at least, they voluntarily continued this when they started part time weekend or after school jobs. The result was that they were all able to buy their first modest car when they reached licence age with their own money. I contrast this with many of their friends whose parents just stumped up for that first car, teaching them nothing.
The real estate market here has been absolutely nuts for decades. I bought my first house in 1977, a modest timber three bed, one bath job about a mile from where I live now, for $35.500. We were able to keep it as a rental when we moved on about five years later and eventually sold it in 2003 for just over ten times what I paid for it. It sold again a couple of years ago for $1.75 million. Most of the value of my Mum's estate is in the real estate.
I mentioned that I'd be giving a meaningful but not over the top gift to the kids from my share of the inheritance. I haven't settled on a figure yet, but I'll be trying to strike the right balance between being generous and maintaining the "life isn't a free ride" mantra I've always tried to instill in them.
To be honest, deciding if and to what extent and with what conditions I might help out my brother is a bigger challenge. Some, but not all, of his financial challenges are self-inflicted.
Anyway, making sure there's enough booze for my party is the immediate task at hand.
Got myself an early birthday present.
For quite a while I've had a hankering for a new cordless drill and impact driver combo, and also to at least start working towards standardising the charging and battery platform situation. I've had a now pretty obsolete 12 volt AEG drill and driver combo for many years. They still work fine but are a bit puny performance wise by modern standards and one of the batteries won't hold a charge for long. The only other cordless tool I've got is a small Milwaukee circular saw that came my way at no cost and, for the relatively infrequent use I have for such a saw, is fine. I have a larger corded circular saw, a couple of corded grinders, a corded sander, router, plane, and a corded AEG SDS rotary hammer drill. All those corded tools don't get enough use that having to plug them in is any sort of nuisance. However, I did want to update and upgrade my drill and driver, and also wanted to get a reciprocating saw and an oscillating multi tool. Also, as I say, work towards standardising the platform.
Now, there is no shortage of information out there in cyber land as to which brand is best. As the immortal Keith Richards has observed, opinions are like a...holes, everyone's got one, so trying to distil any clear winner from online reviews etc. is, I think, a bit of a waste of time.
When we were building our house, I did note that majority of the subbies who worked on it seemed to favour De Walt gear. It also seems to be pretty common on the numerous building sites around the area that I keep close tabs on during my daily morning exercise walk, so I'd pretty much locked in to De Walt as what I was going to get.
Package deals of a bunch of "skins" as they call them, a couple of batteries and a charger pop up all the time. Most of them, though, have inclusions that I really don't need like a circular saw, a hammer drill, a radio, a torch. a grinder or whatever.
Recently, however, up pops an ad for a special deal De Walt have going for the end of the financial year, that is a pretty good start for what I wanted - a drill, an impact driver, two batteries and a charger, with a bonus recip saw thrown in effectively for nothing.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/dewalt-...6625?msockid=046730806a89677d015723766b636661
This was a De Walt deal and therefore also available at other stockists like Total Tools but I had $170 worth of Bunnings (think Lowes) gift vouchers saved up so off I went this morning to the local Bunnings and picked it up.
After unboxing
Installed in their new home (alongside the old AEG gear which I guess I'll do something with, see if anyone in the family wants them and, if not, take them to the Op Shop (charity shop).
and finally the charger in the charging station alongside the AEG and Milwaukee ones
Now I'll keep my eyes open for a deal on a De Walt multi tool and the boxes will all be ticked.
We're a week away from my birthday and 8 days from the party to celebrate it, and most things are organised. Caterers have been booked and paid for, some of the booze is on hand but more will be required, most importantly the set list for the music has been curated, and we just got some new outdoor furniture to go out on our deck but I'm not allowed to show you that yet. Not that people will be venturing outside on a Melbourne winter evening much, but it'll look nice.
For quite a while I've had a hankering for a new cordless drill and impact driver combo, and also to at least start working towards standardising the charging and battery platform situation. I've had a now pretty obsolete 12 volt AEG drill and driver combo for many years. They still work fine but are a bit puny performance wise by modern standards and one of the batteries won't hold a charge for long. The only other cordless tool I've got is a small Milwaukee circular saw that came my way at no cost and, for the relatively infrequent use I have for such a saw, is fine. I have a larger corded circular saw, a couple of corded grinders, a corded sander, router, plane, and a corded AEG SDS rotary hammer drill. All those corded tools don't get enough use that having to plug them in is any sort of nuisance. However, I did want to update and upgrade my drill and driver, and also wanted to get a reciprocating saw and an oscillating multi tool. Also, as I say, work towards standardising the platform.
Now, there is no shortage of information out there in cyber land as to which brand is best. As the immortal Keith Richards has observed, opinions are like a...holes, everyone's got one, so trying to distil any clear winner from online reviews etc. is, I think, a bit of a waste of time.
When we were building our house, I did note that majority of the subbies who worked on it seemed to favour De Walt gear. It also seems to be pretty common on the numerous building sites around the area that I keep close tabs on during my daily morning exercise walk, so I'd pretty much locked in to De Walt as what I was going to get.
Package deals of a bunch of "skins" as they call them, a couple of batteries and a charger pop up all the time. Most of them, though, have inclusions that I really don't need like a circular saw, a hammer drill, a radio, a torch. a grinder or whatever.
Recently, however, up pops an ad for a special deal De Walt have going for the end of the financial year, that is a pretty good start for what I wanted - a drill, an impact driver, two batteries and a charger, with a bonus recip saw thrown in effectively for nothing.
https://www.bunnings.com.au/dewalt-...6625?msockid=046730806a89677d015723766b636661
This was a De Walt deal and therefore also available at other stockists like Total Tools but I had $170 worth of Bunnings (think Lowes) gift vouchers saved up so off I went this morning to the local Bunnings and picked it up.
After unboxing
Installed in their new home (alongside the old AEG gear which I guess I'll do something with, see if anyone in the family wants them and, if not, take them to the Op Shop (charity shop).
and finally the charger in the charging station alongside the AEG and Milwaukee ones
Now I'll keep my eyes open for a deal on a De Walt multi tool and the boxes will all be ticked.
We're a week away from my birthday and 8 days from the party to celebrate it, and most things are organised. Caterers have been booked and paid for, some of the booze is on hand but more will be required, most importantly the set list for the music has been curated, and we just got some new outdoor furniture to go out on our deck but I'm not allowed to show you that yet. Not that people will be venturing outside on a Melbourne winter evening much, but it'll look nice.
Ralf99
Well-known member
I reckon that AEG 12v stuff (branded as Ridgid in the US) was pretty good for the price. I’ve had the same drill and impact for 10, maybe 12 years and haven’t been able to kill either yet despite regular abuse doing a couple of fairly large renos over the years.
I standardized on Milwaukee M12 because of the range of tools available and Metabo 18v for larger tools and yard equipment some 5 years ago, but still use the AEG kit for dirty jobs under the house or in the garden just to protect my more ‘precious’ tools.
You pretty much can’t go wrong with DeWalt either.
I standardized on Milwaukee M12 because of the range of tools available and Metabo 18v for larger tools and yard equipment some 5 years ago, but still use the AEG kit for dirty jobs under the house or in the garden just to protect my more ‘precious’ tools.
You pretty much can’t go wrong with DeWalt either.
That's a nifty cabinet!Installed in their new home (alongside the old AEG gear which I guess I'll do something with, see if anyone in the family wants them and, if not, take them to the Op Shop (charity shop).
and finally the charger in the charging station alongside the AEG and Milwaukee ones
kitdoctor
Well-known member
@Geoff289 ain't that the truth on all counts.
I was going to standardise on Hitachi and years ago I bought a small cordless drill which I used when replacing the plastic block hinges on a glass shower screen that I was quoted $1200 to replace. You know the story, the original hinges were now obsolete... So, I bought the drill, pop rivet gun and replacement generic hinges, fixed it myself and came out miles in front.
Then we were in Melbourne in 2015 giving those townhouses in Jubilee Street a refresh and under duress I bought a small Milwaukee cordless drill and impact driver, as I couldn't find a Hitachi retailer nearby. They're still going fine, having had minimal use.
My latest experience was that I needed an impact wrench (which I don't have) to drive some screw bolts into concrete and I looked at the Hikoki gear (rebranded Hitachi after Metabo bought the power tool business). The Hikoki impact wrench I looked at had better performance specifications than a comparable Milwaukee unit which was a surprise. Anyway, it was a one time use (fixing a gate at my dad's place) and I hired a Hilti impact wrench from Kennards. Then, ****** me, I needed one again, so I should have bought one in the first instance.
I think like you I'll mainly invest in corded tools to get the most longevity out of them.