Bob, if I can grab your microphone for a few moments.... I have noticed that @drivesitfar has been "liking" some of my posts lately, and you know I don't venture much past your thread and the 'Pull up a Chair' thread. That being said, I would hope that you feel the same way that I do and have read many of Drive's posts and he's done so much for this GJ. The thread that I remember the most is the one when his daughter got married. Drives made a special stool on wheels to get his daughter through the wedding. I had tears in my eyes as I was finishing, reading his thoughts. I have yet to read through his vise thread, but it's on my short list.
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium
- Thread starter Bob Heine
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
I feel the same way about Half-Cup, from Down Under. He was a lot like me (or, more properly, I was a lot like him) with a project list about a mile long. His shop was absolutely clean at all times. He always included his dog with his writings. I've taken a few lessons of hard facts from his writings, to improve myself, with shop cleanliness, things like that. I was too shy to write to him on this here GJ website, and sort of regret that. He never knew how I felt about him.
taumac
Well-known member
There are many people on this site I’ve learned from. A few of them I do hold special including ole 1/2 cup. He was always a source of inspiration in and out of the “shop”.
Lyndon
Well-known member
I miss my conversations with Half (and Dan) on here and on the phone.
And I got to meet him at his place once. It's great that his son is finishing the car that Steve was working on (Model A?).
Andrew got his self pushed off here after doing - well something reasonably innocuous (but I'm still friends on FB and know the car is nearing completion.
Lyndon
And I got to meet him at his place once. It's great that his son is finishing the car that Steve was working on (Model A?).
Andrew got his self pushed off here after doing - well something reasonably innocuous (but I'm still friends on FB and know the car is nearing completion.
Lyndon
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Found a long lost photo from Kay's childhood.
Miss the Pontiacs
Well-known member
A GTO for a $1K investment I love it. My favourite year is 65-66 due to the iconic 389 engine. A 67 while similar migrated to the 400 I wouldn’t mind that one either.
As for a first house fire in my case would be ours. Grew up in that house and it burnt to the ground when I was in Grade 5. Have to admit there were pluses and minuses because of that fire, But in the end no matter what the situation issimply part of our journey.
We are having our long weekend holiday this week. If I don’t get back to you before next weekend have a great Memorial Day.
As for a first house fire in my case would be ours. Grew up in that house and it burnt to the ground when I was in Grade 5. Have to admit there were pluses and minuses because of that fire, But in the end no matter what the situation issimply part of our journey.
We are having our long weekend holiday this week. If I don’t get back to you before next weekend have a great Memorial Day.
That reminds me of the filing system of the late English rock musician, Joe Strummer. He came home from each tour with a different suitcase, stuffed with notes and memorabilia from that tour. The 20 or so suitcases were then stacked in a spare room.
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Bob, I've ordered the big, shiny Cub Cadet today... 2-4 week delivery to my place. I'm as giddy as a school kid, waiting in anticipation for it to come. I wonder if it comes with a bottle of oil or if I have to buy my own. My snowblower came with the engine oil in a bottle. In any case, I want to hit the ground running as soon as it shows up.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Which model?
There's a place in Hammond that I'd like to mention.... Not far from my place. The person is just getting set up with shipping containers for sale. Ooohh, what he's done so far in terms of setting up his place of business... He has set up two containers, stacked two tall, left a 24 ft distance in between and another stack of two. Then put more containers, crosswise to the first for the roof. Another three stacked up for the back wall. Ohh, would I like to do something like that... If I think about it, every part of that stack-up building is made of 40' shipping containers... The walls, the roof, the back wall is 40' shipping containers. Think about the storage I'd have. I'd have to make a 24x40 slab and a front wall. I'd have to somehow seal every joint between each one. My gears are really turning, thinking about this. How would I get into each container? A bunch of mouse holes? Maybe something like oval shaped door-ways like on a Navy ship? The roof, I could do all of the doors on one side, make a full length deck and a ladder to get up there? I have plenty to think about and figure out. But the possibilities seem endless to me. On a conglomeration that size, do I need a permit? Are they still considered portable at that point?
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
GeddyT
Well-known member
Does anyone forget the first house fire they see?
What fire?...
XT1. 22 hp Kohler engine. 46" deck. It's the stamped sheet metal deck that you warned me about. I've had Murray lawn tractors before and dealt with them. My fav was a used 12 hp Murray with a replacement 8 hp Briggs on it, that I finished up the replacement on. Had to hook up a few last things on it. That thing lasted forever.. loved it. I think a turtle could outrun the thing in first gear, but it could go through anything. I loved that Murray. I used to Armor-all the seat on it and apply wax to the hood. I know my standards aren't real high, but that sure beat pushing a lawnmower all day long.
That's a cool video. I'll certainly watch the rest of it. That man has more money than I do...
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I believe he works pretty hard for it.
For many years, I had two garden tractors running. The Murray and a JCPenney. The JCP had a 10 hp Briggs in it. It had a 3 speed transmission in it. The Murray had a 5 speed ******. The JCP was never in the correct gear, 2nd was too slow and 3rd was too fast. With only the Murray, I used to mow half of the lawn one weekend, then would mow the other half the next weekend. And the process repeats. Once I had the JCP going, Cheryl would help with the mowing, she always preferred the Murray. One time, we finished mowing and I told her to line up next to me on the driveway. We both were in high gear with the clutch depressed... I said 123, GO! Guess which tractor won that white knuckle drag race?? The Murray, of course!!!
Long story short, I'm sure once we get the Cub and I can get the JD 345 back on its feet, Cheryl might want to help out with the mowing again. I wonder which tractor she'll pick...
Long story short, I'm sure once we get the Cub and I can get the JD 345 back on its feet, Cheryl might want to help out with the mowing again. I wonder which tractor she'll pick...
Somewhat disappointing, my results with the last batch of cooking tools. The ratchet still won't turn, even though handfuls of the chrome plating is falling off. One of the monkey wrenches still won't adjust. Oh well, at least I'm learning something about doing this. I can probably put the square drive of the ratchet in the vise and apply penetrating oil to it and work it back and forth and get it freed up. I'm sure everyone is getting tired of me trying to learn the process of cleaning tools. Ha.
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Holy cow.... Any idea what just happened??? Lemme 'splain. The UPS truck came and left a package, a box that said Eastwood on the side. The box also said that there's a plasma cutter inside!!! Wait, What? You bought me this for Father's Day and it came early??? It's a Versa cut 20... You can imagine my amazement! I've only run a plasma cutter once in my lifetime, and that was in a welding class at WITC in New Richmond... That was a few years ago, for an adult extension class. Now, with this, I need to rewire the power pole to add an outlet. I wanted to do that anyhow, in case we ever bought an EV. I haven't run my Lincoln tombstone welder yet, because of this. The farm has 200 amps, the house uses 100 amps, the rest was mine for the old shop. Now, I need to re- direct that power to the new shop, the 'tin can' if you will, the shipping container. I'd hate to do something permanent from the power pole just yet, as I'll get more shipping containers, or eventually a real building built. Darned ol snow collapsed roof, anyhow... Had that not happened, I could've brought my new toy out there and plugged it in anywhere... The new plasma has a three prong cord on it, with one blade at 90° to it, that means a 20 amp outlet. I only have 15 amps coming into the tin can, so far, with two 50 foot extension cords coming across the yard.
I only wired up the 120 outlet on the power pole in the first place to get power up to the sawmill, about 200 feet away. I'm glad I did that, for nowadays sakes with the new shop. I need to do more...
I'm not completely sure of what has transpired here... Did the bag develope a small pin hole? Was it osmosis?? The tank is a complete mess.
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I just took a tooth brush sized stainless wire brush to my Craftsman ratchet. All of the chrome plating was 'hollow-sounding' before I approached it with a tooth brush. Pretty much all of the chrome plating fell off after my small attempts. I don't have barely a dime into this ratchet, but the moral of the story is that don't put your chrome plated tools into strong pickle juice... You should see it now... It's a bit naked looking... And still doesn't turn...
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Apoligies for my absence from my thread. Went in for the skull MRI Wednesday morning. Gave myself a half hour to drive the 0.9 miles to the hospital and I got to the MRI waiting room 25 minutes after walking out our front door. I thought a second 5-story parking garage would make it easier but it still took two trips up and down the garage before I found a space with no "Reserved for Someone Else" sign. My name was called two minutes after I arrived and they took me for a chest X-ray first. I guess my PCP (Primary Care Physician) called that in. Procedure was a breeze, just trying to stay awake while my headphones soothed me with some great Jazz music.
Thursday morning my PCP called to tell me my brain showed no signs of a stroke, aneurism or worms but my brain was once again "within normal something or other for a man my age." I guess it's a compliment.
I was supposed to meet with my Urology Oncologist Friday afternoon but despite all my calls to the mysterious scheduling department (no one knows where they are located so I can't accost them directly) my two CT scans have not been scheduled. After my MRI on Wednesday I drove the Corvette from the first 5-story parking garage to the second 5-story parking garage and walked down the stairs to the Ground Floor, went into the new building where the Oncologists work and suggested we cancel the appointment and re-schedule once the phantom scheduling department gives me an appointment. The last time they answered the phone they told me their "Safety" department would contact me about my pacemaker's (and therefore my) ability to survive the scans.
Y'all have seen the '48 Chevy Fleetline because it's the only photo I have of me and it in the Gaspé Bay Peninsula.
Not having access to a machine shop, my early valve jobs were non-bent, non-burned valves from the junkyard, suction cup on a stick and some cheap toothpaste (the good toothpaste apparently didn't have as much abrasive). I did have a friend with a complete machine shop with all the latest equipment (in 1983) who I helped blueprint my '72 Corvette's 454. He didn't charge me a penny but I had to provide the parts he specified (all high end stuff).
I hope your Victoria Day weekend was restful.
Thursday morning my PCP called to tell me my brain showed no signs of a stroke, aneurism or worms but my brain was once again "within normal something or other for a man my age." I guess it's a compliment.
I was supposed to meet with my Urology Oncologist Friday afternoon but despite all my calls to the mysterious scheduling department (no one knows where they are located so I can't accost them directly) my two CT scans have not been scheduled. After my MRI on Wednesday I drove the Corvette from the first 5-story parking garage to the second 5-story parking garage and walked down the stairs to the Ground Floor, went into the new building where the Oncologists work and suggested we cancel the appointment and re-schedule once the phantom scheduling department gives me an appointment. The last time they answered the phone they told me their "Safety" department would contact me about my pacemaker's (and therefore my) ability to survive the scans.
Kay, I missed out on a lot of house fires as a kid. My uncle Harvey was Captain of the volunteer fire department in Holbrook, NY back in the '50s and every holiday we celebrated at his home, he had to leave for a house fire. He was usually back home a short time later but the brush fires were a different story. Those fires sometimes burned for days with outbreaks a day after they thought it was out. Turned out is was a busy arsonist.
Rian, I liked cutting grass when I lived in New York. I transformed the lawn on our first home from weeds and brown patches of grass into a manicured green carpet. In Florida my lawns are Saint Augustine, which looks OK but it's like fancy crabgrass. The grass in Florida also grows best in heat so four hours in 80° to 90° behind or even on a hot lawnmower is not pleasant if your genetic ancestors lived real close to the Arctic Circle. In addition to liking lawn cutting in New York, I liked shoveling snow. Didn't bother buying a snowblower because the effort put into shoveling meant a long sleeve wool shirt and jeans was perfect attire when the sun was out, regardless of the temperature. New York weather also made wearing an artificial arm pleasant. Wearing it in Florida is like Sous Vide prep for a small pork shoulder.Two quick random things Bob.
To this day, I love cutting grass.
Absolutely Zen for me.
And not the first time I’ve seen that Chevy Fleetline
Nothing to add.
Friday night here….. watching YouTube with a Southern Comfort.
Y'all have seen the '48 Chevy Fleetline because it's the only photo I have of me and it in the Gaspé Bay Peninsula.
Rick, my point of view was the cost of the repair being more than the price of another car in better shape. And I'm talking junkyard parts prices. When I worked for the US Post Office, they gave me lots of hours (temps got straight time regardless of how hours, weekends or holidays) so I splurged on a nice second car for Liane, a 1947 Ford Tudor sedan that was in excellent condition at 17 years old. All it needed was a torque tube coupler, which I acquired for $5. I would have preferred just the coupler but I had to take the whole rear end assembly. JC Whitney had the coupler for $7 plus shipping and a long wait for the mail delivery. The engine didn't run that great so I put fresh plugs in it. Still ran poorly so I tried to buy a set of points and condenser. Parts place didn't carry the dual point kit but did have a rebuilt distributor for $12 but I'd get $5 for the old one as a core charge. Unbelievable how well that flathead V8 ran after that. There were a lot of scratches on the fenders where bushes on either side of the previous owner's garage door. Spray bomb of black lacquer, some red and white Simonex compound and Blue Coral to finish and it looked good as new. Final touch was a set of 16-inch Portawalls and a 1947 plate (hadn't gotten my new '63 New York plates so I used the rear plate from the Plymouth I sold)
Rick, I met the Jones family and was never impressed. Everything they had was purchased on time payment plans so they really didn't own their stuff. Liane complained that our neighbor had a nicer car, wore expensive clothes and always seemed to have more money than us. After we bought the GTO outright using the 10% pay cut money (IBM employee stock plan with minimum 15% discount on the share price) the complaining stopped.
Not having access to a machine shop, my early valve jobs were non-bent, non-burned valves from the junkyard, suction cup on a stick and some cheap toothpaste (the good toothpaste apparently didn't have as much abrasive). I did have a friend with a complete machine shop with all the latest equipment (in 1983) who I helped blueprint my '72 Corvette's 454. He didn't charge me a penny but I had to provide the parts he specified (all high end stuff).
@drivesitfar and I go way back. I had to give up following his "Let's get healthy cause we'd like to play with our tools when we get old" thread because I was gaining weight from all the delicious meals being posted. He has started more threads than I have time to follow but he is spending less time on the GJ to spend morw on his own projects these days. If you want to see all the threads he has started, click on his name under his avatar and when his stats show up, click on the "Find" button and then select "Find all threads by drivesitfar" and a list of threads will pop up.
Rick, I think we all related to Stephen Church (@1/2 Cup) and his amazing abilities. As far as I could tell, he welcomed every new member and was at or near the top of every new thread with an encouraging comment. I especially related to his life in Australia, my adopted second home. Our countries are alike and different and I enjoyed sharing that with him. I encouraged him to get on a plane and come visit the US with some of his hoard of paid leave but he was taken before that could happen.
Gerard, I couldn't agree more. I also miss Dan Wentworth (@dlcwent), especially for the "Pull up a chair, time to be friends." thread he started. They are both remembered in the small but amazing club of people given Member Emeritus status on the Garage Journal.
Lyndon, as a telephonophobe, you are one of the few I have talked to on the phone (my little brother Andy Martin being another). I have few regrets in my life but not meeting face to face with more than a limited number GJ members is one of them). I did have a wonderful day at the Don Garlits Museum with some of the famous (and infamous) Florida members....
Scott, she does look like she's trying to make a sad face.Found a long lost photo from Kay's childhood.
Emil, I never though the stock would triple in that short a time. It did teach me a lesson that postponing a reward was OK. The biggest lesson was never to pay more for a vehicle than what you had saved, however much or little that was. To me, begging a bank to loan me the money for a car was worse than begging my father for the money. Only time he gave us a car was the day after Liane drove him home from the hospital after visiting me. He had already purchased a new '65 Buick LeSabre and was going to have his mechanic sell the old Rambler. The car Liane was driving was our floorless '56 Chevy. Liane warned him not to put his feet in the middle of the rubber floormat because there was nothing there.
I hope your Victoria Day weekend was restful.
@Squankum, that's pretty organized to me. It would be much more American to just empty the contents on the spare room floor until the door could no longer open. Kinda like my place...
Kay, I had to skip ahead quite a few times when I realized it was an almost five hour video. I was not only amazed by all the work he did but watching him tear down a lot of stuff he originally built for his Container Castle. Seeing the bowed container wall in one of the pours was like a flashback for me. My bowed form was on a 4-inch pad.
Rick, I know the feeling you have, especially after all the years of using second-hand fixer-uppers. Enjoy your new acquisition and maybe put a little scratch on a hidden spot so the first scratch isn't so painful.
Kay, especially notable to me was his jack of all trades work ethic. When his telehandler transmission mount saged, he fixed it on the spot rather than have a dealer do it. I also liked him sending the old welder to be repaired, buying a new one on the same trip and then fixing the old one himself when the dealer did the usual "can't be fixed for any price" excuse.
Rick, you better be quick or Cheryl might get to liking the cushy supervisor life. I'm probably wrong but I thought Newton came up with a law that stated 'thing in motion tend to stay in motion and things at rest tend to stay at rest.'
Rick, I never tire of seeing old tools brought back from the grave. Sometimes it's a hard fight.
Rick, I would give you a "YOU ****" but I think "YOU DESERVE IT" is more appropriate. I share your electrical strugges and would really love to put a 100 amp panel in the shed. Well, to be honest, the the panel is installed but a 100-foot 10-3 extension powers the panel. Every time I think of the ditch needed, I invent another project to work on.
I sometimes wonder why things go awry but try my best not to blame it on myself. Rodents chewed a hole in the bag is my response.
Rick, although I have a gallon of 30% vinegar, I don't put things in the stuff for long. I have a too large collection of plastic jars that allow me to test the rust removal process on a very small scale. My ultrasonic tank has Evapo-Rust in it and I've had pretty good luck with that, especially when I let the fluid heat up.
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LeonardY
Well-known member
I have one question. How come ShortyKorte is the tallest one?Florida members....
It's a trick of perspective
LeonardY
Well-known member
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Bob: i'm sorry to hear you are having more health issues, but you sir are a major medical miracle so i'm sure you'll figure it out so you can live another decade or two or three. you've got a lot more to learn and teach all of us. Just saying!!
one thing I still do more often than not is think of 1/2 Cup who shared a very positive outlook on life and he left us way too early. I was clipping the edge of my lawn yesterday recalling his posts where he used a micrometer to measure the gap between his concrete and lawn one day. And will we ever forget to CLOCK OUR SCREWS when putting in something electrical. i'm not sure what his son did to get himself removed from GJ but there are a lot of members here that could have been removed and kept him i'm certain of that.
I did start that GET HEALTHY thread a decade ago just before I turned 60 and I was at 235 (6'3) and managed to get down to 215 even though weight isn't the only factor by any means. that said I'm sorry you left that thread cause no thread is as good as it can be without you. that thread still has a little life in Free Parking and i'm at 226 today cause the drizzle season up here has just ended. by end of October I usually have been around 220. I still could lose a few pounds but I do tend to put more than a few things in my mouth for TASTE ONLY that have very little nutrition. come back to the get healthy thread cause I need to lose the extra 10 or 20 pounds as I get older cause its always a challenge to get off the ground these days.
one thing I do love about you is that you won't spend any of your cash on an UBER to go a few minutes to the Doctor's office and that you rotate your vehicles maybe even on the same day to get them out of your garage.
here's to another good day on the right side of grass and hope you feel 100% again soon.
one thing I still do more often than not is think of 1/2 Cup who shared a very positive outlook on life and he left us way too early. I was clipping the edge of my lawn yesterday recalling his posts where he used a micrometer to measure the gap between his concrete and lawn one day. And will we ever forget to CLOCK OUR SCREWS when putting in something electrical. i'm not sure what his son did to get himself removed from GJ but there are a lot of members here that could have been removed and kept him i'm certain of that.
I did start that GET HEALTHY thread a decade ago just before I turned 60 and I was at 235 (6'3) and managed to get down to 215 even though weight isn't the only factor by any means. that said I'm sorry you left that thread cause no thread is as good as it can be without you. that thread still has a little life in Free Parking and i'm at 226 today cause the drizzle season up here has just ended. by end of October I usually have been around 220. I still could lose a few pounds but I do tend to put more than a few things in my mouth for TASTE ONLY that have very little nutrition. come back to the get healthy thread cause I need to lose the extra 10 or 20 pounds as I get older cause its always a challenge to get off the ground these days.
one thing I do love about you is that you won't spend any of your cash on an UBER to go a few minutes to the Doctor's office and that you rotate your vehicles maybe even on the same day to get them out of your garage.
here's to another good day on the right side of grass and hope you feel 100% again soon.
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My very first 'you ****' award!!!
I knew the rules, that a person should never ask for one. Ha. Quite the honor to actually get one.
We once went to a live auction years ago and bought a riding lawnmower. (Not a garden tractor type). I was bidding against a younger kid, about 12 years old or so. My winning bid was something like $20.00 or so. The look of disappointment on his face made me feel bad. I really let the air out of his balloon that day. He wanted that lawnmower real bad. We hauled it home, I spent 6 months on it to get working again. Not much on the engine, but I sanded it down, gave it a 3 color paint job. I added ribbed tool box drawer liner as new floor mats. I made a tail pipe to the muffler out of 3/4" galvanized electrical conduit. The two v groove pulley was missing for the crankshaft, so I made one out of heavy steel as a 3 piece weldment. Turned the grooves in, drilled and bored the center hole. Time to cut the keyway. I figured that my metal shapers weren't going to work, so I made a boring bar. I had to drill a hole about half-way through, a bit oversized for a square hss lathe tool. Made a square hole. I had a threaded hole from the backside with a setscrew to adjust the cutter. Had to make another hole, sideways, for another set screw to clamp it on place. I turned a collar for the top of the boring bar and welded a long rod to it that would rub on the press frame. That's how I indexed the cutter. I had the pulley c-clamped to the table. The boring bar would rub on the back side of the bore, for support. Many passes were done with that boring bar, going through the hole. Many pumps of the jack handle happened for each pass through the bore, set the cutter out another few thousandths and go again. With my time involved it probably would've been cheaper to buy a broach and do it that way. I figured that the pulley will never wear out!! The day finally came that I could fire it up.... I had a grin on my face, rubbed my hands together and thought, this is it! This is going to work. As soon as I started mowing with it, I realized that this thing is about useless.... I was so disappointed with it. Engine in the back, mower deck in front of the engine, spring loaded. What happened is I'd hit a bump in the lawn, the mower deck would catch a hold of that bump, move backwards, the belt would loosen up and the blades would stop.... Almost constantly. I could've put heavier springs in, I guess, but these were pretty strong to begin with. How much tension do you want to put against the crankshaft? I should've let the kid haul that mower home in the first place. Not all of my projects turn out. Ha.
I knew the rules, that a person should never ask for one. Ha. Quite the honor to actually get one.
We once went to a live auction years ago and bought a riding lawnmower. (Not a garden tractor type). I was bidding against a younger kid, about 12 years old or so. My winning bid was something like $20.00 or so. The look of disappointment on his face made me feel bad. I really let the air out of his balloon that day. He wanted that lawnmower real bad. We hauled it home, I spent 6 months on it to get working again. Not much on the engine, but I sanded it down, gave it a 3 color paint job. I added ribbed tool box drawer liner as new floor mats. I made a tail pipe to the muffler out of 3/4" galvanized electrical conduit. The two v groove pulley was missing for the crankshaft, so I made one out of heavy steel as a 3 piece weldment. Turned the grooves in, drilled and bored the center hole. Time to cut the keyway. I figured that my metal shapers weren't going to work, so I made a boring bar. I had to drill a hole about half-way through, a bit oversized for a square hss lathe tool. Made a square hole. I had a threaded hole from the backside with a setscrew to adjust the cutter. Had to make another hole, sideways, for another set screw to clamp it on place. I turned a collar for the top of the boring bar and welded a long rod to it that would rub on the press frame. That's how I indexed the cutter. I had the pulley c-clamped to the table. The boring bar would rub on the back side of the bore, for support. Many passes were done with that boring bar, going through the hole. Many pumps of the jack handle happened for each pass through the bore, set the cutter out another few thousandths and go again. With my time involved it probably would've been cheaper to buy a broach and do it that way. I figured that the pulley will never wear out!! The day finally came that I could fire it up.... I had a grin on my face, rubbed my hands together and thought, this is it! This is going to work. As soon as I started mowing with it, I realized that this thing is about useless.... I was so disappointed with it. Engine in the back, mower deck in front of the engine, spring loaded. What happened is I'd hit a bump in the lawn, the mower deck would catch a hold of that bump, move backwards, the belt would loosen up and the blades would stop.... Almost constantly. I could've put heavier springs in, I guess, but these were pretty strong to begin with. How much tension do you want to put against the crankshaft? I should've let the kid haul that mower home in the first place. Not all of my projects turn out. Ha.
Good God, man! This is Garage Journal! Don't you know there are power tools for that now?
Leonard, he's not that tall, everyone else was standing in a hole.
@zanyad, yeah, that's it!It's a trick of perspective
ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT ME?Ah... Fisheye lens.
Drives, we've had quite a few inspiring people depart the Garage Journal but their contributions live on through us OGs.Bob: i'm sorry to hear you are having more health issues, but you sir are a major medical miracle so i'm sure you'll figure it out so you can live another decade or two or three. you've got a lot more to learn and teach all of us. Just saying!!
one thing I still do more often than not is think of 1/2 Cup who shared a very positive outlook on life and he left us way too early. I was clipping the edge of my lawn yesterday recalling his posts where he used a micrometer to measure the gap between his concrete and lawn one day. And will we ever forget to CLOCK OUR SCREWS when putting in something electrical. i'm not sure what his son did to get himself removed from GJ but there are a lot of members here that could have been removed and kept him i'm certain of that.
I did start that GET HEALTHY thread a decade ago just before I turned 60 and I was at 235 (6'3) and managed to get down to 215 even though weight isn't the only factor by any means. that said I'm sorry you left that thread cause no thread is as good as it can be without you. that thread still has a little life in Free Parking and i'm at 226 today cause the drizzle season up here has just ended. by end of October I usually have been around 220. I still could lose a few pounds but I do tend to put more than a few things in my mouth for TASTE ONLY that have very little nutrition. come back to the get healthy thread cause I need to lose the extra 10 or 20 pounds as I get older cause its always a challenge to get off the ground these days.
one thing I do love about you is that you won't spend any of your cash on an UBER to go a few minutes to the Doctor's office and that you rotate your vehicles maybe even on the same day to get them out of your garage.
here's to another good day on the right side of grass and hope you feel 100% again soon.
I put Uber in the same category as smart phones. I'd rather pedal a tricycle to the doctor's office or hospital treatment facilities. Actually a gas powered @harley jim Freedom trike is even more appealing.
Photos like that last one you posted are the reason I had to stop visiting your 'Get Healthy...' thread. I used to be able to eat as much as I wanted as often as I wanted and not gain a pound. These days, looking at food causes me to gain several pounds without opening my mouth.
Rick, I hope you have a ton of fun and get to use your new metal muncher often.
I often do things I later regret. When I was helping my friend at his engine shop blueprint the '72 Corvette's engine, I noticed he had an Edelbrock intake on the shelf that was pretty dusty. Knowing it was aluminum and made for a Chevy Big Block, I offered to buy it. He said: "Take it, I'll never use it." It was a single plane Streetmaster II manifold meant for low end torque and economy but I didn't care. Sadly I could never get the engine to run like it did with the old cast iron manifold. I eventually went shopping for another manifold and found a dual plane intake manifold for a bargain price at Summit, around $150. I could pay an extra $100 for the polished manifold but I have tools and how hard can it be....
First job was to remove the old Edelbrock manifold. The gasket left marks on the manifold so I put the gasket back on with some step drill bits to hold it in alignment. I had no idea ports could be this mismatched to a cylinder head.
First job was to test the new manifold ports and they were much better but a pneumatic die grinder and some aluminum cutting burrs could make the ports even better. I didn't touch the water passage on the Summit manifold but the old Edelbrock didn't even have a water passage.
I have no idea how many hours I spent polishing that Summit manifold but even paying myself 10¢ an hour I suspect the $100 extra was a bargain. Some parts were easy to polish and I made pretty good headway to start. I'm slightly wiser and slightly wealthier so there will be no repeat of this exercise.
@Squankum, you should know by now that Drives likes manual labor. I preferGood God, man! This is Garage Journal! Don't you know there are power tools for that now?
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Heh heh. I sympathize. I have more patience for the manual and tedious than a lot of people. I wouldn't even mind trimming an edge with clippers if it was as much healthy grass as he has. In my case, it's as much a shovel/hose/now pressure washer exploration to find the edge of the concrete or brick, and a low, flat intrusion of clay dust/weed/wispy grass to attack. And yeah, I've been dumb enough to ignore the not-even-fine print in my weed whacker's manual and tried it sideways sometimes. Suboptimal/dumb.
I've pondered polishing an intake myself, and yeah, I'd have to have a lot more things crossed off the to-do list before I engaged in that effort. On the bright side (har!) it is absolutely endorsed by David Vizard as way to make power, keeping heat out of the incoming air, long before ceramic coatings. Now that I think of it, his great success story was the long, out-in-the-air intake manifold for early Mini, not a V-motor, so I might have to dig into the archive next week.
Can't find a proper pic from my reclined position, but his racing manifold may have been shaped something like these pics. His fellow competitors scoffed at his flashy "chrome" intake and never suspected that was one of 20 reasons he was going faster.
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kaymccampbell
Well-known member
It's the hormones.
madison069
Well-known member
your story of polishing that manifold keeps me from polishing a lot of things.
Maybe you could get a moped and park the moped in the bike rack?
Maybe you could get a moped and park the moped in the bike rack?
Bob, I remember reading about your polishing and porting an intake for your newer Corvette. Turned out darn nice.
I didn't know toothpaste would suffice as valve grinding compound... That's pretty cool. It's been a while since I've done a valve job on anything, but remember at least one of my cans had two sides to it. One side had coarse in it, turn the can over, unscrew the other side cover on the can, and it had fine in it. I haven't done many valve jobs, some Briggs-Stratton, a couple of John Deere two-cylinder tractors and a few on car engines. The car heads, I always did the three-angle seat grinding on them, whether the book called for it or not. 30-45-60° the valve face had a 46° grind on it, the seat was a degree different. Or vice versa with the angle of the valve face being 45° and the seat being 46°. It's been too long. The idea is that with a degree difference, it takes very little lapping to get a small margin of contact between seat and face. Just enough to seal, and transfer heat between the valve and the seat. Cars always seemed to run better when I did that, but maybe it's all in my mind, and the engine needed a valve job in the first place. I only did valve jobs if the head had to come off if a spark plug thread needed a Helicoil insert or a head gasket needed to be replaced. By then the engine had enough miles on it where it would have blue smoke at startup, then go away. So I'd replace the valve seals, too. I'd check flatness of the head. With an overhead camshaft, I didn't want to machine the head flat, as then the cam bearings aren't in line anymore. Dad used to have a very thick steel plate, machined flat, that he would bolt the head to and run it in an old kitchen oven, up to some high temp. But I had some spray cans of red color and white foam to check for cracks. Luckily, I never had to deal with a crack on an aluminum car engine head, more likely on a cast iron tractor engine head.
I didn't know toothpaste would suffice as valve grinding compound... That's pretty cool. It's been a while since I've done a valve job on anything, but remember at least one of my cans had two sides to it. One side had coarse in it, turn the can over, unscrew the other side cover on the can, and it had fine in it. I haven't done many valve jobs, some Briggs-Stratton, a couple of John Deere two-cylinder tractors and a few on car engines. The car heads, I always did the three-angle seat grinding on them, whether the book called for it or not. 30-45-60° the valve face had a 46° grind on it, the seat was a degree different. Or vice versa with the angle of the valve face being 45° and the seat being 46°. It's been too long. The idea is that with a degree difference, it takes very little lapping to get a small margin of contact between seat and face. Just enough to seal, and transfer heat between the valve and the seat. Cars always seemed to run better when I did that, but maybe it's all in my mind, and the engine needed a valve job in the first place. I only did valve jobs if the head had to come off if a spark plug thread needed a Helicoil insert or a head gasket needed to be replaced. By then the engine had enough miles on it where it would have blue smoke at startup, then go away. So I'd replace the valve seals, too. I'd check flatness of the head. With an overhead camshaft, I didn't want to machine the head flat, as then the cam bearings aren't in line anymore. Dad used to have a very thick steel plate, machined flat, that he would bolt the head to and run it in an old kitchen oven, up to some high temp. But I had some spray cans of red color and white foam to check for cracks. Luckily, I never had to deal with a crack on an aluminum car engine head, more likely on a cast iron tractor engine head.
The video Kay referred to on shipping containers turning into a castle was just amazing to watch. It made me feel like a slacker.... At the same time it made me feel like I could do anything, once my mind was made up. Great video. I wish he would've given a tour of the whole castle.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
He's got a ton of other videos about it. IIRC it started out as a container shop with a place to kip if he got too tired to drive home at night.
@Squankum, another reason his cars went faster was braided stainless lines and AN fittings. When I was not polishing a piece of aluminum on one of my cars, I was figuring out how to replace rubber hoses with the fancy stuff. For example, all the lines for the hydroboost brake setup are braided stainless over Teflon.Heh heh. I sympathize. I have more patience for the manual and tedious than a lot of people. I wouldn't even mind trimming an edge with clippers if it was as much healthy grass as he has. In my case, it's as much a shovel/hose/now pressure washer exploration to find the edge of the concrete or brick, and a low, flat intrusion of clay dust/weed/wispy grass to attack. And yeah, I've been dumb enough to ignore the not-even-fine print in my weed whacker's manual and tried it sideways sometimes. Suboptimal/dumb.
I've pondered polishing an intake myself, and yeah, I'd have to have a lot more things crossed off the to-do list before I engaged in that effort. On the bright side (har!) it is absolutely endorsed by David Vizard as way to make power, keeping heat out of the incoming air, long before ceramic coatings. Now that I think of it, his great success story was the long, out-in-the-air intake manifold for early Mini, not a V-motor, so I might have to dig into the archive next week.
Can't find a proper pic from my reclined position, but his racing manifold may have been shaped something like these pics. His fellow competitors scoffed at his flashy "chrome" intake and never suspected that was one of 20 reasons he was going faster.
Sadly, the master cylinder covers up all that braided stainless and AN fittings. A special breather cap and lines to the carburetor base and evaporative canister helped some.
The hydroboost shares the power steering pump with the rack & pinion steering so along with that filter I added a cooler.
Of course the power steering pump has to be modified to include high pressure side AN bungs (one for steering, one for hydroboost).
The rack & pinion required some special fittings but a couple of coat hanger patterns for the line length and it was a done deal.
Kay, it's all about the hormones. Last visit to my primary care doctor I showed him the side effects of the hormone therapy drugs I am taking. One side effect of both Lupron and Zytega involves bone loss so the doctor gave me a prescription for a bone density test. I didn't schedule right away because of the sinus infection. Last Thursday I went to the Womens Center next to the hospital and had the scan done. I politely asked if they gave discounts for those having fewer bones and they just laughed. One of these days this is going to give me some benefit.
Early yesterday my doctor called to give me the results. Good news is the osteoporosis in my spine is negligible and my left hip isn't as bad as the right hip. Back to the doctor's office this morning for a Vitamin D blood test. Liane and I are now
Cody, those polishing jobs kept me occupied in the garage or shop so I wasn't buying any of the squirrel tools that pop up on the Internet.
I've been forbidden by everyone in my family from riding two-wheelers so a trike is a better option. Schwinn and a bunch of other companies make tricycles but I'd have to leave the GJ. When I mentioned Freedom Trike to Liane, all she asked was: "Can it carry two?" See why I love her so much!
Rick, I had a good time hogging out the dual inlet 52mm TPI plenum to match the dual 58mm BBK throttle body. I saved the original polished plenum and throttle body parts so I had to do the polish job on the used one.
When we magnafluxed the heads on my 454 big block Corvette there were cracks in both of them but they weren't in the combustion chambers, they were in the water passages. One of my buddies in the Corvette club did fire suppression systems in factories and big warehouses. They always expected a few small leaks and they had some kind of chemical that left a glass-like filler when the pipes were pressurized. With a couple of 1/4" steel plates we sealed the head, filled the coolant passages with the chemical and pressurized it overnight. I hope that chemical continues to work (they were sealed 40 years ago). On the bright side, if it fails I have an excuse to get some free flowing aluminum heads.
Rick, a cold shiver ran down my spine several times during that video. I'm not claustrophobic but the scene when they were shoving very wet concrete down that little chute into that chamber was one. The other scenes that gave me the shivers were the demo ones when huge chunks of concrete were falling to the ground. Reminded me of the days I spent in abandoned slate quarries in Vermont. I stacked slate for the walls, used dead branches for rafters and stacked fairly thin sheets of slate on top. The roof had to be rebuilt every summer. Probably some snow load miscalculation on my part. Those were my 6, 7, 8 and 9 pre-engineering degree years [at 80 I still don't have an engineering degree or contractor license]. Inside my fort I smashed chunks of slate to extract little cubes of fools gold. My hammer was a quartz or granite stone from my grandfather's sample case (he sold tombstones). Eyelids were my only PPE (I closed my eyes when the stone was about to hit the slate).
Kay, I had to take a nap after watching that one. I might need a saline and glucose drip to watch more.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Maybe you could get an estrogen patch? They help with bone density and might stave off a hip implant.
Is guess this wasn't a clean test, since a fancy new intake was involved, but did the throttle body pay off?
Kay, none of the three oncologists at the Lynn Cancer center around the corner from my house have mentioned an estrogen patch. This center is is almost finished construction on a new building to house a proton treatment machine so they should be up on the latest advancements. Based on your comment I googled "estrogen patch in addition to Lupron for prostate cancer treatment" and this popped up from a Google AI search:
"Using estrogen patches in addition to Lupron (leuprolide), a LHRH agonist used in prostate cancer treatment, is a topic of increasing interest. While Lupron is a standard androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), its use can lead to side effects like hot flashes and bone density loss. Studies suggest that transdermal estrogen patches might offer an alternative approach to ADT or address these side effects."
I have an appointment with my Hematology Oncologist in July but because of your suggestion, I'll be calling his office tomorrow to ask about adding an estrogen patch as part of my treatment. I can't thank you enough for the comment.
I used to take it for granted that all my doctors were way smarter than me and it turns out they are. On the flip side, taking an active role in their treatment decisions turns out to be important. As soon as my PCP saw the printout I created, showing the side effects of those drugs, he gave me the prescription for the bone scan. We'll be discussing the treatment options for my osteoporosis sooner than later (he had the Womens Center send a copy of the results to my Hematology Oncologist as well).
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Good to hear your still above dirt and making plans to remain there. I can’t give any advice as to choice of medications or doctors cause I rarely use them but you’ve got a decade on me so do the best you can please.
Skuantum: funny you jest about my Manuel lawn edgers that are only a few years old. I don’t use my Honda weed eater on its side or a dedicated edger for a few reasons. Main one is I like to keep my grip in shape cause my bride loves it and the 20 minutes of this work quites my busy mind a bit (think meditation). Just an fyi. I wore out every hand grip exercise toy until I found captains of crush grippers by ironmind.com and when I was 53 I almost closed a #3 and at 69 I can still close a #2.
It’s sunny in Seattle and 70’s so life is good here again after surviving another drizzle season.
Take care Bob and his followers and enjoy your evening
Skuantum: funny you jest about my Manuel lawn edgers that are only a few years old. I don’t use my Honda weed eater on its side or a dedicated edger for a few reasons. Main one is I like to keep my grip in shape cause my bride loves it and the 20 minutes of this work quites my busy mind a bit (think meditation). Just an fyi. I wore out every hand grip exercise toy until I found captains of crush grippers by ironmind.com and when I was 53 I almost closed a #3 and at 69 I can still close a #2.
It’s sunny in Seattle and 70’s so life is good here again after surviving another drizzle season.
Take care Bob and his followers and enjoy your evening
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@Squankum, I put the bigger throttle body on the stock plenum and there may have been some improvement but it sure wasn't dramatic. Enlarging the plenum openings and port matching the runners and plenum to their gaskets along with some larger injectors made a noticeable change in the power.
Unfortunately my **** dynomometer isn't finely calibrated so I couldn't tell you if it really paid off. The used plenum cost me about $55 and the BBK throttle body was $273. With a smooth intake boot, intake plenum and cylinder intake gaskets I was probably into the project for $400. These days, a one horsepower improvement typically costs $100 and it sure feels like I got more than a 4 horsepower bump.
All the aluminum polishing I do is to entice me to open the hood and check the engine. I like looking at the '87 Corvette engine because I think it's one of the best looking engines ever made by GM. The hours I spent polishing parts made me like it even better. Here's a comparison with the engine compartment the way it was when I bought the car in 1991, and the way it looks now.
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