Above 1200 Sq/FT My new garage build! 30x50 !

[Xti04]

First mod on the car got completed last night. I picked up a dual front and rear dash cam for the car since I am running the roads all day long. I started from the rear and worked my way to the front. I started by by laying out the cameras and the wiring.
I popped the rear cover open and fed the wiring down through the smaller of the two corrugated wire looms to get the wiring into the headliner. Once I got it into the headliner, I got the wiring pulled down the passenger side of the car to the windshield. Once the rear camera qiring was in place, I worked the power wiring down to the center console to the power outlet. Im not sure if this will be where I leave it, or if adding a power outlet into the glove box might work better.
Im not thrilled with that placement but it does pick up a clean view in front of me from this placement. Moving back to the rear of the car. I used my butane soldering iron to lightly melt a U shaped groove into the cover so the wiring cleared. I didnt drive much today, but I need to install the app and see how the images come through onto my phone. I have a big day of driving tomorrow, so I will get to see how it looks and I may adjust the position to see what works best.

The past 2 days I have had my big boss from corporate riding with me. She started in my role 5 years ago and is now running the show for 70 plus hospitals. We spent the last two days running some of my routes and visiting different EMS services and hospitals. I struck out at several stops where no one was available, which was frustrating, but happens in this business. One county service was a ghost town, but I had seen an ambulance turn in somewhere down the road on the way there. I assumed they were just posting up waiting on calls. I drove back by and hunted them down. I found three ambulances at a dialysis center and made 6 contacts there and impressed her by hunting down people to talk to. She walked away giving me solid praise for my ability to talk to anyone and be relatable, professional, knowledgeable, and not afraid to cold call anyone. We are hiring for our Nashville market and they have asked me to help train the new hire, which I took as a high compliment considering I have been in this role for a month!

 

[Xti04]

Hope yall had a great weekend. Saturday the wife andnI went with one of her friends to their company tailgate for the UT/ Arkansas game. The cost of the fancy tents with tvs and catering is crazy. We hung out all afternoon and coincidentally the UT mens basketball team was hanging at our tailgate as well so we got to meet them. We watched game until halftime at the tent and then headed home to finish the game there. Watching outside the stadium ruins it because we could hear every reaction from the crowd before we saw it on tv.I had to play photographer for the ladies, so we got pics with the torch bearer and Smokey.
Sunday morning started with a dead diesel truck battery once again. If I dont drive it once a week or so the batteries get cranky and wont start. I hooked up the charger to get it back up to par. I got the car washed and cleaned up and ready for the week, then spent the afternoon with the kids cooking and hanging out. I had a Lexus dropped off that the ignition key would not turn. After disassembly of the lower dash panel I got the electrical portion of the switch off and started the car. A few taps on the lock cylinder freed the key and it now turns. I have to try and find the lock cylinder now so it can be replaced.

I also finally got the dash cam app up and running and was surprised by how well the video comes out on my phone. Looks much more visible and easy to see on there.

 

[Xti04]

Tonight I had my first ever diesel delete dropped off. Not your typical diesel, this one is a BMW X5 diesel. Egr delete, swirl flap delete and an dpf / downpipe and tune. This should be interesting......

 

[Xti04]

So the dash cam is working out well. Capturing all kinds of random stuff along my drives. Like a pink 911
Our dryer left us high and well, damp when it quit heating the other day. After some youtube research and some teardown, I was able to get to the heater element and get the meter on it. Open circuit! The Jungle came in clutch with an upgraded heater element, which showed up todathe old one looked toasted when removed. I had to pull the drum to get the heater box out. Dog came to help/ lie in the way. With the new element in the heater box, reassembly began. drum and front cover go on, then the door panel and control panelwith it this far assemebled I could fire it up and make sure I had heat. With everything checking out I installed the top and got dry and water cooler back in place and laundry room all good to go.

 

[SilverJimmy]

Samsung should stick to just building TV’s! We mistakenly purchased one of their fridges a few years ago. It died less than a year old, had to pay to have it repaired because none of the appliance repair guys did warranty work for them and then it died again. Appliance repair guys fixed it under their warranty but told us don’t call again! Took it to the dump less than 6 months later when it died again! My wife absolutely loves to tell people her story when we are in Home Despot and sees someone looking at a Samsung fridge!!!

 

[Xti04]

The tvs arent much better. The 65in Samsung in my living room fried the ethernet port and now only works off wifi. What good is the cat 6 I ran up there for the tv to be faster if the damn tv port is dead? At least I have had good luck with their phones.

 

[Xti04]

Jeff finished the Lexus I had here for a power steering pump and major maintenance, so we pulled the BMW in to get started. He pulled the intake manifold off and I got started on it while he removed the front egr cooler and made plans on how to extract the dpf from the bowels of the engine bay.
I had never seen a screw clamp v band like this before. Held the egr cooler to the egr valve. intake on the table. The motor on the left side actuates the swirl valve flaps. I removed the motor, then the linkage rod, and after pulling all the T20 torx screws I was able to pop out each swirl valve flap. I cleaned the ports a bit, sprayed the rubber orings on the delete plugs with a bit of lube and installed all the plugs in place and screwed them in. up next was the egr valve delete which was about as easy as it gets. 4 bolts removed it from the manifold and another 3 bolts removed the air shut off valve. Replaced the o ring seals and installed the egr delete and the shut off valve and that wrapped up the intake.

 

[fouckhest]

@Xti04 thanks for posting about the dryer, we have the exact same unit, going to catalog this and know you are my first phone a friend if/when we encounter an issue....based on how much laundry the misses does, I expect it will be an issue eventually LOL

 

[Xti04]

Mike it was an easy teardown, I was more intimidated by it until I realized its just like an old style dryer hidden under a flashy exterior. I was able to get my clothes taken care of last night and the empty house next door came in clutch with the owner allowing me to dry our wet laundry there Monday.

 

[fouckhest]

Mike it was an easy teardown, I was more intimidated by it until I realized its just like an old style dryer hidden under a flashy exterior. I was able to get my clothes taken care of last night and the empty house next door came in clutch with the owner allowing me to dry our wet laundry there Monday.

Good to hear, admittedly I've never had to dig into a dryer, but seeing that we bought basically the same Samsung for the new house, I may have two lit fuses to watch

 

[111R]

I always did repair on our 30 year old Maytags, as YouTube videos always helped if I got stuck. When we gave them away to a coworker’s son about 8 years ago we bought Speed Queen washer and dryer with knobs/push buttons vs electronic controls. They’re old school units but appliance repairmen swear by them as being much easier to repair than most modern units. Every part is engineered to last a minimum of 10,300 cycles and they’re assembled in Wisconsin vs. overseas.

 

[Xti04]

I always did repair on our 30 year old Maytags, as YouTube videos always helped if I got stuck. When we gave them away to a coworker’s son about 8 years ago we bought Speed Queen washer and dryer with knobs/push buttons vs electronic controls. They’re old school units but appliance repairmen swear by them as being much easier to repair than most modern units. Every part is engineered to last a minimum of 10,300 cycles and they’re assembled in Wisconsin vs. overseas.

Speed Queen is on my list for the next set we get. We do tons of laundry for the house and wifes hair salon so a solid set is a must for us.

 

[zmotorsports]

Speed Queen is on my list for the next set we get. We do tons of laundry for the house and wifes hair salon so a solid set is a must for us.

I can't speak to the newer ones, but the older Speed Queens were built like tanks and just kept on going. My parents had several of the Speed Queen washers and driers at their motel when I was younger and I remember my dad bought them from laundromats as they were upgrading, so they were pretty clapped out when he bought them. Parts were readily available and high-quality components were easy to obtain for them. All I did upon him buying them was removing the coin operation system, getting them functioning and they ran for a very long time.

That being said, the wife and I still have our Kenmore washer and drier set that we purchased in the mid-90's that I've been able to keep running. Things like heating elements, bearings and belts are still available, but I worry about the time when something fails that is not obtainable. Hope I didn't jinx myself now. Hell, I already had to replace the igniter in our 8 year old gas oven several months ago so things don't last like they used to in the appliance arena.

 

[Xti04]

Im apparently on a roll right now with appliance repair. I got the dryer fixed and the icemaker has been spitting out crushed ice for awhile which I dont like. I pulled the bin today and watched how the door is activated and installed the bin with the actuator rod in the correct postition and now it magically works like its supposed to.

 

[Xti04]

And yet another houshold appliance tried to bite the dust tonight. Printer was smoking from a stuck sheet of paper. finally got the paper out and all blown out and returned to operation.

 

[111R]

I can't speak to the newer ones, but the older Speed Queens were built like tanks and just kept on going. My parents had several of the Speed Queen washers and driers at their motel when I was younger and I remember my dad bought them from laundromats as they were upgrading, so they were pretty clapped out when he bought them. Parts were readily available and high-quality components were easy to obtain for them. All I did upon him buying them was removing the coin operation system, getting them functioning and they ran for a very long time.

That being said, the wife and I still have our Kenmore washer and drier set that we purchased in the mid-90's that I've been able to keep running. Things like heating elements, bearings and belts are still available, but I worry about the time when something fails that is not obtainable. Hope I didn't jinx myself now. Hell, I already had to replace the igniter in our 8 year old gas oven several months ago so things don't last like they used to in the appliance arena.

The ones made ~30 years ago were built to last. According to repairmen I’ve spoken with many new machines are built to be easily assembled at the factory but have plastic parts that don’t last and are difficult to repair. If you stick with the basic residential Speed Queen models they’re still simple and long lasting. My daughter and her husband just bought a set after their relatively new dryer died.

One reason we gave away our old Maytags was that many parts were ho longer available. I had to buy a used dryer timer off eBay for instance, so I let them go soon afterwards.

 

[Xti04]

Jeff reassembled the BMW today while I was out running the roads for work. Currently trying to get it to accept the tune with the owner.

I went ahead and prepped the lexus for the new ignition lock cylinder coming next week. It has anti theft bolts that break the heads off once you tighten them in. On some cars you can grind a slot in them and use an impact driver to remove, others have to be drilled out. These were inder the dash and needed drilled out so after dilling a couple of pilot holes I enlarged the holes and used an extractor to get them out.
Not my best work drilling straight but, I didnt have a great angle. Bolts are replaced and interior buttoned up for pick up tomorrow. Parts delay will mean I cant get back to it until after my work trip next week. I hate that but it is what it is.
Diesel delete finally accepted the new tune and we just got back from driving it. This tune and delete adds 50 hp and 55lb ft of torque in a stage 1 setting. Its still a big heavy German suv but the kid is happy. He deleted this and is putting his wife in it. I hope she likes the exhaust noise and smell of diesel.

 

[Xti04]

Busy weekend! Friday night we had all the family meet us out for birthday dinner for my son. Our parents and sisters made for a full table. Dinner went ok, my relationship with my parents has not been great the last couple of years. Saturday we had a birthday party for my boy and all his friends. He had a great time with his buddies and the party went well. Saturday night I watched the depressing UT/ Alabama game and hit the sack.

Sunday morning after church I hung some new curtains for the wife, cooked some amazing honey garlic chicken which turned out sweet and spicy!
And I started putting away boat gear. The loft is getting organized better, I got most of our major gear put away, but I am trying to get one or two more days out before I call it a season. We bought some new folding tables and folding benches for the party and got them stowed in the loft as well. I am trying to get everything better situated up there so I can access things easier. I have a ton of camping gear that needs to be gone through as well as sorting out the last of the reloading equipment into usable lots. Headed to Franklin, TN for a work trip for a few days and hoping when I get home I can get the kids and wife to overnight test the camping rig I built over the summer. Needs a good shakedown before I attempt any real big trips in it.

 

[Bob Heine]

Samsung should stick to just building TV’s! We mistakenly purchased one of their fridges a few years ago. It died less than a year old, had to pay to have it repaired because none of the appliance repair guys did warranty work for them and then it died again. Appliance repair guys fixed it under their warranty but told us don’t call again! Took it to the dump less than 6 months later when it died again! My wife absolutely loves to tell people her story when we are in Home Despot and sees someone looking at a Samsung fridge!!!

Sterling, your post hit a nerve. I have a newish Samsung Galaxy A16 phone that lives on a stand next to my computer 99% of the time. It allows me to get six-digit numbers to type into my computer to access my accounts, operate the Anova sous vide machine in the garage and talks to the Kardia Mobile device to tell me when I'm in Afib -- a truly essential device in my life . We also have a ******* remote to control the smartass Samsung TV. It seems to work OK when you stand right next to the TV but six feet away requires waving the remote above my head while pressing buttons. Most of the buttons have icon labels except for Netflix, Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Prime and Disney+. The best one is the 123 button. I was actually expecting to see a Lotus 123 spreadsheet pop up on the screen. I had to buy a Samsung Bluetooth sound bar to adjust the voice track to be heard over the background/music noises. I also need to read the whole 249 page manual for the TV to get the volume button on our U-Verse remotes to work. Samsung found no need to include an index in the downloadable manual so I should probably rubber band the two remotes together (have to get to the back to change batteries). It seems Samsung believes everyone is obsessed with their smart phone so Luddites like me are expected to use a phone to control the TV or tell that Amazon ***** to do it.

Our 4-compartment Samsung French Door refrigerator/freezer is the crown jewel of our appliance collection. I prefer side-by-side machines but for some reason Liane loves rooting around in a floor-level chamber to hunt for things in the freezer. The appliance scientist who thought a refrigerator compartment is a good place for an ice maker should be given a one-way ticket to Utqiagvik (aka Barrow, Alaska). Ours worked for a while if you religiously used the through-door ice dispenser but if it went more than 12 hours without being used, the cubes fused in the storage bin and no longer came out the door. The Internet made fun of me for buying the Samsung machine but some helpful souls provided spells to fix the icemaker problem. The spell I chose involved ordering a new icemaker mechanism and a tube of caulk. When Liane failed to use the dispenser frequently enough, it made a mini glacier.

The 22nd time I spent precious twilight years time to remove the storage bin, I put the bin in the garage and unplugged the icemaker. I get my water straight from the garden hose but Liane requires it to come from the thrice-filtered chilled water dispenser on the Samsung mold-maker and a handful of ice cubes. Amazon offered a small standalone Flurida icemaker for a few minutes in 2023 so I had one delivered. It replaced the dying 32-year-old GE standalone icemaker we bought in K-Mart, who went out of business rather than help me.

The standalone icemaker is automatic and I automate the Samsung by filling a Tupperware bucket with ice and transporting it six feet from the garage to the freezer section of the Samsung POS in the kitchen. The new Bob's Yer Uncle icemaker bin only takes up 25% of the available frozen food drawer so we need an 11 cubic foot freezer in the garage next to the icemaker. Some of the animal body parts our proginy provide for special occasions won't fit in the Samsung drawer, so it is home for containers of Jasmine chicken and assorted bags of bread. I occasionally hide a bag of frozen vegetables among the bread bags -- Liane loves scavenger hunts.

@Xti04, apologies for the hijack. My therapist is on vacation.

 

[Xti04]

Sterling, your post hit a nerve. I have a newish Samsung Galaxy A16 phone that lives on a stand next to my computer 99% of the time. It allows me to get six-digit numbers to type into my computer to access my accounts, operate the Anova sous vide machine in the garage and talks to the Kardia Mobile device to tell me when I'm in Afib -- a truly essential device in my life . We also have a ******* remote to control the smartass Samsung TV. It seems to work OK when you stand right next to the TV but six feet away requires waving the remote above my head while pressing buttons. Most of the buttons have icon labels except for Netflix, Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Prime and Disney+. The best one is the 123 button. I was actually expecting to see a Lotus 123 spreadsheet pop up on the screen. I had to buy a Samsung Bluetooth sound bar to adjust the voice track to be heard over the background/music noises. I also need to read the whole 249 page manual for the TV to get the volume button on our U-Verse remotes to work. Samsung found no need to include an index in the downloadable manual so I should probably rubber band the two remotes together (have to get to the back to change batteries). It seems Samsung believes everyone is obsessed with their smart phone so Luddites like me are expected to use a phone to control the TV or tell that Amazon ***** to do it.

Our 4-compartment Samsung French Door refrigerator/freezer is the crown jewel of our appliance collection. I prefer side-by-side machines but for some reason Liane loves rooting around in a floor-level chamber to hunt for things in the freezer. The appliance scientist who thought a refrigerator compartment is a good place for an ice maker should be given a one-way ticket to Utqiagvik (aka Barrow, Alaska). Ours worked for a while if you religiously used the through-door ice dispenser but if it went more than 12 hours without being used, the cubes fused in the storage bin and no longer came out the door. The Internet made fun of me for buying the Samsung machine but some helpful souls provided spells to fix the icemaker problem. The spell I chose involved ordering a new icemaker mechanism and a tube of caulk. When Liane failed to use the dispenser frequently enough, it made a mini glacier.

The 22nd time I spent precious twilight years time to remove the storage bin, I put the bin in the garage and unplugged the icemaker. I get my water straight from the garden hose but Liane requires it to come from the thrice-filtered chilled water dispenser on the Samsung mold-maker and a handful of ice cubes. Amazon offered a small standalone Flurida icemaker for a few minutes in 2023 so I had one delivered. It replaced the dying 32-year-old GE standalone icemaker we bought in K-Mart, who went out of business rather than help me.

The standalone icemaker is automatic and I automate the Samsung by filling a Tupperware bucket with ice and transporting it six feet from the garage to the freezer section of the Samsung POS in the kitchen. The new Bob's Yer Uncle icemaker bin only takes up 25% of the available frozen food drawer so we need an 11 cubic foot freezer in the garage next to the icemaker. Some of the animal body parts our proginy provide for special occasions won't fit in the Samsung drawer, so it is home for containers of Jasmine chicken and assorted bags of bread. I occasionally hide a bag of frozen vegetables among the bread bags -- Liane loves scavenger hunts.

@Xti04, apologies for the hijack. My therapist is on vacation.

No problem Bob! I dont have the smart remotes for my Samsung tv but it wont shoot up from the couch to above the fireplace. I have to hold it above my head to make it change any function on the tv. Its crazy how some things can drive us crazy but we deal with them anyhow.

Im sitting in my hotel room done with my first day of sales/ outreach training. I would much rather be driving across Nashville to see a friend, but instead I have to go to a mandatory dinner. Still this is an interesting trip for me. Not since I would get sent to Audi special training almost 20 years ago do I get to go on work trips so its very different to have time away from my family. Wife has been super supportive of my new job and makes trips like this easy for me by making sure I have everything I need.

 

[wvurhino]

No problem Bob! I dont have the smart remotes for my Samsung tv but it wont shoot up from the couch to above the fireplace. I have to hold it above my head to make it change any function on the tv. Its crazy how some things can drive us crazy but we deal with them anyhow.

Im sitting in my hotel room done with my first day of sales/ outreach training. I would much rather be driving across Nashville to see a friend, but instead I have to go to a mandatory dinner. Still this is an interesting trip for me. Not since I would get sent to Audi special training almost 20 years ago do I get to go on work trips so its very different to have time away from my family. Wife has been super supportive of my new job and makes trips like this easy for me by making sure I have everything I need.

I have spent 1000s of nights in hotels for work. Sign up for the rewards programs. Pick a main one and a backup hotel program. I will be going to Disney in a few days on those rewards. I paid for my honeymoon and countless vacations with them. Over the years I've missed a lot of events at home but I try to make up for it with those vacations. The kids will never say 'remember when you weren't home for back to school night' but they will talk non stop about the $300 light saber you bought because you felt guilty for not being at back to school night. In my defense it was a really cool experience and they sell bourbon all around the part at Hollywood Studios.

Check out thepointsguy.com, onemileatatime.com, or a dozen others for which chain to focus on and how to maximize them.

 

[Xti04]

@wvurhino I have already gotten setup for hotel and rental car programs, I won't be traveling much, maybe 3-4 times a year, but it all adds up.

 

[Xti04]

Couple of pics from Broadway in Nashville. I got dragged down there by my work group. Was a good way to interact with my management team on a more informal level and managed to not get drunk, get in a fight, or get thrown out of anywhere all while listening to a couple of good and one really bad cover bands.

Next morning I saw this vehicle while grabbing some coffee. Mobile ambulance service. Pretty novel idea , but most ems services have dedicated space and shops to work on vehicles so not sure how profitable this is.
Stopped to see a buddy after being dismissed from training and then made the long drive back home. Felt so good to be back here with my wife, my dog and 2 kids fighting. I hit the bed early and slept well for the first time this week. Hard to believe how poorly one can sleep when out of their normal element.

 

[Swanny1953]

Traveling for work has its ups and downs, particularly if you’re not used to it. Glad you got a good nights sleep once you got home. I don’t sleep on planes for some reason (never have, even transcontinental!), but don’t have much trouble otherwise.
Did you hit Robert’s Western World on lower Broad? It’s one of our favorites and the cover band is always entertaining.

 

[Xti04]

After a good nights rest and getting the kids on the bus I jumped back into this Lexus for completion of her job from last week. I pulled the lower dash panel and moved the airbag for accesswith the security bolts already drilled out and removed it came out pretty easily and onto the bench for disassembly.
New parts at the ready, I opted to replace the electrical portion of the switch too while apart.
Putting the key in ACC and pushing in on this pin releases the lock cylinder. new cylinder inserted and electrical portion removed to replace back together and all buttoned up.
Neighbor is coming in town with his family so I had to empty the driveway which means all my cars are here now. Makes a mess when all my stuff is here.

 

[Xti04]

Traveling for work has its ups and downs, particularly if you’re not used to it. Glad you got a good nights sleep once you got home. I don’t sleep on planes for some reason (never have, even transcontinental!), but don’t have much trouble otherwise.
Did you hit Robert’s Western World on lower Broad? It’s one of our favorites and the cover band is always entertaining.

That was the first bar I ever went to on Broadway yesrs ago. Brazilbilly is the house band. They are great! Didnt get to stop in this time, but anymore I just dont enjoy being around masses of people anymore. The late night shwarma and fried foods smelld amazing out there as we were leaving.

 

[Xti04]

I was sick of looking at all the mini messes in the shop slowly piling up and making my space hard to use so I finally did something about it. I started at my bar top and cleared it off gave it a quick dusting and instantly felt motivated. I tackled my project table next where all my incoming parts land.
After spening a few minutes rearranging and clearing items I had it wiped down and organized.
With these two spots cleaned up I started grabbing anything not tied down and tossing it. Took a good bit of metal to scrap and a bunch of boxes and **** just sitting on the floor. My son pulled all thebstuff away from the wall so I could sweep and blow out the shop. much cleaner space. My bench at the back of the shop is my next project to conquer. I also brought down a few boxes of brake clean and washer fluid from the loft to restock the shop supplies. Im gonna need another epic sale on that stuff to be able to stock up soon. I got a bunch of stuff out from under the Jeep so I can try to move it over to the lift and get that body pulled off again and onto my portable rolling cart. I really want to get it sprayed and ready to reassemble. With all the vehicles in my driveway right now I am about to go crazy. Need to liquidate some so I can gain some space back!

 

[Xti04]

Not a ton going on this week. Its rained every day this week until today and the temps dropped and its acting like fall outside. I have been avoiding the shop this past few days but have a ton of cars to check out over the weekend.

Last noght we took the kids to a friends house to trick or treat a neighborhood next door to his place. We used his tractor to pull a trailer over to the neighborhood hay ride style. My buddy put a fog machine on the back and the fog fluid was pumping out some serious fog. Looked like the trailer was on fire!

I started this morning checking out a landrover with an engine noise. Its a loud tick. Seems like a lifter type noise. They were quoted 28k to replace the long block and timing chains. No way I am willing to touch that job. I also had the rav4 I put a rear diff in back for a noise. Looks like the ebay rear diff the owner wanted to use is screaming. Gonna need to come back out.

After the boys helped me put together some new bar stools for the wife, Igot outside to check out some purchases that showed up yesterday. I bought a new cam holding tool for an upcoming lexus timing belt.
I also bought this Vevor diesel heater for the truck camper project. My plan is to mount it outside the truck and let it pump heat into the truck.
Plan is to run it off the Jackery. We set it up to let it burn in and see how it did.
The first 5 minutes or so until it kicked off it was pulling 100 watts or so. After it fired off it dropped to 5 watts of consumption. Outlet temp was 140 degrees and the exhaust temp was around 200 at the outlet and 130 or so at the tiny muffler. I didnt think the fuel pump tick was near as bad as people online made it sound. For 90 dollars shipped these are dead simple to repair and the heat output was nice.

Yesterday I headed out towards northeast TN to visit a couple of hospitals and EMS services in surrounding counties. One of them involves taking off and heading over the mountains. I stopped at a scenic overlook and took a few minutes to just take it all in.
This drive was 25E in Grainger/ Claiborne co TN. Was as amazing as driving through the Smokies without any of the traffic. Easily one of the best parts of my job is the amazing places I get to see while cruising all oer the state. After a week of rain I was glad to see the sun peek thru when I stopped to snap those pics.

 

[Xti04]

At a work conference in the beautiful Great Smokey mountains of Tennessee. I came up early yesterday and got my tables setup early and spent the rest of the day hanging around and enjoying some of the amazing views from this hotel. I really am spoiled that this is in my backyard. This resort is known for having bears around it all the time and it did not disappoint.
The bears are about 30 ft from me here. Mama and 4 cubs. Pretty cool to see them so close. They will tear open your car for even a chapstick. I made sure to empty my car of everything.

 

[Xti04]

Finally back home after a busy 3 days at my EMS conference. On the way out of Gatlinburg, I opted to sneak over through Wears valley and hit the Foothills parkway back home. This is the new section of the parkway thats been open a few years now. I have only driven it once but today was great. Not a ton of leaf lookers and the views are breathtaking up there. excuse the car being nasty. Its rained for a week plus and I didnt get to wash it.

Colors were amazing, and the road is awesome. Nice sweeping corners, a few tight radius corners, asphalt is in great shape and the stone bridges look amazing. I refrained from doing the other side of the parkway which takes you over to US 129 the dragon. I really like driving that part as its fast and has a good flow to it. By the time I finally got back to the house, I was beat from the week and not sleeping in the hotel. Brought a bunch of swag for the kids which made them happy.
Busy weekend ahead, wedding to attend for some lake friends. We are also suppoosed to have a big drop in temp to the low 30s so I gotta get the boat winterized tomorrow and tucked away.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Awesome scenary, thanks for sharing!

On our trip to Cincinnati a few weeks ago, once we hit Indiana heading east, the colors were amazing.

 

[Swanny1953]

Absolutely gorgeous - thanks for sharing!!
We just don't get that type of seasonal color change in Texas.

 

[Xti04]

Absolutely gorgeous - thanks for sharing!!
We just don't get that type of seasonal color change in Texas.

Your welcome Gary! I feel fortunate to be immersed in it all fall and like I said before getting to see scenery like this as I drive all over East TN is the best unpaid perk of my job.

 

[Lou's Garage]

Your welcome Gary! I feel fortunate to be immersed in it all fall and like I said before getting to see scenery like this as I drive all over East TN is the best unpaid perk of my job.

As a District Manager for Saab, I covered all of TN for about a year and thought exactly the same thing.

Lou

 

[Xti04]

Wife and I were kid free this morning since we went to a friends wedding last night so I got up early and decided to give the car a good wash. I drug out the pressure washer and my bucket of goodies and got after it. giving thebwheels a good scrub while the car soaked from the foam gun. I really look forward to getting a mounted setup where car washing can be more convenient. After washing and drying the car I finally found what I had forgotten about. While unloading my car Wednesday at the conference, I heard a big thynk noise from a walnut but didnt see where it hit. Well, right in the center of the roof.
I went to church and after I got home decided to tackle the repair with my PDR kit.

I got the car inside and setup
The reflection board really shows well the dent.
I started with this puller which wasnt quite enough to pull it out. I switched to the slide hammer which moved it some after I hit the dent with the heat gun. getting closer
Here you can see the lines are now pushing towards each other. This indicates a high spot. I used a rounded tapping point to knock down the high spots and this was my final. About 95% better than it was. Theres still a tiny low spot , but I didnt have a puller tip that really was getting in there and pulling it up. I spent about an hour on this tiny dent and had to let that be good enough. I will say that it was good practice and I look forward to trying to correct other dents and dings as they happen. I got this kit and a second kit that was loosely thrown in a box for 5 dollars at an Amazon reseller store my dads buddy rums. I also got a lifetime supply of puller glue so I should be good to go for the next dent I find.
I managed to get the yard mowed and most of the leaves roughly mulched and then left for a conversation with a client I was dreading.

A couple of months ago we replaced a rear diff in a toyota for one of my dads friends. This guy is as cheap as they come, and always wants to bring his own parts or find it cheaper online etc. It gets old dealingwith subpar stuff. Anyways, the China diff went bad, I bought it because he didnt wanna pay for a Toyota diff. He got mad when I asked him to cover another diff and I would eat the labor. Warranty this and that blah blah. I was going to fix it for him initially, but then I did something my old boss used to do. I pulled out my wallet and refunded him for the whole job. Apologized to him for the inconvenience, and told him I wasnt going to be able to work it for him anymore. I walked out of there feeling great for firing him and even though it cost me a couple grand it was worth it. Moving forward, I will be focusing on people who value my time and experience, not those looking for a deal.

 

[zmotorsports]

Good for you. Firing clients isn't easy, but sometimes well worth it to cut them out completely. I would like to think that maybe somewhere down the road they'll see the error in their ways or realize they had a good thing and messed it up because of their own actions. However, people like that seldom think they are the problem so I doubt that will happen.

Nice job on the dent repair. Paintless dent paint repair is something I have not explored.

 

[Xti04]

Good for you. Firing clients isn't easy, but sometimes well worth it to cut them out completely. I would like to think that maybe somewhere down the road they'll see the error in their ways or realize they had a good thing and messed it up because of their own actions. However, people like that seldom think they are the problem so I doubt that will happen.

Nice job on the dent repair. Paintless dent paint repair is something I have not explored.

Thanks Mike, a lot of the courage to do it came from reading your thread a few pages back about how people dont care about your time and value or how they are on a fixed income etc. I have decided moving forward that now is the time to really implement some ground rules for my little side hustle. I used to try to save people money and get it done as fast as I could. As I have gotten older, the quality became much more important to me than saving someone a few bucks. When I was wrenching out of my house garage it was to make a few bucks for toys. Now with my big shop this place has to pay for itself. Its becoming more important than ever that I do my best work, and that the part can be counted on. I am moving my focus towards a clientele who want the best for their vehicles and while that looks a bit different to everyone, I know who will or wont make that cut. When I stopped by his house, he was riding the struggle bus trying to do a front brake job on his 4 runner because he doesnt want to pay me. He took the refund and maybe one day he will realize that his little blow up cost him a lot more in the long run.

The PDR was fun to try, but I was missing a few different pull tabs that may have made the job easier. I had also looked into a better light setup and many companies now offer a lit LED reflection board that would make the work a bit easier. With the board and light setup I was having some trouble gettingna good pull on the dent because they were in the way. I may order another set of pull tabs and a board and see if I cant practice on a few more vehicles. I know theres good money in PDR and if its a service that adds value to what I do it may be worth purhasing some more tooling to do it with.

 

[Xti04]

Unseasonably cold here at 30 degrees currently and snowing. Here my view from my office watching it blow snow. We were supposed to have family pics this afternoon too.....

This weather is making me want to throw on a pot of chicken noodle soup and sit by the fire.

 

[Xti04]

And 5 minutes later I have this.

 

[zmotorsports]

As I have gotten older, the quality became much more important to me than saving someone a few bucks.

Its becoming more important than ever that I do my best work, and that the part can be counted on. I am moving my focus towards a clientele who want the best for their vehicles and while that looks a bit different to everyone, I know who will or wont make that cut. When I stopped by his house, he was riding the struggle bus trying to do a front brake job on his 4 runner because he doesnt want to pay me. He took the refund and maybe one day he will realize that his little blow up cost him a lot more in the long run.

Another thing that changed my way of thinking over the years is that those whom you have saved money and only screwed yourself over on, will not communicate that to others when they are complaining afterwards. They will fail to tell people that you did something to a lesser degree or didn't so something because they had asked you to do it a certain way to save them money. All of that information will fail to get forwarded, only the bad after something goes awry.

I ran into this many years ago when I would allow clients to supply their own parts and try to save them some money. When a job went south because they supplied inferior parts, that information was never communicated as they were badmouthing me. I made a rule to supply parts based on a couple of jobs that went south due to failed parts and I had no recourse. Granted, even high-quality parts can still fail, but I will at least have some opportunity to file a labor claim or at bare minimum, I had made a few bucks on markup to soften the blow a bit if I was the one who purchased them.