ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[RickP]

I was reading what you said about your changed outlook, and it really struck a chord with me:

I had to look at the situation and ask myself what can I be grateful here and it hit me, I am grateful I that I spotted it before I lost the batteries on some stretch of rough highway

In the end, I am grateful that I am going to be able to repair it quickly and that I have the ability to repair it properly rather than having to rely on someone else. There is so much in this scenario I have to be grateful for, once I stopped and actually looked at it in that light.

Now I am not saying that all of my problems are solved and I had any great transformation, but I took it as a small personal triumph that I didn't lose it and chose to remain calm and collected. Once I started looking at it to devise a plan it became less and less stressful and started looking more and more as a slight "hiccup" and a learning opportunity.

I feel the same! (actually, I'm striving to feel the same way) Some days it's easier than others...

 

[zmotorsports]

I was reading what you said about your changed outlook, and it really struck a chord with me:





I feel the same! (actually, I'm striving to feel the same way) Some days it's easier than others...

You are so right Rick, it is MUCH easier some days than others. When I stumble and fall, I have to remind myself that tomorrow is a new day and I can start over.







I appreciate everyone's comments and feedback, through my thread as well as all of the private messages that I have received. I feel fortunate to belong to such a great forum and although most of us come from completely different backgrounds, upbringings and even careers, I think a common theme is that we are all striving to be better at something, whether developing a skill or just self-improvement at being a better person and the support this forum provides to one another is amazing.

 

[zmotorsports]

I was able to get a little prep work done last night on the couple of cracks on the battery box support. As I was taking a closer looks and prepping it for welding, I noticed it didn't seem to be nearly as bad as my initial thought. Looks like the main structural supports where it welds to the main chassis are still sound, it appears that the cracked welds are for a brace and a sheet metal shield that is a "filler" panel between the battery box and engine bay. Once I moved things around and took a deeper look I was pleased that I didn't find anything structural that was compromised so this should be quite and easy repair and throw some paint on it and be done, ready to install the exhaust system for the last and final time.

Speaking of paint, before closing up the shop last night, I hit the welds on the inlet and outlet tubes with a wire wheel, gave them a wipe down with Wax & Grease Remover and slapped a coat of VHT High Heat Aluminized paint on them.



It's not a show job, but I don't recall putting any paint on the exhaust 19 years ago when I replaced it so maybe painting the welds will make this exhaust system last 20 years.

 

[signcrafter]

I think you are giving me too much credit Sterling. I have been known to have a hot head, both at work and in my personal life. Some have described it as a short fuse that has already been lit, although much more so in my younger years but it has been something I have struggled with it my entire life. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am sure my wife and my son have felt the brunt of it over the years and for that I am embarrassed and very disappointed in myself. That being said a few years ago I looked in the mirror and didn't like the person I had become. I saw someone staring back at me with a chip on their shoulder daring someone to knock it off.

I tried to make this big transformation, and it didn't work nor last, if anything it got worse for a short spell. So, then I started focusing on small things that I could do daily to improve my demeanor and temperament and when (not if) I failed, I shook it off and remembered that tomorrow is a new day and started over. I would say the biggest mind shift I had was several years ago when I quit looking at my profession and skillset as something I do because I wasn't smart enough to do anything better and started looking at it as the blessing it was, because this skillset has not only provided me and my family with a pretty good life, it has also allowed us to benefit from having some luxuries that many can only dream of. My wife often tells people that if it weren't for my skillset then we wouldn't have the vehicles, home or toys in which we have had the opportunity to enjoy over the years.

I think many of you that grew up in the 70's and 80's, especially in High School, can relate to the welding and automotive classes offered in the public school system back then and the type of kids that took those classes. Personally, I took them because I loved having a wrench in my hand and really didn't have any other interests. However, there were a vast array of kids that took those classes because they were told by teachers and counselors that if they weren't smart enough to pursue a career in technology, computers, medical, or a laundry list of other careers, then they could always "just be a mechanic", so many of those were my automotive classmates. I began to think at an early age that I just wasn't good enough to be anything else and for some odd reason it stuck in my head throughout much of my adult life. So much so in fact, that as my son progressed through Jr. High and into High School, my wife and I really didn't give him the option of not going to college. It was talked about often and "highly suggested" he pick a topic to focus on because come hell or high water he was going to college and becoming more than either his mother or myself. My wife of 5 children and me of seven children are the only ones in our respective families that do not have a college education, so it was that important that our son did not follow in our footsteps but had every opportunity in life to do something more with his. I have often been embarrassed and ashamed that I do not have any formal schooling, but only more recently I started looking at my chosen career as a blessing rather than a curse and that has been a complete mental shift for me. Although my son has his own life and family now, I still wake up every day hoping that I am not a disappointment and that I can make him, my wife, my DIL and grandchildren proud. As I am getting older, what I will leave behind in terms of legacy is becoming more and more important to me, and I'm not just referring to tangible things or financial legacy.

Over the past couple of years, mainly since my grandson was born, I have been turning to scripture and self-reflection much more than in my younger years. Although I think I have had a fairly strong feeling of right and wrong in the spiritual sense much of my life, I didn't always follow or "choose" the correct path. Many times, I did what I thought was more fun even though I knew it defied my soul and over the years I have had to be more mindful of choosing paths vs. letting the paths choose themselves for me, if you know what I mean. I strongly feel that all of the blessings I have been given are from God and I need to work on myself to be worthy of them.

Lately I have been searching for answers about a lot of things, and I feel very deeply that while most everything I have questions about can be found in the scriptures, I also have a hard time reading them with the right mindset sometimes. To aid in my search I have also been seeking stories from real people about real events that took place in their lives as I LOVE hearing other's stories and what life events had impacts in their lives. I recall a common theme from several stories lately and that is if we ask the Lord for more patience or to be kinder for example, the Lord doesn't remove unpleasant people from coming before us, nor does he remove obstacles in favor of patience. If anything, he allows more of those "opportunities" to let slip through and confront us, thus allowing us to experience them head on and make certain choices and decisions in which we can grow from. Last night's experience was merely my latest "opportunity" to learn.

A couple of weeks ago I read an account of a man who was held as a POW in WWII and he and a fellow POW not only prayed but also taught each other from their personal experiences and from what they remembered about the Bible and its teachings. One man during evening prayers thanked the Lord for the flees in their barracks. His companion asked him the next day why on earth would he thank the Lord for the flees of all things because they are so disgusting and relentless to their existence. The man answered by saying that due to the flees, the guards don't want to come into their barracks and therefore leave them alone for the most part allowing them to focus on their faith and continued learning from one another.

For some reason that account hit me rather hard. IF they can "choose" to look at something as disgusting and that inflicts so much misery and constant annoyance as that, surely there is something in each opportunity that I am presented with to be grateful for, if ONLY I "choose" to recognize it as such.

I am not going to lie, when I laid there and saw those cracks when I was so close to being ready to stab the exhaust back under the coach for the last time, I wanted to scream and be pissed off. BUT, I stopped and remembered that story about the flees and chose a different mindset.

Now I am not saying that all of my problems are solved and I had any great transformation, but I took it as a small personal triumph that I didn't lose it and chose to remain calm and collected. Once I started looking at it to devise a plan it became less and less stressful and started looking more and more as a slight "hiccup" and a learning opportunity.

I love coming to this thread and seeing and learning from the work you do Mike, and also the posts like these.

I can relate to this very much. I am the same way and have worked to change that over the years. Used to get fired up very easily over things but have learned to basically just smile when something goes wrong and figure out the next step.

A story that has stuck with me for 20 years now was when I worked in a larger manufacturing facility. I was make ready operator so most days I was changing machines over to new jobs or getting the machines to run right and fix defects. But was low on the totem pole so if there was enough operators already I was put back on the line on a machine. We made food boxes and the machine would fold and glue them and then there was a worker on the end that took a certain amount of those boxes and put them in a cardboard box. One of the cartons was very springy and they were a huge pain to stuff in the carboard box. One of the jobs as you did this was to check for defects by looking at the full cardboard box and see if any cartons were sticking up or looked funny, might not have folded correctly or something. We had a quality checklist sheet we had to fill out every 15 minutes to show we were checking for these things. I made a note about this issue and told them the case count or compression of the carton folds or the size of the cardboard box wasn't right. Also talked to management about it and explained how this makes it a pain to do our job and also can't check for quality defects. This went on for about a month and nothing changed. I was put on that machine one night after no changes and on my quality sheet I just put a big X across the whole thing and a note on the back. Said I have tried to talk to management about this for over a month to figure out what the issue is and nothing was done. Wrote that if management obviously doesn't care if we can do our quality checks then I don't care either.

I came in the next night and my name wasn't assigned to any jobs on the floor schedule so I went into the supervisors office to see what the deal was. I was informed that the big bosses up front would like to see me. When I got up there the office had the big wigs and HR and two of the production engineers in it. Turns out one of the bigger food production companies that we made the boxes for was doing an audit at our plant the following week and they didn't think my report would look too good. I got a 3 day unscheduled vacation for it, I was young and single so I was in Miami the next morning to enjoy my vacation. But what really sticks out was HR said while what I did wasn't appropriate, they could tell I cared and was passionate about my job. They asked me to talk to the production guys they brought inn to figure out what the issue was and how to solve it. When I got back from my vacation then problem was corrected.

What the HR lady has stuck with me over the years, passionate and cared. I think being "hot headed" comes with being being passionate and caring about the job you are doing. As I have gotten older I have learned to channel that more appropriately but it's still there, I just try to remind myself not everything requires me to get worked up about. Think it's part of the drive some people have when you take what you're doing seriously and care about what you're doing you are going to have emotions about it. But how she worded it made me rethink about things and I started to change how I handled things when I fired up about something. Instead of getting pissed off over things to just realize there will ben issues everyday and it's just another step in the process and jump into how to deal with the next step.

 

[zmotorsports]

I love coming to this thread and seeing and learning from the work you do Mike, and also the posts like these.

I can relate to this very much. I am the same way and have worked to change that over the years. Used to get fired up very easily over things but have learned to basically just smile when something goes wrong and figure out the next step.

A story that has stuck with me for 20 years now was when I worked in a larger manufacturing facility. I was make ready operator so most days I was changing machines over to new jobs or getting the machines to run right and fix defects. But was low on the totem pole so if there was enough operators already I was put back on the line on a machine. We made food boxes and the machine would fold and glue them and then there was a worker on the end that took a certain amount of those boxes and put them in a cardboard box. One of the cartons was very springy and they were a huge pain to stuff in the carboard box. One of the jobs as you did this was to check for defects by looking at the full cardboard box and see if any cartons were sticking up or looked funny, might not have folded correctly or something. We had a quality checklist sheet we had to fill out every 15 minutes to show we were checking for these things. I made a note about this issue and told them the case count or compression of the carton folds or the size of the cardboard box wasn't right. Also talked to management about it and explained how this makes it a pain to do our job and also can't check for quality defects. This went on for about a month and nothing changed. I was put on that machine one night after no changes and on my quality sheet I just put a big X across the whole thing and a note on the back. Said I have tried to talk to management about this for over a month to figure out what the issue is and nothing was done. Wrote that if management obviously doesn't care if we can do our quality checks then I don't care either.

I came in the next night and my name wasn't assigned to any jobs on the floor schedule so I went into the supervisors office to see what the deal was. I was informed that the big bosses up front would like to see me. When I got up there the office had the big wigs and HR and two of the production engineers in it. Turns out one of the bigger food production companies that we made the boxes for was doing an audit at our plant the following week and they didn't think my report would look too good. I got a 3 day unscheduled vacation for it, I was young and single so I was in Miami the next morning to enjoy my vacation. But what really sticks out was HR said while what I did wasn't appropriate, they could tell I cared and was passionate about my job. They asked me to talk to the production guys they brought inn to figure out what the issue was and how to solve it. When I got back from my vacation then problem was corrected.

What the HR lady has stuck with me over the years, passionate and cared. I think being "hot headed" comes with being being passionate and caring about the job you are doing. As I have gotten older I have learned to channel that more appropriately but it's still there, I just try to remind myself not everything requires me to get worked up about. Think it's part of the drive some people have when you take what you're doing seriously and care about what you're doing you are going to have emotions about it. But how she worded it made me rethink about things and I started to change how I handled things when I fired up about something. Instead of getting pissed off over things to just realize there will ben issues everyday and it's just another step in the process and jump into how to deal with the next step.

Thank you for sharing that Scott. I've heard similar recommendations over the years. My good friend and mentor told me once that he loves that "passion" in me and doesn't want to dampen that. He then said, "sometimes it's not the message people struggle with, it's the manner in which it is delivered". That really hit me to the point I began trying to curb my emotions a bit better when trying to work through an issue. I've found just stopping and giving myself a few seconds to go over the words in my head before they leave my mouth is very effective.

Each day seems to be a step in the right direction, but I still stumble and fall once in a while and have to get up, brush myself off and make a better attempt the next day.

I really appreciate you sharing that Scott and for continuing to follow along with my projects and put up with my ramblings.

 

[ntsqd]

Some forums are better than others and GJ is better than most, but the thread's owner really sets the tone of the thread. I will contend that the support and openness starts with you. In posting your trials and goals you're encouraging others, me included, to do likewise.

When I was 18 I destroyed a 2' long piece of 2x4 with my bare hands and a low cinder block wall because something trivial got under my skin. I literally beat it into splinters. I've learned to walk away well before I get to that point. I once had a supervisor tell me to come back when I did walk away. When I turned to face him he saw my face and decided that my walking away was actually the better plan. One co-worker told me that I was scary like that.
I've come a long ways since then, but it's kind of like alcoholism, you cannot ever really let your guard down.

"Not the message, but the delivery" is something else that I've been working on.

 

[zmotorsports]

Some forums are better than others and GJ is better than most, but the thread's owner really sets the tone of the thread. I will contend that the support and openness starts with you. In posting your trials and goals you're encouraging others, me included, to do likewise.

When I was 18 I destroyed a 2' long piece of 2x4 with my bare hands and a low cinder block wall because something trivial got under my skin. I literally beat it into splinters. I've learned to walk away well before I get to that point. I once had a supervisor tell me to come back when I did walk away. When I turned to face him he saw my face and decided that my walking away was actually the better plan. One co-worker told me that I was scary like that.
I've come a long ways since then, but it's kind of like alcoholism, you cannot ever really let your guard down.

"Not the message, but the delivery" is something else that I've been working on.

Thank you Thom, I appreciate the comments and participation in my thread. I too have found out it is something that needs diaily nourishment and is never really "gone", just temporarily displaced and remains a constant struggle.

 

[bigdave_185]

I think it’s a good thing to keep in mind that we need to be grateful for what we have.
Been laid up for three days, ACL repair of the orginal repair in September.

Trying to be patient with the wife who is handling the in and out tasks of keeping me watered, fed and following doctors orders a little more closely.

Between the kids and the wife taking care of me it reminds me that I do have a great support system here at home. I feel as a male role model in my house it’s a good thing for my kids to see me show appreciation for those who do help us and offer to help.

Sorry rant over. Clean looking exhaust set up! I could suggest ya polish the whole system lol

 

[SilverJimmy]

My sample pack came yesterday, pretty cool deal.
What is interesting is that BenchMark seems to be a Flagstaff company, package got shipped right out of my local PO! Thanks again Mike for spreading the word.

 

[zmotorsports]

I think it’s a good thing to keep in mind that we need to be grateful for what we have.
Been laid up for three days, ACL repair of the orginal repair in September.

Trying to be patient with the wife who is handling the in and out tasks of keeping me watered, fed and following doctors orders a little more closely.

Between the kids and the wife taking care of me it reminds me that I do have a great support system here at home. I feel as a male role model in my house it’s a good thing for my kids to see me show appreciation for those who do help us and offer to help.

Sorry rant over. Clean looking exhaust set up! I could suggest ya polish the whole system lol

Sorry to hear you've been laid up Dave, but glad to hear you have such a great support team. Wish you a good and speedy recovery.

My sample pack came yesterday, pretty cool deal.
What is interesting is that BenchMark seems to be a Flagstaff company, package got shipped right out of my local PO! Thanks again Mike for spreading the word.

I didn't realize they were a Flagstaff company either Sterling. Great service and quick I'm sure.

 

[zmotorsports]

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Upon arriving home from work Friday afternoon and digging in deeper to my battery box issue on our coach, I was presented with a pleasant discovery, the cracks I saw were not structural after all, they were merely holding a heat shield and splash shield in place. I opened up the battery compartment and really started looking at the junctions between the 1.5" square tubing of the main battery box structure and where they intersected the chassis and all of those intersections appeared to be in excellent condition with no cracked or broken welds visible. I placed a floor jack under the battery box and applied a little pressure and saw nothing moving in relation to various components and weldments so it appears that the cracked welds are only superficial and merely holding a splash shield in place between the back of the battery box and the frame rail of the coach.

I ground the welds and cracked areas a bit in order to get to bright shiny metal and hit each of the areas with a stitch weld.


While I was lying there staring up at the welds afterwards, I noticed that the control wire at the starter motor appeared to be looking a little frail, so rather than waiting until it broke and left me scrambling to repair while I vacation somewhere, I took a few minutes to cut the eyelet off and crimp on a new one with some heat shrink.


Then tucked it back into the poly loom and zip-tied it to the battery cable to help support it and lessen the chances of it breaking from fatigue due to bouncing around.


While replacing the eyelet on the starter motor, the welds cooled enough that I could hit them with a coat of paint to prevent corrosion.


I was just about to close up the shop when I remembered I had a bird's nest of .023" wire the other night with my small welder and me not wanting to waste anything, I thought I would straighten the wire out, cut them to manageable lengths and store them in my rod holder.


Straightening the wire.


Cut to lengths.



That was when the wife called and she was nearly home, so I cleaned up the shop and decided to call it a night. My son asked about breakfast with the boys on Saturday so I eagerly accepted the offer to spend some quality time with my son and grandson over breakfast. As I was driving to meet them on Saturday morning, I noted the temperature outside as well as how my fuel trims were dead nuts on perfect on the drive. I'll take that for a 15-year old Jeep with 172k miles on the clock. I am also sure enjoying the new shifter that I installed and kicking myself for not taking the time to do this modification several years ago when I first started giving it some thought.


My grandson is growing like a weed and so full of personality for not even being 3 years old yet. He has so many stories to relay to me and is so animated in telling them.



Stay tuned for the remainder of Saturday's work on the coach.

 

[zmotorsports]

Upon arriving home from breakfast with the boys, I figured I could knock out the handful of smaller tasks to get the coach's exhaust system completed and hopefully by the end of the day, get it off the jackstands and sitting back down on its suspension.

The flex pipe cut to length and then the inlet and flex pipe installed. Once the angle of the dangle was perfect, I added a couple of small stitch welds to the intersection between the muffler and the inlet tube.


Then slapped a little high heat aluminumized paint on the welds.


And once the paint dried, I moved the stainless-steel band clamps into positions, anti-seized the bolts and tightened everything down to secure it in place.


Then I turned my attention to the outlet to repeat the process.






Completed exhaust system and time to fire it up, build up pressure and give everything a good once over before removing jackstands and setting her back down.


Hopefully that will last at least another 19-years.


The coach aired up, everything shut down to listen for leaks and then crawled under with soapy water to hit all of the areas that I had worked on over the past month or so, which were a lot. No leaks and the system is holding air quite well. I thought I had a relatively tight system before this last season, where it would lose about 25 PSI overnight in the main system. The air suspension holds pressure for about 5 days before it begins to list on one corner, which is excellent in terms of system integrity, but from the tanks to the air suspension manifolds it would bleed off about 25 PSI overnight. DOT regulations allow for 3 PSI per minute so well within reason. The last trip of last year I noticed it was bleeding off about 50-60 PSI overnight so I knew it was out of character and needed some attention.

I double checked it over the weekend and it seems to be only losing about 15 PSI in a 24-hour period now. That is excellent in terms of the amount of fittings and sub-systems these coaches have integrated into the air system.

She's off the jackstands and sitting on her own air springs again.


I have some major cleaning of the RV bay to do. It's supposed to be in the low 50's come next weekend, so I will pull the coach out and give the RV bay some much needed attention and a thorough cleaning.



Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Some of you had asked about a sound clip of the Dynomax muffler. Here ya go.

 

[ScepterToad]

Sounds great Mike! Well done on the whole project!

Question on the air system though. Your air suspension runs on the coach air? Do you not have an auxiliary tank and compressor that runs the air bags?

 

[zmotorsports]

Sounds great Mike! Well done on the whole project!

Question on the air system though. Your air suspension runs on the coach air? Do you not have an auxiliary tank and compressor that runs the air bags?

Thanks Keith.

Yes, my air suspension is fed through the coach's onboard air compressor while running. It is an HWH system and when not running, it has an auxiliary air compressor mounted up front that will run solely the air suspension for keeping it leveled. I do not have hydraulic leveling on my Dynasty, nor does it have an auxiliary air tank like the Lippert air system utilizes. Mine has a check valve between the tanks and the leveling manifold as well as at the auxiliary air compressor. In "auto level" mode, it will level side to side first, then front to rear before going to sleep. It will then wake up every 30-minutes to check the level and make any adjustments necessary. It will look at high's first and lower to meet the others, then if it is lowered all the way at one corner, it will activate the aux. air compressor and pump up the low corner.

Usually once at a campsite and the slides deployed it will make an initial slight adjustment within the first 30-minutes, which is usually because we are moving around inside and the wife is usually moving some things around as well, but after that initial "level adjustment" it will stay level for up to around 4-5 days before needing to adjust and then it is only a slight adjustment.

Hope that makes sense.

 

[signcrafter]

Quit bragging about your 50 degree days Mike. We almost hit 50 the other day, except that was windchill and with an extra word in front of it, negative. LOL

Sure feels good when you take the time to show your own things some love. Something I've been trying to get better at.

Do you use that straightened out wire for TIG filler?

 

[zmotorsports]

Quit bragging about your 50 degree days Mike. We almost hit 50 the other day, except that was windchill and with an extra word in front of it, negative. LOL

Sure feels good when you take the time to show your own things some love. Something I've been trying to get better at.

Do you use that straightened out wire for TIG filler?

Thanks Scott. We have been unseasonably warm for all of December and most of January thus far, although since Friday through today we have been pretty normal with daytime highs in the mid to upper 30's and overnight lows in the teens. That is supposed to end come later in the week and go back to unseasonably warmer again with high's in the low 50's and overnight temps in the 30's. We may not have a winter this year.

Yes, it feels good to give some of our own stuff some love and knock out some projects I have wanted to do for a while. Trying to get the coach and the Jeep ready for our 2026 RV'ing and Jeeping season.

Yes, the .023" MIG wire will be used for TIG filler wire now that it is straightened. Not sure why it didn't feed well on me the other night. It worked fine all evening Friday when welding overhead addressing the cracked and broken welds on the coach. But it bird nested twice on my earlier in the week when welding the exhaust on the fabrication table. I don't like wasting things, so it will serve well for small filler material when needed.

 

[ScepterToad]

Mike, I was also thinking about you yesterday as I was shoveling 9" of snow off of my driveway. You can have it back now. Once is enough for a season.

 

[aka Larry]

Mike, I was also thinking about you yesterday as I was shoveling 9" of snow off of my driveway. You can have it back now. Once is enough for a season.

Ironically I thought about Mike the other day too regarding that white sh*t that I loathe. I was thinking, "I wonder how many hours Mike has spent clearing snow in his lifetime?" I mean all added together it's got to be actual years right?

Did I mention I hate snow?

 

[Jgaz]

Mike,
I love your preventive maintenance on your equipment. Outstanding workmanship.

As always I enjoy looking at the background of your shop in your photos.
That wall between the RV bay and the main shop is such a great feature, It allows so much wall for storage.
I know you planned it that way and have mentioned it before but when I see the RV garages that are new builds here in Phoenix I never see that feature.

Ive twisted many pairs of wires for harnesses inside equipment but had never thought to straighten welding wire that way.
Excuse my ignorance, but the end opposite the drill chuck is clamped firmly in the vise?

 

[signcrafter]

Thanks Scott. We have been unseasonably warm for all of December and most of January thus far, although since Friday through today we have been pretty normal with daytime highs in the mid to upper 30's and overnight lows in the teens. That is supposed to end come later in the week and go back to unseasonably warmer again with high's in the low 50's and overnight temps in the 30's. We may not have a winter this year.

Yes, it feels good to give some of our own stuff some love and knock out some projects I have wanted to do for a while. Trying to get the coach and the Jeep ready for our 2026 RV'ing and Jeeping season.

Yes, the .023" MIG wire will be used for TIG filler wire now that it is straightened. Not sure why it didn't feed well on me the other night. It worked fine all evening Friday when welding overhead addressing the cracked and broken welds on the coach. But it bird nested twice on my earlier in the week when welding the exhaust on the fabrication table. I don't like wasting things, so it will serve well for small filler material when needed.

We also have had a pretty warm winter until January. And the last two winters were warm also and hardly any snow compared to most years. It is what it is and I'll take the warm when we get it and deal with the cold when it's here. Not looking forward to the heating bills on two houses and two shops though.

Funny story years ago I bought a used miller wire feeder, an s60. I didn't know much about it or welding for that matter, but it's what miller said would work with my miller xmt350 that I also bought used at a really good deal. I'm 100% self taught so when I got it I bought a roll of wire and gas bottle and tried to weld. Had nothing but ball ups between the rollers and where the wire goes into the gun. I knew very little so was trying everything setting tension of the rollers and thought my gun liner or something was messed up. After hours of trouble shooting and googling everything I could I found half the rollers were wrong, don't even remember which is for what anymore. But one or two of them were either U or V so it was a mix in the 4 rollers. I bought a new set of correct rollers and was able to get it to work. I only use it a few times a year for small projects or for broken off exhaust studs but it's worked pretty good since then. I had half a spool of wire balled up in the garage from that issue. There was no straightening that mess and I don't TIG anyway.

 

[zmotorsports]

Self-taught here as well Scott. I often wish I would have taken some advanced welding classes other than the stick (SMAW) I took in Agricultural Mechanics in High School, but never had the time nor money to do so. In High School we had no MIG or TIG welders so it was a lack of options at that point. Sometimes I think making the mistakes and having to learn the hard way actually made me a better welder though as I had to think through things with more intensity and depth.

One thing I learned about setting wire tension is too much seems to distort the wire and can also cause issues. I found that by backing off the tension to almost nothing, then placing the gun with the nozzle face down on concrete without adding extra force, basically just letting the weight of the gun rest on the nozzle and balancing it, then squeeze the trigger and adjust the tension tighter until it "JUST" pushed the gun up away from the concrete seems to be the perfect setting for tension. Not so much that it bird nests like crazy or deforms the wire, but enough that in the event the wire gets stuck the rollers will slip rather than bird nest. In this case I had replaced a spool of wire recently and I had just a bit too much tension on the rollers causing the bird's nest. Once I backed the tension off and adjusted it as described, no more bird nesting.

 

[signcrafter]

Self-taught here as well Scott. I often wish I would have taken some advanced welding classes other than the stick (SMAW) I took in Agricultural Mechanics in High School, but never had the time nor money to do so. In High School we had no MIG or TIG welders so it was a lack of options at that point. Sometimes I think making the mistakes and having to learn the hard way actually made me a better welder though as I had to think through things with more intensity and depth.

One thing I learned about setting wire tension is too much seems to distort the wire and can also cause issues. I found that by backing off the tension to almost nothing, then placing the gun with the nozzle face down on concrete without adding extra force, basically just letting the weight of the gun rest on the nozzle and balancing it, then squeeze the trigger and adjust the tension tighter until it "JUST" pushed the gun up away from the concrete seems to be the perfect setting for tension. Not so much that it bird nests like crazy or deforms the wire, but enough that in the event the wire gets stuck the rollers will slip rather than bird nest. In this case I had replaced a spool of wire recently and I had just a bit too much tension on the rollers causing the bird's nest. Once I backed the tension off and adjusted it as described, no more bird nesting.

Ya I've learned a lot riding the struggle bus. LOL. Thanks for the tips Mike. It's been good since I figured out the rollers were mismatched and not correct for the wire I was running. It is amazing how much you can learn about a something when you have an issue and no clue why it's doing what it is. My college education is what I tell people.

 

[zmotorsports]

Ya I've learned a lot riding the struggle bus. LOL. Thanks for the tips Mike. It's been good since I figured out the rollers were mismatched and not correct for the wire I was running. It is amazing how much you can learn about a something when you have an issue and no clue why it's doing what it is. My college education is what I tell people.

I have a permanent pass for the struggle bus Scott, as I've spent so much time on it.

My wife continues to remind me that it is those tasks or things that I struggle the most learning are the ones I learn the most from and therefore turn them into strengths. While I agree with her, I wouldn't mine an easy job once in a while.

 

[signcrafter]

I have a permanent pass for the struggle bus Scott, as I've spent so much time on it.

My wife continues to remind me that it is those tasks or things that I struggle the most learning are the ones I learn the most from and therefore turn them into strengths. While I agree with her, I wouldn't mine an easy job once in a while.

I couldn't agree more Mike. I was just thinking about that the other night when I had a silverado for intermittent instrument panel resetting, gauges go to zero and then sweep and all lights come on and go off just like when you start the truck. But no other issues. Was thinking it would be nice to get a bunch of brake jobs for a quick 100 bucks. But I seem to get all the random intermittent and hard to diagnose issues lately. But like you said it's just a chance to learn and get better. I've come to expect even the easy stuff will run into unexpected issues and struggles.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, I was also thinking about you yesterday as I was shoveling 9" of snow off of my driveway. You can have it back now. Once is enough for a season.

Ironically I thought about Mike the other day too regarding that white sh*t that I loathe. I was thinking, "I wonder how many hours Mike has spent clearing snow in his lifetime?" I mean all added together it's got to be actual years right?

Did I mention I hate snow?

Thanks guys, I think. We've been fortunate here along the Wasatch Front this year as far as snow, but I worry about not having enough in our mountains to sustain our demands this coming summer. As much as I hate that ****, I want to be able to water my lawn and keep it green this summer.

Vincent, between my youth living on the farm, all of the snow removal I did at our last home and now all of the concrete here, I don't think I would even want to add it up, it may scare me to think about how much of my life has been wasted on displacing water.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,
I love your preventive maintenance on your equipment. Outstanding workmanship.

As always I enjoy looking at the background of your shop in your photos.
That wall between the RV bay and the main shop is such a great feature, It allows so much wall for storage.
I know you planned it that way and have mentioned it before but when I see the RV garages that are new builds here in Phoenix I never see that feature.

Ive twisted many pairs of wires for harnesses inside equipment but had never thought to straighten welding wire that way.
Excuse my ignorance, but the end opposite the drill chuck is clamped firmly in the vise?

Thank you very much. I try to keep our assets in good condition.

Yes, as I've mentioned it in the past, that dividing wall between the shop and the storage bay was purpose built for two reasons, first to create a clean space to house the coach and secondly to double the linear wall space for storing of tools and equipment. That 50' long wall provides nearly 100' of storage between the shop and the storage bay. I have some friends that their shops are fully open in which they not only work in, but also store their coaches in and I just hate the thought of grinding dush or metal shavings sitting on the paint on our coach, so that wall was a "must have" when I designed the shop.

As for straightening the wire, yes, the opposite end is just held in the vise jaws.

 

[WoodsTruck]

I just hate the thought of grinding dush or metal shavings sitting on the paint on our coach, so that wall was a "must have" when I designed the shop.
for straightening the wire, yes, the opposite end is just held in the vise jaws.

Too bad you couldn't sneak the Camaro into the coach bay too.

 

[zmotorsports]

I arrived home to find a package. Thanks to Cody aka @madison069 , I decided to give these paint pens a try. Now I have a couple additional brands to compare. Delivery was relatively quick also and I used the Forestry Suppliers link that Cody provided. Prices were quite reasonable as well.



Then while awaiting the next job to arrive, I thought I would start on the wall mounts to hang my grandson's wagon and pedal car from in the shop. I had to keep moving them around in the RV bay over the course of the past couple of months while working on the coach and I was afraid I'd scratch one or damage one, so I figured I would fabricate a couple of wall mounts and hang them in the shop, if for nothing other than conversation pieces as well as keep them out of harms way.

I just grabbed some scrap off the metal rack and cut to lengths.


Then measured each toy to determine the spacing of where I want to suspend them from and fit that into a bracket that will span across two studs measuring 16" on centers.


The main bodies welded together.






I then cut a couple lengths of tubing to join onto the brackets, but I didn't get a chance to finish as the next job arrived.



I'll have to come back and cut the angles on the tubing, weld them to the brackets and then get everything painted before mounting to the wall.


Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Too bad you couldn't sneak the Camaro into the coach bay too.

Agreed. When I built the shop we had Harley's and they fit perfectly in the RV/storage bay, but wasn't planning on another car at that time. The cover seems to work well enough though and is quick to remove when we want to take the car for spin. I did the same thing with our race car/street rod at our last shop, but when I had a dirty job in the shop, the street rod went into the attached house garage and the truck sat outside for the duration of the project. Fortunately, here nothing needs to be outside and everything can be stored under a roof, with the exception of the trailers.

 

[madison069]

I arrived home to find a package. Thanks to Cody aka @madison069 , I decided to give these paint pens a try. Now I have a couple additional brands to compare. Delivery was relatively quick also and I used the Forestry Suppliers link that Cody provided. Prices were quite reasonable as well.

Hope they work well for you as they do for me.

My pens are at the Pittsburgh post office so it might be a couple of days more before I get mine.

Those have a different label so hopefully it was just a change of the label and not the inside.

 

[zmotorsports]

I was anxious to get the wall mounts completed and painted last night before I tackled the next job, so I spent about an hour finishing them up.

I ground the ends of the short tubes at 80-degrees for a 10-degree tip from perpendicular to the wall.




Then the mount with the longer tubes, I cut at about 7-degrees from perpendicular.


I haven't TIG welded in quite a while, so I'm a bit rusty and by the time I was getting back in the rhythm, I was done.




Wiped down with Wax & Grease Remover and sprayed with my shop standard, Rustoleum hammered grey.


I then cut and slip some 5/8" heater hose on the tubes to avoid scratching the paint on the toys.



At that point I cleaned up my mess, swept up the shop floor and moved on to the side job that came in the night before.

 

[zmotorsports]

This 2005 Volvo XC70 was recently purchased by my cousin for his grandkids who just got their license. They bought it extremely cheap and although the body it is excellent shape for a 20-year old car with 309k miles, it had some issues. Upon talking to my cousin, the guy he bought the car from had it to two different shops and they couldn't figure it out and my cousin being a mechanic himself thought he'd buy it cheap and get it running. I had several phone conversations going over some "possible" causes based on the symptoms, but without having my hands on it and seeing what the data was telling me, I was merely guessing, plus, I know nothing about Volvo's, but there's still and internal combustion engine there and they all need the same things to run.

After several phone calls he was getting frustrated and just wanted me to look at it, and although I really don't have the time right now, I looked at it as a learning opportunity and agreed to take it in.

It ran pretty good when they dropped it off and had no DTC's present. I was informed that it mainly ran rough and occasionally stumbled and died at idle when cold. Once it got above idle speed if you could "nurse" it to about 1200 RPM, it ran pretty good and even idled well once it warmed up. Upon dropping it off Monday night I threw the scanner on it and watched some live data but it really wasn't revealing anything obvious to me. The idle control was moving a bit more than I thought it should, but it was in fact moving and compensating so I thought we could take the IAC out of the equation, but upon inspecting it looked like they had already replaced it with a new one. I also saw all new PCV hoses and valve as well as new injectors.

Last night with it being cold, I ran it and watched live data again and nothing really jumped out at me, but then again, it wasn't all that cold as I keep my shop at 50-degrees overnight and then bump it to about 62 when I get home to work in it. It stumbled a bit upon cold start, but not terrible.


No DTC's set nor pending and nothing in the live data jumped out at me.


One of the things I suggested he looked at were vacuum leaks, which is kind of where my mind was going, so I hooked up the smoke machine.


Just used an expanding bellow in the intake duct from the air box.


And the thing smoked liked a chimney. Smoke was pouring out of the bellows/flex joint just aft of the air box.


And was REALLY smoking down near the turbo inlet and where the PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) valve and hoses connect. WOW! There was a LOT of smoke, so much in fact that even with a mirror I couldn't identify all the areas smoke was emitting from.


With the intake duct removed, I double checked to see what the turbo impeller looked like to ensure it wasn't damaged or appear to have had any foreign material hit the blades and it seems fine. Spins freely as well.


I noticed a couple of wires that have the poly loom destroyed from the heat, and >300k miles, so I will address those while I'm in there.


The intake duct was not the easiest to gain access to the that lower clamp on the turbo. I nearly racked it to see if access from underneath would be better, but I ended up being able to get a flex head 1/4" ratched on it and slowly backed the tension on the clamp off.


There's the culprit.



My initial thinking was that to try to save them some money I'd see if I could melt the leaks back together in the bellows and see if I could seal up the area leaking around the PTC assembly, but my fear is that although I could more than likely repair the leaks on this one that are present now, upon reinstalling or just the next couple hundred miles, who could say that another one or more could potentially develop and we'd be right back here. I figured a 20+ year old car the part would be an unobtanium, but upon a quick search I found several available online so it appears they must still be in demand enough to be manufactured. I guess I have to give Volvo credit there.

I called my cousin to see how far he wants me to go and explained my thinking about replacing vs. repairing this one and he agreed, especially if they are still available. I doubt I can find one locally, but I'll give it a try.

I'll keep you posted on what I determine, but I think I'm on the right track so far.

Thanks for looking.

 

[madison069]

Sounds like a job I did for a kid, the check engine light said the MAF sensor was failing but the intake accordion section was cracked and was causing hard start and running rough. I taped it close with gorilla tape to test my diagnostic finding and sure enough it ran perfect. Ordered a new one for $30 and he was grateful cause he was going to scrap the car and buy a new one. Once we did some basic maintenance it was a nice trouble free car from then on. Sometimes it’s just simple maintenance stuff that’s needed.

 

[Mark_17]

Nice job Mike. It is refreshing to see your approach to finding out what the root cause of an issue is, rather than just throwing parts and waiting to see what fixes it.

Back in high school my buddy had a diesel plow truck. He flipped it on its side trying to show off on a back road. After filling the dents with a couple gallons of body filler, it wouldn't start.... Seemed it wasn't getting any fuel.

Of course he focuses on the most expensive parts of the fuel system and has decided its the lift pump. After a few weeks of me nagging him to change the fuel filter, he finally does.... And its full of sand. Turns out the truck was a plow truck down by the shore, how sand gets into the fuel filter, I'll never know.

New fuel filter is in, system primed, truck fires right up.

 

[zmotorsports]

Sounds like a job I did for a kid, the check engine light said the MAF sensor was failing but the intake accordion section was cracked and was causing hard start and running rough. I taped it close with gorilla tape to test my diagnostic finding and sure enough it ran perfect. Ordered a new one for $30 and he was grateful cause he was going to scrap the car and buy a new one. Once we did some basic maintenance it was a nice trouble free car from then on. Sometimes it’s just simple maintenance stuff that’s needed.

Nice job Mike. It is refreshing to see your approach to finding out what the root cause of an issue is, rather than just throwing parts and waiting to see what fixes it.

Back in high school my buddy had a diesel plow truck. He flipped it on its side trying to show off on a back road. After filling the dents with a couple gallons of body filler, it wouldn't start.... Seemed it wasn't getting any fuel.

Of course he focuses on the most expensive parts of the fuel system and has decided its the lift pump. After a few weeks of me nagging him to change the fuel filter, he finally does.... And its full of sand. Turns out the truck was a plow truck down by the shore, how sand gets into the fuel filter, I'll never know.

New fuel filter is in, system primed, truck fires right up.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I like to ask a lot of questions when diagnosing and one thing that jumped out to me was when he told me that when cold it barely runs at all and often even when it does run will stumble and die upon tip-in of the throttle. With no DTC's present, I thought it had to be air/fuel related so I checked the coolant temperature PID for starters as a cold start will use a different map in the ECM based on engine temperature as well as fuel pressure readings and both seemed within reason, so the next thing I thought of is if unmetered air was being introduced into the equation. I had mentioned that to my cousin during his first phone call to me and I thought he had checked all intake routes, but thought it would still be good to throw the smoke machine on it and double check. That's when it was smoke city.

 

[signcrafter]

the check engine light said the MAF sensor was failing

I hear this phrase a lot and it's usually from people that take their cars to the parts store to get the codes read and I always cringe when I hear it worded like that. As far as I know there is no code that says the MAF sensor is failing. There's a code that says the sensor is out of range and most likely a code for circuit performance. Like in your case it sounds like the MAF sensor was working great and doing it's job. I try to explain to people that the codes only give you a direction to start your diagnostics. Sort of like P0300 codes, it must need plugs. Maybe but maybe not. Or the best is oxygen sensor codes, it must be the sensor is bad. Or, maybe it's doing it's job and telling you it's reading out of spec and there is an issue with the oxygen content in the exhaust it's reading.

You did the correct thing by looking into the actual issue. Just bugs me when I hear it worded like that. I've had people bring me their cars saying the parts store scanned it and said it needed this part. I always ask if they want me to just throw that part in and then diagnose it if it doesn't fix it, or diagnose it and see if they actually need that part or if it's something else. Especially when oxygen sensors are up around the 300 dollar range now a days. With the price of parts now a days it's cheaper to have a mechanic diagnose it. The days of throwing parts at it because it's cheaper then paying an hour of diagnostics are long gone in my opinion.

Good catch Mike. I'm surprised it wasn't throwing any codes or the fuel trims and/or O2 sensors weren't showing something off with that much of a leak.

 

[madison069]

I hear this phrase a lot and it's usually from people that take their cars to the parts store to get the codes read and I always cringe when I hear it worded like that. As far as I know there is no code that says the MAF sensor is failing. There's a code that says the sensor is out of range and most likely a code for circuit performance. Like in your case it sounds like the MAF sensor was working great and doing it's job. I try to explain to people that the codes only give you a direction to start your diagnostics. Sort of like P0300 codes, it must need plugs. Maybe but maybe not. Or the best is oxygen sensor codes, it must be the sensor is bad. Or, maybe it's doing it's job and telling you it's reading out of spec and there is an issue with the oxygen content in the exhaust it's reading.

You did the correct thing by looking into the actual issue. Just bugs me when I hear it worded like that. I've had people bring me their cars saying the parts store scanned it and said it needed this part. I always ask if they want me to just throw that part in and then diagnose it if it doesn't fix it, or diagnose it and see if they actually need that part or if it's something else. Especially when oxygen sensors are up around the 300 dollar range now a days. With the price of parts now a days it's cheaper to have a mechanic diagnose it. The days of throwing parts at it because it's cheaper then paying an hour of diagnostics are long gone in my opinion.

Good catch Mike. I'm surprised it wasn't throwing any codes or the fuel trims and/or O2 sensors weren't showing something off with that much of a leak.

I’ll try not to word it like that. Guess I just painted the codes with a wide brush by saying “the MAF sensor is failing” and to me I’m thinking it’s not giving a signal the computer is expecting or giving false information base on the other data the computer is given by other sensors, due to physical or electrical issues. For me, if I see anything MAF sensor code related, I do inspection for leaks, cleaning of MAF, check electrical connections, and air filter inspection. I’ve only replaced one MAF sensor and it was a true failure of the sensor as no signal was coming from the sensor as per the live data reader. But I see how the statement can be taken as the MAF needs to be replaced automatically.

 

[signcrafter]

I’ll try not to word it like that. Guess I just painted the codes with a wide brush by saying “the MAF sensor is failing” and to me I’m thinking it’s not giving a signal the computer is expecting or giving false information base on the other data the computer is given by other sensors, due to physical or electrical issues. For me, if I see anything MAF sensor code related, I do inspection for leaks, cleaning of MAF, check electrical connections, and air filter inspection. I’ve only replaced one MAF sensor and it was a true failure of the sensor as no signal was coming from the sensor as per the live data reader. But I see how the statement can be taken as the MAF needs to be replaced automatically.

I wasn't trying to call you out. I just hear that phrase all the time. I blame it mostly on the parts stores that read codes and obviously want to sell customer a part right away.

 

[zmotorsports]

I hear this phrase a lot and it's usually from people that take their cars to the parts store to get the codes read and I always cringe when I hear it worded like that. As far as I know there is no code that says the MAF sensor is failing. There's a code that says the sensor is out of range and most likely a code for circuit performance. Like in your case it sounds like the MAF sensor was working great and doing it's job. I try to explain to people that the codes only give you a direction to start your diagnostics. Sort of like P0300 codes, it must need plugs. Maybe but maybe not. Or the best is oxygen sensor codes, it must be the sensor is bad. Or, maybe it's doing it's job and telling you it's reading out of spec and there is an issue with the oxygen content in the exhaust it's reading.

You did the correct thing by looking into the actual issue. Just bugs me when I hear it worded like that. I've had people bring me their cars saying the parts store scanned it and said it needed this part. I always ask if they want me to just throw that part in and then diagnose it if it doesn't fix it, or diagnose it and see if they actually need that part or if it's something else. Especially when oxygen sensors are up around the 300 dollar range now a days. With the price of parts now a days it's cheaper to have a mechanic diagnose it. The days of throwing parts at it because it's cheaper then paying an hour of diagnostics are long gone in my opinion.

Good catch Mike. I'm surprised it wasn't throwing any codes or the fuel trims and/or O2 sensors weren't showing something off with that much of a leak.

I have a similar conversation with people pertaining to what is highlighted above Scott.

While I'm not the world's best automotive diagnostician, I try to educate people that the code that is set is merely the closest one that matches an existing condition(s) or set of parameters and also that the ECM is ONLY interpreting the data it is receiving, it is up to the mechanic to methodically think through said data and perform a proper diagnosis, nothing more. The codes aren't magic like the numbskulls at the parts stores try to convince people they are as if anyone who reads a code can just replace a part and be a self-proclaimed mechanic. I also explain that parts stores exist to sell parts, nothing more.

All that being said, I have also discovered, especially over the past couple of decades, that the vast majority of the time when dealing with electrical diagnostics, the problem can be traced back to a connection or wiring issue much more often than a failed part, I would say 80% of the time it is a wiring issue. So, with that knowledge, why is it that the first reaction by most people to start throwing parts at something. I have had more issues over the past few years in particular be traced down to wiring issues and not necessarily a failed part. If I were a gambling man and headed to Las Vegas, would I throw money down on a 20% bet or an 80% bet?

These days I go into a diagnosis with the mindset that I am going to find a wiring or connection issue and I am correct approx. 8 out of 10 times. I also continue to use the 4 C's, Condition, Cause, Correction and the most important one, CONFIRM. If I can't confirm the repair I go back to step one.

I still am not 100% certain that the intake duct IS the culprit here, but I can confirm that it is in fact A problem. However, by looking at all of the new parts on this car, it appears as though a parts bomb was tossed at it with no real diagnosis. I did review the fuel trims and O2 sensor data, but it was skewed because of it being in open loop and with the warmer temps of the shop, it really went into closed loop relatively quick and didn't run as poorly as the owner's description. I think I may park it outside after getting it put back together to confirm, but I also noted it appears to have a leaking water pump and I really don't want coolant all over my shop apron. At this point I'm not sure how much or how deep he wants me to go into this as he is perfectly capable of replacing a water pump, so I guess that's another conversation, but it's ******* coolant in my shop.