Underground Lair of the Squankum

[sean Buick 76]

LOL, I just went through your whole thread and found it entertaining!

Keep up the good work and if you have time check out my garage thread and let me know if you have any ideas on how I can improve things!

 

[HSpencer]

Squankum

I haven't posted much on your thread but that needs to change! I am totally impressed with the stand for the dehumidifier. I have had these for years, but never thought to put them up on a stand. That is one great idea. Thanks for posting it. I come by now and then and enjoy your thread but I need to keep my eyes more on it. You have a lot of great ideas and wisdom.

Best Regards
Herb

 

[Squankum]

He quit the 'stones and joined the Monkee's! I really enjoyed the Pierce-Arrow cast aluminum body article. Cast aluminum...Gee, only P-A guys would have known.

Heh heh...

Yeah, that Pierce-Arrow story was neat. They even had a room just for filing the castings by hand after they left the mold? Craftsmanship out the bazoo.

A century later and aluminum bodies are still a rare, luxury car thing. Oh wait, F-150. This will be interesting. I'm wondering what tweakers with cordless Sawzalls will do...


.

 

[Squankum]

This video was the subject of a thread already on GJ, but I thought I'd promote here in my thread.


A seasoned pro teaches you how to use tin snips:

.

 

[Squankum]

LOL, I just went through your whole thread and found it entertaining!

Keep up the good work and if you have time check out my garage thread and let me know if you have any ideas on how I can improve things!

Thanks, Sean! I read your thread after dinner and will stop by and give what little advice I could think of.

 

[Squankum]

Squankum

I haven't posted much on your thread but that needs to change! I am totally impressed with the stand for the dehumidifier. I have had these for years, but never thought to put them up on a stand. That is one great idea. Thanks for posting it. I come by now and then and enjoy your thread but I need to keep my eyes more on it. You have a lot of great ideas and wisdom.

Best Regards
Herb

Thanks! Are you Herbert Spencer, English philosopher, biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era?

My posting of that dehumidifer stand was almost a goof -- mostly what I do in my shop is just flail away at repairing the cars, and don't get much time to do the neato projects everybody else dreams up. There are two big currents to GJ:

1) show and tell (all the tools you never knew you needed)
2) tips and tricks and ideas to share and copy

And when it comes to #2, I say no proejct or tip is too picayune, because you never know who could use it. Just here in the Underground Lair of the Squankum, people have dug my box fan air filter, maintenance specs & filters .xls, and now, my dehumidifier stand.

The stand's legs are 2x2's, the box is made of 1x8, and of course, some furring strips got consumed, too. I work furring strips into everything. Furring strips made the cleats that hold the thin scrap of plywood floor inside it.

There are feet, metal casters with threaded shafts that go into plastic inserts in the bottom of the 2x2's. I'm not just paranoid about water, moisture and humidity, for a dehumidifer, it's good to be able to adjust the angle of things so it drains out the back hole properly.

(Bah, I used to do that with little scraps of wood. I just worry about water, moisture and humidity.)

Now, in my next post, I'll show you my hose.

 

[Squankum]

Here's the backside of my dehumifidier. There's a gray plastic cap that covers the rear outlet; it's hanging from a plastic strap.

I got the hose for $10ish at Ace Hardware in the plumbing section. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that a garden hose would do fine. At the time, I had no old garden hoses to sacrifice.

EDIT: Today I was in the shop and checked. It's garden hose thread.

(This was before I got the Craftsman black rubber hose that instantly made my old green garden hoses intolerable pieces of ****. Everybody on GJ is right. The CMan hose is lovely.)

Do your dehumidifers have rear exits? Monkeying with the removable bucket once a day really blows. You could probably do the job most cheaply with some clear tubing and a zip tie. Ace sure has that tubing in every size, as do the bigger hardware stores.

The hose clogs up once or twice per summer with a vile, pink jellyfish like snot growth that needs hosing out. Ermagerd, it's gross! When this happens, the bucket fills instead and then it shuts off.

 

[Squankum]

Halloween cleanup this weekend.

The missus bought these years ago. Martha Stewart brand, they weren't cheap. Got three of them. In the past few years, I've gotten really tired of the mounts they came with to go into the lawn. (3 cents worth of stamped sheet metal with screws for the foam and nails for the ground.)

The last three years, I've slowly figured out how to make them work:

1) glue plywood to the back with Liquid Nails or Gorilla Glue
2) Screw pipe straps from the plumbing dept to that wood
3) get some rebar at the hardware store (I was kinda surprised!) and cut it at an angle and use your big hammer, voila, tombstone slides down on rebar and that's that.

Styrofoam tombstones have become more popular, and cheaper, and cheap lately. These are nice, there is real texture for the front of them, but I bet you could do just fine with blue insulation foam from the big box hardware store and cut and carve your own.

 

[Squankum]

I built a house for the homeless today.

 

[Squankum]

Oh dear... not quite the likeness I'd hoped for...

Actually, what it is is is a hut for a stray cat living wild in the city, hanging around an abandoned house after the people who used to feed her a little moved away.

Habitat for Felinity?

It's a disposable styrofoam beer cooler and a storage tote. Plus some straw on the inside for bedding, and between cooler and tote for more insulation. Then I just tossed the other 95% of the straw bale around the outside for more insulation and camouflage.

See video, what I built was much like theirs.

Some cat rescue people get more involved with theirs, but I'm hoping this will do.

The scraps of wood are partly to help deflect some rain, but mostly just camouflage. My first location for this box, not far from a sidewalk, got spotted and inspected by passers by, I think, so I moved it to a more out of the way location that I hope the cat finds acceptable.

Cat needs a good home. I have a trap. Want a cat? PM me.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Habitat for Felinity?

I almost spit up my coffee!!!! LOL

 

[madoc1]

watch out about feeding strays. my gf started and we now have 13, and that is after 5 went via cl! two have been spayed. need to catch the rest and stop this madness.

jim

 

[fergus]

Found at Tractor Supply.

DO NOT WANT

Heh...I LOL'd at this one. Anyway, your thread is a fun read.

 

[fergus]

Rusty ******** also dances Friday and Saturday nights at the Manhole down in the Castro district.

(snort) Youre idiotical man. In a good way. Tooooo damn funny. Former Bay Area resident are we?

I kept on cracking up on this one. Oh man...

 

[Squankum]

watch out about feeding strays. my gf started and we now have 13, and that is after 5 went via cl! two have been spayed. need to catch the rest and stop this madness.

jim

Luckily, this is near where I park for work, not at my house!

Sometimes I see her wet food dish and dry food dish and can tell a cat was eating it and then had enough and stopped, and sometimes, everything's so wiped out I start to wonder about coyotes, stray dogs, possums, racoons, and 37 rats. I really should set up a game camera there and find out.

Yes, find somebody who will neuter them for free, and start to trappin'! My gal spotted a notch in the ear of this one, so it's already been done in the past.

 

[Squankum]

Thanks for the feedback, fergus. More yuks to come. HSpencer says there's wisdom in here, and that took my by surprise. There is?

Maybe I'll post some of my actual shop wisdom later on.

And nope, I don't think I've even been to San Francisco. I'm just good with geography.

 

[Squankum]

And the Lord did say, taketh your cast iron wares into the drive, and molest them for one hour with the whirring devices of abrasion, and let them be a beacon unto all the other cookware of the hearth. Upon the passage of one quarter of an hour, do not question why in the hell you are doing thus, for if you are in for a penny, you are in for a pound. Then summon thy neighbors of the Teflon and Calphalon tribes and tell them that they are sissies.

 

[Squankum]

The devices I used:
Grinder with big cup brush from HJE, in my Wal-Mart B&D grinder.
Abrasive plastic fingery wheel from Ace, iny my Aircat grinder.

What I learned that day, other than, "You dolt, use the self-cleaning oven feature next time! Or a vinegar bath!", was that it's better to used knotted wire brushes for the kind of stuff I was doing. I wound up wth some wires in my most sensitive of places. And two stabbed me me in the thigh, and millseconds later, the side of the wire slapped me in the thigh, too.

Did you know $10 gets you a leather apron in the welding section at Harbor Freight? That arrow's in my quiver for next time. And I've ordered some twisted brushes.

The pan was old and rescued from a friend of the missus who didn't want it anymore. Eons of crunk on it. The good news is, unlike my modern era Lodge pans, they cast a very fine surface on the cooking surface of this one. Finer sand? I do not know. Maybe they got filed down by old codgers who used to work at the Pierce-Arrow factory in Buffalo.

The pan then got a seasoning with good ol' fashioned lard. Lard! Look for it by name at your local Wal-Mart! (Aka "Manteca" in the Mexican food section.)

 

[Squankum]

This is my DeWalt DC825 impact driver. It holds hex bits, of the kind you use to drive screws. It can be adapted for other things, but that's its specialty.

I tend to live behind the times, I'm cheap and/or low budget. The whole "driving screws with clutched cordless screwdriver" thing? I kinda missed that. I wasn't building much out of wood in that time. I have an averagely-nice B&D 18V cordless drill that I used here and there for that kind of thing, and it was okay.

Maybe I'm overly impressed because I don't know the state of the art for drills with clutches, before these things got popular, but DAMN, I love the power of this thing. It drives screws very well. Then, when the screw starts to meet some real resistance towards the end, it starts the impact hammering and it just keeps on truckin'.

They also make these with square drives for sockets, and I thought that's what I was ordering, but... er... oops. Nope, this is for driver bits.

Wish I'd gotten the lithium battery, but I'm an unfrozen caveman, and your expensive batteries scare me.

 

[Squankum]

Here's an example of the power of this thing. This was the second time I used it. I was at another location, installing a dead bolt. This is an exterior door from a 1950's house, nothing flimsy. As I was speeding the nuts on from inside the door, I thought, "hmmm, when wlll things start getting tight? I guess things will slow down then?"

BAM

And the 1/4" carriage bolt did snap. The tool never broke a sweat.

I opened the door to look at the other side. It had been pulling the heads into the wood.

Off to the store for washers and another carriage bolt....

 

[Squankum]

My first encounter with the power of this thing. When I first got it, the litmus test I wanted to give it was, "Lug bolts on an 80's VW?"

Well, no.

The speed with which it snapped the adapter was impressive. Clack-clack-CLACK-BANG and it was over in about 1.5 seconds. I'd used that adapter for many years, for many a tire change. (But just to speed lug bolts in and out.) Vermont American, from the 1990's B.C. (Before China.) It was hard to even find these in 3/8" back then. Now they're everywhere.

Cheap HF version on top. I'm resisting using that. Remnants of Vermont American version still work well enough.

The DeWalt is so strong it's not quite what I had in mind for speeding dumb little things on and off, so I bought a wee little Makita, too. But other than the big battery pack on this, they're really not that much different in size.

If I wind up in Howard Hughes's newly-discovered will, which I'm writing in my spare time, I'll get the 3/8" square drive version, too. But for now, I'll just hold steady with this bit set:

VIM Tools NSM100 12-Piece Metric Power Drive Nut Setter with Magnetic and Hollow Point Drivers
by Vim Products
Link: http://amzn.com/B000VHZHAU

 

[Squankum]

Here's a trick I invented. I'm sure I'm not the first.

Start with a basic ol' tow strap from Wal-Mart, The Gettin' Place.

 

[Squankum]

Hook one end to the car. I used a tow hook under the bumper.

Double up the rest of the strap, tie an overhand knot in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhand_knot#Overhand_knot_in_paper-folding

Stand in the loop, put the loop around your waist, tow car by walking backwards, legs bent. Why use your arms to move this much weight?

I got here from a strange place, the car was inoperable in the middle position of the deep, narrow garage, and I didn't have a good place to push on it. I found out this method is actually really easy and controlled.

I've done it witih the missus steering inside the car, and I've done it solo. (This pic is my point of view, standing in the loop.)

Helping matters: very smooth concrete floor, very unsticky granny all-season tires, open diff, car is a car, not a beastly truck thing.

 

[Squankum]

An update on my shop shoes, post #151.

Some nights on the weekends, I wonder, "Dang, why am I so worn out by work in the shop?" And usually the answer is, "60 hours a week in a cubicle."

But a few weeks ago, I had hip pain. That's new. I took a peek at the insoles that came with the shop clogs. They were knackered. Pounded waff-er theen, and they weren't that cushy to begin with.

I slipped in a set of barely used Second Wind inserts, and all is comfy again. They were called Second Wind a decade ago when I used to buy a lot of them, now they've got a new name, Ten Seconds.
http://amzn.com/B001IBONM6

I find them two notches above the Dr. Scholl's type stuff, and almost as good was what comes in new running shoes. Well, they're kinda soft and spongy, but they last a good while. For the price, they can't be beat for getting more life out of a pair of shoes.

Look at those rivets in the heels! That's something new under the sun in shoe construction. Glad I replaced the insoles.

Pictured: barely-used Second Wind inserts.

 

[Squankum]

Now, for serious foot comfort, I'm a big fan of ArchMolds.

http://amzn.com/B001UG5GAC

Like the better-known Superfeet insoles and similarly priced (not cheap) but they mold to your feet's unique features, aka issues, just a little.

When they're new, you put them in a oven/toaster oven at 200F or so, one at a time, watch with a flashlight as the temperature-sensitive tape strip turns black (two minutes) then put immediately into shoe or boot and start walking. A layer of foam in them (not super thick or soft) molds to your feet that first time.

(You can reheat and remold later on, I think.)

These go in my serious hiking boots, running shoes, office shoes. I don't have any foot problems, or arch problems, but my feet just like 'em, all day long. Maybe I'll put a pair in the shop clogs, but I had a pair of fairly unused Second Winds/Ten Seconds in the house.

Not cheap, but they're durable.

https://www.powersteps.com/archmolds

.

 

[NKlamerus]

Hook one end to the car. I used a tow hook under the bumper.

Double up the rest of the strap, tie an overhand knot in it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhand_knot#Overhand_knot_in_paper-folding

Stand in the loop, put the loop around your waist, tow car by walking backwards, legs bent. Why use your arms to move this much weight?

I got here from a strange place, the car was inoperable in the middle position of the deep, narrow garage, and I didn't have a good place to push on it. I found out this method is actually really easy and controlled.

I've done it witih the missus steering inside the car, and I've done it solo. (This pic is my point of view, standing in the loop.)

Helping matters: very smooth concrete floor, very unsticky granny all-season tires, open diff, car is a car, not a beastly truck thing.

I find it extremely upsetting that people need a link these days to know what an overhand knot is....I'm 19 and even can tell times have changed.

I have a feeling the kids from my generation will never know how a map and compass works, or a sextant, or how to Start a fire with a 9 volt.

Makes me down right floundered.

 

[Squankum]

I find it extremely upsetting that people need a link these days to know what an overhand knot is....I'm 19 and even can tell times have changed.

I have a feeling the kids from my generation will never know how a map and compass works, or a sextant, or how to Start a fire with a 9 volt.

Makes me down right floundered.

Now, now, you're too young to wax Cressbecklerian...

(Joad Cressbeckler is a grizzled old prospector who given his own TV show.

)


I don't know that people need to be shown what an overhand knot is, but
a) I'm just tickled that every knot has a wikipedia page
2) As someone whose childhood was full of knot tying, I don't like to assume what other folks know
iii - The overhand knot with flat material, which is what I did, was shown perfectly there. And I hadn't taken a picture of the knot I made


And keep in mind, a lot of people already didn't know how to use a map and compass. I've never understood how this wasn't just self-evident, but, you know, it takes all kinds, and don't ask me to conjugate Spanish verbs.

 

[Squankum]

Part two of my response to you, NKlamerus:

Now here’s some good news: There are some people out there who still studying all the older things mankind used to know and teaching it to new generations. This man is one of them, and he has been a mentor to me.

http://www.leighculver.com/Leigh.htm

At that link he has this quote in the banner:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
--Robert A. Heinlein


IMHO... It’s a nice thought, but, uh, there are some dumb people out there. And since the Industrial Revolution, we may be creating more. (Visit your local fast food restaurant for proof.)

But that being said, it's a disgrace how many people can't check their oil level or change an air filter, isn't it?

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

I wonder if some of the problem isn't lack of necessity to learn this stuff when your young now. Nothing against some of the tougher people I work with, some are truly great at what they do but most got into the work force at a time when products cost less and if something breaks or you're tired of it, you replace it. It shows in many of their "practical" skill set.

I learned to do a lot when I was first married and the kids were little because we simply couldn't afford to replace anything or have anyone else fix it. That turned into people giving us things we could use that " just needed a little work".

I think that sets a pattern where good or bad you go through life looking at most problems as, "if someone else can fix it then I must be able to".

That and being Dutch.

 

[Squankum]

Sure. There is real economics behind the throwaway society. I've seen how in Mexico cars get reupholstered, repainted, motors and transmissions rebuilt, and cars much older than most Americans (other than GJ'ers!) would dream of driving keep soldiering on. (70's Renaults?!) The price of labor and value of time have something to do with it. Society-wide, and within a household.

I do not mourn the end of the era of waiting for the TV repairman to show up and fiddle with the tuners.

I think that sets a pattern where good or bad you go through life looking at most problems as, "if someone else can fix it then I must be able to".

That reminds me why I like working on cars, compared to my not liking my job: cars are just science, applied. It's logical.

I must confess, I've never learned points & condenser type ignition, or carbs. I showed up in an electronic ignition and fuel injection (albeit mechanical) era and that's what I worked on. The day will come when I own two stroke devices, but... it just hasn't come up yet. When it does, I'll learn it.

My dad didn't do a danged thing to his lawnmowers, just used them until he died. His time/$ ratio was different than most. My time/$ ratio is different than his. I'd rather maintain and fix things and save in the long run.

Er, that being said, our lawnmowers didn't just keel over and die, either, I only remember our owning two my entire childhood. Did they start easily? Uh, no... but that wasn't his problem.


But still, starting a fire, reading a map, and heck, you know what other survival skill people are losing? Walking a mile.

I do believe that it's possible to know a lot of things about a lot of things, and some folks aren't even trying. (See above, "change air filter.")

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Chuckle... Our first decent TV belonged to a smoker and just needed the tuner cleaned. Big upgrade from 12" b&w to a 21" colour.

Only had to get channel 3 working because we already had the convertor with the wired remote. Flashback.

 

[NKlamerus]

Le Squankum has been busy eh?

 

[Squankum]

And now for a picture of me:

 

[Squankum]

I have a feeling the kids from my generation will never know how a map and compass works, or a sextant, or how to Start a fire with a 9 volt.

N-Klam, you do realize that 9V batteries are becoming quaint, right?

I've been trying to buy some on my recent trips to MegaloMart. I did see some rechargeables, but couldn't find chargers for such. After two trips and checking both front battery kiosk and rear electronics dept each time, the light bulb went off over my head re. one of my New Rules:

New Rule, 2014: If you keep driving around town to different big box stores for something only moderately obscure, something you swore they stocked for years, something they can't keep in stock, why aren't you just saving time and checking amazon?

I checked amazon. I can get a wad o' 9V's for a very fair price.

I only use them in smoke detectors, of which I have many, and I test them every month. Which seems to wear out the batteries, but... you know.

Also, you might have to tell the kiddies about steel wool!

 

[Squankum]

Update on the filtering of power steering fluid, using Wix #58964, last seen in post #264.

You might have to bleed the power steering after you install it. Now for the long story about how I learned this but good:

Install filter. Driver of car complains to the man in her basement, it makes a funny shudder sometimes. I drive it and agree. I'm not sure what it is. (Note, the Squankum has been driving a manual rack-and-pinion car most of his life and these newfangled "power steerings" scare him and make him want to run into the woods and hide behind a fallen tree.)

I think, well, first filter that system's had, maybe the filter's just chock full of krunk and gradoo! I'll order another filter! And I do, and I install it. I mean, the filter is supposed to bypass when fully clogged up, just like an oil filter, but... why not give it a try?

The shudder's worse this time. I start to fret, wondering how many miles are on the Cardone reman I put on the car, and has it been 20K mi since then? Maybe it's just crapola and I should just go snag a used Saginaw pump at my junkyard soon...

I remove the hoses and 2nd filter and install just straight hose. Shudder still there.

THEN I GOOGLED AND...

Oh, that was fast. Thanks, googler. Yeah, air in your system, you dolt. I try to bleed it. It gets a little better. Then a road trip to go camping, some 20F weather, somewhere on the trip, it's fixed.

I might put another filter in someday, but the car certainly has bigger fish to fry right now. If I do it again, I'll be looking for a way to make it vertical so no air can live in it.

Below is a pic. I dismantled the second filter. Paper pleats looked great. I put a piece of green tape in there to point towards two black smudges on the paper towel. I got that schmutz off the inside wall of the filter, so yes, Wix's patented magnetic plastic housing works!

The tool to the left is my exhaust pipe cutter. I've only used it a few times, but when you need it, it's great. I wish I could tell you more about what brand it is, model #, but the tool tells me nothing and the vinyl pouch it came in tells me nothing like that, either, just that it was made in the USA. I bought it in the late 80's, I think, at an auto parts store. It's a chain with cutting wheels. Back and forth, back and forth, until you feel like an idiot, but victory will be yours.

 

[Squankum]

Pimp my Torqueflite or, 46RE Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

In picture, prices are amazon with free shipping:

Dorman replacement pan, # 265-827, $42ish
Made in China

Moroso gasket, $32ish
COO - unlabelled

Fumoto F-103N drain valve, $26.95
Made in Japan, precisely and carefully

Wix filter kit, $14.48
Made in China, surprisingly, dangit

Valvoline ATF+4, but of course

Slightly longer pan bolts scrounged from a '94 Dakota in the junkard

I did my first ATF change ever on this rig about a year ago (See "European Economy Car Caveman, Unfrozen") and I was not impressed. What I wanted was a drain valve! Dangit. I know B&M or somebody makes a kit that involves drilling a hole, but I wasn't sure if it was failure-proof enough, if I wanted to tighten it some more, would I have to remove the pan? Here in the Underground Lair of the Squankum, we have a general philosophy when it comes to the missus's vehicles: F*** LEAKS. She drives far and wide and is not enthusiastic about checking things.

So, my dream involved a Fumoto valve. I've been content with simple drain plugs for decades, but I decided to try a Fumoto on one of her cars, hoping it would encourage her involvement with O&F maintenance, and I was the one who wound up spoiled by them. (On her cars, which see the most miles and O&F changes.)

At a minimum, it will just remove the annoying SPLOOSH! tussle when dropping the pan for maintenance, and that's good enough for me.

Got a used pan, had a friend weld in some thicker steel inside, drill it, tap it, and... oops, pan warped. I made a few feeble attempts to push, beat, and hammer on the pan to get it back into shape, no dice. I started pondering building an elaborate rig out of thick layers of plywood and glue and screws to put in my 20T press to make encourage this thing back to something flat... and the price of that was on my mind when... I discovered in the fine print of the description of the above Dorman pan... it comes with a drain plug! And not a rubber one.

Pan overall seems pretty decent. Stamping steel and powdercoating it (both sides, they did, for some reason) seem within China's "core competencies", as bizspeak would describe it nowadays. (I would use the words, "Something they can't F up.")

Drain plug hole is 12mm x 1.25. Comes with a bolt. Had to clean it up a little so a copper crush washer would mate against the limited surface area I had to work with on the bottom of the pan where the hole was (that's why I didn't use Fumoto's felty paper washer) and the powdercoating got into the female threads on the inside, but I cleaned that out and everything screwed together just fine.

Now if I feel like draining just a quart every 5,000 mi or some weird idea like that, I can do it. It's a weird idea, but this vehicle had 200,000 mi on it before I became crew chief, and while it wasn't neglected, on the issue of the transmission, maybe it was, records are good but not complete. What I found in the pan and on the magnet the first time I did the job horrified me. (But I'm new to this stuff.) This time, about 38,000 mi later, not so bad. I dream of adding a spin-on filter mount in the return cooler line someday, maybe when the engine's out and I replace those lines anyway.

The only auto trans car of my own, of a certain self-regarding German car manufacturer, has a drain plug on the torque converter, too, and it irketh me that I don't have this feature on this big machine.

Here's what Moroso has to say about their fancy gasket:

Manufactured from 40 durometer rubber that is vulcanized to a rigid steel frame

The extra-strength design will not leak, blow out or get sucked in like stock or inferior quality aftermarket gaskets

Gaskets require no sealant, which allows for quick removal and installation of transmission pans

Rubber/Steel gasket outlast cork compsites to provide years of dependable service

Full 3/16" thick

I know that everybody in Dodgedom is very happy with the factory's reusable gasket. That gasket wasn't on this car when I started working on it. I haven't seen one, and it's just a few dollars less than this one, but I'm sure it's good, too. I just found this Moroso on the intartrons and fell in love. 1,000 mi later, it's dry, and no RTV tussle was required, hooray!

EDIT:
Updates on March 29, 2017, p. 55, post #1092.

 

[Squankum]

A close up of the Fumoto valve. They don't leak, and they work.

 

[Squankum]

Junkyard Follies

Durango front differential, cast aluminum housing.

This is going to need a lot of JB Weld...

 

[Squankum]

Really? It took you until 2014 to decide you'd rather sell it for scrap metal? Just imagine how much they would have paid you if you'd hit the scales with a car with a trunk!

For you youngsters who missed the Dark Ages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillac_Seville#1980.E2.80.931985

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[NKlamerus]

For some reason this project reminded me of you. I have dissected a cheapo swiss army knife (dollar general brand) in the hopes of turning it into a key bar.

1st step; go to Walmart to buy the missing dremel collet nut

2nd step; come home to find the dremel with a dead battery

3rd step; decide the angle grinder is too big.

4th step; pull out the bench grinder to find out the cord has been pinched off

5th step; get on GJ...