ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

Somebody has to ask - which quick couplers do you use? I haven’t had much luck with anything made for garden hose duty. Thanks!

To be honest I haven't had the best luck in the past but I recently purchased some from Tractor Supply and so far they are working out the best. It could also be that I am using a better quality hose as well as now that my yard is complete I tossed the junk garden hoses in the garbage and commissioned my new Craftsman Premium Rubber garden hoses into duty. No leaks and they are quick and easy to connect/disconnect.

 

[zmotorsports]

You just need some SS pipe and some hex stock ... . Interested in seeing what you come up with.

Me too.

Don't know if I will purchase a system or just some filters and fabricate my own cart/system. Still in the thinking phase at this point and not putting a whole lot of thought into it until I get a few other items off of my "to do" list. I do like the one that Whiffyspark sent me the link to. I think it was one of the ones I was looking at a couple of years ago as well as it looks familiar.

 

[zmotorsports]

It was time to put new tires on the wife’s Acura TL before winter. I had ordered them from my local shop on Monday and they showed up Wednesday but couldn’t get the car from my wife until Saturday for the swap. I took it for a drive Friday night when we went to dinner and I detected a slight pulse in the brake pedal so while it was on the lift I decided to have the rotors turned and it was also within several hundred miles of an oil change so I may as well knock all those items off the list at once.


We definitely got ALL of the life out of the original Michelin’s that were on the car when we bought it. These were right at 2/32” and had 66k miles on them.


Pulled the rotors and drained the oil.


Measured them and they have plenty of meat to be turned.


Rotors turned and reinstalled along with brakes and ready for tires/wheels to be installed.


New Toyo Versado Noir sport/touring tire has a nice looking all-season tread design.


Just returned from a road test and all is good again.






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[fnieto]

Hi Mike,
Nice job, did you turn the rotors yourself? I turned the fronts on my Silverado 1500 myself, but the setup took some time to re-indicate after flipping. A brake lathe is the way to go as they cut both sides at once. I also turned my FJ40 land cruisers fronts. Don't do enough to justify a brake lathe though. I rather buy more tooling. Good to see you working in your new shop.

 

[Kiwi Canuck]

Mike did you turn the rotors yourself or take them to a shop?

 

[zmotorsports]

Hi Mike,
Nice job, did you turn the rotors yourself? I turned the fronts on my Silverado 1500 myself, but the setup took some time to re-indicate after flipping. A brake lathe is the way to go as they cut both sides at once. I also turned my FJ40 land cruisers fronts. Don't do enough to justify a brake lathe though. I rather buy more tooling. Good to see you working in your new shop.

Thanks for the comments Paco. I've done them on my lathe as well but like you mentioned, it is not really that beneficial to do them in house without a brake lathe.

Mike did you turn the rotors yourself or take them to a shop?

I appreciate the comments guys. As for the brake rotors, I took them to my local NAPA to be turned that has machine capabilities. They have been doing my brake rotors and flywheels for about 25 years now, even before they were a NAPA store. They do good work and are very conscientious about turning them.

Thanks for following along on my projects thread guys.

 

[zmotorsports]

So Saturday afternoon after getting my wife's car completed, my wife and I took off for a drive to go look at a coach that I have been wanting to put my eyes and hands on for a few months but didn't have the time and to be honest was trying to talk myself out of but is on my short list of dream coaches that I would one day like to own. A friend of a friend has been talking about selling their 2001 Prevost coach (Liberty conversion) for a little while now as they want to upgrade to a new one. My dream coach is a Prevost with either a Liberty, Marathon of Parliament conversion with OTR air and Detroit Series 60 engine or a Newell coach. This Prevost is in very nice condition but does need a few items such as tires (they are 2009's and should be replaced) as well as belts, hoses and all fluids, basically a good major service performed but will not be cheap. I am just weighing the options/choices about the decision.

Now I have to decide on whether I want to put my freshly painted and pristine Dynasty up for sale and purchase a coach that needs some attention or run ours for a few more years until closer to retirement then start looking for our last coach. Decisions, decisions.

 

[jackson1701]

I've been following your threads for a while and it seems to me that you like doing projects. Now that your current coach is in really great shape, it may seem like the wise thing to do to sell it, all the updates make it really attractive. Now you can put your touches on the next coach and all in all, you'll be set up with a really nice coach that you have been wanting. My vote is go for the next coach and then we all can enjoy your thread while you update it. You do a great job at detailing your threads.

 

[zmotorsports]

I've been following your threads for a while and it seems to me that you like doing projects. Now that your current coach is in really great shape, it may seem like the wise thing to do to sell it, all the updates make it really attractive. Now you can put your touches on the next coach and all in all, you'll be set up with a really nice coach that you have been wanting. My vote is go for the next coach and then we all can enjoy your thread while you update it. You do a great job at detailing your threads.

Thanks for the comments. I was really looking forward to getting our Dynasty back from paint in July of this year and just enjoying the hell out of it for the next eight years or so before we started to look to upgrade. As much as I enjoy projects, I really was NOT looking for a new coach project and this is going to be a pretty good expense. My gut tells me to stick with the one I have for a while and enjoy it but my heart is telling me to get our dream coach now, even though the coach I have is pretty damn nice as is.

I was hoping my wife would put her foot down and say no when we went and looked at it on Saturday, but she liked it and said she would be happy with either. That really didn't help my decision.

On one hand I could get top dollar out of my current coach and be driving a Prevost Liberty coach, but on the other hand I want to dump another large amount on my new house and get it paid down some more and the purchase of this coach would use up those funds as well as what I would get out of our Dynasty.

Our original plans were to paint our coach this year, drive it for another 8-10 years and keep paying extra on our home in preparation for retirement. Just prior to retirement I wanted to upgrade coaches and on the top of my dream coach list was a Prevost bus conversion by either Liberty, Marathon or Parliament but I really wasn't ready to buy one now and I don't want to push off our house payment plans. Yesterday all I did was give myself a headache thinking about it. My head tells me to stay the course, enjoy our current freshly painted coach and keep it pristine so when the time comes to sell it we get a fair amount for it, keep paying extra on the house and in 8+ years start looking for our next coach when the house is closer to being paid off. I think that is the smart thing to do. Again, I really hoped the wife would make up my mind for me but she wasn't much help.

I appreciate the feedback and for taking the time to follow along on my projects thread.

 

[Bob Heine]

Mike, life is short so I say eat dessert first. You now have a perfect place for whichever coach you choose so it is a question of timing. If you ask me, or Lyndon, or probably Steve (1/2 Cup) there are no guarantees in life and in eight weeks or months or years your life can change dramatically through no fault of your own. While you and your bride have your health, do what will give you the most enjoyment now -- and paying down a mortgage may well be the most enjoyable thing.

I don't need a 556 hp sedan and it is impractical in every way imaginable but the enjoyment I get every time I drive it (or work on it) is all that matters. I'm going to be dead a long time so I'm going to enjoy the time I have left in this life.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, life is short so I say eat dessert first. You now have a perfect place for whichever coach you choose so it is a question of timing. If you ask me, or Lyndon, or probably Steve (1/2 Cup) there are no guarantees in life and in eight weeks or months or years your life can change dramatically through no fault of your own. While you and your bride have your health, do what will give you the most enjoyment now -- and paying down a mortgage may well be the most enjoyable thing.

I don't need a 556 hp sedan and it is impractical in every way imaginable but the enjoyment I get every time I drive it (or work on it) is all that matters. I'm going to be dead a long time so I'm going to enjoy the time I have left in this life.

Thanks for the comments Bob, I really appreciate it.

I think I have almost made up my mind to keep our current coach for a while as it is in perfect condition and just pay down the mortgage with the money we have saved up. There is absolutely nothing wrong with our current coach and this will allow us to better prepare ourselves for retirement and upgrading coaches as we get closer to retirement. Even if something were to happen in life at this point, we are definitely not going without as we are living the dream as is. The coach we have now is much nicer than I had ever dreamed of owning when we were older let alone at the point we are now in life. This other one just kind of came up in conversation with a friend and it was one of those "hey, maybe" moments but at this point in life would be kind of an impulse purchase and those don't seem to turn out as good as a well prepared plan.

I appreciate the comments Bob and thanks for stopping by my projects thread.

 

[iajonesy]

You are oh so right Bob. I'm finding out that sometimes Life gets in the way of the plans you have made, so do the things you want to while you can. If you wait for the right time it might not happen at all. Love with all your heart each and every day because you never know when that last moment will arrive and kick your ****.
I used to love to visit Bryce Canyon and Zion when I was in the Air Force at Nellis. They were/are so majestic. Utah is a beautiful state.



Mike

 

[shortykorte]

Your planning has worked great for you so I'd pay on the house so your debt free and can enjoy traveling regardless the coach. Also, the fresh paint might help sell your coach quicker but could you really recoup the cost?
Now if the Provost is half price, forget what I said. LOL


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[Bob275]

It never hurts to throw out a lowball offer and see if they bite...

 

[zmotorsports]

Your planning has worked great for you so I'd pay on the house so your debt free and can enjoy traveling regardless the coach. Also, the fresh paint might help sell your coach quicker but could you really recoup the cost?
Now if the Provost is half price, forget what I said. LOL


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It’s actually quite a bit less than half price. Coach sold new for around $1.2M and he’s looking for around $205k. Still a lot of money but in line with typical depreciation and pricing on them.

I’m still thinking about just enjoying ours for a few more years and even by then the paint should still be looking good enough to at least help the sale, especially with the coach now being stored indoors.


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[zmotorsports]

It never hurts to throw out a lowball offer and see if they bite...

He shot me a pretty reasonable price already and I don’t want to insult him. I would be insulted if someone did that to me on my coach so I don’t want to do that to someone else. Personally I think there may be a time for playing the low-ball game and a time not to and this would not be one of those times.


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[GRN96WS6]

Your current coach isn't bad and I'd have a hard time selling it after all the work you've done as well as the paint job which I imagine wasn't cheap, I say keep the current one and upgrade closer to retirement.

If something happens to you job wise you can sell the coach and payoff the house, if you opted for the new coach that wouldn't be an option.

 

[zmotorsports]

Your current coach isn't bad and I'd have a hard time selling it after all the work you've done as well as the paint job which I imagine wasn't cheap, I say keep the current one and upgrade closer to retirement.

If something happens to you job wise you can sell the coach and payoff the house, if you opted for the new coach that wouldn't be an option.

Thanks for the comments.

After a long discussion with the wife last night and more thought today I think I am going to do just that. We are going to keep and continue using our current coach as we are very happy with it and when the time is right to upgrade we will sell it at that time. The time being right is after paying down the house to have it paid off or nearly paid off before retirement. We will look to upgrade at that time and just keep adding miles to our current rig.

I have a lot of smaller projects that I want to get working on rather than another project coach at this point. The biggest project now being done is the house and shop and I want to enjoy them before tackling another huge project.

Thanks again for commenting and for checking out my projects thread.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have had some minor issues with the switch for my Aqua-Hot in our coach this past season. On a couple of trips I found myself having to flip the switch a couple of times to get it to ignite then when I reached for my meter wouldn’t you know it the thing fired right up. When the wife and I were in Capitol Reef I finally got it to act up when I had my meter handy. I found a voltage drop across the switch so I figured I would replace it. Then next trip out the light in the switch went out. Upon trying to order a new switch I found out that the switch is no longer available through Aqua-Hot or Carling. I’m sure I could have sourced a different switch but I did like the new switch panel available through Aqua-Hot so I just purchased the new panel and switches through them. I also liked the new panel for the reason that the diesel and electric element switches are the same so only need to carry one spare which will work for either heat source.

Here is my original switch panel for the diesel burner and the electric heating element.


New switch panel from Aqua-Hot.


I knew when I ordered the switch panel that it was not going to be a direct bolt in deal because of space limitations but I didn’t think it was anything that couldn’t be resolved.


I also had to trim a sliver of the walnut cabinetry due to the body of the switches being a little larger than the Carling as well.




After careful measuring I marked where it needed to be trimmed for a nice snug fit between the other switch panels.


Panel trimmed, corners radiused, holes drilled, chamfered/countersunk and switches installed in the panel.


Panel mocked up so I could drill the pilot holes for the mounting screws.


Project completed and everything functioning perfectly.


While I was working on the coach my son was making me a handle for my shop vac with his 3-D printer.


Thanks for looking.


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[shortykorte]

Nice save on getting new switch to fit.
That vac handle could be handy and 3D printed. Cool.


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[zmotorsports]

Nice save on getting new switch to fit.
That vac handle could be handy and 3D printed. Cool.


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Thanks Shorty. The best thing about the handle is he made it for me without me asking nor knowing anything about it, a complete surprise.


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[LXCam]

Fine job on the switch and the handle is cool too. If you have anymore of that style switch for other stuff they are readily available. Most every electronic warehouse worth their salt will have about any configuration of that style rotting away on the shelf. It's a very common style Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

Fine job on the switch and the handle is cool too. If you have anymore of that style switch for other stuff they are readily available. Most every electronic warehouse worth their salt will have about any configuration of that style rotting away on the shelf. It's a very common style Mike.

Unfortunately Cam this is an oddball configuration from Carling. I would have thought they would have been plentiful but even after contacting Carling directly I found it was no longer available. Tried other manufacturers making the exact size/style of switch I found nothing matching. A standard SPST, SPDT, DPDT or any variation of it was no problem but this DPDT with a segregated illuminated light is the tricky part. Had I not needed the segregated light circuit and could use an integrated light there would have been no problem finding a half dozen candidates or if I would have wanted to use a different style but I originally tried to stay with the original Contour II line. Oh well, the new switches work (and look) great in the panel.

Thanks for following along on the projects Cam.

 

[zmotorsports]

Oops.

Duplicate post.

 

[zmotorsports]

Saturday I was able to finish up the last piece of the puzzle by putting all of my small misc items/parts away and get the plastic wall organizers from my last shop out of the shop and off my floor and benches.

I organized and labeled my divided drawers, the label maker got a workout.


Completed. I ended up with about three extra drawers for future expansion or growth and several of the drawers have some space still available as well


Some random pictures of a few of the drawers.










Now that the shop is finally setup and the last of the items from my last shop are put away I can start to focus on projects, and my white board is full of them.

Thanks for looking.


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[Scuderia-F1]

Great looking storage units, would you mind share some details Mike, would like to add something like that to my humble little shop.

Regards,

Anders

 

[shortykorte]

Looking good Mike. Those storage cabs are nice. The first opened drawer you have hose clamps. Can you tell me more about them and why crimp vs. worm.


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[zmotorsports]

Great looking storage units, would you mind share some details Mike, would like to add something like that to my humble little shop.

Regards,

Anders

Thanks Anders. The storage drawers are made by Durham. I ordered a couple different variations of drawers with various sizes and amount of compartments. I like these drawer dividers because they have radiused bottom corners in each compartment which makes them easier to remove items from than the squared bottom style.

You can purchase the drawers individually, or with the cabinets that have the slides. I opted to purchase them as sets, six sets total.

Thanks for the comments and for following along Anders.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looking good Mike. Those storage cabs are nice. The first opened drawer you have hose clamps. Can you tell me more about them and why crimp vs. worm.


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Shorty, this has been quite a lengthy debate for many years. The crimp style clamps are actually called Oetiker clamps. I prefer them in many applications for a couple of reasons, they are smooth on the inside vs. the worm clamps that have the serrations for the worm to thread through. The smooth inside is less prone to causing damage to the hose not only during installation but also during the use and vibrations. Also the Oetiker clamps are somewhat of a constant tension clamp as they expand slightly and then retract providing the correct tension for a leak free connection. This is unless they are overly crimped and eliminating the ability of the clamp to move.

I use the SS worm clamps a lot as well but find myself on motorcycles, ATV's, sandrails, etc. mostly trying to use the Oetiker clamps. Also as much as I hate marine products I use them on those as well although I try not to work on anything that floats as much as possible. Unfortunately several friends and past clients have those nasty floating toys that I have had to work on.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my projects thread Shorty.

 

[Scuderia-F1]

Thanks Anders. The storage drawers are made by Durham. I ordered a couple different variations of drawers with various sizes and amount of compartments. I like these drawer dividers because they have radiused bottom corners in each compartment which makes them easier to remove items from than the squared bottom style.

You can purchase the drawers individually, or with the cabinets that have the slides. I opted to purchase them as sets, six sets total.

Thanks for the comments and for following along Anders.

Thanks Mike!

I will have to look into if Durham can be sourced over here, I would much prefer the kind of setup that you have.

Regards,

Anders

 

[dittle fart around]

We sell Durham Manufacturing's full line of industrial storage cabinets.

 

[Scuderia-F1]

We sell Durham Manufacturing's full line of industrial storage cabinets.

I guess that the shipping to Sweden will make it a bit pricey though.

 

[Wanna Ride]

I guess this is where I am in that 1% group and don’t like dragging mine by the hose and definitely not kicking it.

This is going to work perfect.

I'm like that too. I've had the parts cut for my shopvac handle for a while, just haven't got to it. The only thing I did differently, was cut the upright tube from handlebar stock, and I have a package of MX grips around here somewhere, for a donor.
And I'm guessing that you find the coiled hose annoying. I haven't yet come up with a good solution for that. I despise those 4' or 5' hoses that shopvacs come with, so I bought one that's about 12' long, but it's just so cumbersome to store. Haven't quite worked that solution out yet.

 

[zmotorsports]

I'm like that too. I've had the parts cut for my shopvac handle for a while, just haven't got to it. The only thing I did differently, was cut the upright tube from handlebar stock, and I have a package of MX grips around here somewhere, for a donor.
And I'm guessing that you find the coiled hose annoying. I haven't yet come up with a good solution for that. I despise those 4' or 5' hoses that shopvacs come with, so I bought one that's about 12' long, but it's just so cumbersome to store. Haven't quite worked that solution out yet.

Luckily the hose takes two complete wraps around the body of the vacuum then the steel nozzle tucks in neatly to keep it in place when wheeling/rolling around the shop. I agree about the 4-5 foot hoses, they just seem worthless in my opinion. I love the longer hose on this vacuum.

 

[zmotorsports]

The last two weeks have been absolute HELL! I had to go to LA California last week for work meetings. It has been 26 years since I have been to LA and if I never ever had to go back it would be too soon.

This week I have been getting home from work too late but today I blew out about an hour early from work to spend some time in the shop.

I have been keeping my drop pieces of steel and aluminum in milk crates under my welding table for the past several years. It has not been very accessible when needing a small piece for either welding or machining so I wanted to get them separated into the metal cabinets that I picked up from the geology department of our local university this past spring.

Nice empty space under my welding table.


One crate down and one to go.




I then decided to go around and give the shop a good sweeping and cleaning so I can spend some time in the shop tomorrow and not feel like I have a mess.










I am still on the lookout for some overhead cabinets to place over my workbenches but haven’t ran across any that have really excited me. I already have some LED lighting to put under them for workbench illumination once I find some cabinets that I like.


Look what I found. Under all of the moving and packing/unpacking boxes I found my surface plate, height gauges and surface gauges.



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[rmack898]

Mike,
Is that a Mitu 24" dial height gauge?

 

[Duker]

Looking good Mike! Have you or you son done any projects on the new CNC mill yet?


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[zmotorsports]

Mike,
Is that a Mitu 24" dial height gauge?

Why yes it is. Picked that up about ten years ago and I really like this one. The Starrett is a vernier height gauge that I recently picked it up at an estate sale.




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[zmotorsports]

Looking good Mike! Have you or you son done any projects on the new CNC mill yet?


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Thanks Duke. My son hasn’t made any chips as of yet. He just recently decided on and purchased the program he is going to run. He’s hasn’t been putting in much time in the shop lately, I think there might be a woman involved.[emoji15]

I’ve been trying to push him to get working on his Jeep so it’s ready for next year but he’s dragging his feet a bit on that as well.


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[NUTTSGT]

Thanks for the comments.

After a long discussion with the wife last night and more thought today I think I am going to do just that. We are going to keep and continue using our current coach as we are very happy with it and when the time is right to upgrade we will sell it at that time. The time being right is after paying down the house to have it paid off or nearly paid off before retirement. We will look to upgrade at that time and just keep adding miles to our current rig.

I have a lot of smaller projects that I want to get working on rather than another project coach at this point. The biggest project now being done is the house and shop and I want to enjoy them before tackling another huge project.

Thanks again for commenting and for checking out my projects thread.

Smart move Mike. I know you mentioned before about the stress of going back into debt to buy a different house and build a new shop. I was kinda surprised you even toyed with the idea of a new coach at this point in time.

In the long run, I'd imagine better sleeping at night keeping the current coach rather than ante up a stack of Ben Franklins.

Here is my original switch panel for the diesel burner and the electric heating element.



Thanks for looking.

So when the coach is parked/plugged in, the water heater is running off electric. When that's not available, it burns diesel rather than LP to heat the water ? So does it use the main fuel tank or is there a secondary tank ?