Recent content by JP_CA

Spent some time mounting and fitting the left fender on the Golf. I've learned two things so far: These aftermarket parts don't fit quite right I am not good at body-fitting but I'm figuring it out, and may end up tagging in a local body shop to help. The gap to the door is big, that's the...

The trip was a success. This is Kirkwood area. We did 50 or 60 miles on dirt, multiple trails, one night. Very quick trip. My friend's rig is incredible. This was a good shakedown after all the front-end work (new front leaf springs and mounts, high steer, new shocks). Getting my flex on:

Broke down and ordered a tailgate storage system for the Land Cruiser. I've been wanting to do this for a few years now and am super glad I did it. This kit comes from Huracan Fabrication. The fit is great, instructions are clear. It's not super stiff . . you do cut out some braces . . but way...

Been a minute. Lots going on, not a ton of garage stuff. Replaced the door seals on the Golf. I did this in ~2010 with generic seals and did a pretty poor job, but I was much younger then. These new seals are made to fit here, from VintageRubber. Look at this mess . . . Magic sauce...

Spent a few minutes fixing worn and torn spots on the Land Cruiser handbrake boot. I consider this "visible mending" and made no attempt to hide the repairs. Interfacing applied: Mended!

The Land Cruiser windows started getting slow again, which is annoying because I already took apart the switchpack back in Feb 2024. But, it's not terribly difficult, so I cracked it open and found the same corroded contact issue. I cleaned everything, this time polished the contacts, and...

The GMC has needed some follow-up exhaust work for a while now, so I finally got around to it. The first thing is finding what sounds like a "jingle" in the system. It truly sounds like they're a washer inside the front crossover pipe (from the left bank to the cat) so I removed that pipe and in...

I've been casually looking for wheels for the SLK. I don't hate the wheels it came with, but they're 16s and I feel they dress down the car a little bit. A friend send me this listing so I decided to take a look: The wheels were pretty rough in person so I talked the seller down to $300 and...

More SLK stuff - I'm tall, so I have the seat all the way back. The leather rubs on the plastic trim. Velvet tape is an easy way to address that. Swapped out this old serpentine belt: Figured out why the radio reception was terrible . . . coax was disconnected from the antenna mast...

I had a little lull in projects after going back to work after my break - sort of lost focus and motivation to be in the garage. Competing priorities . . Anyway, there are a handful of things over the last few months that I've squeezed in. The Land Cruiser failed smog for evap, so I spent a...

All of these projects are super impressive, especially this fanny pack. These are tight little seams with not a lot of margin for error. Very cool!

I went camping recently and brought my 943 as I always do, but noticed it was starting to get really stiff and hard to open, so I knew it was due for a little love. These are some of my favorite projects - easy, quick, satisfying. Pretty crusty: All cleaned up: A little Tri-Flow and...

Bought an SLK320. I've wanted one of these for a long time and finally came to an agreement with a local seller who had been trying to get a ton of money out of this car. Needless to say, I didn't pay his asking price. The car is really fun. It's a 6-speed manual. I looked at an SLK230 (4-cyl...

Odds and ends . . Microphone mod kit installed - just a few replacement caps. I found this on eBay while looking for another MXL V63M to match the one I have. I was playing with mic-ing my piano the other day and wanted to know how different these would sound vs the small condenser mics I used...

And just like that . . my wife finally got what she wanted, and what she's been asking for - a new car! We sold the CX-5 to a friend who will surely enjoy it for many years to come. We're now leasing a Model Y, which has been a long time coming. We always knew her next car would be electric...