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

[Xti04]

Had an oddball dropped off to me last night for a list of issues and got right into it this morning since Im off till Thursday. Not something I am used to working on.
Took it for a thorough test drive to confirm some complaints before pulling it in. I had to slide my scissor lift all the way up to the back of the shop to get this car in the shop only to find its so low I cant actually use my regular lift to pick it up. Started with a valve adjustment as he swore they were loose and noisy.
None of them were loose. I think the "sewing machine" noise he is hearing is the throttle body injectors of the holley sniper tbi system he installed. With that handled I dove into a thorough once o er of the car. Noticed on my test drive some wonky shifting in the seat of my pants when doing quick F1 style tire warm up moves. Traced that down to a panhard bar missing both rubber bushings and the rear shock bolts not tightened down.
Also found the big bummer which is that his axle housing has a crack where they welded the trailing arms onto the axle tubes. Its leaking gear oil from the crack there. car is a solid 5 footer and only has a couple spots that need attention on the body. The suspension work *****, and the interior looks amazing. Nice leather seats and door cards. Trunk is finished nicely too. Rest of the car needs some love to make it as nice. The sniper system is running super rich, I think he could benefit from someone doing a tune on it. Pulled a plug on it and noticed it was carbon fouled and definitely running rich.after talking with him and coming up with a list of items to address I think we can make it into an awesome weekend cruiser.

 

[Xti04]

New tires for the front of my f250. I get to use my old shops tire machine and balancer and get tires at cost. Not a bad deal. red dots lined up to valve stems to make me happy. Balanced out pretty well. Didnt need too much weight on them. Wheels reinstalled and torqued to spec. Also found the upper bed lights were out and had 2 led bulbs left so they were installed and shining nice and bright.

Next up since the temps are increasing my wife ordered me a 6 ft ceiling fan for the shop. I installed it last night after knocking out a small job for an old coworker on her crv and condemning a turbo on a Ford escape some guy just bought. Started with a hd fan box since this thing is big. made sure I got it level and then went to work assembling this monstrosity. Got it wired in which included wiring in a remote for it which is nice. Finally got it all assembled and wired got down, turned power on aaaannnnnd nothing. Turns out the other end of the wiring at the last receptacle box was not tied in when I ran it. I went back up ladder for the 1000th time today, grabbed my impact and proceeded to move the 8ft ladder. Well, I missed my big *** Klein linesmans pliers up there which fell andnhit me in the head. After the cursing and yelling while I tried to determine what just cracked my skull, I noticed my hand was covered in blood. Quick trip inside to my portable ER and I fixed up the wound. Not too major and was able to stop the bleeding with just some pressure , no glue or sutures needed. With my head repaired I moved the ladder tied on the last of the wiring and fired up the fan. looks pretty good, blades are made of aluminum, 6 speeds and also has a timer mode built into the remote. Felt like it was moving air pretty good as well. With the fan buttoned up, I cleaned up the shop and called it a night.

 

[Xti04]

This weekends projects involve water! Not being on the water like we hoped since there was a cold snap but hopefully this will be a cool solution for the back yard and eventually out front. Our frostfree hose bibs leak and while they are completely rebuildable, the kids crank on them when shutting water off and crush the orings until they mushroom out and obstruct flow. After replacing those seals a few times I am over it and wanted a cool sleek solution. Enter the Aquor hydrant.
Its a flush mount handle less hose bib that has an integrated drainage to make it frost free and a hose end that activates the faucet via a 1/4 turn insertion.

So here is the standard unit we had. Nothing fancy, just hated it. after removing it I realized the hole was way too big and the plumbers had just caulked around it to cover up where they butchered the block. Oh well. The new bib wasnt gonna cover that massive hole entirely and there was no block to screw into so I made a mounting block from Starboard. Its an hdpe sheet used in boat construction in place of wood for seat bottoms, divider panels etc. I cut and drilled holes for the tapcons and countersunk so they would be flush. with the plate made I just slid the new bib thru and added the wedge and cover which keeps it at an agle so it self drains. this gray piece screws into your hose and is what turns the water on and off. It has 3 cutouts which engage 3 lugs and lock it in place. here it is all buttoned up on the outside. All I have to do now is crawl back under the house and hook the pex back to it. Once thats done, I can caulk my mounting block and call this job done. Ordering one for the front of the house as well and lookong forward to having water out front so I can finally wash my cars.

 

[Xti04]

Spent the afternoon with the wife hangin in her chair in the shop. Its nice to have her come hang while I do little projects. This afternoon I redid the bungees for my board racks on the boat. Too cheap to buy the 40 dollar each premade ones I bought bulk bungees cord and hog rings to crimp the cordage.I cut the old bungees off the racks firstthen slid the new cord thru the hole in the rack. I slid lengths of heat shrink over the cord after I crimped it to the rack.This was how they came from the factory so I just copied their design. For the loop that holds to the rack I crimped and covered it in heat shrink as well. Didnt really have a good way to add a tag to grab like the original had. Finally I slid a board down off the wall rack and gave it a shot. I didnt feel like unbagging my board but the bungees wokred great and felt loke they had good tension on the board. I measured them against the originals and was pretty close. Hopefully my next task with the boat will be loading a cooler up and heading to the lake.

 

[Xti04]

Been a week boys. Worked 4 in a row at the hospital and finishing up that stretch today. Luckily I got cut early, this week at work has been wild. I have stepped into a new role trying to run a hold floor and each day I have had to do it a different way along with having multiple different people try and tell me how to do what they want and how they want me to do it. I dont do well with being micromanaged, I am very much a get out of my way and lets see what I can get done kind of guy.

Got home early and the boy wanted to come help out which puts me over the moon. Today I had him pull the battery on this TT so I can get it started and out of the way. he is learning how to use tools correctly. Todays lesson was open end vs closed end of the wrench.
He did a great job and I showed him how to remove and install battery. He removed and reinstalled all the fasteners and I also showed him how thats not the entire job. You also have to reset clock, time and date and restore radio functions as necessary.
With the Audi running I moved it next door to the neighbors house and came back for the Acty. Its slightly torn down for bedliner right now. I popped the door for him to get in and the smile on his face as he sat down in my tiny truck and looked at me just makes me so happy. He loves that stupid truck and gets so excited to ride around the yard in it. We moved it to the neighbors house as well and got the escape in the shop. I let him drop the oil out of it .
He has done several oil changes and has a decent grasp of the how and why of doing it.

With the oil drained I tore into the turbo rremoval. For a car with 150k I was pleasantly surprised at how well the exhaust fasteners came out. Used to turbo car stuff being baked on and uncooperative. The massive catalyst was a pain and I had a fight with the v band clamp. Once turbo was loose and free from the lines I removed the engine mount and lifted the car to make enough space to slide turbo out of the engine bay. side by side with new turbo. The wastegate is flapping and making noise and causing a low boost condition. That is the reason for replacement on this car. Happened day after he purchased for his daughters first car. ***** for him but a prepurchase inspection could have saved him that headache. Decided to celebrate my victory over the turbo with a splash from the garage selections.
Tonights bottle was Elijah Craig barrel proof single barrel. Store pick from a local store that is absolutely amazing.
Have to say though I dont drink a ton, its nice to hang in the shop and have a nice sip while I look at what I have built over the last 2 years. Im very fortunate to have a clean well lit place to work on all manner of stuff and even more blessed to have a wife who pushed me to make this happen. Our 13th anniversary was Tuesday, and while we have not been married since the beginning of time like @Bob Heine, this girl has pushed me to be better in every aspect of my life. She has given me 2 amazing boys and we have built a home and life we are both very proud of. Shes the backbone of this family and I am lucky she is mine!

 

[Xti04]

We have had an absolutely beautiful Saturday here and I was fortunate to spend it outside all day and finally spent time working on something of my own after a week of working on other peoples stuff. Today after tearing into a maintenance on a buddies car with the boy and getting that awful turbo escape out of here I decided to go ahead and do the bedliner on my Acty. Previously I have used raptor liner which is a 2 part spray kit to do some fender flares on my old tundra, but decided to try a roll on product for the acty. Should have went with my gut as I am not at all happy with how this turned out. Im sure its better than nothing but I am not impressed and its only been on there a few hours.
first coat went on and looked awful. Recoat is after 1-2 hours.
the bedliner actually melted the plastic paint pan. This stuff is nothing like the spray in liner and I hope it holds up. I was planning to do my f250 and the inside of my Jeep tub as I get closer to bringing that project back to life. Applied a second coat and peeled the tape. Hoping I will be pleased but so far Im not holding my breath on it.

 

[Bob Heine]

@Xti04, sorry I'm so late to the party. I read through page one and had to skip to page 8 to find out what has happened. Now I can leisurely go back and read page 2, 7, 3,6,4 and 5.

 

[Jayman17]

I think it's awesome your boy is out there helping you and not just hanging out either. He looks like comfortable doing the jobs you give him.

 

[samb]

Love the shop mate and of course think the Acty is amazing! Makes me want one!
We lead pretty similar lives on the other side of the pond, different emergency service but the nightshifts are just as killer, and get more difficult with age- particularly since having a kid.
Weirdly, I also service friends and acquaintances cars as a side hustle, although you seem to smash your way through them quicker than me.
I need to look at getting something similar to your first lift as only have a small garage, maybe a Quickjack would suffice my needs, jacking the cars for brakes etc is such a pain in the *** atm.

 

[Xti04]

The sci

Love the shop mate and of course think the Acty is amazing! Makes me want one!
We lead pretty similar lives on the other side of the pond, different emergency service but the nightshifts are just as killer, and get more difficult with age- particularly since having a kid.
Weirdly, I also service friends and acquaintances cars as a side hustle, although you seem to smash your way through them quicker than me.
I need to look at getting something similar to your first lift as only have a small garage, maybe a Quickjack would suffice my needs, jacking the cars for brakes etc is such a pain in the *** atm.

The scissor lift was a lifesaver when I first got it and was just for occasional use as I wasnt super busy all the time. With it and a quick addition of a sheet of plywood it also makes an awesome table. As my servicing clientele has grown dramatically in the last year I decided it would be nice to get a full lift so I could do oil changes without having to get in the floor. For brakes and suspension work with a low ceiling height shop its hard to beat though!

 

[Xti04]

@Xti04, sorry I'm so late to the party. I read through page one and had to skip to page 8 to find out what has happened. Now I can leisurely go back and read page 2, 7, 3,6,4 and 5.

Hey Bob thanks for stopping by and checkin out my build and projects.

 

[Xti04]

I think it's awesome your boy is out there helping you and not just hanging out either. He looks like comfortable doing the jobs you give him.

He is definitely taking to it! He loves running a sander too for some reason so anytime I have something he can sand he is down to help. It makes me so happy to see him out here. I wish his older brother would come spend some time out here too.

 

[Bob Heine]

I wish his older brother would come spend some time out here too.

My older brother was into sports, games (designed his own), stamps and books. I was obsessed with tools, cars, bicycles and anything mechanical. My father bonded with my brother but me not so much. I think you have to appreciate your children for the unique humans they are.

 

[Xti04]

Today was our first day out on the water this year! Drug the boat out and had to watch a complete and utter breakdown of idiots at the ramp. Guy had dock blocked with his pontoon that wouldnt start. Such a nightmare. People just dont care of their toys no matter what they are. Saw some friends and then we surfed a bit before calling it a day and heading home.

 

[Bob Heine]

@Xti04, it's that time of year when the boaters who just parked their rig at the end of the last season are surprised it has a problem at the start of the new season.

I remember pushing my luck when we lived in New York. It was a beautiful and unusually warm weekend in October so we took our '72 Century Raven out for our last cruise of the season to see the fall colors on the Hudson. Instead of taking the boat off its mooring and towing it to a gas station, I bought gas at a marina I had never used before. Boat died a quarter mile down the river. Pulled the fuel filter/water seperator and it was 100% crystal clear water. Emptied it three more times before we made it back to our mooring.

 

[Xti04]

@Xti04, it's that time of year when the boaters who just parked their rig at the end of the last season are surprised it has a problem at the start of the new season.

I remember pushing my luck when we lived in New York. It was a beautiful and unusually warm weekend in October so we took our '72 Century Raven out for our last cruise of the season to see the fall colors on the Hudson. Instead of taking the boat off its mooring and towing it to a gas station, I bought gas at a marina I had never used before. Boat died a quarter mile down the river. Pulled the fuel filter/water seperator and it was 100% crystal clear water. Emptied it three more times before we made it back to our mooring.

Dead batteries, gummed up carbs, and all kinds of general negligence abound up here Bob. Also watched a guy get in some shallow water and most likely destroy a prop as he bottomed out and got himself stuck. Since I trailer my boat I am able to fuel up at a reputable station and uses my grocery store fuel points for a discount. The thought of bad gas from the lake keeps me from buying fuel at the marina. My wife also got pulled over yesterday and she got a warning going to fast in a no wake zone. In her defense the no wake zone was new this year and while she slowed down she was still moving a bit fast.

 

[Bob Heine]

When we lived in New York in our first home, overlooking the Hudson, we discovered a 'Yacht Club' a mile from our house. Bought our first boat and took it camping on islands in Lake George. Replaced the gas (and varnish) guzzling 1959 17' Skee Craft with a gas sipping 1972 19' Century Raven. I didn't appreciate how few no-wake zones there were on the Hudson, Lake George or the Great South Bay on Long Island.

When we moved to Florida in 1975 I thought we were headed to boating paradise so we took the Century Raven, Sidewinder sailboat and Old Town canoe with us. Turned out a 19-foot runabout was too big for the nearby lakes, the Intracoastal was one long no wake zone and without a second engine and fancy radio gear, the Atlantic (and 5.6 mph Gulf Stream) isn't all that safe. The Intracoastal in South Florida is home to a lot of yachts and with sea walls on both sides of the waterway, the [no]wakes from those boats built into some of the choppiest water I've encountered. Still, it was nothing compared to the waves in the inlets:

I sold the boat in 1982.

 

[Xti04]

Love seeing those old boats Bob. Theres something about the 60s and 70s where boating seemed to have so many innovations and niche builders. Most of them are gone now but I always loved seeing all the different boats and especially the flat bottom jet boats with big chromed out big blocks.

Last night after getting home from work I headed back to the shop to try and get this escape done. It has an overboost code so I grabbed the Autel and datalogged it while driving. You can graph with the scanner and it was showing a consistent 22lbs of boost instead of 14 lbs requested. I made sure the wastegate solenoid works, made sure the wastegate actuates when pressure is applied and that there is power at the solenoid. Its ground controlled by the ecm and I am pretty sure it is getting a ground signal but its hard to verify when you are by your self. I have to call the turbo company today and see if theres a possibility the wastegate linkage is incorrectly adjusted or if they have any other suggestions. Issue wasnt present before and the worst case scenario is the turbo has to come back off which will ****. In the meantime I installed a new alternator on my buddies car to get him handled and finally got back behind the wheel of the Acty this morning. Its been sitting for the past week as I have been driving this awful landrover that got dumped off over here. However im not gonna complain about a free ride.

 

[Xti04]

The escape has left the building! So glad to have that gone and off my back. Woke up yesterday ready to hit the ground running and knock a couple items off the honey do list. One thing I noticed was I had this weird cough but as usual I ignored it amd got after the job at hand. The plan was to install another Aquor hose bib on the front of the house so I opened up the wall in the salon and took off to get some parts to replace it.
Then I whipped out this nifty lil Milwaukee tool to deburr the pipe. Everything went together perfect.
I grabbed a copper to pex 90 and this is where my troubles began. The copper 90 was for pex b not pex A. I cut it all to fit and used my father inlaws Milwaukee pex expander to make the connections. Having never used but seen this tool used many times I felt confident in my approach. But when the pex wouldn't clamp tighlty on the lines I knew I had an issue. By this time my little cough had turned into a full blown fever and increasing weakness so I took a nap and came back to recheck. Still loose. A quick call to my plumber and he asked if I had grabbed pex a fittings. Dammit. I knew right then how I had screwed up and was feeling even worse at this point but I couldnt leave the house without water. 2 trips to home depot later ( one for new fittings and one for extra pex A ) and I had all I needed to finish up. I redid the plumbing to the one in the backyard which meant I was hunched over in the crawlspace repairing that. I then redid the front one with a pex a 90 and another solder fitting. It clamped right down and went perfect. Turned on the water and have a very slight drip. Feelingnas bad as I was I shoved some paper towels under it and called it a night. Towels were damp today but I plan to repair it with a screw in 90 degree fitting and remove the whole solder in component all together. Been in bed all day with a raging fever I cant seem to get under control. I have been working 16 plus hour days trying to get cars done after working at hospital all day add in some family drama and good old regular daily stress of life in general and it makes a perfect storm for a viral illness. Hoping to get back after it and finish up in the salon tomorrow so wife will be ready to go for the work week.

 

[zanyad]

Man, that does not sound fun. Glad you were able to solve the issue, hope you recover soon!

I like the Shaviv deburring tools, and usually use a B20 blade. That allows you to run the tool in either direction, useful when you've got a bit of an irregular profile such as a keyed hole.

 

[Xti04]

My fever and associated symptoms turned out to be flu A which I foumd out I had when I almost passed out at work and ended up downstairs in my er. Shout out to my coworkers for taking great care of me ! Doc has pumped me full of steroids and after a solid nights rest I was ready to take on the world till I got up and moving. Still a bit light headed so I decided to take my time and ease into anything I was gonna do today. I walked outside and into shop and it just feels good to be moving again after lying around all weekend feeling like ***.

IJumped into some cleanup that has been a long time coming.
First up was my workbench its been gross and covered in junk since I put it here and I was sick of looking at it. Most of it is clean now and way better than it was. Next up was a bit of toolbox cleanup trying to get everything onto these socket racks I got earlier this year.
You can see the empty loose racks lying in there where these torx allen and triplesquare sockets used to reside. Now there is a small opening there, not that I needed it but its some space that some tool will find its home sooner or later. Next move was this hot mess which is my oil center/ project table. Its typically my parts catch all for incoming project parts but a lot of extra things end up there that are not related to anything or just need trashed.
It wasnt terribly messy but still got a cleanup. Extinguishers need to find permanent homes in the shop. I drug out my mini sprayers and filled them with their respective agents and took to the yard.

Want a surefire way to get greener grass? Buy one of these,
Set it up in your yard, and then it will rain every other day and water your grass. Follow me for more lawn details. Picked this up last week turned it on once and its rained at least once a day since. Had I known all I had to do was act like I was gonna water my yard to get it to rain I could have had a golf course plush lawn by now. But in all seriousness its actually coming in pretty good. This was this particular spot a month ago
Nasty trash pile of burnt logs and this is it today
Filling in beautifully. The upper portin of my backyard is coming along pretty well too. I added some more seed in the bare spots hoping it will take off and lastly heres the ugly side of my house. The pallets are stone waiting to cover the stucco block on the bottom of the house. A friend approached me and wants to do the stone work to get his name out there so we are gonna work out a trade as all of his vehicles need maintenance work. So as soon as he gets the stone completed I can get the house washed and looking good again. I just hate to do it now if there gonna be a ton of stone dust getting right back onto it.

 

[Xti04]

Third times the charm for this front hose bib. I bought the correct pex 90 on Monday before work but left my truck at work and had my wife grab me after the er ordeal. She worked all day yesterday so I had her take me to work this morning and I was conveniently called off. So I came back home and took a stab at finishing this repair. Cut this out
And installed this much slimmer fitting pexA 90 you can see the service cover I went ahead and installed as well. Added a coupler and a new short length of pex and all is good. No leaks and I am happy.

 

[Xti04]

Not much getting accomplished this past week. I spent most of the week still battling the remnants of the flu and now the wife has it as well so I get to stop constantly to take care of her as needed. Wednesday night we had a pretty heavy thinderstorm and Thursday morning I had planned to on a road trip to get some tires and wheels for the Acty. I drove an hour and a half and got within a half mile of this tire shop and couldnt get to them. Finally was able to backtrack and get to their shop only to find they had no power and no way to price or mount anything. The police had road shut down due to power and wrrent letting anyone thru either which was a pain. The prices for wheels and tires were also higher than I had budgeted for so I guess its ok the power was out after all.
I have been embroiled in battle with this Audi TT for the past 2 nights doing thw timing belt service. I hated working on these at the dealer and they arent any better 15 years later. working down in here *****. The engine mount has the belt routed thru it ,but has to be removed to do the whole job it only comes out one certain way and is the worst part of the job. I got it handled and back together though. Went to do oil change and noticed the oil pan is stripped. Great. Attempting to replace o2 sensor and customer supplied parts are wrong. This thing just keeps getting better and better. There are some of these older cars that just should not be saved. I put this one in the salvage yard class, but they wanted to drop money into it anyways.

With the grass mowed and my birthday plans for lake day cancelled due to illness, today is gonna be a chill day. Me and the kids are gonna split some wood, build a fire and I plan to try out this bottle of Michters straight rye I got last night for installing another marker assembly into this crazy ladies wrecked Mercedes. She somehow also managed to curb her passenger front wheel so hard that a 5 inch piece of the lip of her rim was missing! I put her spare on and called it good. Off to enjoy the day.

 

[Bob Heine]

Does not sound like it was but Happy Birthday anyway!

 

[Xti04]

Thanks @Bob Heine ! Been hangin with these troublemakers all day. We went for a bike ride, took a trip to Harbor Freight, got Costco pizza for dinner and built a fire. Not a terrible birthday at all once you get past all the illness and other peoples junk cars at my house.

 

[fouckhest]

Looks like a great way to spend a bday, Happy Bday!

 

[MacTexas]

Following

 

[Xti04]

Thanks @fouckhest. I was thinkin of you and your VWs all the while working on this Audi. This car just keeps needing more everytime I turn around. All I want is to get it done and gone. I have 2 weeks to get my acty done before this lil overland trip.

 

[fouckhest]

Thanks @fouckhest. I was thinkin of you and your VWs all the while working on this Audi. This car just keeps needing more everytime I turn around. All I want is to get it done and gone. I have 2 weeks to get my acty done before this lil overland trip.

LOL! Yeah, timing belt job with engine in the car is a nothing short of a struggle fest!

 

[Xti04]

I got a call at work yesterday from my upholstery guy and he was ready for my boat seats. I was still ablento get factory skins so he is installing them this week for my center seat bottom and the damaged port side sundeck. He is also making a cutout in the seat bottom and placing a step pad into the seat bottom to keep people from stepping onto the seat and wearing it out prematurely like the original. I came home.and rushed the seats across town to him so that I can hopefully have them back for the weekend.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Upholstery jail is much like paint jail...definitely strike while the iron is hot!

 

[Xti04]

This morning I got up bright and early to get kids off to school and to make an attempt to get the lift kit installed on the Acty vefore I had to go to work at 11. I grabbed all my parts and laid them out to make it easier on myself and of course the onligatory pre lift pic. I planned to start on the back and was immediately disappointed because I had forgotten to order some spacer bushings so I wouldnt have to drill out and go to a bigger bolt to make the new rear shackles work. So that brought me to a standstill on the back, but I wasnt going to let it stop me from getting as much done as I could.
Moving to the front I Pulled the front wheels off and removed the drivers seat to gain access to the upper strut mount nuts.I removed the 3 upper nuts and the single lock bolt on the steering knuckle and out came my strut
I popped the spring off the strut and clipped a small piece off the new spring so it would sit in the strut correctly. I used my bandsaw to make quick work of trimming the spring down. my next issue was my spring compressors werent up to the task of compressing these springs. So I loaded up and ran to my old shop to use their wall mounted spring compressor I was able to quickly get the springs mounted and back together using this style compressor and it is definitely on the short list of tools I want/ need. With the fronts assembled I ran back home and put the lift spacers on top of the struts and began installing the whole assembly back into the truck. everything got reassembled on the front and is sitting there loosely installed to be torqued. I was able to get both fronts in before I had to go to work. I have bushing spacers ordered for the rear and will try and order some leaf spring bushings as well before I put the back together.

 

[Xti04]

A painful lesson has been learned by me and my wallet and I am hoping to not make this mistake again. In my quest for tires for the Acty, I have had a hard time finding what I wanted. No one seems to sell a 165/65/14 mud tire! I would see them pop up all over on ebay or other sites bit they were pretty expensive so I found a site called 500yen shop. They are a proxy buying sevice for auction sites in Japan. They charge 500 yen tp purchase your item and then you pay shipping to get it from their warehouse to wherever you live. So I bought a set of these tiny mud tires I found on there for 200 bucks and was pretty ecited. Well this morning I got my shipping notice and shipping to my house is 429 dollars. Ouch! Makes me wish I had gotten a shipping quote prior to buying the tires. Now my cheap tires have cost me far more than I expected and I still have to pay my buddy for the civic wheels I bought from him. Hoping that these end up how I want or it will all be just one big expensive mistake.

 

[Xti04]

Spent the day at my sons school doing pig lung dissections for the 5th graders. Had an absolute blast as the table leader teaching kids anatomy of the heart and lungs and letting them cut open the parts. Wasnt able to get any pics since it was a mess but I really enjoyed doing it. Apparently with my er background I was teaching them about collapsed lungs and how we treat them at work. I got several compliments from the organizers for my explanations of injuries and how I trest them at work which seemed to interest the adult helpers way more than the kids. I volunteered for the whole day since they were short on leaders and did three dissections. 2 of the groups were really into it and the middle on had a couple of girls who looked like they were about to pass out.

After pig lung dissections were done I came home and snuck in a quick nap before getting the boys off the bus. I got a message from the upholstery guy that my stuff was finished so we took off to go grab the seats. Picked them up and they looked great. Got the sundeck and seat back in the boat and pretty happy with how they turned out.
With that little project done, I jumped back on the Audi. The oil pan showed up along with the correct front o2 sensor so I got the sensor installed and then moved onto the oil pan. nasty old oil pan removed,scraped off the sealing surface and new pan glued on. Rock auto kills me with their shipping so I was going to pi k up the oil level seal locally. Its dure here in the morning alongnwith a turbo return gasket. Once I pop those in I can top up the oil and coolant and get this thing fired up and out of here.
Last task for the night was getting the acty down off the lift and trying to adjust some of the positive camber out from the front lift kit install. The camber plates dont offer a ton of adjustment, if I was a better fabricator I would see about building some longer lower contol arms to properly adjust the lower arm length and correct the camber. i havent put my angle gage on it to see how positive it is but I hope I can get as close to 0 as possible.

 

[kj_mustang]

Looks ready for an autocross run!

 

[Xti04]

Its definitely taller. Right now with the rear unlifted, its got the Carolina squat goin on. Torqued it all down this morning and took it for a spin. Has a slight pull to the left but I will correct that when I align it after finishing the rear lift.
Had some downtime this morning before work and the seats out of the acty seemed like a perfect time to install the sound deadening I got from the amazon deals thread. I started on the drivers side and worked my way across the back of the cab not sure how much of an improvement this will make but for 15 dollars it was worth a shot. Grabbed a dewalt tool bag from the shop that was collecting dust and put it to use to try and organize some straps and other truck stuff I had stashed under the seats. These bags always come in clutch for keeping my straps and jumper cables together and organized.

 

[Xti04]

The garbage TT is finally done, and ready for pickup. Took a tahoe out for a spin this morning only to diagnose it as tires which I cant do. I then got ahold of a JK wrangler that has a laundry list of stuff he wants fixed. Im fine with that. Guy is finally tackling all the nitpicky stuff that would have driven me crazy. Wants me to rewire his rock lights so they all work, fix his winch, replace plugs and air filter, and tackle his axle seals.
Should be a nice lil job.

I left work early last night since there were only a couple patients on my new floor and the night crew had it handled. When I got home i test drove the Audi and then checked the mailbox to find my sleeves had arrived for the Acty. I lifted the truck and quickly removed the rear leaf spring shackles. I had to cut the sleeves down a bit but the band saw makes quick work of trimming them down. Installed the new sleeves and shackles and boom my lift was done! Havent driven it other than moving it outside but its looking tall and tough as a tiny lil truck can. I have some leaf spring bushings on the way that hopefully fit these springs. Would be nice to replace them minty fresh new bushings.

Since I paid a small fortune for my tires I have been keeping an eye on the fedex tracking. Well, when I pulled up the tracking this morning its showing out for delivery! They just left Japan yesterday! I cant get domestic shipping that fast on most of my fedex and UPS stuff but 4 tires are gonna make it halfway around the world in 24 hours ? I calculated my yen to usd conversion and my total for these tires came out to 657 dollars. So still cheaper than what I was looking at from the tire shop I spent a 3 hour roundtrip drive going to but much more than I imagined. Wheels should get dripped off tonight and I might try and sneak over to my buddies shop and throw them on later if I get time.

 

[Xti04]

What a crazy weekend and week at work. Friday my tires showed up and I was pretty excited to get them going. Wheels showed up shortly after the tires and things were looking promising to get them on the truck by Friday night. Gave the wheels a quick scrub to remove the dust and dirt and got them looking presentable. I had several vehicles dropped off on Friday so my stuff kept getting pushed back. Finally At 8 on Friday I swung by my buddies shop and mounted the tires. His balancer was giving me fits and pissed me off so I tossed the mounted wheels and tires in the truck and brought them home. Realizing they werent going on the truck today I called it a night and went to hang with the wife.
Spent the day Saturday on the water with some friends, high chance of rain kept most people home. We had an awesome day and when the rain did hit we stopped at a restaurant and had dinner while the rain passed thru.
When Monday morning finally got here I got the kids on the bus and headed to my old shop. Got my wheels balanced and installed And even checked alignment of the Acty. Its way off. Hoping to try and improve it some today before I head back over there. Rear has near perfect thrust angle which is good since theres no rear adjustment. The front has a ton of positive camber. Hoping to minimize that with some adjustments today.
Truck seems to ride better after all the mods. I love the look of the tiny mud tires, no sticking out past the fenders like a lot of these trucks I see.

Speaking of kei trucks a trip to Lowes the other day had me spotting 3 different trucks in the drive over there. these two are guys who work at the local VW dealer. One is a Suzuki carry and the other is a Subaru Sambar.
This lil green hijet is a truck at a local flower shop. Much cooler design than my honda. Has a straight axle rear end that looks like a tiny Toyota rear axle. Love seeing these mini trucks around town. I should start dropping my card on them and build my mini truck business clientele up!

 

[OutlawDrifter]

+100 points for the Suzuki with the chrome stack

Your rig is looking good with the mud treads!

 

[Xti04]

+100 points for the Suzuki with the chrome stack

Your rig is looking good with the mud treads!

Thanks bud! Almost ready for some off road adventuring!