ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[fouckhest]

Congrats on the granddaughter! Great to hear everyone is home safe and sound.

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats on the new granddaughter! Our #6 grand was about 4 weeks early, 4lbs - 10oz 17", spent 4 weeks in the NICU. He was mom & dads first and they were a wreck for awhile. Today, Westley is doing great. He will be crawling soon enough and getting into everything.

Thank you, glad to hear your grandson is doing well.

I am far too familiar with early children as our son was 11.5 weeks early and only weighed 2lbs. 3 oz. when he was born and spent the first 72 days in the NICU. The wife and I were also wrecks and being quite young, really didn't have anything in life figured out yet. All of my siblings had normal and uneventful pregnancies so when ours went south almost from the get go and my wife was on bed rest from her first trimester, I was an absolute mess and no one in my family really knew what to say or how to interact with me. To be honest, going to work each day for 8 hours was almost an escape from the reality of it all. Then upon getting off work, heading home to shower grab the wife and head to the hospital in Salt Lake City the reality and gravity of it all hit us again as soon as we left our driveway.

I have kept those feeling and emotions buried for so long I thought they were gone but last week they resurfaced and it hit me harder than I ever expected. ALL of those same feelings resurfaced, and I tried to keep them at bay for my son's sake, but he handled himself like a champ and I could not be prouder of him and his wife.

Congrats on the new grand daughter.
Funny, I always look at the background of your (and others) pics. In the post before you announced the arrival of Ruby I noticed the height markings on the door casing.

Thank you. Yeah, I like to throw those little Easter eggs in there at times.

Congratulations to you and you’re family on the new, cuter than a button, addition!

Thank you Mark. Yeah, she's a cute little thing alright.

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats on the granddaughter! Great to hear everyone is home safe and sound.

Thank you Mike.

 

[Swanny1953]

Congrats on the grand daughter! Little girls are the best - she'll have you wrapped around her little finger in no time!

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats on the grand daughter! Little girls are the best - she'll have you wrapped around her little finger in no time!

Thanks Gary. I'm afraid she will, but my grandson already does as well. Let's face it, I'm a marshmallow when it comes to grandchildren. I never knew I could feel this way again.

 

[ntsqd]

I tell anyone who will listen that my job as a grandfather is to hop the kid up on sugar, and then give her back to her mom. My wife usually beats me over the head with something and the grandkid giggles whenever I say that.
Grandkids are the best!

 

[Xti04]

Congrats on the new arrival!

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats on the new arrival!

Thank you.

 

[madison069]

****Thinking about the fire extinguisher that I've never really rotated or inverted it.***
So, what should one do if they don't do the inverting of the extinguisher? Turn it upside down and tap on it with a deadblow hammer? Probably just get a new I guess.

 

[ntsqd]

One of the guys that service our extinguishers at work told me to turn my older ones at home upside and give them a few decent smacks with plastic dead blow hammer to dislodge any compacted media.

The guy told me about doing that, but didn't recommend it as a regular practice. He was concerned that eventually the bottom becomes dented and then could fail. When it's a commercial/industrial/public setting fire code usually doesn't give you a choice, they get discharged and then recharged annually. Unless they need hydro.

Friend of mine, after seeing my pressure brake bleeder made from a calibrating sample gas bottle, turned one of his old metal valved fire extinguishers into a similar pressure bleeder. Works great for pushing brake fluid into an empty system at the caliper.

 

[signcrafter]

Thank you, glad to hear your grandson is doing well.

I am far too familiar with early children as our son was 11.5 weeks early and only weighed 2lbs. 3 oz. when he was born and spent the first 72 days in the NICU. The wife and I were also wrecks and being quite young, really didn't have anything in life figured out yet. All of my siblings had normal and uneventful pregnancies so when ours went south almost from the get go and my wife was on bed rest from her first trimester, I was an absolute mess and no one in my family really knew what to say or how to interact with me. To be honest, going to work each day for 8 hours was almost an escape from the reality of it all. Then upon getting off work, heading home to shower grab the wife and head to the hospital in Salt Lake City the reality and gravity of it all hit us again as soon as we left our driveway.

I have kept those feeling and emotions buried for so long I thought they were gone but last week they resurfaced and it hit me harder than I ever expected. ALL of those same feelings resurfaced, and I tried to keep them at bay for my son's sake, but he handled himself like a champ and I could not be prouder of him and his wife.






Thank you. Yeah, I like to throw those little Easter eggs in there at times.





Thank you Mark. Yeah, she's a cute little thing alright.

Mike, I am the same way when it comes to stuff like this. The times when something has happened to close family if I can't be doing something to help then I would rather just be busy working to take my mind off things. I'm the first one to be there if I can help in anyway but usually when it's a health issue there isn't much I can do to help and if I don't keep my mind busy with something else I'll be miserable.

 

[steves_001]

Sweet little girl, congrats! So glad everyone is healthy and home.

 

[Mr.zippy]

Little Granddaughter's can turn a big burly Grandpa into a puddle of mush Mike. Congratulations!
The future tea party with Gramps will be epic....remember to hold the little finger up high.

 

[T444e]

Congratulations Mike to you and your family on the granddaughter.

Regarding the fire extinguishers, the subject came up today between me and some friends, none of us knew what the recertification entailed, even though I have sent fire extinguishers in for recertification. I should have probably inquired but as usual too many other pressing items going on at the time. I learned something today and should make it a habit of inverting the ones I have in the shop.

 

[zanyad]

Mike congrats to you and your family on the new arrival. Glad she's arrived home safe and sound.

 

[bugnut]

Mike glad Ruby is home and all is well, she will steal your heart. Enjoy!

I was able to hold my granddaughter again and play with my grandson for a bit.

Lifes finest moments.......

 

[Boosted1]

Congrats on the family addition. She is beautiful!

 

[HEEP]

Mike, A little late to the party. Congrats on the granddaughter. She is beautiful. I know your grandson is proud to be a big brother. Tell your son and daughter congrats.

Bill

 

[zmotorsports]

Thank you all for your kind words. The last week has been a blur of emotions and running around between work and the hospital, with a lot of praying and sweet moments of tenderness.

We're happy to have both Ruby and mother home where they're safe and healthy. She had a follow up appointment yesterday and we were informed she is doing great with no sign of issues with her lungs or heart so that was a load off. Now she just needs to continue eating, sleeping and growing.

I am so appreciative of the community here and all of the encouragement and interaction.

 

[PugetDude]

Mike, I was busy traveling the world early in my career and forgot to have kids, so I really can't begin to understand the emotions you're experiencing with the birth of your granddaughter, but I do believe that sometimes the uncertainty is what makes the outcome so powerful. Congratulations to you and your family, glad it worked out so well.
.

 

[gearhead1960]

Now she just needs to continue eating, sleeping and growing.

....can't forget the pooping/peeing part too.... Mike, I'm sure, like everything else, you're very adept at changing diapers....

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night I was able to put a couple of coats of clear coat on the corner trim for the bedroom box enclosure, then after a couple of hours it was dry enough to install and call the bedroom modification in the coach completed as well.



While I was awaiting the clear to dry, I removed the bedroom TV and installed the Roku stick as the TV is a little older so had to "smart it up".

I am awaiting a optical cable to connect the front TV to the Sony tuner/DVD unit so we can have surround when watching TV now that we no longer have DirecTV running through the Sony surround tuner. Once that arrives, I can reinstall the front television and button up the A/V cabinet and the front system will be complete.

Just before our first trip of the year, I'll pull the coach out of the shop, subscribe to Starlink and get everything connected before we hit the road.

I was hoping to mow the lawns last night, but they were still a bit wet from the weekend's rain storms, so hopefully tonight.



Thanks for looking.

 

[ScepterToad]

Congrats on the new addition Mike! Glad everything turned out well!

Coach work is going well too. I'm intrigued by the replacement of the carpet in the bedroom area. I like it for sure and it's tooling around trying to make my list, which just keeps getting longer.

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats on the new addition Mike! Glad everything turned out well!

Coach work is going well too. I'm intrigued by the replacement of the carpet in the bedroom area. I like it for sure and it's tooling around trying to make my list, which just keeps getting longer.

Thanks Keith.

I thought I was done inside the coach with the exception of some A/V modifications to take advantage of the new Starlink. However, when the wife was making the bed the other night and putting things away in the coach she mentioned that I should match that carpeted cover with the one I did in the bathroom. I'm actually glad I did now as it wasn't much work at all and really looks nice, I think.

I'm excited to get behind the wheel of the ole' girl and hit the road. Usually we've been out at least once already, but awaiting our granddaughter's arrival, we opted to stay close to home until she was born. Glad we did.

 

[ScepterToad]

Also, I think you'll love the starlink. I opted to get one on this last trip. Bought it at Home Depot of all places. I did the mini with the 100Gb plan, which will work for the two of us. However, when we take the kids, it won't be enough and I'll have to up the plan to the unlimited. I do like the flexibility of being able to put it into standby mode. I did some video calls this past week on it and it worked well but I used up about half of the 100Gb in about 4 days.

 

[moab11]

Having the starlink will be nice, especially since you can use it as you are driving, not just stopped at a campground. Makes cell dead zones a thing of the past.

 

[zmotorsports]

Also, I think you'll love the starlink. I opted to get one on this last trip. Bought it at Home Depot of all places. I did the mini with the 100Gb plan, which will work for the two of us. However, when we take the kids, it won't be enough and I'll have to up the plan to the unlimited. I do like the flexibility of being able to put it into standby mode. I did some video calls this past week on it and it worked well but I used up about half of the 100Gb in about 4 days.

Thanks Sterling. I went with the Gen 3 and permanently mounted it on the roof and will use the Roam unlimited plan. That way the wife can use it for work, even though they aren't paying for it, but it will be faster and less problematic than the hot spot they send her with now. Plus she can even use it while driving, which will be a change of pace.

The nice thing is about the Roam plan is we can suspend it when not using it so the cost averages out to much less than we were paying for DirecTV annually. We've been without satellite TV at home since October and haven't really missed it.

Having the starlink will be nice, especially since you can use it as you are driving, not just stopped at a campground. Makes cell dead zones a thing of the past.

I hadn't thought about the cell backup ability until last fall when we were in a dead zone and the neighbor in the campground told us they just link their cell phones to their Starlink, doh, I don't know why I didn't think about that before.

 

[moab11]

Wifi calling is probably the setting you are looking for, allows your cell phone to use a wifi connection like a cellular one. I use it all the time as I am often in cell dead zones, but have wifi internet. It has been a real benefit keeping in touch.

 

[rd65]

The grands can be great but at times things get a bit too hectic for me. Wife's daughter will be staying with us for a month in June with her three kids, that'll be nine (8 boys, 1 girl) from 5 yo to 6 months. There could be a lot of shop time for me that month as I plan to retire June 19th.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

Congrats Mike! Time to pull the wagon off the wall!

You'll love the Starlink, wi-fi calling is the best when you're out in BFE and have a problem, or if your wife has a Zoom call while you're going down the road. I set mine up with the same username and password as my home wifi and 90% of our stuff connected without doing a thing. I don't have an inverter, so I had mine converted to run on 12v.

 

[zmotorsports]

Congrats Mike! Time to pull the wagon off the wall!

You'll love the Starlink, wi-fi calling is the best when you're out in BFE and have a problem, or if your wife has a Zoom call while you're going down the road. I set mine up with the same username and password as my home wifi and 90% of our stuff connected without doing a thing. I don't have an inverter, so I had mine converted to run on 12v.

Thanks Ryan.

I've seen quite a few people on the RV sites choose the 12VDC setup, but I have my inverter on all the time and have multiple outlets powered by it so I figured the standard 110VAC will work perfectly for our travels. Even the small number of times we boondock, the inverter is still on. I thought about using the same username and password and how that would work. I guess when at home it will sink up with whichever one I set at the default?

 

[mercracing]

Thanks Ryan.

I've seen quite a few people on the RV sites choose the 12VDC setup, but I have my inverter on all the time and have multiple outlets powered by it so I figured the standard 110VAC will work perfectly for our travels. Even the small number of times we boondock, the inverter is still on. I thought about using the same username and password and how that would work. I guess when at home it will sink up with whichever one I set at the default?

I’m not 100% sure Mike, but if you had Starlink running at home your devices would connect to whichever had a better signal. Similar to how WiFi works in a large building. You have several access points that broadcast the WiFi. As you move away from one and closer to another, your device gets handed off from one access point to the next.

 

[zmotorsports]

I’m not 100% sure Mike, but if you had Starlink running at home your devices would connect to whichever had a better signal. Similar to how WiFi works in a large building. You have several access points that broadcast the WiFi. As you move away from one and closer to another, your device gets handed off from one access point to the next.

That's true, I guess I was just assuming a person could set one up as a default if equal or close to equal signal strengths were available, but I'm new to the whole Starlink thing.

 

[CGohring]

Thanks Ryan.

I've seen quite a few people on the RV sites choose the 12VDC setup, but I have my inverter on all the time and have multiple outlets powered by it so I figured the standard 110VAC will work perfectly for our travels. Even the small number of times we boondock, the inverter is still on. I thought about using the same username and password and how that would work. I guess when at home it will sink up with whichever one I set at the default?

Mike, - no, unfortunately there is no way to set a default. your devices will (should) connect to the strongest signal. however, some devices (like a cell phone) that move around the property don't always re-connect to another signal source even if it is stronger. - The easiest work around is just to make sure the Starlink router is turned off when you are home, then all the devices would connect to your home network as usual.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the feedback and information guys. Much appreciated.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Mike congratulations on the new addition to the family. My son also spent a week in the NICU when he was born. Probably the hardest week of my life (we almost lost him and my ex wife during the delivery). Looking back on it I think that week created a stronger bond between my son and I, but it gave my wife severe postpartum depression and that was the start of the end of the marriage (she still is so afraid of him getting hurt she doesn’t want him to bike / ski etc). You can’t bubble wrap kids especially 8 year old boys!

I’ve learned from that experience to not take time with my son for granted and to make our time together quality time. You clearly have a close relationship with your son and subconsciously thst nico time probably taught you the value of thst relationship early on. When major life changes happen it’s good to keep an open mind as even the hardest times teach / show / result in unexpected and surprisingly good outcomes most of the time. While I’ll never forgive my ex for all of the court drama to try to keep me from having equal time with my son, I ended up finding a new partner that’s way more in tune with me and her daughter and my son our best of friends so I’ve gained an amazing daughter and my relationship with my son has only grown stronger.

As I prepare to head out this weekend for my dad’s funeral, I keep thinking to myself the last conversation I had with him when he told me his only regret is not getting to see the grandchildren fully grow up. He always put family first and we had a fantastic relationship. So to me that’s a good lesson in a life well lived if that’s your only regret at the end.

 

[zanyad]

Grant, my condolences on your loss.

 

[zmotorsports]

Grant, thank you for sharing your story and I am very sorry for the loss of your father. I hope you had a good relationship with him. Mine grew to a great relationship with my father, once I got to an age where I realized I didn't know everything and my dad became smarter and smarter. My father has been gone for 24 years now and I still miss him daily. Some days much more than others and I know he would be proud of his grandson and the great young man he has turned into and I wish he could see his great-grandchildren. He became softer as he aged and maybe that is why I had a better relationship with him than my older siblings did.


Looking back, I think that bond between my son and I was strengthened immensely as I watched him, talked to him and held his little hand all through the incubator for those first couple of months. I can totally understand your ex-wife wanting to wrap him up in a bubble to protect him as I feel I was the same way. I developed a strong situational awareness and practiced risk avoidance greatly with our son. There were things I used to do as a child growing up on a farm that in no way on God's green earth I would allow him to do.

Yes, we did a lot of motorsports activities, but him being safe was always the first and foremost point of concern. Even when he was old enough to ride a quad and snowmobile by himself and even with proper training, there were certain times of day we stayed off the mountain due to other people's patterns. We avoided certain trails at certain times of the day as masses of people were heading back to their vehicles in the parking lots. We took out of the way routes to avoid those high-speed idiots who thought the trails were their personal racetracks, etc.

When my son expressed the desire to start riding a motorcycle in high school, I immediately put my foot down and said no. My wife explained that I was being a bit of a hypocrite because I had been buying, building and riding motorcycles for the better part of our marriage even though my father was not pleased with my choice. I conceded under one condition, that he would take a proper riding course and learn from someone other than myself because I know how kids are when it comes from learning everything from dad. A non-biased or third party often times gets through better than a father does. He agreed but wanted me to take the course with him. I agreed.

When we would go on rides, I often times explained risk avoidance and just not putting oneself into certain situations when it wasn't necessary. Things like watching the front tires of cars when pulling out of parking lots to reveal signs of a car preparing to move, avoiding certain traffic lights or intersections at certain times of days, making a right hand turn and going around the block or to a light vs. trying to cross traffic and make a left-hand turn. All of these things were done to protect him and keep him safe. I have always felt like we fought so hard to get him here and the good Lord has blessed him for a reason, then it was up to me to make sure it wasn't for not.

I'm sure I have been overprotective, but I just hope he knows it was all for his benefit, but also because I'm selfish and I don't think I could live with myself if anything happened to him, especially doing something I introduced him to or allowed him to do.

The downside to that is now I feel the same way about my grandchildren; I want to wrap them up in bubble wrap and protect them from the world we live in. I'm sure that's not a healthy behavior on my part though, the stress becomes overwhelming at times.

 

[CGarage]

My deepest condolences, Grant. May your father rest in peace.

 

[JCQuick]

Mike congrats on the grand daughter. They also can be fun in the shop. this is a short video of my #3 grand daughter in mine a few years

back.https://youtu.be/0ihbBrpEjlc?si=vu_gWw5ObFhepS7M

I can't wait to see what your going to build yours