What did you do "IN" your garage today?

[Hal]

I spent too much time helping my unmotivated friend heat and beat and finally remove the duals from one side of his Ford F550. He still hasn’t got the caliper off, no r made any start on removing the axle and hub. Did I mention, I hate captive rotors.
I don’t think there is any rush, as the parts didn’t come yesterday, and later last night, I noticed I had a missed call from the auto parts store. I’ll call them and find out WTF.

I called auto parts this morning, they said the road was closed and they couldn’t deliver. DETOUR, not marked? C’mon, local knowledge, you guys take it as a shortcut sometimes. Wrong rotor came at about noon. Friend went ahead and just pad slapped it. The correct part showed up after it was all reassembled.
Turns out the idiot, my friend, had the correct rotor behind the seat from when he couldn’t be bothered to install it last time. So now it’s going to sit on my shelf while the old rotor eats the new pads.

Only so much you can do for some people. Just walk away and let them do as they please.

 

[2001ZR2]

Got a call at 10 am....wife's truck wont start. Leave and drive home. The battery has ok voltage but no charge so I put on fast charge. Take my son to his day services and come back to a complete fast charge.

Truck starts up and wife goes work. I work from and get a text at 3 truck dead again.

Go jump it to get it home. I run quick errand and get home 30 minutes after my wife. Truck cranks slowly but doesn't start.

Stopped pretending I didn't see the build sticker that 10/2020...pulled battery and bought a new one. Also order 2 oil filters for my truck.

Installed battery and truck is restored to operating condition. Also changed out the stock battery bolts for extended ones. So a delayed fix was incorporated to the replacement.

 

[cannuck]

Spent morning in garden as usual. Lost 10 days while in AB looking after grandkids and another week due to rain - and holy **** the weeds just took over the whole garden. We will be lucky to salvage a crop. Also tried H2O2 to kill off algae in well tank - and indeed it stopped the brown algae, so now I have a tank full of green algae. #1 SIL called and asked to borrow a jack and a few tools to change pads and rotors on rear axle of his 2016 Kia van. Told him just to pull into the outer bay, but he wanted to try to do all on his own at home. Couple hours later he called again - couldn't get rotors to break free from hub. I brought a torch and BFH down and was able to break free - just had a little fuss to get them over the parking brake shoes (little drum inside of rotors). Have enjoyed working with him for last 20 years as he has always been such a keen learner and organized to the last detail. So: today the garage was on the street 4 block East.

 

[M.Brane]

Ran the portable AC for the first time today. It was able to take the edge off, but only about 5° below ambient. Meh. Cleaned up, and moved some stuff around. Investigated the TBC fault on the Tool Box Truck™ once the sun got low. Some ******* in a Prius rear-ended me while I was stopped waiting at a light. It cracked the plug housing, but the wiring doesn't look bad. This started after I flushed the brake fluid so I suspect it's the sensor which means new master cylinder. Woohoo. If it's the controller I have the one out of the Smashed Truck™.

 

[bugnut]

@Gangly Looking good, if you want to really enjoy the hammock, i'm a fan of gym shorts and a tshirt-sleeveless along with the cold beverage and p&q!

 

[OccupantRJ]

Loaded up the trailer for a little father/daughter time at an off-road park tomorrow.

Hopefully your off-road park is a safer place than the one here!

https://www.wral.com/archive/19671216/

 

[OccupantRJ]

Plastic cutting board? I get the worn ones from the kitchen and find dozens of uses for them. Easy to cut and drill and will even hold a thread!

The workplace used to give me 1/4” polypropylene scrap pieces from work that was used for a steel rule die cutter. The new leftover pieces were 17x96 so I used it for a lot of things including drawer bottoms and tops for workbenches In my previous workshop. Slick at first, but after getting scuffed sliding things around on them they worked great. Later a friend had a countertop business so I now have a couple of benches with solid surface countertop material on them.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Things are looking up in the shop today!

 

[Jgaz]

Here are my contributions to this idea. Benchtop is 8" diameter, the two floor models are a 14" sonotube cut into two different heights. The shorter floor model has various diameters and heights of PVC arranged on the inside. The taller has 1/4" plywood in an X shape to divide it into quarters. These things have been so handy over the years.

Continuing the plastic pipe organizer ideas.
While I was waiting for UPS to drop off some pieces for my next project, I threw together something to hold knives and markers.

 

[niget2002]

swapped the igniter out on the gas grill.

The one on it started getting harder and harder to get it to 'go'. $18 later, no more issues.

 

[crewchief888]

its been hot, muggy and lots of smoke all week.
went out this morning to get dog food and we went to HD to grab a battery powered portable fan that i can take along with me to gun matches.
got the last milwaukee 12V they had.
been in the basement tidying up my reloading room, and decided to hang all my rifle bags.
went back out to the garage to grab a cordless drill and was rolling in sweat by the time i got back in.
i'm not going back outside again

 

[Beerhippie]

I already have a commercially made window fan, but it doesn't fit properly and makes a hell of a lot of noise. Noise in a 16 X 24' cabin is a problem. These are nearly silent.

I may redo it with three fans as these don't move a ton of air--consequence of being quiet, I guess.

Got to try out the new fans last night. They move more air than I'd thought while being very quiet--not silent, but my cabin is, so I can hear anything going on in there. From ~10PM to ~6AM, there is less than one car per hour passing on the road out front.

Hot with smoke here, too. Not the dense stuff you all are getting back east--and ours is local--but still enough the moon was blood-red last night. I'm sure the smoke here will get worse before it's over.

 

[zcar751]

Worked on my camper in front of the garage most of the day putting in new copper gas lines. But I did have to go into the shop to weld a regulator mounting plate on the propane bottle bracket. Now we wait for the paint to dry. It should only take a month with the humidity hovering around 100%.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

Checked all the fluids in the tractor. Got the tractor out for an hour or so to finish moving the pile of wood chips in the driveway.

Put together a gauge and a few fittings to make a hydraulic pressure tester.

Looked around for, and found, my Japanese beetle traps. Plenty of traps and bait, but I need to buy some more bags for them at Ace Hardware tomorrow.

 

[SRU1436]

The ram horns didn’t fit on the new heads because the AFRs have protrusions near the bottom. Fortunately, my dad had some old Sanderson manifolds that he wasn’t using anymore. They fit perfectly, and that’s what I’m going to use. Since I’ve already fitted them, I’ll work on the new spark wires. As for the color, I’m going to paint them a darker gunmetal gray. I had the lighter color on the ram horns before. I like the darker color, so I painted them thinking they would fit the new heads. Well, they don’t fit, so I painted them for no reason.

 

[oldman_pottering]

Cleaning up this disaster at the moment, I'm very nearly tempted to just throw everything away and start again ( not my tools obviously) but for the 10 years that we have lived here I have not been able to organise my shed, now and again I have it to the point of being OK but right now I'm tempted to give my wife the OK to just go ahead and clean it up, she is a clutter Nazi and would have this tidied in no time ! I on the other hand tend to be a bit of a hoarder with pieces of wood and metal etc whereas she has no hoarder tendencies at all

 

[bmwrd0]

Scraped more glop paint, brought more parts into the basement of iniquity to strip the glop off of them, and best of all I found a digitized Dalton catalog!!!

 

[Outlawmws]

Now we wait for the paint to dry. It should only take a month with the humidity hovering around 100%.

Heat lamps are your friend...

As for the color, I’m going to paint them a darker gunmetal gray. I had the lighter color on the ram horns before. I like the darker color, so I painted them thinking they would fit the new heads. Well, they don’t fit, so I painted them for no reason.

Find a quart of ARCO Graphite oil and get them hot and put that on. You will get a dark gray stain that doe not peel or rust...

Ask me how I know...

ARCO Graphite oil was a 70's thing, and actually worked well. Just don't spill it.

 

[2001ZR2]

Install the catch can on my wife's truck a GM 5.3 with the dreaded AFM system. Getting the number cylinder fouled and miss firing.

Runs sane as before with new catch can...but the ratchet I using was a bit noisy.

Broke it down and it was dry as expected. Cleaned with carb cleaner and lubed lightly with super lube. Now as quiet as traditional Craftsman can be.

 

[Beerhippie]

Effin' smoke has moved in.



We actually have mountains out there....



Likely won't be seeing much of those until the snow flies.

At least it isn't burning cities yet this year. That really stinks.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I‘d consider a lawsuit, obstructed view.

 

[kbeefy]

Finished a 4500 mile roadtrip in our new to up Tesla.
Now I gotta get back to work, been neglecting things too long.

My little Golf Car had a mishap....



I've had it about 30k miles, to be honest I didn't even know it had a timing belt. In my mind it was gears an a non-maintenance issue. Opps.

I believe it slipped timing and the valves crashed. Stopped while driving at slow speed.

I'm not gonna mess with it, it has almost 250k miles. I found a takeout with 100k miles.



Well, that thing was wedged in there pretty good. I got it out, but to be honest it's not something I want to do again.

I got the replacement engine on the stand, and now I've talked myself into replacing the timing belt and water pump. It would have been cheaper to fix the original....

 

[oldman_pottering]

ARCO Graphite oil was a 70's thing, and actually worked well. Just don't spill it.

I was going to ask if that was still a thing, I remember that from being a teenager, was weird buying new oil that was black

 

[Beerhippie]

I‘d consider a lawsuit, obstructed view.

Sure--we can sue Grant and Union counties for failing to contain their smoke!

Who the heck would think of that?

 

[SRU1436]

Heat lamps are your friend...



Find a quart of ARCO Graphite oil and get them hot and put that on. You will get a dark gray stain that doe not peel or rust...

Ask me how I know...

ARCO Graphite oil was a 70's thing, and actually worked well. Just don't spill it.

Interesting, thanks for the info. Hot as in running them on engine hot, or leaving them in the sun all day hot?

 

[Old Man Roger]

Sure--we can sue Grant and Union counties for failing to contain their smoke!

Who the heck would think of that?

It was meant to be a joke. I’m batting 0 lately.lol

 

[ObnoxiousFumes]

It would have been cheaper to fix the original....

Not likely, could need con rods and even need a new head.
And yes absolutely replace timing belt/water pump/tensioner and every idler in that belt’s path on the new engine. Way easier to do it while it’s out of the car, just make sure you have quality German parts and she should last you a long time.
I have one in a Jetta, love it. Check out the TDIclub forums if you haven’t already, lots of guys n gals with these cars on there.

Edit: Also, 250k miles is nothing for these cars, only half broke in at that point

 

[Outlawmws]

Interesting, thanks for the info. Hot as in running them on engine hot, or leaving them in the sun all day hot?

Engine hot but you can also heat in an oven and add a torch, but it they are on and running go for it.

I think I've seen the ARCO Graphite oil on Eprey.

 

[Mike65]

Yesterday I rode my bike & then worked on the driver's side fender for the Mustang. I finished fitting the extension bucket to the fender & clamped it in place ready to be welded back to the fender.

 

[kbeefy]

Not likely, could need con rods and even need a new head.
And yes absolutely replace timing belt/water pump/tensioner and every idler in that belt’s path on the new engine. Way easier to do it while it’s out of the car, just make sure you have quality German parts and she should last you a long time.
I have one in a Jetta, love it. Check out the TDIclub forums if you haven’t already, lots of guys n gals with these cars on there.

Edit: Also, 250k miles is nothing for these cars, only half broke in at that point

Yeah, I'm on TDiclub since getting the car. I suspect it just needs valves as it died at low rpm, but I haven't pulled the head to check since I found a replacement motor. I'll sell it as a core, I'll probably sell the car as well once it's running again.

 

[Fordguy1964]

After getting my field find K code Fairlane running, it decided to revolt. Blown head gasket to the water jacket. Been working on replacing them. While I was at it I ordered the exact reproduction exhaust system. That will take 10-12 weeks to deliver. Once that is here it will be on the road again.

 

[PhantomEB]

Took the BR600 and dusted under the tool boxes/behind the steel rack. Need to move steel rack up so scrap plywood can sit in the back corner to free up some wall/floor space up on the project side of the garage.

Bronco might come home today and backed in for fuel system work.

 

[Burt Shaver]

Was out in barn cleaning up today and what better time to do something then when you think of it. Drained the old fuel from 4 spare weed trimmers, filler them back up with Rec90 ethanol free, ran them each for 30 seconds.
Friday I got around to figuring why my ATV tire was loosing air, leaking around the bead, broke it down, cleaned up the rim, checked it, no leaks now.

Also got around to finally changing the valve stem on a tire with TPMS from my Ram on Friday.Used this old girl to break the beads with my Nikro gas compressor

 

[Beerhippie]

Window fan is as done as it's going to be--until I change it again.



The variable speed might be of some use come the "corner seasons".

 

[BonzoHansen]

Put plugs, wires, cap and rotor in my 93 K1500 Friday. Washed both trucks and a quick rinse off on one the camaros today. And cleaned the koi pond filter.

Damn, I forgot i mowed the lawn too!

Good to do things again.

 

[swsman]

Yesterday I spent some time getting my Ninja 650 cleaned up. Listed if for sale, trimming the garage toys some.

After I worked on '11 Impala headlights, got them polished up. Still have to do a detail on it, off to the classifieds it goes too. Extra car that I do not use much.

Today I did LOF on my F250 and looked things over. Have air filter on order three to be exact, ran out.

Sometime during this week I will drop by my friends automotive shop, and put the truck up on his hoist, plan is to rotate the tires.

Much easier on me vs two jack method, still recovering my broken ankle.

 

[Motorman55]

Installed 6x9 half-round speaker boxes the other day in my '76 MGB and today I finished the install by trimming the trunk carpeting to fit around them.

 

[PhantomEB]

Installed new starter and unloaded her from the trailer back into the shop for rework. It will be slow and deliberate as I plan to just focus on making money from now til October.

hope to make the Bronco Safari in Vernal Utah, May and Bronco Roundup in Florence, Oregon, August next year.

 

[CoogarXR]

Took out my frustrations on my scrap pile. Tore down some old electronics, harvested parts, copper, aluminum, some sheet steel, etc.

 

[amgent57]

I tried to envision yet another reorganization,
trying to tell that voice in my head that says,
"You might use that someday..."
to stfu.