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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...

Oily smell in the CX-5 meant it was time for a valve cover gasket. It was pretty gross under the engine cover. Didn't love finding this either . . . evidence of little friends: Everything looks super clean inside when the valve cover came off. These cars are great. And, after lots of...

Couple sewing projects over in the sewing thread too. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/show-us-your-sewing-projects.331931/post-11521871 https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/show-us-your-sewing-projects.331931/post-11521877

Some animal or branch ripped the cover of our backyard couch and the tear really spread. This was a messy and unfun job, but I got it done! Fun to sew outside! :D Had to make a little patch, so I used canvas and a piece of a plastic bag to make my own waterproof fabric. Scrappy I guess.

I have an old camera bag that I like the size and look of, but the padding has long since worn out, so I made a padded cube insert to give a little more structure and protection to the floppy bag. Made a plan and went from there! I cut pieces and marked a diamond pattern. Started...

Many moons ago, I replaced the stock seats in the Land Cruiser with some Corbeau Sport seats. They are . . fine. Some things about them I like, some I don't. But they are good for longer trips, so I've kept them. I also have leather cover replacements for the stock seats squirreled away, for...

Other stuff . . Every time I transport propane tanks to get them refilled, I have to slap together some straps or seatbelts or whatever to keep them from moving around. It never feels great and always sorta freaks me out. So I decided to fix it. Did some doodling, then did some making. Works...

And, with all of this prep done . . sold the Marauder. It was a good car, but I'm ready for the next thing (although not sure what it'll be yet). Farewell!

The Marauder has a few bad spots in its paint, including aging clear coat on the RL door and peeling paint on the right mirror. I wanted to reuse this one but would only do so if I could get all the paint off (since it was peeling). I checked my chemical paint stripper which said it was safe...

Finally found a body shop that could do the paint work I needed for the Golf. Single stage paint is harder to find these days in California, so I had to ask around. A lot of shops also weren't interested in bodyworking the hood, but new hoods aren't available, so that was the only way! I...