Underground Lair of the Squankum

Squankum · Aug 13, 2013

Picayne Project, light switch division...

This door and light switch both get used a lot. The pull string, if long enough to be reached by the shorter member of the household (also sorely lacking in simian-length arms), gets in the way of the door, flaps about. I had rerouted the string to an eye hook (about where the pulley on the right is) but that introduced a rocking motion to the light fixture that I didn't like.

(And I'm not about to reenginer the whole lighting fixture, not my house, it's a rental.)

I tried a second eye hook to do the path you see in this picture, but with thin string, too much friction. Beeswax didn't help it out enough, so 1/8" nylon cord and pulleys it is! Plus a fairly large, heavy nut that I like to use for light pull strings throughout the shop, less flopping about, easy to grab.

Oh, and door hinges are on the left side. Let not your eyes be fooled by the gaps in the wood where a door used to be hung the other way.

Squankum · Aug 13, 2013

Junkyard jollies!

I was picking at Dodge fan shroud Saturday morning, kept a few of the bolts as I dismantled. I was using a 10mm socket at the time. Not until I got home did I notice the Torx holes in the heads. That's neat! Easy and fast for the assembly line drones with power drivers, yet an alternative for the shadetree and side of the road repairman, 10mm across the flats.

But hey, this was back in 2000. I'm sure such a nice touch has been rationalized out of production since then.

Squankum · Aug 13, 2013

http://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-38-drive-uick-release-extension-bar-set-67976.html

Harbor Freight 3/8" drive locking extensions. I have sung their praises before in other threads. I quickly got spoiled and wondered how I lived all these years with non-locking extensions. I also wondered how a little bit of knurling could be so nice, too. These are one of the higher quality Taiwanese HF products.

Well, now a warning: there's a wee set screw in the collars. I caught one backing out, well on its way to falling out. That would have sucked, as they're miniscule, good luck finding it.

2mm Allen/hex key is what it took to firm mine up. Check yours if you have 'em.

My cheap Chinese 2mm T-handle Allen tool didn't fit them very well; my Facom L-key did.

Squankum · Aug 14, 2013

NOT MY IDEA or project! But I spotted it, and I will share.

Met this fellow at a fall festival, he and his wife sold handicrafts. He had four such weights to keep his E-Z Up secure should a gust of wind arrive. He had learned the hard way in the past, I think.

I think this is 6" PVC. He's got them full of steel chain. Me, I would have used sand, since it's so cheap, but man, this is a high quality bit of overkill.

Wind can wreak havoc with an E-Z Up. If you tie it down half-assedly at a car event, your awning might just flop up and down in the wind and the feet can scratch the car next to your spot. I didn't personally learn this the hard way, but it happened at an event I was at.

As Giles Corey said, "More weight!"

Squankum · Aug 14, 2013

Junkyard Jollies:

I'm pretty open-minded about plastic intake manifolds, but... yeah, not so good in a fire.

Squankum · Aug 14, 2013

Fuzz History Update

She eventually came out of that room and came to love the beat up old blue couch. Lived behind it for a few months. Under it sometimes. And, when in a good mood, tearing it up with her claws. That's why the serious face here. It's scratchin' time.

Squankum · Aug 15, 2013

The cure for Hansen/Kobalt socket tray OCD is... miter saw!

Of course, soon after doing this, I had it at the junkyard and needed a 3/8" dr. 8mm on a Honda, dangit. I should have chopped the big end off the 1/4" drive tray. (15mm? Really?) I spent too much time and money trying to flesh out the entire 1/4" drive tray.

Other than OCD leading to socket shopping far and web*, I do love these things.

Squankum · Aug 16, 2013

One winter afternoon, I zipped over to the local NAPA, and in the parking lot I saw a... what the? Met the owner and he educated me:

Panhard PL 17, French, late 50's/early 60's.

FWD, air cooled flat twin, sub-900 cc. Hee hee!

He was there to buy a 6V bulb.

More info at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panhard_PL_17

Squankum · Aug 20, 2013

Earlier in the thread I wrote:

Squankum said:
Oh, and another customization I do for my box fans: Why stop and think? I put a big arrow on the top for airflow direction (made more sense before the filter made things ****** obvious) and I've used a Sharpie to fill in the darken arrow/numbers on rotary knob.

Here's the pic.

Squankum · Aug 20, 2013

Chapter 43, In which I buy a whacking big battery.

For scale: regular black Sharpie pen, the old boring Craftsman 3/8" dr. ratchet, and in the background a log that I found in the gutter as I pulled into Sears that day. Free firewood! (It turned out to be very smoldery and stinky, oh well, ya get what you pay for.)

Those of you who have gas W124's, and the factory or somebody else gave you a small battery? Get the diesel-sized battery!

Also note: Sears sells AGM (like Optima) batteries under their Die Hard Platinum line, but this particular size of the Die Hard Gold line is also an AGM. Different warranty scheme, I think.

It's turned out to be a very nice battery.

In another life, I burned up a lot of electrons and $ trying to see how SMALL a battery you can get away with, but that was another car.

Squankum · Aug 20, 2013

Here's a recent project.

Some 8" board, four hinges, screws, some felt pad meant for lamp bottoms and what not, and, of course, some furring strip.

Chilliwack Murray · Aug 20, 2013

Squankum said:
Here's a recent project.

Some 8" board, four hinges, screws, some felt pad meant for lamp bottoms and whatnot, and, of course, some furring strip.

If only we knew what it was for... :willy_nil

Squankum · Aug 20, 2013

Chilliwack Murray said:
If only we knew what it was for...

Heh heh. Sorry. Loading pics now, bandwith slowness.

Squankum · Aug 20, 2013

Some allthread, wing nuts, acorn nuts...

Squankum · Aug 21, 2013

Bolting up to a box fan I already had.

(Tried buying a new one at Wal-Mart just for this, but would you believe it was dungish? So I went with a higher quality one I got there two years ago.)

Squankum · Aug 21, 2013

Here it is!

High mounted doorway fan to eject hot air from the small kitchen during pickling/canning sessions. As I put it up, the light bulb fizzled over my head, "Say, isn't this why they make commercial fans on poles affixed to heavy pedstals?" But this is cheaper, more portable, and located as high as can be.

It works nicely. No vibration problems, no flopping about. I don't think it would be secure enough if Chris Farley, Christopher Penn, and Lawrence Tierney came over with a few cases of beer, but they're all dead now.

Just enough room to squeeze by on the side, if you're big, or still high enough to duck under, if you're wee or nimble.

We'd tried a box fan on the floor of the doorway, and while it helped, it didn't have as much of an effect as this did, because science, yo.

Squankum · Aug 21, 2013

Tussling with it later on, I realized it might be perceived as "heavy" by the cook, so I took it apart and added lightness using drillium.

Chilliwack Murray · Aug 21, 2013

Don't know how I didn't recognize that from the first picture. Nice work. By the way, is drillium sold by the pound or gallon?

Squankum · Aug 21, 2013

You can't even guy a gallon of drillium without ski boots or weighted diver's boots on. At least, not retail. Of course, you buy it from some guy on a street corner, he just might give you a Ziploc baggie full of air.

Chilliwack Murray · Aug 21, 2013

but I hear it's legal in Washington and probably California.

Squankum · Aug 28, 2013

Update from the Ongoing Global Taste Crisis

Ooh, pointy things!

Squankum · Aug 28, 2013

Just for Yuks/Words of Wisdom Dept.

Squankum · Aug 28, 2013

Car Customization I've Never Quite Grasped Dept.

Luggage racks. I remember English sports cars as a yute in the 70's, 80's, no shortage of them. Then came the Miata. I swear, I've only seen a piece of luggage on one twice in my life. This one is particularly clumsy looking.

Then again, I always thought the Z3 was kind of clumsy, too; they were trying to do too much retro on too short a car. Not enough room for the swoop they needed. See Z8 for proper proportions, oh my. But this, as Royal Tenenbaum said, is just one man's opinion.

Squankum · Aug 28, 2013

A year or so ago, I was having fun with a battery that drained as the car sat. See Stick's excellent treatise on chasing down parasitic drains here:

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133226

I built the gizmo he suggested, it's pretty neat. It's basically a battery ground quick release -- which I am already a fan of -- with two sheet metal screws in it so you can put your VOM on the little pan heads and measure what's being drained, with VOM in series.

Here it is in action. He has a better pic at his thread. Clouding the concept in this photo is that I've got the car battery on the floor and hooked up to the car with booster cables, during this round of experiments.

All this gizmo really does it make it really easy to go back and forth, as you're trying different things, don't have to fiddle about so much with battery terminals or probes. Still, it's nice to have the lugs to work with.

Squankum · Aug 28, 2013

An up close pic of the battery quick disconnect in its new home, and the machine screws I've screwed into it. One is well-lit, albeit blurry, the other, standing in the shadows of knob, getting ready for the voltage to come, is over by the nut on the squeezing bolt of the clamp.

What it turned out to be was a power seat relay that wanted to activate as soon as the battery was connnected to the car. I didn't even detect this with logic or meters or test lights, I just heard it clicking when I hooked up the battery, so hooray for not having too much hearing loss! I still tried to diagnose the bejeebers out of things to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding something, but a used relay was all it took.

Squankum · Aug 28, 2013

Now for a relay mystery that I still ponder:

I found this glop of grease on the plastic cover that fits over the top of the relay panel, which is horizontal, under the hood. For some time, I believe it was some kind of PCB-laden glorp from a dead transfomer in the relay. I later realized that I poked at the old, bad relay and never found any source of such grease emanating from within. And the volume just didn't match the size of the working bits inside the relay.

I later decided that somebody put it there to help the relay shed heat. Make contact from top of relay (plastic box) to plastic cover on relay panel, to outside world (not quite engine compartment, but a compartment next to the engine bay, under the hood.)

Did the factory do it? I have to keep reminding myself to check at the junkyard, but the cover to the relay half of the fuse/relay panel on W124's takes fiddling with screws, and a Mr. Stubby Phillips for two of them, so I don't get around to it much on my junkyard raids.

Some relays on the car have aluminum housings, for heat shedding, I'm guessing. What's odd is that they didn't do it for the power seat relay, which is ready when you open a door, or when the ignition is on. I guess the decision was based on amperage normally continually drained; it's no fuel pump relay. (Not that they're not plastic housings, too.) :dunno:

The car's seen many a dealer tech in its life, so I'm suspecting the grease glop heat transfer idea was an aftermarket improvement.

I wiped it off, no problems a year or so later.

Squankum · Sep 4, 2013

The Scotchbrite EXL deburring wheels mentioned previously? ENCO is having a sale.

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPAGE?PMPAGE=/specials/505-6160

Squankum · Sep 6, 2013

WAKE UP, AMURRICA!!!

Spotted at Lowe's last night.

4 foot lengths. $1.48.

Made in China.

They had many different diameters. It's actually kinda cool, I guess. Bamboo does grow around here, but every time I see it, it's either in a city park or on private property, and I can't imagine pulling over and sawing at it (even though it's about as relentless as kudzu) without Barney Fife pulling up immediately and hassling me.

One has to wonder about the profit margin on this sustainable forestry product.

davey_darling · Sep 12, 2013

What a great thread, love the contrast of your writing with some of the other threads here.

Squankum · Sep 20, 2013

How I Keep Track of Stuff

Driving the same car since 1985, I knew all the stats, which tool to reach for. Then I got another car about 7 years ago, but it was also the same brand and era. Then I got another German car from the late 80's, different brand. Then two large, heavy American things entered my household in recent years.

As post #1 warned long ago, grainy photograph...

This chart has five columns for five cars. The lines are:
Oil weight
OIl filter #
Oil filter wrench type
Oil change quantity
ATF style
Air filter #
Coolant type
Brake fluid type
Wiper length F
Wiper length R
Lug nut size
Lut nut torque
Wheel size
Tire pressure F
Tire pressure R

Printed at work on a "laser printer" and slipped into a protecty sleeve. Held up on the botom side of the toolbox lid with little HF magnets. Another one at the other end of the garage where the last car in parks, where the fluid checkin' and TP gauging goes on.

Some of these things are ****** obvious to me, but the lady of the house could, ostensibly, use it.

Squankum · Sep 22, 2013

My shop shoes.

The missus almost has the house on Japanese standards of shoelessness, reduces the amount of outside dirt tracked in. Took me a long time to get retrained. For the shop, I was using my best pair of old New Balance Old Man White Sneakers, but unlacing them every time I needed to come upstairs was a major drag.

Got these from Duluth Trading Co.

Wild Boar Mocs with No Slip Grip, these are the oiled leather model which have some water resistance, good for car washing, parts hosing in driveway.

$59.50 for suede, $69.50 for oiled; I think I used a coupon. There are New Balance slip ons out there that look similar, I didn't shop very hard. I was in a hurry and had a coupon.

My first pair of slip ons. I just thought shoes had laces. I don't like loose things that might slip off. While these are slightly loose, I've gotten very used to them. And they're comfy,and I now realized how dead the cushioning in my Old Man White Sneakers was, even with a fresh pair of SecondWind inserts inside them.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

A little project I'd been meaning to get around to for a while. Did this last weekend.

The spine of it is some poplar "project board", less than $10, 5/8" thick.

Hand hole was made with a 1.25" spade bit, two round holes, then joined with the handheld jigsaw.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

Here it is. Mistakes were made. More wood was consumed. Then even more wood, screws, and glue were added. I also discovered that my favorite Stanley Leverlock tape measure was off by 1/8". And then it was done.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

This caddy holds two gazintas. What gazinta this caddy?

Two Griot's Garage products I got for the missus, who covers many miles and has two vehicles. Portable battery booster and the kick-*** tire inflator. It's a Viair and can be found on Amazon for a few bucks less.(Savings vs. lifetime warranty, your pick.) The compressor is fantastic, nothing like the $13 noisemakers from Wallyworld.

This will help keep them organized amidst all the chaos in her work vehicles, and encourage her to move these two when swapping vehicles for a long trip.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

Custom fit!

Wider and heavier than I expected, but I still like it.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

My favorite metric tape measure. Sometimes I prefer millimeters to dicking around with and squinting at 16ths and 32nds. Also, doing the math to divvy up something into, say, 3 segments, just whip out the calculator, do it all in mm. Not that I don't work with the inches, too, it's just nice to have the option.

This is a Starrett, and it's nice to have a tape that's nothing but metric, both edges of the tape. Made in the Dominican Republic, and like a Stanley, no, that's not really a metal housing.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

Close up of the tape. You're dealing with mm or cm.

Squankum · Sep 26, 2013

I have no idea when I became a fan of Castrol Super Clean. Late 80's? Mid 90's? It's a hazy, distant memory. I bought the gallon container, and the big spray bottle, and at some point in the 90's, a buddy who was a Castrol rep passed maybe 8 or 10 of the little spray bottles my way and I poured most of them into the gallon container.

Now that I have my underground lair, and more cars to work on, I've finally used up my stash. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get it.

Well, it looks like it's still for sale, just not as a Castrol product. The blue jug was $7.97ish at Wal-Mart, same product name, different company (MN, not NJ), and it looks, smells, and feels the same.

Chilliwack Murray · Dec 21, 2013

Nothing since the Castrol Super Clean post in September. I hope that doesn't you did a taste test on them.

Squankum · Dec 25, 2013

Chilliwack Murray said:
Nothing since the Castrol Super Clean post in September. I hope that doesn't you did a taste test on them.

Heh heh, nope, I got distracted by other tubes, and real life things. Mostly I've just been twerking.

Taste test? Does anybody remember the running gag with Chris Elliot on the Letterman show?

He did one where the setup was: conventional or synthetic motor oil? And he chugalugged from each, presumably vegetable oil.

Now, I realized this fall that I never did post the Thanksgiving version of Squeaky the Yardsquatch. The inflatable turkey (barely inflated) is a hunting decoy I found being blown out at Wal-Mart.

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