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Above 1200 Sq/FT 86's 20HP shop

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86turbodsl

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Jul 1, 2005
Messages
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Location
Michigan
This morning's update, no work done last night. I got a call on the way home that power was out. No wind or storms, it ended up being the insulator on our line extension had blown in half. So no connection. It happens sometimes due to a crack and water/freeze expansion. It's been cold last few nights, so i expect that was the cause.
So i sent the fam out for food while i convalesced on the porch easy chair with a cold drink.

The kid has a plant tour, paperwork, and drug test today. It's warehouse work. He should be ok at that, as long as he doesn't screw it up somehow. First day is tomorrow. Wierd to start on a Friday, but whatever. I now have a fire under my ****.

Ordered the clutch and flywheel for the Passat last night. Now i need the last 2 pcs. Pedal cluster and clutch line. I might be able to swing that by this weekend.
 
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86turbodsl

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Location
Michigan
Working on putting the audi back together, got the timing belt covers on, water pipes mostly installed, power steering pump, washed the valve covers, and working my way towards the back of the engine. Alternator, belt, etc are on.

I'm fighting BPPV, benign paroxymal positional vertigo. To take care of my back, i use an inversion table. When i tilt backwards, my head goes upside down. There are calcium chloride crystals in your inner ear that float into the tubes in your inner ear when you/I go upside down. This causes vertigo. It mainly happens when you get much older than I am, but here i am. It mostly affects the vertical loop in your inner ear, and causes vertigo and balance issues. Rarely, it goes into the horizontal loop and the normal cures don't work. There's some exercises that are supposed to help, but they don't help when it goes horizontal loop. So i'm dealing with it this weekend. Always seems to happen on my weekends off.

Had a huge blow up with my kid. He's stressed out about his truck being off the road, and i suggested that he paint the new core support rather than install primed. Since he's totally helpless without me, he's upset that i'm not done with the Audi yet.

can't have it both ways. Either do the job yourself or wait bub. sometimes being a dad *****.
 
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bimmer1980

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Feb 5, 2009
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Location
York, PA
You're making progress! I know it's a moving target (actually not yet- Ha HA) but when do you plan to lift the engine assembly back into the car chassis? Regardless, I'm guessing with getting parts installed on the engine it is also helping to clear floor space.....?

The vertigo stuff would ****. My mother suffers from that every now and again, and I know it makes her quite dizzy and it is tough to do stuff...she is late 70's tho.

With the kid, even if you don't feel up to working due to the vertigo, can you sit on a chair in the shop and point and direct him?

p.s. the Bridgeport head is back together! Not too bad of a job doing the upper half, but it does take a little patience....
 
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86turbodsl

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Jul 1, 2005
Messages
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Location
Michigan
Correct, as i get things assembled the floor space is coming back.

The vertigo is transitory, it lessens with time. As long as i don't invert again, it should go away. I need to find some other way to address my back issues though.

Cool on the BP. Did you post pics anywhere?
 
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Strouty

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Mar 21, 2010
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Southern Maine
That *****, I use an inversion table sometimes as well. Without using one, you could build a "pull up" bar and then hang from it with your arms, it creates about the same effect for the mid to lower back, but it doesn't work well for neck or upper back. Maybe you could make one of this medieval rack torture devices then you could use it to pull the joints apart in the upright position....
 
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86turbodsl

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Messages
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Michigan
Strouty said:
That *****, I use an inversion table sometimes as well. Without using one, you could build a "pull up" bar and then hang from it with your arms, it creates about the same effect for the mid to lower back, but it doesn't work well for neck or upper back. Maybe you could make one of this medieval rack torture devices then you could use it to pull the joints apart in the upright position....
Click to expand...
That is about what i have been thinking. I'm hoping to come up with something that is portable as well, so i can do it wherever i'm at.
 
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OldSoldier

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Sep 14, 2011
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131
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DFW
I had BPPV a few years ago. I did the Epley Maneuver several times a day for a couple of weeks and that fixed it. GL!
 
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86turbodsl

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Location
Michigan
Welcome to winter, it was low 40's yesterday, and sank to low 20's over night. Last night was first fire on the boiler. I took the boiler head off, cleaned it out, cleaned the drain line, remembered all the problems with cleaning and drainage i hate, and had a pretty easy uneventful first fire. Ran for a few hours, got everything up to temp. No issues. REALLY hoped i would have a new boiler installed by now though. Damn car problems. I'm still moving forward ever so slowly. Waiting on a rubber hose right now.
Working from home for a class for a few days.

The vertigo is easing very slowly. Still have to be careful. Daytime highs down in the low 20s by end of week. Ugh.
 
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bimmer1980

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congrats on the first fire of the boiler!!! That's almost drama-less compared to our expectation!! LOL

Hopefully the vertigo eases soon.... I can't imagine that feeling, but I bet it *****. I strained my back again this weekend, and have been trying to go easy on it to help it heal.....

The season definitely changed here on Sunday. It is below freezing at night and mid 40's during the day. Not that cold compared to some places, but still a change from the 60 to 70 degree days prior....

Now that the Bridgeport head is done, I ordered some minor tooling for it: Drill chuck collet, some inserts, edge finder.
 
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bimmer1980

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York, PA
Yeah, H&W has good videos. I also ordered my parts from them. His videos and the manual made things move along fairly smoothly.

I did clean up the sheaves on the lathe with some Emory clothe, but not entirely required. Mine had a little surface rust where the belt was for sitting for a number of years.

The guy on the videos is pretty efficient at tearing down a Bridgeport head. Fun to watch!!
 
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86turbodsl

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Jul 1, 2005
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Location
Michigan
Hatches are battened. Doors are sealed, boiler is running automagic. I tweaked a setting to allow auto boiler circ while floor is heating up. Tonight after class i'll keep cleaning and prepping for more updates.
 
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86turbodsl

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Jul 1, 2005
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Boiler ran for about 4 hrs and then shut off and wouldn't stay lit. I think there's something going on there with heat soaking. I might need to add a timer and auto shutdown. I feel like if i can keep the temps up, it'll cycle enough to not do it, but hard to say.

I let it sit until lunchtime and it started right back up.
 
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86turbodsl

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Messages
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Location
Michigan
The ones in front are just staged to go on the trailer for disposal once the deck is on. The neighbor was complaining about the groundhog living under one of them so i moved them. We're disposing of a lot of stuff round here. There might be a couple of parts cars up on barrels way in back when i'm done, but there's not going to be a bone yard.
 
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86turbodsl

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True enough. Didn't realize it was going that far south. Boiler running most of the day, shop at 56F. Started at 49F. Not bad for a slab. I really need a self cleaning boiler...
 
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bulletpruf

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Nov 28, 2013
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San Antonio
86turbodsl said:
The ones in front are just staged to go on the trailer for disposal once the deck is on. The neighbor was complaining about the groundhog living under one of them so i moved them. We're disposing of a lot of stuff round here. There might be a couple of parts cars up on barrels way in back when i'm done, but there's not going to be a bone yard.
Click to expand...

86 - what do you have for running cars/works in progress/parts cars? I recall a diesel F350, a few imports, your kids truck and a Fairlane or two...
 
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86turbodsl

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Jul 1, 2005
Messages
6,556
Location
Michigan
The list is right now:
2004 Audi A4 my daily
2005 Passat TDI x3(only 1 car is good)
2002 Audi A4 dev car
1996 Audi A4 daughters car
1996 Passat TDI Wagon old wife's car
1997 F350 dually my truck
1997 F250 parts diesel
1986 F250 old diesel
1985 Bronco
2005 Golf TDI old daily
1995 F150 kids truck
2006 Audi A4 parts car
A few more OBS fords - parts cars
A bunch of ******/Tempo diesels all parts cars
1967 Fairlane 500 coupe my first car
1967 Fairlane 500 convert my project car
2021 Hyundai Tuscon wifes daily/my company car

Shop is holding 60F nicely. I am adding logic to the burner to shut off automatically when tank temp is reached.
Storage tank is at 120F right now. I'll go out after class/work and restart the boiler to recharge for the night.
I think i need to clean the boiler tube at least once a day at this point.
 
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86turbodsl

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Messages
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Location
Michigan
The 85 Bronco was purchased years ago near Waco TX, nice rust free, weirdly optioned with a 300 six, stick, and all options available in XLT. It is supposed to be my wife's Bronco because she likes that type of vehicle. We drove it for a summer, then the 300 started to throw a rod bearing and it got parked. It's going to get the 6.9 out of the 86 someday.

The 86 F250 Supercab 2wd 6.9 ATS turbo. My namesake. There, it's out there. Bought in Brownstown, TX, original 6.9, ATS turbo kit, 4 speed. Very very nice truck. I drove it for about 14-15 years, tried not to drive in the winter, it was SUPER clean, XLT, loaded, the usual glow plug controller failure, put a push button on it and just drove it. It was getting pretty tired and i was having a lot of trouble on a trip to Pennsylvania, went to Philly to get the Detroit, did some sightseeing, it was so tired i could barely make most of the hills with trailer in tow. Directly responsible for the upgrade to the Dually. Indirectly responsible for my wife's health issues. I stopped at a gas station for something, truck was in gear on a hill, while i was inside it started rolling backwards into traffic. She had been trying to hold it with the brakes and was about losing it when i got back out there. I am not going to say more on a public forum. Don't ask.
It's accumulated some rust over the years, even trying not to drive it in winter. I parked it when the kingpins started to seize and the dually arrived. It'll donate some parts to the Bronco conversion. Then probably go for scrap. A sad, sad day.

The overall plan is to have the following left:
2004 Audi A4 Ultrasport - 4.2L swapped
2002 Audi A4 / S4 clone - 2.0 BHW TDI swapped
2005 Passat TDI Wagon m/t swapped - spare car/long distance vacation car
1995 F150 kids truck
1996 Audi A4 daughters car
1997 F350 dually upgraded to support my service work/welding maybe, other than drivetrain upgrades nothing is set yet.
The Fairlanes - my retirement projects, if i ever make it that far.
The wife's daily is my company car, it changes every year and can't be predicted. When they make it to EV only i will probably drop the
perk and just make the wife drive one of ours.

Everything else is just parts to support the above. Everything else i want gone eventually.

Shop update:

I ran the boiler for 3 days straight, kept it at 60F. I am finding i need to clean the boiler tube about every 4-5 hours run time. Seems like it's better if i keep it at higher overall temps, which makes sense. I have found if i run the tank up to about 140F, it can sit for most of a day running off stored tank heat. Takes about 1 hour run time to get back up to 140F. The automatic circulator cycling seems to be working to keep boiler temp above about 140-160. I don't have a large enough pressure tank on the system, so it'll overpressure if i don't bleed water off. I took a risk and shut off the feed valve. Ran to full temp and bled off enough to stay off the overtemp/pressure valve. Risky i know, but there's no visible leaks, and system is separated by heat exchanger. I have a bigger tank, just not plumbed in yet.
So with those changes, i am very close to automatic run. Once it's at temp, setup to keep tank between 120 and 140, shut off at 140.
Only thing left to do is write the auto start routine. I need to start the oil and let it run for a couple mins, then turn on spark and air. At shutdown, it needs to stop oil flow first, then spark right after. Leave air on for a bit for cooling and finish combustion. So that's a little complicated to setup.

Audi update: I got the new ps hose in, after near a week, put that on, then bolted intake down. Working on pcv system reinstall now.
Once that's done, i can start on downpipes. I tried to buy the XSpower pipes again to save time, and was refunded and informed we are out into 2023 now. I think they don't know when the pipes are coming back from China actually. Supply chain madness.
 
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bulletpruf

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Nov 28, 2013
Messages
10,941
Location
San Antonio
86turbodsl said:
The 85 Bronco was purchased years ago near Waco TX, nice rust free, weirdly optioned with a 300 six, stick, and all options available in XLT. It is supposed to be my wife's Bronco because she likes that type of vehicle. We drove it for a summer, then the 300 started to throw a rod bearing and it got parked. It's going to get the 6.9 out of the 86 someday.
Click to expand...

Loves me a Ford 300 six, but an IDI swapped Bronco would be way cooler! There are a few folks out there who have done this swap, but I haven't paid much attention to them, so I'm not sure how difficult it will be.

86turbodsl said:
The 86 F250 Supercab 2wd 6.9 ATS turbo. My namesake. There, it's out there. Bought in Brownstown, TX, original 6.9, ATS turbo kit, 4 speed. Very very nice truck. I drove it for about 14-15 years, tried not to drive in the winter, it was SUPER clean, XLT, loaded, the usual glow plug controller failure, put a push button on it and just drove it. It was getting pretty tired and i was having a lot of trouble on a trip to Pennsylvania, went to Philly to get the Detroit, did some sightseeing, it was so tired i could barely make most of the hills with trailer in tow. Directly responsible for the upgrade to the Dually. Indirectly responsible for my wife's health issues. I stopped at a gas station for something, truck was in gear on a hill, while i was inside it started rolling backwards into traffic. She had been trying to hold it with the brakes and was about losing it when i got back out there. I am not going to say more on a public forum. Don't ask.
It's accumulated some rust over the years, even trying not to drive it in winter. I parked it when the kingpins started to seize and the dually arrived. It'll donate some parts to the Bronco conversion. Then probably go for scrap. A sad, sad day.
Click to expand...

A bit surprised that your daily was a 2WD F250, but I guess you really don't need 4WD if you don't drive it in the winter.

86turbodsl said:
The overall plan is to have the following left:
2004 Audi A4 Ultrasport - 4.2L swapped
2002 Audi A4 / S4 clone - 2.0 BHW TDI swapped
2005 Passat TDI Wagon m/t swapped - spare car/long distance vacation car
1995 F150 kids truck
1996 Audi A4 daughters car
1997 F350 dually upgraded to support my service work/welding maybe, other than drivetrain upgrades nothing is set yet.
The Fairlanes - my retirement projects, if i ever make it that far.
The wife's daily is my company car, it changes every year and can't be predicted. When they make it to EV only i will probably drop the
perk and just make the wife drive one of ours.
Click to expand...

I would appreciate it if you would go ahead an retire so you can get started on the Fairlanes!

86turbodsl said:
Everything else is just parts to support the above. Everything else i want gone eventually.

Shop update:

I ran the boiler for 3 days straight, kept it at 60F. I am finding i need to clean the boiler tube about every 4-5 hours run time. Seems like it's better if i keep it at higher overall temps, which makes sense. I have found if i run the tank up to about 140F, it can sit for most of a day running off stored tank heat. Takes about 1 hour run time to get back up to 140F. The automatic circulator cycling seems to be working to keep boiler temp above about 140-160. I don't have a large enough pressure tank on the system, so it'll overpressure if i don't bleed water off. I took a risk and shut off the feed valve. Ran to full temp and bled off enough to stay off the overtemp/pressure valve. Risky i know, but there's no visible leaks, and system is separated by heat exchanger. I have a bigger tank, just not plumbed in yet.
So with those changes, i am very close to automatic run. Once it's at temp, setup to keep tank between 120 and 140, shut off at 140.
Only thing left to do is write the auto start routine. I need to start the oil and let it run for a couple mins, then turn on spark and air. At shutdown, it needs to stop oil flow first, then spark right after. Leave air on for a bit for cooling and finish combustion. So that's a little complicated to setup.

Audi update: I got the new ps hose in, after near a week, put that on, then bolted intake down. Working on pcv system reinstall now.
Once that's done, i can start on downpipes. I tried to buy the XSpower pipes again to save time, and was refunded and informed we are out into 2023 now. I think they don't know when the pipes are coming back from China actually. Supply chain madness.
Click to expand...

Boiler season is upon us!!!
 
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8

86turbodsl

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 1, 2005
Messages
6,556
Location
Michigan
bulletpruf said:
Loves me a Ford 300 six, but an IDI swapped Bronco would be way cooler! There are a few folks out there who have done this swap, but I haven't paid much attention to them, so I'm not sure how difficult it will be.



A bit surprised that your daily was a 2WD F250, but I guess you really don't need 4WD if you don't drive it in the winter.



I would appreciate it if you would go ahead an retire so you can get started on the Fairlanes!



Boiler season is upon us!!!
Click to expand...
Yeah, the swap has been done before. I still want one. Anything to stop the bleeding on fuel... Bronco's **** for mpg. That one's got 3.08 too.

The 86 F250 was a daily because my commute at the time was about 20 miles. Who cares at that distance. It was the Golf when i had to drive to Detroit.

If i'm going to retire, are you going to win the lotto and fund me??? :ROFLMAO:

Boiler season is indeed upon us.... Hopefully this year is better.
 
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