Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT A trip back from the edge.

[shortykorte]

Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[xtremek]

Thank you Shorty and losd. Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year to you and yours.

 

[xtremek]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

 

[sublime68charger]

Merry smash xtremek all the best 4 you and yours!

 

[Kev442]

Merry Christmas!

My present to myself: I managed to get the car with the quickie ugly quarter panel repair to the alignment shop Monday. Insured on Tuesday and driven to all the Christmas gatherings these last 2 days. Yay!

 

[xtremek]

Merry smash xtremek all the best 4 you and yours!

Thank you sir. I've missed your posts. You're one a the people on this forum that I can relate to.

Merry Christmas!

My present to myself: I managed to get the car with the quickie ugly quarter panel repair to the alignment shop Monday. Insured on Tuesday and driven to all the Christmas gatherings these last 2 days. Yay!

Thanks Kev. I hope yours was nice as well. Do you have pics? I've been trying to knock stuff out around here, and have pics, but they don't seem to make it into my inbox.

 

[Kev442]

Took a pic this morning. I'll probably sand the quarter down again next year and buy color matched paint. At least being rattle canned I can put several thousand miles on it before committing to more work on it. Looks like everything works on it, even the remote trunk release survived the accident!

 

[xtremek]

Looks better than the color match on my Saturn. The Sonic exterior side of the panels are staying the black e-coat until warmer weather. Looks like you need to drop by and practice your paint skills on my cars.

 

[Strouty]

So I heard you were going swimming.

What is your New Year’s resolution?

 

[xtremek]

To just keep moving. If this rain turns to snow and you get it, I'm guessing 5" of heavy stuff to 12" of powder. It started raining shortly after 4am, and it's been heavy ever since. Yesterday was the same way. No buggy or 4x4, so I'm not feeling this.

 

[Strouty]

I think I would rather have the rain than the snow, it can be a toss up, especially depending on temps. Good luck, if you need a life jacket, let me know.

 

[xtremek]

It's been a while since I posted, doesn’t mean I’ve been slacking, just the opposite. I’ve got most of the Sonic back together, just waiting on a few parts. I hope to have it drivable by lunch on Saturday. The gaps look good so far, I hope I can get the same kind of fit when I put the bumper on.

 

[xtremek]

Plans change. The original plan was for the dump truck to be an organ donor for the COE project. Now it looks like we’re going to need it to be a semi-permanent part of the fleet. The tail lights didn’t work, no heat, a busted vent window, no wipers, blown out exhaust, rusted out floorboards, and no power point for the cell phones. Ripped out all of the wire nuts on the rear wiring and added a trailer hook up. Cut a “new” vent window out of a piece of plexi my Old Man salvaged from one of his shed windows. Put in a new muffler and two tailpipes.

 

[xtremek]

Then I replaced the wiper motor and pulled the wiper switch out (it fell apart as I unbolted it from the dash), put new wiper blades on, fixed a spot were the taillight wiring had touched the exhaust, fixed the lack of blower motor (corroded connection at the resistor block), and added a power point. Wipers still didn’t work, I only had one tail light.

 

[xtremek]

The end of the passenger side inner fender on the F-150 S’crew rotted off. Shot bag, English wheel, bead roller and welder got me close enough for this old man. Throw a little paint on it and I’m ready to put the core support on.

 

[xtremek]

Since I was playing with the sheetmetal tools, I decided to hack in the driver’s side floorboards on the dumptruck. Not going to **** weld the seams, just plug weld and seam sealer for this old beast. It's a work truck, it just needs to work.

 

[xtremek]

Found the issue on the wipers are loose pins in the switch connector. Might have to replace the turn signal switch. Checked to make sure the weather was going to stay nice and pulled the trigger on fixing the dump box framing. Big mistake, weatherman lied. Too late.

 

[xtremek]

The whole box needs to be replaced, but no money for that. New cross members, long rails, end rail reinforcements, and tail panel.

 

[Strouty]

You certainly have been busy! Those weather guesser ****. I wish I could have a job that I could be wrong 50% of the time in my specialized area and still have a job.

 

[Bob Heine]

Kirk, just reading your posts has made me tired -- I'm going to go take a nap. Great work and congratulations on all the progress.

 

[Kev442]

Wow, that's some major work going on over there. The gaps on the Sonic are waaay better than the gaps on my beater.
My motto is any outdoor work that gets done in January is all bonus. I was outside with a brush and mildew killer today doing what should have been done in September on my north facing side of the garage.

 

[jon72vega]

Kirk,
Wow you've been busy!
I feel like a slacker.

 

[xtremek]

You certainly have been busy! Those weather guesser ****. I wish I could have a job that I could be wrong 50% of the time in my specialized area and still have a job.

Kirk, just reading your posts has made me tired -- I'm going to go take a nap. Great work and congratulations on all the progress.

Wow, that's some major work going on over there. The gaps on the Sonic are waaay better than the gaps on my beater.
My motto is any outdoor work that gets done in January is all bonus. I was outside with a brush and mildew killer today doing what should have been done in September on my north facing side of the garage.

Kirk,
Wow you've been busy!
I feel like a slacker.

Thanks guys. That was spread over the last 3 weeks and one of those weeks I was off for the holidays, so not quite as impressive as it looks. It does feel good to get back to work, so I can relax.

 

[cbacres]

Nice sheet metal work going on there.

 

[xtremek]

Nice sheet metal work going on there.

Thanks. The inner fender turned out really well, I'm so stoked about that one. The floorboard, not near as nice, but it'll work fine for the application.

 

[shortykorte]

You’ve been busy even for 3 weeks. Ditto on the sheet metal work.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[xtremek]

You’ve been busy even for 3 weeks. Ditto on the sheet metal work. .....

Thanks for the compliments. I'm considering all my sheet metal work practice for the CabOver. I'm trying hard to hustle, because Robin wants to start a business from the homestead, so everything has to be finished off. And, I'm getting tired of fixing all of our cars. Lunch time, one more thread and it's back to the dump box. I hope to get the bottom of it done and get the Sonic in this afternoon/finished this evening.

 

[xtremek]

Finally got all of the necessary parts (new washer bottle was the biggie) to get the Sonic back together. I’ll paint the parts when the weather gets warmer. Burned all the cross and long rails in on the dump box. Starting the next part of the box. This should be an easy guess.

 

[rmalkow2]

You’re keeping busy and making good progress in the new year. I need to borrow some of your get up and go.

 

[xtremek]

You’re keeping busy and making good progress in the new year. I need to borrow some of your get up and go.

Thanks. My get up and go got up and went. Now it's just ugly stubbornness. Just trying to work smarter at the same time. And smart is not my strong suit.

 

[xtremek]

My wife kept me busy Friday and Saturday (Hemp Conference), and a migraine Sunday morning, so not a ton done. Did get the plate box tacked together and welded it to the tail panel. Still need to finish welding the box and grind all the welds down, before I can attach the panel. I also got the gooseneck ball opening done, which was a huge relief for me. I think it’s actually going to work. And the picture is right side up.

 

[sublime68charger]

I Need to get caught back up on all what you have been doing!

Im sure its great as always!

how you doing for snow over there this year?

I'm on 3 events for this winter so far been pretty mild.

I may be eating my words in the next 6 weeks but the first 6 weeks has been pretty low key!

 

[xtremek]

We haven't had much snow to talk about, the tractor hasn't even moved. Just 2 snows and no more than an inch either time. Shoot, the pool isn't even frozen over, I don't think.

 

[Bob Heine]

Shoot, the pool isn't even frozen over, I don't think.

Kirk, you scared me for a second. I ran outside, checked the pool temperature and it was 73.5*F.

OK, ran outside is an exaggeration. I opened the sliding door, stuck my nose out and then came back in. Alexa tells me it's 77*F right now and to expect a low of 75*F. Now I have to decide whether to switch the thermostat to HEAT or COOL -- never mind -- it's already set to cool to 77*F (I sleep on top of everything).

 

[xtremek]

Kirk, you scared me for a second. I ran outside, checked the pool temperature and it was 73.5*F.........

Around here, this time of year, everything should be frozen solid. Solid enough that you should be able to drive on the ice.

 

[xtremek]

Baby steps. On the dump box, I got the drain notches put in the long rails, and final weld on the plate French. I hope to get the plate installed on Thursday evening, but I still have to put in the plate light holes and reinforcements. On a different project, does anyone need a front bumper for a Chevy Sonic? It comes with a hot glue gun, 10 glue sticks, and some additional deer hair adornments.

 

[Strouty]

If I were closer, I would take the bumper, but......

 

[xtremek]

If I were closer, I would take the bumper, but......

You said no new purchases, I get it.

 

[Kev442]

Bumper looks kinda familiar. I've been stuffing the garbage can on and off for weeks tossing things from the parts car I bought to fix the other one. Mostly stained funky interior pieces.
I must trust the new ride, I had it 20 miles into the boondocks last week. So deep in the last mile was on gravel. Coming up on 600 miles, or three days commute for some people...

 

[xtremek]

....... So deep in the last mile was on gravel. Coming up on 600 miles, or three days commute for some people...

I didn't see you drive by the house. We're about 3/4 a mile off of the pavement. I keep telling work they ought to give me a test car, because no one else has a strange a commute as I do. Dirt roads, paved country roads, freeway, and potholed city roads. Baby, I hit 'em all.