Above 1200 Sq/FT Bailey's Barn Build

[mwbailey]

Pleased to say that we got some use from the two post lift this weekend! My son and his older daughter visited to see family, shoot a firearm for the first time, and replace control arms and ball joints on 2012 VW Passat.

Some difficulty in getting the new passenger side control arm installed. Thankfully, there was a Youtube with instruction to give confidence! Worst part was getting all the "corners" in their respective positions -- seemed to have fewer degrees of freedom than needed! Got to use my pickle fork, too, maybe for the second or third time. Passenger side completed:


Same difficulty on driver's side plus the ball joint started spinning before completely tightened! Left it like that and slept on the problem. Recalled that the ball joint threaded end also have a torx head. Lots of dang help that was, not even enough room to remove the nut before pulling the ball joint, much less getting a torx wrench inserted. So much for sleeping on it.

Plan C: maybe lift up on the control arm to wedge the joint into the spindle. Lo and behold, that seemed to work. Buttoned things back up and Granddaughter helped put the wheel cover back on.


Oh, and she completed two, five-shot groups that were pretty good for a first time shooter.

 

[mwbailey]

Always good when mechanics/shops deliver on their promise. Per a couple of prior posts, Ole Paint was delivered to Just 8N a couple of weeks ago. Derrick called yesterday to say she was ready, at the front end of the projected timeline!! AND, he was able to weld the ring gear to the flywheel through the starter hole. Including new battery cable (old cable was in tool box under the hood but somebody forgot to tell him), total cost was $80.06. Not bad when I was expecting $150-300 or more if he had to split the tractor. He said she should be good to go IF his welds hold!?!? I hope he was kidding.

BIL was excited about picking her up this am, so we arrived about 25 minutes after the shop opened. Ole Paint has already had the box installed and a load or two of chips moved and spread. Arborist promises another load tomorrow or Monday. BIL found out today that they were having to pay $10-40 per load to dump chips elsewhere. I suppose as long as we're within $10 of gas, we'll get the chips. . . or maybe we should start charging them $5 a load

 

[cvairwerks]

Had a family friend that lived a mile from a big rice dryer. Charged them 10$ a load to dump rice hulls, and the company would spread them and maintain the road in and out of the dump area. Company jumped on that one, as it cost 25$ in fuel to go where they were dumping them. Diesel was about 30 cents a gallon at the time. The company even bought a new tractor with a loader and blade and built a shed for it on the property to make it easy to take care of. They did it for years, and helped build up about 15 acres of very low area on the property.

 

[xtremek]

GOod news on old paint. My Old Man does the same thing with asphalt millings for his driveway, Get them dumped in his driveway for the cost of what it would cost him to go pick them up himself.

 

[mwbailey]

"The Wife" had back surgery this past Monday, so we were not able to assemble a new engine test stand until late this week. It arrived last Friday!

A few somewhat minor issues:

The box was a bit messed up in shipping, but all the parts looked fine:


In addition, the shipment was curbside drop (150 pounds to move to garage) and scheduled for Friday pm (I had a meeting, but it arrived when BIL was still around).

Pretty pleased, overall. One "peg" was welded 90 degrees "out of sync" (note closet front corner)


Instructions were almost totally confusing. The parts list gave parts one designation and the instructions used another. Fortunately, stickers on each part worked with the instructions AND Internet comments suggested that using the picture on the box was the biggest help in assembling the stand! Even what was written left little confidence; the frame was called "flame" and I'm yet to figure out what "bow" is supposed to stand for. Still, assembly was pretty simple and all other parts (except the rear pegs) fit and all the fasteners needed were supplied.





BIL was ready to immediately place an engine on the stand and try it out, but a few more parts are needed before the 442 engine is ready to test fire. We'll take it slow. . . .

 

[xtremek]

Where from and how much? Is it engine specific? If not, what's the weight limit?

 

[mwbailey]

Hello xtremek!

Cannot recommend the engine stand, yet, but it appears to be pretty substantial! I Googled "engine test stand" and found the Larin test stand at ToolTopia for a little over $400. Same stand shows up at Northern Tool, ebay, Summit Racing, etc., but usually a few dollars to a couple of hundred more than ToolTopia. Jay Leno has a thousand dollar stand, if you'd prefer!

Looks like the stand will be pretty adjustable for various engines and most online comments confirm. Some have said they had to make minor changes for their specific engine.

I hope the weight limit is over 700 pounds as both of my engines weigh in about there. On Summit Racing website, the stated capacity is 1000 pounds.

I've also seen guys rig up a wooden radiator rack although the stand comes with adapters for a garden hose to radiator hose, in and out. That's what I plan to use.

It will be a while before I place an engine on the stand to test, but I want to be ready as soon as I get the "Blue 442" out to the paint shop. I'm in line, but haven't gotten a call from the body and paint guy!

 

[xtremek]

Sounds like you're getting close. I hope you see some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[mwbailey]

The BIL did a great job with "Sis" in FL by putting in a turnip and green onion garden, so The Wife asked if he could help her with a garden here in SC. He jumped at the chance. So, some work on his part to lay out a slightly raised garden area and a run to the dirt yard for some soil and we were on our way.

Then The Wife starts worrying about our deer herd and rabbit herd eating her garden. So, plans are made to put up an electric fence -- something the BIL and I have never done.

Picked out a pretty stout AC charger to ensure it was strong enough to deter deer. Then had to decide where to mount the charger and how to get AC to it. Fortunately, some underground Romex (?) was left over from the house build.


The decision became run the Romex to the charger in a box on the fence post. But, somehow no one had thought about electrical outlets on the exterior of the barn. . . oops.

No problem, maybe -- just drill hole through 8 inches or so of wood and styrofoam insulation and wire outlet up to interior box.


That works and we can run the wire along the wood to foundation junction and keep it hidden and out of the way.


In the meantime, BIL had erected four posts at what he considered strategic locations, expanding the garden area somewhat. [I'm still thinking, "I wonder who is really going to water, weed, dust, hoe, till, etc., this LITTLE garden"]


A trip or two or three to Tractor Supply netted a 30 mile charger, maybe 500 feet of polywire, two dozen insulated "stand-offs", a 10 foot grounding rod, "gate" insulator, a couple of clamps, etc. And, of course, a run to Home Depot for electrical box and outlet -- GFCI since it's outside even though under the lean-to.

Another fortunate occurrence was a left over "Take One" information box was just sitting around. Paint the top white to obliterate the writing and an easy solution to protecting the charger was at hand.


Unbeknownst to me, BIL had moved a 10-foot grounding rod when he cleaned out the mess around the lean-to. Just returned the rod to Tractor Supply in exchange for other needed equipment. The guidelines for good performance is to have THREE grounding rods. Heck, for an 8X10 foot garden, surely one would be enough. Tried to get the 10 footer in the ground and hit stone at about 6 feet. Only length of "double insulated" grounding wire available at Tractor Supply was 25 feet. With that much wire, why not use the extra 4 feet of grounding rod and connect with 8 feet or so of the 25 feet.

With the underground wire equipped with a plug for the charger and run into the "Take One" box plus the grounding wire and the "hot" wire attached, the unit looked like this:


And, from the front/outside of the fence, we get:


BIL declined to check charge on new setup as did the garden owner. Hmm, wonder how to know if this thing works!??!

Maybe I need to check with "Between the River and...."

We called it a day.

 

[mwbailey]

OK, so looking up DIY electric fence charging test, a couple of guys were using fluorescent light tubes. One end grounded, the other to touch the fence wire. The tube lit up.

Some were using gullible younger brother. . . .

Just happened to have a 3-foot tube (or maybe it's 4 feet) handy and no gullible brother, so connecting a wire was the next step. Ended up with:


BIL asked if the tube was good! Details, details. If the test works, fine; if not, check the tube. Turns out instead of the tube lighting up, the spark to ground was loud enough to be heard 20 feet or more away -- where BIL was standing just in case something went awry!!??!!

Tube did not light up. May have been that the ones on Internet were continuous power, not intermittent; or maybe tube was burned out

No problem, obvious charge on fence wire = success.

 

[xtremek]

My dad tricked us into laying a green blade of grass on it. What a ornery thing to do to a couple of young boys.

 

[mwbailey]

Right, xtremek, I was afraid someone would get on my case if I said others were using gullible little kids!

My dad always had beagles and used electric wire to keep a stray dog from interfering with the pedigree. He would check it by wetting one end of a piece of broom straw and holding the other end as he place it on the wire. He would slowly move the straw to shorten the distance between him and the wire until he could just feel the "bump" of the current. Then he'd ask if I wanted to try. Don't know why -- maybe impatience -- but I always got the straw too short too fast and went yelping across the yard. I wonder now if the "bump" was just a trick to get me to try. He had a good test whether it was the straw or me!!

 

[xtremek]

The best was when we let a calf out into the pasture for the first time. The calf got close to the fence and started to lick it. We heard the crack and saw the arc from about 50 yards away. That wasn't the worst of it. Poor guy ran the opposite way, into the electric fence on the other side of the yard. He tried to jump it, but only got the front legs over. The wire came to rest on his weewee. He finally ended up taking about 30 feet of fencing down before he ran off into back of the property

 

[Sifan]

Farm I worked on during college bought a purebred Charolais bull $$$$. Took delivery and first thing he did was get up against the hot wire. He made a big kick at the wire and ended up with the wire between his legs, right across the balls. I headed to the barn to shut the wire off and the owner said leave it, he needs to learn. About the fourth MMMaaawwwwwwaaaa owner yelled shut it off now. Big boy laid there for about 10 minutes before he got up and SLOWLY walked over to the ladies LOL

 

[mwbailey]

Well, I just heard today that an electric fence will NOT shock anyone over 45 years old. Let me know what you find out!?!?!

 

[mwbailey]

A little more amortizing of the two-post lift today! BIL has been complaining about how hard it is to steer the 76 Ford F100. I've been suffering through it, but finally caved in to his complaints!

Put the truck on the lift for the first time, using extenders on all four pads. Seemed to work OK.


Counted about eight grease fittings; no fittings on universal or shift linkages. A couple of zerk fittings didn't seem to want to allow grease to enter. Not an easy job, but pulled four out and replaced with new ones. Now only two seem not to want to allow grease.


Also changed oil and filter plus replaced wiper blades. Wiper arms were replace just a few days ago. Now there's no excuse for not taking garbage to green boxes when it's raining. Maybe I won't mention the new blades to The Wife!?

Need to buy an oil funnel, pouring from a 5 quart container is not easy when trying to hit the oil filler opening.

I must admit, I could imagine that the truck turned more easily. Sure hope BIL is satisfied. Good to be able to use the lift for the third time. Wonder how many times before it pays for itself?

 

[Bob Heine]

Wonder how many times before it pays for itself?

This is one of those "priceless" things. You'll live a longer and happier life because it's there.

 

[mwbailey]

Hey Bob, and what else is there to do but mess around in the shop when you're almost quarantined?!?!?

 

[mwbailey]

The continuing saga of The Wife's vegetable garden brings up the question: Why isn't there an outside spigot on the barn? Well, the suggestion was probably made, but with the boat and car hauler being the primary inhabitants of the lean-to, was water really needed?

Now that the garden is being installed, with no cost spared, a spigot is a must. Have not worked with PEX before, but a 10' section, new crimping tool, several fittings, and spigot and the job is done.

Measured over from hot water heater overflow drain to a likely spot:


This is about the location inside the workshop:


PEX, fittings, bands attached:


Outside view:


Not too hard, but continue to wonder why the professionals didn't do it at the time.

Only one small drip cured by hunkering down on crimping tool . . . we hope. Oh, wetness in "completed" interior view is due to water draining from system with the first cut.

In the meantime -- and with the relatively good experience with the Ford F-100 -- we put the Miata on the lift to grease the steering components. Problem is, there are no grease fittings. So, we lowered the Miata back down and washed and waxed it instead.

 

[Mike.ASC]

Any progress on the Oldsmobile?

 

[mwbailey]

Hey Mike, You really know how to hurt a guy's feelings!! I wish I could report progress, but. . . .

Actually, just today left a message with the paint and body guy to see what his schedule is. Haven't heard back.

BIL has run out of things to do, so I thought I'd give him a challenge. The exhaust pipes didn't play nice removing them from the manifolds. I had taken manifolds to a local muffler shop to see if they could remove a "frozen" bolt. No luck. I figured BIL could worry it loose in a few days. We only had to FIND the manifolds. Not under the tarp in the lean-to as best we could tell. Not easily found inside workshop.

So, took the next step calling it "what was needed to get the engine in condition to crank": pull out motor-related parts. From a bucket of pulleys, may have found ONE that belongs, but did find THREE alternators. Will have to see if any are in working condition. Also found the two brackets needed to attach the alternator. So, still missing double pulley from crank.

Pulled out the rebuilt Rochester four-barrel (or venturi, as they call it), a rebuilt distributor less points, rotor, and condenser -- but it IS the right part number. This confirmed that the oil pump shaft is a 3/16 hex. I got all sorts of information from the 1967 442 expert with Oldsmobile club on pre-oiling the engine, but he couldn't remember what size socket was needed to fit the shaft. That's all progress of some sort, but still no exhaust manifold.

Opened three storage containers to find tail lights galore, bumper brackets, TWO heater cores in boxes, etc. Still no exhaust manifolds. Even looked into an old pickup truck tool box. No exhaust manifold, but did turn up a 1968 intake manifold. Well, dang!?!?

Final scope-out of workshop revealed a 2 1/2 inch or so pipe sticking up in the air on the very top storage shelf. Could barely reach it from ground level, but lo and behold it was an exhaust manifold with some of the exhaust pipe still attached. Had to get a stool to check for second manifold, but there it was. Have checked the casting number on both and they are the real McCoy. Only need to remove two broken bolts along with the two holding the piece of exhaust pipe on. Hope BIL starts worrying them tomorrow!!

I'm not pleased, but a small step in the right direction.

 

[Mike.ASC]

I'm just looking out for what's in your best interest, trying to keep you focused. Focus, focus, focus......

 

[xtremek]

I used to work with a kid who was so good with torches that he could blow the busted off studs out of the manifolds and leave almost perfectly cleaned threads. Quick run with the tap to get any little bits, and you were all set for new ones. I wasn't near as good as he was.

 

[mwbailey]

We've started "worrying" the stuck bolts with PB Blaster and an occasional rap with a hammer. We figure we might could use hammer drill or pneumatic wrench to get to the bolts sooner or later. Not so sure about the broken off bolts.

Gee, I was wondering about using a torch. Do you think this is reason enough to buy an acetylene outfit?!?!? Or maybe I could run down xtremek's "kid"

 

[xtremek]

That's how I got the studs out to the F-150 manifolds, heat and worrying. GOt them RED hot and worked them right out.

 

[mwbailey]

Well, dang. BIL has decided he wants to worry something else!

After pulling the headliner in the 1976 Ford F100 to find no major signs of leaks through the roof, BIL decides he wants to repaint the roof anyway. OK by me, so I ordered a couple of spray cans of original color paint along with some primer and clear coat. An old can of primer was sitting on a shelf, so that was the first paint employed. The old truck looks pretty good with a black top:


But we had the tan paint, so:


Wonder what's going to happen with that small dent in the door?

He even did part of the door jam!


That wasn't enough, now he's started on the hood -- we agreed that would be a good thing to "touch up".


But nobody said anything about the sides of the bed!!?!


More paint ordered and primer and sandpaper picked up from Home Depot, carefully keeping my social distance, of course.

Oh well, maybe we'll get back to worrying the exhaust manifold before long. Wonder if one of those handheld torches/cans will do the trick?

 

[xtremek]

You'll really need to get the manifolds pretty red.

 

[mwbailey]

That's what I figured, xtremek, so the little handheld torches probably won't do the job. Since I have a can or two, I just might give it a try, anyway. As BIL would say, "Can't hurt anything."

 

[mwbailey]

OMG, now half the truck is in primer. . . .


Base coat won't be in for a week or so; BIL has started trying to pretty-up the aluminum and chrome trim. Chrome is doing fine, aluminum not so good.

He's eyeing the tailgate next, but the chip guy stopped by this morning. Maybe we'll get a few more loads of chips to spread and the F-100 will get a break.

I shouldn't complain. Lots of work that could have been done and some that needed to be done is actually getting done!

 

[xtremek]

I wish my BiL was that active. His inactivity is causing more work for me.

 

[mwbailey]

No chips, so the tailgate got some attention:



Just about forgot about trying to get the bolts out of the exhaust manifold for the 442. I'll go check that out. . . .

xtremek, you need to realize that even the work getting done by BIL creates some work for me. I'm not complaining; he's even told me not to help by doing something he could do since then he won't have anything to do.

The Wife has called two "arborists" trying to get more chips. Poor truck may need some relief, too.

Just a note, the bumper sticker on the tailgate came from my sister. Our mom really was a good role model. Rather than ask WWJD, my sister brought it close to home by asking her kids what would Grandma do! Should have told BIL not to work around it, just remove it; I have another one. [Oh, the bumper sticker reads: What would Grandma Sarah do?]

 

[mwbailey]

So, here we go again! Still haven't gotten the paint guy to say he's ready for the 442. That would open up a lot of space in the shop and allow some straightening and organizing -- or so we think.

But the BIL kept hinting that we needed to finish the compressed air system even if there's still junk all over the place. Heck, we're hunkered down with the pandemic restrictions and concerns, so why not?!

Managed to get a 12-foot run plus about 10 feet around the corner connected at one end and another section cut to length and a couple of fittings installed.






You can see the blue pipe at the second girt from the top. . . in places.

Tomorrow we'll connect the two sections and run a line over the top of the door. Then install a drop on each side of the door.

Took the time to watch too similar installations on the Internet after dinner. One guy had a leak at every fitting he installed; the other guy was pleased with the minimal loss of pressure over several hours for his system. I wonder which our system will be?!?

 

[Mike.ASC]

Gosh I love your building. It seems to me it's getting harder and harder to find painters to do a whole car paint job these days. I dropped off a pickup truck to a local painter for a overall paint job/color change in March 2017 and just got it back Feb 2020.

 

[xtremek]

Knock another one off the list, cool.

 

[mwbailey]

Not so fast there, xtremek, had to finish the up and over the door section yesterday! BIL wonders why I would need a compressed air drop on BOTH sides of the door and I'm not sure I can explain. . . other than the kit came with 100 feet of pipe, so I used it. Maybe one will be for tools and I'll install an oiler on it; the other could be for spray painting and I could install a high functioning filter/drier. Or maybe it was just "because I can".

Started off by "accurately" measuring the length up to the door and across the door. Didn't want to install two more elbows, so just T-ed off of the long horizontal run that almost reached the door and put a curve in the pipe to make the bend. Actually connected the drop on the far side of the door with an L before the final cut on the other side.


Somebody thought it would look better to run the far drop behind the beam above the door. Only problem was that there's a 2X6 (full measure) girt right behind the beam. So, whereas the beam, itself, is not against the barn wall, the girt fills the space in between. What the heck, let's just drill a hole through 6 inches of pine for a roughly 1-inch pipe to come through. To give a little leeway, used a 1 3/8" spade bit to begin. Wore myself out and had lunch. Started again and figured the bit needed sharpening since I had consumed my crackers and coke in front of the monitor checking out sharpening spade bits on the Internet. Sharpened the 1 3/8 a couple of times and got far enough to need some sort of extension to finish the last inch or so. Broke the end off of the shaft. So, pulled out the 1 1/4" spade bit and got started again. Sharpened it a couple of times (getting pretty good at that) and finally broke through and broke the 1 1/4 bit, too.



At this point, went back to the near side of the door and installed the short horizontal section, L, and drop. By this point, both drops had a block with water valve and connector installed.



With all that in place, it was time to connect the up and over the door section to the T. Well, we were within about 1 1/2 feet of an accurate measurement. Continued to cut off pipe until the curve down to T was reasonable and the pipe fit the T.


Only thing left to do was crank up the compressor and slowly add pressure to the system -- and listen for leaks! Remember from last post, one guy had one leak per fitting; the other guy was satisfied with his very slow leak. Well, we didn't get to 30 psi before we could hear the hiss over the compressor running. Not good. . . .

More of this sequential vortex in another post.

 

[mwbailey]

Will the sequentialality ever end?! The major hiss from the compressed air system installation turned out to be a hole in a FITTING, of all things.


The Rapidair Maxline system is pretty well designed if your runs are mostly straight and your piping/fittings are easy to get to. If you are trying to do a little work to hide the system, sometimes pipe and fittings are in hard to get to places. Of course, the busted fitting happened to be where I combined two T's and an L to get a drop for the sand blast cabinet and an air reel in close proximity. So, it was not an easy one to get to.

The last step for each connection of pipe to fitting is to tighten the fitting hand tight and turn at least another 3/4 turn. Sometimes easier said than done. Again, design of fittings is pretty good; even have flats on each fitting apparently to hold with a wrench while you struggle to turn the last 3/4 turn. What wasn't well-designed was the dimension of the flats. I know, because I mic'ed it, 0.740 inches. That leaves some slop with a 3/4" wrench. Since the plug in the back of the connector block used a metric Allen wrench (I believe), maybe a metric wrench is supposed to be used. Maybe a little better, but still 18.8 versus 19 mm standard for wrench. OK, sure some sort of honkin adjustable could be used -- I bought two just for system installation -- but they are just TOO big to work with in such close quarters.

I'm guessing the 19 mm wrench slid past the flat and punctured the fitting. I wonder whether that's a design failure or operator error? I WILL check with Rapidair to see!



Made a dash to Northern Tool yesterday to get their last T (and it wasn't even listed in their inventory on the web), disconnected four pipes, replaced the T, and connected everything back up. Turned the compressor back on and regulated pressure to 50 psi -- no hiss that these old ears, nor BIL's, could hear. Turned on up to 90 psi. Still no apparent hiss. Valved off the compressor and left the rest of the system at 90 psi. After dinner, pressure was down to about zero. So, there's a leak or two.

Went back out today and charged the system to 90 psi. Left the compressor turned on, but shut off automatically at about 150 psi. Figured I'd mess around until the compressor came back on.

In the meantime, installed two "organizers" that had been sitting around since I got them at a fantastic bargain at least a couple of years ago.



Compressor didn't turn back on for a few hours, so I'll let the leaks go until I can hear them!

 

[mwbailey]

Mike, thanks for the nice comment about the workshop. I really do enjoy it a bunch, give or take the frustrations it allows! AND, the BIL has suggested that since we've installed electricity and water in the lean-to, we probably ought to do the same with the compressed air system!?!??! We did have about 6-8 feet of pipe left, so we could probably do it, but. .. .

Frankly, I'm not in as much of a hurry to get the 442 back from painting as I am just to get it out of the shop for a little while. Lots of organizing plans that will be hard to do with 442 body and parts strewn all over the place

 

[xtremek]

Time for the soapy water?

 

[Mike.ASC]

Mike, thanks for the nice comment about the workshop. I really do enjoy it a bunch, give or take the frustrations it allows! AND, the BIL has suggested that since we've installed electricity and water in the lean-to, we probably ought to do the same with the compressed air system!?!??! We did have about 6-8 feet of pipe left, so we could probably do it, but. .. .

Frankly, I'm not in as much of a hurry to get the 442 back from painting as I am just to get it out of the shop for a little while. Lots of organizing plans that will be hard to do with 442 body and parts strewn all over the place

So true about the space that the parts take.

 

[mwbailey]

Contacted Rapidair Customer Service about the ruptured T fitting. Even admitted that it might have been "operator error". They are sending a replacement. Can't complain about that.

Of course, we've already picked up a replacement from Northern Tools and installed it. Will decide later whether to return the replacement T to Northern Tool for a refund or use it to provide air to the lean-to. . . along with the previously installed electricity and water!?!?

Yep, xtremek, tried out the soapy water this morning on the easy to get to fittings. Dang it, I couldn't tell if I was seeing new bubbles or some of the ones I sprayed were just coalescing!! Tightened the fitting up a little anyway. I had left the system charged with compressor off last night and it still had 80 psi late this am, down from 150. So, the leak(s) are no big deal for me. I'll keep listening and spraying but with little urgency. Besides, it's not much fun to get to those doggone fittings much less tighten them.