Above 1200 Sq/FT Cody's 33'x62' Garage

[madison069]

I present the cheese mobile.

Pulled all of the tricks I could find to make this thing the fastest possible.

Balance it for COG in front of rear wheel



Bent the axles close to 2.5degrees as I could.



Lifted the front left tire off the surface and bent the right wheel to gently roll the car to the left an inch after going 5ft down a board.



Ensured it's weighs the max that it can weigh as per the rules, 5oz


I also put dry graphite on each axle and wheels, I will put another drop of graphite on the axle on the day of the race. Also, I'll bring some tools to be able to modify the car in case they say it's over 5oz. Hopefully we can take a couple of runs on the track to see how it performs on the actual track.

I did my best to explain what I was doing and why they had to sand the axles and do all of these weighing of the cars and why they were bending axles and so on. Only so much a group of 9-year-olds girls can comprehend in a short period of time with crash course of physic.

 

[Blackbyrd]

Hahahaha I love it

 

[madison069]

2012 Nissan Altima brake job.



I never done a brake job on this car, it the middle daughter’s car I got her, but the previous person didn’t get a caliper bracket bolt tight enough and the bolt exit the conversation. Luckily it was a bottom bolt so it couldn’t jam into the rim. Got a new bolt and got the rear brakes done. I got the front driver side left to finish. Taking a break, but possibly going to call it a night.

Salt, I hate it. Car will get a bath soon.

 

[Xti04]

Nothing like the thrills of losing a brake caliper bolt. My Jeep lost one on a camping trip and I couldn't back up without it hitting the wheel. Managed to get it out of the woods and home and repaired.

 

[madison069]

Nothing like the thrills of losing a brake caliper bolt. My Jeep lost one on a camping trip and I couldn't back up without it hitting the wheel. Managed to get it out of the woods and home and repaired.

I once let a cousin do a brake job for my mother since i wasn’t in Texas to do it. Apparently a caliper bolt backed out and the caliper somehow got ripped out of the wheel area and left her without brakes on a highway! Someone else I trusted more looked it over, got a new caliper, bolts, and a hose to fix it. This is the second time I’ve had brakes loose a bolt and it was a job done by someone else. This Nissan was purchased a year ago and it’s been a good car. But, I’m going over everything I know that the previous guy worked on.


Got the brakes done, but I’ll put the front tires on tomorrow cause I want to go over some other things before the tires goes back on.

 

[Bob Heine]

Although, I would say I might have a leg up on you with the bolt/screws/pipe fitting collection, but something tells me you might have me beat still.

Cody, it's possible I threw out a few bent nails and headless screws over the years but I spent my working career at a keyboard and didn't have access to the kind of hardware you did. I know I have a lot of unique nuts, bolts and hardware I'm afraid to throw out because I may remember where they went. At least they are unsorted and residing in rather large clear plastic jugs.

The best way to store all those bolts and screws would be 3D printed containers you made yourself.

Brett, I see you store your hardware according to size. I store my hardware more randomly. Black oxide hardware, magnet-friendly silver hardware, non-magnetic silver hardware and non-magnetic yellow hardware. Of course I further separate things that screw on from things that screw in. Most of my hardware has been stress tested. Also known as used. Breaking the head off a new screw is far more stressful than breaking the head off a used one.

OK, I'm embarrassingly disorganized when it comes to hardware.

 

[madison069]

Well I bit the bullet and ordered some bins. I did the math and decided it might be cheaper to just get premade bins at this time, instead of going down the 3D printer rabbit hole. I got 50 total so far to get me started.



They fit nicely in my bolt bin drawers.


I left the bins in the garage while I went to my youngest basketball game and then the pinewood derby.

There was a total of 52 entry.


We weren’t allowed to test our derby on the track before hand, so as the car came down the track I could tell the alignment was off for this track.



Based on the times they ranged from 2.992secs-4.582secs. Ours were moving at 3.202secs. We had fun and I could tell she was having a blast.

Her troop that attended, she’s in the blue hoodie. Those are all 4th graders, she got the height from my family.



But I got skipped in my gene, I was the midget in my family tree at 5’10”. I look forward to looking up to her.

 

[madison069]

So the kid’s pathfinder who I worked on awhile back came back not starting right. Turns out the passenger side camshaft sensor failed.

We decided to go ahead and also repair the junky oxygen sensor since now the driver side front sensor is failing.

I replaced the passenger side camshaft sensor first to confirm it’s the cause of the hard start. That was not a fun job but nothing like the oxygen sensors. With a new camshaft sensor in, it started up with no issues and runs great now!

But, with three oxygen sensors having issues it was time to replace them all.

The front driver side oxygen sensor came out with no issues.

The rear driver side sensor, well apparently the oxygen extenders were rusted so bad that it was just hanging in its spot. Here is the left over extender in the sensor bung.


After heating it and spray it with penetrating oil, I got it out.


The passenger side was just as fun to get out,
Here’s the left over part of the extender.


And here’s the sensors with the left over extenders.



What a pain getting those parts of extenders out. But it saved him $350 in exhaust pipes pieces by me getting those extenders out.

I also replaced the driver side camshaft sensor and the the crankshaft sensor as precaution since the passenger side camshaft sensor failed, usually the others will follow suit.

Now to celebrate with a nice shot of whiskey.

 

[loganb]

Wise move on the plastic bins.....even if you ignore the cost of the machine and machine operation cost....the Schaller bins are still cheaper then the filament to make similar size ones....and you open the box from UPS...spread them around and boom done in short order!

 

[madison069]

Wise move on the plastic bins.....even if you ignore the cost of the machine and machine operation cost....the Schaller bins are still cheaper then the filament to make similar size ones....and you open the box from UPS...spread them around and boom done in short order!

Even with shipping, I think it was $1 a bin.

I haven’t sorted the stuff yet, buts it waiting for me.

I need to prep for a winter camping trip soon. Why we want to do it, I just say it’s cause we can.

 

[Xti04]

Hows that Larceny Barrel proof?

 

[madison069]

Hows that Larceny Barrel proof?

It's a nice whiskey. Very smooth and can fool you into thinking it's not strong.

I'm not a whiskey Connoisseur by any means, but it's a very nice whiskey.

 

[madison069]

Wife purchased this auto litter box from Mac Bid. I told her it’s not wise to buy electronics from Mac Bid but we see the results. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t really work well. So, I took it apart to see if I can figure out what’s the issue. Basically it’s the strain gauges that senses weight that’s failing. They are built into the two wheel rollers at the front of the unit. Unfortunately I haven’t found replacement for them yet. The two white wheels are the assembly I need to repair this thing properly.


But in the meantime it does work if it’s cleaned manually by hitting the button to activate the cleaning cycle instead of doing it automatically.



So in the meantime my wife won another bid for another robot litter box, she didn’t realize she had another winning bid and it ended up winning. At this point I better get one fixed cause I think she’s close to the price of one.

I was going camping this weekend but my camping buddy got sick and was running a fever and had body aches like he had the flu. So it was called off.
But here I was packing for it.


Tenant called and said the bathroom sink was leaking from the drain. Seems a nut was broke and was allowing the water to leak out. It was all metal before hand.


Now it’s all plastic basically


Father in law called saying his water pipe in the garage was leaking. I went over and found the lean but it’s not a priority so we will wait for fix it, but basically it froze during our recent cold spell.


Since camping was called off I figured I might as well go get a basketball hoop I bought for the youngest. I figured the Subaru was up to the task. The little trailer was perfect and I didn’t have to disassemble the basketball hoop. It was only a mile away from the house.


This Arien riding mower has been a good mower but lately things have started to show its age on it. So I disassembled it to find all of the needed parts. One spindle was shot on the deck so I got two new spindles, belts were worn and stretched so I got new drive belts and deck belts, along with all of the usually maintenance items like filters, plugs, and so on.


I also tried to replace the spark plugs on the 2018 Subaru forester but apparently the spark plugs are 14mm instead of 5/8”. So I put the car back together, changed the oil in the car and ordered some new tools for the spark plugs Job.

Tomorrow looks to be a full day so I’m calling it a night!

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Bummer on the camping trip Cody!

Thanks for the reminder on the mower, I've got new high lift blades at my dealership that need picked up. Your mower was probably made at the plant in Auburn, NE just north of me.

 

[madison069]

Bummer on the camping trip Cody!

Thanks for the reminder on the mower, I've got new high lift blades at my dealership that need picked up. Your mower was probably made at the plant in Auburn, NE just north of me.

We are going to try again in two weeks. Hopefully neither of us gets sick.

Unfortunately it’s the season of prepping for summer. One of the landscaper I do maintenance for, has dropped off his trailer of equipments. Luckily I did a lot of high hour maintenance on them, so this year it’s more of the typical oil and filters change and inspecting everything to see if anything is worn down or broke. I already purchased a battery for his zero turn as it was dead as a door nail and had a 2018 date code on it. He got his money worth out of that battery. To unload the trailer I needed an anchor point so I used the Subaru since the trailer is in my yard. We parked it there before the snow came so it’s been sitting for awhile. it was questionable if the truck would get out without damaging my yard with the saturated ground. Since it was frozen this morning, the ground was hard and I had no issues with the yard. But I had to use my truck hitch on the Subaru and boy does it looks over kills.



It Did the job though. I also did some pick up around the yard hence the limbs and trash in the Subaru.

 

[loganb]

You've been staying busy sir!

I don't have cats so no need for the litter box, but several people I know who have them said they're worth their weight in gold. One thinks the auto feeder is even more helpful then the litter box as the cat no longer impatiently waits at their door for feeding...it instead waits at the machine and has learned that meowing doesn't make the food come faster so it's a more polite and peaceful wait lol

 

[madison069]

We haven’t progressed to auto feeders yet. With two cats I’m not sure if I want to get into that battle. Currently we have a big feeder bowl deal to hold a lot of cat food. The female cat seems to eat moderately but the male cat looks to have the snacking grazing habit. He isn’t getting big, but I’m wondering if he’s not over eating.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I think those auto feeders are very popular at the Gato Taco farms in Mexico! Lol!

 

[madison069]

I experienced a few time in Mexico where we suspected it was dog meat based on everything we saw around us. But it was still good!

 

[madison069]

Was able to take an hour and worked on the riding mower. I’m looking for a note saying where it’s made, but it’s a 2012 model. The model tag is somewhere as I had to replace the back half of the body due to stress cracks forming in the steel sheet. So I cut the model tag off the old deck and never riveted it on the new deck yet.

None the less, I got a new air filter,

Oil drained,

Steering axle greased,

Fresh sae 30 oil,


A new battery since the old one wasn’t holding a charge. Ever starts are decent batteries, old Everstart was 5 years old, and new battery was $30. Not a bad deal.

Cleaned the underside of the hood and engine,

Cleaned


New spark plug and fuel filter,


Lubed up all metal contacts points I could find and also changed the drive belt before I put the new battery in place.


Maybe tomorrow I can finish cleaning the mower, and then get the deck repaired and ready to go back in place.

I need to order a new seat and also figure out a solution for the missing hood bumpers that fell off. I have one of the original so I can see what would work to match the old one. Oh and bend the exhaust guard back in place.

Positive note though, the engine starts a lot faster then it used too and the new drive belt made the mower more responsive when I let off the clutch. Negative though, I can’t seem to get the fuel tank cleaned, I’ll try a scotch pad tomorrow with simple green, but simple green, soft bristle brush, and paper towel isn’t getting it clean.

 

[madison069]

Had 20 mins to piddling with the mower and was able to get the tank cleaned with simple green as a piece of maroon scotch pad.


Went ahead and cleaned the outside of the hood and clean some scuff marks off the mower.


I think ill get it done tonight, provided nothing else pops up.

 

[madison069]

Turned my attention to the deck. During further inspection it seems a section of the deck was rusted seriously. Figured I’d clean the loose rust off and painted the section with POR15.


Paint is still wet but I was able to work around it. Got the new spindles installed.



Lubed up all of the contact points and started working them back and forth to get some of the rust out. Currently got white lithium all over it. I wiped the excess up, but left some on all contact points where the metal slides against each other.


New spindles was interfering with a plastic guard so I cut a notch out so it can spin freely and not touch the guard.



Took some rubber pieces and glued them together with weather stripping adhesive,


After it cures I’ll shape the stacked rubber to look like this original bumper on the hood.


Looks like I’ll have to wait til tomorrow or Saturday to finish it up once the paint and glue is dried.

 

[madison069]

forgot to mention, in the first picture of the new spindle I had the washer/space on the wrong side of the pulley. When I went to spin it, I realized it was stuck and wouldn't spin. Took it apart and realized that washer was a spacer, once the spacer was on the other side of the pulley the spindle was able to spin freely. you can kind of see the spacer is missing in the next photo of the new spindle.

I checked the progress on the paint and glue this morning, they are both cured and ready to continue. It will be late tonight before I get to it. I still need to shape the rubber bumper I'm making, clean the deck a little more and apply some thicker grease on the metal contacts (might use some marine grease since it's water resistance), Apply fluid film on the inside of the deck after scraping it some more, install the blades, and then put the deck back on the mower.

I'm having a hard time finding a seat for the mower that fits and doesn't cost $100+ for a seat. Might have to visit a couple of lawn mower shops/junkyard.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

forgot to mention, in the first picture of the new spindle I had the washer/space on the wrong side of the pulley. When I went to spin it, I realized it was stuck and wouldn't spin. Took it apart and realized that washer was a spacer, once the spacer was on the other side of the pulley the spindle was able to spin freely. you can kind of see the spacer is missing in the next photo of the new spindle.

I checked the progress on the paint and glue this morning, they are both cured and ready to continue. It will be late tonight before I get to it. I still need to shape the rubber bumper I'm making, clean the deck a little more and apply some thicker grease on the metal contacts (might use some marine grease since it's water resistance), Apply fluid film on the inside of the deck after scraping it some more, install the blades, and then put the deck back on the mower.

I'm having a hard time finding a seat for the mower that fits and doesn't cost $100+ for a seat. Might have to visit a couple of lawn mower shops/junkyard.

Seats have always been expensive for some reason!

 

[madison069]

Seats have always been expensive for some reason!

I'm tempted to glue this one back together and put a cover over it.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I was just going to ask if you had a source for seats that didn’t cost a fortune! Seems that because that’s the one item that always wears out and has the biggest impact on usability the manufacturer thinks that’s their cash cow after the sale! I have a Honda riding mower that has been sporting a CAD (broken down cardboard box) seat for years!

 

[Sifan]

Try Rural King

$42-$150

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice work on the riding mower. That cleaned up very well. Great job.

 

[madison069]

Nice work on the riding mower. That cleaned up very well. Great job.

Thanks! This is a back burner project that I’m glad to get done. This mower pulls my little trailer around the yard and I’ve hauled dirt, stone, tools, and just about anything that the trailer can handle. Plus it moves my boat from the garage to outside and back inside the garage. Oh and cuts grass too! It’s done enough work to justify the maintenance I’m doing to it.

Was able to finish the mower maintenance this morning. First thing was to finish cleaning off the excess white lithium grease and touch the metal contact points of the blade engage mechanism with marine grease. Then flip it over and scrap the deck some more.


I put the fluid film on a little thick to allow it to seep into the deck metal some.

It’s got a month or two before I cut any grass.
Then put the blades back on after sharpening and balancing them. Not much was needed to get them balanced.


Got the deck installed, not a bad job to do.


Now to shape the rubber stack I made.


Here it is shaped,




It came out pretty good since I just used what I had around the shop.
Then this one I used the weatherstrip adhesive to attach it to the mower hood. The other one I used double sided adhesive. Figured it would be a good test to see which adhesive would hold better.


Once the adhesive dries, then the mower is done until I find a seat for it.

Yes the hood is damaged a little. It got too close to my smoker one day and it lost the battle.

For a 13 year old riding mower it’s been a good mower.

Now it’s time to clean up the shop and start bringing in customer’s equipment to service.

 

[madison069]

Been piddling with stuff around the garage. haven't been taking many pictures since its mostly customer's equipment, random stuff on the Camaro, and cleaning.

One of the issue i had was the pump on the slime jug had failed me. So, I cut the pump up and was able to insert a grease bottle nozzle in the neck of the pump that I cut off the pump assembly. I be damn if I was going to leave a quart of that slime unused. I just had to squeeze the bottle now instead of the nice pump action.


Started messing with the camaro, one of the thing I started messing with was cleaning up the rims. I got one done, but it was a lot of elbow grease trying to clean up the sand blasting surface to make it somewhat smooth. there was a different in appearance so it seems to be worth the hassle.
Here is what they currently looked like.



Here is a side by side of one I got done.




It's not perfect, but good enough for who it's for.

Here is one taped up. I need to touch up the taping some more but it's almost ready for the sanding and polishing action. Three more to go.



Other then that, I just need to get the customer's trailer in the garage to replace the taillights and go through the wheel bearings. But the snow came back and now the trailer is stuck beside the house at the moment, I also need to replace the bilge pump on the bass boat, I suspect it was failing at the end of the season last year and I was asked if I was interested in doing some walleye fishing on the river soon. We will see what I get done in the next week or 2.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Wheel looks good to me. I always liked the early 3rd gen 15" 5-spokes. They look great on a lot of different rigs, including S10 pickups.

 

[Bob Heine]

Started messing with the camaro, one of the thing I started messing with was cleaning up the rims. I got one done, but it was a lot of elbow grease trying to clean up the sand blasting surface to make it somewhat smooth. there was a different in appearance so it seems to be worth the hassle.

Here is a side by side of one I got done.

Cody, I know what you are going through. I bought my '87 Corvette in December 1991. It had a bunch of aftermarket stuff on it, including 16" rims. The spokes were professionally sprayed gold to match the body but the emblems were painted with a brush. I liked ground effects packages on these C4s but mine was a kluge with rockers that didn't go with the front and rear. The convertible top appeared to be tan but turned out to be a poorly dyed white top. The leather seats appeared to be 40 years old so I re-did the seats and put a new tan vinyl convertible top on the car. That was my first convertible top install and unless I have a complete loss of memory it was my last. A smoke show resulted in all new audio equipment and a few hundred yards of new 'wire nut free' wiring. At some point I dinged the front air dam and planned to repair it. It didn't look bad from the outside but when I looked underneath to assess the damage, it looked like a fiberglass quilting bee had been there before me. I went on a hunt for a replacement front ground effects panel. Found it and the matching rocker/door set and waited. This is the car, as purchased, in 1991. What I thought was a gem had some hidden flaws, including re-capped Goodyear Gatorback tires! The weights on the rim should have given it away.

In 2007 I had the car re-painted after I acquired a new front air dam and matching rocker panels. Before it went to the body shop I removed the reflective red tape from the front and rear panels. The tape was hiding latex caulk that was used to fill some gaps and was showing through the paint. That led to me the next logical step, remove the rear spoiler, rear ground effects panel and the whole rear bumper (it starts at the rear wheel arch). A heat gun and a bunch of sharp implements removed a total of a pound of caulking, 14 coats of paint from the bumper and 9 coats from the ground effects panel. I discovered the gold paint on the wheels was not original and the clearcoat on them was turning milky. By 2012 it bothered me enough to use Klean-Strip KS-3 Stripper to remove both clear and gold paint. The Stripper also removed the black paint from the phony socket head screws (it's a 1-piece aluminum wheel). At least the rims weren't sandblasted and it turned out they were gold anodized before machining the faces. Took more than a minute to get the set to shine.

It's no show car but I'm no longer embarrassed to drive it to a show.

 

[madison069]

Owning a hotrod is a labor of love.

I've messed with other vehicles that had the same treatment as your corvette Bob, and then again, I've given the same treatment to the rides I had as a kid since I was broke and wanted to "Fix" the problems. There where I learned to use hardware cloth to provide support when doing fiberglass work. Maybe it's not the right way to do thing, but it provides something to hold the fiberglass in place while it cures. More fiberglass and Bondo smooth the surface nicely.

I've cut barbwires from the left-over piles by the barbwire fence when my exhaust was hanging down and dragging the road when returning home from a camping trip. That barbwire was still holding the exhaust up nicely on that 78 chevy crew cab truck when I pull the engine out for the Camaro.

The rims being sandblasted on the Camaro was my fault. These rims came with the car when I bought it. I got them sand blasted at the drilling rig yard when they had the sand blaster onsite. It was free for me to just put it in the pile of other stuff getting blasted. Then I used some kind of high temp tape that was able to withstand powder coating and taped off the area that I didn't want power coated black. I got it power coated by a company in Odessa, TX for $20 a rim. I just now got around to work on refinishing the area that's not power coated. In hindsight, I should of powder coated the whole rim black.

Honestly, i want to put on a set of 17" Torq Thrust rims on the Camaro, but I don't want to pay the full price for a new set. Would like to buy the ones that has the spoke black with the rim edge chrome. But at $300 for a rim, I'm having trouble justifying it right now. So, I'm watching Facebook marketplace and I see sets pops up for sell, but they are either too far or I'm unsure if the backspacing will work with the Camaro. I need to measure what I currently have and see if I can figure out by measurements if a rim will fit. Also, the ones I see on marketplace are usually all chrome. So, I either need to be happy with all chrome, keep looking, or paint the spokes with automotive paint.

Choices, choices, choices....

 

[Bob Heine]

Honestly, i want to put on a set of 17" Torq Thrust rims on the Camaro, but I don't want to pay the full price for a new set. Would like to buy the ones that has the spoke black with the rim edge chrome. But at $300 for a rim, I'm having trouble justifying it right now.

Cody, I've been working on the '72 Corvette for so long, It's on its third set of rims. When I bought the car it had Ansen style rims with wider rims in the rear and spacers to make it extra stupid looking but it was 1978 so I wasn't alone and the 454 automatic coupe cost me $4,200. First thing I did was buy new tires and remove the spacers from the rear. The bolts on the transverse leaf spring were also adjusted to be as short as possible so I returned them to the stock length. Tires still stick out but being 50-series I could drop the ride height to something more normal.

I focused on a bunch of inexpensive repairs on my first Corvette ('69 427 4speed) and waited too long to blow big bucks on tires. The slicks didn't work well in the rain and contributed to a little fender bender.

For five years I just drove the '72 but after a complete engine and transmission overhaul I decided to re-paint the car. I always wanted a black C3 with a light Saddle interior. It was late 1983 when I stripped the paint. The new C4 Corvette hit the market and it came with SIXTEEN inch rims. I sold my 15-inch rims and tires and bought the cheapest 16" set of Cragers and 265/50-16 bias ply tires on the market with the money. They have cast aluminum centers with steel rims. There are steel plates in the casting that are used to weld the pieces together. Yes, they are the infamous Unilug mounting holes and the wheel is far from hub centric.

Those tires held the car up for a couple of decades, the first of which IBM punished me with a 'promotion' to middle management and I had zero time to work on the car. When we returned to the US from Australia in 1991, Liane ordered me to buy another Corvette and get rid of the Fiat X1/9. Enter the '87 Corvette. In 2008 I was ready to put paint on the '72 but the Unilug rims and 25-year old tires were scaring me. Sold the whole set for $100 and the guy who showed up wanted to haggle. He said $80 and I said $200. He said $90 and I said $400 (that's what I paid JC Whitney for them) and he somehow found the $20 bill he told me wasn't in his wallet.

Another reason I got rid of those rims was their size. By 2008 there were very few 16-inch tire choices and none were good. An eBay listing for a set of four polished aluminum 17-inch 5-spoke Torque Thrust knockoffs specifically designed to fit C3 Corvettes caught my eye. For $1,100 they came with Federal tires, 225/55-ZR17 for the front pair and 255/50-R17 for the rear. Interestingly those tires are real close to the same diameter

 

[madison069]

I dig those rims you got off eBay.

I know I can get a set of 15” tires and spend $600 instead of buying new rims and tires which can equal to $1,400-$1,600 and get the 17” I want in the end. Unfortunately I got a lot of projects going on and one big one is sucking my money dry. But, I’d like to be able to drive the Camaro around town so I can get used to it and find the bugs in it. Plus, it’s been a project that has taken too long. It will be 27 years since I first got this camaro and I never really driven it much.

 

[Bob Heine]

I dig those rims you got off eBay.

I know I can get a set of 15” tires and spend $600 instead of buying new rims and tires which can equal to $1,400-$1,600 and get the 17” I want in the end. Unfortunately I got a lot of projects going on and one big one is sucking my money dry. But, I’d like to be able to drive the Camaro around town so I can get used to it and find the bugs in it. Plus, it’s been a project that has taken too long. It will be 27 years since I first got this camaro and I never really driven it much.

Cody, focus on getting the Camaro on the road. The rims will be there when you're ready.

When I bought the rims and tires in 2008 I had just turned 59.5 years old and could tap into my 401k and IRA accounts penalty-free. It was life-changing because my early retirement meant we were living on half my working income. Just the dividends from those accounts was enough to make life easy again. Being poor again didn't ruin our lives. It was a reminder to enjoy the life we have rather than the one we want. Now we have the life we dreamed of, though we're by no means financially wealthy. It's just nice to wake up and not have to go make someone else wealthy.

 

[madison069]

Fitting as I bought a few tools on Saturday from an estate sale.



Not a lot, but a snap on socket, a 10mm snap on wrench, and a few other pieces that caught my eyes. I forgot to take a photo of them as I had a basketball tournament to take my youngest to this weekend.

Maybe I’ll get some shop time this week.

 

[madison069]

Cody, focus on getting the Camaro on the road. The rims will be there when you're ready.

When I bought the rims and tires in 2008 I had just turned 59.5 years old and could tap into my 401k and IRA accounts penalty-free. It was life-changing because my early retirement meant we were living on half my working income. Just the dividends from those accounts was enough to make life easy again. Being poor again didn't ruin our lives. It was a reminder to enjoy the life we have rather than the one we want. Now we have the life we dreamed of, though we're by no means financially wealthy. It's just nice to wake up and not have to go make someone else wealthy.

Most likely I’m going to get new 15” tires for the Camaro. I still need to drive it to the local messenger and get a Pa title and get it registered, it’s still got its Texas title on it. Bittersweet deal though cause it has my mom’s name as previous owner since I couldn’t put my name in the title when I was 15 yrs old.

I also need to get some more paint work done. Seems we missed some of the lower rocker panel when we painted the car and now my buddy has a lift to raise the car up to paint on. Along with get the dual black stripes I’ve always dreamed of putting on it.

Then I’ll take it to the local mechanic and have him put a set of 245/60/R15 all around. The current front tires are 235/60/R15 and I got plenty of room. So I think the 245/60/R15 should fit fine. This will make it easier to carry a spare.

 

[madison069]

Like I said, not many tools were bought.

A round head craftsman 1/2” drive ratchet, snap-on 10mm wrench, Mac Line wrench, 4” Cresent adjustable wrench, and a 1/2” socket that’s 1/2” drive.


I did buy a crystal lamp that’s a miniature version of the one my wife currently have in the window. Figured it was a nice addition to the lamp collection.

 

[madison069]

One of the small project that needed to be done for a customer was to install a trailer light that got knocked off.

Here is the location of where a trailer light used to reside.


Here is the trailer light he wanted installed.



First thing was to clean up some angle liner I had laying around and cut it to length.


I got it tacked in place and right when i was getting a groove going with welding the top part of the angle liner, my little spool of wire came to an end.


Went to Home Depot and picked up a 12.5lbs wire spool and got it loaded up.



Got my tip cleaned up and dipped it in the stuff to keep the tip clean.


THen proceeded to burn the angle Iron in place.


Not the greatest but a lot better then what my welds have looked like in the past.

Then I rounded the corner on the mount so it's not such a shin killer when it's done.


And painted it brown since it's the closest color to black I had in the cabinet. I'm doing my best to not buy any paint until what I currently have on hand is gone.


I got the wiring on the trailer resolved and added a new trailer plug on the front since his running lights were not working. Something happened in the plug that's a molded piece, so I couldn't take it apart to investigate.

Once I got the side mount lights in from amazon, I can finish up his trailer and he can come get his trailer and all of the equipment out of my garage! It's getting full in there right now.