strokinhorns
Active member
just read the thread..... what a great read. Keep on Keepin On.
East Texas shop begins!
- Thread starter egnorant
- Start date
jbmatth
Well-known member
Wow, triple bypass, glad you are back now but take it easy for a while, that is nothing to play around with.
JB
JB
BajaScout
Well-known member
Still on rest and heal, but I will be back soon enough. Seems I was the stupid guy ignoring the warnings and had been having minor attacks for up to 15 years. Cumulative, they just slowed me up over a long time and I was just feeling old or something.
If you smoke, stop! I actually feel better than I had for a week before I was slapped to the floor heart attack style. Just gotta let all the cut, welds, grinds, stitches and drug interactions fade off the map.
Bruce
If you smoke, stop! I actually feel better than I had for a week before I was slapped to the floor heart attack style. Just gotta let all the cut, welds, grinds, stitches and drug interactions fade off the map.
Bruce
xtremek
Well-known member
Glad to hear your doing better. And that last sentence is just awesome. Spoken like a true garage guy
Bout time I post again! It has been a rough year physically. About 3 months ago I swapped doctors because I was just not feeling right. I put off complaining about stuff because I am the typical "muscle through it" guy, but I'm glad I did. New guy did some tests, asked a lot of questions and was up front with me on everything. Got me some new meds that seem it be doing the trick! Nuff whining...now to the shop stuff!
Haven't done all that I wanted, but got some stuff done that I will detail as time goes by. Saga of the scrapheap 4-post lift, the triple truck bed swap, The amazingly easy project, the amazingly frustrating unfinished project, the scooter gang trilogy and other tales of mirth and whoa!
I am needing to reclaim the shop as I have this brother......
He developed a friendship with several dealer mechanics that kept him up on when they replaced equipment. We now have 3 working tire machines, 2 wheel balancers, brake lathe, the aforementioned scrap heap 4-post and boxes of stuff that may or may not be related to the new machines. He also has a bad habit of bidding stupid low bids at Co-Part and now our car total is higher than ever!
Sister-in-law has chosen to become our media manager so expect better pictures of our "progress". Might get some You Tube stuff going too!
I'm gonna try to update the pics in my earlier posts as I use it to shame/inspire me to keep on keepin'on!
Bruce
Haven't done all that I wanted, but got some stuff done that I will detail as time goes by. Saga of the scrapheap 4-post lift, the triple truck bed swap, The amazingly easy project, the amazingly frustrating unfinished project, the scooter gang trilogy and other tales of mirth and whoa!
I am needing to reclaim the shop as I have this brother......
He developed a friendship with several dealer mechanics that kept him up on when they replaced equipment. We now have 3 working tire machines, 2 wheel balancers, brake lathe, the aforementioned scrap heap 4-post and boxes of stuff that may or may not be related to the new machines. He also has a bad habit of bidding stupid low bids at Co-Part and now our car total is higher than ever!
Sister-in-law has chosen to become our media manager so expect better pictures of our "progress". Might get some You Tube stuff going too!
I'm gonna try to update the pics in my earlier posts as I use it to shame/inspire me to keep on keepin'on!
Bruce
xtremek
Well-known member
Welcome back Bruce. Looking forward to what you're going to bring us.
consti2tion
Well-known member
Glad to read that health is on the uptick as well. From one east Texas guy to another, this is a great thread!
Might as well do a small update. There is a car, a red 1991 Mustang convertible that appears on the first page, that has been a pain. Every time I get close to a good road car, something else blows up. Had a problem with a fuel pump that was fixed, but it also needed a new top so I piled in. Between ordering wrong parts, finding parts I broke and not knowing how to put on a top...it took longer than I had hoped.
After many small items fixed I was getting super close. Inspection station knocked me back for a broken headlight switch. It was not broken that morning, but it is 30 year old Ford plastic in Texas so brittle is expected. So I fixed it!
Suddenly it was scary to drive...Tie rods and ball joints both got wonky, so I fixed it!
Then a fuel filter! Should have expected that one as it had not gone through a tank of gas in 4 years so I fixed it!
Overheated and started leaking! Flush, thermostat, water pump and hoses...all new stuff but I had fixed it!
Suddenly it was legal, running nice, polished paint, new tires, interior was nie and the only thing left on my list was a better radio.
31 mile road trip went fine until it didn't. Started running BAAAAD and got hot.
Got it home and it would not start so I went down the list and found it had skipped at least 3 teeth on the timing belt. reset the timing got it up to snuff, but a new belt and tensioner was in order. So I fixed it!
Did you know that on a 2.3 Ford, in order to remove a timing belt cover it takes a Phillips head screwdriver? But to remove the back cover, it takes a 5.5mm (2), 8mm (2), 9mm (1) and 11mm (1)!!! That was before I learned that I didn't need to remove the back cover.
But I got it put back together with my triple checked eye on doing it right and all was well.
Until it blew a head gasket!
I have owned this car for 10 years and haven't put 200 miles on it with 31 being its longest trip. This is that project that I attack when the easy stuff ain't flowing. I have gone through 7 other car projects in between this cars failures. I get discouraged and do a couple of other projects before I want to tackle it again.
I just went to look up some pictures and they are ALL gone. The only file I have left seems to be some of my friends profile pics scattered in with a bunch of odd files that I am NOT gonna click on. Bit of a mystery.
Dang, I just got a window telling me I have hard drive problems and need to back everything up.
I'm gonna get some chocolate milk and go to bed now.
Bruce
After many small items fixed I was getting super close. Inspection station knocked me back for a broken headlight switch. It was not broken that morning, but it is 30 year old Ford plastic in Texas so brittle is expected. So I fixed it!
Suddenly it was scary to drive...Tie rods and ball joints both got wonky, so I fixed it!
Then a fuel filter! Should have expected that one as it had not gone through a tank of gas in 4 years so I fixed it!
Overheated and started leaking! Flush, thermostat, water pump and hoses...all new stuff but I had fixed it!
Suddenly it was legal, running nice, polished paint, new tires, interior was nie and the only thing left on my list was a better radio.
31 mile road trip went fine until it didn't. Started running BAAAAD and got hot.
Got it home and it would not start so I went down the list and found it had skipped at least 3 teeth on the timing belt. reset the timing got it up to snuff, but a new belt and tensioner was in order. So I fixed it!
Did you know that on a 2.3 Ford, in order to remove a timing belt cover it takes a Phillips head screwdriver? But to remove the back cover, it takes a 5.5mm (2), 8mm (2), 9mm (1) and 11mm (1)!!! That was before I learned that I didn't need to remove the back cover.
But I got it put back together with my triple checked eye on doing it right and all was well.
Until it blew a head gasket!
I have owned this car for 10 years and haven't put 200 miles on it with 31 being its longest trip. This is that project that I attack when the easy stuff ain't flowing. I have gone through 7 other car projects in between this cars failures. I get discouraged and do a couple of other projects before I want to tackle it again.
I just went to look up some pictures and they are ALL gone. The only file I have left seems to be some of my friends profile pics scattered in with a bunch of odd files that I am NOT gonna click on. Bit of a mystery.
Dang, I just got a window telling me I have hard drive problems and need to back everything up.
I'm gonna get some chocolate milk and go to bed now.
Bruce
consti2tion
Well-known member
At least the 2.3 is a non interference engine so jumping teeth or breaking the timing belt doesn't kill the valves and pistons. I have owned 5 fox body Mustang's, they were all 5.0 cars though. At one point my dad had around 20+ fox body cars though, so I am familiar with the 2.3. They are easy to work on though as you know apparently. Hopefully you will have better luck with it soon!
xtremek
Well-known member
Boy do I understand that shuffle business. Hang in there.