Above 1200 Sq/FT Harley Jim's place

[J808]

92' GMC, I picked it up last September. It had been off the road for several years. I put a 5.7/4L80E out of a 95' 3/4 ton in it. It's pretty clean inside and out for the year, not perfect but good. Found out it has 4.56 gears so it makes a good snow truck, I like the short wheel base it has.

 

[harley jim]

That is a very sharp truck, are you going to put a plow on it?





Im putting this dash in it, its inbetter shape than the one in it.
I have a 93 with the 5.7, I haven't looked but I would think it has a 4l60e. Im going to paint it and flip it. It looks like the same interior as yours.
My end game is to buy a 75 to 79 square body, If I could sell half of these I could probably pay for a decent square body.

 

[harley jim]

I got to play in my shop today for a change, it was 77 degrees and humid! So I played slowly .


I started by moving the two grape vines on the far end of the fence.

I had to move them because in a couple of years I would not be able to get the mower between them and the muskadines that are setting out in the yard. Once I put the arbors on top I would be cutting them back constantly to keep them separated also. They had actually started budding, so it was now or wait until next spring.
Then I started prepping the cup holder for the Blazer.

I took the one out of my 94 parts truck that I got from Willie.

I bought interior paint and adhesion promoter from Amazon. It sprayed out really well. Ill let it dry until Saturday and install it then.

In between coats, I started to reconditioned the top on the new table saw.

I got it halfway done, Ill finish it on Saturday, my elbow was tired!
I think it will be a close match to the Blazer!
Im back at the trike shop tomorrow, hopfully we will get four trikes built! I hope!

 

[BuffettFan]

My end game is to buy a 75 to 79 square body, If I could sell half of these I could probably pay for a decent square body.

I hate to think of all the square bodies that I sent to the boneyard over the years!
When they're gone to about 36" above the ground, frames rotted in places, and a dime a dozen, I never would have guessed that they would have been so sought after.

Who'da thought?!?

 

[harley jim]

Ain't that the truth! Back in the day I scrapped some that men would fight to get today.
My new 74 Cheyenne Super (they didnt start calling them Silverado until 75) was $3,283.00 that was sitting on the showroom floor. You can't even buy a replacement cab for that today.

 

[J808]

That is a very sharp truck, are you going to put a plow on it?





Im putting this dash in it, its inbetter shape than the one in it.
I have a 93 with the 5.7, I haven't looked but I would think it has a 4l60e. Im going to paint it and flip it. It looks like the same interior as yours.
My end game is to buy a 75 to 79 square body, If I could sell half of these I could probably pay for a decent square body.

No, probably not. I just like riding it around, so does my son, somehow we got to calling it "Joe Diffie" to not confuse it with my 97'. I'd say yours might have a 700R4 like mine did, it had no reverse when I got it (didn't know it) and the engine had a rod knock (did know).

 

[xtremek]

Anything rear wheel drive is worth stupid money nowadays. A squarebody medium duty truck is going for crazy money, even if they're rusted hulks.

 

[Jayman17]

That interior piece you painted looks great. What is your method on restoring that table saw top, it is looking like new! Just steel wool or some chemical too?

 

[harley jim]

No, probably not. I just like riding it around, so does my son, somehow we got to calling it "Joe Diffie" to not confuse it with my 97'. I'd say yours might have a 700R4 like mine did, it had no reverse when I got it (didn't know it) and the engine had a rod knock (did know).

I would say your right on the 700R4, I still try to call it a Tahoe, that name didnt come out until 95.

Anything rear wheel drive is worth stupid money nowadays. A squarebody medium duty truck is going for crazy money, even if they're rusted hulks.

Yep, but Im still going to have one.
There is a bunch of square body's and tons of parts in Georgia, especially closer to Atlanta, Ill find something!

That interior piece you painted looks great. What is your method on restoring that table saw top, it is looking like new! Just steel wool or some chemical too?

I used an 80 grit flap wheel in my drill, then hand sanded it with 120 grit, then past wax.

 

[harley jim]

I spent Saturday and Sunday in Dudes garage. Got all of the electrical done!

 

[xtremek]

Are you close to finishing the BiL's garage? How's the trike building going?

 

[harley jim]

His garage is getting closer!
A rundown, I needed to do this for me so bear with me.
1. Finish small amount of osb on walls
2. Build a set of stairs to the loft
3. Build a 7'x 26' knee wall in loft
4. Build a 12'x 16' wall at stairs
5. Spray entire interior white.
6. Insulate cieling
7. Install 5 rib roofing tin on cieling
8. Finish siding on three walls
9. Install garage door
Well! Maybe its not as close as I thought it was!

As far as Trikes go.

We finished phase one today

We have most of the trailer loaded.

We have five complete trikes, 20 welded frames, 10 weld your own kits in boxes, and 4 trailers.

We have the graphics done on three sides, we are waiting on warm weather, later this week to pull the trailer out and do side #4.

We did a parts inventory today and ordered tubing and flat parts to build 18 more frames.

We have to be ready to go to Florida in 13 days.

Then we get home Sunday, and reload the trailer on Monday, so we can leave Tuesday to set up at Chevies in the smokies! With the size of the new trailer, we have to be there and set up before everyone else shows up or we can't manuver.

I hate retirement, I think Im going to see if I can go get my old job back.
Anyone want to buy a trike business!

 

[Old Man Roger]

Lol

 

[harley jim]

I spent the day in my shop! It felt good to not have a plan for a change.

I started putting the drink holder together for the Blazer, when I noticed a piece on the metal frame had some paint scratched off, so I sanded and painted it. Hopfully I can finish it and install it tomorrow.

So I decided to sort one of my old 1/4" drive socket sets, I couldn't find the 1/4" socket, so I went looking for it and found another set that I bought at an estate sale last year for $2.50
The box was rusty and it only had one divider in it. So I cut another divider.

I like theses old boxes, they are easy to modify and easy to carry with you.

I welded the divider and sand blasted the box.

I found a name on the box.
It got two coats of hammered Bronze and is drying next to the drink holder.
So since I was kind of in socket mode, I tore out everything in the top of my tool box and started organizing sockets onto runners and screwing them to a piece of plywood that I cut to fit the box. It was 7:00 when I finally closed shop and went looking for some supper.

There is an add on marketplace for this wood burning stove for $100.00, I sent a message to him, wanting to go get it tomorrow, Im still waiting on a reply.
Ill catch up on pics tomorrow, it was so good to sit in my shop today!

 

[harley jim]

The person with the wood heater listed on marketplace has not responded back, after some digging they don't have a good rating, so we move on!

The box came out good.

I filled it up, the back row is metric, the front row is standard, I have a couple missing, Ill have to go through my 5 gallon bucket of spares and find a couple.

So I used the other set to put the cup holder in the Blazer.

Duplicolor said 24I was dark blue interior code, which is one of the codes on my tag, Im thinking it may be 24N, indigo blue, so, more research is needed, but I really like the way it fit.

I got tired of the dark corner in the fab shop so I added a light.
This is going to be an organizational year in my shop, things are finally going to be placed in there correct spot and tools will be organized.


I started on the toolbox in the fab shop this week.
I have been quietly and slowly painting drawer units and boxes. I have my Dad's old Remline toolbox that is going to get a paintjob and it will go to the woodshop and hold woodshop tools.

it is a bronze hammered cabinet with red drawers, kind of like the way I have been painting the other cabinets in the shop. See there is a method to my madness, and y'all thought that all of these years I have just been painting all willy-nilly!
Got to go to the lodge in a bit, we are having a school of instruction tonight, which is basically a practice session with a bunch of Men from other lodges joining in.

 

[harley jim]

Its hard to tell what's going on, but Im heating a piece of pvc pipe!

I bent it and added some bits, then painted it.

Then, I installed it in the 220 circuit for my air compressor! Im tired of forgetting to turn the compressor off and remembering it four hours later.

Then, I cleaned up the mess, and calibrated a new gauge.

Then, I turned these,

Into these.

Then I drew this line on the bench with a soapstone.

Then I bent this old rebar to match the curve, only seven more to go!

Ok! This pic is off, the lower piece is about 36ish" long and will weld to the long rebar, then the end pieces get welded on. These arms will be on top of the 4x4 posts that my new grape and scuppernong vines are growing on. I planted the grapes last year and the scuppernongs, the year before that. As they grow up the post they will canopy onto these rebar arms, I find it much easier to have them overhead, then I only have to mow around a 4x4 not the whole vine and conventional side trellis that grapes are normally planted on.
More to come, Im not really liking how they are coming together yet. They need to be no taller than seven ft., or you can't reach them.

 

[rharman]

@harley jim - How'd you get that nice PVC bend without any kinks? Fill with sand? What diameter is it?

 

[harley jim]

Rharman, if you look close you can see the end of the spring sticking out of the pvc, its one of those springs that you put on copper tubing to bend it. I just put it inside instead of on the outside.
Its ¾" pvc, I had to grind a bevel into the end to get the flex line coupler adapted to it, then quick dry super glued everything together.

 

[kaymccampbell]

I need something like that light. I'm always forgetting to turn off the compressor and the other side of the shop. And my electric foot heater.

 

[rharman]

I had the same issue with our recirculating hot water. It's controlled by an X-10 switch. I added a 3-way adapter to the X-10 receptacle and wired up a jelly jar lamp on the garage wall. I can just peek into the (attached) garage and be sure the pump is off when we aren't using it.

 

[harley jim]

Kay, it works!

I was shutting down the shop tonight!
I have been wanting to do this for a long time but kept putting it off, I was cleaning out some junk at the lodge Friday night and found the tiny red bulbs, so I took it as a sign.

I went to the shop today to work on the grape arbors, and decided that I need my welding table cleaned off first.

Well, this parking meter has been laying there for about a year at least.
So I decided to finish the pile on the bench before moving forward with the arbors.

I gathered some stuff.

The end of it is tapered and stepped not easy to just sit on a post.

I cut a sleeve and plug welded it into this pipe, and I welded up the holes I drilled in the wrong spots.

It fit well, I drilled and tap a 1/4-20 hole in the front to keep it straight.

Then I cut this piece of square tube and shaped and drilled the flat bar.
I did weld it together and paint it but you have to wait until tomorrow to see it, because I didnt take a pic.
Tomorrow we continue on the hardwood floor installation in the house, Pat has been moving furniture and stacking boxes of flooring in the kitchen. So Tomorrow we start the living room.

 

[harley jim]

I finished the parking meter today.

The lenses were so bad you could not see the writing inside the meters, I wet sanded them to 3000 then polished with semichrome polish, then finished with Mothers carnuba.

I mounted the bracket in the carport, then after I reassemble them and fitted them with new locks, I carried this lead brick of a piece to the bracket and mounted it.

The lenses came out nice.

I don't remember where I got them but I always knew that they would go here! One more project off my bench, the organization continues!
I worked on cutting splines for the hardwood flooring, it was a pain in the **** running ¼"x½" pieces through a tables saw, but they are done. The carpet comes out tomorrow, after I get back from the Dr's appointment.

 

[Prospecter]

Could be a money maker to support your hobbies. Do you have a ticket book? Maybe you should get a wheel boot?

 

[harley jim]

Hey, Prospector, I never thought about a boot! Good idea.


I got the carpet and padding out today, with Pats help. We will start laying floor tomorrow, tonight we rest!
We got an order for five gas trikes today, Looks like we will be back in the trike shop sooner than later.

 

[harley jim]

So I got myself up and started the living room today!

I tied my first run into the bedroom floor, I ran a string line to the other end of the room, then ran the first corse all of the way, then I had to add a spline to the groved side and reverse the direction of the tongue and groove going towards the front door. I glued and pin nailed the spline into the groove and the wood to the floor all in one shot with 2"x 18 gauge pin nails. The finish is playing tricks with the color in the pics, it dosent look like that in person.

So the string ran down the center of the first two courses, I shifted it back and forth as needed with the big floor staple gun and the BFH! It worked perfectly, I had the string perfectly in the middle.

I was within a 32nd all of the way down the wall.

I undercut the baseboards from the corner to about four ft. past the door, this allowed me to cut the board at the threshold close, it came out perfect.

Behind the door is a clean finish also.

My knees gave out on me so I didnt want to try to cut in the last run tonight, Ill do that first thing in the morning. I can run the rest of the floor standing up with the big staple gun, so tomorrow should be halfway decent. I have to run the last three courses on my knees with the pin nailer, thats the hard part.
I sold five standard gas frames to a Man in Kentucky, Im hoping to get the floor done by Friday, then Ill go build frames Saturday while Pat cleans and decorates.

 

[Prospecter]

This is my go to creeper seat. Very stable, the wheels roll easily and are less likely to mark up a floor than some. I don't use the cup/tool holders and glued the cushion in place. Might save those knees.

 

[harley jim]

I have one similar to that the problem is my belly, it wont let me reach the floor!

 

[harley jim]

I got some more done today but not as much as it should have been.
I found a bad board and had to cut about five out to get it. The edge of the board looked like bark, or maybe a knot, anyway it fell out and left a gap so it had to go!

 

[Bears Fan]

That's not very nice of you making your own wife pay to park

The living room floor is looking good

 

[harley jim]

Tony, I got to pay for her new floor somehow!

Thanks, I got a little farther today.
Things keep interrupting me, I had to go visit a friend in the hospital last night, he had a leg amputated last month, they went back in yesterday and cut another inch off of the bone, it was not healing! Then I had to grind two trike frames this morning so they could go to powder coat!

I need to hurry up, I have Saturday to get done. Sunday I start prepping for the colonoscopy on Monday! Yeah!!!

 

[Prospecter]

The floor looks super!
Sorry about your friend. A good reminder that there is always someone with a bigger challenge.
Good luck on Monday.

 

[harley jim]

Thank you,
He has come to terms with what happened, it was really getting to him for a bit, but he has a great attitude now, he'll be fine.
Hoping to finish the floor today!

 

[harley jim]

living room is done. Break time!

 

[harley jim]

Got the colonoscopy today, removed 24, Doc said sit down for five days, no lifting nothing. Grrrrrrrrr!

 

[Prospecter]

Glad you're ok. Time to catch up on Dreaded Desk Work! All that stuff we hate to do. Also to do "research" on YouTube.

 

[BuffettFan]

Wow!
That's a bunch, Jim. How long since your last one?

 

[xtremek]

I think they removed 5 from me. What's a lot?

 

[harley jim]

Any is to much, left unattended they continue to grow until they rupture and become cancerous.
In 1995 I became very anemic, lost all energy, after many tests the Doc decided I needed to get a colonoscopy, at 37yr old, they found 13 polips, and four had burst and as the Doc called them, pre-cancerous. My anemia went away quickly and I felt good again. I had to have a colonoscopy every year for the next five years, then every three years, and so on! Until this year, they have found one or two, here and there, and most times, they found none. Next week The lab results will be back and I do a follow-up with the Doc, most likely I will get moved back up the scale, and have to have them more often. And thats just fine, if they cut them out they can't hurt you, if you leave them you will die.

Im headed to Chicago in the morning, My Daughter has unexpectedly passed, and I have to go be with her for a bit. See y'all when I get home.

 

[BuffettFan]

So sorry to hear this Jim.
Our prayers are with you.

 

[Prospecter]

So sorry. Not much as difficult as mourning our offspring.