Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Shakenfake's Small Shop

[shakenfake]

Friday night I believe that I found a crack in the engine block that is currently in the Grand Prix. Saturday morning I drove about an hour to pick up a VERY clean Pontiac 455 block and came home with two, the extra one has some damage to cylinder number 3's bore but it should come out. Sunday night I pulled the engine and took it down to the short block.
Sometime this week I will take all three to the machine shop. The good one will get prepped for install, the cracked one just checked for repairability, the bad bore will also get checked. I also am going to throw in my extra LT1 block to know if it is junk or not.

Also I replaced the ram on my HF engine hoist. The old one was leaking pretty badly.

 

[shakenfake]

I **** at doing things in a timely manner...

I think next Monday they will finally be at the machine shop, a month late. There has been a lot of rain and business which has put a halt on such activities.
In other news, I finished the break in on the gears for my Impala a couple weeks ago and will be changing the fluid this week.
My Duramax has a hurt transfer case since I ran it low on fluid (oops).

 

[shakenfake]

Pontiac block has been confirmed scrap. I dropped off the good one this morning and also picked up the LT1 block. I don't know what I will do with that just yet. I haven't done anything on the Grand Prix. I've been waiting for the summer to finally end.
Impala has just been getting driven. Normal stuff.
Duramax t-case is okay.
Silverado needs a new ac compressor.

No shop updates. I am headed to the Pontiac Southern Nationals with a LOT of parts to sell so hopefully I will come back with a fatter wallet from that. If all goes well I will have a LOT more room on the shelves and I can reorganize a little bit. I did sell 7 wheels a week or two ago which cleared me some space out in the car port. Just makes it look a little less messy.

 

[shakenfake]

3 boxes of **** thrown out last night. Hitting the metal dumpster tomorrow to take out some more trash. Tidying up!

Trying to decide what to put in all this new found space...

 

[shakenfake]

Meant to update on myself, I am back in a boot for 3 weeks. I hopefully get out of it the day before Thanksgiving. Already had it on for over a week now. This means shop and projects are dead for the time being.

My girlfriend bought a 2007 Honda Accord with the 2.4L and an auto. Needs motor mounts, knock sensor and some keys made and it'll be a fine ride. She is coming from a 2017 Toyota Corolla. I'll change the oil and filters sometime this weekend most likely.

 

[shakenfake]

It is supposed to rain pretty good today and FedEx just left my package outside. They didn't even try the gate WTF.

I get it but omg that is annoying, next time I will put a sign.

 

[shakenfake]

Pontiac block is ready for pickup. I'll get it sometime next week.

 

[shakenfake]

Last night my girlfriend backed into a parked truck. I am pretty sure that my bumper already had some of the dent by the plastic. It just barely kissed my bedside but the bumper isn't pushed in. Oh well.

 

[shakenfake]

Engine blocks are home. The cracked one I don't know what I'll do with yet. I need to disassemble it first and then think about it.

 

[Mark_17]

Sounds like scrap

 

[shakenfake]

I was banned and now I am back. I guess I can't joke about pouring old gas and oil into the dirt on my property? If this was college football I believe that'd be a targeting call.

Anyhow, I am out of the walking boot I was in. Engine has been torn down. I found some weird things with it. Main bearings looked not so great, crank journals were fine. The front two main studs were wayyyyy tight. Rounded one out so had to replace it. One of the rear main cap nuts were boogered up. Not sure how it didn't ruin the stud but I was able to get two new nuts off McMaster Carr, yes they are actually ARP. I went with two because ARP changed the design of them from a 6 pt. to a 12 pt. Didn't want mismatched stuff. I have 8 days off in December not including the holiday days and weekends (which there are four) so the goal is to get the car running and possibly driving.

Got some Ernst socket rails for my metric sockets. Ended up buying another tool cart from Hobo Freight and a new 11/16s 1/2" drive 12 pt. deep socket I needed for the rear main cap nuts.

Replaced all the motor and trans mounts on my girlfriend's 07 Accord. Not a bad job but the old mounts were trashed. They weren't connected to anything.

 

[shakenfake]

Oh also one more thing while I was gone. My girlfriend backed into a 2017 Ram 1500 pickup in my LBZ. So that was fun. Just scratched his bumper but his wife/crack queen came out screamin and he was also yelling expletives and all sorts of stuff. It really wasn't bad at all, no body damage and the bumper probably could have just been repainted lol
Apparently they are struggling because she doesn't have a job and he is in and out of work and yada yada. So obviously instead of letting insurance repair his truck they just went and bought a 2019+ GMC Sierra SLT 1500. Next time I see him I'll ask him if he is still struggling to pay bills.

 

[shakenfake]

New box.

Took 90% of everything down off the walls and put them into drawers in my other USG box. Finally feels like I have something more put together around here! I also got a Bose home audio system that will be going in eventually. That will be nice. No real updates on any of the rides. Basically just putting gas in and driving.

 

[shakenfake]

Man having this box is pretty nice. I've got everything pretty organized now except for hardware. I have no idea what to do with it all. I have a lot.
I think I will probably get my new work bench setup and then figure out a hardware solution inside of it. I have some tentative plans on how I want it set up but that will probably be a while yet.

I did sell my 3D printer, that is a sorta shop update. I have my eyes on one but I need to wait a bit to justify the purchase.

 

[shakenfake]

Installed a 220 outlet on the carport side of my shop finally after probably a year of kicking the idea around. It is a 30 amp circuit. I did it to run the Harbor Freight welder my buddy owns so he could burn in an under bed notch on my 99 Silverado. Came out great and so did the notch.

 

[shakenfake]

Got a 15 Gal. DeWalt air compressor a few weeks ago for free. Needed brushes but apparently started and ran. Turns out it doesn’t so off to Facebook Marketplace it goes. I have better things to do than fart around trying to get this thing to work.

Probably going to sell my Craftsman band saw as well, don’t use it and it sits outside. Honestly might sell my other Craftsman air compressor too since it smells like it is burning when I run it and doesn’t seem to be powerful enough to run the die grinder.

 

[shakenfake]

OMG a shop update for once!

Got a ridge vent installed by my roofer semi family member. Hopefully that should bring down the stuffiness. Next up are some soffit vents.

Still picking away at the Grand Prix. Also selling off all my old **** that’s just piling up everywhere.

 

[shakenfake]

Work truck got broken into. All my tools gone but not the air compressor lol

 

[Xti04]

Work truck got broken into. All my tools gone but not the air compressor lol

That *****! No worse feeling than someone taking your stuff.

 

[shakenfake]

Yeah it ***** for sure

Engine is back in the car now. Trans is also in the car. Slowly making progress.

 

[shakenfake]

Everything is ready to go! Went to fire it up on Saturday but nada. First issue was the CAN hook up coming out of the Sniper main harness is NOT where you plug in the monitor. Second issue was I plumbed the fuel regulator backwards. Third issue is that the engine just flat out won’t light off. Just backfires and pops. I’m 99% sure that the timing is correct. Maybe it is 180 out but I’m certain I set it up correctly lol timing light looks good.
Just ordered new plugs.

Basically I’m where I was back 2 years ago with the carb setup. EXACTLY the same problem even though that one eventually lit off and ran for 20 seconds or so but could never idle.

 

[shakenfake]

It lives!!!
Sounds great, idles a bit high. Have it set at 750 with the Sniper but idles at 950 about.

Now time to fix all the leaks and get it on the trailer to go to the fab shop.

 

[shakenfake]

Maiden voyage yesterday. Two trips around the block.

Brakes still need work and a little aggravating. Needs a different throttle spring. Thursday it is getting loaded up and taken to the exhaust shop. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the hood on tonight, I’ll be out of town for work tomorrow and Wednesday.

 

[shakenfake]

Started clearing up the rafters last night. Not picture are about 50 other jars that were screwed to boards screwed to the joists. Got a lot of work to go and a lot of trash to bring down. The goal is to have it completely clear and rip the rest of the insulation down by the end of the week.

 

[shakenfake]

9 months later I still haven't gotten to the insulation. However, I did reorganize the shop. I removed that countertop in the picture above and drug it out to the curb. Threw out a lot of **** but continue to acquire **** I don't want.