Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

[OutlawDrifter]

Prayers and positive vibes for your nephew!

 

[realvc]

Praying for your nephew and your family JB.

Vince

 

[Bob Heine]

JB, it's so easy to take our health for granted. I'm pleased to hear your nephew is being treated at St. Jude's. My invisible friend helps but it's important to have the experts doing their part.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Bob's right. (I get so tired of saying that)

He's getting great care there, but it still takes a toll on everyone.

We will pray for him and his family as they go through this together. Thanks for letting us know.

 

[Nlped]

I’ve never had a family member go to St Jude’s but we’ve been a contributor for some time as it’s such a great program. Sounds like he’s in great hands and Bob’s right about the invisible guy helping out too.


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[mybigwarwagon]

I hope he is better soon. Nothing worse than a sick child.

 

[Seagoon]

Thoughts from this side of the pond too.

 

[jbmatth]

Prayers and positive vibes for your nephew!

Praying for your nephew and your family JB.

Vince

JB, it's so easy to take our health for granted. I'm pleased to hear your nephew is being treated at St. Jude's. My invisible friend helps but it's important to have the experts doing their part.

Bob's right. (I get so tired of saying that)

He's getting great care there, but it still takes a toll on everyone.

We will pray for him and his family as they go through this together. Thanks for letting us know.

I’ve never had a family member go to St Jude’s but we’ve been a contributor for some time as it’s such a great program. Sounds like he’s in great hands and Bob’s right about the invisible guy helping out too.


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I hope he is better soon. Nothing worse than a sick child.

Thoughts from this side of the pond too.

All,
Thank you so much for the support, thoughts, and prayers. It is all very appreciated and welcome at this stage. A bit of an update on him, he will get the spinal tap this morning around 7 as well as have his bone marrow tested. At this time the statistics show 90-94% success rate, 10-15% chance at relapse, and a 3% chance at needing a bone marrow transplant. The odds are in his favor, and I'll take that. I'll be spending a week or two with he and his mother in Memphis over the next 2 months as needed. Sadly she will not be getting paid as confirmed yesterday by her school (her job is safe), and my brother must return to work after these first two weeks of chemo to finish out the school year traveling (5 hours) to see them on weekends.

JB

 

[oldironfarmer]

Keep us posted. It's sounding good.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thoughts and prayers go out to your little nephew JB. Tough battle but we're pulling for him.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: I hear St. Jude is great so prayers sent and of course I’ll throw in some for the parents and relatives. Hoping for the best!!

 

[jbmatth]

Keep us posted. It's sounding good.

Thoughts and prayers go out to your little nephew JB. Tough battle but we're pulling for him.

JB: I hear St. Jude is great so prayers sent and of course I’ll throw in some for the parents and relatives. Hoping for the best!!

All,
Thank you again, St. Jude is one of the best and they are very happy and fortunate to be admitted there. All went well yesterday, spinal tap complete, bone marrow tested (ouch, but he was sedated), and first round of chemo is in the books. He took it all in stride, he has been extra clingy to mama but really loves to ride around in his wagon. They have been making lap after lap after lap around the area he is staying. He is one tough cookie!

On a lighter note my new springs and traction bars are scheduled to arrive today, I gave up sleeping at about 2 this morning so I pulled the old ones out and am ready to install the new ones this evening. With the lift being occupied by my brothers truck I did all of this on the floor with jack stands, it reminded me why I like the lift so much.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

I'm still here and keeping busy, I had a pretty productive weekend all in all. I spent most of it cleaning up the yard, burning limbs, stumps, etc. then mowing for the first time this season. Can't believe it is already mowing season.

I was able to get a couple of hours in on my brothers truck:

Ready to pull the engine now, I went a little lazy on it and focused elsewhere. Now that mowing season is upon us I decided to load up the truck that was dropped off last November when another of my brothers brought it to pull the engine and trans out for his Camaro. That showed me one glaring omission from my tool collection. A come-a-long, I used 2" ratchet straps because I couldn't pull it up with another truck, my forearm is sore today.

I finished the installation of the traction bars on the Lil' Blue Truck and have some shocks on order as the others are too long. I also had to clearance the fender flares so they wouldn't get destroyed by the tires hitting them. I think Outlaw asked about ground clearance, here is what it looks like installed:

You probably loose 2" at the axle and around the same where the front pivot mounts. No trouble so far on my test drive this weekend (without shocks). It will boot and scoot and I have no axle wrap problems anymore. I had to know if it would do a burnout so I tested it for a second:

Yep that'll do,
JB

 

[rixtrix1]

Prayers for your nephew and family. Good to hear he got accepted at St. Judes, as it's supposed to be the best at this. Just hoping everyone can stay positive throughout the long treatment process. Best wishes!

 

[jbmatth]

Thank you Ric, I really appreciate all of the positive vibes I've gotten on this site.

A little update on him, he made it through the tough part of the treatment and they are out of the hospital but still on site. Seems to be reacting as well as can be expected thus far.

JB

 

[rixtrix1]

I'm guessing that once you've pulled the body from a particular type of truck a dozen times or so , that becomes by nature the easiest way to access the engine! Those of us with out lifts can only bow down, JB. Since the back of the Cal-trac is above the wheel, that area shouldn't have a clearance problem. It's the forward part below the spring eye, on any type of leaf spring mounted traction device, that can catch on curbs, driveway turns, etc

 

[jbmatth]

Right you are Ric, all in all it is just easier for me to pull the engine out this way. Less time spent leaning over the fender, less time under the truck on my back taking things off that will be much easier to access later on. I hope to start actually pulling the engine in the morning and getting some parts soaking to clean them up.

JB

 

[1/2 Cup]

JB our thoughts and prayers are with you.

 

[jbmatth]

Much appreciated 1/2, and ours are with you as well. After seeing what you've had to go through and now my nephew it gives me a better appreciation for the severity of the situation. You are one tough cookie, keep it up.

All,
I found out recently I will be getting The Lemon back (Zinc Yellow 2000 Ford ****** ZX2) as it is no longer needed by my brother. I'm starting to get overrun by vehicles, that is why I had the silver truck loaded up and took it to the scrap yard. It never gets old seeing them use the claw to pick up a vehicle:

Scrap is up to $130/ton here, I should have loaded the bed down with concrete and dirt.

JB

 

[zmotorsports]

Much appreciated 1/2, and ours are with you as well. After seeing what you've had to go through and now my nephew it gives me a better appreciation for the severity of the situation. You are one tough cookie, keep it up.

All,
I found out recently I will be getting The Lemon back (Zinc Yellow 2000 Ford ****** ZX2) as it is no longer needed by my brother. I'm starting to get overrun by vehicles, that is why I had the silver truck loaded up and took it to the scrap yard. It never gets old seeing them use the claw to pick up a vehicle:

Scrap is up to $130/ton here, I should have loaded the bed down with concrete and dirt.

JB

I know it is a scrap yard but damn, that is still hard to see a vehicle get destroyed.

 

[oldironfarmer]

I know it is a scrap yard but damn, that is still hard to see a vehicle get destroyed.

Yeah, think of all the good fasteners on that truck you'll be searching for later.

Still praying for your nephew.

 

[jbmatth]

I know it is a scrap yard but damn, that is still hard to see a vehicle get destroyed.

I agree Mike, in 40 years I'll look back and think about all the cool classic trucks I killed over the years and be upset with myself. However, I just can't keep them all and this one was actually in pretty rough shape all in all.

Yeah, think of all the good fasteners on that truck you'll be searching for later.

Still praying for your nephew.

I have my metric bolt bins full to the brim and two 5 gallon buckets full as well, one thing I did need to pull I just remembered today was the blend door actuator for the HVAC for the white truck. Luckily it is a $10 part but still makes me sad I forgot to grab it.

Thank you for the prayers, they are appreciated.

JB

 

[Redwolf947]

One of my jobs when I was young was working at a salvage yard. Other than having to work in all different weather cold, rain ,boiling hot, It was a fun job. Had a good fair boss too. Some fun
cutting the frames off busses then cutting them in half with a torch or sawzall so we could squash em in the crusher.. , torching parts off cars, figuring out how stuff was built. Tearing cars down in general. I learned alot there.. one thing I don't recommend, cutting windshields out on 100 degree day being the guy in the car... haha that wasn't fun... But, racing around in old beaters thru the yard.. ahh the good old days..

Prayers as well for your nephew ..Hope all ends up well..

 

[jbmatth]

One of my jobs when I was young was working at a salvage yard. Other than having to work in all different weather cold, rain ,boiling hot, It was a fun job. Had a good fair boss too. Some fun
cutting the frames off busses then cutting them in half with a torch or sawzall so we could squash em in the crusher.. , torching parts off cars, figuring out how stuff was built. Tearing cars down in general. I learned alot there.. one thing I don't recommend, cutting windshields out on 100 degree day being the guy in the car... haha that wasn't fun... But, racing around in old beaters thru the yard.. ahh the good old days..

Prayers as well for your nephew ..Hope all ends up well..

Redwolf,
I have always thought working in a junkyard, or even better owning one would be fun. Watching them use the claw never gets old, the operator was really good with it on top of that. I get to "race" around in old beaters everyday too, but sadly I call that my work truck, for such a large profitable company the employees sure get some crusty beaters.

All seems to be going well with Payden, he had his 3rd spinal tap yesterday and all is going as well as could be expected thus far.

JB

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: good to hear your nephew is doing well at St. Jude's and just letting you know we are thinking about him and sending prayers.

i've never actually seen a car or truck in your case picked up and crushed in person and only in the movies. I've heard of people loading them up with old tires, dirt and cement and feel sorry for the owner of the scrap yard when i hear that cause it's his livelyhood.

i'm guessing Andy didn't have any room at his place for more scrap?

cheers and best of luck with all the projects you've got on your TO DO LISTS.

 

[jbmatth]

JB: good to hear your nephew is doing well at St. Jude's and just letting you know we are thinking about him and sending prayers.

i've never actually seen a car or truck in your case picked up and crushed in person and only in the movies. I've heard of people loading them up with old tires, dirt and cement and feel sorry for the owner of the scrap yard when i hear that cause it's his livelyhood.

i'm guessing Andy didn't have any room at his place for more scrap?

cheers and best of luck with all the projects you've got on your TO DO LISTS.

Thank you Drives, it is much appreciated.

It is a site to see, but for them just another day on the job. I've heard that as well and don't really know understand why people insist on being mean like that. I'm sure the one I scrapped had some dirt in the frame and such but I didn't add anything extra other than more scrap metal.

To be honest I didn't ask him. I did save the aluminum wheels for him though, maybe he will even let me pull the tires off for practice with the slide hammer or even the tire machine. I did try to sell it with no takers so off it went.

Thanks again, I have my brothers truck up first to re-gasket the engine then I'd like to try cleaning up my shop a bit, it could really use a good cleaning and de-cluttering. Maybe Andy could give me some pointers.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

Made good progress on the white truck this weekend, everything is cleaned up that needed to be, all gaskets replaced and it is going back together now:

Just like every one of these engines I mess with there were broken exhaust manifold bolts to remove. I used the same method as before with great results, put a tack weld on the end of the broken stud then repeat until you have enough to grab with pliers or vise grips and turn them out:

I'm to the point that I can re-install the engine now but was sidetracked by other stuff. Turns out installing the springs on a trampoline will give you some nice blisters using the supplied tool, good pliers work better. Also as it turns out I still like jumping on a trampoline and so do the girls.

JB

 

[OutlawDrifter]

JB I use a similar process, but tack a nut in place.

 

[oldironfarmer]

JB I use a similar process, but tack a nut in place.

X2. Of course it's the welding heat that gets them loose.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

X2. Of course it's the welding heat that gets them loose.

Agreed

 

[jbmatth]

JB I use a similar process, but tack a nut in place.

Outlaw,
I've tried the nut before but just don't feel like I have the control not to hit the aluminum heads too much. I've found they usually aren't too tight, my little 1/4" hex dewalt will spin them out after a couple of hits and have never (knock on wood) broken one, they have always been broken when I get them

X2. Of course it's the welding heat that gets them loose.

Andy,
Right you are, the heat certainly does wonders on them. I just remembered I broke one of the exhaust flange bolts off after the Y pipe I still need to remove, that one is a pressed in stud so it'll be a big more fun to remove, hopefully a socket and clamp will do the trick.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

Made a little more progress on the white truck, I have the engine back in the frame, all of the wiring connections I can do for the time being, starter in and main power wire installed, then it was time for the exhaust. Remember that broken bolt, well the clamp didn't cut it, the 2 lb sledge didn't either so out comes the vise:

I was getting a little worried but it worked, that photo was taken after it was almost completely out. But it worked, and the exhaust is now bolted out completely. Next up is dropping the body back down to re-install the AC compressor while holding the engine up slightly with the hoist, should be fun and exciting.

JB

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Whatever it takes to get the job done.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Whatever it takes to get the job done.

X 2
You do what you have to do.

 

[shortykorte]

2lb sledge? It would have been a lot more fun with s 10 lb especially if you hit your toe. Lol.


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[jbmatth]

Whatever it takes to get the job done.

X 2
You do what you have to do.

Thanks for checking in War and 1/2,
If it works it works, luckily I could tell after just a minute the C clamp and hammer were not going to cut it so time to move on rather than fight a loosing battle.

2lb sledge? It would have been a lot more fun with s 10 lb especially if you hit your toe. Lol.


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There is the resident safety adviser, thanks for joining Shorty. Where were you when I was putting up the girls trampoline this weekend? I have two ruptured blisters on my hand from using their chincy install too.

JB

 

[oldironfarmer]

Had our safety man been there the ER would have put in stitches.

Nice press you have there.

 

[iced98lx]

One thing I've done a few times is used a set of ARP header studs on vehicles I know I'm going to be monkeying with in the future. If you have room it sure is sweet to back off the nuts and yank the headers vs go through the whole process again. Looks like good progress thanks to the vice!

 

[jbmatth]

Had our safety man been there the ER would have put in stitches.

Nice press you have there.

Andy,
One of our safety guys has a saying, "I'm the safety guy because I have already broken all of these rules before so I know what not to do." He is a good ol boy rancher that can have you in stitches from laughter.

One thing I've done a few times is used a set of ARP header studs on vehicles I know I'm going to be monkeying with in the future. If you have room it sure is sweet to back off the nuts and yank the headers vs go through the whole process again. Looks like good progress thanks to the vice!

Iced, I think this is the first time you've posted on my thread, if so welcome, if not I apologize for not remembering. I like studs usually and never reuse GM bolts but rather get either ARP for my S10, or Mr. Gasket bolts for this truck. Kinda an experiment, in 5 years I'll know if it was a good idea or not.

JB

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Thanks for checking in War



JB

It finally stopped raining non stop after 4 months and I had to get back to work.