Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

[jbmatth]

I made a little progress this week and am pretty happy about that as the weather is really nice and it helps to motivate me to get some stuff done in the little time I have after work and not save it all for weekends. The new muffler for the Ion Redline (IRL) arrived and I started work getting it installed. Last time I checked in I'd already installed the V Band and a short section of straight pipe, that was much too loud so I hunted for a muffler that would quiet things down but not kill flow, made of SS, and also importantly cheap but name brand. I settled on this:


Flow FX by Flowmaster, it is a standard looking muffler but a straight through design with perforated piping and fiberglass packing. I used similar on my S-10 but from Borla and liked it but this was a little cheaper. I had to cut the straight down a little and fitted the new muffler on:


I also built a hanger and welded it on, I'm happy the fit worked out great:


But mostly I'm thrilled the car is much quieter now while driving, the family will also like this when we take trips. I did leave the muffler a bit short so if I decide to add a tip later it'll fit the car just fine.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

In other news The Lemon sold last night and all the extra parts I could find (remember) were included in the sale, he was really happy to get it as his mother had one when he was growing up, he left around 6:30. That is when the adventure started...I got a message 30 minutes later asking if the gas gauge worked, which it does and I'd filled it up 4 miles before their test drive. They limped it along to within 1/2 a mile of a truck stop on I-35 into Kansas on a toll road. I packed a few tools and hopped in the car and headed that way.

I helped them tow it to the truck stop and started trouble shooting and found out the fuel pump had decided to die, it was getting power but no pressure. Luckily I had an old tank and pump assembly at the house that was half full of really old gas. I turned around and made the 30 mile drive home to get it and a Chilton's manual for the car as well, then the 30 mile trip back smelling like varnish.

Swapped it in and it still wouldn't start, there is no bleed or test port on the fuel rail so I started down the list of other potential problems, it had spark, theoretically in time, so went back to fuel I was eventually able to get the fuel line off to bleed it out. Still no start, next pulled an injector plug off to test it, I didn't have my noid light so tried with my meter, he cranked and the car started. They took it around the block and all good so we packed up to leave.

Just as I was getting in a guy came out carrying 4 gallons of coolant, he'd blown a radiator hose on his semi and asked for a lift. Why not, hop in, I might as well keep my good karma bank full, dropped him off 1/2 mile later at his truck and home I went. I made it in bed at 11 pm, I haven't stayed up that late in a really long time, 3:30 am came way to quick this morning.

JB

 

[Grizz1963]

Hero of the week badge goes to…….



JB.

 

[jbmatth]

Hero of the week badge goes to…….



JB.

Haha, not sure about that, but I felt like I had to help them out since I'd just sold it, might as well since I was there help the other guy out.

JB

 

[OutlawDrifter]

On the bright side, they are SUPER easy to change out a fuel pump in, even if you do it through the passenger cabin!

Your "good dude" vibes are flying high today!

 

[jbmatth]

On the bright side, they are SUPER easy to change out a fuel pump in, even if you do it through the passenger cabin!

Your "good dude" vibes are flying high today!

They really are super easy, back seat bottom comes up with just pop clips, 4 screws for the cover, two wiring connections, and fuel line then the retainer ring, if the ring cooperates it is a 10 minute R&R.

I'll just try to keep my head down and save the "good dude" vibes for when I need them, probably in 2 days. haha

JB

 

[jbmatth]

Other than the odd day off of work I hadn't used any of my vacation this year and needed to get started on it or risk loosing some at the end of the year. Between the 5 small outages I have at work and the large 2 month long turnaround (outage) this fall it would be a real possibility I'd loose some so I took all of last week off. When I scheduled it I expected the week to be mild to warm and like a typical spring day. What I got instead was cool to mild and raining over half of the time. I'll take it because we really needed the rain. Sadly we only got a touch over 1.5" (~40mm) but the runoff from some of the heavier ones helped to fill the pond up about 6" (150mm) sadly also it is still about 5' low (1.5m). Before the rain I took the opportunity to get some work done around the ranch, burned a couple of burn piles. This one took some work to get going but eventually burned down to just ash:


This one on the other hand was easy to get started:


But even with stirring it up with the bucket never did much more than smolder until the rain came the next day, then even after 4 days of rain I saw is smoldering again so stirred it up by hand. It has now been about 12 days total of burning and it is all but ash including the Osage Orange tree I piled it around.

Also before it rained I mowed the grass, worked with wife to get new tires on here Jeep, then took her old tires home to be used on the farm truck Lever Action. The tires we pulled off were cupping from a tire rotation being skipped when she had the oil changed for free at the dealership. Sadly I didn't know she'd done that so never asked about rotating them. They were pretty good tires overall and no more than I drive L.A. I figured why now and save from having to buy new ones for it this year. The old wheels were only 16" diameter whereas her Jeep was on 17's so I had to swap out to another set of wheels I had laying around. Out with the old:


In with the new, even though these are only 1" larger in diameter the sure seemed a lot bigger:


Soon I'll have to do a ton of work on this truck, but it keeps getting pushed back for other vehicles and ranch work. I do actually feel pretty bad for neglecting it this long, but will make up for it in time.

The last thing I did before even the tire swap was run down to a sporting goods store and pick up a new larger safe for the house garage. The inside safe was way too small for what I've acquired and was out of room to expand so went this route, it was reasonable and in the range I wanted to spend so in it went:


At this point I hadn't even put the handles on but eventually filled it up, I do have a little room left over for the next few random purchases. Also while doing this I recorded the Make, Model, and serial numbers for all of them so will have that in the event something ever does happen.

While it was raining I managed to get out in the shop a little between running all over the state and build a hanger for some new steel targets I'd picked up. I assembled it with some old road sign material from a wreck down the road and some old pipe, of course when it dried a little I had to get in some practice with a few of the .22's:


While installing it I noticed some of the turtles in the pond were sun bathing and that I had a big snapping turtle, a good head shot from about 55 yards (50m) and he will leave my fish alone:



More to come, but I may not get to it today.

JB

 

[isonic]

I always enjoy reading about your adventures! Last time I was out fishing I hooked a snapper while jigging shallow banks for small mouth bass. Was a fun ride!

 

[jbmatth]

I always enjoy reading about your adventures! Last time I was out fishing I hooked a snapper while jigging shallow banks for small mouth bass. Was a fun ride!

Thanks isonic, it has been a very interesting adventure for sure, plenty more to come I hope at least. I really need to get back on that RX-7 but have sooo little motivation it is pathetic. There are a ton of things outside I'd rather work on, but need to get it done and gone so I can free up some shop space.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

There is a semi local auction to me that has a variety of things they sell, mostly estate sales, property, tools, farm equipment, and of course firearms. I was talking to Mike a few weeks ago about one of his cool tools I never knew existed and one came up at the auction so I knew I had to grab it, it is a pneumatic hammer attachment for removing fans:

This will make it a lot easier than my old method of putting a big crescent wrench on it and hitting that with a dead blow hammer. I also picked up a nice set of Mac snap ring pliers:


One other thing I was was an old John Deer square bailer, the listing said needs work tires bad, that could mean so many different things to different people so I packed up a bunch of tools and headed out. I could see in the photos the tires were at least holding air so that was a plus. I knew I was going to have to go slow but really struggled to keep a constant speed between 15-20 so I set the cruise at the lowest possible setting of 24 mph (40kph). I made it about 15 miles when I noticed the big tire was showing the belts and was wearing through them:


Still inflated, probably mostly due to the innertube as there were some very soft spots on the tire. I tried calling around to any local tire shops and no one had any of the right size so I opted to use one of the tire I'd just pulled off of LA. Broke the set down and installed the new tire in about 10 minutes, I didn't bother to balance it though.


With that I headed back the next morning and got it installed, from there it was just a slow slog back home:


Next up was a project for my girls, wife had mentioned something about "spoon rings" and wanted me to make some out of her grandmothers silverware (even though it was SS) so I opted to give it a try. Started off by making a jig the right diameter for their fingers:


Then started cutting the heads off of some silverware:


Twist it around, remove the extra nubs and polished it up:


All in all I made 6, 3 for the girls, one for my MIL, and one for my niece. Then the youngest daughter lost hers at school so made another for her.

One more update, it was time for a new package HVAC unit at the house, I knew the furnace side was done but didn't know exactly how bad until the old unit was removed:


New unit looks great and so far has been doing a really good job of cooling the house. I did opt to go for the most efficient one I could as well as one with SS for the furnace side which is supposed to last longer than the last one which was 29 years old.


More to come but back to work for the time being,

JB

 

[Grizz1963]

Excellent work on all fronts.

I do love the rings.

 

[4 FN 27]

Come on, that thing still has some life in it!!!

 

[Mr.zippy]

Indeed! It you are going to farm and ranch in my neck of the woods, you would be ridiculed for being a rich guy with that there tire stunt…..

 

[jbmatth]

Excellent work on all fronts.

I do love the rings.

Thank ya grizz, I was pretty impressed it worked out as well as it did. My wife had shown me a mandrel setup to bend the rings that was around $100, the bar stock was in my scrap pile and cost nothing. Free money as you say.

Come on, that thing still has some life in it!!!

It did, I may have been able to make it home, but this little co-op was one of the last places I could stop without having to use a ditch if it did go out on me. I'm keeping that tire as a spare, just in case.

Indeed! It you are going to farm and ranch in my neck of the woods, you would be ridiculed for being a rich guy with that there tire stunt…..

I know I know pulling off a "perfectly good" tire like that wouldn't have made my forefathers happy with me. haha

JB

 

[Sifan]

Age 12, my folks left me at home and they went to vacation in Florida. (Read like Chevy Chase vacation, Dad, Mom, two brothers, two sisters, his mom, her mom). Staying home alone was the vacation!! Only catch was I had to cultivate all the beans for the first time, slow and boring job. Second day, tire on front end of IH Super M blew out a softball sized hole in the sidewall. Drove 64 Willys jeep 6.5 miles to town, couldn't get any of 4 tire shops to fix it. Bought a used tire for $7.00 put it on and finished the job.

When he got back, Dad informed me $7.00 was a rip off and I needed to take the tire back and get my money from them. Mom intervened with a look that I, later in life, learned it's going to be real cold until you pay him.

Yeah, times have changed since then.

 

[RADcustom]

Come on, that thing still has some life in it!!!

Andy would run it!

 

[jbmatth]

Age 12, my folks left me at home and they went to vacation in Florida. (Read like Chevy Chase vacation, Dad, Mom, two brothers, two sisters, his mom, her mom). Staying home alone was the vacation!! Only catch was I had to cultivate all the beans for the first time, slow and boring job. Second day, tire on front end of IH Super M blew out a softball sized hole in the sidewall. Drove 64 Willys jeep 6.5 miles to town, couldn't get any of 4 tire shops to fix it. Bought a used tire for $7.00 put it on and finished the job.

When he got back, Dad informed me $7.00 was a rip off and I needed to take the tire back and get my money from them. Mom intervened with a look that I, later in life, learned it's going to be real cold until you pay him.

Yeah, times have changed since then.

Could you imagine if DHS found out a 12 year old was left alone for a week and was told to work the fields, and drove alone into town in this day and age? I don't recall exactly when my parents started leaving us home alone (I'm the second oldest of 6 boys) but think it was around 7 for me and 8 for my older brother I remember we'd cook our own meals, ride our bikes back to the pond and jump them in, and only had to call 1 time for an ER visit when I sliced my thumb open with a Dremel and couldn't get the bleeding to stop after what seemed like an hour of trying. I guess it's true, it's a wonder we survived.

Andy would run it!

That he would, if I were home and it looked like that I would have too at least until it popped. When I picked it up it had full tread but that begun flying off shortly after leaving then wore through those 4ish layers in only half my trip. I chickened out I guess you could say.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

This past weekend turned out to be a little bit of a flop for progress sake but had a great time for the most part. I got the yard mowed and mowed the fence line in the pasture before the three girls and I took off to OKC to an amusement park. I picked up season tickets so we or they can go as often as they want. Sadly this weekend happened to be the same weekend as a HUGE group of middle and high school band and choir kids from all over the state had an event there and opted to join us. This meant if 1 in their group was in line it would be 20, ride, concessions, bathrooms, everything. We bowed out early but was still pretty fun for the most part.

That night after the girls went to bed I opted for a little walk in the pasture as the sunset was pretty and snagged a couple photos of the cattle, if I knew how to edit them more than pushing the "easy edit" button I would have but I like them nonetheless:


Sadly within a minute the sun was all but gone behind some cloud cover when I tried to get one of the rest of the heard:


Sunday was the monthly Cars and Coffee here locally and the weather was perfect for taking the cobra out and putting some miles on the new Godzilla. Sadly I only made it about 3/4 of a mile (1km) before the engine died, the fuel pump wasn't turning on. Ended up figuring out it was the circuit breaker for the fuel pump, managed to get it started again with a few taps and went home.

Now I could say I had a spare circuit breaker and swapped it in, but didn't, the pump was fine so I simply bypassed the circuit breaker for the time being and picked up a new one in town. Problem solved so onto the "show". They have free coffee sponsored by the local GM dealer and donuts which I usually skip so don't know who sponsors those. There was also a food truck this time with some great breakfast burritos. I actually didn't take a single photo but borrowed this one from the FB group:


Sadly I started to not feel well so left a little early and headed home, took some medicine and laid out on the couch all afternoon feeling sorry for myself.

JB

 

[Finallygotit]

Well, I hope you feel better soon!

 

[jbmatth]

@Finallygotit I think I'm pretty much over it but have been getting random headaches still 2 days later now. Oh well gotta keep moving forward.

In other news my oldest daughter had her last band concert of the year last night and the first song they played was Sea Shanty which was a mix of a few similar song, one of which was Drunken Sailor. That made me giggle for way too long and now I can't get the song out of my head. Just for that here are the lyrics so you can have it stuck in your head too.
What will we do with a drunken sailor?
What will we do with a drunken sailor?
What will we do with a drunken sailor?
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!
Shave his belly with a rusty razor
Shave his belly with a rusty razor
Shave his belly with a rusty razor
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!
Put him in a long boat till his sober
Put him in a long boat till his sober
Put him in a long boat till his sober
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!
Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom
Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom
Stick him in a scupper with a hosepipe bottom
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!
Put him in the bed with the captains daughter
Put him in the bed with the captains daughter
Put him in the bed with the captains daughter
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!
That's what we do with a drunken sailor
That's what we do with a drunken sailor
That's what we do with a drunken sailor
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Early in the morning!

JB

 

[zanyad]

In other news my oldest daughter had her last band concert of the year last night and the first song they played was Sea Shanty which was a mix of a few similar song, one of which was Drunken Sailor. That made me giggle for way too long and now I can't get the song out of my head. Just for that here are the lyrics so you can have it stuck in your head too.

One of my favorites!

 

[jbmatth]

I spent a little time this weekend doing some maintenance items around the place, spent some time with the girls and did a little relaxing. I have a couple of trips coming up and at least one of them will be in the Viper. It was time for an oil change so I went over to where it is stored and got it on his lift, this was the first time I've tried to get it on there, but was pretty uneventful:


First order of business was to drain the old oil, between the normal boards/trays he has and the oil pan they didn't want to fit under the Vipers oil pan. Luckily he has some old deck boards that were the right length so off I went:


This was the first time I've changed the oil since getting this car as it was just changed before I bought it. Sadly I read some bad information online and filled it with the recommended 10 quarts...that was not right, it should have only been 8.5 with an oil filter change. I then had to decide how to pull the excess oil out, not wanting to make a mess I opted to use a 60ml syringe and some tubing:


Some interesting notes here, I'd let the car idle for about 15 minutes while moving vehicles around to get it on the lift before changing the oil, then let it drain for about 20 minutes while doing other stuff, also replaced the oil filter. I was surprised at how dark the oil was in the syringe, on the dip stick and in the tube it looks almost new. Also when pulling a vacuum with the syringe the number of air bubbles that would form in it was pretty cool. Anyway after WAY TOO LONG I had finely pulled enough out to be in the right range. Yes I could have drained it and hopefully not spilled everywhere, or even drained and refilled with new oil, but that would have been too easy.

Next up was to try and replace the original steering wheel with an NOS (New Old Stock) wheel that came with the car. The last time I tried doing this I'd managed to strip the threads on the wheel where the jack bolt installs on the right side. Before attempting again I went up to the next bigger size and used 7/16"-20 TPI bolt. This required drilling and tapping inside the car while holding a shop vacuum nozzle under it to catch any chips so they wouldn't end up in the carpet. I started with a normal tap and then used a bottom tap to get the most potential threads in engagement I could. I opted to hold on the other side, but had the other bolt handy if needed. In business now I installed the puller, note the washers on the longer bolt to allow for an even and straight pull on the wheel to prevent side loading and potential failure:

Sadly the threads on the main jack bolt stripped before the wheel pulled off:


Obviously I was getting frustrated at this point so I opted to fight another day. I got a different and slightly larger fine thread bolt, tapped the puller arm and spent the next hour threading the new bolt the full length. I should note I'm not working in my shop and am 35 miles from it doing all this work. His shop is great, but doesn't have all the tools, hardware, and equipment I'd have available at home, so whenever I ran into a snag if I didn't happen to have it I'd either have to run to town to buy it or go all the way home so lots of stopping and starting before finely getting to this point. Well attempt number 4 I believe it was was a success and the old wheel came off:



It isn't in terrible shape, but does show some wear for a 24 year old car with 71k miles. With the old wheel removed it was time for the new one:


This is when things finely took a turn for the worse, the NOS wheel although nearly identical there was one change from 1994 written on the NOS wheel vs my 1999, the locator splines (double splines or skipped splines) had changed from 12 and 6 to 9 and 3. Sadly this meant the NOS wheel wouldn't fit and I was stuck and re-installed the old wheel. I'm quite sad by learning this after all the trouble it took to get it removed and unfortunately there are very few NOS wheels left and if you do find them they are $$$$. Good news is I can sell this one and recoup some money, but am considering sending mine in and having it recovered, I'm just not sure who would do this work and how long it would take. Seems like a next winter project to me.

JB

 

[68400BIRD]

Is it possible to have the center of the newer wheel cut out and replace it with the center from the old wheel? Then have it welded back together?? Not sure if it is cast or aluminum. You should be able to make a jig to hold the center wheel bracket in the same place.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Definitely a bummer JB...I've been there, and feel your pain!

 

[jbmatth]

Is it possible to have the center of the newer wheel cut out and replace it with the center from the old wheel? Then have it welded back together?? Not sure if it is cast or aluminum. You should be able to make a jig to hold the center wheel bracket in the same place.

Possible yes, however it is cast and I believe aluminum, but could be some other alloy. My biggest concern is that this is not a component I want to modify in that manor, if the weld or HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) were to crack and break I'd loose steering in likely a very inopportune time. I'll either have the NOS week splines machined, likely it would need to be broached, or just have my wheel recovered. I wonder if @zmotorsports has any experience with this?

Definitely a bummer JB...I've been there, and feel your pain!

On the bright side I didn't spend the BIG bucks for the wheel so I don't feel that bad, but it was certainly a pain going through that much trouble only for it not to work in the end. Oh well, win some, loose some.

JB

 

[rockettauto]

That's my motto also

After reading the word warthog so many times then seeing this I could only think:

What's a motto?

Idk what's a motto with you?

 

[jbmatth]

After reading the word warthog so many times then seeing this I could only think:

What's a motto?

Idk what's a motto with you?

@rockettauto I had to go back to that post, I'd forgotten all about that conversation. Also hard to believe we've been at this house for 8.5 years now.

Thanks for joining and if you end up reading the entire thread up to this point you will have a surprise or two in order.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

I'm playing a little catchup here, a couple of weeks ago I took the Viper down to Stillwater where the headquarters for Kicker is located to discuss plans for a stereo install and custom enclosure for a subwoofer. While there they took me on a tour of the museum and showed me their wall of sound:


Wide angle photo, but even at 60% volume that was intense listening to this setup play.

On memorial day Alex flew into Wichita where I picked him up, the next day we went to his place to pick up his Mustang to move it to St. Louis where he is moving, I took the Cobra and there we met up with a group of friends for BBQ and good times. This is the asortment of vehicles we took on a little cruise:


Left to right '65 Chevelle w/ 350 SBC, '68 Camaro w/ 327 SBC, '74 (?) Nova w/ 468 BBC, '68 Mustang w/ 331 SBF, my cobra w/ 445 Godzilla, and a Buick Skylark w/ SBC. I joked and said we discovered the least efficient way to transport 10 people from place to place. haha

This past weekend there was a coyote that had been hanging around our calves a little too much, I saw him and he never saw me. This photo makes him look tiny, but he was full grown:


I've debated for a while now and finely opted to buy a new bigger trailer, 20' 14k trailer 6" frame with drive over fenders and a winch plate:


Sadly we'd gotten enough rain the night before to make our road muddy, but not enough to really do anything for the pond level so now my new trailer is dirty.


I do like the option of being able to drive over the fenders if I ever haul something bigger like a tractor but they were also a little lower profile than the other options, and about a foot wider is nice too:


I saw it when I was looking the trailer over but is is pretty sad even new trailers have wiring from the factory that uses these stupid connectors:


That will be getting corrected in short order. I spent the rest of the day cleaning on my shop and loading my truck with scrap metal to get rid of today.

JB

 

[OutlawDrifter]

It would appear that 'yote has lead poisoning! Nice trailer JB, crazy they have scotch locks on them!

 

[Bob Heine]

Left to right '65 Chevelle w/ 350 SBC, '68 Camaro w/ 327 SBC, '74 (?) Nova w/ 468 BBC, '68 Mustang w/ 331 SBF, my cobra w/ 445 Godzilla, and a Buick Skylark w/ SBC. I joked and said we discovered the least efficient way to transport 10 people from place to place.

JB, I sometimes forget that I'm old. A photo like this reminds me I was 20 when the oldest car in that photo was introduced. That's when it hit me that our youngest turns 60 this year. It's true what they say: "Florida; where old people go to visit their parents!"

 

[jbmatth]

JB, I sometimes forget that I'm old. A photo like this reminds me I was 20 when the oldest car in that photo was introduced. That's when it hit me that our youngest turns 60 this year. It's true what they say: "Florida; where old people go to visit their parents!"

Thanks for the chuckles Bob, on the other side of the coin I was -12 when the newest one was made. But I realized the newest engineer we hired was born after the towers fell. I'm now older than my parents were when I first thought they were REALLY OLD.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

Since getting the Viper the stereo hasn't worked which normally isn't a big deal but I've got a work trip to Colorado coming up later this summer. I would like to have the option to listen to something besides the engine for the 9 of 10 hours I'll be driving through desolate plains before arriving to the mountains. I was working with Kicker's top installer to get a full stereo system installed but he wasn't going to be able to get to it until after my trip. I opted to get at least the front two speakers connected to the existing head unit. The problem is the factory head unit uses an odd connector to the factory amp both of which are long gone. knowing it would all be redone I opted to run a simple wire from the head unit to the door speakers and get it running for the time being. You know how it goes simple 10 minute job took 3 hours but I now have tunes with Bluetooth from my phone. I then took the opportunity to clean the car up and set it outside of the shop for a quick photo since I didn't take any during the speaker connection:

I then worked on cleaning his shop and pulling everything off the walls in preparation for him moving out this weekend. When I got home I decided to use the ramps on the new trailer to raise the mower up enough to clean out the deck that is when I discovered this:


Yep one of the ramps is missing, luckily the seller (a trailer sales company) didn't ask any questions and said he'd have one for me this week to pick up. I then proceeded to brush hog the fence line, mow the fence line, then over the next two days weed eat the fence line. I wanted to use the brush cutter on the weed eater on it too but there was so much poison ivy I think I'll spray it this weekend to lesson my chances of exposure. I try to stay ahead of trees that could grow into it and cause problems down the line but it isn't always that easy with ~1.75 miles of fence to deal with along with all the other shop and house work going on.

If you remember when I got the trailer it had all wiring connections made with these:


Sunday was the day to fix that little issue, crimp (with my new Klein crimp pliers thanks to @zmotorsports recommendation) and heat shrink:


This spot was a paint but eventually got it:


Sadly it wasn't until after uploading this photo I noticed I could have done the white wires a little different to reduce some strain, I'll fix that this weekend when I put all the wire wrap on:


When all said and done this was all the connectors I removed:


I wasn't expecting that many so ran out of time to install the loom, 2 hour job that took 5 hours ugg.

That's all for now,
JB

 

[83VillageRepair]

I hate those scotchlok connectors with a passion. If you drive much gravel that unprotected wire is going to get beat up pretty quick

 

[Grizz1963]

Good job.

Even my Canta has some fitted.

They will be replaced

 

[jbmatth]

I hate those scotchlok connectors with a passion. If you drive much gravel that unprotected wire is going to get beat up pretty quick

I'm right there with you, I remove all I find if I have any other option. A majority of the wiring is run in metal conduit, sadly the only exposed wiring is where connections are made, I'll wrap it in braided loom this weekend if it is dry but it won't be perfect protection but the best I can do at least. I live about 1.5 miles from pavement but in nice vehicles I'll go 15-20 mph to avoid as many rock chips as I can.

Good job.

Even my Canta has some fitted.

They will be replaced

Good call, it isn't worth dealing with it later after it is covered in road grime and debris, I'd rather fix it now as I'm sure you are as well.

JB

 

[83VillageRepair]

A flap made from layers of inner tube or slit rubber hose works good.

 

[jbmatth]

A flap made from layers of inner tube or slit rubber hose works good.

I have used old hose in the past, but I do have some pretty nice split braided loom that wraps around itself that I've started using and am a believer, it works great and holds up well. Thanks for the advice, feel free to throw any ideas out there, I'm always open to learning about new ideas.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

I am struggling to believe it has been 4 weeks since I've posted, but had some vacation in there, a work trip, and just trying to keep up as well as catch up at work and at home. I'll dump a few things here with a little description. I got to go to a conference for work in Colorado Springs the last week of June, I chose to drive rather than fly and why not take a fun car right, so I did:


AC works great now, I can't remember if I mentioned it before but I checked the AC pressures before leaving and they were a little low from what the factory service manual recommends so I added enough to get there and now get 44°F air when it is in the low 90's out.

I took it on a little side trip to Garden of the Gods where there as well (Sorry about the finger):




I also hiked to 7 falls:


Definitely some nice scenery and a great learning experience. Upon returning home I washed the car and found at some point I'd cracked a fog light, tough to see but it had happened before the trip as evidenced in this photo from the oil change before the trip:


Before leaving on that trip I helped my good friend move to his new home near St. Louis, he still owns his place here so the Viper gets to stay but I'm much more sad to see him go. We were able to pack his entire house and shop into a single Uhaul truck including his 4 post lift and zero turn mower. After this photo we added two bicycles hanging and a few odds and ends:


I also did some work on the new trailer, I got the free used spare mounted, sadly the second supplied bolt failed so I replaced it with a normal one I had on hand:


I also attached a reciever hitch to the winch plate so I can use my spare 12k winch on the trailer if needed, I made the bracket myself. Note, the welder has been acting up and I haven't quite figured out why just yet but still a good solid weld it just splatters a lot, painted and installed:


Lastly when I got the trailer home I noticed one of the ramps was missing, called the dealer and they got a new one, I was finely able to pick it up a couple of weeks ago:


I didn't realize until I got home it was different and didn't fit, he has another of the right one on order.

More to come,
JB

 

[jbmatth]

Carrying on I recently bought a bigger amplifier for the single 12" Kicker Comp Q in the Saturn I daily drive, the new amp is a Kicker CXA1800.1, rated at 1,800 watts RMS stable to 1 ohm. I wired the sub to 1 ohm and turned the amp to about 1/2, 2 seconds into testing the old fuse setup burned the 60 amp fuse. I ordered a new setup with 100 amp fuses included, it lasted about 10 seconds before this:


That is when I realized this isn't the "1,800" watt amps I used to buy in high school, this thing is LOUD for a single 12, did some research and realized I really should have a 150 amp fuse, installed now and working great. Now if I only had a sub that could actually take full power from this amp. LOL

I won an auction for a bale spike for $20 because it had a bent spike, I mean why not try to fix, worst case I have some good metal to repurpose:


After sweating off about a gallon of sweat and using the last of the gas for my torch this is where I called it a day:


In reality I'm only about 1" from the tips being level, I suppose that will do for now, I'll likely sell it to get a couple of bucks since I already have one in better shape. I also took advantage of a really calm day after a little rain the night before to burn my biggest burn pile. I had the sprayer on the tractor with 100 gallons of water in it, soaked the area around the pile and lit it off:


In what seemed like only 10 minutes the majority of it was gone, this is what was left the next day:


Not too bad, just needs leveled a little, also deceiving is that this pile is about 30' long and the middle of the hole is probably 4' deep. I also burned the last of the trees we lost in a wind storm a few weeks back, this was around 4 am when I couldn't sleep on a day off:


Sadly we had some house guest move back in:


6 babies, mama joined them the next day, I was able to trap and release two of them but mama and two babies were found dead in the basement a couple of days after not being able to catch them in a trap. No idea where the other two babies went.

The week I had off I got a lot done but it rained every day, some more than others but had 3" total, made for some cool views though:


Well now back to work and it took me over a week to catch up on emails and everything that was going on.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

I had another pretty busy weekend, I had to make a trip to Missouri to pick up a table, chairs, couch, and recliner my wife picked out when she was there last week, 550 miles (900km) total round trip, it was raining the entire way there so I stopped at HF to get a big tarp, some rope, and a few new ratchet straps as mine are worse for wear. Got it loaded and was nothing but clear sky the entire way home.

Saturday we rearranged the living room and dining room, then the girls got busy prepping the table and chairs to paint while I got a few things ready for Sunday when I was going to get some hay for them/their horses. I was supposed to meet the seller at 9am, got there and got set up to load the bales on the trailer, after the first two were loaded I realized they were a little heavier than I thought likely due to getting rained on shortly after baling them. Here it is after the initial loading:


Here is a view from the other side:


Yeah that wasn't going to work for me, we pulled one off of the front of the trailer and stacked it on top over the trailer axles, made it better, but still a little tongue heavy:


I didn't have the option to make a second trip as he wasn't available, I was right at the max rated towing for the truck of 11,300 lbs (5,140 kg). Trailer is 3,000 lbs (1,360 kg) and estimated weight of the bales was 1,200 lbs (545 kg) each putting the total at 11,400 lbs (5,180 kg). Pushing it but not terribly hard and I only had 30 miles (48 km) to go. All strapped down and keeping an eye on all the gauges and trans temp as well. Obviously it was a slow trip and I kept it close under 30 for a majority of the dive other than the one short highway that I got up to 50 mph (80 kph) on, no concerns, and the trailer brakes were awesome.

Made it home without incident, from further back it really made the truck looks small:

It was a bit load and I could have fit 3 more bales on trailer without much concern, but not with this truck and I didn't need them anyway:


Unloaded and in the lean-to, all is well that ends well. I do believe my wife agrees I need a bigger truck though, but I'll have a hard time spending that kind of money or saving a bit and giving up my cooled seats. Time will tell but I'll let ya'll know if I do.

JB