ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

We pulled up to bear lake area late last night. Camping in the fiver, we pulled in so late im not even sure what’s out last our headlights as far are colors or views for leaves but I imagine Logan canyon is Popping with amazing colors I just wasn’t able to see them.

Maybe you two could try the nicer Arbnb kinds of places to stay. We haven’t had a bad experience yet. While it’s not stocked like your Rv it’s also not as empty as a hotel feeling.
Safe cruising you two.

I didn’t think about it but some of my happy child hood memories were of riding around in my uncles ford Tbird singing with the top down enjoying the time. Your Camaro has room for G kids!!

We drove over Sardine and Logan Canyons last Sunday as well as through Cache National Forest between Preston, ID and Montpelier, ID and the colors were just turning. We had planned on eating at Cafe Sabor in Garden City but they were closed. Even Summit Pizza was closed as those seem to be our usual stops. The KOA had hardly any rigs parked in it and town was dead. You can definitely tell it's the official "off-season" in Bear Lake.

 

[zmotorsports]

Hey Mike how much Horse Power is the "Dip Stick Adder"? Is it enough to offset replacing the aftermarket Fuel Door?

Asking for a millennial friend.

I think the fuel door gain will just replace what the aftermarket one took from the brochure's published ratings. However, I think the claims on the dipstick are around 10 HP but we'll have test it out with the **** dyna during a test run.

 

[4 FN 27]

I think the fuel door gain will just replace what the aftermarket one took from the brochure's published ratings. However, I think the claims on the dipstick are around 10 HP but we'll have test it out with the **** dyna during a test run.

When you can make Horse Power for under $200 per Horse that is a good return...wow...make sure you wear a helmet when you take it out on street for the first time after the changes. Making 2 significant changes to the "tuning dynamic of the power delivery system" and chassis (Aero Package) at the same time can have some overwhelming effects.

Practice "Ankle Management" with caution.

 

[bigdave_185]

I

Hey Mike how much Horse Power is the "Dip Stick Adder"? Is it enough to offset replacing the aftermarket Fuel Door?

Asking for a millennial friend.

always understood the HP increase to in conjunction with the size of the sticker. If it’s really large then it is more HP added

 

[tarbellb]

Biggest HP gains usually come from peel and stick on mods, and dip sticks

 

[PugetDude]

Biggest HP gains usually come from peel and stick on mods, and dip sticks

Silly me; I thought it was fart can mufflers and rubber band tires.

 

[zmotorsports]

Friday afternoon I spent getting the lawn edged, trimmed and mowed as we threw a tool shower for my nephew who's getting married in about 8 weeks.

Saturday morning the wife and I had coffee on the deck and enjoyed the back yard. It was so peaceful and tranquil while enjoying the views of the back yard, shop and of our mountains to the east.

After a pot of coffee I went out into the shop while the wife started getting ready for the party that evening. I thought I'd just tackle a couple of small items on the car as I didn't want to get too deep into it because we planned on a drive for Sunday.

The cabin air filter was first on the list. WOW! I don't think it had ever been changed and by the looks of the cowl area, it needed some TLC.


Original cabin air filter was filthy.


New filter being dropped in after running a vacuum through the duct work and wiping down the cowl area with some ZEP Powerhouse cleaner.


Cowl panel and filter cap cleaned with ZEP Powerhouse but it didn't take care of all of the chalking that was visible.


New filter installed and cowl area thoroughly cleaned and wiped down.


Cowl cover reinstalled and the entire cowl plastic wiped down with 303 Protectant. This really helps bring the luster back to the plastic. While I was at it, I decided to treat the gaskets as well as other underhood plastic at the same time.


The engine bay is looking better all the time but still needs some attention.


The driver's belt line molding on the door would pop up and down with the window so as I was looking at it the other day I noticed that the little tab on the rear was missing which is why it wouldn't stay in place. A quick visit to my local GM dealer to pick up a new molding, which they had in stock, and about 15 minutes to pull the inner door panel apart and replace the molding.


New belt line molding in place and no more raising up and down with the window.


The car wiped down with Final Inspection and windows cleaned. Ready for Sunday's drive.


This week the car will get racked and the work to zero it out will commence along with the new exhaust.

 

[zmotorsports]

The weather was absolutely perfect this weekend which allowed us to host a tool shower for our nephew and his fiance. This is something that my wife and I did a couple of years ago for her first nephew who was married and she wants to continue the tradition.

I grilled some hot dogs and my daughter-in-law brought a couple of delicious salads as well as a few others brought some goodies. Other than the spot where the grubs got into my lawn a couple of months ago the yard was looking good despite the water restrictions that were in place this year. My wife and I usually host 3-4 BBQ's a year but this has been a **** show of a year. Started out with me having a health scare which didn't start the summer off well and then the water restrictions made it difficult to get the yard to green up. It was nice to finally be able to have one as we ushered in the change of seasons.

It was a very relaxing and comfortable evening as we sat and visited after eating. My son and DIL stayed later to help us clean up as they are such a great help.


Yesterday the wife and I hopped in the car and went for a drive up Weber Canyon on interstate 84, then in Evanston, Wyoming we turned off onto Highway 150 (Mirror Lake Highway) and took the road up over the Uinta Mountains down into Kamas, UT and back home. The fall colors were in full swing. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the colors justice and for some reason some were blurry. Sorry about that.












It was such a beautiful drive but there were a ton of people. Evidently we weren't the only ones with the idea of seeing the fall colors.

The car is so much fun to drive on winding canyon roads and stays so planted. It is a joy to drive, comfortable beyond imagine for a sports car/muscle car and I was amazed when I fueled up and discovered we got 24 MPG. Holy ****!!!

The wife did ask me how long until I get the new exhaust on it though as she thinks it sounds pretty "wimpy" in stock form.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

It is pretty amazing how well they do economy wise Mike. My Z28 will do 24.5mpg @ 78mph on the interstate and 26.5mpg @ 68mph.

Great pics, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a great weekend.

 

[Swanny1953]

I'll chime in on the "amazing economy" stories. Lori and I took our '19 ZR1 (755 hp) on a 3,500 mile trip of the AZ/UT national parks with the National Corvette Museum in the fall of 2019. For the entire trip, we averaged 23.6 mpg, and got 26 mpg on one 400 mile stretch. And, I wasn't babying the car at all - we did some pretty spirited driving from Navajo bridge to Kanab the first day!!
Glad to see you're enjoying the Camaro, Mike - keep the pics coming!

 

[zmotorsports]

I'll chime in on the "amazing economy" stories. Lori and I took our '19 ZR1 (755 hp) on a 3,500 mile trip of the AZ/UT national parks with the National Corvette Museum in the fall of 2019. For the entire trip, we averaged 23.6 mpg, and got 26 mpg on one 400 mile stretch. And, I wasn't babying the car at all - we did some pretty spirited driving from Navajo bridge to Kanab the first day!!
Glad to see you're enjoying the Camaro, Mike - keep the pics coming!

Thanks Gary. I surely didn't purchase the car for the fuel economy but it was a welcomed surprise. I figured maybe I'd see low 20's but was somewhat shocked yesterday when it was slightly over 24 MPG. Like you, I didn't baby it and was driving a little "spirited" myself.

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night I didn't have much time but I wanted to at least get started on the car. After racking the Camaro I commenced to drop the transmission pan and service it along with installing the new Jannitty Racing Ent. dipstick.

I waffled on painting the JRE dipstick semi-gloss black to make it less noticeable, however, after looking at it the zinc cadmium plating was not as gold as it looked on the workbench and more closely matched some of the other lines under the hood. Plus with a couple of quick measurements it appears as thought it will be sunken down low enough that it may not be very visible in the first place. Ultimately I opted to leave it as is and install it.


Car racked and ready to start replacing the fluids & filters.




Transmission pan bolts being removed and some of the fluid draining. It didn't smell the greatest nor look the best so I am assuming with 62k miles on it that this is more than likely the original fill. It wasn't dark brown or severely burnt but it surely wasn't pink.




Not a lot of sludge in the pan or on the magnet but the fluid and filter were definitely in need or replacement in my book.


I fought for about 10-15 minutes trying to find the right orientation to get the dipstick up from the bottom but it didn't seem to want to fit. I removed the four transmission crossmember bolts and lowered the back of the transmission down with a pole jack and bingo, it fell right into place. That trans. being lowered about 1.5" was all that was needed. I was correct that it is buried down in there far enough that the color cannot be detected so at this point I was thankful I didn't waste any time painting it.


Before closing up the shop for the evening I laid out the new Borla ATAK exhaust system to make sure all of the required components were in the box and I soaked a few of the fasteners down on the OEM system with penetrating fluid.



Thanks for looking.

 

[RickP]

That is going to be one nice looking (and sounding) exhaust system when you finish it!

 

[zmotorsports]

That is going to be one nice looking (and sounding) exhaust system when you finish it!

Thanks Rick, and I can honestly say after the test drive last night that it does in fact sound great.

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night before raising the car back into the air I filled the transmission with Dexron VI fluid. Having a dipstick to fill from in the engine bay is definitely much nicer than filling from underneath the car. I have also read that even following the GM recommended procedures for filling and checking the transmission fluid, it can and does leave the trans. about a quart lower than it should be so I am glad I purchased the JRE 6L80 transmission dipstick.

As you can see it looks OEM if you didn't know this car didn't come with a transmission dipstick.




I am glad I soaked the clamps and fasteners down the night before because everything literally fell apart once the clamps were loosened. The pipes slipped inside one another and only required a little effort to slide the entire system to the rear of the car once the vibration mounts were removed and the small crossmember.


And just like that the OEM system was out and on the shop floor. The mufflers were heavy as hell and make the whole system awkward to remove.


While the exhaust system was out it gave a lot more room for access to the rear differential so I took the opportunity to drain and refill the diff. I am guessing the fluid was original as it needed to be changed.


The new soft packaging from Valvoline sure makes refilling nice in some applications. Here you can also see the front and intermediate pipes from the Borla ATAK system are mocked into place. The clamps are in place but not secured at this time.


As I assembled the exhaust system working rearward I slowly crept up on the final placement. This was the most time consuming part of the whole install, making sure the outlets/tips were symmetrical and even on each side. I used a ruler, my hand and good ole' naked eye to ensure they matched side to side.




Last step before lowering the car down and starting it was to wipe the entire system down to remove any and all finger prints from the stainless steel pipe, especially the mufflers and tips.



After firing it up and going through the gears to ensure all of the passages in the transmission were filled I topped off the last of the transmission and took it for a spin. I had to go see my son to let him listen to the new sound and as I pulled up to his house I found him working in his garage. Makes me smile knowing how much he loves his home and swell with pride seeing how he is taking care of it.

After the test drive I did notice one thing that I think I will be changing. The AFM feature on this engine goes undetected with the OEM exhaust system, however, with a much more free flowing exhaust it is audible now and a bit annoying. I am sure I will lose a couple miles per gallon by tuning the AFM out but getting rid of the annoying sound will be worth it. Plus, I bought a muscle car for the smiles per miles, not miles per gallon.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Glad it went together so nicely Mike!

Those factory mufflers have a j-pipe Helmholtz resonator setup in them...probably why they weigh so much.

The AFM has a bad rap for wiping cam lobes as well. Not sure if that's an OCI issue, cheap oil, nature of the system, or just caused by neglect...but it is common. I had a 2009 Silverado 1500 with the 5.3/6L80e and AFM...it was tuned out as well after I changed the exhaust, I didn't notice any change in economy in my hills.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks Marc. When I was researching engines for my Jeep, I was informed that in the 2010-2014 LS engines with AFM they updated the lifters as well as the oil pressure valve in the oil pan to avoid the previous generation of problems with AFM. A bigger problem that I saw on pre-2010 engines was the lifters would "crunch" or destroy themselves with a cold engine and high RPM, so oil pressure related I would assume. I have not seen nor heard of any cam issues related to AFM on the 2010 and later LS engines, which is why I sought so heavily for a 2010-2014 L94 when I was looking for the engine for the Jeep. I would have liked to have found an L9H as it is also an all aluminum 6.2 liter with VVT but does not have the AFM feature, but they are even harder to find. Many people swap out the lifters with non-AFM lifters which I will do if/when I ever need to go into either of my 6.2 liter LS engines. In my Jeep with the L94 I just used HP Tuners to deactivate the AFM function and it has worked great for the 50k+ miles I've been running it now so that is what I plan on doing with the L99 in my Camaro.

Right now I just want the annoying sound of the AFM kicking in/out gone as that will get old real quick. I have a feeling I will take the hit of a few MPG but I can live with that. I don't have any experience with the Jeep's economy as I tuned it out almost immediately upon getting the swap completed and have no actual miles logged with AFM.

 

[LXCam]

It's the same story on the 5.7L hemis and drone. I found deactivating the darn thing doesn't equate to jack squat for overall millage and makes for a much more pleasant drive Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

That is good to hear from both Cam and Marc who have done it with actual miles logged prior that deactivating AFM that it really has no affect on fuel mileage. I would have thought for sure it would but like I mentioned, I had no miles logged with my Jeep before I deactivated AFM. Plus, my Jeep is heavy @ 6k pounds and about as aerodynamic as a phone booth so it really is not a prime candidate for debating fuel economy. I was prepared to lose a few MPG but if I can maintain what it's been logging so far that's a win/win for me.

 

[MP&C]

Wait....a tool shower??

 

[zmotorsports]

Wait....a tool shower??

That is correct Robert. It is something that my wife and I tried a couple of years ago when her first nephew got married. It was such a hit with her family we decided to continue the tradition with all her nieces and nephews upon their engagements. I wish we could take credit for the idea but we can't. Our son's in-laws threw one for him before he got married several years ago and my wife and I both thought it was a fantastic idea. Even though my son had a lot of actual tools, there were things like garden hoses, rakes, shovels and other commonly used tools around the house that he really didn't have just starting out in their new home. Even though he could use mine, having these things for himself was awesome and we saw real value in throwing a tool shower for the soon to be newlyweds. We made it a couple or family event vs. just for him and it has actually been quite fun throwing the two that we have done now. I've grilled some meats and we have had a lot of food plus some games setup in the back yard and then we gather around while the gifts are opened.

My wife's first nephew who got married a couple of years ago is actually a very handy young man and was easy to buy for. However, her nephew that is just getting married here shortly is not very handy. In fact, I don't think he's ever worked with his hands on anything and has been spoon fed by mommy and daddy so he took a bit more thought to buy for, plus they will be living in an apartment for the first bit which added to the frustration for purchases. Overall, I think the shower was a hit and he did get some very nice things. His fiance was very intrigued, engaged and appreciative, more so than he was in fact.

 

[Dodge]

I used to work with a guy that was in his 50's, had a nice home, married, and told me he did't even have a hammer!!! Didn't want one!

 

[LXCam]

I used to work with a guy that was in his 50's, had a nice home, married, and told me he did't even have a hammer!!! Didn't want one!

Now that’s one smart guy. I’ve said for years the extra sharp ones pay someone like me to do all the work.

 

[zmotorsports]

Now that’s one smart guy. I’ve said for years the extra sharp ones pay someone like me to do all the work.

I told my wife years ago and I still stand by this, that mechanics are probably the dumbest of the dumb. We actually buy tools to do work, then we find ourselves buying more tools to do more work. Then lather, rinse, repeat in this viscous cycle. Let that soak in for a minute.

 

[purplezr2]

Yesterday the wife and I hopped in the car and went for a drive up Weber Canyon on interstate 84, then in Evanston, Wyoming we turned off onto Highway 150 (Mirror Lake Highway) and took the road up over the Uinta Mountains down into Kamas, UT and back home. The fall colors were in full swing. Unfortunately the pictures don't do the colors justice and for some reason some were blurry. Sorry about that was such a beautiful drive but there were a ton of people. Evidently we weren't the only ones with the idea of seeing the fall colors.

The car is so much fun to drive on winding canyon roads and stays so planted. It is a joy to drive, comfortable beyond imagine for a sports car/muscle car and I was amazed when I fueled up and discovered we got 24 MPG. Holy ****!!!

The wife did ask me how long until I get the new exhaust on it though as she thinks it sounds pretty "wimpy" in stock form.

Number of years back I worked out of a parking lot near the Cabins at Bear Lodge which is just off 150. Beautiful area.

There is a steak place in Evanston Wy that is awesome called Bon Rico

 

[MP&C]

I think I need to sign up for one of those tool showers.

Nice idea!!

 

[zmotorsports]

Number of years back I worked out of a parking lot near the Cabins at Bear Lodge which is just off 150. Beautiful area.

There is a steak place in Evanston Wy that is awesome called Bon Rico

Thanks for the suggestion on the steak house in Evanaston. If memory serves you've suggested that before and I've mentioned it to my wife but we haven't had an opportunity to try it, yet. Closer to our home in Weber Canyon there is a restaurant right along the river called Taggart's Grill. We love their Sunday brunch and when we go for a drive up that direction we try and stop there, which we did last Sunday. Excellent steak & eggs and they serve an amazing au-gratin potato in leu of hash browns with home made thick toast.

 

[zmotorsports]

I think I need to sign up for one of those tool showers.

Nice idea!!

I think you're covered at this point Robert.

 

[zmotorsports]

Continued on with zero'ing out the Camaro last night but before I racked it for the evening's work I plugged the laptop in and tuned the AFM out plus a couple other little "tweaks".


After racking the car I removed all the tires/wheels and inspected brakes and suspension components. Everything looks quite good so it was time to move on to a brake fluid flush. Tires even look fantastic and have many miles left on them.


Love the large Brembo brakes with 4-piston calipers on this thing.

I tested the brake fluid and although there was barely 1% of moisture content I still proceeded to perform a flush/replacement as it looked very dark and nasty.


Blue Point bleeder gets used once again. This has been a very heavily used tool over the past year.


Starting at the furthest caliper from the ABS module and master cylinder.


After about a quart of brake fluid the reservoir looks much better and nice clear fluid coming from each of the four corners.


I think that is about it for the time being. I still have coolant and engine oil/filter to replace, however, the coolant tests good and the oil and filter was just replaced by the dealership I bought the car from and has less than 1k miles on it so I may run it just a bit longer and then dump both the coolant and engine oil at the same time.

For now I think it is ready to put some miles on and enjoy.

Thanks for looking.

 

[mike528]

I have a '17 silverado w/ 5.3, tuned out the afm and actually gained a mile or 2. And the truck not stuttering when I get back on the gas was a big relief, now for a custom tune with trans tune. Watching the instant readout for mileage there wasnt a noticable difference with vs without the afm. The bluepoint brake bleeder is my favorite and most appreciated purchase after doing a few line and many caliper replacements.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have a '17 silverado w/ 5.3, tuned out the afm and actually gained a mile or 2. And the truck not stuttering when I get back on the gas was a big relief, now for a custom tune with trans tune. Watching the instant readout for mileage there wasnt a noticable difference with vs without the afm. The bluepoint brake bleeder is my favorite and most appreciated purchase after doing a few line and many caliper replacements.

Agreed. The vacuum bleeder is an awesome tool and one that gets a lot of use at that.

As for the instant readouts or even tank by tank electronic readouts, I have not found one yet that is accurate enough to base any mods on for efficiency. I insist on manual calculating my fuel stops to take any algorithm criteria out of the equation. My wife's Acura and our coach are about as close as I have found for consistency but even then they are off a mile per gallon or two one way or the other per fill-up. My Jeep isn't even close and just the 700-800 miles I've put on the Camaro thus far it seems to be off compared to actual consumption. I will track the mileage on the Camaro with the AFM tuned out now but I don't expect an increase in efficiency, from a simple physics standpoint I don't see how that can be. I know I didn't buy the car for the fuel economy but I was shocked when I was getting 24+ miles per gallon. No matter what I get it's a blast to drive. Hell, my Jeep gets 13.5 MPG and I LOVE driving that thing but Jeep and fuel efficient don't even belong in the same sentence.

 

[Bob Heine]

Mike, my antique '87 Corvette has a fraction of the power of your Camaro so its rated 15 mpg city, 23 mpg highway running on 8 cylinders 100% of the time isn't that impressive. On our flat Florida terrain, using lead-foot-free cruise control, I've gotten 27 mpg on a few long distance trips (manually calculated) with the computer displaying closer to 30 mpg. With a little conservative tuning, I bet you can improve the mpg without reducing the spg at all.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, my antique '87 Corvette has a fraction of the power of your Camaro so its rated 15 mpg city, 23 mpg highway running on 8 cylinders 100% of the time isn't that impressive. On our flat Florida terrain, using lead-foot-free cruise control, I've gotten 27 mpg on a few long distance trips (manually calculated) with the computer displaying closer to 30 mpg. With a little conservative tuning, I bet you can improve the mpg without reducing the spg at all.

Bob, I think the advertised fuel economy for the 2013 Camaro SS was something like 16 city and 24 highway so I've already beaten that on last Sunday's drive. On the flip side, I'm not sure how much "economy" tuning I will do. So far it has been the exact opposite, such as adding some timing and playing with some shift points and pressures plus disabling the AFM. Not exactly synonymous with economy.

Now I know my thread has devolved and gone to **** Bob. We are actually discussing fuel economy here. If the conversation actually goes any further and turns to EV I may have to unsubscribe to my own thread.

 

[lugnut71]

Nice new ride ! Sounds like you and your wife really enjoy it. please tell me what you all use the zep powerhouse cleaner on and what version of the 303 do you use ? Thanks

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice new ride ! Sounds like you and your wife really enjoy it. please tell me what you all use the zep powerhouse cleaner on and what version of the 303 do you use ? Thanks

The ZEP Powerhouse cleaner works great for cleaning of plastics without leaving a residue to attract dirt/dust. I started using it many years ago on OPE (Outdoor Power Equipment) such as lawnmower blower housings, line trimmers, leaf blowers, and especially chain saws for this reason. It also won't damage the plastic like brake cleaner does.



The ZEP Powerhouse is my "go-to" cleaner for not only Outdoor Power Equipment but I also use it to clean the underhood plastics of my vehicles for the same reason, cleans without damaging the plastic and doesn't leave a residue to attract dirt/dust. This is exceptionally nice on vehicles such as my Jeep that sees a lot of off-road miles in dirty and dusty conditions.

The 303 Protectant, also called Aerospace Protectant or Aerospace 303, I just purchase from my local NAPA but it is not solely marketed by NAPA as you should be able to purchase it from many suppliers. I started using it about 10 years ago on plastic Jeep fenders that would start to fade slightly from UV damage. I had tried many other products such as Back to Black and some of the other black trim finish restoring products but most I tested either didn't work as advertised OR they attracted dirt something terrible. The 303 Protectant is used heavily in the RV industry on the EPDM roofing materials so that is why I decided to try it.


I will usually treat my Jeep fenders a couple times per year to keep them looking their best and for a 11 year old Jeep with 145k miles I think the proof is in the pudding as they say.

As for my Camaro's cowl molding, I had cleaned the cabin air filter cover with the Powerhouse the other day and when I saw that it didn't come out nearly as nice as I expected, out of habit I reached for the 303 Protectant and it did not disappoint. The sheen came back instantly which then led me to hit the underhood seals/gaskets to keep them soft and pliable in addition to looking like new.

Here you can see that the cover, while clean, just doesn't have that nice newish looking sheen to it. Compare the outer cowl cover to the smaller cabin air filter cover that resides underneath which was untouched by the UV.


Here is the cowl cover installed and after a quick wipe down with the 303 Protectant across the entire cowl and the gasket. What a huge difference, making it look like new.


Most of the other areas are merely hit with the ZEP Powerhouse as they are not in direct sun and just needed some cleaning. Although I did have some 303 Protectant still on the other rag so I wiped it across the front seal/gasket above the radiator just to keep it soft and pliable.



I hope that is helpful and answers your questions.

Thanks for taking the time to follow along.

 

[rattle_snake]

When using a vacuum source to bleed brakes, how do you seal the bleeder threads to prevent sucking air? grease?

Asking for a friend haha.

 

[iagsxr]

When using a vacuum source to bleed brakes, how do you seal the bleeder threads to prevent sucking air? grease?

Asking for a friend haha.

I use Teflon tape on the threads. Just making sure it's on the threads only, not on the taper or the smooth part that's typically above the taper.

 

[4 FN 27]

Now I know my thread has devolved and gone to **** Bob. We are actually discussing fuel economy here.

Not a bad conversation to have...



They have been peeling a lot of "Idt" stickers off...LOL...

 

[SilverJimmy]

I told my wife years ago and I still stand by this, that mechanics are probably the dumbest of the dumb. We actually buy tools to do work, then we find ourselves buying more tools to do more work. Then lather, rinse, repeat in this viscous cycle. Let that soak in for a minute.

And all us tool dealers want to thank you very much! And I was a tool “buyer” before I was a dealer.

 

[PugetDude]

I often find myself buying “ the right tool for the job” immediately after using the wrong tool for the job.
( but at least I will have it the next time I need it)