Continuing Thread: What Are You Fix-It'ing Today?

[Baz]

Finally got around to motorcycle work today. Serviced the fuel petcock on my Ninja, for one thing.

These older bikes need a little TLC from time to time!

[GH85Carrera]

Learning new cuss words?

The steering column on my 86 El Camino was never designed to last 37 years, and 380,000 miles. I fooled them, but some parts do wear out and break.

The steering column is a tilt, with cruise, delay wipers, and of course tun signals. As I have never owned a BMW, I use my turn signals all the time. The right turn signal only canceled about 1/2 the time, so I was driving along with my right signal blinking. Then all of a sudden, the tilt lever was frozen in place at the bottom. It is a challenge to get in our out with the steering wheel all the way down in driving mode. Also the turn signal stalk broke, a couple of years back, and all that I could get locally was a black one, not the chrome one it is supposed to have.

So I tore into it again today. The turn signal switch was indeed cracked, so in went a new GM AC Delco switch as I reassembled. Before that, I had to have the column torn apart to the point to get the the bearings for the shaft, and those cage was in pieces. Keep taking it apart, and finally get to the pin that the lever uses to raise or lower the wheel. Get that out, and straighten it out.

Then "while I was in there" a new bearing cage, new ignition lock that I had re-keyed to work with my door key. So for the first time in 32 years of driving it, just one key is all I need! New cruise lever, new turn signal switch, button it all up, and it all works just like new, only with just the door key to operate the car. Turn signal works easily, and Glen is all happy again. Whoo hooo that pain in the but job is done.

If any of you need a GM G body steering column repaired, just snd a first class ticket, and $10,000 for the consultation fee, and parts are supplied by you. I hope like photographing weddings, I will never have to do another one.

Postscript: I guess I was used to the old worn ignition key. The key would slide in and pull out super easy. With the new lock, I takes a slight but very proper tug to get the key out of the ignition. My key ring now is one Porsche 911 black key, one GM door key, and my house key. Just the three keys. No batteries needed as there in no place to put a battery.

[TimT]

trying to figure out how to orient the wood

This slab is 3 in thick..I'm going to bring it back to the supplier and have them take 1/2-3/4 inch off one their planer

[TimT]

I think I'm getting close to water... like after a wave breaks or rapids..

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by Baz

Very impressive, Trevor! As good or better than most work I've seen by contractors who do this for a living.

Thank you sir! Just a humble DIYer trying to build a pad for a wee hot tub Mrs Bugs purchased. I’m doin my best every free moment I get. Work, get home at wee hours, a few hours sleep, up and working o the project….rinse and repeat.

I did back drill the final row of block today during my pre-work work so that I can epoxy 1/2” rebar to encapsulate into the pad when poured. Taking material up 1/2”-1” at a time and compacting as I go. Will be laying down my third and final run of geogrid 10’ back into the hill before the final backfill begins. Then it’s a matter of finishing the steps. The wall and steps will be topped with a capstone than will be blended into the slab. Due to the slab size, I am considering looking into a finisher since I haven’t messed with a slab this large. When all said and done, it will probably be 16’x17’ ish. Thanks to the local HF, I obtained a grinder disk rated for concrete. I go back and try to remove high spots in the block before moving onto the next layer. who knows if this helps or is an utter waste of time.








The intial run of geogrid
This past Saturday, I had 5yards of limestone road base dropped by a local company. The female driver fell into the serious “WACKA” category and would have looked totally at home at the nearest coffee shop as a barista. Very easy on the eye, very professional and one hell of a driver. I could not have placed the drop better if I had tried. Very skilled!!!
Mrs. Bugs has been tryin to help when she can, my hat is off to her for getting out here. I just let her go at her own pace until she times out and has to retreat for a rest. I appreciate her effort and willingness to give some things a try. I show her how to do something and she gives it a go, stumbles around with the challenge and learns. I have all the patients with her and it’s all part of the recovery process. It’s all about the journey…..

Cheers

[bugstrider]

I did get the conduit run and will be using the new tool acquisition to work the compaction layers.




Cheers everyone and thanks for allowing me to ramble on….

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by TimT

I just picked up a large slab of elm....



4X8 truck bed..

Its about 2-1/4 thick

Mrs Bugs n I love the wood tables with the custom inlaid resin, looks awesome and can’t wait to see the end product.

Keep it rollin, looks really good so far.

Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by TimT

I think I'm getting close to water... like after a wave breaks or rapids..

Gorgeous!!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oldE]

Updating what I have been doing around here reminds me of an old Peanuts cartoon in which some of the kids are looking at clouds and telling the others what they see. After hearing Linus describe some incredible image, Charlie Brown says,"I was going to say,'A horsey and a duckey,' but I changed my mind. "
You guys are amazing!
My endeavors have consisted of spreading manure on two pieces I plowed and tilled earlier this summer, then harrowing it in, spreading about 55 lbs of grass seed, lightly harrowing that in and rolling the ground. All in all I spent about 6 hours on and off the tractor yesterday and now we wait for rain.
It seems this summer most of the rain has fallen on the other side of the peninsula. They have had flooding. We have dry soil.
Keep posting updates on the impressive projects.

Best
Les

[Baz]

Les...I hear ya!

I go about my little piddling projects and then when I come here to post something I feel I have to...

As for Bugs......looking at your work....well it reminds me of this scene.........

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Operation "dye the gloves" was a success...

Sortof-

Got a pair of gloves on discount. Saved $3 or so.
Wrong color. Decided I would re- dye them to match my bike grips.
One spilled can of expensive Cordovan shoe leather later-
I have ruined my clothes,
I have ruined my precious garden tractor fender paint job
I have emptied my facy arse shoe dye
I have dyed my hands brown


.....BUT.... the gloves sort of match the hand grips..

This weekend I will spend $15 dollars on spray paint to match the ford white to repaint the fender and get to go buy another bottle of brown cordovan dye.

I'm a winner!!!! Look at me!!!!

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by LEAKYSEALS951

Operation "dye the gloves" was a success...

Sortof-

Got a pair of gloves on discount. Saved $3 or so.
Wrong color. Decided I would re- dye them to match my bike grips.
One spilled can of expensive Cordovan shoe leather later-
I have ruined my clothes,
I have ruined my precious garden tractor fender paint job
I have emptied my facy arse shoe dye
I have dyed my hands brown


.....BUT.... the gloves sort of match the hand grips..

This weekend I will spend $15 dollars on spray paint to match the ford white to repaint the fender and get to go buy another bottle of brown cordovan dye.

I'm a winner!!!! Look at me!!!!

Awesome!!!! This story made my day, thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[porsche930dude]

Fixing up a dune cat for somebody. He got it with a predator on it but the clutch setup was all wrong. I rebuilt the axle and jaskshaft with a modern torque converter and its all good now. Just have to make a clutch cover and send it on its way.

[rsrguy]

Originally Posted by bugstrider

I did get the conduit run and will be using the new tool acquisition to work the compaction layers.




Cheers everyone and thanks for allowing me to ramble on….

This is a disturbing amount of manwell labor... it looks amazing, I'll trade you my lower back and my 63 c150 for your lower back!

[rsrguy]

Got the old bird bound this morning... Avemco is fast.
This is one of the last items on the punch list before the cfi's do their self check outs this Saturday morning. We unfortunately had the landing gear crack the skin during the scheduled rapid disassembly in SC a few months back. Any way the repair had to be made with resourcinol. Someone had already done a repair and had some filler sourced from the "aviation " section of their flaps... so the section of skin between ribs was low. This made a double sided scab repair easy. The rest of the pictures were just stages of repair over the past 2 weeks.
It's the ceconite system over varnish. Super fill, ceconite fabric, Nitrate, buterate, randofill, more super fill(approved under stc with the ceconite process) then some sealer before some ranthane.

[TimT]

Some progress on the table, these are from the first black walnut slab I bought...

Almost ready for finish



I tried to layer the effects... You can see the base with blue and turquoise mica.. then
ocean blue with some streaks of white.. then less ocean blue and special effects on the white pigment..



The layers are apparent.. when you see the end section.... I had to think backwards to get the final effect



Should look like this with finish coats

[Baz]

Looking good, Guy and Tim...really beautiful work there!

[rsrguy]

Finished the repair. Put it all together and the annual is completed. First flight for us in the am.

[TimT]

Got the finish coat on one of the pieces, still need to be wet sanded and polished

[rsrguy]

Gorgeous..