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

[oldE]

The Missus wants a cold frame. I repurposed some of the lumber from the run in shelter. Still have to paint the frames for the glazing (repurposed windows saved from the house). It will be knocked down into sections and set up at the south east corner of the porch.

I still have to fit hinges and handles after the glass is in.

Best
Les

[A930Rocket]

Brought my SIL’s 2006 Explorer over to do some maintenance. Replaced the broken left tail light, installed new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, coil, and Installed a pigtail on the throttle body wiring.

Fired it up and had a misfire from something. Replaced the throttle body and seems to be running smoother now. Ran out of daylight, so I’ll have to test drive it tomorrow.

Don’t you hate when you do some maintenance and something happens to make it run poorly. 🤬

Edit. I finally figured out the problem, I mixed up a couple of plug wires at the coil pack. The correct order is 123465… 🤔

Today I installed a fuel filter and will take it back to their house. N

[wdfifteen]

Gteat job on the cold frame Les. Good luck with your garden.

I'm fixin' and not fixin' today ...

These iron skillets were caught in a flood in Vicki's basement some 20 years ago and they've been waiting for some TLC ever since. I had them sitting by my blasting cabinet waiting for me to have walnut shell in the cabinet again. Today was the day.





This is just a Lodge skillet, nothing special, and it was the worst rusted. I blew the crusty rust off and discovered some serious pits. These can be bought brand new. Not gonna be fixin' it. I'll paint it flat black and hang it on the garden wall.

On the other hand...



This 12" chicken fryer was Vicki's grandmothers. It's a Wagner with a plated (nickel?) exterior, and worth spending some time on. It didn't have terrible rust, cleaned up pretty well, and all it needs now is to be re-seasoned.

Now - back to the Speedster, and the refinishing, and the quilting machine, and ....

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Gteat job on the cold frame Les. Good luck with your garden.

I'm fixin' and not fixin' today ...

These iron skillets were caught in a flood in Vicki's basement some 20 years ago and they've been waiting for some TLC ever since. I had them sitting by my blasting cabinet waiting for me to have walnut shell in the cabinet again. Today was the day.



This is just a Lodge skillet, nothing special, and it was the worst rusted. I blew the crusty rust off and discovered some serious pits. These can be bought brand new. Not gonna be fixin' it. I'll paint it flat black and hang it on the garden wall.


This 12" chicken fryer was Vicki's grandmothers. It's a Wagner with a plated (nickel?) exterior, and worth spending some time on. It didn't have terrible rust, cleaned up pretty well, and all it needs now is to be re-seasoned.

Now - back to the Speedster, and the refinishing, and the quilting machine, and ....

Seasoning explained. Skip to 4:00 to skip the science.

[oldE]

I just build stuff.
The gardens are her domain. I have been banned from the gardens ever since the unfortunate asparagus incident of 1992. ( Hey!They looked like weeds.)

That pan came out very nicely.
Good save.

Best
Les

[Baz]

Looking good Big Les!

This graphic was used for a Handyman Services ad on Nextdoor...thought it was pretty cool.....

[Baz]

I have a couple driveway gates I cobbled together a few years ago for my circular drive.

This one came apart the other day where the vertical 2x4 attaches to the post. The caster wheel also lost it's locking capability so I replaced it as well as the hinges and put a new vertical 2x4 in - an 8' this time. I also added short sections of 2x4 at the lower corners to help strengthen things a bit. Little tricky doing it by myself but luckily it wasn't super windy.

[rsrguy]

Aileron cables exit the wing through the fabric on these wings. To do so with this very expensive German fabric covering, it requires a gromit at any holes in it.
We made aluminum gromits bonded them at the cable exits then covered with vinyl exit patches as it would have looked from the piper factory.

[Baz]

".....as it would have looked from the piper factory."

Very nice, Guy! Nice photos. too. Thanks for sharing!

[rsrguy]

I pulled my instrument cluster out of the javelin Tuesday... to get to my door hinges off... wow the factory did a rotten job wiring this thing... rats nest is stock.. Anyway, I have a repop harness complete with Packard style factory connectors... after seeing how the factory jammed the harness in there I'm thinking it's either a beeotch or they just didn't have the time to be tidy-er....
I have no idea what to expect when installing the new one.... here's mud in your eye.

[rsrguy]

Thanks Baz

[Baz]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

I have no idea what to expect when installing the new one.... here's mud in your eye.

[herr_oberst]

They say God lives in the details...(The amount of work and skill needed to get to here is astonishing)!

[rsrguy]

Yup.... lots of work. The owner of the company that distributes the covering in the US beats the drum about how much quicker it is to install his system over the other "legacy" systems... . I don't see it. I love the product, it's revolutionary, the issue I take is its naked nature... ie, no painting required. Because of this, it's extremely easy to have a crappy looking finish, thus the extra time. Extra time also because the wing requires epoxy priming...prior to covering..... Extra time to apply and dry two coats of adhesive to the air frame and the covering....
The biggest issue for me is the silly appearance of the job upon completion (not opaque, similar to a tissue cover job on a balsa model) and the difficulty of keeping it clean...
In short not the same processes as legacy.... just different processes with almost the same time commitment.

Why use it? It can save 20-30% in weight.

[CMDR Perry]

74 Alfa project bought in December 2023. I replaced the head gasket and retimed the cams. The intake cam lock nut tab was halfway broken off and the exhaust cam was missing the indexing bolt. This thing was a mouse condo during a lengthy storage period. On the plus side it came with lots of new interior restoration parts and has the aftermarket square tube subframe addition. DP

[LEAKYSEALS951]

From the desk of leakystitch951 -I sewed up my sac today!

[Baz]

Very nice work, Ron!

[A930Rocket]

Started replacing the stock M54 oil filter housing with a S54 oil filter housing. This will allow me to properly install an oil cooler. My old system utilized replacement oil filter housing cap that had AN fittings on it. It was a pain when I came time to change the filter on it.

Hopefully, I have all the parts to finish it tomorrow.

Existing oil cooler set up.


Stock M54 oil filter housing removed. Lots of oil leaking. The oil filter housing gasket needed to be replaced anyway. Now, I’m killing two birds with one stone.


What it will look like with the S54 oil filter housing

[rsrguy]

Finished fitting the new leading edges to the left super cruiser wing yesterday and re installed the nut plates to the landing light recess... it looks pretty ugly but it there's no corrosion... a quick wire brush scotch bright and paint it'll look much better. I also put backing fabric on the seat to test fit the owner on the new set foam. He flew the beech in this morning, stunning airplane!

[rsrguy]