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

[Baz]

I've been putting shade cloth over my two driveways for quite a few years. I usually leave them up year round but of course when hurricanes blow through they are taken down and need to be re-installed. Many times I will buy new shade cloth while I'm "at it".

They really help in mitigating the negative aspects of full sun on my parking spots, which are also used for work spaces, such as currently with a few of my motorcycles. I normally park my truck on that drive but trying to finish these bikes right now.

I chose to buy new shade cloth this year, sourced from "the Zon". The 12x16 beige has a 90% rating and the 16x20 black the same, except on the black I doubled up and have two layers. Really makes a difference! Cost was about mid thirties each so around 100 bucks total.

The beige didn't have built in grommets so I had to use clips for those but the black did have grommets, saving a little extra labor. I normally make sure what I but has grommets but really wanted that 90% in this size and color. No biggie really.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by Baz

I've been putting shade cloth over my two driveways for quite a few years. I usually leave them up year round but of course when hurricanes blow through they are taken down and need to be re-installed. Many times I will buy new shade cloth while I'm "at it".

They really help in mitigating the negative aspects of full sun on my parking spots, which are also used for work spaces, such as currently with a few of my motorcycles. I normally park my truck on that drive but trying to finish these bikes right now.

I chose to buy new shade cloth this year, sourced from "the Zon". The 12x16 beige has a 90% rating and the 16x20 black the same, except on the black I doubled up and have two layers. Really makes a difference! Cost was about mid thirties each so around 100 bucks total.

The beige didn't have built in grommets so I had to use clips for those but the black did have grommets, saving a little extra labor. I normally make sure what I but has grommets but really wanted that 90% in this size and color. No biggie really.

Looks like paradise !! I hope that some day , I am outside wrenching under a shade cloth and palm trees .

[Baz]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Looks like paradise !! I hope that some day , I am outside wrenching under a shade cloth and palm trees .

And a mermaid!

Thanks, Fred. Will keep the light on for ya, my friend!

Ideally I would have this AND a LARGE climate controlled shop.

But gotta make due with what you have.

This shade cloth is a game changer though for sure.

[oldE]

Rerouted a couple hundred yards of electric fence. Originally the fences followed the lines of my FIL's fences, but with changes in the ground and grazing critters, I thought it would be better to straighten the fence which widened a pasture and slightly reduced the width of a hay field. The ground was still soft enough that the tractor wheels cut in a bit. On the other hand, there's no way on this green earth I am driving fence posts by hand when I have a tractor with a loader.
The fences are Electrobraid, 1/4 " braided nylon line with copper filament woven in.I got rid of the old barbed wire years ago. I grew up with barbed wire and hated working with it.

Best
Les

[rsrguy]

Good stuff happened today. If you look at the first pic you'll notice a slight mismatch.. which is completely normal, even with accurately matched paint. In order to
tie the white in and have it match the fuse and keep the stripes I blended it together today. It's looking like its going to work well enough.

[oldE]

You, my friend, are an artist.

Best
Les

[rsrguy]

You're extremely generous with your praise. It's appreciated. I only wish I could have you guys to the hangar for a Saturday bbq, I bet it'd be a solid kick in the pants.
It's funny, when people ask me what I do, I just tell them I'm a dumb old painter, or I sniff paint. Lately though I've been thinking of the objects of my efforts as art that flies.
I'm blending the top today, it should end up even better than the bottom cowl.

[herr_oberst]

GZ, you've definitely found a niche where your skills and the need crossed paths, and you've proven that you're more than up for the challenges. I appreciate that you take time to document and share.

[Baz]

Excellent work, Guy - appreciate you sharing with us!

Finally got a chance to work on the Silverado's AC. Thought I had a leak - but didn't have the right schrader valve so got one coming tomorrow from the Zon.

[rsrguy]

Thanks Herr O, Baz, and oldE.
It's only taken 40 years... I'm kinda starting from scratch(again). The hope is it'll take off (no punn intended). At 55, maybe finally graduating from the school of hard knocks will be in the cards. Anyway, I've got something that can easily keep me engaged, serve my ocd, and give the requisite amount of satisfaction I'll need for whatever time I have left on this rock. Regardless of the level of remuneration, I'm where I want to be. Funny thing is, I'm just as stoked to walk into the hangar as I am to drop over the edge into 24" of fresh.
Today was the second to last step... cleared it, Monday will be wet sand and last spray of clear.

[oldE]

I look at that, then contrast with my accomplishments from yesterday which amounted to hanging a pasture gate, getting our little dock in the water and knocking together another swallow nest box. I'm glad I have come to the stage in my life where I can appreciate the amazing things people like Guy and others can do and be content with being able to do what needs to be done around here.
Guy, have you considered doing a YouTube channel?

Best
Les

[GH85Carrera]

I was having fun in the garage with the El Camino. The plugs and wires have been in place for way too long. Likely since I swapped engines 87,000 miles ago. The old plugs were put in by a really smart guy, (blush) and antisieze was used. They were in there tight, but came right out. Well at least the driver's side. I am replacing the spark plug wires as well. That is the hardest part. Tomorrow I will do the passenger side, and that is easier except for the very back against the firewall plug. The driver's side has the steering column, AC and power steering pump, brake master cylinder and other stuff in the way. My back said enough. Time for a beer. Yep, I heard it say that!

The old plugs were certainly worn, and I got my money's worth from them. The engine was running fine, but on occasion missed for a few seconds, and then cleared up.

The 911 is way easier to change plugs for me. Of course I only change the 911 plugs when doing a valve adjustment, so all the "stuff" is out of the way already for the valve adjustment.

[GH85Carrera]

As expected, the passenger side was much easier. The very back one did require jacking it enough to remove the tire, and there is easy access under the fender liner. "While I was in there" I went ahead and check the manifold bolts. They seem to loosen up at random.

I am pretty sure the CIA and FBI come in and loosen some of the manifold bolts at random.

I have never found a pattern, but I just give them a tweak, and several are not tight after 10,000 miles or so.

And of course, I managed to knock off the wire to the oil pressure sending unit, so I get a steady 70 pounds of oil pressure on the gauge. Fantastic oil pressure! I took it for a test drive, and all is fine, but the engine is way to hot to stick my hand back there to push together the oil pressure sender wire down harder.

[HobieMarty]

I mowed my lawn yesterday and noticed the riding mower deck was loud, I figured the spindle bearings were wearing out. Today, I took the deck off the mower and found one spindle was okay, even quiet when I spun the blade. The other spindle had a lot of play in it, and I found the bearings were shot. I ordered some new bearings and went about cleaning up the inside of the spindle, but I found the inside to be all wallowed out, so I ordered a new spindle. I just wanted the aluminum part, but I could not find just that part, so I had to get a spindle complete with bearings and pulley. Well, at least I know how to work on this stuff.
I also found some spray paint in the color I want to paint the little Armored Car Tootsietoy. It is called "Sand." I started testing the color today and noticed a little imperfection in the hood area of the toy, so I did a little bodywork on it. I like the color and will paint it better in a day or so.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[juanbenae]

Not fixing anything specific today, but have done a few things with both my new wire feed and plasma cutter over the last couple weeks....

Be ready to do any project when it comes to mind... A cart with casters helps...

[rsrguy]

Originally Posted by oldE

I look at that, then contrast with my accomplishments from yesterday which amounted to hanging a pasture gate, getting our little dock in the water and knocking together another swallow nest box. I'm glad I have come to the stage in my life where I can appreciate the amazing things people like Guy and others can do and be content with being able to do what needs to be done around here.
Guy, have you considered doing a YouTube channel?

Best
Les

Sure we've thought about it, but I have the face and physique of a top 40 dj. That's not to say we won't do something. The real boogie man is all of the snitching and trash talk that happens behind the scenes with regard to aviation content, so the whole thing is a very sharp double edge sword with no tang. It will eventually happen but what's the format and formula? Those are details to be ironed out.
As far as the chores your completing... well i do those things at home too, I can't get the same feeling of satisfaction from those things either, mainly because I don't have the same level of passion for them.
I have a (youge) project coming up, probably going to take 2 years to complete (mainly because of a shoestring budget) I'll be designing and building an in ground geothermal greenhouse for 4 season cropping here in northern Utah (i really miss the fresh citrus of the sanJ valley).
Anyway it'll be a passion project but it still won't compare to what I'm privileged enough to get to do in the hangar.
What needs to get done and what we love to do are rarely even on the same page of the to do list.

[herr_oberst]

I think confidence and preparedness is what makes a good demonstration video. I watch Steve from the model shed pretty religiously. He's a humble guy and he's not trying to be anything but who he is. His videos are simple and he doesn't try to be entertaining above and beyond showcasing his skills and giving insight to any detail, products or procedures he wants to present. At the end, he shows a bunch of stills to give good views of what he accomplished.

If I had skills and I wanted to create a YouTube presence, I think I'd follow this guy's lead.

[Baz]

Schrader valve arrived Saturday afternoon so got the AC going again in the Silverado.

Nice to have ice cold air in the work truck again!

[onewhippedpuppy]

My 2020 Ram developed the notorious “Hemi tick”, so I decided to replace the frequently warped exhaust manifolds with headers, which were actually less money. I was very happy to find zero broken bolts, which are typically the issue. I did find one manifold badly cracked, with the other side showing some hairline cracking. Gotta say it doesn’t feel any different, but it’s nice to get rid of the tick!

Also would add that BBK headers suck, first one showed up with a red LEAK tag and sharpie on the header showing a leak. Second set had an area where the perimeter of the tube hadn’t been welded to the collector and you could see daylight. Because I already had the truck torn apart I took it to the local Midas and they welded it for me.

[oldE]

More like un-fixing today. A few weeks ago my granddaughter and I discovered the remains of someone's 8' x12' float stuck on 5he opposite bank of the river. Today the wind 2as calm so I rowed over, got it off the bank and towed it home. It was all pressure treated lumber, screwed together (poorly). It is now a small pile of 4' and 8' pieces which will find their place in other projects.

This is the before shot.

I hope I never have to rely on the fellow who threw this together to do any work for me.

Best
Les