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

[mattdavis11]

I was lucky! Had a ball joint fail on the 02 Accord. I could have been along for one hell of a ride, but it happened at the stop sign across the street from my house.

Grab jack and wheel dolly, get the boy to help push it across the street.

Remove wheel and discover the drive axle is also busted, inner joint. Order parts.

Commence whacking on car to remove bad parts. No go. Remove entire knuckle, bang out bad joint from knuckle, stack lumber, brick and 2 inch receiver hitch under arm to knuckle joint, whack down with BFH, remove rest of joint. Reassemble all.

Drives great! I can not wait to do the other side!

[Scott Douglas]

How many miles on your '02 Matt?

I've been playing with trains today.
My son and I won an auction for some LGB train stuff on the GW site. Free shipping, well $.01 might as well be free. First box came the day before yesterday. I'm impressed with the robustness of LGB train cars. The box was not well packed, but all survived for the most part. So today I was washing all the cars and track since they were really dirty. Kind of surprised me that toys this pricey can end up the way these did.
Here's an example of my cleaning efforts.
This is a circus train sound car before cleaning:


This is it after I put it back together:


Not all the cars were that dirty, but most had some sort of stuff on them.
While I was out in the garage cleaning, the FedEx guy stopped by, and, to my surprise, dropped off another box from the same order

It was filled with more track!



We also lucked out and got two cars with sound and a sound system that is stand alone that has both steam and diesel sound, and it WORKS!



Couldn't believe he got that lucky, but he did.
All this for under $200.

[red-beard]

I installed a Salt Water Chlorine Generator for the Pool.

Before install. That is a worthless, leaking "Pool Frog". Its got electrolytes. It's what pools crave. It is a tight fit for the SWCG. But there really isn't any other place.



Cutting out the Pool Frog.



Froggy Gone!



Sanding up the PVC for a clean connection



Salt Cell and Switch installed



Making Chlorine!

[1990C4S]

^^^ What VFD are you running? I assume it's a 220V single phase pump?

[red-beard]

Hayward Tristar 1.85 HP VS pump. I run 22.5 hours at about 40 GPM and 2.5 hours at 100 GPM (skimmers and hot tub circulation). I'm testing the generator right now.

Tonight I'll run a "calibration", to figure out how much is generated at the 50% setting. I'll put it in hot tub mode and run at 50% for an hour, testing the Free Chlorine before and after. The hot tub volume is much more "sure" than the pool. 770 Gallons plus some for the piping, heater and the filter. Probably 800 gallons total. Pool & Spa are 24,655, as best I can figure. With the pump and piping, etc., it is probably 24,700 gallons. I should call it 25,000 as it is an estimate anyway.

[john70t]

James, all that PVC exposed to the hot TX sunlight can't be good..

I've been thinking about building a small shelter (moveable sloped with enough space for air) around my A/C.
It would provide direct shade to the cooling unit and keep leafs and snow out.

But I'm lazy and still haven't done it yet.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by john70t

James, all that PVC exposed to the hot TX sunlight can't be good..

I've been thinking about building a small shelter (moveable sloped with enough space for air) around my A/C.
It would provide direct shade to the cooling unit and keep leafs and snow out.

But I'm lazy and still haven't done it yet.

The equipment is in a 6 foot wide area between my house and a fence. It has maybe a couple hours per day of direct sun. I have a "cover" over part of that side of the house which could be extended over the pool equipment.

Be careful on surrounding AC equipment, since it can block the necessary air flow.

[john70t]

(POS camera sorry)

Painted the grey garage floor. and organized the disaster a bit.
I needed a little warmth to walk into.


Also sprayed a piece of flat metal.
An "outside" advertised fleur-de-livres medallion which was pricey but started rusting after a year.
(Truthfully, I neglected it for a while.)
Hopefully a few heavy coats of oil-based Rustoleum, through a $20 itty-bitty cheapo HF HPLV will keep it looking good for a decade.

To note:
Use ~40psi or per the HPLV spray gun instructions!
Do not use the normal ~90psi supply pressure from the air compressor!
Turn down the gun knob pressure until a round pattern is achieved instead of the fan.
Always practice test first before applying.
Go slow. Dilute the paint. Wear a mask.
Painting anything outside using these methods are cheap and easy.


At the end I run a couple cups of acetone(fast dry) or lacquer thinner(slow dry) across the final coat to wrap it into corners.
This also cleans the tool out.

[jyl]

You guys are fix-it-ing up a storm like you're blessed by, well, you know.

[Baz]

New neighbor building his home behind me (inexplicably) went with a 4' vinyl fence - instead of a 6' one - so now I will be putting up some privacy fabric.

I already have 4x4 posts along my patio outer edge so for now will attach the fabric to that.

Took delivery today of a 6'x50' roll and have another 4' wide one coming tomorrow so I can "double up" along the top half so I don't have to look at his ugly new house....or him and his wife....or their guests.

This is the fabric:


And his crappy little wiener fence........

[Scott Douglas]

Finally got all the cars and track cleaned up. Makes a nice set up. The sound system is pretty nice too. I should upload a video...

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMXgM4ThCq4&feature=youtu.be

[porsche930dude]

Did alot today! Got a ditch witch going for a friend that does picking. It was sitting 3 or 4 years just cleaned the points and air filter changed the fuel hose and fixed some wiring and it runs and seems to work. Also the transmission was leaking out when i filled it the side cove gasket so i changed that. Its fixed enough for him to sell. He brought me some junk honda sprees i will probably part them out. I have a spree myself but i dont really need parts. The Roof mower was junk aswell i took the engine and drive mechanism and blade off it and will scrap the rest. Ill try to get the engine going another day but its kinda beat.
The honda z50 is my neighbors he restored it but couldnt get it running and neither can I! I fixed the throttle and the wires to the condensor were poorly soldered so it didnt have spark. Now it has spark like crazy but wont fire no matter what i try. Its not fuel it has a new carb. we put new gas in it and tried all matter of sprays and pouring gas in to no effect. Just pops occasionally. Went throught the points and timing 100 times even perfect with a timing light. All seems good mechanicly good compression just a little bubbly around the intake valve but lash is good and bore is good. We changed out to the original points and condensor didnt help. Tried 3 known good spark plugs. Seriously out of ideas. We are going to try moving the timing around without the flywheel key and see if it has any effect.

[Alan A]

Didn’t take a picture but did fix the generator.
AVR swap - so it was a $27 fix, but with how flaky the powers been over the last few weeks it was good to have it back in service.

[Baz]

Privacy cloth came today and I got it up.....only attached with paracord because I'm going to re-do everything including the canopy this fall/winter. But for now - I've re-gained my privacy!

[RSBob]

Have never attempted this before.... Had a couple of annoying paint chips by the trim plate on the rear bumper of the old Cayenne. Got my old modeling paints out and mixed green, black, Euro gray, aluminum silver about five times and amazingly came surprisingly close. Unless you really scrutinize the chips, you would never know. Just call me Short Dog.

See you really can’t tell

[wdfifteen]

I put new batteries in my toilet seat this morning, so I’m feeling pretty good about keeping up with essential maintenance these days.

[oldE]

After taking a week off to take care of a sore throat (non-covid), I will finally finish getting the steel on the barn roof this morning. Hallilujah!

Best
Les

[Baz]

Roofing here as well, Les. Small enclosure though and only 6' off ground.

Headed to HD for plywood......will coat with silicon product.

[oldE]

Done at last. I ordered the steel in June, thinking I might get it on the barn before haying. Due to the early summer, we hayed four weeks early. Then it just got too darned hot for this fool to climb up onto the roof. When the weather broke in August I finally set up the staging and did my thing. Only about 2000 square feet, but I'm not sixty any more. I hope never to have to do that one again.

Best
Les

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

How many miles on your '02 Matt?

280K miles.

Later today I will be fixing the boat trailer lights, but only after I dig a deep hole in the yard and fill it back in.