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

[Baz]

Originally Posted by ted

30 years ago the neighbor planted the trees on our side of fence.
That was a few years before we moved in and built the garage.
I don't mind a 10 foot tall hedge but these giant Cypress trees have been shedding limbs and falling over for years, they are all gone now.

OK thanks for the explanation, Ted.

Good to hear they are the responsible type, who are accepting responsibility for their trees, even if they were on your property.

I've watched enough Peoples Court and Judge Judy to know how easy it is for folks to somehow try to wiggle out of their responsibilities when it comes to matters like this. Many times because they simply do not understand how it works.

Carry on sir.....

[A930Rocket]

Started cutting metal today on the front fenders. I’ve been cutting it back incrementally and working the sheet metal for the flare. Knock on wood, this is going to be much easier than the rear fenders.

It would be nice to have a spare fender to learn on. I’ve already made a few mistakes.

[ted]

Originally Posted by Baz

OK thanks for the explanation, Ted.
Good to hear they are the responsible type, who are accepting responsibility for their trees, even if they were on your property.
Carry on sir.....

Yeah I'm sure if new owners had moved in next door they would not have been receptive to the explanation that the tree on my side of the fence was their problem.
We still offered to pay for half the fence repair.
They used their home insurance and had to pay a big deductible.

Drove a 6 hour round trip from San Diego to Yuma Arizona and picked up a used Lance 850 truck camper.
Only Lance camper that allows you to tow a trailer without needing a hitch extension.
Looking forward to staying at the track now.
Was using a heat gun and wd40 to remove fishing and gun club and dealer stickers off of it today.

[billybek]

Nice looking camper! Hope it serves you well.

[rsrguy]

Been working on a scout... in order to recover you first must install the headliner and sky light. We repaired the skylight support rails ... first they get several coats of epoxy, then they get trimmed to fit the existing skylight frame. The previous rebuilder did a less than stellar job at filling and fairing the skylight frame so I knocked that out this week. The fairing compound is epoxy and
milled glass. With any luck at all I'll be able to finish the headliner install tomorrow and get all prepped for fitting the skylight.
We've also been building a set of pacer wings.... pretty much from scratch, pics of them later.

[porsche930dude]

Made a door panel for my jeep. 1/4" luon and an old toneau cover came in handy.

[oldE]

Twenty year old bathroom sink was showing some corrosion around the drain. OK. Ordered a new sink, porcelain as the older style is no longer available. I intended to re-use the drain, but it was corroded and would not come out of the older unit. Back in to town for a replacement drain. Found an exact replacement, but found the tail, which slides into the P trap was about an inch too short. Another trip into town, a few minutes with hacksaw and file and everything went together. At last.
I'm glad the hardware store is only 10 minutes away.

Best
Les

[stevej37]

This project was a few years ago...but I just found the pics of it and so here they come...

Old chicken coop on the edge of my lawn that was neglected for many years. No pics of the opposite side, but there are two double hung windows facing the south. The bare ground area is from some overgrown arborvitaes that I removed.



Starting the repairs. Removed the siding, shingles and the lower wall boards.



Widened the doorway and refinished the interior.




The ceiling had been insulated with straw at some time...fun, fun, fun pulling that out.



Almost finished pic. New roll-up door, siding and shingles. Repaired the windows and painted everything. I mixed and poured an approach ramp after this pic.

[herr_oberst]

I hate to be pedantic, but "my NAPA FLAPS" isn't how I'd phrase it. I'd generally say something like "My FLAPS is a NAPA."

[GH85Carrera]

Having fun with the laundry room faucet. It is essentially a kitchen faucet and cheap stainless steel sink in the laundry room. Handy to have.


It is pretty obvious the old faucet was leaking, and it was a crappy faucet anyway. Taking it out was fairly straightforward, except the long 11MM nut in the middle that secured the faucet in place. As you can see, it was a tad rusty, and it held down a plate for a wider footprint. I had removed the other lines to get access to the nut. I whipped out my 11mm deep socket, and my swivel head ratchet, and it fought a little but it yielded to a superior force. I had to just cut the hose for the sprayer, and there was no easy access to the brass connection for the hose. It all went to the landfill anyway, so no need to play nice.



The new faucet is in place, and the laundry and dog washing service provider is happy again.

The worst part was laying on my back, against the floor of the cabinet, that is 4 inches higher than the floor, so a nice hard spot to lay on. I did use an old packing blanket to soften it. Few things more fun than laying on your back, reaching up to arms length, to fiddle with connections with the sink drain right in the way of everything. We now have a soap dispenser on the right side, and the head of the faucet pulls out to spray if needed. There is a full size washer and dryer, and a built in ironing board in there as well.

We keep the dog food in there in a plastic tub, and our female gets 1/2 an antihistamine for her allergies.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by ted

Yeah I'm sure if new owners had moved in next door they would not have been receptive to the explanation that the tree on my side of the fence was their problem.
We still offered to pay for half the fence repair.
They used their home insurance and had to pay a big deductible.

Drove a 6 hour round trip from San Diego to Yuma Arizona and picked up a used Lance 850 truck camper.
Only Lance camper that allows you to tow a trailer without needing a hitch extension.
Looking forward to staying at the track now.
Was using a heat gun and wd40 to remove fishing and gun club and dealer stickers off of it today.

SWEET looking camper, Ted....nice score! Worth the 6 hour drive for sure!

I tend to leave stickers on stuff I get. There's a SCCA one inside my 914 I left - but guess that's a little different than yours!

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

Been working on a scout... in order to recover you first must install the headliner and sky light. We repaired the skylight support rails ... first they get several coats of epoxy, then they get trimmed to fit the existing skylight frame. The previous rebuilder did a less than stellar job at filling and fairing the skylight frame so I knocked that out this week. The fairing compound is epoxy and
milled glass. With any luck at all I'll be able to finish the headliner install tomorrow and get all prepped for fitting the skylight.
We've also been building a set of pacer wings.... pretty much from scratch, pics of them later.

Damn, I wish I lived close to your hanger. You do cool stuff. I'd come over and watch you do cool stuff and drink your soda. Regale you with funny stories using my rapier-like wit. (Maybe it's better that we don't live close. You'd end up kicking me out...)

[jyl]

Resumed working on my kitchen hood and fan (the endless project). Took advantage of a break in the rain to climb up the ladder, remove the old vent and duct, and learn that the space between studs is only 8”. WTF - well, who knows how they built houses in 1910. This house probably uses “balloon studs”, continuous studs the entire height of the exterior walls, because they had whole old-growth forests to cut down. Or maybe there’s some reason why they spaced studs more closely at this point.

Well, the throat of my fan, which will be mounted on the outside of the house in sideblast mode, is only 8” diameter. My ducting is 10”x10” square, but there are reducers from 10x10 to 8 round.

So the plan is to cut an (slightly over) 8” hole in the house, insert the round end of the reducer into the inside of that hole, connect the 10x10 duct to the reducer, and screw the fan mounting bracket to the exterior of the wall, centered on the hole. I can catch some studs, and the siding and sheathing are very stout. Get a handy kid with a rope from the bathroom window above to help me lift the fan up and screw it to the bracket. Having remembered to pre-drill the necessary holes in bracket, fan housing, and wall. Then I’ll run a cable from an anchor point above the fan to add support to the fan housing, or build a support from below, whichever is easier.

The photo below shows the situation. I want to lower the hole a little, so that the fan housing will clear the electrical service. I am reluctant to futz with the service cables, because that could lead to “permits” and “inspections” to which I am allergic.



The fan, currently decorating my foyer, is this little guy. Basically the smallest upblast fan that CaptiveAire makes, and runs on 110v which simplifies things.



I need to re-wire the fan a little, because although it comes with a variable speed control, that control is mounted to the inside of the fan housing. Again, WTF? These fans normally sit on a roof, why put the rheostat speed dial on the roof?

Then I’ll have to find space on the electrical panel for the fan, figure out where the speed control should be mounted - I’m thinking on or in the hood - and I will be able to wok fry to my heart’s content.

[rsrguy]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Damn, I wish I lived close to your hanger. You do cool stuff. I'd come over and watch you do cool stuff and drink your soda. Regale you with funny stories using my rapier-like wit. (Maybe it's better that we don't live close. You'd end up kicking me out...)

I'd more than likely put you to work for soda and lunch.

[HobieMarty]

...and we're back, working on the SHO again, this time, the passenger side. I removed the spindle, removed the wheel bearing/hub assembly, got a "loaner" ball joint removal/installation kit from Advanced Auto Parts today and removed the ball joint, thing was totally shot. I then cleaned up the spindle. Next up will be installing the new ball joint, new wheel bearing/hub assembly, and new sway bar end links.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Crowbob]

This is one humbling thread. Planes, trains, automobiles and everything else.

Here’s my contribution. A coffered ceiling. Almost done. Way more complicated than I thought it would be. There was a 1/2” difference between the center of the ceiling and the edge where it meets the walls. In other words, the ceiling wasn’t flat due to bowed joists, which would have been obvious when finished. And it almost is:

[herr_oberst]

Day-ummm. That ceiling is awesome! Please don't take this wrong, but are the panels real tin?
That looks just great!

[Crowbob]

No they are not real tin. Thermoplastic.

[GH85Carrera]

Today I had more fun with my sprinkler system that I installed myself 24 years ago. My master gardener wife has taken over many parts of the yard that used to be grass I used to have to mow. One of those areas is the edge of the parking area in our driveway at the edge of the property line. What was a strip of grass just 24 inches wide, is now a garden area. That conversion required different heads to be above the plants and not pop up heads designed for turf.

The area also has the French drain plumbing running through the same little space to the lowest part of the yard. A couple of years ago I changed the pop up heads to adjustable 3 foot risers to get above the various plants she has growing in the summer.

One of our guest came to visit and he pulled up way further than necessary, and bent over the riser spray head. I tried to straighten it up, but no luck, it leaked.

So I had to get a new one, 7 bucks, and figure out how I had made the connection before. As usual, no shortcuts, and full threaded together hard lines buried 2 feet deep. Dang someday I need to get lazy and do it the simple way, but I just had to dig down and find the fitting. It sure is fun trying to unscrew threaded PVC connections at the bottom of a hole where no normal wrench will fit. Of course it filled with mud so I had to run the section for a bit with no head on it to flush the line.

I got it done, the wife is happy and I get to go back to goofing off. It feels like Beer 30!

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

This is one humbling thread. Planes, trains, automobiles and everything else.

Here’s my contribution. A coffered ceiling. Almost done. Way more complicated than I thought it would be. There was a 1/2” difference between the center of the ceiling and the edge where it meets the walls. In other words, the ceiling wasn’t flat due to bowed joists, which would have been obvious when finished. And it almost is:

Did you straighten out the joists?
I remember putting in my garage door opener and finding the center joist had sagged a tad. Got with a friend who had building experience and he helped me jack up the offending area and add some two by stiffeners to the joist to keep it straight as well as adding more load carrying drop down boards to the whole affair. Not sure what you call those last ones.
Your ceiling looks fantastic.