A new game... Post pics from your cel phone V.1.0

[BruceK]

I knew these existed, but today was the first time I saw one in the wild.   Can't be too many 50+ year old Canadian pickups in Texas.

[94touring]

That's cool  77.gif

[Mudhen]

Never knew there was such a thing!

I'm dying to put a level on that bed... :(

[Jims5543]

After 10 Months we are finally getting this poor car looked at.

I had a guy from another shop swing by and take a look at it, he said it was too big of a job for him, even though he owns a collision shop that specializes in this.

Not very encouraging.


It was on the lift for the first time, we were not hopeful.  The shop owner is a semi retired heavy collision guy. He called us today and told us to come by the shop and take a look.

We were super happy to see the lower control arm took all the damage, well, and the oil pan and the power steering rack.

The great news is, the car is not a loss.

If all goes as planned it should be fixed and back on the road within a month.

He is pretty psyched!

On the lift.




Thank you lower control arm for taking a beating.





And oil pan is destroyed.


We went to town last night, many parts on their way. Shop owner super cool, letting us do the mechanical work ourselves. Which starts hopefully next week.


A little bent:





while we are in there



Engine hanging in the air, subframe out motor mounts gone with subframe.



Broken motor mount:



In order to remove the oil pan, we had to:

- remove the exhaust

- remove the heat shields

- remove the driveshaft

- remove the transmission

- remove the clutch and pressure plate

- remove the flywheel

All this to remove the oil pan.


It was not fun.



Old vs. New:




Had to do some mods to make the new one fit, the joys of Franken cars:



This should do it:



Getting the tranny in was a nightmare using a 30 year old jack that did not roll straight did not help:




You will notice in this pic, we ended up (after a nice curse filled temper tantrum) dropping the engine back down about 4" and racking it up in the front in order to have enough room to bolt the tranny to the engine. We could get them matched up then they binded up. We had to use a variety of vice grips and bolts to pull the fucker back together. FUCK!




This is the most amazing tool and I am getting one. It is a hydraulic jack in a bar. I cannot count how many time we used this and it was a godsend.



This is an out of order pic, this was celebrating getting the transmission out and dropping the oil pan.




In order to get the engine back in we had to twist it back in line hard core body shop tools were used.




HUGE respect for guys that are wrenching like this every day, as we have been doing after work all week it really hard on you. My right shoulder is fucked I cannot lift my arm over my head without bad pain, my left wrist is tweaked my back is killing me and my hands are swollen.

Either I am not conditioned for this or it is just some hard ass work.

Whatever you make, it is not enough.

Huge props to the body shop guy that let us use the lift for free in order to sort the car out for him to paint it.

I noticed he gets Dunkin Donuts every day so he now has a $50 gift card for there. I am just getting starts in my random acts of kindness for him.

[Jims5543]

A lot of charcoal was burned this weekend.

Saturday, after spending 8 hours on the car wrenching a much needed pain killed was due:



Then is was time, as dusk to fire up some coals for the Weber kettle:



So I could cook some steaks:




This morning we took the E21 to the farmers market then settled in for the afternoon, I ran up to pick up some nice beers for the evening and for cooking then dropped the E21 back into storage.




This time I fired up the BGE to smoke a Chicken with a beer can up its ass. I chose a local Whit for the honors and some 9% IPA for me.



The finished product, it was delightful, Renee seasoned it perfectly, and the BBQ smoke was very well represented.



One honey do (many postponed) was to get our old TV mounted on wall in back fun room, where my younger son and I game, we now have a family fun TV mounted, LOL it looks like a showroom) I honestly prefer to game on a smaller monitor over a large TV, easier to keep track of things.

The TV up top is for watching TV.

I am sitting on a couch in the room taking pic:

[94touring]

Jim, great time to be doing those upgrades. Plus you know the car even better. 

[BruceK]

So the vinyl signage over the rear window glass is totally opaque, yet they left the wiper arms installed on the van for some reason? To help block the sign?

[94touring]

The unmanned sky link trains in DFW have wiper blades on the lead car.  For who I'm not sure!

[94touring]

From a Halloween party this week. 

[MiniDave]

Did you paint some "happy little clouds and happy little trees"?   ;D

[94touring]

Jen was the happy tree!

[BruceK]

I went to an airshow last weekend.  One of the attractions was a jet-powered big rig truck that did runs up and down the runway.  It can go over 300mph which is pretty darned quick for a brick-shaped vehicle.   Massive thrust vs. aerodynamics.

But what I really found interesting was their choice for a tow vehicle to pull the truck to/from the runways.  I would have expected a huge diesel powered Ram dually pickup.    But no.   Instead it's a totally stock looking Toyotaru sports car towing it around.   4.gif

[94touring]

300mph in a truck, yikes!  Hope the windshield is reinforced!

[BruceK]

For the nominal fee of just $3000 you can ride shotgun on a run.  ;D

[BruceK]

I saw my first Chevrolet Bolt (with a B), the new all-electric long range car from GM the other day.  It's styled like a small hatch but it's a pretty big car, relatively speaking. Not sure what's going on with the funky pattern on the brake lights.  And I was pretty surprised to see that all the lower lights at bumper height seem to be regular old incandescent automotive light bulbs.   This is supposed to be a flagship electric vehicle and that just seemed really cheap and low rent to me.  I would've expected LEDs if nothing more than the fact they are high tech and consume less electricity.

[BruceK]

Sure, it's a regional thing, but there is nothing better for breakfast than a fresh breakfast taco built to your individual specifications with some decent salsa.

[94touring]

I could use some tacos after last night.

[BruceK]

Sounds fishy.

[gr8kornholio]

When you open your car parts and giggle and then remember your car is tiny.

[BruceK]

Cars & Coffee this morning.

[gr8kornholio]

Nice shot.  Where's the other half?  While you guys were relaxing with sunrises and coffee I was trying to keep up with my 7 yr old for a 1 mile "fun" run. 

"Run for fun!? What the hell kind of fun is that?"

[BruceK]

Luis was stuck in line for a while.  There was a $10 entry fee today to benefit Toys for Tots which made for a very long line to get in. 

[jeff10049]

Nice shot.  Where's the other half?  While you guys were relaxing with sunrises and coffee I was trying to keep up with my 7 yr old for a 1 mile "fun" run. 

"Run for fun!? What the hell kind of fun is that?"

[BruceK]

I was texting with my brother this evening and he send me a random photo he took today.

Kinda cool how how we both took two pretty similar photos today. His was in Missouri and mine was in Texas

[Jims5543]

Nice shot.  Where's the other half?  While you guys were relaxing with sunrises and coffee I was trying to keep up with my 7 yr old for a 1 mile "fun" run. 

"Run for fun!? What the hell kind of fun is that?"

There is a fun run down here like that, it ends at a bar, the slogan is something along the lines of "0.7 Mile fun run, lets not over do it."

Was surveying a home this past week, I did not expect to see this out in the back of his property, although the Ford Lightening in the front drive should have tipped me off I was at a Petrolheads house.





We always mark the hazards in the field, safety first!!


We have been getting pounded with rain here and I have no choice but to work in it. My 2 pairs of waterproof boots are ruined. I leave them outside the office.


My sons dog Dr. Gonzo is the office mascot, my wife bought him a new collar, everyone laughs at it.