What did you do in your shop today?

[94touring]

Got here to meet the 66 owner since he dropped the car off for some tweaks the other day.  I played musical cars and it's behind my rx7.  Drove the rx7 yesterday to make sure it's still capable.  The battery on it's been on the outs but have had a charger on it.  Anyways got here and the battery is dead and then some. It won't even let the charger go to a charge mode with it in the car, it just says "wrong"  Thought I had a short but it will charge the battery out of my mini in the rx7.  So, musical batteries to move it out of the way till he gets here, then a trip to buy a new battery. Always something.

[BruceK]

Got here to meet the 66 owner since he dropped the car off for some tweaks the other day.  I played musical cars and it's behind my rx7.  Drove the rx7 yesterday to make sure it's still capable.  The battery on it's been on the outs but have had a charger on it.  Anyways got here and the battery is dead and then some.  So, musical batteries to move it out of the way till he gets here, then a trip to buy a new battery. Always something.

The battery in my wife's Infiniti crapped out completely last week. It was just a little over three years old but still partially covered on an Autozone prorated warranty.  So I changed that out.  And the battery in my '02 MINI was dead a couple of days later too.  It had only been about a week since I drove that car, but the dashcam was running.   Fortunately I was able to charge it and it's come back to life  and seems fine now.   That's an Optima battery so not exactly cheap. But then again all car batteries seem to be very expensive these days. 

[94touring]

Got here to meet the 66 owner since he dropped the car off for some tweaks the other day.  I played musical cars and it's behind my rx7.  Drove the rx7 yesterday to make sure it's still capable.  The battery on it's been on the outs but have had a charger on it.  Anyways got here and the battery is dead and then some.  So, musical batteries to move it out of the way till he gets here, then a trip to buy a new battery. Always something.

The battery in my wife's Infiniti crapped out completely last week. It was just a little over three years old but still partially covered on an Autozone prorated warranty.  So I changed that out.  And the battery in my '02 MINI was dead a couple of days later too.  It had only been about a week since I drove that car, but the dashcam was running.   Fortunately I was able to charge it and it's come back to life  and seems fine now.   That's an Optima battery so not exactly cheap. But then again all car batteries seem to be very expensive these days.

This battery is probably a handful of years old now so it's due.  I suppose there's never an ideal time for a battery to go full dead.   

[BruceK]

....I suppose there's never an ideal time for a battery to go full dead.

I kinda disagree. The ideal time for a bad battery is when you are at home and you are not in a hurry.

And you have one or several of the following: 1) a spare battery, 2) another car to use, 3) the time and the inclination to mess with the bad battery.

[94touring]

....I suppose there's never an ideal time for a battery to go full dead.

I kinda disagree. The ideal time for a bad battery is when you are at home and you are not in a hurry.

And you have one or several of the following: 1) a spare battery, 2) another car to use, 3) the time and the inclination to mess with the bad battery.

Lol so basically my day today.

[94touring]

Well here's something.  Battery was old and wouldn't take a charge, however my brake lights won't turn off with the new battery.  Got under the dash and the switch off the pedal is full open due to a horrible design flaw in the pedal assembly. 

[MPlayle]

The wear pattern indicates there should be a cap of some sort in the pedal for the switch to contact for going off.

Poor design that the hole is there, requiring a cap that can come out and leave the brake lights on to kill batteries.

[94touring]

Yes, why have a hole at all?  The plastic grommet broke. I put a bolt through it.

[Jimini II]

Honda Civic's suffer from the same problem.

[94touring]

Took an easy day, coming down with a cold, probably Coronavirus.  Decided to check fluids on my mini. On the drive home yesterday as soon as I hit stop and go in town my temp gauge went halfway from N to H.  This is an issue I've had on this car pre fast road 1310cc.  Since it's a Chinese rad it came with a Chinese cap.  I decided spring rate on the cap was too little and uprated it a few more pounds with a new cap which also incorporates a mechanical temp gauge.  Figured this way I could see what halfway between N and H really means.  Turns out 212°f.  The new cap is also Chinese.  Well today I opened the cap and was exactly 1 quart low on fluid, explaining the spike in town.  Decided to create an overflow tank and go drive the piss out of the car.  Highway at 80mph and in town stop and go.  It's even warmer today.  Only other thing I decided to do was run my heater core fan in the cabin the whole time.  End result was only slightly went above N at peak and no considerable water loss.  Gotta love how the water is brown.  As a bonus I shook my 1.41 jigawatts coil apart and have to fix this now too.

[94touring]

Mulling things over decided since the heater core fan seemed to do the trick the other day and pre new engine the aux fan worked before, I'd reinstall an aux radiator fan.  Except I'm at work and not at my shop and my old aux fan was trashed.  So off to ebay it was.  Unfortunately all ebay fans in 10 inch that I could find are of Chinese origin, and to hell with their inferior products.  Most run $25-35 and have a cfm rating around 900.  A little Google search and I found www.mishimoto.com, located in Delaware.  For about twice the price of a Chinese fan you could get their standard fan on similar ratings or for $117 get a better fan that puts out 1600cfm.  I went with the 1600cfm which also comes with a lifetime warranty.

[gr8kornholio]

Doing some google searches for tool organizing I've found a couple US based companies with no mention of where products are produced.  Even googling the companies turned up no manufacturing information.  Seems people are quickly hiding their goods origin.  Seems if you were US based and manufacturing was here you'd be posting loud and proud.  Luckily I've found such tool organizing equipment for reasonable price located and made in the US.

[Jims5543]

Doing some google searches for tool organizing I've found a couple US based companies with no mention of where products are produced.  Even googling the companies turned up no manufacturing information.  Seems people are quickly hiding their goods origin.  Seems if you were US based and manufacturing was here you'd be posting loud and proud.  Luckily I've found such tool organizing equipment for reasonable price located and made in the US.

I am seeing the same thing.  I was looking for tape measures for my crew and I. I knew the ones we were using were made in China so I set out to find some made in America. I found a company that claimed they make their tapes in USA.  They do, 6 of the 100 or so tapes they offer are American made and none of them are of any use to me. 

The search continues.

I also found out my GPS Survey Equipment is American made, I suspect that is to satisfy DOD requirements I was hesitating to buy any new equipment that is Topcon brand and was delighted to see they are American made.

Dan, Mishimoto is a fantastic company, I have a few of their products I think you will be happy with them.

[MiniDave]

Mark, the Garage Journal is where you need to look for ANY tools or shop equipment - especially US made - those guys know where to get everything.

I thought Mishimoto was a Japanese company till I bought something from them - a radiator for a 2003 MINI.

Yesterday I re-built the shipping container for this 998 automatic - I had been mulling it around for a while so I decided to do some real world figuring. When the engine came to me it was lying on it's side, loosely strapped to the container thru some holes in the side, I decided I could do better.

The first problem was the bottom - the container is just plastic so there was no way it would support a 300+ lb engine on it's own, so first I built a base - just a couple of 2x4s cut to length that fit into the runners in the bottom of the container, then a 3/4" plywood base over them. Then I set a complete engine/trans I had under the workbench into the container to see if it would be too tall. Fit perfectly! I also put a radiator on and it cleared too, along with the exhaust header. I stuck a  carb on but it stood too tall, so that will have to go in a separate box in the container.

This means I can run the engine in and when done all I have to do is pull the carb and stick it in the container....and when he gets it all he has to do is bolt it in , add the carb and exhaust and fire it up. I will engineer some braces so the thing won't be sliding about or topple to one side like it did before but I like the way it turned out.

The pallet it shipped in on was broken all to hell when it got here so I threw it away. With the base completed I decided to use the pallet my compressor came on. I removed the top boards as they were set up to only support the feet on the compressor and didn't match the container well, then I cut some scrap 2X6 I had and screwed them down on the top so I would have a strong smooth and flat surface to tie the container to. He just had some ratchet straps tying it to the pallet, I'm thinking I may go ahead and run some lag screws thru the bottom and into the pallet, so it can't shift around and then some ratchet straps over the top again just because. That may be over kill but what the heck.....

The top bolts to the bottom of the container with 18 5/16" bolts and nuts, when it got here there were about 5 nuts still on the bolts, and they were all loose - I'll use nylocks. These containers sell for $200 empty, they're designed for a small block V-8 but the only way I can see shipping one in there is if it's mounted to a metal framework.....and the plastic box is just protection from the elements - and thieves.

The last pic shows how the compressor pallet really didn't work for this container, that's why I replaced the boards with the 2X6s. There will be plenty of room in the box to ship the carb and a few extra bits - I also bought some extra oil filters for him and a case of oil.

[Willie_B]

Nothing in the last week or so. My daughter is going to graduate school in Charleston. (The Citadel). She was planning to move in July, then June, now next week. So things have been kinda of hectic.

[MPlayle]

Installed better seats in the Burton - adjustable recliners.  Now I can actually reach the pedals comfortably.

[MiniDave]

Same ones you put in the Marcos?

[BruceK]

Those seats look great! Where did you get them?  I didn't realize you had the car already.  Can't wait to see more about it. 

[MPlayle]

I picked the car up from the port on May 13th.

The new seats are the same ones I put in the Mini Marcos, but in beige vinyl.  I ordered them through JEGS.com.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Scat/942/80-1400-54L/10002/-1

I don't get to start enjoying it yet - with the Covid-19 "lock downs", the DMV office is still closed and so the city "auto crime" unit is not doing VIN verifications until the DMV reopens.

[MiniDave]

Good comfortable seats make all the difference, don't they? Interesting shift lever support they did.....

I'm really happy with the Subbie seats in my car, if only I could move them back a little more they'd be perfect, but that's not happening unless I modify the companion bins....

Is DMV doing mail in registrations? I'm surprised they won't accept the customs verification from when it came in the port.

[jedduh01]

Owed the wife a front porch upgrade. She's been hankering to update the front.  2 weekends ago came out to Hacked Back Holly bushes..   We're doing this.
    Plans became to add benches to the front porch for seating ( the kids are now really riding bikes in the Culd D Sac ) Make good place to sit and watch.

Bolted 4x4's to the porch = 2x4 Frames to support Trex Decking around the whole unit = Should be rather maintance Free.

------

Secondly = a Newly installed Metal Bean Can master Cylinder  from Mini Spares failed within 1 month of use ( covid put back on road)   Purchased 4/11/19
  Already pulled it out = replaced the seals. Re Installed. Now working   - Mini spares is asking for the production stamping info info as there was a recall on these.. Now I have to pull it out again --
____

Time for oil change in the family SUV.  among other things.

 

[MiniDave]

I like the benches!

[MPlayle]

Is DMV doing mail in registrations? I'm surprised they won't accept the customs verification from when it came in the port.

Since the car came from overseas, it has to have an extra VIN verification performed by the "auto crime" unit of either city or county law enforcement.  In San Antonio (city) and Bexar county these are the same unit and they submit the form directly to the regional DMV office by doing the inspection at that office.  So if DMV office is closed, no VIN verification.  That is only 1 piece of the title/registration process.  I also have to get the state safety inspection, then submit a title application along with the customs forms and both inspection confirmations at the tax office (which also needs to be open).

Registration renewals can be done by mail, but new registrations have to be done directly or through a third-party service at an extra fee.

[MPlayle]

Good comfortable seats make all the difference, don't they? Interesting shift lever support they did.....

The whole shift lever arrangement for a Citroen 2CV is different.  That up-curved handle and knob comes straight through the firewall on the 2CV.  For the Burton it is adapted to come to a floor mounted support.  The car is a FWD arrangement with a 2 cylinder "boxer" engine and a 4-speed transmission sitting behind the engine.  It all sits out front of the firewall and the shift lever comes vertically out of the transmission.

[MiniDave]

Yep, I've driven plenty of 2CV's over the years, including one all over Germany that belonged to friends - 55 mph hard over in the right lane on the autobahn is a scary experience!