What did you do in your shop today?

[John Gervais]

My dad had a '66 mustang just like that when we were kids - we used to love to riding with the top down.

I changed the small waterpump pulley back to the large pulley today.  T'was a bit of a pain (2x 2-blade fan, spacer & pulley and radiator with attached electric fan pressing against the inner wing), as I'd forgotten to lay the fan belt to the radiator side before I tightened the screws. 

[jedduh01]

Mustang went home . headed for a retirement life in Florida...
  Yes its a big car!  for what im used to!

Now in the garage a 60's Speedwell Sprite.  Car was imported recently from Netherlands.. arrived running and driving. but alot of HOME BREW type work has been done . Home wiring / home modifications.   not stock enough for the owner.   
 
Project. we're upgrading (could say downgrading) to a OE Harness + and equipment.  Relocating some basic items for ease of use and cleaning up the engine bay.  Owner wants to possibly track it some ( was supposed to be track ready from Netherlands but it needs alot of details cleaned up.
SO Many tapper screws used + glue its almost disgusting.  Engine is modified runs REALLY strong. Late 1275 Block + Head = Ribcase trans. Late sprite rear axle.



Also Sent the yucky black mini home with owner too., after replacing ALL the motor mounts and steadies + all the subframe mounts all around the car is TIGHT ( some new rattles and vibrations but it works I think the new rubbers will work themselves in better.
.

[MiniDave]

Cool Sprite!

[Jims5543]

I had hopes of coming home early to work in my garage and clear away some clutter that has accumulated since I am working 70+ hour weeks right now.

Everything is screaming busy, record home sales, record new house starts, and by far, record new in ground pool orders. I am slammed to the eyeballs, I used to go into the office at 6am I changed that to 530am and now changed that to 5am.  I typically leave by 6 pm, except today.......

Government morons decided it was a good time to change rules and not tell anyone, but claim they sent out emails.. which they did not.

I had 9 form board surveys fail today, every one of my clients were coming unglued..

One client is a pool company, they have four pools started as in four open holes in the ground that they cannot spray gunite until they pass inspection and I am failing it.

Why?

Because suddenly I have to put building setbacks on the surveys.  I cannot express how stupid this is but I will...

After the rejections, all my clients are blowing them up demanding to know why. They explain, a memo was went to all the area surveyors explaining the new criteria that need to be addressed on our surveys. 

I did not get the memo.

I email a surveyor friend of mine, ask if he got the memo and explain I just had 9 jobs rejected... He calls me he did not get the memo and is now freaking out because he has to turn in 4 tomorrow.

He emails me later, another surveyor did not get the memo and the 3 of use make up 50% of the surveys turned into the city.

I email the person who rejected my surveys, he says I need to talk to his supervisor and gives me a phone number. I call, straight to voice mail, color me surprised, I leave a message asking for him to email me the new rules. No answer for 2 hours....

I email a friend I have in city engineering asking for help.  Explaining the situation.  She runs down to the Building Dept / Inspections and asks WTF is going on?  they give her the run around liek they did me, she says, "Fine I am going to the department manager (skipping 2 levels of management) the minions protest.. she puts them in their place telling them she has been there 25 years and will do what she wants. (She is awesome)  She goes to big boss and he say Surveyors need to pull the record plat and plot the building setbacks on the on the surveys from now on.


Let me back up a moment, this man manages the building and inspections departments, he is the big cheese.

She has to explain to him, this information is NOT on the record plats, it is in the H.O.A. documents which we cannot access and should be the responsibility of the pool companies and builders, not the surveyors, the other should be supplying that info to the surveyor.

He balks at her, this is going nowhere.

She calls me and explains the problem, I figure if I put a note that says the building setbacks I should be fine. 

I sent all the surveys back over after 5 PM, I did not leave my office until 730PM today. After spending hours on that BS I had clients that I had to deal with.

Now at 10 PM I am working still to try to finish a plot plan for a client.  I have my alarm set of 5AM so I can get a head start tomorrow.  I want to be out early to beat the heat, which is 100+ heat index here and to try to get back early so I can catch back up.

I hope to clear the garage this weekend. So I can finally get to work on the Mini.

[John Gervais]

I gave the mini a coat of much needed wax!

[MiniDave]

Clancy came by just to check up on me, he's gotten a new exhaust on the Moke and says it runs good now. However, not only did the brand new master cylinder fail, so did one of the seals on the brand new brake calipers. I had a kit for them so I sent one home with him.

I walked around my shop and sighed......

[MPlayle]

I juggled cars a bit - took the Burton over to the storage unit and brought back the Mini Marcos.

I had finally ordered an "action camera" for being able to take some videos for potentially putting the Marcos up on BaT.  It came in Thursday.

With the Marcos in the garage, I set about coming up with a brace between two of the horizontal bars of the cage behind the seats in order to mount the camera for making the videos.

I may try to make a trial run of it tomorrow morning before it gets too hot.

[MiniDave]

Good move, you need good videos to really sell a car on BaT, gotta sell that sizzle!

[94touring]

Yesterday I went to my shop to gather things for our yearly Colorado camping trip.  I hadn't been out there in nearly 3 weeks since I have been flying around the world.  I had to spray a bug bomb due to the abundance of spider webs.  Felt like a scene out of Indian Jones battling cobwebs.

[MPlayle]

I played with the new action camera and the Mini Marcos this morning.  I made a few attempts at a cold-start video, a walk-around video, and a driving video.

Not sure where to post them for an evaluation.  The audio seems a bit weak to me on all the videos.  The cold-start and walk around turned out okay.  The driving video contrast seems a bit bright through the windshield while the interior seems okay.

Any ideas where to post the MP4 videos for the forum members to evaluate?

[MiniDave]

I just upload everything to YouTube, then you can link to the thread on your Marcos - that's the easiest way to me.

[BruceK]

I just upload everything to YouTube, then you can link to the thread on your Marcos - that's the easiest way to me.

Yes, I would suggest using Youtube too.  Very easy to set up an account and do an upload.  My suggestion:  until you are totally happy with a final video, give your video some random name like wltkkhw or whatever so that it will not be searchable.  That way nobody playing around on Youtube will find it or view it until you are ready with the finished version.  Once you are ready for the world to see it, rename it, or re-upload it with some appropriate title for search purposes.

[MiniDave]

I load mine in their raw form, I don't care who sees it. For that matter my channel is so small and I'm not looking to make money on it  - I refuse to let them put ads in, around or after mine - so it doesn't get a lot of views, and I'm OK with that. so what if someone sees it all full of cuts and bloopers?

[jedduh01]

Last Friday  I went to turn the AC On... NO DICE!
  Now ~90 in Charlotte daily  AC + garage life has become necessary + not to mention I'm in the garage daily 8-5 working from home too.

Determined the Remote was bum not acting, Took it apart found bad terminals.
Found a 15$ replacement remote on Amazon = Arrived next day = WORKING!   only now in C not F.

For cooling I do have the pleasure of extra equipment.  I  have a 9K Heat Cool Mini split as my go to.    (this had the dead remote)
 
  With work = I had a Demo Portable AC unit..   that became by Backup (lets actually try this cool unit) Havnt even used it yet.

I have to say = For Portable air  VERY Good output .   started at about 88 Degrees   1 hour running  77-78  keep the door shut.
  it is nearly the largest potable size   13K unit
  https://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigidaire-13-000-BTU-13-000-BTU-DOE-Portable-Room-Air-Conditioner-FHPC132AB1/312540281

My garage is 20  x 27   10 ft high ceilings.  Insulated stick built 2x4 construction with Heavy R insulation in the ceiling.

Today  92 and sunny  Both AC units work = Ran both for 1 hour  pulled temp from 82 - 73 in 1 hour...  pulled back to one ac unit running for the rest of the day.
  Happy Place (except the electric Bill!)

[MiniDave]

How do you duct the hot air out for the portable unit? My son had one of those and found the only part of him that was cool was the part the thing was blowing directly on, if he moved from right in front of it he was hot again.....BUT, he's in Phoenix!

We've had mostly low 90's and humid the last few weeks - I'm only in the shop for an hour or two so I hate to run the A/C for a short time like that so most of the time I just have a box fan blowing on me - when I need the cool tho, the 25K window A/C does the job!

[94touring]

I have a portable ac unit in my condo to assist with the 50 year old chill pipes that can't keep up in Oklahoma heat. It works fantastic in a 700sq ft apartment. I vent mine out the window via duct work included in the kit. 

[MPlayle]

I played a bit with a couple camera settings and retried a drive video in the Mini Marcos late this morning (before it got too hot).  I also wiped down the car and cleaned the windshield where it had dust and rain spatter from the last time I drove it back in April (before the Burton arrived).

I am much happier with the results.  I need to do a little editing to the beginning and the end of what is currently a 19 minute drive of mixed neighborhood (including stop lights) and some highway.  I found I can "trim" the videos using QuickTime on my Macbook.

Next I need to redo the cold-start and walk-around videos.

[jedduh01]

How do you duct the hot air out for the portable unit? My son had one of those and found the only part of him that was cool was the part the thing was blowing directly on, if he moved from right in front of it he was hot again.....BUT, he's in Phoenix!

We've had mostly low 90's and humid the last few weeks - I'm only in the shop for an hour or two so I hate to run the A/C for a short time like that so most of the time I just have a box fan blowing on me - when I need the cool tho, the 25K window A/C does the job!

Simular to Dan ,  but mine goes out the Cat door I have in the building :) (no cats) and it is surprising how much heat that tube needs to exhaust.
  Phoenix would be near impossible to cool without an oversized units.  Even house systems are designed to run at 80% capacity ( above a certain temp, dont expect them to cool 100% to  a super cool temperature without running full time.

[pbraun]

Speedwell  Sprite?  Hot!

All I did recently is whack myself with a crow bar.  Will postpone a repeat indefinitely.

Have to change to wheel studs on wife's bugeye to fit the new wheels!

[gr8kornholio]

In the wife's shop, aka the crafting room. Resurrected my 26 yr old rc truck.  New battery and it ran just fine.  Had to replace a couple broken plastic steering pieces.  The guys at Traxxas were  surprised to see it.  They are headquartered in McKinney TX just north of us.  Found a new body for it too as mine was long gone.  Of course hanging around the store and looking at everything the wife decided she wanted to play too.  Of course there was nothing even close to pink enough for her so she bought the builder kit with the clear body for customizing, starting with pink springs.  She spent about 8 or so hours putting all the little pieces together.  I helped with the shock assembly and clutch and routing the electronics.  Also had to tape up the body for paint.  Tedious work that is.  It came out pretty sweet looking.  Of course it's faster than mine, but I'll remedy that as soon as they get more motors in stock.  She does have more clearance and 4wd.  Yes, mine is the smaller one.  Mine is not paint, body came like that. 

[John Gervais]

Awesome!   77.gif 

Hyacinth would never do anything remotely 'cool'...

[jedduh01]

Speedwell sprite is coming back together.

Tore out all the original wiring + and some really shoddy plumbing and just cobbled together.. ( sheet metal screws all over)  glue all over. just messy.
This left the fire wall like swiss cheese  and when whomever intalled the fiberglass roof kit the Resin was EVERYWHERE lumpy gross.
  Race wise they also cut out the battery try under the bonnet. and heater assembly. Battery was hacked into the rear floor like an MGB,

Tore out the battery assembly.   Welded up that floor hole with a piece of flat sheet (simple) will get sound proofing and carpet over top, no problem,

Engine bay had to weld in the battery shelf.    that got messy = old spot welds etc.
welded up the fire wall holes  = patched others.    Sanded somewhat

Jeff provided me some nice Sherwin Wiliams Marine epoxy . tinted to his color ... HVLP Sprayed .

Now upon re assembly.

New hard lines being made
New battery cut off in body + new wiring harness ... getting it all together.
NEW Dash is being hung in a very period apperance.

Working from home is quite productive    !!

[jedduh01]

paint!

[MPlayle]

I got ambitious today: installed the new windshield on the red Mini and changed the oil, oil filter, air filter and cabin air filter on the Jeep.  And I even managed to get it done before it got too hot out.

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[94touring]

In between primering doors noticed that the air flow on the shop ac unit was slow.  Took apart the paneling and found insulation in the duct work that had come loose and impeded flow.  Went ahead and cleaned out everything else while I had it apart.  Back to cold air again.