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The "What Did You Work On Today" thread

3M views 36K replies 388 participants last post by  cerial 
#1 ·
4 hour work day for me at the shop. Used the time to do a valve body swap on a '01 Jetta 1.8t auto .... I successfully installed a transbrake on the car .... that however wasn't my intention.

Its in 2 gears at once in park, all other gears (R/N/D/2/1) are forward gears.... they all seam to be first gear.

I have it torn back down most of the way. Tuesday I'll actually get the VB back out and see whats up.... but part of me wants to take it out for a test drive the way it is just for the fun of it.
 
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#5,361 · (Edited)
'53

I guess I wasn't very clear Bill. The car is not out of square. The 3rd row floorboard channel and body mounts are. They are not even attached to the car yet. I will tweak them as needed but have to admit I got all excited about the fourth row and have not pursued it yet.

John
Well I'm glad I misunderstood and the bild is going well on your '53.

Bill
PS This iPad is driving me snaky, so please forgive the double post. Ya all have a great day.
 
#5,362 ·
2 weekends ago I got an old prentiss vise for 7 dollars at a garage sale. Not too bad rusty, but most of the rust is down in the swivel. So I am going to clean it with electrolysis. Tonight I bought the stuff to get the electrolysis tank going. Tractor supply had the steel rod and walmart the washing soda. Got home and cut the rod to length for the plastic tote I already had. Also dug out some wire in the basement for the setup. May finish it tomorrow or wait till the weekend. The vise also needs one new jaw face, which I will also have to fabricate.

I remember this process in the past but never tried it,what are yhe mixing ratios and the products
I have some small parts I would like to clean without bead blast or glass,
 
#5,366 ·
On the way home a co-worker of mine pulled up next to me to tell me I had no brake lights! Crap, so tonight was figuring out what wires to unplug in the signal light wireing and make the brake lights work. It's done and will order a new switch tomorrow.

Brian
 
#5,368 ·
today I ruined one of those new CTS Cadillacs. Guy wanted a huge $1200 carbon fiber junk fin on the back. There's something to be said about these aftermarket fins...they are poorly fit. Most have mounting areas where it makes sense on the underside shell, some will use a bracket for strength, some not, but mostly all of them never fit right to the shell. On this one, on the edge of the decklid there's about 1-2" on the sides where the shell is really close to the skin and so the design was to drill holes there. Thing is, when you drill the holes you realize it's too far in and you have to cut part of the shell away to get washers and bolts on. By that time your washer is half on the shell and half on the skin...that's just crap! That shopping cart fin is going to create damage to the decklid now and for the price of that fin I'd expect better. The darn thing didn't even have directions! I centered it as accurately as a tape measure and my math would allow. This is not to mention that I had to shim one area in so the mounting plate looked like the other side comparative to the edge of the decklid, but there was no way to shim it to avoid cutting away part of the shell. Measuring and cutting the holes was like 30 minutes, grinding away the shell carefully with tape everywhere and trying to make it look professional and like it belonged was stressful and time consuming. In the end it really looked clean to my surprise after the edges of the holes were touched up but I didn't really like hacking up that guy's decklid over an ugly shopping cart handle. Man, we all took pictures of it not because it was a new CTS but to show friends how stupid the fin looked. I'll upload the pics tomorrow, you guys are gonna get a good laugh out of this one.
 
#5,370 ·
today I ruined one of those new CTS Cadillacs. Guy wanted a huge $1200 carbon fiber junk fin on the back. There's something to be said about these aftermarket fins...they are poorly fit. Most have mounting areas where it makes sense on the underside shell, some will use a bracket for strength, some not, but mostly all of them never fit right to the shell. On this one, on the edge of the decklid there's about 1-2" on the sides where the shell is really close to the skin and so the design was to drill holes there. Thing is, when you drill the holes you realize it's too far in and you have to cut part of the shell away to get washers and bolts on. By that time your washer is half on the shell and half on the skin...that's just crap! That shopping cart fin is going to create damage to the decklid now and for the price of that fin I'd expect better. The darn thing didn't even have directions! I centered it as accurately as a tape measure and my math would allow. This is not to mention that I had to shim one area in so the mounting plate looked like the other side comparative to the edge of the decklid, but there was no way to shim it to avoid cutting away part of the shell. Measuring and cutting the holes was like 30 minutes, grinding away the shell carefully with tape everywhere and trying to make it look professional and like it belonged was stressful and time consuming. In the end it really looked clean to my surprise after the edges of the holes were touched up but I didn't really like hacking up that guy's decklid over an ugly shopping cart handle. Man, we all took pictures of it not because it was a new CTS but to show friends how stupid the fin looked. I'll upload the pics tomorrow, you guys are gonna get a good laugh out of this one.
It's amazing what guys will actually spend money on to make their cars look worse....do I detect a "Come on Man" post coming up...LOL

Ray
 
#5,372 ·
What I love to see is when someone installs something like that without the care you did, holy cow. I takes a BUNCH of time and knowhow to make those pieces of crap mount decent. If some body without your skill does it, yeow!

Brian
 
#5,374 ·
What I love to see is when someone installs something like that without the care you did, holy cow. I takes a BUNCH of time and knowhow to make those pieces of crap mount decent. If some body without your skill does it, yeow!

Brian
the common mistake, and I've done it myself, is trying to cut all the holes at once and then trying to lay it there and the pitch of the studs won't allow it to
sit flush, then you have to make the hole super big and it just goes down hill from there. This one went smoothly but I knew the customer was coming to pick it up today so I couldn't really do much more. Would have liked to fabricated a plate to go under the nuts cause I would have liked to have the force being absorbed by that instead of partially on the skin. Another method some companies use is a metal bushing between the skin and the shell and bolt, but that wouldn't have worked here. Their design was off but at the worst possible area, right where the shell kicks up. If that were the case they should have just had it mounted right over the shell and all I would have needed to do was get longer studs.
 
#5,375 ·
Spent the day down the street at my buddy's house doing the install on his straight axle. He's building a '69 Nova A/FX style project. We got the rear spring mounts fabbed and tacked in. We're headed to the Eagle Field Drags in Ca. on Friday, so wont get back to the Nova until next week.
 
#5,376 ·
the common mistake, and I've done it myself, is trying to cut all the holes at once and then trying to lay it there and the pitch of the studs won't allow it to
sit flush, then you have to make the hole super big and it just goes down hill from there. This one went smoothly but I knew the customer was coming to pick it up today so I couldn't really do much more. Would have liked to fabricated a plate to go under the nuts cause I would have liked to have the force being absorbed by that instead of partially on the skin. Another method some companies use is a metal bushing between the skin and the shell and bolt, but that wouldn't have worked here. Their design was off but at the worst possible area, right where the shell kicks up. If that were the case they should have just had it mounted right over the shell and all I would have needed to do was get longer studs.
How about when the bolt ends up right were the trunk seal hits the trunk (or they simply make a mistake cutting the hole) and they put a big hole cut with a cut off wheel right there so the seal doesn't work! :pain:

Brian
 
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#5,377 ·
I remember this process in the past but never tried it,what are yhe mixing ratios and the products
I have some small parts I would like to clean without bead blast or glass,
This is the link to where I am getting my info. I have looked up on it before and this seems in line with what else I have read. I believe the ratio is 1 tablespoon per gallon. But it is my understanding that more won't ruin or help the process.

Electrolytic Rust Removal aka Magic


Another link.
Rust removal by electrolysis

There are a few on homemadetools too, I believe.
 
#5,379 ·
Last night on the way home I was told Marge had no brake lights. So I called to order a switch and had to pull the wheel off to see if the one they had was correct. I got it open and damn it's so simple, what could go wrong? I sprayed the switch with an cleaner designed for switches or potentiometers and that sort of thing, Marge has brake lights once more! Cross your fingers for me that it remains. I should just by the switch anyway but if I can put it off a while I'll watch for one on eBay and get it much cheaper.

Brian

 
#5,380 ·
The GTO Judge finally got primed the other day and I started to block on one of the doors. There's enough primer on it to guide coat and sand 4 times, on at least the main part of the door. It had a little less on the bottom but I understand how it is to make a gallon stretch for an entire car. So as I was taking my sweet time blocking, The Trooper came back from the frame shop and the diamond is square now. So I had to weld up the support after tramming it and doing a quick mock up cause tramming it may not tell you how the head lights are gonna fit, but not so crucial on this truck but is on most sedans where the head light goes to a point. Lot of crazy stuff going on in the shop, or was. We had a guy that got canned a while back because he had a drug problem. He's open about his drug problem but says it's a thing of the past, but it was pretty clear he was still a dope addict after missing work after getting his check. Almost every pay check. He was fired for that. Then recently he got fired at another place for the same reason so our boss gave him some side work. None of the workers were happy about it. I recall telling the old manager the shop's turning into a circus. Anyhow, this guy has been here for two weeks and within that time a van was broken into in the parking lot and the boss' trailer was stolen. It was later recovered and luckily all the parts we were storing in it were recovered. The painter thinks he was involved. The boss asked me if I thought he was involved. I simply said, "when you bring people like that around, stuff like that happens." It's true. Most people who steal want it easy, don't want to get caught, and if you let them into your world they take advantage of opportunities to steal and be dishonest if they think they can get away with it. In other words, just bringing them into your world puts you at risk. I've seen it hundreds of times from home invasion robberies to stolen property and a lot of times it's someone they trusted. I recall a guy who's dad was a famous artist and he had a huge warehouse in Oakland with skate ramps and skate obstacles everywhere. It was a cool spot to skate and have big sleep overs, but as we grew up he mingled with kids in the area. Next thing I know I'm talking to him catching up and he tells me how these guys in masks ran up in their house with guns and tied everybody up. Thing was, 4 of the guys tied up swear they know the voice behind the mask. So the cops come and the guy with the familiar voice was the only one who got away. He was later caught and served time. Me and the painter were talking about the situation at the shop and we both agreed the boss needs more street smarts. Anyhow, it was nice to hear him tell the guy there's no more work for him. not that I want to see a guy broke but I was getting sick of checking up on my tools everyday-lol
 
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