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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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#21,981 ·
Went to work this morning with a winter storm warning looming around noon. The brake lights stayed on, on the Mustang, so looked into that, yeah right, the damn thing is directly over the steering column and I'm supposed to get it apart ??? an hour later I had the seat and column out and found the issue was the bushing the conversion kit came with. It didn't allow any play in the pedal to pushrod to let the brake switch off. 15 minutes to "fix" that and another 45 to put it all together again.

The snow was really coming down by noon so I left at 1 pm. The drive home was bad and it only got worse. I just came in from plowing my 2 driveways and there's at least 8" now and still snowing. My shop driveway is 300 ft long and after the first 100', I had a 3 ft high windrow rolling off the blade. I'll have piles and banks 6' high tomorrow, after clearing it all...:drunk:
Remember NOT to set the alarm clock for tomorrow morning. :mwink:

John
 
#21,982 ·
Went to work this morning with a winter storm warning looming around noon. The brake lights stayed on, on the Mustang, so looked into that, yeah right, the damn thing is directly over the steering column and I'm supposed to get it apart ??? an hour later I had the seat and column out and found the issue was the bushing the conversion kit came with. It didn't allow any play in the pedal to pushrod to let the brake switch off. 15 minutes to "fix" that and another 45 to put it all together again.

The snow was really coming down by noon so I left at 1 pm. The drive home was bad and it only got worse. I just came in from plowing my 2 driveways and there's at least 8" now and still snowing. My shop driveway is 300 ft long and after the first 100', I had a 3 ft high windrow rolling off the blade. I'll have piles and banks 6' high tomorrow, after clearing it all...:drunk:

It dont take much for us in the South :Dn But if you cant handle it call someone,,,LOL
 

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#21,983 ·
Went to work this morning with a winter storm warning looming around noon. The brake lights stayed on, on the Mustang, so looked into that, yeah right, the damn thing is directly over the steering column and I'm supposed to get it apart ??? an hour later I had the seat and column out and found the issue was the bushing the conversion kit came with. It didn't allow any play in the pedal to pushrod to let the brake switch off. 15 minutes to "fix" that and another 45 to put it all together again.

The snow was really coming down by noon so I left at 1 pm. The drive home was bad and it only got worse. I just came in from plowing my 2 driveways and there's at least 8" now and still snowing. My shop driveway is 300 ft long and after the first 100', I had a 3 ft high windrow rolling off the blade. I'll have piles and banks 6' high tomorrow, after clearing it all...:drunk:
Snow picnic, is it? Sure was some strong wind at sundown today here. I had the pesky brake light issue with the red Mach1 and also applied a fix in parentheses. Today I made ends for the 59's floor supports and got a couple screwed in.
 
#21,985 ·
I had the pesky brake light issue with the red Mach1 and also applied a fix in parentheses.
Isn't that screwiest danged brake switch ?? No plunger, just a spring loaded plate on the switch that moves with the brake pedal and senses when the pedal pushes the rod to the master..:drunk: There has to be just enough play in that rod end to allow that plate to move about 1/32nd of an inch.
 
#21,986 ·
Isn't that screwiest danged brake switch ?? No plunger, just a spring loaded plate on the switch that moves with the brake pedal and senses when the pedal pushes the rod to the master..:drunk: There has to be just enough play in that rod end to allow that plate to move about 1/32nd of an inch.
Been too long and I can't visualize the setup but yeah... not GM:pain::nono:

I only remember the "fix" because it was the very last thing I did. The Z-bar reconstruction for fit with headers and the Borgesen (?) box ate my lunch right there at the end and sapped all the time so what I ended up doing was adding a "just barely there" return spring to the pedal and informing the owner. I recall the booster and push rod being a major rare part fiasco that pushed finishing brakes until awful late in that build. What I take from your description is that theres not much travel to work with on the switch. I was out of time and repurposed a throttle spring that was handy. :drunk::sweat:
 
#21,987 ·
Hey has anyone else noticed stagnant post counts? Not like it makes a rat's wazoo but if I'm not mistaken mine has been at 1978 for months. Just curious if it was everybody or if I broke mine whoring work pics on this thread.
 
#21,988 ·
It dont take much for us in the South :Dn But if you cant handle it call someone,,,LOL
it isn't ALL tht great down here. Sure, I'm sitting on my front porch in a tee shirt and shorts but with this crazy weather we've had I got the flu, sweating one minute and freezing the next. I'm taking the day off too.
 
#21,989 ·
it isn't ALL tht great down here. Sure, I'm sitting on my front porch in a tee shirt and shorts but with this crazy weather we've had I got the flu, sweating one minute and freezing the next. I'm taking the day off too.
Yea about a month ago the weather channek gave prediction af ,,"a light dusting up to 1/2 in,,this was the results our Normal is 1to 2 in,,this was 12 nothing compared to what Mitch and several others are use to...

Oh the blue is the smog free sky away from the city..:D
 

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#21,991 ·
Hey has anyone else noticed stagnant post counts? Not like it makes a rat's wazoo but if I'm not mistaken mine has been at 1978 for months. Just curious if it was everybody or if I broke mine whoring work pics on this thread.
Have you posted in forums like engine or body and paint and others like that? Because those are the only ones that count. The BS talk forums like this one and "off topic" don't from what I understand. Which I think is pretty stupid, we talk here about how to do stuff and the like as much as anywhere else.

Brian
 
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#21,993 ·
Have you posted in forums like engine or body and paint and others like that? Because those are the only ones that count. The BS talk forums like this one and "off topic" don't from what I understand. Which I think is pretty stupid, we talk here about how to do stuff and the like as much as anywhere else.

Brian
Heck I thought I had. If I subtracted posts from this thread I doubt the number would be that high.:confused: Oh well, no matter.

Here is what I cooked up to hold the 59 floor braces to the rockers and allow easy adjustment of position for right now. The 16 gauge square makes the transition from the 14 gauge tubing and spreads the load out of the rocker. After making braces to fit the pan made to fit the car, of course the braces need a little work to fit the car with it all in place. Right now the front seat braces are level and square, but they were not square to the pan so I am in the process of reshuffling braces and pan until everything measures right. Then I can connect pan to braces again and get back to welding pieces together off the car if I want. Main concerns are level seats and frame clearance in the tunnel. So far, so good! The pan and all 3 braces can go in and out as an assembly.


 

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#21,994 ·
Back on Mike's '36 Plymouth project again yesterday. Got the hairpin mounts built for the rear. Using heavy .375" wall tube I made frame bushings and welded them into the frame. Then using some scrap chrome bracket plates I made up a double shear mount for the panhard bar and welded the brackets to a plate. Then welded the plate to the underside of the reworked front crossmember. Of course we ground the chrome off first, so it got good penetration. He'll probably mask off the good chrome when he pants the frame later.







These are the hairpins, or ladder bars we'll be using to fit the 8.8" Ford rear axle under the coupe.



The rear will be these, plus a triangulated bar, and coilovers.
 
#21,997 ·
Got my 5 minutes in today...


Got it far enough to use drill screws so all future fitting will be with the patch in the same place.



No inner wheel house sectioning on this side. Only need to replace the lowest edge for a weld flange.

LOL, "In Rust We Trust!" :thumbup:

Hang in there buddy. I see progress! :thumbup:

I got back to the shop today for about two hours. I sure did enjoy it too. I'm ready to set the engine and trans back in to mark the mount holes. :)

John
 
#21,998 ·
finally decided on the color im repainting my car sorta kinda ,

silver metalic base over white primer , candy apple green , single silver metalic wide stripe pearlescnt top coat and then finally cleared , hoping to have it all done and ready by the time the weather warms up enough during the day
 
#21,999 ·
first week at work I had about 65 hours and on Friday I heard the whispers. The tenured guys weren't happy cause there's only so much work to go around. So one guy already got laid off on Friday and today they said they want me to take his stall and teach the kids body work and metal work as the #2 teacher. In exchange, since #1 teacher will have a huge load off his shoulders, he will get me on some bigger jobs and be there for advice if needed. So now, I will be doing less tear downs and more welding, body work, and helping the kids out. I could have said no but that means they won't be happy about it and that means they cap my work. I can't believe I agreed to it but this shop is so close to my house and is the largest body shop company in the country. so they pay well and will get all my ICAR and welding certificates for steel and aluminum. It's a win win to go along with it. Kind of cool to be able to teach kids while still flagging hours.
 
#22,000 ·
Things I did not work on- Got a pic of the last cab corner tacked on the 53 Chevy that Slick is zapping up. Footloose prepped and shot a bazillion blasted VW parts all at once today.



The guy with the slow Acura went at this shiny 71 Chevelle shucking cheesy paint-





I got word at the end of today about engine and trans mounting possibly tomorrow on my 59 Pontiac project. Thats just about good timing, as far as avoiding mistakes goes because I can keep right on going into the firewall and all that. My seat supports evolved as the day went by... and I left extra length on things as I quilted the pan together so whittling here and there is tightening things up. I decided it would be best to have all the bracing worked out before setting the depth of the other footwell. Would have had myself a grand mess if I hadn't refocused. Anyway, maybe I can get a seat in it soon, and fill in the blanks.

 
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