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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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#24,185 ·
Good eyes on the air horn, guys. I hope it wasn't me who inadvertently over tightened the bolts. Picked up another for parts and got it back together.
Very common problem with those carbs. Using a mounting bolt thru the top cover was a major mistake by Rochester. I like the base gasket that is thick with a plastic spacer so you KNOW when the bolt is snug, NOT tight. I use a super light skim of gasket sealer on both sides of the base gasket to insure sealing without cranking on the mounting bolts. Letting it sit overnight is a big plus to prevent the sealer from getting misplaced by vacuum. Many people over tighten those bolts and bend the cover...:pain:
 
#24,186 ·
Glad it's Friday. I've been so busy this week, I can't remember what all I did. Tuesday, my neighbor brought his 72 Vette back because the dash lights and signal indicators never worked right after we had the dash apart a few years ago. I found a ground wire that I missed putting back on and got everything working but also discovered his headlight switch was wonky, so ordered a new one that arrived today...have I already posted this ???
Yesterday, I had 23 hail dents removed from my '11 Silverado for $400.
Today, I brought the '62 Impala SS home from storage and will drive it to a Chevelle Club tour/meeting tomorrow, since I STILL don't have a Chevelle to drive. I did say "hello" to my '70 SS Chevelle at the same storage location..."someday"...:rolleyes:

I ordered a new seat spring, bun and track assemblies for the driver seat in the Impala and a complete seat cover set in the original Turquoise from Ciadella today too. It SHOULD be here a week before Back to the Fifties and I'll see how much I can get installed before going to that with the car.
 
#24,188 ·
Mr cozwurth ,

I had this Manufactured home custom built back in 1995. I had what is called "The Super Good Sense" home insulation package added. It is basically like yours with plumbing and electrical close to the floor and a ton of insulation then the plastic sheeting over everything. The had plywood access hatches in the plastic at key points in the plumbing and electrical. The walls are 2X6 and rockwool insulated and the ceiling has a ton of insulation.

When they were permitting the house the county gave them a list of requirements in foundation vents and Yes Plastic on the ground. No bare ground to be showing all must be covered. The foundation vents were to be a certain size based on the square footage of the house and must be open year round.

Now as long as I have lived in this house I have been comfortable. My feet don't get cold and the floors are warm. When you go down to the crawlspace it is dry as can be. That is not an easy feat in itself here in Worshington!

I would say lay the plastic and leave the vents open year round. No excess moisture here at all! :cool:
 
#24,189 ·
I got one of the upper inner pieces trimmed to fit. I have to tell you, this is tough, the fact that it's double panel changes everything. I can't weld this piece all together and then put it in that I can figure, it's going to have to be welded into place piece by piece. So I am thinking I am going to do a butt weld with backing and MIG the whole thing.

I will need to get the outside all in shape, prime the inside then weld all these parts together inside, it's a toughie.

The other photo is of a little nibbler that I forgot I had! It was right in my tool box with the other air tools, geez, I could have been using this on a number of steps.

Brian
 

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#24,190 ·
I got one of the upper inner pieces trimmed to fit. I have to tell you, this is tough, the fact that it's double panel changes everything. I can't weld this piece all together and then put it in that I can figure, it's going to have to be welded into place piece by piece. So I am thinking I am going to do a butt weld with backing and MIG the whole thing.

I will need to get the outside all in shape, prime the inside then weld all these parts together inside, it's a toughie.

The other photo is of a little nibbler that I forgot I had! It was right in my tool box with the other air tools, geez, I could have been using this on a number of steps.

Brian
I wonder if the shrinkage will be an issue for you. It will not be possible to planish it with a dolly behind it. If it does shrink much, you are going to end up high instead of low at the seams.

What would you think about slightly pre-stretching the edges and allowing it to shrink into shape?

LOL,....Just the ramblings of a man who is awake at 4:30 am! :mwink:

John
 
#24,191 ·
I wonder if the shrinkage will be an issue for you. It will not be possible to planish it with a dolly behind it. If it does shrink much, you are going to end up high instead of low at the seams.

What would you think about slightly pre-stretching the edges and allowing it to shrink into shape?

LOL,....Just the ramblings of a man who is awake at 4:30 am! :mwink:

John



Excellent idea.
 
#24,192 ·
I have one of those nibblers too and have only used it twice...OMG the mess from all those tiny crescent shaped cuttings flying everywhere and they are SHARP, when you find them with your hand. Better make certain you are on the right side of the cut line too, or there's a big gap to fill.

I used it to trim this q-panel. You can see the pile of nibbles in the left corner of the skin, but they flew all over the shop too.

 
#24,193 ·
I have one of those nibblers too and have only used it twice...OMG the mess from all those tiny crescent shaped cuttings flying everywhere and they are SHARP, when you find them with your hand. Better make certain you are on the right side of the cut line too, or there's a big gap to fill.

I used it to trim this q-panel. You can see the pile of nibbles in the left corner of the skin, but they flew all over the shop too.

I have had one for several years and have never put an air line coupler on it. Don't know why. Just never felt like I needed to get it out.

John
 
#24,194 ·
Mr cozwurth ,

I had this Manufactured home custom built back in 1995. I had what is called "The Super Good Sense" home insulation package added. It is basically like yours with plumbing and electrical close to the floor and a ton of insulation then the plastic sheeting over everything. The had plywood access hatches in the plastic at key points in the plumbing and electrical. The walls are 2X6 and rockwool insulated and the ceiling has a ton of insulation.

When they were permitting the house the county gave them a list of requirements in foundation vents and Yes Plastic on the ground. No bare ground to be showing all must be covered. The foundation vents were to be a certain size based on the square footage of the house and must be open year round.

Now as long as I have lived in this house I have been comfortable. My feet don't get cold and the floors are warm. When you go down to the crawlspace it is dry as can be. That is not an easy feat in itself here in Worshington!

I would say lay the plastic and leave the vents open year round. No excess moisture here at all! :cool:

Hey now, what's with the "Mr" stuff? :D

Thank you for posting your experience with this. It sounds like our houses are very similar. Mine is built with 2x6 walls and lots of insulation in the overhead, too. Laying plastic on the ground is in the works. I'll have to do a little moving of dirt first as the guys who set the place up did not back-fill the foundation piers. They spread it out for the most part, but did not finish it off. It's not bad, but it needs to be done before I lay the plastic.



Dave
 
#24,195 ·
I wonder if the shrinkage will be an issue for you. It will not be possible to planish it with a dolly behind it. If it does shrink much, you are going to end up high instead of low at the seams.

What would you think about slightly pre-stretching the edges and allowing it to shrink into shape?

LOL,....Just the ramblings of a man who is awake at 4:30 am! :mwink:

John
I think I am just going to slow weld it. I will weld something like this spreading tacks around (spreading heat) making fast-hot welds leaving each one to cool a long time and end up with little heat distortion. I am talking taking a LONG time, days to weld it all together. That is all I will need to do. Making each of these parts fit individually, keeping the parts as large as I possibily can (been doing that) and then tack it all in place. The upper piece can be welded together out of the cab and that one can be all the way across and that will work fine. But I will take a look at what you are saying, that does make sense.

There will be some serious bondo work in there, at least at my skill level. I am more concerned about being sure I get the outside really nice before I weld this stuff in, once I do that, it's over with on the outside and bondo time. :drunk:

What you are saying is to planish at the end of the part a little thinning the metal so that when it's welded it shrinks back to where it was right?

Brian
 
#24,196 ·
This is gonna rub both of you wrong I bet but on the Cat quarter for example there were times when I cooled with air, shrinking on purpose. If the weld swelled toward me, I cooled the front, if it puckered in, I cooled the backside. Watching and steering the warpage as the area cools. Only in areas where the heat reaction was severe. It worked pretty well because the upper metal thickness was so varied at the seam I guess and I believe it did help. Me.

I just mowed. Family yesterday, house chores today... plenty left for tomorrow. Wondering what percentage of four days is mine to enjoy as I wish. Pretty hot out.:sweat:

Reason for post is to purge the bobcat hide interior last pic. Caught a sunset throwing complimentary light on Grape the other evening.:):):)
 

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#24,197 ·
Cleaned up the rust as best I could with a quick clean. I will have to do more later but I just wanted to get the cutting started.

Brian
I've been reading about using phosphoric acid to remove rust. "Ospho" is a brand name, but I don't have that. I mixed a gallon with 3 1/2 gallons of water in a 5 gallon pail to see what it would do with the heavy pitted rust on the inner structure of my front fender. I gotta say, it does work like magic, but it is a slow process and needs to be done outside. If you get a large plastic/rubber tub that the headliner pieces will fit in, all that rust will come right off and by letting the acid air dry, it protects the surface from flash rust for a while, until you are ready to clean and prime.



I did have the paint removed in a chemical strip, but it didn't do much for the rust. This is after 6-7 hours of soaking and there is more to do.



The back side had lighter rust and is now clean.



After I dumped the solution into an air tight pail to use again, the rust particles that fell off were left in the bottom of the soaking pail.

 
#24,199 ·
I think I am just going to slow weld it. I will weld something like this spreading tacks around (spreading heat) making fast-hot welds leaving each one to cool a long time and end up with little heat distortion. I am talking taking a LONG time, days to weld it all together. That is all I will need to do. Making each of these parts fit individually, keeping the parts as large as I possibily can (been doing that) and then tack it all in place. The upper piece can be welded together out of the cab and that one can be all the way across and that will work fine. But I will take a look at what you are saying, that does make sense.

There will be some serious bondo work in there, at least at my skill level. I am more concerned about being sure I get the outside really nice before I weld this stuff in, once I do that, it's over with on the outside and bondo time. :drunk:

What you are saying is to planish at the end of the part a little thinning the metal so that when it's welded it shrinks back to where it was right?

Brian
I think so if I understand what you are saying. Usually when you weld a panel, it is a convex shap and wants to suck in as you weld it. That being a very concave shape it is probably going ti try to rise up as the metal draws. I was suggesting that you stretch the outer 1/4 to 3/8" on both interior pieces. That would give you a slight "v" at the weld but as it tried to pull through the welding process it would pull out level instead of ending up high.

It sounded good in print anyway. :)

John
 
#24,200 ·
I think so if I understand what you are saying. Usually when you weld a panel, it is a convex shap and wants to suck in as you weld it. That being a very concave shape it is probably going ti try to rise up as the metal draws. I was suggesting that you stretch the outer 1/4 to 3/8" on both interior pieces. That would give you a slight "v" at the weld but as it tried to pull through the welding process it would pull out level instead of ending up high.

It sounded good in print anyway. :)

John
I don't think that would help or I could even do it in this case. All these pieces are like a 3D puzzle. I got all the pieces ready to go today with backing pieces all welded in and trial fit.

I will take the next step and just go from there.

Brian
 
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