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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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#641 ·
Decided to clean up my fuel lines under the hood yesterday. I had a fuel block that a friend gave me, and it was tapped for one 1/4" pipe inlett, so I could tap whatever outlets I needed.
Here's what I had previously:


Here's what I did with the block, bender, and some tubing:
 
#642 ·
123pugsy said:
Got the bead roller dies tweaked up. Lucky I didn't need to make new ones. I kept shaving them smaller and smaller til I got pretty close.

Should be close enough to visually not see a difference between the lines on the body and the new hood sides.
That is so friggin cool!

Brian
 
#643 ·
PRO 48 fleetline said:
Mounted a set of 53 ford seat pans to my sunfire seats had to shortnen them 3/4" but should work out great!
I like your thinking, very nice job.

I got out there in the morning and epoxy primed the floor in the Gran Sport, then spent 5 hours at a track meet in VERY cold heavy winds. I got back home and out to the garage to find that there was still some soft epoxy so I have to wait until tonight to get the seam sealer on it.

Brian
 
#644 ·
Got the floor seam sealed tonight, along with some texturing work at the mother-in-laws house. Tomorrow I hope to get another coat of epoxy primer over that sealer and I will be ready to put the carpet in. I can't wait to see that console in there!

Brian
 
#645 ·
Another "five minute night" that went 20-30. A few more pieces and wiring (added some speaker wire to the back seat in anticipation of adding a stereo. :D

Tonight I start the carpet!

Brian
 
#647 ·
MARTINSR said:
Another "five minute night" that went 20-30. A few more pieces and wiring (added some speaker wire to the back seat in anticipation of adding a stereo. :D

Tonight I start the carpet!

Brian
Brian,Why is it that we can get soooo much work done on our cars at home but at the shop they just sit there? I brought mine back to the shop to finish it up and it sat there for a year. All my major work was done at home...
 
#648 ·
deadbodyman said:
Brian,Why is it that we can get soooo much work done on our cars at home but at the shop they just sit there? I brought mine back to the shop to finish it up and it sat there for a year. All my major work was done at home...
its the same reason I dont mechanic for a living anymore
been there all day--dont want to stay late or go in on week ends :thumbup:
 
#649 ·
I can see a personal project in the shop at both ends of the spectrum. And if you look at shops you know you WILL see these two extreme ends.

1. The shop owner puts everything he has, time and money into the personal project. A race car is the worse. My dad use to say "Show me a repair shop with a race car and I will show you a shop on a road to going out of business". Neglect everything for the business because the personal project is more important.

2. The shop owner puts the personal project aside because he thinks he needs to work 18 hours a day to make money or he will go out of business.

I know I fell into the #2 category and it was all do to poor business practices and I could have worked 24/7 and STILL had to close the shop.

The shop owner should be able to work hard and make just like any other job, then have fun and work on that car when all the work for that day is done. Do as I say not as I do, as I didn't have an understanding of this simple concept.

Brian
 
#650 ·
deadbodyman said:
Got my carb back on yesterday....That baby fired right up,like its been waiting for me.
Some times I really feel like these inanimate objects are a dog or something. They often seem to really have a choice in how things go.

Brian
 
#651 ·
Worked on an Alfa Romeo coupe, change oil, air filter.
Never have I seen an air filter so hard to get at and replace.
The oil filter is the smallest I´ve seen and for a long time could´nt find it,
it is hidden behind a metal shield.
Darn thing has been on the car three years........my filter remover crushed it
before finally shifting it.
Imagine the oil that came out.... :pain:
 
#653 ·
nine4gmc said:
this is what I worked on yesterday, I searched for this thread but the search feature sucks here so I had to wait for someone to post. Here's my 52" tool box for under $60, I posted a thread at homemadetools.net already.
WOW that is beautiful! I can't wait to get my garage added on to once I get the Gran Sport out of there so I can bring my tool box home from the shop. I hate working without a real box.

On the search issue, scroll down to the bottom of this page and you will see the good old "advanced search" button! It is only on a thread and not on the forum index as far as I know. Why it was moved, you will have to ask Jon, it makes no sense to me.

Brian
 
#654 ·
matts37chev said:
its the same reason I dont mechanic for a living anymore
been there all day--dont want to stay late or go in on week ends :thumbup:
Ditto! As much as I love cars, when I wrenched every day for a living I found I just didn't enjoy doing more when I got home. Then the next day I wasn't interested in doing my job after a late night in the garage.
After changing professions I found I could easily burn the midnight candle, and still feel good about my hobby and my job.
 
#657 ·
MARTINSR said:
WOW that is beautiful! I can't wait to get my garage added on to once I get the Gran Sport out of there so I can bring my tool box home from the shop. I hate working without a real box.

On the search issue, scroll down to the bottom of this page and you will see the good old "advanced search" button! It is only on a thread and not on the forum index as far as I know. Why it was moved, you will have to ask Jon, it makes no sense to me.

Brian
Thanks Brian, I spent a few hours each afternoon for the past couple days but it was well worth it to me.
 
#659 ·
1971BB427 said:
Ditto! As much as I love cars, when I wrenched every day for a living I found I just didn't enjoy doing more when I got home. Then the next day I wasn't interested in doing my job after a late night in the garage.
After changing professions I found I could easily burn the midnight candle, and still feel good about my hobby and my job.
The quickest way to ruin a great Hobbie is to start doing it for money or other people...My problem is I love doing all the work at the body shop but dealing with people that dont appreciate or have any clue of whats involved in this work and act like your ripping them off really takes its toll on the fun factor so its tough to get started but like Brian says just "15 min" It really works. A couple months ago I uncovered the car and just sat there thinking about all the work that still had to be done...But finally today I got the fever again and worked on it 10 hrs and took it for a quick spin ,got tomorrow all planned out. cant wait to get up and go....
Thanks Brian
 
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