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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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#29,525 · (Edited)
My 88 Chevrolet came with 1157 bulbs and I was constantly changing bulbs,,so I changed the curcit boards it the tail lights to use the flat plug in3057 that helped a lot but when I restored the truck I switched to LED parking light and tail lights these are sealed beam and come with replacement housings for $19 each,much brighter and last for ever I am very happy with them.:D
 

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#29,526 ·
I refinished my '38 grille with Chrome in a can... it was flat black primer when I got it. a quick blast in the cabinet to clean it and I have a silver grille...;)



I'm deciding on one of a few colors of mag wheel paint. Thinking i might go with the "steel" color that looks like bare steel.

I picked up the top trim, and the Chevrolet emblem that also goes above the grille Sat. I did a quick test fit to the opening on my one piece fiberglass frontend and can't believe how far off the opening is! The top trim is almost an inch too long vs. the opening! So it will need to be opened up towards the rear to get the two top trim pieces to meet together at the point of the hood.
Then there's the shaped of the top opening where it rounds down to the trailing corner. It's off also, and will need material removed to allow the grille to properly sit in that opening. after
I'll do some more checking and marking after I get the filler bars welded in today. Then I'll make up a template to mark out the opening, and carefully open up the hole to match the stock grille. I'll have to seal the raw edges with resin once I remove material, and see if I need to add any glass on the back side to allow the trim a base to sit against.
I've heard these glass pieces can be ill fitting, but this is really a surprise to be this far off!
 
#29,529 ·
Damn. Again? (flat tire) Welcome to Monday.:rolleyes:

My '69 Suburban is a flat tire magnet! And every time it's cost me a new tire! I've replaced 3 rear tires in a little over 2 years! All in almost new condition when they got a darn bolt in the tread each time! And each time right on the corner of the tread where the tire shop says they wont fix them. Really frustrating and expensive to replace those 295-50-15 tires!
 
#29,531 ·
My '69 Suburban is a flat tire magnet! And every time it's cost me a new tire! I've replaced 3 rear tires in a little over 2 years! All in almost new condition when they got a darn bolt in the tread each time! And each time right on the corner of the tread where the tire shop says they wont fix them. Really frustrating and expensive to replace those 295-50-15 tires!
I think I would start buying the road hazard insurance...:eek:
 
#29,533 ·
When its just me and metal, or my cars, everything is natural and lovely. It was that way today as always but EVERY other minute of the day was a battle for every step. I didn't smooch my home after work but I told it I sure missed it.

For all you tire sympathizers (tip o' the hat) I submit the latest item for the schrapnel heap-





Well, you little pipsqueak! What the hell is that, a cheapo rolled pin? Man, that sucker was lodged like a snow skier with a busted leg.

Finally dug enough to snag it with sidecutters. Yes, it was a whistler. Almost looks like a butt crimp connector. I better go air it up the rest of the way. Now if thats not sufficient posting and fuss over one flat tire... and I thought I had my plugs but had to borrow...

for the exclusive and spellbinding Paul Harvey type details, visit my work thread.

David I wasn't sure which bulb number to say. Whichever one is same as 1157 but with the newer style blade type of socket. Any of that spray chrome works for me in tail light housings although white might be best. Beats dull aluminum like whats on the lugnuts, axle ends and bearing caps, and wheel rims on my Lucite covered 68 'bu.:mwink:

Anybody mind if I hit that 69 action again?











Hope this lands on page 69. If not... I have the next 3 pages covered also.:D
 
#29,534 ·
Alternator you ponder?


Yes, driving home around 10 PM Friday from a local cruise in, the lights were fluctuating like on the TACH clip I posted. I thinks to myself, something is really screwy here.


It took all of 30 seconds from the time I finished this thought when I hear a growling noise and the volts steady up at a lower rate on the volt gauge. Must be a bearing on the way out. Shoot for home. Noise gets worse and squeals like crazy. Then stops. Right on. Almost home and a ghost growling away under the hood when I pull up the driveway. The belt jumped off and was still running all the necessities. Unbelievable.


So I made a new pulley for the tensioner as the factory job was slightly thinner then the belt.
Got a reman alternator to fix the Christine light fluctuations.




 

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#29,536 ·
While at the cruise, I noticed the hood digging into the top cover. I cut out a couple wedges of material, tweaked it with some wood and c clamps to bend it more. "Welded" it together with strips of stainless and epoxy.







 

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#29,537 ·
I was playing with the tuning program yesterday when I realized the PCM is from a 4.8 liter. I am now in the process of copying over 5.3 settings into the PCM. This is a good learning procedure. My daughter was helping me as I went thru it today.

Father's Day 2.....
 
#29,539 ·
Went over to my guy who does tig welding for me. Here's some images of how out of whack this opening is.

In this one you can see how the stainless doesn't fit back into the inside corner, and hits at mid point on top before the forward part can come up snug against the "hood" area.



In this image you can see the grille is not back into the corner, and it's being pushed down so that the back edge of the bars is behind the fender instead of along the edge of the opening.



And in this one the bottom is wedged in hard against the lower nose, so it wont allow it to slip back to meet the fender flange.



The three bars in the grille are what Eli tig welded in for me tonight. If I can't rework the opening to make this fit properly, I might just cut off the last bar to give it more room and make it fit better. But that's a last resort I think.
 
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