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Question - Where do you find all your lost rotaries? In a box with a sign that says "free rotary with every puppy?"
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Aug 5, 2015 21:19
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the spyder posted:If you're interested, have Count get ahold of me. FYI I have a new username now, CountOfNowhere was a stupid loving name.
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Aug 5, 2015 22:11
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Question - Where do you find all your lost rotaries? In a box with a sign that says "free rotary with every puppy?" Considering I've had 3 show up on flat beds unannounced, they just come to me.
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Aug 5, 2015 23:20
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the spyder posted:Considering I've had 3 show up on flat beds unannounced, they just come to me. Yeah, once you get a reputation as the local rotary guy - they just start showing up. It pisses me off the no end that my local guy (Conroy whom I'm pretty sure the spyder knows or has heard of) gets not running RX's for free. To the tune of one every couple months. McTinkerson fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Aug 6, 2015 |
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Aug 5, 2015 23:26
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McTinkerson posted:Yeah, once you get a reputation as the local rotary guy - they just start showing up. It pisses me off the no end that my local guy (Conroy whom I'm pretty sure the spyder knows or has heard of) gets not running RX's for free. To the tune of one every couple months. Goddammit, people are getting free RX's and here I am throwing money into a
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Aug 6, 2015 02:17
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the spyder posted:Considering I've had 3 show up on flat beds unannounced, they just come to me. Nice. I'd be in for a free rotary.
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Aug 6, 2015 05:28
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Yeah, you could even keep the rotary and I'll be the heretic doing a ls swap.
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Aug 6, 2015 06:07
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Once you are on your second or third rotary and people get wind, they just start showing up. I have been given a couple for free as well. The ones that end up with me almost never end up back on the road though.
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Aug 6, 2015 15:06
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Galler posted:Yeah, you could even keep the rotary and I'll be the heretic doing a ls swap. Well, free shell. Insert LS motors. You know, god's plan.
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Aug 6, 2015 16:10
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I dunno. Most of the free ones are so beat to poo poo it's just not worth it. Prime example. A kid stopped by a few weeks ago, said he saw the cars and wanted to know if I wanted his 85 GSL-SE. Blown motor, gutted interior, rusted hatch. While the SE parts hold decent value, I just have no interest in another rotting 7.
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Aug 6, 2015 18:42
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Since I actually want to get this car finished and I felt like being a bit OCD, I pulled the subframes for a quick refresh. Not bad for being 22 years old.  Step 1: Pressurewash  Step 2: Simple green and scotchbrite  And of course something broke. A rock managed to get wedged in the trigger mechanism for the pressure washer gun. Easy fix. Though I did shoot the ball bearing 20ft away and still managed to find it somehow.   Next up: Hubs and half shafts. 
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Aug 6, 2015 20:18
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What kind of welders are you running these days? I see a Miller Dynasty but I cant tell what the others are.
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Aug 6, 2015 20:56
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Miller Dynasty 200DX Miller 140 Autoset with .24 for sheet metal Miller 252 with .35 for everything else Hypertherm Powermax 45 plasma cutter
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Aug 6, 2015 21:22
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How do you like the hypertherm? I have been thinking about getting one of those chineseium plasma cutters, it all looks like they do the same thing. Though the consumables are pretty drat cheap.
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Aug 6, 2015 21:29
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BrokenKnucklez posted:How do you like the hypertherm? I have been thinking about getting one of those chineseium plasma cutters, it all looks like they do the same thing. Though the consumables are pretty drat cheap. It's a great machine, but buy based on your use case. For me, I wanted a machine that could easily be adapted to a plasma table. This happened to be onsale and the smallest unit that had NC torch controls and a table style torch. If I were looking for a home shop style machine, I would take a close look at the Chinese machines in the $400-600 price range. There is growing support for these CUT50 style machines in the community and the support that used to be lacking is much better. I've honestly not gotten to use mine as much as I planned and after reviewing my plasma table plans, I should have gone bigger. It will get me started, but it will only plunge cut 1/4" steel. I want 1/2" capacity.
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Aug 6, 2015 21:39
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The info is excellent. I don't plan on using it for CNC any time soon, but its nice to know the CUT50 style machines are getting good support. I don't plan on really getting much over 1/4. so the ability to pierce 1/4 is more than adequate. Have you used it on aluminum or other metals besides steel? Just curious on how it performs.
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Aug 6, 2015 21:49
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drat it craigslist. Why must you tempt me with AMAZING DEALS. I dragged home another drill press yesterday. It's definitely a project, but I couldn't turn down a variable speed drill press for $100. Starting in 06(?) Powermatic went to China and sourced this lovely POS. The reviews are split pretty much down the middle. On one hand, it dropped the price significantly and it's built to a much higher quality standard then the equivalent Harbor Freight/Import. On the other hand, it's still built to a price point and this caused major quality issues. It came from a stainless steel fab shop and according to the shop foreman, it was hardly used due to the speed range (400-3000- hint, it's a wood working drill press). When I first checked it out, I almost walked away. I offered them half the asking price and expected them not to call me back the next day. Apparently I was the only decent person they talked to off CL and said I could have it. Here's what I found broken or missing when I started tearing into it. Variable speed- won't hold a speed, wonders. Broken plastic spacer on handle. Table lift: Gear tracks appears to be made of taffy like steel and handle missing. Left table extension, missing- broken mounts- plastic. Chuck: Finest Chinese knockoff Albrecht chuck- completely and utterly destroyed. Downfeed handle- missing? Powercord: Missing ground prong.   It's surprisingly clean.  I did not have a Morse Taper wedge, but since the chuck was destroyed anyways I just tapped it out. The bore looked great.  Yea, that's not supposed to look like that.  Maybe this explains it. Looks like someone used a god drat pipe wrench.  Here's the gear rack for the table lift. I ended up hacksawing it off.  Another great design: The knob's tapered plastic acts as a stop for the aluminum sleeve which intern pushes against the steel selector guide to hold the variable speed adjustment arm. Seems simple, turn knob to release, adjust to the speed you want and retighten. As it turns out, a 1/16th" of plastic is not enough to support the clamping pressure. I was able to add a few washers and cleaned up the broken plastic edges on the handle. Works fine for now.  Now the next problem. The rear variable speed appears to have shifted down the shaft, chewing up the belt. I tried to adjust it, but it appears to need shims. I'll have to find a manual at some point.  The electronics for the Laser cross hairs, LED work lights, and digital RPM readout all looked in good shape and function as should.  Last, but not least- a new plug. At some point I went ahead a removed the remaining table extension and gave it a quick run over with WD40 and a scotchbrite pad.  I ordered a cheap chuck to test it out and I'll probably stop by the steel yard tonight to grab some 1/2" SS rod to make handles out of.  Still not sure if I'll keep it, but even with everything I've had to fix, it's still a decent drill press. Eventually I want to find a variable speed Delta to match my other equipment in the wood shop. the spyder fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Aug 7, 2015 18:05
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Chuck showed up. It was the finest $32 chinese knockoff I could find. "Good clamp" "ISO9001" I'm sold. It works, the run out is pretty darn good for a woodworking drill press.  Next up, down feed handles.
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Aug 11, 2015 21:26
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Back to car work. Over the past few nights I cleaned all the parts removed from the black car. Everything was degreased, sanded, primed as needed, and coated with Rustoleum Enamel. They turned out ok, minus the slight bit of unintentional crinkle finish on the subframe. As it turns out, they were not kidding about the wait time before recoats. Ooopps.       I also started to disassemble the steering rack for clean up and new ball joints.  
the spyder fucked around with this message at 19:57 on Aug 14, 2015 |
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Aug 14, 2015 19:54
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I am so jealous of a subframe that can be lifted and set on a tire.  Ugh. I love this thread, btw.
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Aug 14, 2015 21:31
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Freshly painted parts are one of the small joys of life.
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Aug 15, 2015 16:47
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More progress on the black car. The suspension is 90% installed. I hit a few snags and had to order rear brake lines. Once those are in, I can wrap up the suspension/brakes. Next up, fuel system. I really like this kit, too bad it's discontinued   The wheels also arrived, but they are hilariously oversized. 18x9.5 +22 on all corners with stock body lines. That's like 1" sickout in the front. They only way I can make them work is by stretching a 225 tire on the fronts... Ugh.  We spent a good portion of today cleaning the shop. One of the projects was mounting our shop TV. I used a old ergatron single monitor arm mount and lag bolted it to the beams. It works great.    Still needs a lot of work, but it's getting there.    Time for dinner. 
the spyder fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Aug 17, 2015 |
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Aug 17, 2015 03:06
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Very nice, sir. Those brakes look great, too. Beefy.
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Aug 17, 2015 05:14
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I'm working waaaaay to much. Here's what little I've managed to get done. Steering Rack for the black car update:   After the nasty grease was cleaned out, I repacked it and installed new boots.  Quick cleanup to knock the corrosion off.  And more paint.  New bushings, new boots, new tie rod ends. Good enough.  Next up: Diff bushings. This is where everything went horribly wrong.   Lesson learned. If you accidentally use a slightly oversized socket to push a bushing out and wedge it in there- DO NOT PUSH IT THROUGH. Turns out the upper OD of the socket was slightly larger then the bottom. I knew I was using way to much pressure and kept going. The sockets I used for spacers shot across the shop in different directions, one hitting the Red FD. Poo was expelled. To make things even more fun, while retrieving one of the sockets, I knocked over a large plastic case onto a can of brake cleaner, spraying myself in the rear end/thigh. I've never pulled a pair of pants off so quickly. I ended up stuffing my brake-clean-soaked undies with blue shop towels and running pants-less to the house. I've never been so happy to live in the middle of nowhere. The fun doesn't stop there:  The wife complained about a squealing belt on the Mini. I figured it was time for a new belt/tensioner. $195 off Amazon. In the mean time, she's driving home and the car just stops accelerating. Pulls over. I come look at it and can't find anything wrong. I limp it another mile and POOF. No power, smoke from under the car. Turns out the crank pulley/damper failed. Another $310 down the drain. I know it's a common issue, but I'm beyond done with this car. It's going for sale this weekend. Non-car stuff:  I woke up to nothing coming from the tap Sunday. The lovely 5 year old start cap for our well failed. Of course the only place open on a Sunday only carried the entire motor start box. $95 later we had water. This time I'm setting a reminder to order a cap. It's the fourth time this has happened. Here's some grade F air quality pictures from the fires. This was Saturday/Monday.   It's beautiful, but my lungs hurt from the fine particles in the air. Back to another 70 hour work week. the spyder fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Aug 24, 2015 16:46
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I've pulled out my old stock primary injectors and am going to clean and flow them at work. If they check ok I'm putting them back in but this time with the stock air bleeds. What is the correct orientation for the air bleeds on the BREW? If these primary injectors are junk I'm going to switch to top feed. What rail/adapter do you recommend?
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Aug 28, 2015 03:09
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Have you seen my apex seals? I seem to have lost them.
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Made an adapter at work so I could flow test. They were only 1cc apart. The only thing that concerns me is the impedance test. The machine was bouncing between 16 and 17 ohms (verified 17 on bench). Seems a bit high, what should the impedance be on OEM injectors?
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Sep 2, 2015 20:55
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That's funny about your harmonic balancer. I actually got rid of a 626 a few years back from that. I had just gotten it back on the road and running well and the crank pulley separated while driving down the road. That was my last straw and I immediately dumped it on Craigslist.
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Sep 2, 2015 21:45
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That happened to my Cherokee, it was probably the most difficult project I had undertaken at that point but AI walked me through it.
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Sep 2, 2015 22:12
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I've been swamped. Worked straight through Labor Day weekend to get some backend upgrades done at work. I need a vacation. Car life has been rather boring. The Mini has decided to throw more check engine codes and needs tires. I did get to spend a few hours Friday at Pineapple with Rob. I initially intended to work on the diff pictured below. Turns out we needed bearings, so that got put on hold.    So we decided to wash Rob's truck while he was busy with a customer.     This somehow turned into pulling the engine for him... Haha. He'd been mentioning for months he wanted to R+R it, but never had the time. Sometimes it's just nice to help someone else start/finish a project.     Our truck has seen better days. Several  After we got the truck back, I tore it apart. It's just starting to rain again and for the past few years we've had a leak on the rear window. Common problem, the butyl rubber heats up and sags. While I'm at it, I decided to clean the seats, carpet, ect. It was a mess after 330k. Maybe some day I'll do the valve cover gaskets and get the injectors cleaned.It's getting new tires next week.    I ordered another VFD for our giant grinder. Hopefully I can get it wired up this week.  Also found a manifold for one of the long term projects. It's almost too nice for this car.   My awesome neighbor needed his splitter back, so I changed the oil. He'd never do it, haha.  It was my birthday last week, so I cracked open this bottle with a few friends. It was delicious.  Here's my birthday present to myself. Let's see if anyone can ID it. 
the spyder fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Sep 15, 2015 |
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Sep 14, 2015 23:49
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Oh wow, I never posted the Mini repairs. I ended up making my own puller. Otherwise it went ok. I found the cause of the check engine lights, a desinigrated rubber vacuum boot.            -1/10 Would not do again.
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Sep 15, 2015 01:28
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I was waiting for that middle finger the whole time...
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Sep 15, 2015 16:39
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More updates: The truck is 90% back together. I decided to fix a ton of small issues while it was apart. Sadly the replacement seatbelt from a local pick and pull was junk. So that will have to wait. While it was apart, I had to do something about the carpet. I ordered some Chemical Guys carpet shampoo and pressure washed the hell out of it. It worked great. Ignore the child labor.   I did find a small amount of rust under the passenger seat. A quick grind/prime/paint should be good enough for this old truck.    SO CLEAN. It's going to immediately get covered in dirt knowing my luck.  Like most Ford's of this era, the rear window frame is cracked. I silicone'd it up as best as possible and installed a new butyl rubber seal. It holds, but there's still a leak around the slider. The replacement window is $300 + shipping.  Since this went so well, I ordered a new third brake light, LED bulbs for the dash lights, and a new passenger door lock actuator. It's so nice to finally fix all these nagging issues we've been putting of for years. Next up, tires. Friday, I spent the day with Rob@Pineapple Racing again. The parts finally came in to finish the diff, along with a ECU for a customer.  Two motors came in for tear downs while I was there. The first was a supposedly "running" RX8 motor. They capped everything off, but it was covered in sand. It also rolled during shipping and damaged the oil neck and dipstick. It was a complete boat anchor. Over heated, blown apex seal, and sat for at least a month.    Here's the second motor that was torn down. This is why you don't keep driving once you toss a apex seal. Especially a ceramic seal. Motor is 90% trash now. When the front rotor let go, it blew chunks into the intake and sucked it through the rear rotor, destroying EVERYTHING. It looks like their timing was pretty far off.   Back to the diff. This went smoothly. Ended up needing a slightly smaller shim to get the end play back to spec.     A customer stopped by. He had no idea it was like this.  Back home: While I was waiting on carpet to dry, I decided to fix some things on my FD. I found a missing trim piece, cleaned the blower motor out, installed a battery tie down, and FINALLY fixed my boost issue. The little double-solenoid in the picture was causing all my grief.  Here's the blower. No cabin air filter. Thanks Mazda.  With the boost issue fixed, I fired up the old tuning laptop and started re-tuning the ECU. I never finished the idle learn process after changing the battery a few weeks ago. I figured since I was working on the idle, I should toss a set of plugs in it. Not bad for 10k.  I might be running a biiiiiit rich.  Next up, street tuning. the spyder fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Sep 22, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 22:07
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HOLY CRAP that is the cleanest f-150 of that generation I have ever seen. I also really dig all your harbor freight tool boxes. The black four drawer is my favorite toolbox ever.
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Sep 22, 2015 03:52
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Thanks! It's got a fair share of small dings and scratches, but we try to take care of it Went to pick and pull on the way home and got another seatbelt. This one works great.  Also spent $8 on a bug guard. We had the same one, but it snapped off some time ago.  Apparently I ordered a set of screw drivers while drinking this weekend.... drat it. 
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Sep 22, 2015 21:07
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My Ranger had that same leak. Of course, since it rains so rarely in AZ, I never got around to fixing it, even though I did buy some sealant which is still sitting in my garage, unopened 
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Sep 22, 2015 21:31
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the spyder posted:Also spent $8 on a bug guard. We had the same one, but it snapped off some time ago. Holy poo poo that is one nice F-150 of that era. Most of the ones I see are pretty much trashed. Hell, I see more from 92-96 in way better shape than newer ones.
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Sep 22, 2015 22:59
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I shotgunned this thread in two sittings, amazing work and even more amazing shop. Curious what your dayjob is and how the gently caress you find time to do all this work?
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Oct 1, 2015 13:18
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dreesemonkey posted:I shotgunned this thread in two sittings, amazing work and even more amazing shop. Thanks! I'm a IT Janitor. Or as the rest of the professional world would call it, Data Center Architect. Anyone who knows me can answer the second question. I have no time. I'm actually taking a week of to catch up. A while back I promised myself I would stop taking on new work. I lied. I've got five or six long-term projects to complete and another 3-4 on the waiting list. At some point I'm hoping I'll learn my lesson, until then I need the side cash to finish my race car.
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Oct 2, 2015 05:05
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Well, that week off flew by. I jokingly asked my boss if I could take a second, judging by the glare he shot back his answer was no... Haha. So, here's what I got done. I'm still behind and I took on two more projects (drat it). First up- Lathe repair. I went to use our lathe and remembered we never fixed the variable speed drive.  Disassembly took a few hours, mainly because I wanted to inspect the gears while I was at it.   Everything looked great. Someone had been in here before, but I'm not sure why.  The variable speed assembly was only held in with 3 bolts.    Ahh there's the problem. Finger snapped off.  Waaaait. drat it. They broke the adjuster too.   So the plan is to pre-heat the parts in a charcoal grill, silicon bronze TIG braze them back together, and put them back in the grill to cool.  While it's out we're replacing the bearings on the shaft.  Oh and at some point I need to buy a new switch. There's a good 1/8" material melted away on some of the contacts.  I ordered new belts, but I need to find a replacement belt for the tach/speed gauge. Currently both are broken.
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Oct 12, 2015 20:03
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Next up: The White 94 FD from This was without a doubt the dirtiest car I have worked on. We pressure washed and degreased it three times and it still was nasty. Every nut stuck in the impact gun from the gunk/grime. We can only imagine this was in a flash flood or something. The red dirt/oil is everywhere- except the interior.   The worst part is the wiring- how do you even clean this?   When the owner dropped it off, he mentioned how much he hated the wing. (With his permission) I went ahead and removed it.  10x better. The bastards that installed it siliconed it down though. I'll leave removing that to the owner/his painter.  The owner bought new Super Pro bushings thinking the OEM ones were shot- turns out they were aftermarket delrin.  Old setup:  Man this car is just dirty. I can't get over it.  The plugs were decent, definitely need to be changed.  The engine is covered with the same red dirt.   It's getting a new thermostat.  And water pump.  Quality of the PO's work. Turbo water supply line.  Also needs a rear main seal, clutch, flywheel resurfaced.  While it was apart, I talked with the owner and we decided to do the brakes/bushings/struts while it was this far torn down. A friend owed him a favor and was going to do all of this for him, but his friends always swamped. Here's the custom tool I had to make to remove the delrin bushings.   The owner bought some lightly used Koni Yellow's and Ground Control coilovers. The front shocks were new and for some reason, this one collar/perch bound. I ended up removing from material from the ID of the collar and it worked.    New bushings installed.  Had to clean up the mating surface, why they paint the bushing surface I'll never understand.  So much better.     Still have to do the rear.  And another new project arrives...  The white car is now waiting on parts. I still have to fix the wiring harness, redo the vac lines, get the flywheel resurfaced and injectors cleaned, and then do all the rear-end bushings/brakes/struts. Fun times. the spyder fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Oct 12, 2015 |
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Oct 12, 2015 20:31
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