What are you working on today?

[RAR]

Parked the 2014 T&C in my yard. Brother told me he’s going the used engine route, so we will pick one up from a salvage yard we use and recondition it on the stand. That’s pending in the next few weeks.

I decided to sell my Charger as a project for someone despite it driving and running perfectly. That light tick is taking a couple thousand off what I’d get for it. I am still thinking on fixing that and getting some of that back. I’ll meditate on it.

New speakers from Crutchfield arrived late yesterday and included the wire adapters. I’m installing those this morning. Mercury Grand Marquis, my Charger replacement daily driver other than the Jeep, will have much improved sound.

Completed snapping the front pieces back on the Mini. The intercooler was swapped back to the smaller original as I noticed immediate boost was down. Mini forums say that guys put the big intercooler on for track days, etc. Mine is a road running driver with no track days planned, even though it is a fun little rocket.

First test and the hose came loose and blew off. It ran ok but definitely wasn’t up to snuff. Reattached the hose and clamped it tighter (it was probably not in the right spot on the hose). Newly tightened, it ran up to speed flawlessly. Project is done.

Now I’m considering selling it to get a newer one.

 

[atikovi]

Electric parking brake on the Nissan Leaf. A brilliant idea to make something as simple as a mechanically operated parking brake into an electrically actuated one that pretty much totals a car if it goes bad.

I removed the assembly from the car in an hour, took it apart and freed up the offending gear inside in another hour as described in a few youtube videos, and put it back together and installed in a third hour.

No flashing PARK light and general warning light on the dash, works great, and will now pass a state inspection. On the Leaf forums, people who take the car to a dealer for repairs have been quoted over $3,000 which is close to what some of these Leafs are worth. The actuator alone lists for $1600.

I can understand the reasoning behind using these, to eliminate the space and hardware a handbrake and cables take up, but jeez, it still uses cables that eventually will seize up! At least the new systems have the actuators mounted right on the calipers.

 

[mccandish]

We had a garage door spring let loose on Thursday, so I ordered a set off of eBay Thursday afternoon and had them on the front porch this morning. Forty-five minutes later, the door works again, and my wife thinks I'm a hero.

 

[atikovi]

We had a garage door spring let loose

Did you hear it? Sounds like a bomb went off.

 

[mccandish]

Did you hear it? Sounds like a bomb went off.

I'll bet! No, it probably happened after we'd backed out and put the door down. Once you get six or so full turns on those springs, you can really start to feel the potential energy

 

[SHOZ]

Move trees. Mostly 1-2 year old but a couple 3-4. Tulip 8, White Oak 6 and Red Oak 1. Had a sycamore on my list but could not find it. Rabbits must have got it.

 

[meep]

A good friends 1/2 ton 2005 gmc. Rotated tires, installed 1” level up front. Polished and painted (U-Pol clear) the headlights. The 1” front lift was easy, and keeps an ever so slight rake. He’s not towing anything heavy. And talked more than we wrenched.

Also replaced the 3-month new front element 3 brake pads on our ‘15 CRV with akebono ASP pads… the squealing on the element3s was bad, and I’d already redone it once. ASP pedal feels a little more like soft wood, but the noise is Gone. The ASP pads are GG rated. They don’t quite have as much bite as the element3 but are more than what I recall oem felt like. I’m picky about brakes.

 

[ripcord]

New belt, spindle and blades on my rider. The deck got a new coating of bar and chain oil on the bottom side.

Back inside for a drink and a snack before I go back out to adjust the valves as it's been getting harder to crank over.

 

[K20FA5]

Changed the brake pads and rotors all the way around on my Silverado today. The front right caliper had a leak in one of the pistons, so I replaced that caliper. The rest were fine. Put on Raybestos Element 3 pads and Wagner E coated rotors on all 4 corners.

 

[Creekside]

Spread 2 loads of fertilizer this morning and need to do a third but the plant closed for the weekend.

Medical lift assist early this afternoon with an airlift to follow.

Finished putting the hubs back on the little Mack. Wheel bearings were contaminated with lots of rust. Replaced all front wheel bearings and seals along with new hubcaps. Painted the hubs, drums and lug nuts. Sent the wheels off to be professionally blasted and repainted Massey Ferguson Flint gray. It’ll get new steer tires when they get back. Refilled with Lucas hub oil.

 

[D60]

The battery in the wife's '08 F150 was getting noticeably weak. It was from Oct '18 so not a terrible run. Before:

I grabbed a Grp 65 Proformer because it was cheap, but then realized I've been meaning to address the seriously corroded terminals. So before installing the batt I ordered a new battery cable harness on ebay. Old vs new harness:

The positive was tearing from corrosion:

The swap certainly isn't mechanical rocket science, but it was a bigger PITA than I anticipated. There's a couple aux grounds, a couple Christmas tree fasteners, a bracket that likes to fight with the trans cooler lines, and three connections at the starter.

Anyway, it's nice knowing the battery and cables are fresh. Should easily last for whatever life the poorly engineered 3V has remaining. After:

 

[Kennedy01]

The battery in the wife's '08 F150 was getting noticeably weak. It was from Oct '18 so not a terrible run. Before:
View attachment 212760
I grabbed a Grp 65 Proformer because it was cheap, but then realized I've been meaning to address the seriously corroded terminals. So before installing the batt I ordered a new battery cable harness on ebay. Old vs new harness:View attachment 212763

The positive was tearing from corrosion:View attachment 212762

The swap certainly isn't mechanical rocket science, but it was a bigger PITA than I anticipated. There's a couple aux grounds, a couple Christmas tree fasteners, a bracket that likes to fight with the trans cooler lines, and three connections at the starter.

Anyway, it's nice knowing the battery and cables are fresh. Should easily last for whatever life the poorly engineered 3V has remaining. After:View attachment 212761

Good candidate for a 7.3 gas swap

 

[Kennedy01]

Yesterday

Turned the drums for the 79 K10. Mowed grass. Washed the truck

 

[meep]

Chased bad grounds on the wiring that connects to my camper shell. Mainly because there’s a solar battery maintainer on it and I recently checked it and found the output lower than expected. Reduced V drop by slightly over 1 volt.

 

[53' Stude]

Mulched the lawn for second time this spring. Surprised it was dry enough after a 6 day nonstop rain that gave us 5.2” rain total

 

[D60]

Finally put the finishing touch on the '08 Mountaineer saga. The Park position switch was broken when it came to me -- specifically, the metal swing arm which triggers the microswitch was missing.

I had bootied it as seen here, with a piece of copper sheet zip-tied to keep the switch depressed all the time. This works to get the key out of the ignition, but means the shifter (fortunately, not the PCM) thinks you are always in P. This means EVERY TIME you step on the brake the brake interlock solenoid engages. I imagine the solenoids are durable, but they weren't meant to trigger hundreds of times per drive, so I wanted to correct it.

Bootied switch foreground, replacement installed in background with yellow markings:

@bdcardinal was kind enough to help with a part # and list of dealers who had the discontinued harness, but in the end the path of least resistance seemed to be to order a complete used shifter assy on ebay. I was shocked at the multitude of '06-10 Exploder shifters on ebay, demonstrating how much of a problem the plastic rod is on these units.

Also the switch is part of a greater harness, but I felt it best to just splice the three wires for the necessary switch. I did later clean up and secure the wiring. Now back to better-than-OEM with a stainless steel rod in the shift tube (posted elsewhere in this thread):

 

[wander2039]

Struts on the Spark done. The drivers side the strut and sway bar link was shot. The passenger side the nut was loose but everything was good. Changed everything. The strut bearings not sure on, one was loose the other gravely. Now you can hear the back struts lol.

 

[D60]

A guy brought me this wagon wheel and wanted his address on top. Not exactly an original idea, but I don't hate it, either-- keep in mind a small lot out here is 35 acres, this isn't a white picket fence suburban neighborhood

I probably should get a plasma table but so far it's easier to just contract out what I need. Had a local buddy cut the numbers on his table, so I just welded them on. Groundbreaking fab it is not

 

[michaelluscher]

Finished neighbors '04 Highlander

Intensive cleaning of all the bulb holders and contacts on both tail lights, plus gluing in a new LED CHMSL, then finally replacing both plate light bulbs and lenses means for the first time in years, all lights work on the rear and it's legal

Moved onto the 2020 QX60, it needed an oil change
Air up the low tires and the flat spare
Needed a splash of coolant again, and there's no E-PSF on the stick

The HF oil funnel is superior to the Lisle unit, it fits in the ridiculously poorly designed L50 chassis and VQ engine
There's a place in hell for whoever designed the dipstick
I let it drain for 30 minutes, rechecked the oil after 15 minutes, it looks overfilled but I put the exact 5qts it calls for

This vehicle is approaching 4 years old, with 12,000 miles on it
Why is there a weep from the engine/transmission area

It's had 6-8 oil changes in its life (I've done the last two), yet they always seem significantly darker than I'm used to
It doesn't live a hard life, are these later VQs sludge prone with thin 0w20?
I've got them on a 6 month/5k OCI, should be enough

 

[Delta]

Light duty today. Grass mowed and a much needed wash on the Tacoma. Hasn't been washed in over a month due to all the rain we had. It was covered in dirt, mud, and cow poo