What are you working on today?

I am member of the local Submarine Veterans (USSVI). I am 47 and most members are 25 to 35 years older than me. Not a lot of young guys get involved with organizations like this anymore. They have a parade float and the old one had to go. So, this weekend I am demoing the deck on the "New" one and the replacement boards will be here Monday.
I will rattle can the spots I can in black with the Deck off and then we will have someone paint the rest of it black.
I have new mud flaps coming with and the Submarine warfare pin etched on them. Commonly referred to as "Fish" or "Dolphins"
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An idea of what it will look like when finished. It is a replica of the WWII submarine Bonefish's sail/conning tower. It will have a deck gun, machine gun and some mast and antennas. Coming back from powder coating.
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Gives you an idea of the size.
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Will look similar to this when complete. Hope to have it all done by the end of February.
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This is the old one, the trailer was shot, and the conning tower was made of wood, so it was rotting away.
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On a side note, I use this truck a lot more for towing than I ever thought I would.
 
I am member of the local Submarine Veterans (USSVI). I am 47 and most members are 25 to 35 years older than me. Not a lot of young guys get involved with organizations like this anymore. They have a parade float and the old one had to go. So, this weekend I am demoing the deck on the "New" one and the replacement boards will be here Monday.
I will rattle can the spots I can in black with the Deck off and then we will have someone paint the rest of it black.
I have new mud flaps coming with and the Submarine warfare pin etched on them. Commonly referred to as "Fish" or "Dolphins"
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An idea of what it will look like when finished. It is a replica of the WWII submarine Bonefish's sail/conning tower. It will have a deck gun, machine gun and some mast and antennas. Coming back from powder coating.
View attachment 84660
Gives you an idea of the size.
View attachment 84661
Will look similar to this when complete. Hope to have it all done by the end of February.
View attachment 84665
This is the old one, the trailer was shot, and the conning tower was made of wood, so it was rotting away.
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On a side note, I use this truck a lot more for towing than I ever thought I would.
How do those boards attach to the metal frame?
 
How do those boards attach to the metal frame?
Not well...LOL. Just some sort of screws and not enough. They are old. I will attach the new ones the same way. They make some specific screws for deck to metal frame. It is how I did my smaller car trailer.
 
Sunday, Got the oil sending unit swapped out in 2012 Kia 3.5L V6, for reference, here's the symptom of oil pooling under the intake manifold, then it runs out the opposite side, between the motor and transmission so can be confused with a rear main seal leak. Assembled with low strength purple thread lock because I find these small fasteners seem to gradually loosen up over time. Garage was cold so used a infrared heater and ran the engine a bit to cure the thread lock, everthing was good on a short test run for today - no check engine light...;
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Then a long 6mm hex for lower intake manifold bolts and the brackets at the rear of he upper intake plenum are shown for reference, the wire connector bracket is bolted to the one in front of it, the bolt is found between the connectors, that would likely be the more difficult one, the other lines are attached at the top beneath the wiper cowl. I didn't remove the fuel rail;
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And previously did the water pump, 3rd time so I knew the coolant is best drained at the water pump being the other radiator options are more difficult to me. A plastic lid is placed under the water pump area because it otherwise would drain onto the sub-frame then across to the front splash shield and all across the front end;
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Today I replaced an alternator and drive belt on a 1994 Mercury Cougar, and changed the oil. Then I replaced the alternator on a 1998 S10 and changed the oil. The alternator on the cougar was locked up and shredded the belt. The alternator on the S10 had a bad bearing and wasn't putting out proper voltage.
 
This morning I changed the oil and checked the air filter and spark plug on my generator. Plug and filter are fine. After lunch I replaced front pads and rotors on a 2005 Toyota Highlander.
 
Not much at work today. Diagnosed and replaced a rear lift gate latch on a Subaru Forester used car. That was all really and spent about 2.5 hours on the Snap-on truck talking smack with the driver and other techs. Lol. It doesn’t matter if there is work to be done or not when Snap-on shows up AutoMechanic is the first one out the door because he is a tool nut.
 
Yes AutoMechanic. I know you like those Interstate batteries. :)
Yep haven’t had good luck with Neverstart lol. Had to replace one in the same car multiple times in 3 months before the customer bought an OEM Subaru one. That’s the official name for them in our shop lol. But Rocket is probably worse not sure what store sells those or who makes them I know I’ve never seen one till here recently.
 
Yep haven’t had good luck with Neverstart lol. Had to replace one in the same car multiple times in 3 months before the customer bought an OEM Subaru one. That’s the official name for them in our shop lol. But Rocket is probably worse not sure what store sells those or who makes them I know I’ve never seen one till here recently.
FYI rocket is OEM on Forte, Soul and few others. We replaced lots of them when we bought bunch of Florida cars that sat for like 9 months
 
Ordered an ignition switch as it wouldn't start outside on the drive.

Annoyed at myself for not thinking of the ignition switch as a wear item...would have leisurely changed it during the summer when i replaced the alternator.

Dodged a bullet as I was going to a Home Depot 20 miles away just so that I could put on some highway miles as the car sees the interstate less than once a month.

so if you have a car over 15 years and 150,000 miles and are planning to keep it for a bit longer, think of proactively changing the starter, alternator, ignition switch on your schedule.

you are at the mercy of the OEM bean counters...maybe they spec'ed those parts to 300,000 miles, maybe not.
 
I did a wheel speed sensor (Left rear) on a friend’s Chrysler T&C. These little guys hide between the rotor and the shield on these. The connector at the end fought valiantly as I was attempting to get it apart. Sometimes the connectors are the toughest part of a job as simple as this. 🤨

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I did the left front CV axle on a 2011 Toyota Rav4.
I have my little blue ratchet strap to pull things out of the way for a nice straight shot with the axle. It was one of the more stubborn axles that I’ve ever messed with, fortunately, I have a slide hammer and will not mess around with it,...it's coming out now. 😏
I’m not a fan of these stupid little plastic fasteners on these splash shields either. This one was a mix of both 10mm bolts and plastic fasteners. All of the plastic fasteners broke when coming out, fortunately, I have a set of new fasteners for such occasions.
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