What are you working on today?

Helped a buddy bring home his first classic, a not-running but mostly rust free ‘65 corvette. I’ve not dragged a long-parked car out of hiding in years, but the brakes weren’t rusted in place and the hand brake functioned, sort of, enough for us to slowly get it on a carrier, and off. Getting it off was a chore, as his driveway slopes down to his garage. We ran a safety strap from the vehicle on the carrier, up the hill past the tow vehicle, to my truck, through odd angles, to provide a safety holding the car back as we guided it down the carrier and it’s ramps, in case the hand brake acted up. We wanted to just use the clutch and first, but the seat was stuck forward and none of us could actuate the clutch with the door closed. But we got it off after figuring that out.

the seller had it for 30 years, and had a hard time seeing it go. We stayed there with her a while and just talked. It was a project shared with her and an ex, which she really enjoyed, but now couldn’t keep running. I told her my family experienced the same, selling our ‘57 a few years ago… couldn’t maintain it, and sold it to someone who would treat it well.

my friend…. Is SO EXCITED!!! Looks like a rebuilt 327 is in there with some evidence of love - a moroso deep dish oil pan, updated radiator and e-fan, and then a mixed bag of wiring. She said she quit driving it due to electrical problems…. Yes… I can see that.
 
Today was one of those "Not difficult but labor intensive" days. Started easy enough: Quick struts with links, front pads/rotors, and a RF CV axle on a Fit. Easy peasy, not much MN rust to deal with thankfully.

Ah, that MN rust.... Next came a 2005 4Runner with close to 300k. It's getting both front lower control arms/ball joints with ALL new alignment hardware from Toyota, a RF axle, rear shocks, and all 6 plugs and coils with Denso plugs and Delphi coils. I got through the RF suspension today, it was all my shoulders could take. I went through 5 or 6 Sawzall blades just getting through the rear bushing/collar/bolt. My arms are Jello!

Finished the day out with a VC replacement on a Mazda5. The plastic around the #1 coil bolt insert broke off somehow, requiring complete cover replacement. Threw some NGK's and one more Delphi coil at that bad boy and it was good as new.
 
Finished modifying the used headache rack for the crackhead Chevy and painted black.
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Had to drop the entire bumper down on the crackhead Chevy because the tailgate would rest on the bumper when opened, kicking it off its hinges. The bumper and hitch were crackhead welded together with crackhead booger welds so I cleaned up all the poor fabrication and added D-rings to the hitch (recovery points are important on 40 steep, north-facing acres in Colo)
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Installed a Durafit seat cover on the crackhead Chevy. I'm relatively impressed with the quality.
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Fabbed a crude battery hold down on the crackhead Chevy because when you're a crackhead you use bungee cords
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Monday and Tuesday I worked on an oil pump replacement job on a 2002 GMC Sierra 1500, 5.3 Vortec. Today was rear brake shoes, drums, hardware kits and a rear pinion seal on a 1982 K5 Blazer. Also changed the engine oil.

Over the weekend I went to look at a 283 Chevy V8 with a friend of mine. I ended up buying it, an extra set of power pack heads, a pair of glass packs and a set of headers. We were in his car, so tomorrow I'm driving over in my truck to pick everything up.
 
I learned how to use the old school tire machine at work lol. Got a set of steelies in so my buddy said let’s show you how to use that old machine. So I did and didn’t damage anything lol. We had the same style in school but I never used it. The rest of the time I did sway bar end links which were required for one vehicle to pass state inspection. Then done a bunch of tires and alignments. Nothing too hard. And one of the new guys is trying to take my vacation dates management told him no only one person on vacation at a time and he hasn’t been there long enough to take vacation. So he came to me saying how he is entitled to vacation those dates since it’s been reserved. I said that’s between you and management but I’m taking my vacation on the dates I picked.
He seems angry but he doesn’t have tools or seniority, I do so I’ll be going on vacation. So we got into that argument too lol.
 
AutoMechanic said:
I learned how to use the old school tire machine at work lol. Got a set of steelies in so my buddy said let’s show you how to use that old machine. So I did and didn’t damage anything lol. We had the same style in school but I never used it. The rest of the time I did sway bar end links which were required for one vehicle to pass state inspection. Then done a bunch of tires and alignments. Nothing too hard. And one of the new guys is trying to take my vacation dates management told him no only one person on vacation at a time and he hasn’t been there long enough to take vacation. So he came to me saying how he is entitled to vacation those dates since it’s been reserved. I said that’s between you and management but I’m taking my vacation on the dates I picked.
He seems angry but he doesn’t have tools or seniority, I do so I’ll be going on vacation. So we got into that argument too lol.
Click to expand...
I’d tell that young punk to screw off. He probably hasn’t been there a year or even half a year. He doesn’t have vacation time either so he should stop whining
 
Also, while a carbide scraper worked great to scrape off the RTV, I did scratch up and gouge part of the sealing surfaces. I used a red scotch-brite by hand, a no-no to dress them up. The crankcase openings and the oil pump pickup to filter passes are tamponed with paper towels and I’ll hose the timing area down with brake cleaner until no more grit is felt.

I hate to waste a $30 jug of Rotella T6 MV with less than 1K on it but the cams will get an oil bath and I’ll run cheap oil and a ST/Chinese filter for 1K to ensure any flotsam is gone.
 
Gave the ol' girl a new set of Denso Iridium plugs and fresh oil and filter. I examined a few areas that I thought might have a problem and my suspicions were correct: some new motor mounts are needed. While somewhat saddened by the discovery, I am very happy that the symptoms I was experiencing were just the mounts and not something more complex or serious.

The engine seems a bit smoother and peppier with the new plugs. The old ones were the original sparklers, which made them about 12 years old based on the build date of the car. And I always enjoy it when there's fresh oil in the sump. Yowzah! Yowzah! Some fresh motor mounts and I'm good for another decade or so 🤞
 
Finished the 4Runner this morning, the left control arm put up much less of a fight, thank God. Tossed the rear shocks in and threw her on the alignment rack, I had the front caster/camber within .02 degrees of spec. Not bad for eyeballing the install. I tweaked to my liking, adjusted the toe, and took it for a spin. Drives like a brand new 300k mile Toyota should.

Next was a radiator in a 2005 Audi A6 with the 4.2. Not terribly difficult, but chock full of German annoyance. All went well, and now it's off my plate.

I ended the day pretty casually: LF control arm, axle, and sway bar link on a CX-5 all due to a separated lower ball joint. Found a loose RF outer tie rod after I got it on the hoist (I only lot-inspected it on arrival) and a noisy LF hub bearing, so it will be getting those done and an alignment tomorrow.

Knocked out rear pads and rotors on an amazingly clean 2005 Sorento that came from KS. Boy was it nice to work on something clean to close out a day.
 
Done some stuff today. Pretty productive actually. Done tons of alignments which are ok except when you forget tools you need and have to walk back and fourth as the alignment bays are across from the shop in the Ford shop. Done 4 sets of tires. Snapped a TPMS sensor in a 2020 Subaru Legacy. Was beating myself up for that lol. Fortunately we had one in stock, one. Subaru don’t like aftermarket sensors so Autel was a no go. Also replaced an ABS module in an old Subaru.
 
clinebarger said:
That's why you back it off TDC before removing the chain.
Click to expand...
Thankfully the cams didn’t move. Turns out I have to replace the VVT phaser, I noticed during cleaning up the old RTV the intake cam was off a tooth. When I rotated the intake cam to get it back in time, the gear moved but not the cam. I pinged @The Critic, we condemned the phaser. I have both the intake and exhaust cams unbolted.

I’m going to move the crank 40-130* per Toyota’s specs to give me some room to spin the cams during reassembly and then get everything back in time.
 
AutoMechanic said:
And one of the new guys is trying to take my vacation dates management told him no only one person on vacation at a time and he hasn’t been there long enough to take vacation. So he came to me saying how he is entitled to vacation those dates since it’s been reserved. I said that’s between you and management but I’m taking my vacation on the dates I picked.
He seems angry but he doesn’t have tools or seniority, I do so I’ll be going on vacation. So we got into that argument too lol.
Click to expand...
AutoMechanic said:
Nope been here two weeks. Doesn’t have tools or anything like that either. He don’t need vacation he needs tools.
Click to expand...

I've managed quite a few shops/crews in my career......If I was running things, He wouldn't of known you were scheduled to be off because it's none of his business. By telling him "AutoMechanic" is taking those days off....They set you up as the fall guy.
 
Yesterday I got my 283 unloaded and put on a stand. Then I did front and rear brake pads, rear brake calipers and rear hoses on a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe. Turned all four rotors. Today I'm going to make a house call to see if I can figure out why a customer's 99 Chevy Blazer won't start.
 
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