What are you working on today?

Well, that was a swift 48 hours
Slowclap for my sister 😭
My disappointment is immeasurable
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I really hope it's not totalled
After all the blood sweat and 💰 I've put into it
I cannot financially or mechanically assist anymore
She's an adult, with her own money, she'll have to figure this out for herself this time
No one was hurt, it was fairly minor, but I'm at my end
This is the second car I've done up for her in the past 2.5 years 😒
I was gonna do a 1 year update thread with all the little things I've done to it recently, but that clearly isn't gonna happen 😳
Ouch. Man that’s a little heartbreaking.
 
Ouch. Man that’s a little heartbreaking.
The only thing that's keeping me laughing is that the lights still work
Otherwise I'd probably be in a corner crying:cry:
I JUST RIVETED ON THAT NEW PLATE BRACKET SUNDAY:mad:
Project xB² watches on confused 🤔
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Fired the GT500 yesterday, Fired right up...After 2-3 seconds of lifter clatter...Oil Pressure shot up & all was quiet. Test drove it today after charging the A/C....All is good!

Dropped the Mobil 1300 Super 15w40 out & refilled it with Motorcraft 5w50 along with a fresh Motorcraft oil filter. I lubed the Cam journals & packed the Oil Pump with Lubriplate 105.....I like to warm the oil up good & drop it out.

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Yesterday I made progress on the front brakes on the C10. Pads, turned rotors, repacked wheel bearings. Drivers side hose came off no issue, passenger side will have to have the line from the hose to the proportioning valve replaced. All I'll have left is that and a master cylinder and the brakes will be done.

Also replaced battery cable ends and the starter on a 2000 Ford Taurus.
 
What are your plans for this? It’s looking like the beginnings of something awesome?
Right now just having some fun test fitting the different Detroits I have. In the long run the plan is to install my Detroit 4-53T Silver and keep the truck with the original red patina and rusty chrome. Get rid of all the dents, holes etc and do the interior cab up. For the deck it will be a 10' flat deck on 22.5" rims and tires. Trans will be a Spicer 7 speed and an aux 3-4 speed behind that. A huge amount of work to be done, but a lot of fun involved and a lot of new skills to learn.
 
Today I spent the majority of the afternoon finishing up the 20 hours 2002 Passat (restoration) I've been working on. The car is a base model 1.8T with 140k on the clock. It got:

A complete front suspension rebuild: All 8 control arms, sway bar links, CV shafts, outer tie rid ends. Textar front and rear pads and rotors. All topped off with a Continental Black Series timing belt and WP kit and a fresh alignment. I've never felt a 20 year old Passat drive so nice!

Total bill? $4,999.99. It was originally a few cents over $5k, manager thought the customer would get a kick out of it if he "discounted" it to the $4,999.99 number.
 
Today I spent the majority of the afternoon finishing up the 20 hours 2002 Passat (restoration) I've been working on. The car is a base model 1.8T with 140k on the clock. It got:

A complete front suspension rebuild: All 8 control arms, sway bar links, CV shafts, outer tie rid ends. Textar front and rear pads and rotors. All topped off with a Continental Black Series timing belt and WP kit and a fresh alignment. I've never felt a 20 year old Passat drive so nice!

Total bill? $4,999.99. It was originally a few cents over $5k, manager thought the customer would get a kick out of it if he "discounted" it to the $4,999.99 number.
I know one guy personally who paid to have all the suspension bushings redone on his car; it transformed it. With so many going past 100k, it seems like it might be more worthwhile now if you like the handling and ride.
 
Finished up the C10 on Thursday. It got picked up and swapped out for a 1981 Chevy C10 for brake work. Smoked it over and started working on it yesterday. Wheel cylinders, shoes and hardware kits on the back. Axle seals are being replaced. Front brakes just need pads, calipers and hoses look relatively new. It's also getting a new set of drive belts and an oil change.

Also have a 2001 GMC Jimmy that I've diagnosed as needing a fuel pump. I'll probably do it Monday. Gonna mow grass this afternoon.
 
My Silverado has had bad luck with my cheaping out on tires.

Picked up four load range E Mastercrafts when I got it two years ago, but they were hard as rocks.

Picked up three well used snow tires, plucked the studs out of them, and started using them as all-seasons. One had a bulge. Had an inspection so I put one of the Mastercrafts back on, but its bead never sealed right. The 90+ temps broke so I went to my favorite junkyard in the whole wide world, with its literal tire warehouse, and got a Cooper Discoverer with 9/32" tread and a 2016 date code for $30.

Mounted with my HF changer then dropped it on its valve stem. Held air but hissed when I pushed it sideways. Augh!

Popped the outside bead, got a new stem, moved the sensor over.

Starting to understand why people go to Pep Boys. :LOL:

Fingers crossed, it's holding air.

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Had to attack the noisy sway bar links on the Pilot. Tried dousing them with PB Blaster and wrenching on them last week, that was a no go. Ended up buying a 3" cut off tool from Horrible Freight and trying to cut through the nut. "Try" was the key word. The brand new $20 cut off tool started grinding for about a minute, then I realized that with no load, it sounded like most of the grinding was coming from itself. It gradually slowed to a stop and it was dead. Back to HF for a replacement, and this one got the job done. Cut the nut into quarters and chiseled the fragments off. The upper ones I was able to get the air impact wrench on them. Passenger side came off, though it was slow and the nut was smoking when it came off. Driver's side got about halfway off, but the Vice Grips started slipping. At least it was far enough to get the cut off tool in between the bracket and the joint to cut through the bolt. I will say those OEM sway bar links are awful. The nuts are a tight fit, and by the time they are rusted on there, they won't come off without a fight. There's a hex end in the bolt for an Allen wrench, but that's a joke. The aftermarket links I bought have grease zerks to keep them lubed, and they have flats on the inboard side so you can hold them with a wrench to get them off.
 

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^ Next time you have to do this, just cut the outer face of the nut, and the stud sticking through it, flush. That's where the corrosion interface is. Also the cutting will warm the nut up. Do all this then the nut will zip off. If it doesn't, plunge, so you can stick a flat screwdriver into the middle of the stud, and put an open wrench on the nut. This will also count as a match-mark if you reassemble the old part. Like this
 
A simple task today. My Son-in-law and I changed out the lug bolts on his 2018 Jeep Compass.
Only 5 of the 20 were not swollen and we could actually slip the 19mm on all the way. 14 of the 20 were swollen to the point that the socket would only just slip onto the end of it. 1 of them was so bad that a 20 was a little too big and a 19 was too small, so the 19mm got hammered onto the lug bolt enough to bust it loose and then placed in a vice to punch it out with a punch.
They have all been replaced with solid lug bolts from KSP performance.
Anyone with lug nuts or bolts with these stupid caps would be wise to change them out for solid units before having to deal with these on the roadside. In reality, you wouldn’t be able to do it on the roadside with the lug wrench supplied by the manufacturer.
All of my vehicles have solid nuts/bolts. I took care of that quickly before it could even become an issue.

The 5 decent ones.
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The 14 bad ones.
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The one real bad one
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The replacements, a thing of beauty.
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