What did you do to your projects today?

I took Friday off to do a whole bunch of nasty, messy fiberglass work on our Tornado project car.

dean1484 wrote: Ohya and I installed new power coated stainless steel running boards on this beast.

So if they're stainless, why are the powdercoated? Just cosmetic?

Installed a well used but very serviceable roof rack. I personally think that they look great on an e30 and the extra capacity could be useful. The transition from challenge car into family people mover continues...

I pressure washed the underside of the 64. Damn miserable job. Butnow I can ppaint and start putting it together.

Brake lines. Rusty grimy FRAGILE old brake hose fittings. Ugh

lower radiator hose on the wagon and adjusted the power steering belt, after letting it sit all summer it took 2 hours over 2 days to get it back on the road!

Picked up a new workbench and shelves. Did some cleaning up too!

Last night: Topped off the trans and diff fluid in my 79 Spitfire (purchased off this forum from fujioko in MI). Trans leaks like a sieve and took a lot of oil... diff isn't too bad. Also trimmed the heat shield between the carb and manifold so now I get full throttle.

Today: 200 mile round trip to MG's on the Rocks down in MD. Met 3 other Spits about halfway there. In all, it was a great showing for us: 14 Spitfires and 2 GT6's. Hell - we rarely get that many at Carlisle...

I had a premonition about Philly traffic, so I took a longer way home via 202 and the PA Turnpike. Turns out my premonition was correct as a friend later posted on FB that traffic on I-95 through Philly was a nightmare.

Downside: the car started really stumbling bad and didn't want to idle. I was trying to do the whole trim on a single tank, so when it died, I coasted about a 1/4 mile into a gas station (got very lucky). However, it only took a 6.2 gallons (8 gal tank), so it wasn't out of gas. It did restart and I stumbled and limped the final 4 miles home to the garage. Damn hard to heel-toe in a Spit... Today was pretty warm, so I'm wondering if the carb isn't getting heat-soaked. I'll also try replacing the fuel filter since I ran the tank down fairly low.

Mounted Koni SRT.R rear shocks meant for a 2004 Jetta on the back of my 2010 SX4. The top mounting setup looks similar but it's very not. Had to make bushing out of 1/4" rubber and an old inner tube. I mostly like the improvement; the change in ride and huge reduction in pitching/diving is great. There's mount noise now though. Eh. I'll take it.

Cleaned up the Garage and re-arranged things in preparation for the arrival of SWMBO's new recumbent exercise bike. Glad the shop is clean, but mixed emotions on the encroachment into my domain.

unevolved wrote:

dean1484 wrote: Ohya and I installed new power coated stainless steel running boards on this beast.

So if they're stainless, why are the powdercoated? Just cosmetic?

yep and power coating will stand up better to scratching and general abuse than regular paint.

Cleaned garage in preparation for Challenge thrash.

Took a break and finally made a TV antenna. Hoping to get off of the satellite soon if my plan works out.

In reply to VWguyBruce:

Interesting... let us know how well it works.

sanding sanding sanding... got back to work on the boat after a couple of weeks off due to deaths in the family, lots of mandatory OT at work, and bad weather.. I am currently covered in a fine dust made up of Glassfibre and three layers of bottom paint.

Not a project, just some pre trip maintenance on the DD. Yesterday was oil, today is snow tires and cleaning.

Continuing the descumification of the new to me 97 corola. Thing sat for almost 3 years. I finally found the source of that fresh from the farm yard smell. A mouse house in the space below the windshield. The good is that the car was parked with the air recirculation set to closed so the mice were kept out of the rest of the heating system.

I am thinking this one is going to be named the Crudola.

Moving on with the Crudola. As part of the cleaning of the air intake area at the base of the windshield I had to remove the plastic vent thing and the wipers. So I stripped them down as the paint was coming off the aluminum and there was a little bit of rust. My knotted wire wheel on the Washing machine motor made short work of stripping it back. A coat of primer and 2 coats of BBQ black (nice mat finish that I like to use on cars) and they look new.

Something I have learned over the years is NOT to paint wiper's in gloss paint. The reflection in either the glass or in to your eyes gets tiring / annoying.

Ian F wrote: In reply to VWguyBruce: Interesting... let us know how well it works.

79 digital channels without even fine tuning the azimuth. I'll rip the plans into a PDF if anyone wants them. There's a ton of designs on youtube similiar to this one. This one has the reflector and increases the gain a good deal. I'll see how much tomorrow at after we sweep it and characterize it.

That is GREAT!!

Took of the intake and carbs off my 240z. Messy because of a blown head gasket

Replaced the o rings on the fuel injectors on the 924s

While not the car I intended on being a project, I made some repairs to my DD to get it ready for sale.
Oil change
tightened skid plate bolt to cure clunk
(Hopefully) fixed power steering leak
Repaired broken wire to restore rear wiper function.

I got it running... after a year on jackstands. It runs, drives, and stops. auxiliary Gauges don't light up anymore, which is odd since they worked before I took it off the road... but that's an easy fix. I just need to fab a battery mount, bleed, align, and I'm good to go.

I also found out that with Vorshlag camber plates and a re-profiled strut plate, I can get 9 degrees of negative camber out of the front! Circle track racing anyone?!?

Cleaned EGR on MX6, fixed a broken ground wire, new accessory belts, started correcting the misrouted vacuum lines. There's one plugged into the bolt on the clamp holding the intake down. WTF mate. Need timing light to get her running right.

I finally succumbed to the lure of the Prototipo and went from this:

To this:

That lasted about an hour, when I finally decided that I'm more of a Monte Carlo guy at heart and went back to this:

Anybody want a deal on a very slightly used Prototipo?

In reply to VWguyBruce:

Any update after the "sweep and characterization"?

I'd be interested in PDF plans.