Mazdeuce fixes the grosh

Those are pretty decent quality slides, especially for the price. getting the alignment right when installing them takes some care. If you don't use too thick of a screw, (ok to start w/ a bunch of #6, can always go larger) but one that has a wide head, you can have a bit of adjustability for aligning drawers later. maybe you or Mrs. Deuce would notice if they're not perfect, maybe not.

something like these, but shorter:

I also say that realizing you've already done some, so I say that as much for anyone else following along. some blocks as jigs can help w/ aligning the slides consistently, too.

edit: have you done any cabinets w/ shelves and doors, or only drawers so far?

The three cabinets in the kitchen I did before have one upper drawer and lower shelves. I use shelf pins and drill the holes with a Kreg jig.

Stupid concrete. This job sucks but I won't let myself order gravel for the apron around the lean to until I get it broken up and moved. This will be the 'crushed concrete base'. Move this, grind a couple of stumps, and I'll be ready for gravel.

The R63 is apart. Kitchen cabinets half built. Big pile of broken concrete in the yard. Drywall in the hallway going on 14 years unfinished.
I should cut down a tree.

In reply to mazdeuce: my sentiments exactly....

what'd that one do to get the (almost literal) axe?

Go to a tool rental place and get an electric jack hammer.

RossD wrote: Go to a tool rental place and get an electric jack hammer.

The concrete is old enough that most of it is already broken, it just needs to get pried up. It's actually easier to move in big pieces and then a whack or two with the sledge gets it to the right size.

bluej wrote: what'd that one do to get the (almost literal) axe?

This tree was the last of a group what is out in front of the Grosh. I took the others out last year because they were shading the citrus trees, and by taking this out out I can get a full clear apron out the front of the Grosh and gain some more uncovered parking. The timing of this has nothing to do with the fact that my in-laws are coming in a couple of weeks and I can get the stump grinder and work them like rented mules. Nothing like that at all.

mazdeuce wrote:

RossD wrote: Go to a tool rental place and get an electric jack hammer.

The concrete is old enough that most of it is already broken, it just needs to get pried up. It's actually easier to move in big pieces and then a whack or two with the sledge gets it to the right size.

I'd use that project as an excuse to rent a mini-excavator with a thumb.

mazdeuce wrote: On top of that, I brought home 17 boxes from vacation. It's service manuals, owners manuals, product literature and internal GM stuff from 30 years of work at the Millford Proving Grounds. I need to figure out what has value and put it on eBay. Mrs. Deuce's grandpa was convinced it had value and wouldn't part with it during his lifetime. I'm going to see how much of that was true and donate the proceeds as he would have wanted. Bunch of stuff to do.

Very cool! Do you still have some of that stuff kicking around? I live in Milford and happen to work at the proving grounds. I think there is a MPG historical group that might be interested in some of it. What kind of work did Great Grandpa Deuce do?

I came across your Grosh thread by way of the R63 R&T link. Your name looked familiar from when I used to lurk here several years ago. When I saw a picture of the V wagon earlier in the thread I remember reading your one lap story about a year or so ago.

Funny story, my father-in-law did one lap in 1986 in a Pontiac 6000. He worked for the ad agency that had the Pontiac account at the time. From what I recall, compact spares were just coming on to the scene, and there were some questions about their durability. He pitched the idea of doing the entirety of one lap in a 6000 with the spare installed. The higherups at either Pontiac or the tire company (Firestone I think) shot it down thinking it would be a disaster. My FIL, being the stubborn man that he his, decided to do it any way. They had almost made it to the west coast when someone caught wind of it. The tire supplier flew an engineer out there to inspect the tire and replace it with a new one. At one point my FIL threatened this poor engineer with bodily harm if he so much as even touched the car. He finished the entire event on that same spare, and came in damn near DFL. The tire was cut up in to small sections and mounted on plaques given to the bigwigs at Pontiac and Firestone. Go figure.

I need to sit down with a tape recorder soon and get the whole story recorded for posterity.

In reply to klipless:

Bert started sweeping floors and retired managing a crash cell (as I've heard the story). When they talk about the American dream in the Midwest after WWII, this is what they were talking about. I love hearing the stories of my wife's grandparents.
I still have a truckload of papers. I've recently sent some Chevette and Corvair stuff to enthusiasts but there is literally a ton left. Of interest to historians at MPG might be the box of literature from when companies took an active role in educating their workers. Here's a sample off the top of the pile, neat stuff, all internal GM publications.

That's a cool story about the Pontiac 6000. I swear I've heard it before as part of One Lap legend. My friends had a 6000 in highschool that we referred to as the GOOO car which pretty adequately described it's handling. I can imagine why they were at the bottom of the order.
I'm glad you found these threads and have enjoyed them. I'm enjoying all of the people that have chimed in due to the R63 thread.
If anyone at MPG is interested in the old literature, have them get ahold of me. I already drove it from Michigan to Texas, I have no problem driving it back.

A quick look at the calendar shows me that the entire family will never be home at the same time again, so if I want to plant the garden with help I'd better grab who I can when I can. Deucekids #3 and #4 were home, they're little bit they'll do.
Everything is turned over and raked and the seedlings I started are planted. My daughter has an awesome crusty old farmer for a teacher and she taught them to cut seed potatoes just this week in school so she put that knowledge to use.
The new third bed has been turned over and had the years worth of compost mixed in. I'm going to give it a little time to sit and start it later so maybe I can stagger when things come in this year.

Why keep an emergency fund? Because your appliances are sentient and KNOW things.
We're right at the end of Mrs. Deuce's regular employment, after this it's a different gig, part of which is seeking funding. That means no regular paycheck and THAT means things breaking. Awesome.
Last week the AC in the Grosh decided this was as much cold as it wanted to make. And yesterday I noticed the 13 year old water heater weeping around both heating elements, so as soon as it's drained I get to install this. Stupid all knowing appliances.

currently buying a house that needs some reno. this scares me. haha.

I totally missed the bottom line of text on the left and the "About" on the flyer on the right....

Also surprised you went with another tanked heater instead of a tankless. They're nearly the same price now for the big ones and you've got the chops to do the electrical.

According to my challenge teammate who is a plumber, the only tankless worth a damn are gas powered. He says the electric just can't keep up.

I have no personal experience.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I have a couple of friends who installed their own and love them. That was in southern California though. I have my doubts about what would happen here in Pennsylvania. All the ones recommended for this area I've looked at require 3 40amp breakers. That's a hell of a lot of juice.

I did read a bit about tankless heaters before picking up this one. They do look like they're getting better, but I'd still need an electrical upgrade to make it work. Not a huge deal, but because of how the wires are run it would mean putting holes in the living room wall again.
I am seriously considering getting one for the bathroom in the Grosh when I finally update the electrical out there. It looks like the smallest ones would be sufficient for just the sink and it would be so nice to have hot water for washing hands and parts.

In reply to mazdeuce: Best of luck to Ms. Deuce on seeking gain full employment...I feel her pain,3D piping designer.....peace out.

Last time I looked into a tankless system it was going to cost me $3500-4000 installed vs $800 installed for a traditional water heater.

Have prices come down that much?

The prices for the smaller electric units are fairly close to a 40 gallon tanked heater now. The difference is I can run the tanked heater off my current breaker/wiring and the tankless needs three 220 breakers and the associated wiring. I think that's where the big cost differences come in. If you were doing new construction and planning for it the difference would be much smaller. Also, I can install an new tanked heater myself in 20 minutes. Well, it takes 40 minutes to drain the old one, but actually swapping them is trivially quick.

docwyte wrote: Last time I looked into a tankless system it was going to cost me $3500-4000 installed vs $800 installed for a traditional water heater. Have prices come down that much?

The tankless unit itself costs about double what the tank one does. The rest of the cost comes from plumbing the vent (since they're efficient there's less energy in the exhaust to push it out), re-plumbing the water to the new location, and running either the wires or the gas line.

I had a gas-powered unit mounted on the outside garage wall of my previous house. External mounting works well in areas that it rarely freezes (it can fire up the heater to deal with short/minor freezing cycles). It vented directly to the outside, so the vent plumbing wasn't an issue, and it was 6 feet from the gas meter so running the gas line was fairly cheap/easy too. Since we did it at the same time as copper-repiping the house (it was built with galvanized pipes), there wasn't much additional cost for running the new water lines either.

The upside to it is that you get an infinite supply of hot water, so your teenage daughter can't use it all up when she takes her shower. (the cost savings are minor, you'll never pay off the install cost). The downside is that it's more expensive, plus it's more complicated and parts are harder to get. So, as with owning a German unicorn, when it breaks it's going to cost more and take longer to fix.

To add to the water heater conversation, I have been told something I'd like to share: If you change the cathode(s) every couple of years, as well as run a hose from the drain and purge a traditional water heater, you can double, even triple its life expectancy. I have yet to test this hypothesis, but next time I have to do another one, I'm running a permanent hose from the drain, and giving it a try.

Home improvement is a great K.I.S.S. thing for me. Tankless technology will have to come a long way before I'm on board. This is an opinion.

Another problem with tankless is the minimum flow. The larger the heat output the higher the minimum flow rate is to turn on. That means if you size one for your whole house (shower, dishwasher, laundry, and sinks all at once), just cracking the faucet to rinse your hands wont flow enough to give you hot water. Now some of the hybrid units with a small tank fix that but its something to be aware of.