Official Quarantine Project thread

Pulled the rear subframe reinforcement plate on the i8 yesterday to do some cleaning and take a look at what's inside. 
 

 
It's not a small piece of aluminum plate. 
 

Could definitely stand cleaning.  

Car has definitely seen some salt.  Found some corrosion after cleaning the dirt.  Used a bit of Scotchbrite to address that on the plate and the subframe. 
 

There were a few bolts involved-- all torx,  most internal and a few external. Need new T50 and T55 bits before I finish re-installing and torquing the bolts. Per the service manual, there's 11 bolts that get replaced. 

Things you can see with the plate pulled--

I've done a lot of projects so far, but these were the big ones:

The whole-house dehumidifier unit uses a tiny built-in filter that chokes to death quickly. The filters are an odd size and not sold locally, so I swapped out the usual air intake grille with an filtered air return grille.

Replaced the tires on the tiller. I hate swapping tiny tires on 1-piece rims. I ended up bolting the rims to the pallet to hold them while I worked the tire irons.

Cut down a tree using questionable (and sketchy) methods. It had to drop in that exact area to avoid our power lines. I threw a strap around a nearby tree and used a come-a-long to yanked it the way I wanted it to fall. The last few cuts were fun as it was leaning but refused to go over.

And now with the tree gone, we can start working on a patio area. I used the tiller to break up the clay. The mulberry stump is going to  be cut down lower and we'll add a table top rather than yank the stump. Still a long way to go until the area is level.

I should probably work on any of my five cars at some point. I'm sure I'll get around to it...

In reply to slefain :

I felt the same, lots of things around the property, when will I get to work on my car? Look at the bright side, that will make a nice place to relax after doing some big job on a car, or eat dinner, or sit and chat in the evenings, or, well you get the point ...

Great job, keep going!

I finished mine on Monday and what a pita in the driveway on my back. At least it's over and not whining.

Finally got around to wrapping up our new outdoor dining table.  I'll be happy to have this out of the garage!

New firepit for a friend.  3/8" plate for the pit, rebar "floating" base.  Got to try the roll of dual shield wire, man that lays down a hot bead!!

In reply to carczar_84 :

How the heck do you plane that? It looks pool table flat.

(edit)

Well, I learned something new via Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_s8WCMu0GQ

In reply to slefain :

Bingo! It was pretty flat to start with luckily, but still a good amount of work.

I've kind of been slacking on my own stuff, but I've spent a bit of time helping my buddy out on the new GT-3 car he's building.We also crated up 3 Hewland gearboxes and 175 gear sets to ship to California.Finally, I am starting on my project of turning a 2019 Pro-Line utility trailer into my new trackside support/camper thingy.

Haven't done much in the way of car projects, buuuuut

4 days ago my woodshed was just about empty. Now it looks like this:

And then today I looked at the huge dead-moss thatched-roof-at-ground-level dead spot in the yard and started in on a level of yard maintenence I never wanted to do...

I've been working 60-70 hour weeks from home, so I haven't accomplished as much as I would have expected. I did fix the oiler on my Black and Decker 20v electric chainsaw, which was defective from the factory. Turned out to be a bad check valve:

I'll have to take some pics of some of the other projects.

This stupid old, dead light has been driving me nuts since we bought our house. I was always afraid to screw with it, until today. I grabbed my line tester, realized the like was dead, and chopped the thing off. I plan on getting some sort of plate to cover up the stump.

Also cleaned and organized my shed today.




Added some hooks to hang the trimmers and some other stuff instead of tripping over them every time I go in there. Much better.
 

I am seeing a bit of a changes with this DIY gun storage at home. It has been a productive weekend lockdown so far. 

I built a trellis.  First time working with PVC material.  
 

I LOVE that PVC trim.  So easy to work with.

nocones said:

 

 

I like this idea.

In reply to mjrj :

Wanna tell me more about that Civic? I did PM you, just in case that didn't go through.

Took on a bit more landscape enjoyment. Getting close to done - just need to move grasses, hostas, lilies, and tulips.

I finally tore into the Fordzda Branger yesterday.  I got it all torn down.  After looking at the injectors and the crap on the nozzle, I decided instead of spending a bunch of time cleaning and rigging up some kind of GRM test bench, I got reman injectors coming in the mail.

Part of this is boredom, and part of it is getting the upper intake off so I could replace the driver's side valve cover gasket.  It started leaking.  Once I got to it, I found nearly new FelPro gaskets, but the valve cover had one spot of rust around the bolt hole and it was torn.  New valve cover on the way.

While I'm waiting for parts I figured I'd pretty things up.  First a bath in parts cleaner to get the worst off, then a 5-gallon bucket bath with a scotchbrite and laundry detergent, then a hose-down with brake cleaner and a coat of bedliner black.

Also cleaned up the yard.  The two maples that came down in January are finally a finished product.  Mowed, raked the dead spots, and seeded

First time I've wired a stereo since 05ish. I'm amazed all this old stuff still works. Father in law built me a console that holds a single 10. Had to buy a new deck (dual Wal-Mart special) but it now has a single JL audio 10 running off this old audiopipe 1k amp. I was going to bridge it but its already louder then this truck needed and I have a spare 10 in my garage. 
 

cost me 50 for the deck and 8 bucks for the 0 gauge wire ends. 

Popcorn ceilings suck. Holy hell that was a mess. 

Next week, the cabinet's come out, and new ready to assemble cabinets go in. Then backsplash, then counter tops. Oh and flooring for the entire house.  Might be starting a little late on this corona project. Then again, I'm in Georgia so corona part two here we come. 

In reply to lnlogauge :

That's the suck! Strength, brother. 

Will look great in the end.

I started cleaning up my "motorcycle" shop and then promptly proceeded to take my only properly working motorcycle apart. Guess I should put a build thread together for my motorcycle adventures as well.

I'm about to tear apart my motorcycle for paint.  I hope to get it done asap so I'm not cutting into too much riding time.

I cleaned, photographed, listed, and sold my Land Cruiser during these strange times. It felt like a bigger project than the bathroom we just repainted.