Wayne's Garage

Hidden Dangers in Automobiles

2011-11-01T17:12:00.001-04:00

Well folks, it has been a long time since I’ve taken the time to post to the blog. As usual I’ve done a number of things to keep busy but just haven’t been documenting them as much. We sold the 2005 Dodge Ram so that my wife could upgrade to a more comfortable vehicle. We now have a 2011 Infinti QX56. I was able to change the oil in it for the first time last month so that was exciting.

I plan to upgrade the steering box and shaft on the 2001 Ram this winter so stay tuned. I may post about it. The steering is so terrible on that truck I am often concerned about safety. Especially when towing! …

Speaking of safety – I was recently contacted by someone by the name of Brian Turner. He has a love for cars just like many of us and has been working hard to spread the word about harmful chemicals that are often found in classic cars. At his request I am posting his blog post right here and I thank Brian for his contribution!

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Hidden Dangers in Automobiles

Brian Turner

For lovers of cars, especially classic older models, they should be aware that there are cases where these vehicles contain hidden toxins. While this is not a prevalent threat, it is important that men and women educate themselves about what these substances are and what kinds of conditions they can potentially cause.

Air conditioners contain a substance called Freon that is essential to the functioning of the unit. Especially in older cars where the seals and vales might have degraded a bit, this should be checked out. For cars that are being sold or salvaged, professionals can look into this and, if needed, dispose of the Freon properly. Amateurs should be sure to avoid touching the compound or breathing it in in any manner.

Mercury can also be found in some components of cars and trucks, most notably thermostats and even fuses. The element is toxic when found in large enough quantities, and should be handled by an expert with the proper equipment and protective gear. Although it is most known as the basis of common household thermometers, it should always be handled with considerable care. For those who are restoring older cars, gloves and masks are probably a good idea when working with the thermostat and other components that regulate the overall temperature.

Though not as harmful unless they are taken in directly, antifreeze and even gas and oil must be watched carefully. For those that work on their cars outside of their own homes, leaking liquids can ultimately cover the driveway or the yard, where young children or pets can potentially consume them. Antifreeze must be carefully watched in this regard, as it is sweet tasting and attractive to toddlers who don’t know any better.

Asbestos, too, can be found in some parts of vehicles as insulation. Asbestos can lead to mesothelioma and other potentially serious conditions, so men and women should be quite careful with exposure to this substance. If they are restoring a car and are not quite sure how to deal with asbestos, they should always seek professional help. If they believe they have suffered some degree of exposure to the material, then they should seek medical advice from a trusted physician in the area.

Even some plastics have been known to be linked to cancer cases. When working with the internal guts of a car, precautions should always be taken. For car enthusiasts who are a bit unfamiliar with some of the finer points of safety, they should conduct a substantial amount of research before they begin to handle unfamiliar materials. Experts should be kept close at hand in case a question comes up or advice is needed.

Busy Weekend! AV System Setup, Wood Stove Painting and New Hydraulic Hoses for The Wood Splitter.

2010-10-11T21:54:00.002-04:00

I’ve been looking forward to getting the TV going for weeks! I installed the TV up on the wall about 5 or 6 weeks ago and scheduled a DirecTV install only to find out that I didn’t have the clearance for a good satellite signal. We rescheduled that day and cut down the trees last weekend. The DirecTV guy came back this week only to tell us that the dish wasn’t on the work order and he didn’t have the parts. GEESH! Anyway, he put in the extra effort and came back the next day to make it happen. Once the receiver was installed it was time to install the receiver and speakers that Donald got for me. The electronics consisted of a Proficient M40 plus two 6.5 inch indoor/outdoor speakers. Initial tests with the TV and its built in speakers just didn’t cut it. I needed more volume!

The M40.

One of the speakers fresh out of the packaging.

So the biggest challenge with this project was finding a location to put the electronics including both the stereo receiver and the satellite receiver. Initially I thought I’d put it in an empty shelf on one of my work benches but I thought maybe that would be a poor decision given that my drill press is right above it!!! All I would need is for a few metal shavings to fall into one of the heat vents and ZAP! Because of this I decided that I needed to build a small wooden shelf for the electronics to sit on.

I measured out the biggest component which was the stereo receiver and decided that a platform of about 16x18 inches would be sufficient. I also wanted the electronics to be placed near the TV so that I could point the remote in the general direction of the TV and have it work as opposed to pointing up to the TV for one thing and then down low to the receivers for another. This meant that the shelf needed to be placed up high on one of the horizontal beams in the garage. Obviously because these beams are only about 8 inches deep I needed to build some extra support into the shelf.

The first step was to mark off the beam line.

I needed three of these to help support the shelf.

Clamping them like this made it very easy to drill holes and then screw in wood screws to hold it all together.

All three pieces applied to the main shelf piece.

Some stain and varnish

This is what the shelf looks like mounted up on that beam. I used three self tapping screws to set it into place.

This is the speaker mount. A single self tapping screw in the middle was all it took to securely mount the speakers to the beam.

The receivers are stacked here on the shelf and the speakers are mounted exactly 80 inches from the corner of the garage. A sound check proves to be awesome. Everything looks and sounds GREAT!

The next project was to repaint the wood stove. We had a temporary leak in the chimney last year and it caused some rust on the top of the stove. I ordered some wood stove paint online (metallic brown was the color) and began sanding off the rust and loose paint.

This is the paint we used.

I picked this up at Ace. It’s a rust/paint remover and it did a great job.

The stove after using that bit to scrape off all the crud. We taped off the stack and window. We also put some plastic around the bottom to keep the paint off the floor.

A closer look of the post sanded finish.

A couple of coats in. Looks pretty good but definitely not brown! It looks gray to me.

OK done. Once the last coat set we used a hand broom to buff it all out. The color evened out nicely afterwards. We built a fire in it even though it was 86 degrees that day because we wanted to air out any fumes while the shop was ventilated.

The innards of my Robotron 2084. I have some new DRAM chips coming and I am hopeful that it will begin working again. I spent some time on this but need those RAMS to proceed.

And finally the wood splitter. We pulled it out of the weeds; it was almost like it was velcro’d to the woods! After pulling it into the garage we began to remove all the hydraulic hoses. One of them was severely cracked and all but one were in need of repair. After taking them off we took them to a local shop for replacement. It should be back in action just in time for cooler log splitting weather!

I know it has been a while since I’ve posted anything auto mechanic related but I think that will change soon. I have a persistent transfer case leak on my 2001 Ram which I think will require me to drop the case to repair. I replaced the rear seal but that didn’t fix it. This will be new territory for me, so I’ll definitely document it here if I need to work on it!

TV in The Garage and a Neglected Log Splitter

2010-10-04T22:25:00.001-04:00

Not too much to report this week, but I am giving the garage a major upgrade: HD Satellite TV. I bought a flexible tv mount from my brother and installed it in the corner of the garage near the lift. I spend the vast majority of my time in that area and this time of the year I miss so much football from being in the garage on Sundays that it only made sense to put a TV there.

I had an extra 40 inch TV that I either needed to sell or do something else with it so I decided the garage would would be a great location for it.

I hooked up the RV’s DirecTV receiver and dish to test it out and came to the conclusion that the TV just didn’t output enough volume to handle the space. I’ll be installing speakers and a simple stereo sound system in the coming days to help amplify the sound. My brother is an electronics dealer/installer and I’m getting the equipment from him. Pivotal Audio Video (http://www.pivotalav.com/index.html) – highly recommended! : )

DirecTV is coming tomorrow to install the HD dish and DVR. I actually had to break out the chain saw and cut down some trees to make room for the signal.

A couple of those trees were about 16 inches in diameter but they all fell in a nice non shop threatening manner so all is good.

Now I just need to get the log splitter back into operation!

This is my next project. It needs new hydraulic hoses and a general reconditioning (oh and some weed removal). I’ll post the progress here so stay tuned.

A New Update; A Small Change to the Garage and Some Other Stuff (including some questionable shop practices?)

2010-09-06T21:07:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since I posted to this blog. No one ever comments on my posts so that kind of saps me of my motivation to spend a lot of time talking about projects in the garage, but thanks to “anonymous” who posted a gratifying comment this week I decided to post again. It definitely means a lot when I know that my posts are helpful to others out there. Thanks “Anonymous”, you rock!

I was long overdue to do some routine maintenance on my old Dodge Ram(2001) so I decided to pull it into the shop this week. Holy cow it took us something like 5 times to get the truck straight into the lift so I decide enough was enough and it was time to put some sort of guides onto the floor. Check this out:

As you can see in the above pics we took some yellow duct tape and marked our parallel lines from the inside of the lift. Because this rotary lift is built with a bit of angle between the posts it is really hard to judge how straight you are as you approach the lift. These lines help TONS when positioning a vehicle in the lift – especially if you have someone standing up front spotting for you. As you know, if the vehicle isn’t straight you run the risk of having one of the arms being unable to reach the frame securely which introduces some hazard to the job.

Doing this was fun and allowed us to practice some math skills at the same time. Each line runs 12 feet towards the garage door from the lift posts. Between the posts, the lines were 92.5 inches apart. Doing some simple geometry, we were able to compute that the end point of each line should be 171.15(if I remember correctly) inches from the opposing start point. Think right triangle! Once we measured everything out we had a perfectly square markup. Next we chalk lined the run and laid down the tape. Easy! If I ever get an epoxy floor, I’ll make sure lines similar to this are painted permanently onto the concrete.

Once I got the truck onto the lift it was time to focus on that routine maintenance. I’ve bought a lot of crap for my vehicles, but it turns out that a lot of it isn’t really crap at all. Check out this oil pan drain plug, for instance.

I got this thing from Geno’s Garage and have not regretted it! The cool thing about it is that it has a perfectly secure seal until you are ready to drain the oil. One simply pushes the lever out of the notch and moves it to begin draining the oil. There is absolutely no risk of stripping the threads in the pan.

The best thing about this drain plug? No oil stained hands as you remove a plug during the last few threads.

Another great addition to the truck? Mag Hytec differential covers. This one for my rear differential, for example:

The great thing about these things is that they come with a very high quality dip stick to help you determine not only the quantity of lubricant, but the quality as well. I pulled this stick today and discovered some really dirty looking fluid. Draining it was easy because of the drain plug on the bottom.

Fast Coolers. This truck has a 6 speed manual transmission on it. I installed some Fast Coolers on it a while back and while I have no idea if they have helped curb transmission temps I do feel more confident pulling the 5th wheel knowing that they are there.

I do have one complaint though. There is no dipstick to gauge fluid level. On the top of the right cooler there is a fill plug with a magnet on the end but because it’s not really in the fluid it doesn’t really pick up any metal. I came really close to pulling it all apart today to clean up the internal magnet but decided against it for now. I did drain it and will fill it with fresh oil this week as soon as it arrives.

OK, so to the questionable shop practices issue. A few weeks ago I did a brake job on my G35.

As I was working on the car everything was going really well until I took out the old pads and noticed something suspect on one of the pads from the drivers side:

Does anyone see a problem with this picture? Here is the pad from the other side:

Obviously the drivers side indicator has been bent to produce the typical sounds associated with a worn pad much sooner than it should produce those sounds. The question is, was this a factory defect or was this bent in the shop. I took the car in for routine maintenance early after purchase before my garage was constructed, so I wonder. Obviously I could have waited to do this job 10 or 15 thousand miles if this defect wasn’t present.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for an update that includes some home improvement work that is going on here. Thanks for reading! Wayne

Food Lion Auto Fair at the Charlotte Motor Speedway

2010-04-10T16:45:00.002-04:00

We hitched up the camper yesterday and headed down to Charlotte for this auto show. Specifically I wanted to see the new Mk4 Roadster from Factory 5 Racing. I really wanted to check one out, touch it and sit in it before making the plunge and ordering a kit.

Hitched up and ready to go.

This placard was next to the car.

An interior view of the cockpit. I was quite surprised that it was as spacious as it was. I sat in it and my left knee felt too high but the F5 rep there said they had optional seats that had less padding and sat lower to the floor to help fix that. The foot box was fine for my size 14s. I don’t think I would have any problem working with the pedals.

A view of the Ford Racing GT 4.6L engine.

A view from behind the car.

I really liked the colors of this one. It was a somewhat pewter color that looked great. I’ll keep this pic around for future reference.

Below you’ll find pics of other cars at the show. I’ll definitely return in the coming years to learn more about cars.

Truck Interior Finished (almost) and a Nice Distraction From Reality

2010-04-06T21:26:00.003-04:00

So this past weekend I almost finished the truck interior restoration. I’ve been meaning to post the latest pics but just haven’t had the time. Well on top of that I have a speaking thing to do at tomorrow’s Triangle Game Conference in Raleigh. I absolutely hate public speaking; the feeling I get when that first squirt of adrenaline hits my blood stream is not a good one. But I’m manning up and will give it my best. In the meantime I am writing to my blog so I can think about something else. Funny thing is that as I write this blog I continue to write about the public speaking thing. WTF?!?!?

Ok, on to the truck. I spent a lot of time on the truck this past weekend. It was a three day weekend because of the Holiday so it was good time to catch up on the project. Also, I want to take the camper to Charlotte this weekend for a hotrod show so that I can check out Factory Five’s latest Roadster, the Mk4. So here is a picture diary of the truck project. By the way, did I mention that I am going to be on a panel tomorrow at TGC?

I got a Clarion VZ400 DVD receiver to go into the truck and replace the OEM radio. I wanted a system with an LCD screen, HD radio and the ability to hook up two rear view cameras; one that activates on reverse and another one to serve as a rear view mirror when going down the street with the camper.

This is the official image of the radio.

This is the rear view camera. It’s a Kenwood and it’s not as big as it looks!

I ordered the stuff from Crutchfield. Firstly I have to say that crutchfield is awesome. Good support and they even sent me a thank you card! Another good thing about them is that they sent harness adapters for the truck. There was a printout that described what each wire did; left front +, left front –, etc. And the colors actually matched the colored wires on the receiver!

So the first step was to connect all the wires together. I would strip them using this super cool stripper (and my friends know that I like super cool strippers). Just kidding… no no really.

Wind them together.

Not long ago my father in law Stan lectured me for the fact that I never soldered the wires together; only wrapping them in electrical tape. I am happy to announce that I have changed my evil ways.

This is the door panel with the old speaker removed. Note someone should start a drinking game where they drink a shot every time a beer can is in a photo.

This is the new speaker installed in the rear door. These were a challenge because the previous owner had disconnected the wires under the dash to install some sort of aftermarket system. It took us a while to figure out why the speakers weren’t getting a signal. We eventually ran new wires and had to splice into the harnesses. Don’t worry, Stan, I used solder.

This is the new radio test wired into the truck. I did this to test all the speakers, camera etc.

Holy cow. What a mess. At this point I didn’t think it would ever get done.

New front 6x9’s installed.

Next I needed to focus on the rust problem that we discovered once the carpet was removed. Water had settled in under the drivers side seat and began to rust the metal.

I always wanted to use this thing. It’s been in my toolbox and I finally get to use it. It totally thrashed the rust.

Then a little elbow grease to get the tight spaces. After that we put some sort of rust conversion stuff on there to convert the rust to something inert. Then we painted it.

The paint applied. Looks much better.

The radio in the dash. I have NO IDEA how all those wires fit behind it.

OK, the carpet was next and I was pretty intimidated. The carpet came pre formed for the truck but all holes and trim had to be cut to fit. The whole time I was worried about screwing up. We started at the back. We used the old carpet on the floor of the garage as a gauge and began cutting.

Getting further and it’s starting to look good!

Hey! Your feet better be clean!

That’s a wrap. The bolt holes have been cut, the edges have been trimmed, etc.

Another view. I was very happy with the results!

Now it’s time to put in the finish pieces to hold the carpet down.

The rear bench seat is in and Justin is checking it out. It was very easy to put back together and the plastic trim pieces hide the subtle carpet flaws perfectly.

The drivers seat in.

All the seats back in the truck. They were very easy to install!

I ordered new door rubber for a better, water tight seal. It was super easy to install.

I never could find replacement door trim so I just spent some time cleaning up the old stuff. Came out pretty good.

Another angle…of Justin’s dirty foot.

Looking good!

I’ll have more pictures later once the door panels are on and the dash is back together. Wish me luck tomorrow!!!

Interior Restore Part 2

2010-04-01T21:53:00.003-04:00

Well today I finished all of the upholstery work. I still need to do the door panel leather but the seats are done. Tomorrow I’ll begin work on the radio install as well as the new dash cover.

Pics of the leather seats are below:

The center console was the worst of the bunch. We had to snap off retaining trim to get access to the old cloth which was tacked down by stables. After ripping that off we were able to put the new leather on. In this pic you can see the new leather as it was stapled down.

Broader view.

This is the piece after it was done. It’s basically the cap on the center console compartment.

This is the pneumatic stapler we used to tack the leather. $25 at Harbor Freight!

Another shot.

Tacking the retaining trim back down over the new covering.

After cutting the leather to fit around the hatch release button.

We’re putting the leather cover of the bottom half of the center console. There wasn’t much leather to work with here so it was pretty tight. My hands are still sore.

Stapled down.

And now the retaining trim has been snapped down.

Getting there.

Finished product all put back together. NOT BAD!

And finally the drivers chair. These are the internals of the chair to give you an idea of how all the electronic comfort options work.

This chair was very similar to the passenger side from the last update so it was pretty easy at this point. I can’t wait to see them in the truck.

Tomorrow I begin work on the new audio system. Stay tuned for an update.

2001 Dodge Ram Interior Restoration

2010-03-28T20:52:00.003-04:00

I’ve had this truck for a long time and after many camping trips with Les and the kids the interior has become a little worse for wear. This year I bought some new leather upholstery from LeatherSeats.com. I also picked up a new carpet from StockInteriors.com. I chose a two tone leather and a mist gray carpet.

The first step was to remove the seats and carpet.

After the seats were unbolted and removed the carpet looked terrible! Wow a lot of crud fell under the seats.

The seats out and on the garage floor.

Justin helped remove the rear bench seat.

I guess Justin thought it was hard work.

After the carpet was removed this is what was left.

So now that everything is out my plan is to replace the carpet, recover the seats, upgrade the audio system (better sounding, blue tooth, dvd for rear passengers, and a rear view camera), and finally put a dash cover on the dash to cover the cracked dash. Today we began working on the seat covers.

This is the rear bench seat and where the 3 boys spend most of their travel time on camping trips; so it’s a big friggin mess. I put it up on saw horses and began to take it apart.

After taking the plastic covers off I could see the seat release mechanism. This is what holds the seats together and controls the up/down motion of the bottom seat for under seat storage. Before I could get the seat back off I needed to remove this by removing the 2 bolts. This allowed the seat back to come free.

Starting with the bottom cushion, I removed the old seat cover by peeling it off.

Putting on the new cover was as simple as flipping it inside out and rolling it onto the cushion. Very easy! Leatherseats.com puts a zipper on the back side of the cover to seal it up.

After a very similar process, the seat back was covered. We put it all back together and here is the finished product.

Next, the passenger seat.

We turned the seat upside down and found 4 bolts used to hold the bottom cushion in place. After removing these the cushion was easily removed from the chair.

This is a hog-ring. Apparently they are used quite often in upholstery. I found some hog ring pliers and some hog rings at Ace Hardware so that I could tack down the new cover.

The bottom cushion with the new cover.

Now the seat back. This was pretty easy except for the seat belt slot located in the seat back.

I cut a slot in the leather and trimmed enough foam and leather to allow the bracket to click back into place.

The final product.

Next the center console. We didn’t finish it today but holy crap what pain in the a$$. More to come later!

MBRP Exhaust for My Wife’s 2005 Dodge Ram

2010-03-27T22:25:00.002-04:00

Last week my wife complained about a new and annoying rattle underneath the truck as she was driving the kids to school. That weekend I crawled underneath the truck and discovered that the exhaust was about to fall apart! The previous owner had removed the muffler and straight piped it. To connect everythign together they welded the joints, which is where it all began to break apart.

To hold over the busted exhaust I got some flashing and some hose clamps. This kept the weld from breaking completely.

Before we kicked off this project I took some video of the current exhaust. I wanted to have documented proof of the sound improvement.

We always hated this sound. It was very hollow and at highway speeds it would drone and drone and drone.

The first step was to break the connection between the catalytic converter and the old broken exhaust. I was a little worried about this because of the type of clamp used and the rust.

To get easier access to everything I cut the pipe. Then…

I cut it again. This provided some wiggle room needed to pry the hanger bushings off of their support to remove the exhaust from the truck.

Old exhaust on the floor.

To remove the piece of pipe that was attached to the cat I needed to cut it a little. I used a grinding wheel and cut a 2 inch incision into the pipe. With that taken care of I was able to get a screw driver in there and break the hold. A few bangs with a hammer and the pipe came off.

This is the small pipe that was on the cat. You can see the cut I made to remove it.

Old exhaust next to new. Notice the new muffler. Yay!

The MBRP kit comes with an extension pipe sized for a 8ft bed + a quad cab truck. This truck is a short bed quad cab so that means I needed to cut the pipe. This pic is of the pipe on the vice waiting for the reciprocating saw. The pipe needed to be cut to 10.5 inches plus the flange.

The freshly cut pipe and muffler connected.

From the muffler to the back of the truck.

Now the clamps go on.

More clamps.

The connection to the catalytic converter.

The exhaust tip.

And finally the resulting sound!

The Wood Heater Has Been Installed

2010-03-27T21:43:00.003-04:00

I admit it. I’m a procrastinator. Over the years I’ve tried and tried to kick the habit but I just can’t.

So, I FINALLY installed the wood heater … just in time for spring. Go figure, I guess I’ll warm the garage next year.

Check out the pics below to see the installation. It went well. I had to call in Tony to help out with the roof top stuff because I just can’t handle heights. We did have one cold day post install and I was able to raise the temp in the garage about 20 degrees so I guess it’s a success. I’ll report back next year when the ambient temp is around 35ish and we’ll see if it does the trick.

About the project: I got the wood heater from Bruce of Asheville (see previous post). I installed it on some brick adjacent to the auto lift. I figured that I would be working over there most of the time so that location made the mot sense. Plus, the distance to the ceiling was shorter there so I didn’t have to invest in as much stainless steel pipe. I ordered a industrial ceiling fan from Grainger to help keep the air in the garage moving – heat rises so the fan keeps it flowing. Stan, my father in law, did the wiring and installed the fan.

This fire is super hot. The stove has a really good draft and the blower works well.

This fan moves lots of air!

Justin is testing out new equipment.

New Wood Stove

2010-02-01T11:12:00.002-05:00

Obviously, it gets pretty cold out in the garage during these winter months. To help take the chill off, I just bought a used wood stove from a really cool guy that lives out near Asheville. He was kind enough to deliver it to me during one of his trips to the area. Thanks Bruce!

I ordered all the pipe for the chimney and that should hopefully arrive this week. I also ordered an industrial ceiling fan from Grainger that will be used to circulate the warm air. Here are a couple pics of the stove.

PS, I wanted to take the time to plug a cool craigslist application called “Ad Notifier”. I used it to find the wood stove by entering key words into the software. After that it would pole craigslist every 5 minutes for new ads that matched the search criteria. Highly recommended!!

Ad Notifier Website

Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond Launches

2010-01-07T16:13:00.001-05:00

I know this isn’t really a garage oriented update but I’m pretty excited about our latest video game offering and wanted to talk about it here. Our latest game, Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond, launched yesterday on Xbox Live Arcade and today on PlayStation Network for the PS3. It’s an old school, Contra style arcade shooter and it is HARD! If you’re up for a challenge then check it out!!

Our first review came through yesterday on IGN. If any of you are unfamiliar with the games industry, IGN is basically one of the top two review publications on the internet. They gave us a 7.9 out of a possible 10. Even though I think it is much better than a 7.9, I am extremely happy about this. Our games tend to not get the hype and attention that other blockbuster games get which often translates into poor reviews. Also, I believe this game ended up being nicely scoped for the time we had to build it. I am hopeful that we get similar or better treatment in the GameSpot review.

Anyway, check out the media below for an idea of what BBB is all about. Warning: the game is rated M so there is some blood in the footage.

Latest and Greatest, Sunday Dec 27th.

2009-12-27T15:19:00.002-05:00

A couple of new things to report;

After fussing at the kids over and over and over about closing the doors to the garage, I finally gave up and bought some automatic garage door closers. Try to leave the doors open now kids!

At $60 a piece they were very pricey, and the instructions took a long time to study and analyze before actually installing them, but once I figured out the configuration I was able to install all 3 closers very quickly with only minor injuries.

I got the the Mustang donor engine on the stand finally. I just drained the oil and plan to delete the AC compressor and remove the power steering pump from the belt loop for the eventual first start.

Justin and Garrett were kind enough to model.

And finally, Les hooked me up this Christmas with lots of new sockets.

I almost have a complete set now but will have to do some searching for the stragglers.

Running gear has been obtained!

2009-12-24T15:59:00.002-05:00

Last weekend I brought home the drive train of a salvaged 2000 Mustang, the first step in a long list of tasks needed to build a Factory Five Roadster. Everything looks to be in pretty good condition, with only dust and typical aluminum tarnish on it; the car had been sitting unused in a garage for more than 7 years. The car was a stolen recovery and most of the interior was gutted, so unfortunately I haven’t seen it run yet. All records point to it only having 15,000 miles on it. All in all, I got the 4.6L SOHC engine, T5 transmission, exhaust components, fuel tank, rear end and some of the harness. Unfortunately I was unable to get the entire harness so will have to buy one.

The engine is in pretty good shape overall. First steps include cleaning it up, removing the AC compressor, disabling PATS on the ECU and getting it started!

The transmission and rear end above. The axle is destined for a cleaning and new paint job.

Getting Excited

2009-12-07T22:06:00.001-05:00

Next Weekend I head off to buy the drive train of a 2000 Mustang GT. Just the beginning of a long road of building a 65 Shelby Roadster Replica! After so many oil changes, it’s time I amped it up a little! Factory Five's Website

Black Friday Goodies!

2009-11-27T18:58:00.001-05:00

I went shopping with the family today and stopped by Northern Tool for their Black Friday specials. Below you can see what we picked up.

This engine stand was 10% off. They had a 750-lb model for under $40 but it looked a little flimsy. This one supports up to 1500lb and we paid right at $100 for it. Hopefully I’ll have a 4.6L up there on it soon.

I’ve never seen these kinds of socket organizers before. They were a little pricey at around $10 each but I love them so far. It’s quite clear how many sockets I need to buy. I have a bunch of old crusty sockets that I could put onto the racks but naah.

NT had this cart on sale for $50. These things have so many uses. This is my third for the shop.

Great deal here for $35. These things are useful for keeping batteries in good working order if they are sitting for a long period of time. We use it for our camper and tractor. My truck gets some time with them as well.

Transmission Flush and Pan Change for a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel.

2009-11-19T22:57:00.002-05:00

I’ve been putting this project off for some time. I’ve had all the ATF fluid and a new Mag Hytec pan for quite some time but just didn’t find the motivation to do the work until recently. I’ve changed ATF many times before but this was the first time I had planned to do a complete fluid change by flushing all the fluid out of the cooler and torque converter.

Check out the pictures below to see how it went!

When you do your first automatic transmission fluid change, you learn the hard way that it is going to be extremely messy! If you have a project lined up, it’s always a good idea to save cardboard boxes because you’re going to need them to soak up the oil! In this picture you can see the truck on the lift with a good amount of cardboard underneath it. My supervisors are there as well (Father in law, Stan, and my wife, Lesley).

This is the pan that was stock on the transmission. It’s right out in the open and easily accessible. I worked on my brothers Chevy Silverado recently and it wasn’t so nice.

I’ve found that the best way to do this is to remove every other bolt. Once that is done, loosen one corner’s worth of bolts more than the rest. The desired goal of this is to cause one corner of the pan to drop further than the others, which in turn helps encourage the fluid to funnel out of the lower corner. Loosening them all at the same rate can have filthy results.

It’s always helpful to have a large an underneath to capture the slop.

This is the inside of the transmission after the pan was removed. Removing the filter was simple once the two torx bolts were removed.

The new pan and gasket.

The underside of it. Notice the neat little, magnetized drain plug. Awesome.

On the drivers side of the transmission you will find the front band. I adjusted this by backing off of the lock nut, tightening the screw to 72 inch pounds, then backing up the screw one and 3/4 turns. I then tightened the locknut while trying to keep the screw from turning. Not as easy as it looks.

The rear band is located inside the transmission. As before, the bolt has to be tightened to 72 in pounds, but then this one needs to be loosened by 3 turns. I used a sharpie in both cases to mark the socket so that the number of turns was accurate.

After a new filter was placed on the transmission, the new pan went on easily. I was careful to not over tighten the bolts. Note to self: I need to buy some allen wrench sockets.

This is the fluid return line that comes back from the transmission cooler and torque converter. To do a complete flush, you must remove this and allow the fluid to “return” into a bucket somewhere. To begin, we put about 6 quarts of fresh Amsoil ATF into the truck, then I got my wife to sit in the truck and start it.

I then attached a 1/2 inch clear hose to the return line and ran that into a 1 gallon jug. After lifting the truck up a little, I asked Lesley to shift the transmission into neutral to begin the flow of fluid. Once the jug had filled, she put it into park and turned off the truck. We then put 4 quarts of fresh fluid into the truck and repeated the process. We did this twice before seeing bright red fluid coming out of the hose. This was indicative of a complete flush. I reattached the return line to the transmission, topped off the fluid and we were done!

A New Addition to the Garage!

2009-11-09T20:29:00.002-05:00

Just got this baby yesterday:

It’s fully stocked with an assortment of sodas for the kids and some beer for me and the other grown ups. : ) Will probably consider changing the art on it to something a little more applicable one day.

Water Pump Change for a 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel!

2009-10-25T11:44:00.002-04:00

Several weeks ago we began noticing small amounts of coolant on the garage floor under my wife’s truck. After looking under the hood I didn’t notice anything too obvious other than some splatter on the bottom of the upper radiator hose. Assuming the hose was the problem I replaced it. A week later we saw more fluid on the floor and on the engine.

I put the truck on the lift and with an extension mirror and flashlight I was able to make out rust and distinct wetness just under the water pump. The following picture shows what I am talking about.

This is a view of the water pump opening once the pump was removed. As you can see there is significant buildup that is indicative of a long, slow leak.

This job was not going to be easy on my knuckles, but we bought a new water pump and lower radiator hose (why not?) anyway. We also bought all new fluid figuring that since I needed to drain the coolant anyway, why not go ahead and do a complete flush.

Draining the old fluid was a breeze. You simply remove the drain plug from the radiator, let it drain completely then open the radiator cap to suck any additional fluid out of the reservoir tank.

No job would be the same without my trusted helper, Justin, there to assist!

Draining the coolant really takes a long time. I guess it was about 40 minutes per drain.

Location of the radiator drain plug.

This is the lower radiator hose connection to the radiator. As you can see there are still some stains from the water pump leak on it.

I used some simple locking pliers to loosen the clamp. I know there is a real tool for this purpose but I haven’t found one yet.

The same hose as it connects to the engine. Much tighter quarters here but reachable if you remove the fender shroud first.

The new hose, along with a trolling lure that I really need to put up and a tasty beverage.

The new hose on the truck. Note that I went ahead and switched to a traditional hose clamp for the engine connection. It was just too difficult to get that spring loaded one on in such a tight space. Also note that the lower hose has a large spring inside it to keep the hose from compressing and blocking flow during WOT moments. I was sure to remove it from the old hose and insert it into this one.

Getting the water pump off wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I used a 1/2 inch ratchet to remove tension from the belt tensioner spring then pulled the belt lose. Once that was done, it was easier to access the front of the engine. I removed the belt from under the truck, but removed the water pump from above. After two bolts were removed, it took a small strike with a hammer and pry bar to pop it lose.

This is the old water pump.

And after closer inspection I believe that it was leaking through the vent on the left in the above picture. Not sure why it was doing this but it was.

Again, where the new one is to be placed on the engine.

This is the new one along with a new o-ring. I bought some rubber gasket conditioner that was excellent for helping hold the o-ring in place while attaching the pump to the engine. Speaking of which, what a total B*TCH. This, by far, was the most difficult part of the job and a big reason why I don’t have any pics of the new pump on the engine; I was just too happy to be done and didn’t even think to take a shot.

Once the new pump was on, I put the belt back into place and filled the radiator with distilled water. I then started the truck and ran it for what seemed like forever before it hit 190 degrees and the thermostat opened. After letting it run for a few more minutes to thoroughly flush the system, we shut it down and let it cool a bit before draining it again.

Justin and I waited for another 40 minutes or so then filled the system up with 1 gallon of 100% antifreeze (assuming that there may still be some distilled water in the system) and 4 gallons of 50/50 solution.

Anyway, it was a fun project and I got a good feeling of accomplishment afterwards. Plus it has been 3 weeks since the new water pump change and no leaks yet!

Oil, Differential, Radiator Fluid Change for the 2007 Infiniti G35 Sport 6MT!

2009-09-20T22:03:00.002-04:00

This weekend I had the pleasure of doing some maintenance work on my G35. This car is so much fun to drive, and doing maintenance work on it is definitely just as fun. I took some photos during the job and they’ll be posted here. My digital camera died half way through the radiator fluid change so you’ll have to use your imagination for some of that!

Here it is up on the lift:

Isn’t it pretty?

First job was the oil change. I’ve changed a lot of oil over the years but it doesn’t get any easier than this car. Once you remove the plastic cover you are presented with the easiest filter access ever.

This is my helper, Justin. He was a great help during the job. I would just hand screws and bolts to him and he would make sure they were safe and sound in the parts tray.

This is the cover i mentioned earlier. You have to remove about a dozen screws before you’re granted access to the engine.

Justin is holding the cover after it has been removed.

See what I mean? The drain plug and filter are located within easy reach!

I feel kind of silly posting a caption to this one. The is the drain plug – unscrew it and the oil will drain.

The oil draining out into the oil barrel.

This is the new filter. Justin is holding it so that I can apply some fresh oil to the seal.

Oil being applied.

This is where the filter goes. We screw it on, put the drain plug back in, and put 5 quarts of Amsoil 0w – 30 Signature series oil in the engine.

Rear Differential

The car has 42000 miles on it so I figured it’s time to do the differential fluid change.

Using an allen wrench I am able to remove the drain plug very easily. The old oil comes out and the drain plug magnet is coated with metal shavings. Using a cloth I clean off the gunk.

The fill plug is located just north of the drain plug. Using the same wrench I remove it so that I am able to add fluid.

This is the oil I bought to put into the differential. I usually stick to Amsoil but the decision to change this fluid was a last minute one. I have a gear oil pump that I use for the boat which I used to push the fluid up into the differential. Sorry no pictures.

I pumped the fluid until it overflowed out of the fill hole. The shop manual states 1.4 liters but I swear it took about 1.7! Once full, I tightened the fill plug and moved on to the radiator fluid.

Radiator

Ok this project is more complicated that the pictures below seem to represent. My digital camera decided to refuse to take any pictures that required a flash. Lesley is going to find me a new one this week, so the next update will be completely illustrated!

Firstly I want to give props to www.infinitihelp.com. It’s a great website that includes a ton of informative stuff about the car, but also includes a nice forum and free downloads of the infiniti shop manuals. Because of those manuals I was able to do this job relatively easily.

The camera was starting to die here. But if you look at the middle of the picture at the top you’ll see the drain tube. Simply stick a phillips screwdriver up there and remove the plastic plug. Once removed the fluid will drain right out.

Draining from the car.

Ok after this, the camera is officially dead. : ( After the fluid had drained, I lowered the car and removed the air intake on the drivers side. I did this because I needed to gain access to the air bleed screw on the radiator. Infiniti has a neat feature that is used to vent air as new fluid is added to the system. The plug on the radiator was easily removed once the air intake was moved. There is also an air bleed screw on the heater hose up next to the firewall. An allen wrench is needed to remove this.

I added fluid until it began to flow out of the air hole on the radiator. I put that plug in and added more fluid until if overflowed out of the heater hose at which time I put that plug back in.

All done.

After all that I went out and bought a copy of Scribblenauts DS only to find out that it comes with a free hat. Garrett is more than happy to model it for us. : )

An Introduction to My Humble Garage Brewery

2009-08-25T14:47:00.002-04:00

It has been a while since my last update but I just haven’t been able to get around to updating the blog. It’s been pretty busy and when I get home from work I just don’t feel like touching a computer. Anyway, enough with the excuses. Today I want to write about my “brewery” and show off a few pics of it. It’s not awesome or anything but it sure does the job and provides a comfortable place for me to brew. I’m looking forward to some cooler temperatures so I can fire up the burners again.

As you all know, I love my garage and I try to spend as much time as I can in there. I also like to make beer. Beer can be a very delicate thing to brew because fermentation temperatures can play a huge role in how the finished product will turn out. If the beer ferments too cold or too hot the yeast will react in unpredictable ways, often tainting the flavor of the beer. Not only that but sunlight plays a factor as well, so fermenting beer must be kept in a dark place. To control both of these factors I built a 5x5 shed in my garage to house fermenting beer in a temperature controlled and dark environment. Check out the following pics out to see how it is set up.

This is a view from the front of the garage. Notice the shed in the back.

A closer view of the fermentation room.

This is a view of the inside. On the floor is a carboy with some barley wine I made in the winter. Also notice the plate chiller which is used to cool hot wort to pitching temps very quickly.

I also have a portable refrigerator that I modified to lager beers in. Because lager beers need to rest at as close to freezing as possible, I pulled out the temp probe of the fridge and set it up with a temperature controller. Because the default temp probe is outside of the fridge, it always thinks that it is warmer than the factory setting thus keeping the compressor on when the power is on. The temperature controller detects the appropriate target temp and turns the fridge on and off accordingly. Genius I know. : )

This is the beer I have in the fridge.

This is the AC unit that is used to keep the shed at a constant 68 to 70 degrees for fermentation. In the winter I have a portable heater for the same purpose.

Oh and I use this room as the base for the audio system by the pool. No need to worry about amps over heating if they’re in a temp controlled room.

Outside of the fermentation room is my work area.

And this here is for ingredients and supply storage.

I got about 6 of these steel cabinets at a local auction for about $25 TOTAL. As you can see I put one of them to really good use.

That’s it in a nut shell. Thanks for reading. My next installment will go over my process for making a beer yeast starter. Stay posted!

5th Wheel Axle Change

2009-06-16T10:54:00.008-04:00

Last year on the way back from our annual camping trip to Hatteras Village one of the camper tires on our fifth wheel blew out at 75 miles per hour. It sounded like a cannon went off back there and gave us quite a scare as a result. I blame the guy that kept driving in my blind spot for that. I would speed up and he'd speed up. I'd slow down and he would slow down. It was my last attempt to get ahead of him that caused the tire to go.

Well anyway, we promply replaced all of the tires with G rated tires that should have no problem in the future, but since then I have been keeping the rig under 70, just in case.

All of this resulted in a bent axle. Les noticed it late last year after moving it into a camping spot - the new tire was sticking out at the bottom; basically sitting on the hub at an angle. After changing the bearings it was obvious that the axle was bent. We ordered a new one and were shocked that it was only $160!! The picture below is of the new axle. Check out all the pics and their captions to see how we changed it out. It was surprisingly easy!!

This is the new axle. Only $160 and not too heavy. The job should be simple: unbolt the old axle from the rig, remove the hubs and brake assemblies, then bolt the new axle on and put the old hubs back on it.

This is the old axle on the camper after we jacked it up. Note that the bend you see is normal and not the damaged part.

Once the tires are removed, the hub is revealed.

The trailer uses electric brakes. My father in law, Stan, was there to help and he took charge of the wiring. He has a natural talent for that stuff. He cut the wires and took mental notes of how to put them back together once the new axle was on.

The axle is bolted onto the rig using two U bolts on each side of the camper. Using a 3/4 inch ratchet wrench, we easily removed the bolts. In this pic you can see the old axle after it was dropped.

In this pic you can see the inside of the brake assembly once the hub and bearings are removed. There are 5 14mm bolts holding it to the axle. We easily removed them using an air ratchet and a hammer.

The new axle bolted onto the camper. It's in place and ready for the hubs.

The brake assemblies are back on now. It doesn't get any easier than this.

The bearings and hub installed.

After connecting the trailer to the truck we discovered that there was a short in the wiring. Stan solved the problem a few minutes later.

A little helper assisted with the wheels.

All done and no more crooked wheel!!

Low and Slow - Eastern NC Style BBQ on the Egg

2009-06-14T14:18:00.010-04:00

Expecting a Saturday get together at my parents I decided to do an overnight cook on the Big Green Egg. I've always had good luck with Pork BBQ so I decided to do that.

Les went to the store on Friday and bought three Boston Butts. These are the best for BBQ in my opinion, though the shoulders are not bad.

MY grill of choice for this kind of cook is the large Big Green Egg. It is fantastic for doing long slow cooks without drying out the meat. The difficult thing about this grill is temperature control. For good BBQ you want the grill to maintain temps between 220 and 250 for many hours. To facilitate this I use a great tool called the BBQ Guru.

It uses a small draft fan that is computer controlled to regulate air into the grill. By selecting the desired pit temperature with the knob on the right, one can easily dial in the approriate temp and walk away. I've used this system for 24 hour cooks before without any problems!

For this cook, I set the desired meat temp to 200 degrees (this is the target temp for good BBQ; the point at which the fat has rendered into the meat making it super tender). I set the pit temp to 250; I started this cook at 8PM and needed it to be done rather quickly for the get together the next day. 250 degrees is a little hotter than I like to cook it but it turned out fine anyway.

Here are some pics that show you the process. Enjoy!

Lighting the charcoal with an electric lighter. This charcoal is the Wicked Good brand. Not bad, but the pieces are a little small.

Three pork Butts on the grill. Les put some Dizzy Dust rub on there for flavor. (http://www.dizzypigbbq.com/ -> Highly recommended!)

It's about 8:15 in the evening and they are ready to cook! We were out of hickory wook chunks so we put some mesquite in there.

11:00 am the next day it is ready to pull off the grill! WAY AHEAD OF SCHEDULE but I'll take it. One thing I learned from the web about cooking BBQ is that if it is done early, simply wrap it in foil then a towel and stuff it in a cooler. It'll keep grill fresh for 5 hours that way.

MMMMM delicious! It really turned out good this time. I was somewhat concerned about the fast cook (the grill got a little hot and took some time to cool down). I used my uncle Steve's eastern BBQ sauce recipe for this one. This style of sauce is easy to make or you can usually find some variety of it at the grocery store.

Following the Crowd

2009-06-11T19:29:00.007-04:00

Well after years of trying not to join the blog revolution, I've finally given in and have created my first blog page. The main motivating reason for this is that I love my garage and I want to share that joy with the people I know and hopefully some future friends as well. As I perform miscellaenous projects I'll post updates and how-tos. Everything from oil changes to 5th wheel axle changes to barleywine homebrews are game.

I built the garage in late 2007 as a dream come true. I have waited many years for a place to not only house my tools and toys, but also a place that I can perform miscellaneous projects without getting grass and gravel down my shirt. Sure I've had an opportunity or two to build a shop, but I've always felt that a good garage can never be too big. Why rush into it and build a standard 2 car garage when I can hold out and maybe one day build a 3 car garage.

Well, after many years of biding my time, I finally built it. As it turns out I decided to hold on the 3 car opportunity and went for something bigger. By my calculations I could probably fit 18 cars in it (maybe twice that if you pack them tight)!

Its dimensions are 80' x 60' occupying exactly 4800 square feet. We built it next to the house. Our house is a one and half story ranch of 2400 square feet. Obviously this structure makes the house look kinda small.

From this picture you can get a good idea of how much space is available in the shop. During the design phase, I was pretty adamant that the roof pitch not be too flat. We went with a 4/12 pitch which only makes the interior feel even more spacious. It also has an alternate effect of making the ceiling much higher; 29 feet to be exact!! I had to buy an old, used scissor lift in order to be able to get up there to change light bulbs and do other standard maintenance tasks.

This here is the prize of the shop; my Rotary lift with the Extra Height (EH) option. Expect to see much more of this baby in future posts.

Anyway, that's my introduction. I hope you enjoyed it. Check back from time to time and see what I've been doing. Thanks for reading!!