What did YOU do today?

[Lefty]

Turns out dailying a project car you bought on facebook marketplace isn't for the weak. One minute you spend $1000 on some tires and the next you are cancelling your weekend plans to install a head gasket...

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We've all said, "If anything can go wrong, It will." It's a good meme, even more relevant during a certain phase of auto restoration, a phase I call "the arc of recovery," Recovery involves discovery too. It turns out that the arc not at all smooth. It's a series of peeks and valleys, two steps forward, one step back, sometimes even two or three steps back.

 

[Roert42]

Turns out dailying a project car you bought on facebook marketplace isn't for the weak. One minute you spend $1000 on some tires and the next you are cancelling your weekend plans to install a head gasket...

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I’m addictive to the thrill of a cheap beater.

Keeps life from getting boring, keeps your mind agile.

Always trying to figure out what the noise is that you only hear while slowing down (but not braking) and making a left turn.

 

[Curious Hound]

I’m addictive to the thrill of a cheap beater.

Keeps life from getting boring, keeps your mind agile.

Always trying to figure out what the noise is that you only hear while slowing down (but not braking) and making a left turn.

That's the contents of your stomach sloshing around. Go have a donut.

 

[Lefty]

We've all said, "If anything can go wrong, It will." It's a good meme, even more relevant during a certain phase of auto restoration, a phase I call "the arc of recovery," Recovery involves discovery too. It turns out that the arc not at all smooth. It's a series of peeks and valleys, two steps forward, one step back, sometimes even two or three steps back.

I remember installing a junkyard 2.8 Ford V6 in my MGB. A wonderful upgrade! That six was lighter and faster than the original British 4.. The only problem was that it died after about a year. So I had to have it rebuilt. One step forward, two back

Then again, a local speed shop did a great job blueprinting it, a real joy to drive. My mechanic said it was a poor man's Corvette. Actually it could not keep up with V8s but it was extremely fast off the line.

 

[pjtoledo]

watched a real plumber cut 2 big holes in the kitchen walls and replace 72 year old drain pipes that blew out yesterday.

certain family members have absolutely no respect for my plumbing skills

 

[tw205]

Hauled 2050 baby ducks and 50 geese thru 3 states over 600 miles in 11 hours.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Hauled 2050 baby ducks and 50 geese thru 3 states over 600 miles in 11 hours.

glad you didn't quack up or get honked at...

AJ

 

[scotts90ranger]

Last night I mowed most of an acre with the riding mower, had like 1.5 square feet left when an idler for the drive belt fell off... tonight I started by fixing that and noticed the belt was fried then remembered I'd seen that before and went to the belt I had set aside for the mower months ago and turns out it was the right one! Also while I was mowing yesterday one of the blades caught a root hard enough to bend the blade down a little so while it was apart I cleaned out the deck and put on the best of the 3 blades I took off last year (I have a box of stuff for it), mowed again for half an hour or so before dark and then the lower deck belt died and wadded up into the upper deck belt... went back to the box and I had an amazon envelope I wrote "lower deck belt for green mower" on conveniently... I'm glad past me looked out for future me! lol
'
Then I went into the shop and put a tiny carburetor in the sonic cleaner for that tiny generator I mentioned in another thread... I think it might just work...

 

[JoshT]

What I did was for the Ranger, but wasn't on the Ranger, so thI think this is the right thread.

I checked into mahine shops this week for the engine rebuild. Found out that there is a full fledged automotove machine shop only a few miles from my house. Sounds like a 3-4 week lead on standard machine work, so don't want to wait very long to get the engine to them. After work today went over to the shop, got the engine mounted on the stand so I could start tearing it apart.

About two hours later it looked like this:

Don't look like much, but what you don't see took the most time. Had rounded bolts in both exhaust manifolds. One on passenger side and two on driver side. Cutoff wheel on angle grinder to take the head off the one, and drilled the other two. Also all but one water pump bolt loose, head bolts loose, crank bolt out, and oil pan bolts loose. Considering the condition of engine and donor (total rust bucket), I think that was pretty good. Rented a balancer puller on the way home and should be able to finish tear down tomorrow. Hopefully get to the bottom end to the machine shop first part of the week, then have to decide what I'm doing about the top end while I wait for the verdict.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Fixed the riding mower, the deck belt was tied in two knots around the upper belt idler pulley somehow... then I mowed for like an hour and a half up until I was a few seconds from parking it and heard a thunk and looked behind me and saw a blade sitting in the grass... apparently I sheared the bolt for the center blade bolt... it'd already stripped the 5 spline thing on the spindle so yeah... it's only 5 key clips holding the deck on so no biggie, at least it's not left hand bolts like the finish mower for my tractor... I'm 3 breaks for 3 days!

I also pulled the '97 Ranger to the shop to clean out the back seat area which is a catchall... no more garbage, better...

 

[pjtoledo]

stood out in a field from 10:00 to 10:45 PM watching the aurora borealis.
T'was about half way between Dundee & Adrian Michigan.

 

[JoshT]

stood out in a field from 10:00 to 10:45 PM watching the aurora borealis.
T'was about half way between Dundee & Adrian Michigan.

I'll bet that was awesome!

 

[Rick W]

stood out in a field from 10:00 to 10:45 PM watching the aurora borealis.
T'was about half way between Dundee & Adrian Michigan.

Jealous!! On my bucket list!!

 

[scotts90ranger]

We got to see it last night from the house too, the pictures make it look way fancier than it looked but the sky was definitely green and purple with lines for sure, definitely different!

 

[19Walt93]

My son and I took my Mustang to a car show a local club sponsored at the Chevy dealer in White River Junction, Vt. There was a Pantera, a 69/70 Shelby GT500, a 69 Firebird with a ferocious sounding engine and a bunch of other stuff to look at from street rods to a Lotus Elan to a 50 Ford coupe that looked like a barn find and smelled like a mouse nest. We visited with friends we hadn't seen in a while and I won a door prize.