What did YOU do today?

[alwaysFlOoReD]

If you used duct tape (red/green approved...) it wouldn't have to be temporary!

 

[JoshT]

Are you implying that government workers aren’t the best and most professional? Wow, never considered that….

I guess I'm implying something...

Mostly I wouldn't ask a head porter build an airplane, and I don't think an airplane mechanic is the best person to port a head. Also it's easy for me to get a bunch of overtime hours with no more effort than dragging my ass out of bed a couple of hours earlier.

Quotes I've seen were about $1200 to fully service and port your stuff, both heads and the intake. I've heard of an experienced porter having 20+ hours getting AN iron head ported, so 40 for a pair plus maybe another 10 for the aluminum intake. So 50 hours at $20/hour. On overtime pay I'm getting close to $50/hour. So I can spend 20 hours working overtime and pay for the work, or spend probably 80-100 hours slaving over a bench and die grinder for lesser results and still need to get other machine work done.

I think I'm actually going to spend about $2k and buy a set of heads and intake that are already ported rebuilt and ready to install. If I can't sell my old set(s) back to the porter, I'll list them one of the market places to recoup some money.

Yes, I know I could buy a set of aluminum for slightly more than the ported iron heads, but I prefer to stick with the iron. Although the heads are only slightly more, I'd also have to replace the whole rocker assembly which would be 6-800 for a good set of roller rockers. To support the head's flow I'd need an aftermarket intake which isalmost as much as the heads. The aftermarket intrake would loose the factory appearance that I want to have in the engine bay. It would also probably require a different throttle body, repinning the harness to work with said throttle body, different throttle cable arrangement, different intake ductwork. A shole lot of other supporting changes to add up.

If Iwere looking for maximum horsepowers, or dragracing, it would make sense to go aluminum and replace all of that stuff. The worked Iron is capable of supporting the power levels I likely want, and etains the factory appearance I want in the engine bay.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Are you planning on getting it set up to go well over the stock rev limit? Extensive port work and bigger throttles and ported intakes are pretty much only going to gain you at over 6000rpm, in a stock setup if you did all that you might get a couple percent gain... the ports stock didn't look too bad to me, for Ford iron heads they weren't too bad, I just smoothed out the ports, being I did the rebuild with tired rings, cam and headers too it's hard to tell what did the most... still yet to compare my stock '98 Explorer with my rebuilt '00...

Here's the only pic I took of the port work I did, I spent maybe 2-3 hours on them tops, didn't get too adventurous since I don't know how thick things are anywhere...

For today I did some mowing with the tractor this morning, then went to the inlaws for mothers day lunch then went to my brothers and helped out with some hay equipment...

 

[Roert42]

I've been planning on swapping out my 5R55E in my '11 for a manual. Although wasn't sure if I wanted to go for the M5 out of a Ranger or a T5 out of a Mustang. Was kinda leaning towards a T5 just for parts availability.

Swung by the junk yard on the way to the beer store this afternoon. Asked if they had any M5s that would work in my truck, they did not, but the guy made a call and said he could get one in a few days shipped in. It was $700, little more then I wanted to pay for a used trans, but cheaper then the reman units I was considering. Plus, it will probably save me some effort with fitting a T5 in there, would have needed a custom drive shaft at the minimum.

Excited to get the ball rolling on that project, the auto trans in her now has had one foot in the grave for a while now.

 

[901wd#2]

Watched this.

 

[sgtsandman]

I built some pretty beefy benches for the fire pit area out of 4X6 pressure treated lumber. It was dark when I finished. So no pictures. That's one step closer to completing the project. I also got some pressure treated 4X4X8 lumber for posts to support a privacy lattice that will eventually go up to serve as a bit of a back rest for the benches and eliminate the temptation for my daughter's dogs to jump into the neighbor's yard. They haven't done it yet but give them time. They are a Great Dane and a Saint Bernard. BIG dogs.

 

[sgtsandman]

Today was a visit to the chiropractor. I wonder why that needed to happen? The 10' long 4"X6" pressure treated lumber tied together in pairs wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Today was a visit to the chiropractor. I wonder why that needed to happen? The 10' long 4"X6" pressure treated lumber tied together in pairs wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?

More likely the 6.5lbs extra in your backpack... Lol

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Friday I worked on my 97 Sunfire. I'm really impressed with this car! However, the fuel injector orings have been giving me a fit. I've changed them half dozen times over the last year and a half. Finally got them to seal! Changed out one rear strut with spring. Now the car isn't bouncing all over the road...
Went for a road trip Saturday. I could smell gas... FML, the orjngs are FUBAR again. Parked at my friends after 250km. Nope, not orings. Puddle of gas under tank! Drove home because no tools, didn't catch on fire!?! Turns out the plastic line from tank to front had been wearing up against some electrical covered with corrugated protector. Wore a pin hole. I figure I left over 5 liters of fuel on the road for the round trip of 550 km...
Got that fixed with some big rig airline union that I found in the shed of misfit parts. Seems to be working. The Dorman 3/8" union that I bought wouldn't fit, probably needed 5/16" but none in store.

 

[Rick W]

Watched this.

I absolutely love it! These gals clearly have the same waves going through their brain that I do.

Where are they located? TRS needs to reach out, make them members, and bring that pink dream to the Truck Nationals.

On a personal note, I’m having trouble getting the vision out of my mind of them in those pink and white hats, blowing each other off with a leaf blower…

 

[Rick W]

I used one of my harbor freight bits to fix my multi function switch. And I thought I’d share another one of “Rick’s tips.”

You know how when you get one of these nice little sets, and it bangs around for a week or two, and then all the bits are out of place rattling around inside the box? I cut a little piece of foam the size of the footprint of the box, and I lay it on top of the bits before I close the lid. When the lid snaps shut, the bits don’t move.

But then, of course, when you drop the box and it pops open, not only to the bits mixed up, they’re mixed up all over the floor. To solve that problem, I use a couple of zip ties in a loop around the box. It’s not pulled tight, it’s actually fairly loose, but it’s enough so the lid won’t pop open even if the latch releases. You can slide it on and slide it off easily every time you use the set, but if you drop it, it doesn’t pop open.

I do this with all kinds of stuff with all kinds of thicknesses of foam, from something thin, like this, up to 3/4 of an inch, which I use for some of my socket sets

Hope it helps…

 

[97RangerXLT]

I used one of my harbor freight bits to fix my multi function switch. And I thought I’d share another one of “Rick’s tips.”

View attachment 110934

You know how when you get one of these nice little sets, and it bangs around for a week or two, and then all the bits are out of place rattling around inside the box? I cut a little piece of foam the size of the footprint of the box, and I lay it on top of the bits before I close the lid. When the lid snaps shut, the bits don’t move.

But then, of course, when you drop the box and it pops open, not only to the bits mixed up, they’re mixed up all over the floor. To solve that problem, I use a couple of zip ties in a loop around the box. It’s not pulled tight, it’s actually fairly loose, but it’s enough so the lid won’t pop open even if the latch releases. You can slide it on and slide it off easily every time you use the set, but if you drop it, it doesn’t pop open.

View attachment 110935

I do this with all kinds of stuff with all kinds of thicknesses of foam, from something thin, like this, up to 3/4 of an inch, which I use for some of my socket sets

Hope it helps…

back in the 80s when I was in junior high and got my first socket set, it came in a metal case with a thin flimsy plastic tray that cracked and sagged and all the sockets would pool in the middle of the box (Buffalo Barcolay tools, Dad got the set to replace his smaller K mart set, and was so unimpressed with the quality that he gave me the set and kept the K mart set lol) so to fix the tray, took it out and flipped it over and sprayed some expanding foam on the underside. let it harden up and cleaned up where it came through the cracks and it was perfectly solid and kept the sockets where they need to be. easiest and cheapest fix for a junk socket set lol

AJ

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

back in the 80s when I was in junior high and got my first socket set, it came in a metal case with a thin flimsy plastic tray that cracked and sagged and all the sockets would pool in the middle of the box (Buffalo Barcolay tools, Dad got the set to replace his smaller K mart set, and was so unimpressed with the quality that he gave me the set and kept the K mart set lol) so to fix the tray, took it out and flipped it over and sprayed some expanding foam on the underside. let it harden up and cleaned up where it came through the cracks and it was perfectly solid and kept the sockets where they need to be. easiest and cheapest fix for a junk socket set lol

AJ

That's an awesome fix. Going to use it on some tap and die sets...

 

[racsan]

That reminds me of something I did many years ago- twice! I had a cheap 1/4” drive set with a plastic tray, loved the metal box but the rest was junk. Bought a craftsman set & it must of not had a box so I took a peice of wood & made a insert for it, missing the 1/2 socket but how often do you use 1/2 “ with a 1/4” drive? The other set was a gift from a uncle, also many years ago. One of the first tool sets Ive ever had. A sae set 1/4 & 3/8 combination set. made the board with all the socket inserts first then built the box around it. as you can see theres some random wrenches tossed in now as well. Have a rag stuffed in there to keep things in place. Like I said, was done a very long time ago, back when I was still in high school sometime. (class of ‘88) Dont really have that kind of time or patience now.

 

[sgtsandman]

This is a

back in the 80s when I was in junior high and got my first socket set, it came in a metal case with a thin flimsy plastic tray that cracked and sagged and all the sockets would pool in the middle of the box (Buffalo Barcolay tools, Dad got the set to replace his smaller K mart set, and was so unimpressed with the quality that he gave me the set and kept the K mart set lol) so to fix the tray, took it out and flipped it over and sprayed some expanding foam on the underside. let it harden up and cleaned up where it came through the cracks and it was perfectly solid and kept the sockets where they need to be. easiest and cheapest fix for a junk socket set lol

AJ

This is a fix I should used for my bit driver set. The case is in great shape but the tray to hold all the parts is cracking and falling apart. Awesome idea!