What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2021]

[CopperNick]

Sounds like you spent some time with the Canadian Forces and did the winter training syllabus; either that or you truly like snow. Bleah. But it does sound like the east coast is going to get to use those doors they build in the dormers on the roofs of their homes for when the snow gets genuinely deep.
Just finished watching the weather channel and the weather heads are suggesting that the South best be rethinking how it deals with winter as these storms are some kind of leading indicator about climate change. Hey, I don't mind sharing the stuff. Less for me to move around and makes my snow blower very happy.



Nick

 

[CopperNick]

Took advantage of the sudden rise in today's afternoon temp to take the fairing from my H-D and move outside with it. Being made of fibreglass, any grinding or sanding on it produces fibreglass shrapnel that inflicts itself on anything it comes in contact with. Outside I can wear a heavy grade 3M type full on dust mask and use the DeWalt 4.5" without contaminating anything but the snow/grass. Had to visit the pocket in which the headlight indexes because its edges were still rubbing against the trim ring.

This is pretty much an ongoing exercise as that fairing suffered some major damage from its previous owner being in an accident/wreck many years ago. The dealer is an old friend and his service staff had tossed it due to it being on its way to being junk. That was the condition it was in when I scored it and the rebuild took about a quart of resin and couple of square feet of glass fibre to accomplish. Still cheaper than trying to find and buy a new or good used one. No internet back then. It still needs some tweaking and trimming but this is the first time in a while that i have had enough down time to spare that I could take a run at it. Still needs some more resin thrown at it to seal some raw edges and a coat or two more of gel to get it back to white and smooth before I can apply primer and paint to it. May use it as my guinea pig for doing my own spray painting come spring. The sections of My full size portable booth are still complete and intact and just waiting to be assembled.



Nick

 

[Jim Rockford]

New Muffler for my 04 E250.

 

[scoti]

New Muffler for my 04 E250.

Love the 'colorful' verbage describing F##ds OE exhaust set-up.

 

[motorheadmike]

New Muffler for my 04 E250.

My tender sensitivities!

 

[64nailhead]

Donovan crossmember inspired

 

[Streetbu]

Buddy is coming over in a couple of weeks to help me slam a bedroom together in our basement, he realized his bail gun wasn't working. Told him to drop it off and I'd take a look at it. Dewalt 20v framing nailer. Only thing that would happen is the warning light would blink, nothing else. Finally realized the motor that was supposed to spin, was seized tight. Disassembled, sure enough seized. Part is obsolete! W.T.F.?!?! Well nothing to lose, pressed the two halves of it apart thinking a bearing was bad, all looked brand new, bearings were perfect. Huh. Put back together, seized. Weird. Finally realized the magnets are coated in plastic, one had a wear mark, ends up they rust, push the plastic coating out and it hits the windings causing it to bind. Cut plastic off, scrapped rust off, now spins. Shot it with some galvanized paint and reassembled, works like a charm again! Buddy couldn't believe I was able to not only fix it, but without any parts.... 😁 sorry forgot to take pics while it was apart

 

[Texas82GP]

Sean and I finished up getting his truck back together yesterday. We got the door back from the painter last Sunday. We hung it on the truck, got the wiring harness fished back in and routed, got the window run channel and window back in it. The window was very slow going up and I found it to be quite unacceptable. We had replaced the motor several years ago and Sean said it was always slow. I didn't remember it that way but he knows the truck better, obviously. We broke off about 5:30 that day and I ordered parts.

Yesterday we started with putting in a new genuine GM outside window sweep/belt line molding. Then we replaced the entire window motor/regulator assembly. Sean put new 3M body molding tape on the Ventshade and got it installed. We had cleaned inside the window run channel as much as possible. After the Ventshade was installed, I wiped down the rest of the channel with some silicon spray on a microfiber. The window goes up and down quickly now. I would say it is like the truck was new.

We also did some heat gun work on the mirror where the triangle base mounts to the door. The top point was sticking out. We would heat the area up, Sean would apply a little pressure to the area, and then I'd cool it with compressed air. It worked great.

The painter just DA'd the area under the spear and then blended in some base. He cleared the entire outside of the door. It still has some small rock chips (under clear now), small door dings, etc. but now the failing clear above the window is fixed and with him just blending the base in the trouble area where the spear was, the door still matches the fender and the rear door. Except for the clear being new, you can't tell there's been paint work on the door. The painter is a collision guy at his day job so a repair like this is his bread and butter. He did a great job.

We're going to let the paint cure for about a month before we put the new spear on.

All better.......

View attachment 167750

My brother put the spear on his Driver's side front door. While it was a much bigger project than we anticipated, the truck is better for it. Many improvements:
1. Failing (bubbling chrome) chrome spear replaced
2. Failing clear at the top of the door fixed
3. New genuine GM outer window sweep
4. New genuine GM window motor/regulator assembly - the window now goes up and down quickly, like when the truck was new
5. Door hinges, latch, catch, etc. all very well lubricated.

Here's a pic. Like it never happened....

 

[CopperNick]

On that DeWalt nailer, had the same problem with parts for a 4.5 I have. Found a super supplier on line that offers parts for almost anything you need to fix in tools or appliances. pulled part numbers for what I needed and they were all marked as available. Probably buys out the mfgr's stock when an upgrade comes in.

Finally took the time to throw a buddies HD front end in the solvent tank. Grungy does not begin to describe the caked on crud this lump possesses. Decades ago he made the mistake of letting a friend borrow it and the bike went up in flames from a carb fire. Linkerts are pretty much nothing more than a semi-controlled leak. Tore down the front wheel a few years ago and had to cut the tire off; totally melted down.

Problem for me is my solvent tank. Back when I first bought it and assembled it, I poured in 15 gallons of Var-sol and turned the pump on. Pump lasted about a minute and blew up. Turns out that the pump was rated for solvent all right but it was the water based stuff only. Can get a new pump but water based anything equals $$$$$. You have to buy 5 gallons of the stuff to get the tablespoon full that you mix into 110 liters of water. Not getting into the whole business of bio-degradable.

What I need is a pump that can handle and tolerate petroleum based solvent aka Varsol. Was thinking that I could rig an electric motor and couple it to a rotary pump but also think that needs some kind of rheostat to control the rpm or the pump will be throwing solvent all over the shop. Any one here on the forums know of a vendor or supplier that offers replacement electric pumps that can be fitted to a wash tank and that can handle varsol?



Nick

 

[SwiftySS]

Moved them all around!