02 Base for my son

[Snowbound]

On my truck I’m still waiting for my custom intake piping and Y-bridge before I tear into that. But I put in LED headlights and fog lights and also put in switchback parking/turns on the front. They are white for parking lights and go amber on turns. They are bright and don’t cause hyper flash because of the built in resistors.
After I did that, oncoming traffic think I have my brights on so I get flashed often. The lights have a good cut off line and they are aimed correctly but because they are bright people assume. So I usually just give them a flash back to let them know I don’t have brights on. On my other truck I installed 2 light bars in the bumper cut outs so when someone would flash at me they would get every light on the front of truck when I flashed back.

So I decided to do the same thing on this one. I was going to order a 32” light bar to fit the single bumper cut out. This pic shows the difference between the LED fog and the halogen.

But then I remembered I have this 52” curved light bar I got off EBay for $50. I was gonna put it on my Denali and one time but I just can’t drill holes in door jam for the brackets and I won’t do it to this one either. So I decided to try something else.

I had to trim away some of the cooling find from the back to make it work but it was only $50 and I’ve had this thing kicking around for maybe 4 years.

 

[Snowbound]

I made my own brackets for the ends and mounted it to the support brackets. Simple but effective.

It was tight but it worked.

Wired it in with a relay. I have a switch I can turn it on with or when I hit my brights all my lights come on. Fog, high, low and light bar.

 

[Snowbound]

It’s not “holy cow!” bright but I does brighten it up some.

This is low beam headlights and fogs.

Then low, fog and light bar.

 

[Snowbound]

I know some of you guys like to see my nightmares that I have at work. I walked into one a few weeks ago.
4” PVC valve blew apart on raw water line going to filters. Now mind you this was after I shut the water off and it was just draining.

The pumps run at 80psi @ 1850 GPM so needless to say, it flooded us out.

As I’m repairing the broken valve, which I had to cut sections of the pipe out and glue in new because the valve end wouldn’t come out of the end cap, the room there starts flooding again. I’m checking around looking for the source of this water. I can clearly see it’s coming up from the drains but I can’t find the source. It’s gotta be an underground pipe that is close to a drain, then it dawns on me, the return line that runs back to the quarry is in one of the main floor drains.

This pit doesn’t usually have this much water in it but of course it was full after that valve broke. But I’m watching the water churning like there’s a open water line in there somewhere.
So I shut down the quarry pumps and let the pit drain down and the above picture is the return line that goes underground back to quarry. I took the pic after it drained down, the water was up to the grating when I first went in there.

 

[Snowbound]

After it drained some, that’s when I saw where the source of water was coming from.

There is this 8” return line and also a 6” return line so I figured I would just direct the return water thru the 6”, turn the pumps down to 60PSI so I could get the plant fired back up again. Without water, we have no cooling to heat exchangers, no feed to RO so I’m not making clean water for making bleach or keeping boilers supplied. (Most boilers are a closed loop system meaning when the steam condenses it returns to make up tank and then gets put back into boiler. Not at our facility. Our steam traps dump on the ground so all 3 of our boilers need a constant supply of water. It’s dumb but the cost to return the condensate is astronomical because we would have to pump it back to boilers, heat trace and insulate the lines.)
So I closed off the 8”, and fired the pumps back up and set them to 60PSI. That put a lot of pressure on the 6” line and the flange started leaking. So now I had to make up a new section of pipe because that flange was cracked. And I had to break out a big enough section of brick to get the flange thru the wall.

I left it leaking just so we could start up production again. Praying it didn’t let loose while I was making up new section of pipe.

 

[Snowbound]

After a few hours I had operators shut down again so I could get new pipe installed. The glue is suppose to have 24 hrs of dry time before putting into service but I don’t have that kind of time. There is no night shift supervisor so I have to make all the calls myself and deal with the consequences of my decisions when the day shift comes in. I do whatever I can to keep production going but there’s times where I have to make the judgment call to shut down. This is our busy season now, we shipped out just over a million gallons of bleach last month so that machine has to be running non stop at 170GPM just to keep up with what is going out. But I have to get this done so we don’t have a catastrophic failure causing us to be down for hours.

So I get the new pipe on after cleaning up the flange faces and installing new hardware and gaskets. Fire back up and no more leaks so I get production back going again.
I dropped a sump pump in drain pit and pump out the water to expose the bad return line. There’s no way I’m welding to this rusty pipe. I cleaned it up with a wire wheel on a 4” grinder. I was afraid to hit it with a grinding disk thinking it would just go thru the pipe. My first thought was to slap a piece of rubber over the hole and secure it with some large hose clamps just so I could build a wood box around the pipe and mix up some concrete to fully encapsulate the bad pipe. But I didn’t have any concrete on hand. So I started digging thru our parts room and I got lucky and found an 8” morris clamp.

I was able to get that installed and tightened down. I didn’t want to go crazy on the bolts but I snugged it up.

Then I opened the valve for the 8” return line and this was what I had.

 

[Snowbound]

So I shut that line back off and cranked down on the bolts some more. Opened the valve back up and no leaks surprisingly. But I was only at 60PSI. So I went out to the quarry pump house and turned the pumps up to 80PSI.

Walked back to water room and saw this.

I was about as tight as I wanted to go on them bolts so I tried 70PSI.

It’s holding.

Just a slight dribble so I put another 1/8 turn on bolts and it stopped.

 

[Snowbound]

Let’s see what happens at 75.

I’m leaving it there. Everything is running as it should. The heat exchangers are pulling at least 30° off the product on bleach and making dilution so I’m good with that. Bleach machine is running at 180 GPM trying to play a little catch up and so far the Morris clamp is doing it’s job.

It was a night from HE LL. I was beat. Got a “atta-boy” from the plant superintendent and I told him what I wanted to do with encapsulating it in concrete and he thought that was a great idea. Later he called me while I was in bed and told me the retards in charge want to do a permanent fix and one of the other maintenance guys suggested running a 10” stainless line overhead back to quarry. My concern was if that bridgework would carry the load of two 10” pipes full of water and he wasn’t sure but said that’s a good question. So I gave him the suggestion of calling out one of those companies that installs the liners in old piping. Gave him the company name and number so we are waiting for a quote on that. We got a quote for $160k, yes, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars to install a 10” thin wall stainless line overhead back to the quarry. I told them I would do it for $100k if they bought the pipe. Lol.
So hopefully that company comes out and lines that pipe for us. I don’t know how long that clamp is gonna last and I still might pour concrete around it.
Just thought I’d share some of the stuff I get myself into here at work.

 

[Snowbound]

Couple other things I did to the truck that I just remembered, I had a broken vent visor so I removed them all and went to the in-channel ones. That double sided tape is a PITA to remove. Had to use plastic razor blade and then a lot of adhesive remover to get it all off. Then I used cutting compound and polish to blend it in so the lines weren’t visible anymore.

Then I installed my Pioneer 7” touchscreen head unit and put on a factory tailgate handle bezel reverse camera.

I wanted to do something different and get rid of the wood grain interior trim. I didn’t want to do carbon fiber and I thought about some brushed aluminum vinyl wrap I had but instead I orders some black camo print vinyl. I’m not sure if I like it but until I find something else, it’s fine.

And I changed one 12v outlet to a USB plug for my phone so I don’t have just a wire sticking out from under the dash.

 

[Snowbound]

Whoever thought putting this clear vinyl on the hood and fenders to protect from rock chips should be shot!

This stuff is a complete nightmare to remove and leaves a ton of glue behind. I tried soaking it with Goo-Gone and it barely does anything to it. I had to use my eraser wheel on a drill to get it off. It’s very time consuming to say the least. I tried heat gun, acetone and gasoline but the eraser wheel is the only way to do it. I get about 4-6” off every couple days when I have 2 hrs to go at it. This straight up blows. Don’t ever do this.

After all the glue is off I had to polish the surface just like I did the vent visors. I was thinking about buying a new hood and painting it.

 

[Snowbound]

Been a little while since I did any kind of update. Haven’t gotten too much done lately trying to keep up with getting my yard work done cutting down trees and tearing out a little pond my parents had in the back yard. They stopped keeping up with it and it got over grown and completely out of control so I pumped it out and pulled all the weeds and overgrowth and removed all the rocks.

You’d never think this thing was 5’ deep. It steps down so they could put plants in it. I would come home in the morning and dig out as much as I could before the heat set in and then go to bed. I’ve been still working 12hr days 6-7 days/wk so this summer is flying by.

My parents collected rocks from wherever they could or went for a few years. This is only one pile that I made. I dropped off a lot over at their house because my mom said she wanted some for her landscape.

I’m pulling the liner and filling in the hole and then pouring a concrete pad so I can put up a gazebo with a hot tub and then I’ll redo the deck with composite boards. There’s already power to that area for the pump and lights so I’ll just pull some new wire for 240V for the hot tub. I told my boys to get out there and move some rock for me and Jess send me this at 1am because they said they didn’t want to do it in the morning or the heat. Lol.

 

[Snowbound]

As far as my garage addition goes, I pulled everything out of the attached shed, piled everything from shed and along that outside wall that’s getting taken down onto one side of the garage. Called my concrete guy to come by and give me an idea when he can get the pad poured and to go over a few things but he blew me off. 2 calls and a few texts and he wouldn’t get back to me. Find out he’s on vacation for a few weeks and I thought that was strange because this is his busy season. Talk to my wife’s brother in law and he tells me he hasn’t been working because they went on strike over contract negotiations. Then the light bulb goes off in my head. Carl is local 150 and works at a rock quarry. No rock, no concrete. My buddy Nick told me he’s weeks behind on construction work because they aren’t getting concrete. So when the concrete starts rolling again, the big commercial jobs and road work is gonna be top priority. I was told good luck getting 12 yards for a residential pour this year! So last year was the high lumber costs that kept me from getting my garage, this year it’s gonna be concrete. This is really setting me behind the 8 ball, I have my projects that need to get done and I need my lift and the garage space. I can’t go another winter without heat in garage or the space to get stuff done. Do I run the gas line and throw a heater in then have to remove some of the gas pipe when slab is finally poured? Do I throw all my stuff back into shed this year just to get that half of garage space free or do I still tear down the shed and board up the hole in side of garage? This really is a kick to the balls.

 

[Snowbound]

I’ve done a few things to the bike. Just added some storage pouches, put on a DynoJet tuner and fluid changes to engine, trans and primary. All Amsoil as always. I actually snuck in my fluid and filter change at work where I have my bike lift.

We did our usual Freedom Ride again this year. That was good to get at least one day where I could relax and enjoy myself.

 

[Snowbound]

Jack has been complaining non stop about the gas prices and wanting to put regular in the Esky. I told him he better not and it would only be worse on mileage and down on power. He’s been working a lot of hours this summer because he likes to buy things and take his girlfriend out. I also got the lady that he rear ended paid. Ended up being $1248 so I sent her $1300. Jack is paying me back in 4 payments of $325. That was his idea, I told him $100 a paycheck would be ok but he wanted to get it paid off asap.

I put my ear to the pavement and sent out some feelers that I was looking for another vehicle to help ease the “build back better” fiasco on Jack at the gas pump.
Wasn’t long after I got a text from an old friend who knows someone that does caretaking and had a hook up on a vehicle. But, there was 3 vehicles and it had to be a package deal. The old timer that had them was getting harassed by the city because a neighbor kept calling on these vehicles that haven’t been plated since 2016.
There was a 2002 Daewoo but had some front end damage. Had 91k miles on it and ran like a top. Don’t know much about a Daewoo, I can’t remember the model.

The next was a 2004 Ford Windstar Limited. 124k miles on it. New engine was put in at 85k. Also air conditioning and battery was replaced in 2019 and had receipts for all.

 

[Snowbound]

The last and only one I was really interested in was a 2000 Dodge Intrepid ES with 84k miles.

The deal was, the guy was in the hospital and the family wanted to get the cars out of there while he wasn’t home. He would pitch a fit and not let them go if he was home. I had 5 days before he got home too. So I said I’d take them all in one day if the price was right. He talked to the daughter who was the power or attorney and she said if I came that weekend I could have them all for $200/each. Sold!
So the weekend came and I drove an hour to where they were pulling a trailer with Jess and another buddy.
We get to the house and all 3 daughters are there and the one daughter I talked to, Megan, who was the POA tells me the other 2 sisters said there’s no way they can let them go for $200 each. I told them that’s what I was told and that’s why I was there. They huddled and talked and finally came back with $500 each but they all had to go. I didn’t want the Daewoo or the Windstar but it’s still worth it just to get the Intrepid for Jack. So I told Jess I’m gonna do it, I had brought like $3000 with me because I heard this guys garage was full of tools and I might be able to load my truck up for cheap. So I said ok. Started writing up the bill of sales and when we got to the titles Megan said she has to sign her name and write POA after it. I told her I can’t go to the DMV with that without her being there with proof of power of attorney paperwork and her photo ID. She said that’s what the currency exchange told her she had to do. So she wanted to go to Currency exchange with me and I could do the transfers right there. Well, I didn’t want to pay for plates and title transfers on the 2 vehicles that I was gonna sell. So I said hold on a minute.
First off, the van had an electrical issue so the door locks didn’t work. The side door panel was off because I guess they had someone tracking down the shirt at some time. It needed rear shocks really bad because it bounced when I was checking it out. All the vehicles were dirty inside and out and I really didn’t want to pay for titles and plates, keep the vehicles at my house until titles showed up or have to put money into that van so I could resell. The Daewoo I already knew I was gonna take to the junk yard.
So I made a phone call to a local junk yard and asked them what they would give me for the Daewoo and Windstar. They wanted to know if they ran and I said yes but needed to be jumped. They asked if they still had the catalytic converters and I said yes. They said they would give me $500 a piece but only $200 if they only took the Daewoo. I asked if they could come get them that day and gave them the address and they said they could. I handed Megan the phone and she filled them in on the details and the whole power of attorney thing and they were good with it. Soon as she hung up I asked if that was good and she said yep. So we went to currency and I titled and plated the Intrepid and dragged that home.
Took way longer than expected for that ordeal but I got what I wanted and didn’t have to deal with the other stuff.

 

[Snowbound]

I drove the car to work and changed the oil and checked the ac. Needed about half a can of Freon but ac works great.

I ordered all new brakes front and rear and also ordered some rear struts because they were going bad. Not horrible but it needed it.
After charging the battery for a day, it starts fine and holds a charge so that’s good. I had to remove the air box to get to the battery to load test it and it has a “19” sticker on it. Looks like a new Interstate so I’ll let it ride for now. I drove it to work a couple days and when the brakes showed up I pulled the rear tire off and these brakes are brand new. The calipers barely pushed in because these pads are so thick. Just as think as the new pads. So I greased the slides on both sides and put the wheels back on. Pulled the front and same thing. Brand new. I couldn’t justify changing them. So I returned the brakes. Saved me $278!
The Goodyear tires are like new also.

This was starting to turn out to be a win for once. I did notice the right front speaker was blown and crackling. So I disconnected it and figured with the money I saved on the brakes I’ll get a new pair of front speakers. This thing has a 9 speaker Infinity system in it. The door speakers are just subs and there are tweeters in the top of door near the a-pillar. Problem is these speakers are 2ohm and run off a factory amp. To replace the door speakers would cost $175. So I went on Crutchfield and ordered 4 new speakers for front and rear, pair of tweeters and a new JVC head unit all for $225. I’m gonna bypass the amp so it’s all gonna be 4ohm stuff. Still cheaper than the brakes that I saved.
The rear struts showed up and I got started on that. Pulled the carpet from the sides of the trunk and can’t feel the top of strut. Holy cow, I had to remove rear seat, side trim panels, rear deck and rear speakers to get to the top of struts. But I had to do that to replace rear speakers anyway so at least it’s all getting done at once.

 

[Snowbound]

In order to remove the strut from the spindle, there’s a pinch bolt that has to come out. That thing would not budge. I heated it, beat it with hammer, tried jarring it with air hammer while attempting to turn bolt with double wrench and I even tried talking nice to it but it wasn’t coming out without a fight. Everything I read online said it’s gonna break and you’ll have to drill and tap it so it was best to cut it thru the slot flush with the threaded side so the other part comes out which allows the strut to come off.
There’s no way I’m gonna lay on the ground to drill and tap these things so I decided to pull the entire spindle off. There are 2 lateral link bars on either side of the spindle that go towards the center of the car and they have one bolt that goes thru one link thru the spindle and then the other link followed by a nut. The nut came off and the outside link came off after I took the inside link bolt out but that long bolt was seized in the spindle too. Then there’s a lower trailing arm that keeps the spindle from moving front to back and I took that off. Had to remove parking brake assembly and cable but the backing plate was in the way so I had to take off the hub first. Only way to take the strut off was to remove the front side lateral link with it. Pics will make more sense.

 

[Snowbound]

These bolts can’t be seized if they’re liquid! So I got out the torch and I got these spindles glowing on the threaded side of the pinch bolt. It was seized on the bolt shoulder side too. So both sides were cherry red and I worked that pinch bolt out.

You can see that long bolt for the links and how it goes thru the spindle in above pic. I couldn’t find that bolt listed anywhere but I did find one I could order from Fastenal. But here’s the spindles free from the struts.

So I did the same thing, got them things glowing red and was able to get the bolt spinning and worked it out.
These links look like you know what, the bushings weren’t horrible but I can’t put stuff together like that. My buddy tells me all the time he doesn’t want me to work on his stuff because I can’t just fix something, I have to restore it. I guess he’s right. I threw the spindles, brake caliper brackets, all the hardware and anything I might reuse in the blast cabinet and cleaned it all up.

Ordered all brand new links and sway bar end links which should be here today. Have most of everything painted and ready to go.
I started on the stereo stuff too but I’ll come back and get into that. I have some stuff to get done here at work before the night is over for me. I’ll be back.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I think Jack will be happy with that car. Good job Jim. Also good job as a dad to take care of the lady he hit--him paying you back says what kind of kid he is!

 

[Fosscore]

Love your stories and tenacious determination for absolute completion of a task. And mad skills across many projects.

I second all of Tony’s comments above.

So much good work and concern for many others.

Inspiring and complimentary.