What did you do today?

[PStechPaul]

I might have someone coming down from PA to take my rusty old Saturn for $100. I replaced the front wheels with two old junkers, and I put the little donut spare on the left rear where the frame damage is. I can pull the right rear after it's loaded on the flatbed. I found that there is one wheel stud missing on the left rear - but I seem to remember that has been that way for a while:



The control arm has also come loose and will need to be tied up again so I can drive it to a nearby parking lot which will be much easier for loading the vehicle:



I also wanted to use the seats for my 1989 Toyota Pickup that has bench seats with most of the mounting frame rusted away. So I removed three bolts from the passenger side, but found that the fourth bolt had a special tamper-proof head. I tried drilling it but it quickly dulled several drills, until I used a cobalt drill made for tough metals, and that did the trick:



I was able to pull the seat frame and snapped off the remains of the head. So then I did the same for the driver's seat, and went to remove those on the front side. One was an ordinary bolt, but the other was another tamper-proof bolt and I could not get the right angle on it to drill it out:



So I guess I'll just have to get some seats from a junk yard or find some on CL or FB Marketplace. Unless I can find the proper tool to remove that bolt. Apparently a Torx E10 socket:

https://www.saturnspot.com/need-a-size-for-seat-bolts-t28344.html

Not in stock at Home Depot:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lisle-E10-Torx-External-Bit-Socket-LIS26820/207004344

But this set is in stock, for $25:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-4-3-8-1-2-in-E-Torx-Socket-Set-HETX13PC/206031060

I might buy it and see if it will loosen that pesky bolt. If not, I can return it. Or even if it does. It might be a handy set to have, although I wonder if I'd ever need it for anything else.

[754]

Ford is using those fasteners a lot these days.

[Willy]

An angle grinder works great for those.
Keep a bucket of water nearby.

Edited to add: An E Torx or external Torx socket set is handy to have though, all kidding aside. Since buying a set 3 or 4 years ago I have been seeing a lot of them.

[vpt]

I typically use the normal 8 point sockets for those.

[plastikosmd]

Trial cut on wood then cut the hole for bearing holder on bread slicer

[PStechPaul]

I bought the Torx external socket set, and it worked. I had tried a six point socket on the first bolt but it started to slip. The guy who was going to buy the car texted me that he could not come today, so hopefully tomorrow I'll get this white albatross out of my life. Otherwise I'll just call one of the junkyards that I had contacted before.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Cleaning up my shop. I'm getting super excited to have a completely clean shop by mid December when I'm taking the rest of the year off and just focus on shop time.

[plastikosmd]

Fit eccentric holder then weld, pressed in crank and bearings, clamp in frame and weld.
A bit more finish work and some reinforcement and it should be set to slice for another 30 yrs.

[mattthemuppet]

got a bed of strawberry plants in today. Took a surprising amount of work as I needed to modify some metric hose fittings left over from when we lived in Australia, so I made a "tap" out of an old US hose fitting

surprisingly effective in plastic

Then dug over the bed, put some potting soil in where the plants were going to go, laid out out the drip line then put the plants in. Covered it in mulch and replaced the anti-dog fence. Should get a few strawberries in spring and hopefully a decent crop the year after that. I love growing strawberries!

[J Tiers]

Spent the afternoon removing several stuck and broken head bolts from an older Wisconsin engine that a friend of mine brought over.

We ended up drilling them out to leave the thread area, and then picking out the threads as much as possible. then chasing with a tap, once the tap was able to start in good threads, finished the job.

This was finally a good use for the set of Blue-Point bolt removers that I picked up a while back. The removers actually do not work worth a tinker's damn, but the guides in the set are good for starting a drill on-center of the bolt, and there are guides in there most useful bolt sizes.

I really needed to get out and shred a huge pile of leaves for the composter, it was 70F today. But, of course, it rained last night, and the leaves were soaked. They do not shred well when wet, they jam up. Damp, OK, but not wet.

[Tim Clarke]

Hey, Plaz, That's a good looking repair!

[danlb]

Today I fixed the faucet in my garage utility sink. All it took was new washers since the seats were clean and smooth. Of course I could not find my stash of washers and it was raining, so I turned the washers over. Nice new flat surface worked perfectly.

I was motivated.

[plastikosmd]

thx tim, I just dabble, not like some of the pros here but appreciate the kudos

[Horst]

I found my long-lost sock.

[Tungsten dipper]

Went to the Christmas Pops concert.



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