What did you do today?

[gellfex]

I laid half a stairwell hallway of vinyl plank 'click' flooring this afternoon. You need to go to a zen place, and go slow. Undercut the door casings with the oscillating saw, get 1 run of planks running the whole length, and then scribe them to the wavy walls with several offsets. Fortunately you can cut and snap the stuff with a snap blade box cutter. This is the 3rd floor, and then I'm done. I put it on the stair treads with aluminum nosing. This stuff should be pretty tenant-proof, plus it has a stone pattern so dirt will be hard to see.

[J Tiers]

Paul..... it might be time to get some fiberglasss cloth and resin, to just go over the whole thing from whichever side is the worst, or maybe both. Usually the bottom is worse. 4 or 5 layers will end up about as stiff as metal for bridging gaps.

But first, you need to assess the condition and see if the result will even be reasonable.

We have safety inspections, and holes in the floorboards are a fail for exhaust leakage. (I never actually looked that up in the law, but it just makes sense, so I never questioned it)

[PStechPaul]

Here in MD we have only initial inspection to get registration, and then emissions testing every 2 years. I have only driven the truck less than 4000 miles over the last ten years, and I mostly use it just to get lumber and large items at Home Depot and such, and also to drive up a steep dirt access road to the meadow behind my house, where I have a lot of fallen trees cut up for firewood.

There do not seem to be any large gaps to fill, but I will get some Bondo and fiberglass mesh to seal the bad spots. I will have to do everything from the top - it's hard for me to crawl under the truck. There are a couple kinds of Bondo:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Bondo...1845/303713126 $15/qt

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Bondo...0262/202077782 $8/qt

I took a few shots of the underside of the truck:

[J Tiers]

you may want something more like this

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/b/bondo-2932/paint---body-repair-16614/body-repair-25202/fiberglass-repair-17770/9186b446fd37/bondo-fiberglass-resin-kit/422/2554647?q=Fiberglass+Repair&pos=8

The Bondo filler is really for smearing over a surface to smooth it, mot really for filling holes.

Once you have done whatever "Bondo-ing" is needed, and everything is cured, you might consider getting some heavy oil, some paint thinner, and maybe some vaseline, and spraying the underside all over. heavy oil can be sprayed when cut with paint thinner. If you can get some vaseline dissolved in it also, that will stick and stay in position better after the solvent is gone. Grease also can work, but vaseline is a bit more stable.

Keep it off the brake drums/rotors.....

[vpt]

I think I will remove the carpeting, perhaps cutting away the lower sections that seem to be soaked with salt water, and then adding good metal as needed to seal the floor and keep salt water from getting in again. I'm not sure if I'll replace the carpet with new all-weather carpet material, or maybe some kind of rubber or plastic. Possibly spray-on bedliner?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Ole...8914/202097787

I personally wouldn't out a real lot into it. For stuff like that little rust hole in the floor I would just get some sound deadening and stick it over the holes. Make up a quick new square tube seat mount. Spray the whole floor down with oil, cover with carpet, and forget about it. Before you know it the truck will have the same fate as the saturn.

[plastikosmd]

Placed an order for my Christmas present, 16 inch planer joiner combination machine from Hammer
Can’t wait!

[eddalex]

I'm cheating a little bit - I did this yesterday. I've been studying how to indicate parts in a 4-jaw chuck and one video I watched talked about the importance of keeping the indicator perpendicular to the center of the work piece so as to not induce any sine error into the reading. It dawned on me that an indicator holder that would fit into a tool holder on my tool post would be the hot lick.

I cut a short piece off of a 1/2"x4"x4" angle, drilled a 3/8" hole in one leg, sawed a slot in the led into the hole and then drilled and tapped a cross hole for clamping. It works like a champ and is easy to adjust to the center of the part. Plus you can use the cross slide adjustment to zero out your indicator.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMz_vr1wlC3AP0SokiRYam_KfOZw1bA0w82MJYF

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNshz_1ChxpSCz6QYgIvgl6pxohsKMDOlaPvS1S

[J Tiers]

Photos are 404.

The sine error is not important unless you want an absolute number for how far it is evcentric, such as for turning a particular amount of eccentricity, as for a crankshaft, etc..

To get it centered, that is not important. that is just a comparison.

[Arcane]

I bought a Waterpik yesterday and today I used it for the very first time. Let's just say I am glad there was no one there to watch!

[Willy]

I bought a Waterpik yesterday and today I used it for the very first time. Let's just say I am glad there was no one there to watch!

Ha Ha Ha
Thanks for the heads up.
Have had a new one sitting on the shelf for some time now and have been anticipating the same results. LOL

[Cenedd]

I bought a Waterpik yesterday and today I used it for the very first time. Let's just say I am glad there was no one there to watch!

You've not got it dialed in right. Did you account for cosine error?!
At worst, if it doesn't work for flossing, you could put it to work for spraying coolant.

[gambler]

[QUOTE=PStechPaul;1209988]Here in MD we have only initial inspection to get registration, and then emissions testing every 2 years. I have only driven the truck less than 4000 miles over the last ten years, and I mostly use it just to get lumber and large items at Home Depot and such, and also to drive up a steep dirt access road to the meadow behind my house, where I have a lot of fallen trees cut up for firewood.

There do not seem to be any large gaps to fill, but I will get some Bondo and fiberglass mesh to seal the bad spots. I will have to do everything from the top - it's hard for me to crawl under the truck. There are a couple kinds of Bondo:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Bondo...1845/303713126 $15/qt

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Bondo...0262/202077782 $8/qt

I took a few shots of the underside of the truck:








you sir are a prime candidate for leasing cars. or quit driving in the ocean.

[J Tiers]

People DO restore vehicles that are far worse than that.

But they are generally ones that will be worth the effort. Old Jaguar, etc.......

A pickup one just replaces, making sure to spray lots of oil on the bottom of the replacement. Best is oil , then a dry dirt road, 3 or 4 cycles of that, and the bottom should have a layer of mixed oil and dust on it that is better than undercoating.

[reggie_obe]

you sir are a prime candidate for leasing cars. or quit driving in the ocean.

Stop parking on: damp ground; wet leaves; ;grass; other debris. Get 5 or so tons of stone spread in your parking area.

[PStechPaul]

Today I cut out some of the carpet that was still wet, probably with brine. The passenger side is not quite so bad:


Driver's side is worse, but manageable:


Underside looks fairly sound, and I should be able to drill and tap into the frame channel to get a solid anchor for the seats.




Maybe next time I take it to my mechanic's he can spray used oil over the underside of the truck. I'm sure not going to crawl under it. Didn't get as much done today as I would have liked, so maybe tomorrow - weather should be warmer (45-50) but also probably rain.