What did you do today?

[darryl]

I pulled the motor out of my friends TR4 one day. I stood on the frame, hovering over the engine, and hefted it up and out of there. Didn't need no stinkin hoist

[lwalker]

Wow! Just drove home and pulled the motor. I would have procrastinated for days if not weeks. But I do keep a spare vehicle so I can have that "luxury".

That's exactly what I thought. I have a Nissan Xterra that's been sitting in my driveway with a blown head gasket, almost everything but the head itself is off by now, but it's been there for 3 YEARS. The embarrassing thing is that I know that if I just took a day off work and devoted myself to it, I could have gotten it all done in one day most likely.

However, we're running out of spare vehicles, so I have to make a "fix or replace" decision pretty soon.

[vpt]

Thanks! lol

I have a few reasons for getting right at it. One is it is my daily driver during winter so it is pretty much the only vehicle I have to drive at the moment. Two is if you let a bad head gasket sit the cylinder will rust and the coolant will leak down into the oil pan. Third reason is the car needed a clutch for a few years now, I figured this would be a good time to change it as well.

If you want to hear about procrastination, I have a 68 mustang in storage that I have intended to get to for the last 17-18 years.

[sasquatch]

Re: 68 Mustang: Andy never rush into things, think this project out thorougly!! Lol Better to always have a plan.

[vpt]

Re: 68 Mustang: Andy never rush into things, think this project out thorougly!! Lol Better to always have a plan.

That is part of the problem. I can't decide what kind of powerplant I want in it. That decision alone holds up the works. Originally I thought I wanted a 03+cobra drivetrain which means removal of the front shock towers. Then I started thinking maybe I should go with the 92-96 for lightning drivetrain which would retain the shock towers. I do know I want a supercharger on it though no matter what air pump is in there.

[Mike Nash]

I have a 68 mustang

That was my first car. Yours could even be my first car if it's a coupe and was originally dark green. It was stolen in Alabama March 28, 1982. Insurance paid $2500 It was later recovered in Nevada. I wasn't given the opportunity to reclaim it.

[bborr01]

I recall a story from a Detroit newspaper 15 or 20 years ago about how a guy had his suburban stolen. He went to the custom auto show at Cobo Hall and was looking at a custom suburban. When he owned it he had mounted a radar detector or something overhead and the screw was a little too long and it left a dimple. Sure enough, there was a dimple.

He got the burban back without paying a dime for the customization. He said when it was stolen it was just an average daily driver.

Brian

That was my first car. Yours could even be my first car if it's a coupe and was originally dark green. It was stolen in Alabama March 28, 1982. Insurance paid $2500 It was later recovered in Nevada. I wasn't given the opportunity to reclaim it.

[dp]

I replaced the IAC motor on my Dodge pickup truck. Runs greats again. It was stalling at intersections or coasting to pull into a drive or parking lot. It's quite a handful for the Mrs. when the motor quits.

[Black_Moons]

Finished a 5 piece Crank puller/installer that costs $80 to buy the 'real' version.

Now I can put that 2 stroke motor back together and get it off my bench and take apart the other 3 motors.

[vpt]

That was my first car. Yours could even be my first car if it's a coupe and was originally dark green. It was stolen in Alabama March 28, 1982. Insurance paid $2500 It was later recovered in Nevada. I wasn't given the opportunity to reclaim it.

It is a coupe, it was some sort of green or blue, and it is from nevada! I6 auto red now (need to be painted right) had a vinyl top which after pealing off revealed some 1970's dove love messages and peace signs painted on the top before the targa was put on I assume or from the factory? It was black under the top not any of the body colors.

[rock_breaker]

Single pointed 5/8" X 18 TPI on a rod in preparation for making a centering plug for my rotary table. The RT has a 1.625 X 0.5 deep socket hole that I plan on using a plug of the same diameter to locate the table under the quill.

Ray

[R.Bolte.Jr]

After taking good advice here, and buying a used Mitutoyo DTI, instead of a new Chinese one, I needed a way to mount it. So tonight I made a 3/8 to dovetail adaptor. Milled the top slot to .200, then hand filed the dovetail to fit. Did a crazy .425-20 thread, because thats what the lathe was set up for.
Snugs up nicely.

[PStechPaul]

I'm working on a newly revised air/steam engine and I made a standoff/ball bearing shaft for the flywheel:



I made this from a piece of 0.375" O-1 tool steel drill rod. It's probably overkill for this, but I wanted to get some experience with it. I had to resharpen my HSS tool bits and run the lathe at 600 RPM to get good finish for turning. But I had to use 120 RPM for parting.







I made the parting tool narrower when I re-sharpened it, and also re-centered it on the center of the axis to part the piece with a smaller nub. I had expected more problems, but it machined OK once I got used to it. Facing, turning, drilling, tapping, and parting. Seems like good metal compared to 1018 carbon steel, more like 4140. But not as nice as 416 SS, except probably stronger and can be hardened if desired.

[MrFluffy]

Made a new keypad for my edm thats been bugging me as a long term niggle.
The only monitor that worked with the ancient computer inside was a different physical size, and the display has a line of keys round the edge of the monitor that change function with menu selection which do not line up with the menus with my bigger monitor and I couldnt see all of the display without having a gap to see past. Various attempts to find a lcd the right size which supported 14khz inputs failed, and I tried a scandoubler and the same. So, oversized wrong monitor it has to be.
Machined the old monitor surround square for the larger monitor which cut away the existing keypad areas then made a new keyboard panel model.


Then the POS bridgeport cnc was deployed, and I have also got my head around tool offsets and touching off each tool in the carousel and storing it. This was 3 toolchanges.


In situ, I have to do the vertical keypad next that is missing. They are just wired deadbug trailing wire style behind the panel, but they are simple keyswitches anyway, not a matrix.

[KIMFAB]

I was willed a nice 2' X 2' ledged surface plate

This gave me an excuse to try out my newly operational plasma table.

I'm using a Hypertherm powermax45 with a mounted hand torch. I had to modify it a bit to make it controllable
by the table electronics.

Ended up with a set of caster plates.