More JJ Chaman Chat Transcripts & 6.5L Oil Changes

To prove we are totally normal average guys I offer you this chat transcript

James J: http://www.acdelcotechconnect.com/pi/wiring-connectors/

Best. Thing. Ever

Chanman: That sounds like a dangerous website.

<30 Seconds later>

Chanman: MOST AWESOME SITE EVER

Ok for those of you that didn't immediately click said link, it is a visual guide listing part numbers of all acdeclo (delphi) connectors used on GM vehicles (or at least a metric crap ton of them), which if a) you work on gm vehicles and b) have a case of chronic OEMitius you will find this probably the best thing since sliced bread. 

So, laugh at me all you want, I deserve it. So I recently moved and changed jobs this  changed my communte from 5 miles round trim to 60mi each way as evidenced by my mileage. 11JUL12: 196678 13JUL13: 201522 (that included at least 1 trip up to NH from VA and back if not 2. As of yesterday the Tahoe's odometer read 206637. As you can imagine this has played havoc with my maintenance routines. I may have forgotten to do a oil change, so this weekend i realized this and proceeded to buy everything at start it at Sunday at 6PM. I forgot WHAT A GIANT PITA the oil filter is on a 6.5L. Dear GM engineers, really you could have give me more than a 1/8 of a turn with my oil filter wrench. which combined with the whole getting dark thing was irritating the living crap out of me and of course it I was hungry and the oil was still draining out so I gave in for the night and decided using my slacker logic that clearly I can finish this in the morning in the sunlight. Normally, I wouldn't have done this being I leave at sunrise, but I was able to leave a little alter b/c I was doing a site visit at work and wasn't scheduled to meet the other guy till 0900. Well of course at some point turned the front drive shaft enough that I couldn't get the oil filter past the differential yoke, (yes its that tight) a fit. I had anticipated that it was going to be a PITA to put back so I only put about 1/2 full of fresh oil in the new filter, but of course by attempt 3 to get this up past the drive shaft and back into place through a path I knew it came out of I was promptly covered in oil and annoyed as hell. I blame this for no pictures. Either way  I had to take another shower and course this took WAYY longer than expected or scheduled. I wish eternal showers of used diesel oil on  the GM engineer who decided to put the oil filter in that location. Luckily for me my partner forgot his ID and had to drive back home to get it, so he was more behind schedule than me. Side note  the GMT 400 wired in drop lights are great. I had never used one before to do  something but it sure beat trying to balance a flashlight and someday. they give off quite a bit of light. I may try to up fit one to my GMT.

And to close out  I have included a comic for your reading pleasure, last 3 panels. Yup I might even pay money to watch that move if it was ever made.   http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=181  

 

Till we meet again, Chanman Out.

This weekend I did actual work! Surprised, right?

Most of that work, really, was on my new Buick. Nothing particularly photogenic.

I did, however, succeed in getting bed sides made for my flatbed.

Those are the original side-board linking brackets. Only original pieces left, all of the wood was VERY rotten.

Now, I am pretty proud of my tailgate design for this, I think it's clever.

I used standard strap hinges to carry the gates. Everything is installed with 1/4" carriage bolt hardware to mimic the original design, and also minimize the number of potential snag points. The gates are held shut with a 5" barrel bolt, which locks directly into the framing of the bed. These particular models also have an opening for a padlock, which I'm using to install a 3/8" lynch pin to keep the gates positively closed when driving.

I aligned the supports on the gates (and the hinge pivot point) such that they will swing 270 degrees out and lock back flush against the sideboards, in the event I want to use the bed with the back open, or for dumping.

This thing right here is a product I've never seen before - it's a simple hook and eye arrangement, but intended for positively securing a gate so it has a spring-loaded keeper that prevents it from coming unlatched. Pretty neat and perfect for what I'm doing.

So that ought to make the truck that much more useful.

As an aside, I was working on this part of my Buick earlier today:

And yes, it was running when I took this picture.

This weekend I was not doing work with the tractor. I got distracted.

Story of my life? You betcha.

Here's why:

Yep, that's a '63 Buick following me home. So, needless to say, my weekend was otherwise occupied.

Then, of course, this happened:

So my tow rig now needs $250 in parts to be legally back on the road. Shucks.

That's okay, though. Because I can just sit there and look at this, meantime.

So this weekend, I did a whole lot of un-fun stuff at my house. Primarily cleaning the garage and remnants of my last project up, throwing things away, sorting stuff to fill up my new shelving unit, mowing the lawn... nothing blog worthy.

I did, however, visit a good friend of mine who has a farm. And I took some pictures, which are blog worthy!

 I didn't use this one this trip. One of the last times I visited, we had to rebuild a river crossing ford and several culverts and I got some serious wheel time with this bad boy.

However. I did get to play with the newest farm resident, this sweet 45 horsepower New Holland:

Yep, that's a Toyota Tacoma pickup, just for size reference. Boy do I want one of these. We call it "Farm Therapy" ... I get to play with all kinds of awesome toys, which I think is the best thing in the world, and work gets done. Everybody wins!

And then, there was also this:

My friend is a Jeep guy. Unfortunately for him, the gentleman driving the refrigerated box truck apparently wasn't. No injuries, thankfully, but the poor Jeep (which he'd just bought a few weeks before, too!) was a little bit worse for wear.

So after he bought a replacement with the insurance payment, we had this idea... it started as a kidding-around kind of discussion, but whenever there's a car and a welder and a sawz-all readily at hand, some kind of mischief is bound to happen.

And thus, the Jeep Cherokee Sporttrac was born. Pretty sweet farm rig! The dog loved it, for sure. We paid careful attention to the details, of course. Shortened the roof rack, welded caps onto the rear uprights, added a new roof support, we even trimmed the headliner to shape.

All in a day's work.

I should have some fun tractor projects of my own this coming weekend, so stay tuned.

ok...i suck at updating this and oh look a barn

Well its been a while since I've popped my  head in here, mainly because I lead a boring live, relatively project free due to the fact I have no money right now. One of the reasons I have a bank account with close to zilch is due to buying a barn...ok its really a shed but its red...ok kinda half red.This is how this goes.... well you see I realized that I needed more storage, mainly you can't walk (or work inside the house) due to the uhhh stuff. However, because this is not the People Republic of Bezerkley Calnnneeeeefooorrnneeeaaa

Really Awesome GMC TopKick

, well you cant just leave stuff outside for the summer like my parents do, so despite owing two trailers,  both of which are so  full I cant walk or stuff much else in I gave in and decided I need to build storage. A excl spreadsheet later, revealed, one lumber is expensive, two, you need a lot of it to even build a 8x8 or 8x10 shed. So I decided to stop by the local shed dealer, who is actually a mobile home dealer, that also sells shed and has this really awesome GMC TopKick.

Well there are several dealers with different brands. A quick survey of the quality from Lowe's (kit form) and the other dealers in the area. made me come back to these Sheds made by a company called Graceland, they just seemed to be much better quality construction. And for $2,019.30 I had my self a shed 8x12 delivered. Sure, I could have gone a bit cheaper in a kit, or tried to build it myself, but by the time I ended up building it with all the materials I would have used and the I doubt I would have saved all that much, plus building said shed would have led me to the dangers of project creep and I would have ended up broke with a half build 40x50 two story barn. Ok, maybe not that bad, but who am I kidding it would have grown. So I paid the bill and waited for mys shed to come a few weeks later, Graceland Custom builds every shed, so you can put whatever features you want in it. anyways after a little hiccup where the trucking company told me Friday, and put Monday on the schedule, my barn arrived after work today. 

Shed coming through

  Why yes that is in fact a wide load pilot truck in my driveway.They have this crazy mini forklift thing that lifted the building right off the ground, popped wheels on one end of the skids dropped it own and lifted the other end with the Mule and drove the shed to where I wanted it. About 20 minutes and 18 concrete pavers and four strapping rods later there was a completed ready to use shed in my back yard...I'm a bit leery at that foundation, but I have to keep telling myself that I am not storing bullion or lead shielding in the shed, its just boxes full of Christmas lights, a spare dryer, 

And I worked so hard on Thursday too

some car parts, and boat parts, half of which are on my lawn right now. Making it look like a scene straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. But that brings me to the point of what JJ and myself considered universal law. Barns must be red with white trim. Period. so within half an hour, this  commenced. yes I had already bought paint for it Thursday after work expecting it to arrive on Friday. Unfortunately, as you may

Its so pretty and it will be filled so fast with crap

have noticed painting is not finished. You know how there is always that guy who's is complaining about getting bitten b y mosquitoes and no one else is, well that's me the f'in blood suckers love me better than a vampire to Rachel Morgan. (if you get the reference here +5 points, and yes I know I have unsophisticated literary tastes, get over it) Since it was getting oh about sunset and the horde had come out so I beat a hasty retreat for the house once I started getting bites under my shirt.

and its starting to change color

 Side note, I'm using way more paint that I calculated. This stuff is really soaking in way more than I expected, but this is a first coat so I couldn't be surprised. Anyways, more pictures will come. as it gets painted because who doesn't love red barn pictures. Dare I say I already have projects ideas, yes I want to put power and lights in/on the shed. Oh yea, I realized over the weekend I need to basically rebuild my well system and put in a proper well house, and oh yea the truck alignment center told me on Friday that they could align the Taink because the pitman and inner tie-rod were that bad. So I do have plenty of projects to do, and seriously no money. Err I think I've rambled on enough here now. Till next time; Chanman out.