Major delinquency report...

So I've been absent for a while. I have an excuse: Holidays.

Also, there was the building of this Christmas gift for my nieces and nephews:

Happy?

No, me neither. Really, I've just been super busy projecting, and also I broke my camera so all I have is my (subpar) cell phone camera.

On to the good stuff.

First, there was the re-wiring of my air compressor for single phase:

 New GE Motor Starter and Circuit Breaker

 Cable whips to connect components

 And re-configured pressure switch to trigger contactor (no longer switching 27A motor load!)

Of course, the air compressor needs a home. So the new garage came into being:

 This building went up in 36 hours start to finish. Unreal.

 Then came the epic electrical trench saga. Keep in mind for the week prior to digging this it had been sub-zero at night.

First, the tractor stack broke, Again. Ooops

Got that welded up and all was well. Started trenching from the house and all things seemed fine. This picture taken about 4PM Thursday when electrician stopped by to take final measurements. He was planning to start 8AM Friday morning. I should note, this project was to install 220VAC / 100A service to my garage. About 100 feet of conduit plus wire across my basement to the fuse panel.

This picture taken at about 2AM when I ran out of diesel. 40% of trench dug. I had switched to digging by garage when frost got too thick at other end.

Friday, all day, I dug. And swung a pick. And then dug some more. About noon, at the suggestion of the electrician, I went and rented this awesome ground cutting machine. And then kept digging. This picture taken about 11AM Saturday morning. With three people working with a backhoe, the ground saw, shovels and picks, the trench was finally done at 1PM Saturday. I had to pay overtime to get the electrician to come back and finish the conduit. We also had to go around multiple large rocks which couldn't be pulled with my 25hp tractor. The frost at the center of the trench was 18"+ thick. Like digging in concrete.

I then went to Lowes to exchange the 5lbs pick I bought. They said they didn't figure I had the receipt. I told them I did, as I had just bought it the day before. The returns lady looked at me kinda funny. Kobalt does have a lifetime warranty and they did honor it without questions, so kudos for that.

Of course, I couldn't get an inspection until Monday. What did it do Sunday? Rain. And Rain. And RAIN. This photo taken Monday at 8AM. Inspector came and gave the all clear.

I begin to fill. It keeps raining. The top 6" of the ground is now 100% liquid mud, and underneath still frozen solid. The trench, as I filled, also was 100% liquid mud. Then, this happened.

And of course, at that angle there wasn't enough diesel in the tank to keep running. So after I got a good laugh at myself (and for most everyone else who saw this photo), I got more diesel and got it unstuck.

Today I have a mish-mash of updates:

First, the world of "let's try and make my truck legal for inspection", which started with the previously posted spark plug adventure. This time, I had to fix some rust and an exhaust leak:

But first, I had to get that darned manifold off. Good thing there is so much room under the hood.

Problem:

 

Yeah. Heat riser valve not supposed to look like that. And there is really no good way to fix cast iron.

Yet, somehow that worked. I slathered the inside of it up pretty well with muffler cement and away I went.

Next up, Insta-Body

Some of you may recognize that. It's good stuff. For the worst hole, I was not proud to resort to sheetmetal screws and galvy plate:

But it came out okay, at least for a plow truck.

On to the next subject: New Garage!

The slab got poured yesterday, but I haven't been home in the light to take pictures yet.

Also, had to re-motor my air compressor. The way life should be. Made In USA.

That's all for now. Stay tuned.

Wait, more fun! One of my trucks actually broke today. I say this like I am surprised.

Yep, it decided to start spitting out spark plugs on the side of the road. Let me tell you, I wished I had hearing protection driving it home like that. LOUD.

The end result looks like this

Guess it needed a tune-up worse than I though.

I am either a genius or completely insane. This weekend, I bought an air compressor for my new garage:

It's a professional 2 stage cast iron type, low RPM. And it weighs roughly 700 lbs on the pallet.

Why might I be insane? Because I went into this knowing it was going to be loaded with a forklift, which is something I most definitely do not have.

So then I decided to try this:

I got lucky this time, and I did not break anything or injury anybody

After that, I had to fix the stack on my tractor. It's a homebuilt affair, I put it on the machine about this time last year. I found some vibration cracks which needed to be welded:

Yikes! Good news is, it's all fixed, and I've added an additional mounting bolt to hopefully stabilize everything and stop a repeat from occurring.

That's all for now, folks. More to come Thursday when the excavators arrive

I have been majorly delinquent on this blog. So, without further ado, some updates.

First, this just happened.

me:  also, I am slowly going mad over my HHR's USB

it seems to randomly pick songs that it won't play

and once it's picked one, it never works again

but more tracks stop working

Tai:  lol

i hstr vomputytrd domr fsyd

...

me:  WTF???

Tai:  lol

had was mis alighedf

aligned

i meant to say i hate when computes screw up

me:  I think that's probably blog worthy

Tai:  lol  yes

This is fairly normal. 

I've been extremely busy at the house, there has been much work to do.

First, there were french drains to put in around my barn

Looks harmless enough, right? Little did we know...

This is how far the 3 yards of gravel I estimated got us. Somehow, I dropped a factor of 5. So maybe I should have actually written the calculation down.

 11 more yards later, I'm dumping the last of the gravel next to the barn and it's all set. Lots of weight moved, got my shovel on! 

Then, there was the cleaning out of the radiator on my Buick (which I did myself because the shop refused to touch it)

For the record, it was VERY plugged. And each one of the tubes gave me a bunch of goop like this:

 Yech. Good news is the car doesn't overheat anymore, and the radiator is *mostly* leak free ... it will do for now.

 Then, I decided to build a new garage, so much site clearing work had to be done:

The John Deere wants to play!

 Somewhere, along the way, this happened

I was less than amused. I only had one spare lens, that was 41 years old!

At the end of the day, I have a MASSIVE pile of sectioned wood which still needs to be split and stacked under my protective overhang before it gets too cold and starts to snow. 

Also, having a dumptruck is, quite possibly, the most useful thing ever.

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.