Life seems to slow down during the week between Christmas and New Years, meaning one just thing: projects.
So, what’s on your to-do list this week? And who here can use some inspiration (persuasion?) to get something on the list? Now's the time to spin some wrenches, knock out those lingering projects and, in general, make some progress, right?
And I'll go first:
I'm about to replace our thermostat with one of those fancy ones that talk to the cloud. Why? So we can adjust the temp when upstairs.
Then some garage cleanup.
And maybe a run to drop off some oil to be recycled.
Later this week: some car detailing and more garage stuff.
Oh man.
I'm working on the laser cutter, fine-tuning settings. I'm doing wiring cleanup on the V8 Miata and may finish the upholstery. I may start building a custom gauge cluster for the same using Pi-driven stepper motors for stupid reasons. I'm going to build a custom controller for the lights on the Christmas tree because the one that came with them has burned out and only half the string illuminates. I may rework my DIY fancy thermostat to solve some problems with the screen because I've learned more since I built it. Hopefully the blue Miata will go on the lift for a bit of attention.
And there will be excessive baking.
My wife's Honda Pilot TPMS light came on. I'm going to put air into 2 tires. Might get crazy and do all four.
finishing walls so i can wrap and put windows/door in and work on interior framing
If we finally get the headaches cured, ill be trying to finish the restoration and detailing on my 1997 acr.
And clean the shop. Its atrocious.
Well about an hour ago I started a coffee table project. Step one was staining some pieces of wood. Currently letting it dry and then I'll do some more in a short bit. I have about 30 pieces to stain total, hope to start 'assembly' tomorrow evening maybe, maybe have it wrapped up by Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning me and the girlfriend are leaving for the mountains of North Carolina...Im thinking of taking the SW20 MR2 on this trip. I dont know, need to see the weather report, she (the 2) doesnt do so well in the slick stuff.
But then once we're back from our NYE trip the MR2 is getting some parts Ive been accumulating. Biggest thing is a new TCS Motorsports intercooler kit with hot and cold pipes, the fan kit etc
But I have a gen 3 swap on mine and had found a Japanese market sparkplug wire cover piece that was standard on the 2 on ebay, so I want to put that on...thinking of pulling the valve cover (ordered new VC gaskets from twosrus.com) and painting it because...well, I sort of want to. Never done it before.
New T-Top centric guides to, hopefully, stop it from leaking on me if I get stuck in some rain.
Bought some silicone vacuum hose to start replacing some of this old hose and maybe re-route the rats nest of Toyota hoses. Staying black, nothing flashy.
Putting an Omori boost gauge in the stock gauge's location in the dash, get rid of the A-pillar mounted unit, get more back to a clean, stock look.
Got a good condition trunk carpet to put in (mine didnt come with one, got one for free from a friend, but had been hacked up and has a spot missing from it where an aftermarket ECU was mounted).
IS300 gas pedal to match the clutch and brake pedals that are already in the car.
Oil change, new plugs.
Got a shop vac (finally) a few weeks ago, so I'll go through and suck up anything in all the little crevises that's been accumulating for 30 years.
Might get one of those headlight/taillight polishing kits from HF and try that on my tails while Im in the garage showing the MR2 some love.
David S. Wallens said:And I'll go first:
I'm about to replace our thermostat with one of those fancy ones that talk to the cloud. Why? So we can adjust the temp when upstairs.
Then some garage cleanup.
And maybe a run to drop off some oil to be recycled.
Later this week: some car detailing and more garage stuff.
You know you can sometimes add a wireless thermostat upstairs so that it can monitor that temp and adjust.
I've got some IT-related projects for this week and am trying to get out of the house as well, but I'm planning to do a bit of work on at least one of the motorcycles, the Maxton and the 911.
Oh yes, fixing the smoker thermostat that failed on Christmas morning as I was getting ready to throw the brisket on. There were bad words.
Finally finished the 2020 budget versus actual tabulation for the Ridgway (Colorado) Railroad Museum so we can set our 2021 budget, so now it's time to start painting the back stairs and laundry room floor, write an article about a little known Arizona ghost town called Total Wreck (gotta love that name) for Wild West magazine, finish reading the current issue of Analog, and play some on the various saxophones so my lip is still OK when I get back to playing with the rock/blues band about March (post-vaccine for us oldsters). Plus fix a table lamp and plan a couple of small projects for the MR2.
Hopefully gonna fit a set of pull down attic stairs to the attic space above the garage.
Last ditch effort to try and get things organized in the garage so I can work on things and not be encumbered by household items.
This spring, the garden supplies should be able to move to their own shed outside where it will be easier to access and organize.
Looking forward to it.
I'm finishing the top end on my F500. I may also assemble the 1500cc short block for the Datsun. Got a couple of oil changes I need to do.
I'm intentionally keeping it light because this is my annual stay-cation relaxation week.
Managed to do a little more sanding on this. Was hoping to paint before the new year but doesn't look like that will happen.
Lots to do, if the weather cooperates...
Get started on rewired the challenge miata. Good news is that is a small and relatively simple car. Bad news is I have never owned one before and only have about half of the harness deciphered. With any luck I'll have it running early next year.
Simultaneously I will prep to install the roll bar. The entire interior is out which should help make it easier. I just need to be ready to install the related parts around the roll bar which will make it more difficult.
Before that, I would really like to pressure wash the underside and surrounding area so I don't have to lay down in cold mud and storm debris.
Now, to post a want ad for a front sway bar. I think I have just enough room left in the budget and then I would be able to quickly move to the suspension once the engine is firing.
The usual stuff...
I'm working on Christmas leftovers today.
Maybe later I'll put the rear main seal and engine cover back on the 7.3 ambulance. I'm in the middle of a 4wd and 5 speed conversion.
I bought a Maker Made CNC. Put the frame 95% together, but the top beam has a bit of a twist to it. Unfortunately I don't own a vehicle that can transport 10ft lumber, so I'm on hold until I can get a friend to help me pick up a good straight piece.
Other than that I am working on finishing up a few Doom megawads, and eating as many cookies as possible.
I need to get the suspension and brakes on the EGT buttoned up, my body has been fighting me in getting it done the past two weeks.
I'm working on keeping my father, who just had bypass surgery, from overdoing it. Which means fixing a few little things around his house so he won't try to.
He's damn hardheaded though. I'm not sure I'll be successful.
Server migration at the office. I actually got it done Wednesday. The office was down for about 2 min while I changed IP addresses taking the old one off the network and then giving the new server the same IP address and name with the same share paths. I just closed all the ports in the router so no one could remote in during the switch. I only got one call from an employee asking why we now have 8x the server space :-). It is amazing how much snapper the new server is. I also went from a Rade 0 to Rade X.
I need to shut everything down and pull the old one out and install the new one in its permanent location. Going to do that tomorrow (because Sunday). I need to pull a couple new network cables so I may do that tomorrow as well.
Car related I am dusting off a MS system I have and I am going to bench test it with all sensors connected and the stimjim. Then I am going to rummage through my parts stash and start a new parts pile for my next project. Then I will see what is missing and I can start trolling eBay and other places for the rest of the stuff. The plan is to actually have all the parts in hand for a massive weekend thrash next spring.
ProDarwin said:I bought a Maker Made CNC. Put the frame 95% together, but the top beam has a bit of a twist to it. Unfortunately I don't own a vehicle that can transport 10ft lumber, so I'm on hold until I can get a friend to help me pick up a good straight piece.
Other than that I am working on finishing up a few Doom megawads, and eating as many cookies as possible.
I approve of all of these.
I'll be working on waiting for my delivery from Atkins Rotary so I can finish assembling a 12A.
My beautiful co-driver, Briget, and I have been perfecting the bodywork on the 1969 Suburban 4x4, getting it ready to paint. Since Covid shut down our business, we have spent over 500 hours replacing rusty bits and smoothing it all out. We are down to fixing very small imperfections and pretty soon it will get a shot of bedliner on the underside and (hopefully) a few coats of smooth, shiny paint everywhere else.
Replacing the clutch in Felix, my 1998 4Runner
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