My latest project
Okay, I’m starting to get back logged on projects here. I still have my carb to rebuild. Andrea’s car to paint. Fix the hail dents on my car. Get the basement chill pad set up. Finish painting the trim on the house… So why not take on another project that will at least help in getting some of the other ones done? So using the power tools I finally got from Sears, I picked up the stuff to build this:
It’s a workbench. Just a simple modest sized bench. It’s going in the basement and I’ll be nice to have a place to work on some stuff. I’ve already started and got all the pieces cut and I’m just putting everything together now. Should be done sometime tomorrow depending on when I get up and how much beer I drink. Photos to follow whether good or bad!
My next project
I bought a used carburetor for my car and I’m planning on rebuilding it and installing it on the Toronado. The one that’s on there now isn’t providing the gas mileage it used to.
All the parts involved.
Some people have said It’s a pretty ambitious project. I just consider it an exercise in patience. I have a couple new tools I have to buy, and a rebuild kit. But it should be a good winter project. I would have just rebuilt the one I have, but then I’d have to park the car while I was rebuilding it, and this might just take me a while. I want to take my time, get it right, and actually learn a thing or two!
Wish me luck…updates to come!
11.9.08Slow progress on the house.
I was going to do some more painting today, but it was too cold according to the directions on the can. Might be done with painting for the winter. But most of it looks better than it did. And I can live with it until spring.
Did end up getting a flag for the house though! I think it looks pretty good!
A remarkably productive weekend!
Well with the glorious weather we’ve been having, I was able to get quite a bit accomplished this weekend! I had several goals lined up, and I think I achieved them all.
First goal was to get Andrea’s exhaust fixed. It took $10 and about 20 minutes on my back with a grinder, grinding old rusty bolts off…but I got it off, and now she has four inches of shiny new exhaust pipe underneath her car. No need for extra strength coat hangers anymore!
Second, the drain pipe for the sink in the bathroom started leaking. Luckily it had just worked its way loose somehow. I took it apart. Cleaned out the grody mess, and put it back together and it works like new!
The big goal for the weekend was get at least the front of the house painted. I FINALLY got my ladder! It’s a little on the light duty side…i.e. wobbly. But it works, and once you get used to the ladder swaying back and forth and you realize it’s not going to topple over, it’s not too bad I guess. But I did get MOST of the front of the house painted and the whole west side. So I still need to get actually on the roof to finish the front, but then I should be good until spring at least. Unless we keep having 70 degree days all winter. Then I should be done in a couple weekends! I’d take some pictures…but we left our camera in Wichita. You’ll just ave to come see for yourself!
08.13.08My next project…
This one is a ways off. Lots of stuff to do yet, but once the car is fixed, and the house is painted, and we have some extra money laying around. I want to take an old phonograph kinda like the one that I have, and mod it into a PC.
They’re certianly big enough. And it’d be kind of cool and definetly different. So I’ll keep my out out for a good unit. Try to get a good price on something that doesn’t work as a radio, but the cabinet is in good shape. Should be fun…someday.
So much paint. So little time.
Well, I decided it’s finally time to get to all the hail dents on the Toronado. Except for the fact that nobody around here sells the right color of paint. If I were smart I would have stocked up. But no. I’m not smart. Luckily Biebs was able to score some for me from Home Depot in Hays. Saweet! So I was looking at maybe starting the sand and fill the MANY MANY hail dents this weekend.
And then I’m heading over to drop of my rent check and the landlord is there. She says, “Hey, here’s that paint you asked for to paint the house!” Hooray! Which I am also excited about. Finally get some paint on the gawd awful trim on this house. So that’s gonna take priority. Except that I don’t have a ladder. Gotta get a ladder. Only its hard to haul a ladder home in either a Toronado, or a Mustang. If only I had…oh…an El Camino!
But they’ll both get done. Hopefully before the snow falls. I hope.
04.10.08A little experiment with the Postal Service
At work the other day, Jenn was trying to tell me that you could mail a letter without putting the city or state on there, just the zip code. I wasn’t so sure. I remember a couple times my grandma would mail me cards when I was young to just my name with the city and state. No zip code. And it got there! Of course Ingalls is quite a small little berg.
So we devised two experiments.
1) We addressed a letter normally, but instead of putting the City and State on there, we just put the zip code on. She threw a stamp on it and we threw it in the mail in a public drop box. We’ll see if it ever arrives.
2) This experiment I found a bit more intriguing. Say you want to mail a letter, but you don’t have a stamp. Well, what if you put the person you want to send TO in the RETURN address location.? Without a stamp, would the letter not be returned to the supposed sender? Which in this case is actually the intended destination?
So we just swapped the return address, and the to addresses, and dumped it into a public mailbox with no stamp. We’ll see if that goes anywhere as well.
I’m pretty sure there is some kind of law against this, so I wouldn’t try it on a regular basis. But I’m curious to see if the letters end up where we want them to. Updates to follow!
Settled on the El Camino.
The insurance adjuster got back with me today, sooner than I thought. The damage did total the car, as expected. We’re going to meet next week and exchange the title and they’re going to cut me a check for $850. I’m pretty satisfied. I’d have a pretty hard time selling the car for that much, even without the roof damage. I had the option to keep the car and get about $300 less, but I’d still be stuck getting the roof fixed which would be costly to get done right. Best to cut my losses and move on to the next project, I think.
01.10.08A couple last pictures.
Well the insurance adjuster is supposed to be intouch with me here in the next day or so. So I figured I’d get the El Camino washed off and looking as good as it CAN look. At least I can say I got some use out of it. Hauled a several loads of limbs out of the place and had fun driving it to work a couple days.
Never did get much work done on it since I started painting the Toronado shortly after I got this. Just got the new bumper put on, trim rings on the wheels and a couple odds and ends. Never did get around to getting the real tail lights working though. But sure seems like she came a long way since I got her:
I’ll probably save a lot of parts incase I get another El Camino of the same body style, or just sell a bunch of parts. Who knows. Either way I think I got my money’s worth out of it, and I can say I owned an El Camino!
01.5.08My El Camino project is no more.
Well the landlord came by today with a saw to cut down limbs. Instead of getting me to move the car, he goes ahead and chops one down above the car and wouldn’t ya know it punches in the roof. 
Luckily I hadn’t done a ton of work to the car yet. But I sure was looking forward to the spring and diving into it. Even found a new transmission to put in, and I had fenders, a hood, doors and a new rear bumper all ready to put on.
My landlord is a good guy and mistakes happen. He’s gonna call his insurance company next week, but it’s without question totaled. Dunno how much I’ll get, but I guess I’ll put it towards another El Camino.
Just feeling blue about it all.