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You know you're old when it seems like yesterday was Sunday, but tomorrow is Saturday.

I had a couple of pennies that were flattened by the Freedom Train when we saw it in Florida back in the 70s, but lost track of them a few years ago.

My fall back plan is to do that if they can't get the powder coating right. He said that usually recoating them works a lot better, as anything om the crevices gets baked out the first time. I'll wait and see. Also, The color really isn't what Argent Silver is supposed to look like, too bright...

Got a call from the powder coat shop, said they had a problem with the wheels, and would like me to take a look at them. It seems that sometimes when they powder coat welded rims like these are, they sometimes get bubbling at the seam, and that's what happened. If it would have been on the back...

I'm a lefty, when I first learned to write, I wrote right to left, but eventually the teacher got me to write left to right. I shoot a pistol left handed, but shoot long guns right handed. When I was really small, we lived with my paternal grandfather for a couple of years, and when I would do...

Apparently, they could afford a probably several hundred dollar fridge, but not a couple of $10 ratchet straps.

This weekend, I pulled the X-pipe out of the car and turned it over hoping that would raise the pipe enough, but not too much. But, with it turned over and all the pipes connected, it was right up against the drive shaft. Took it back off and made some cuts in the short pipes ahead of the X so...

I started working in the local restaurant as a bus boy in 1964, on Mother's Day. After the rush was over, I got to wash all the pots and pans. Made $.80/hr. I did a lot of food prep for the weekend crowds, flowering chicken and fish, making cole slaw and wrapping baking potatoes in foil. After...

Dropped the wheels off at the powder coat shop today, he thought they'd have them done end of next week. They can't do two colors, so I'll just paint the black areas. Took some time and cleaned the bench off this afternoon. Also went to the electrical supply in town and bought three 8 foot LED...

I didn't really notice, as I had him on ignore.

After the wife and kids left, and it was only me eating at home most of the time, and the dishwasher broke, I have washed everything by hand.

No, I think it's the original , kinda floral design.

I'm still using Corelle dishes I bought in the mid 70s, and they still look brand new. Never have broken one either.

Yes, down on the south side of town, but I have had some bad service there, so I'm not going back. Prices are higher than McMaster-Carr, too.

I have a couple of bottoming taps, but not a 1/4"-28, of course.

I thought about that, but then I would still have to buy a new tap, so I just figured I'd get the proper tap to begin with. I have other things to do until the tap gets here. Of course, when I order from McMaster-Carr I usually get the parts the next day or so, since they come out of Chicago...

I loved her in Scrooged, especially when she hit Bill Murray with a toaster.

Pictures like that make me feel rather insignificant. Makes you wonder how many other sentient beings are looking back at us and feeling the same thing.

I finally have the parking brakes nearly finished up. I have all the cables installed and routed, just waiting on a 1/4"-28 bottoming tap to show up so I can finish tapping the set screw holes in the block I am using to connect the left and right cables together, similar to the factory setup. I...

I'm not sure how far back the arrangement was used, but the EMD E series of locomotives also used A1A-A1A wheel arrangements, as the were basically the power trains of two F series units on one longer chassis. Advancements in the power ratings of traction motors using AC technology has allowed a...

I'm still running WIN7, and have had to help so many friends with trying to get rid of all the spyware and bloatware in WIN10 and WIN11, I will migrate to a distro of Linux before I install them on one of my machines. I have a drive in my computer that I regularly image my C: drive to, just in...

The lead locomotive is an General Electric ES44C4, which rides on three axle trucks, but only the leading and trailing axles are powered, making it an A1A-A1A wheel arrangement. Couldn't make out the unit number on the trailing locomotive, but it has a different radiator, so it is probably a...

When we were running a fleet of semi-dumps and a few PTO shafts and pumps got destroyed, we put rather loud beeper alarms in all the trucks using a pressure switch in the airline to the PTO. That pretty much eliminated PTO and pump problems.

She mustn't have known you could unscrew the mouthpiece and take the microphone element out, so there would be no background noise to give her away. Don't ask how I came to know this little party line secret. ;)

Well, I finally got the exhaust finished up. The new tailpipes sort of fit, well, not really. The end that attaches to the outlet of the muffler, extended too far forward, so I had to cut ~3 inchesoff and reswage the pipes. I had bought a tail pipe expander a while back and I used it to swage...

Yep, the local shoe store on Main Street had one when I was a kid. They were really a bad device, exposing the operators to a large dose of X-rays.

Not me, I go to the Wranglers web site, order the ones I like, and a couple of days later the UPS guy delivers them. No more searching piles of jeans for the size and style I want.

Don't see too many older cars with roller bearing conversion on journal type trucks,

You're welcome! ;)

The Fazoli's brownies are probably the best I've had, full of chocolate chunks. :devilish:

Me too! Everyone wants you to install their app so they can pummel you with "special" offers and ads, in addition to compiling every bit of data they can from your buying habits and which ads you look at, and then sell that personal info to data brokers. I only have one app on my phone...

A crow foot wrench works well, too.

I buried a run of plain old RG-6 coax from the house to my shop when I built it in '83 so I could watch SAT TV if I wanted to. Never used it until a couple of years ago when I wanted to have internet access in the shop. was going to run direct burial CAT6 cable, in fact I bought it, but...

A while back, I bought a bunch of the flip top storage bins and spent an entire day sorting all the "stuff" into them and labeling each one denoting the contents. One is entirely full of boxes of screws and nails, and must weigh ~50lbs. Electrical wiring supplies, painting, tiling and plumbing...

I built one for my BX2230, out of parts and material I had on hand. Works great.

None. Channel locks do the job for me.

And they weren't the crew! Nowadays, most of the passengers look and smell worse than refugees, and behave like two year old children.

Writing practice paper in grade school.

Remember the Uniroyal Tiger Paw tire commercials?

Will do, Moss.

When I get it on the road, I'll have to drop by so you can drool on it. ;)

Chevy, Chrysler and Ford all used variations of the Magnum wheel.

Yes, the tops can trap water and lead to rust issues, but that was mainly on older cars like mine that weren't built with any longevity in mind. Newer, and replacement tops can be installed and sealed much better than they were from the factory back in the 70s and 80s, so I don't have any...

I still had some spray-on undercoating left in a can, so I shot a bunch of it into the bottom of the rear quarter panels for rust prevention. I still have a couple of other places I want to seal up, but I'm going to have to order another can as this one is just about empty. I had bolted the rear...

When I was in business, I had to submit a financial statement to the bank every year if I had any outstanding loans. After they were all paid off, I kept doing the statements for my own information about just where I stood financially. Information is always a good thing to have.

May 2nd is the first local cruise-in here, don't think I'll make it by then.

It didn't look that great when I took it, but with the work light hanging over the column and the phone's flash, I was surprised how well it came out. Yep, it didn't take that long to do the job this time, and I knew every tool I needed to do it, so fewer trips to the tool box. But, it's not a...

I have a couple of different ones, but have had limited success. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. Small traces are really difficult to use them on, as the solder will cool so quick that by the time you remove the iron and apply the sucker, it has cooled too much to get sucked out. The...

Not tractor related, but I just bought a Hakko FR-3010-03 de-soldering gun. I have a couple of electronic repair projects that require removing through hole components from PC boards, and I have used flux/solder/de-soldering wick with limited success. Tried the Hakko for the first time tonight...

The Battle Of The Bulge. :cool:

When you are 20 years older than the car you are restoring and the car is considered an antique.

Actually, I've kept the car registered and insured all these years as I didn't know just when I'd get it back on the road and I didn' want to lose my vanity plate, so as long as the plate is on it, I'm good to go. I have a 1970 plate a friend gave me, and I can take it and my "Seventy" plate...

Still getting some things done on the Nova. I repainted the black part of the rear trim plate, then spent an hour laying out the four mounting holes. Measure six times and drill once. Came out very close, only had to file a couple holes out a 32nd of an inch or so to get it to fit snugly against...

On the local news this evening, they had a spot about the Joseph L Block being the first ship through the Soo locks this season.

It also shows that many young people are more interested in what the latest scandal is going around on social media than learning life skills. You can't force kids to learn anything, well, at least today you can't. When I was in high school there were two kids in my class that has been held back...

As long as the company selling those devices doesn't go titsup and they can't talk to the servers in the cloud, like some have done.

I didn't go to a Catholic school, but when I was in elementary school, we did have an old retired minister that came around every week and gave us Bible lessons, for which we had to buy a workbook from him. Quite a sweet deal for him. It kind of planted the seeds of doubt in my young mind about...

Using that line of reasoning, Mars should be awash in plant life, since it's atmosphere is predominately CO². Venus' atmosphere also has a high percentage of CO², and it's surface temperature is about 800°F. Like anything in a complex, interrelated system like our atmosphere and everything...

The older I get, the less time I will take to suffer idiots.

We used to drive to Ohio to buy fireworks, not beer. Couldn't stand that vile tasting stuff. In fact, a few years ago on a trip to Ohio, we stopped at the same store, still there over 50 years later, being run by a daughter of the originals owners.

I still have two boxes of Chocolate Charlie left from Christmas. They are still selling it in Martin's stores, too. It used to be seasonal only.

So does the school I went to. It usually had a total of 450-500 students in K-12th grade. My graduating class in 1968 was 31 kids, and the last I knew 11 had passed.

We did get the bumper on today. Initially I had the rear bracket bolts in the wrong holes in the subframe and couldn't get it positioned correctly, but I figured that out. It HAS been over a decade since I took it apart. I went over to Brian's place this afternoon to help him get his '70 Charger...

Remember when a place like this was the hot spot to hang out at on Friday and Saturday nights? Lots of hot cars and hot women riding in them. Most of the car hops were pretty nice too.

Since we here in the US have an eclipse coming in April that will be seen by millions of people, here is a bit of eclipse trivia. The eclipse with the longest period of totality in recent history was on June 20, 1955, visible in the southern hemisphere, and lasted for 7 minutes and 8 seconds in...

I pulled the alternator off and took it apart to see if I had messed something up when I reclocked the back cover, but it looked okay to me. I took it back to the shop that had fixed it last fall, it had a bad a bad regulator, and the tech spent over an hour trying to get it to work. It had him...

I have four of those in my shop, and I use them a lot.

I leave the MMM on my BX2230 when I push snow, neever had a problem with it. I just clean the snow off it before I put it back in the shop.

It is a very efficient way to move cargo, but with rare exceptions it will still need to be moved by train or truck on each end of the shipment.

I'll bet that booster made a big splash when it hit the water going supersonic! I hope one of the tracking planes got some video of it hitting.

Yes it is. Details here: https://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/dozers/medium-dozers/15969752.html

Been using Marvel Mystery Oil for 50 years. Never had a problem with any of my air tools.

In reading my response, I don't see any language that states whether or not his opinion is valid or invalid, I simply stated that as is true of any stated opinion, even mine, it is not by default to be considered valid unless supported by the facts. Of course at this time in history the term...

Okay, point taken. I should have said widely available, modern, mass produced, lithium battery powered EVs.

Even if that were true, that doesn't, de facto, make your opinion valid.

I read a lot of the complaints, naysaying and doom and gloom about EVs and I think most of those people are missing the fact that just like many other new technologies, EVs are still in what I would refer to as the Alpha stage of development. They are little more than a decade old at this point...

I didn't know that chickens could tell time.

My paternal grandfather had one of those that mounted to the front of his John Deere tractor. I remember my dad and him going the the woods and cutting firewood and stacking it on a hay wagon.

A mini-fridge and microwave oven.

A year ago last Thanksgiving, I drove my sister and I ~1300 miles from northern Indiana to Sarasota, FL, non-stop, other than stopping for potty breaks, gas and eats. 20 hours door to door. Never even got sleepy, thanks to a couple of 20oz. Diet Cokes. Slept about 4 hours and was up and ready to...

There is no valid reason that diversity and unity need to be mutually exclusive. In fact, it is to the advantage to all involved if it isn't.

Got it fired up for the first time in almost 2 years. It started immediately, on the first revolution, I think. Love the EFI for cold starts. Only had one water leak, I forgot to tighten the clamps on the heater shutoff valve. Holds good oil pressure, doesn't make any strange noises, and water...

I see those little cars are limited to 220K GVW, and carry 175K payload. Interesting dump mechanism on the side, too.

I'm getting close to starting it up. Today, I painted the front of the radiator core with Eastwood radiator paint, so you can't see the aluminum core from the front, got it set in place, the top plate bolted down on it, put the fan shroud in place, bolted up, got the new radiator hoses trimmed...

Yep!

Remember when gas tank fill pipes were behind the license plate?

I got the steering column back in the car and buttoned up today, but not without a couple of challenges. Brian got it painted for me and dropped it and the front bumper brackets off on Saturday. I started putting it back together and discovered that you have to leave the turn signal switch out...

I have actually thought about the very same thing. Only thing is, the nearest power for shop lights is up 16 feet on the rafters, and the Nova is where I would have to place a ladder. But it is on my list of to dos. One other thing is an opener for the overhead door. And a Bridgeport mill.

That's certainly what it seems like on any vehicle I ever worked on. My friend Brian has a 2010 Challenger too, in B5 blue with the 5.7 Hemi and six speed Tremec. Cool, fast car. Also has a 70 Charger R/T 440 with FI-TECH EFI and a 4L60E that I installed for him.

Thanks for the kind words. When I first started the restoration project, it was just to repair a rusty floor on the driver's side, bur once I pulled the carpet, I found the passenger side was full of pin holes too. I knew there was some rust popping out around the rear wheel openings, but once...

So, did you ever feel like you were going backwards on a project? That's how it's been feeling lately. As I said, I had to pull the instrument cluster out to get to the cable from the EFI to the hand controller, which meant I had to remove the radio, drop the steering column down, which meant I...

For many people a cell phone is a tool, however many people that have cell phones are tools, annoying ones.

And it's best not to argue with the wife. Yes dear, whatever you say dear.

For the last 25 years or so, my watch of choice has been a Seiko titanium watch, as they are much lighter.

I only wear shirts with pockets, especially tee shirts in the summer, and I always have a pen in the the pocket. I think somewhere in my stuff, I have a pocket protector from . my days at Purdue, where I carried pens and drafting pencils, like all proper nerds did back then. I still also wear a...

I've seen the same thing with people buying cases of beer on Fridays at grocery and liquor stores.

Electricity consumption in the United States was about 4 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2022

I have a 2006 F150 standard cab, long bed I use for everything except trips. Recently used it to haul lumber, furniture and household goods (for a friend who's moving) and pull a 14' utility trailer for moving more furniture. I actually prefer driving it to driving my 04 Town Car.

Back in the 70s, working for the family construction company, I ran a small asphalt paver for a day, and on several occasions operated a Marion 1 yard dragline digging a pond. I also operated S7 Euclid, International E211 and E270 earthmovers as well as TD9, TD15, TD20 and TD24 dozers.

Anyone remember Jungle Jim and Jungle Pam?

I've been to Deerton a few times, my sister lives there on Military Road.

Religion is just like any other business, it's all about the money. Years ago, someone, I don't remember who, said the fastest way to become a millionaire was to start a church. I was raised in the Brethren church, went twice a week from birth to around age 25, when I figured out what religion...

A couple of places I frequent have have attractive, young 20-someting girls working there with tattoos and or piercings, and I too have wondered why they do that to themselves. I often wonder how they are viewed when going for a job interview. Even though they might be qualified for a position...

I haven't had a lot of time lately to work on the Nova, as my friend has finally found a house in the area, and have been spending a few hours a day loading, moving and unloading her stuff. And she has a lot of stuff. A lot. I've also been doing a bunch of repair on some of her furniture, mainly...

Looks like it says Tecumseh to me.

My first radio was a crystal set with a long wire antenna run out my bedroom window.

After Mom passed and Dad was living alone at home, we got him a medial alert fob that hung on his neck. It had a base station that would call me and 911 if he pressed the button. It was put in the living room on an end table, a good central location in the house. It had a blue light on it to...

I just tried it and it works for me. Just Google it.

How about the old Kukla, Fran and Ollie puppet show? Kukla, Fran and Ollie - Wikipedia

In the NS Elkhart yard, some of the switching locomotives are remote controlled. You can tell which ones by the flashing yellow lights on the tops of the locomotives.

I don't think it really matters, the welded seam is going to be very nearly if not just as strong as the rest of the tube. As long as there is no obvious flaw in the welded seam, it won't matter.

It was Ricky Nelson, Wake Up Little Susie.

Yep, same guy.

How about Highway Patrol starring Broderick Crawford. Later in the 70s, was Movin' On with Claude Akins and Frank Converse.

It probably depends on how good the operator is and how fast it operates.

Remember "Police Woman" with Angie Dickinson? She was pretty hot back then, pretty crazy too, from some of the stories that were told.

Japan now has a railway tunnel that is a close second to the Gotthard Base Tunnel, the Seikan Tunnel at 33.4 miles (53.85 km). It is however, the longest underwater tunnel. Seikan Tunnel: The World's Longest Tunnel That Dips Underwater Links Japan's Islands

The VLA and Murchison Crater are on my list of places to visit when I go to AZ to visit my son this year.

Gee, it took a study to figure that out. I learned that in high school economics class in the '60s.

I have a high tolerance for pain. I can't count the number of times I have cut or gouged myself and only noticed it when I see blood all over whatever I'm working on. I Had a large, nearly red hot washer fall into the cuff of a glove years ago. Yeah, it smarted a bit, but wife of the driver...

You beat me to it! Anyone who wonders why I am so cynical in regards to organized religion knows nothing about how it has operated for the last few millenia.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland is the longest railway tunnel in the world, at 35.5 miles (57 km) long. Gotthard Base Tunnel - Wikipedia

...You can remember when milk was delivered to your door in bottles with paper caps. I also remember when we lived in town, a couple of blocks down wind from the bread bakery, the smell was wonderful. Mom would give me a dime to go and get a loaf of bread every few days.

One of my first musical memories, I was probably 4 or 5, was dad playing Cool Water, I think by The Sons Of The Pioneers. Also played a lot of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and others I can't remember.

I usually use a spritz of CorrosionX on battery terminals, seems to work really well.

I always thought disco was ab acquired taste, one I never acquired. The Bee Gees were pretty good though.

That's how they removed mine too, via four little incisions, but by then I was on some good drugs and don't remember a lot. The drugs really didn't relieve the pain that much, but I didn't care. I was out of the OR and awake at 11:30AM, ate lunch at 2:00PM and went home at 5:30PM.

Went to my doctor yesterday for my six month blood pressure check. BP was 120/74! It has never been that low at the doctor's office. She was really surprised. Plus I've lost another 10 lbs, only 20 more to go to get to my goal of 200 lbs, down from my all time high of 272 a couple of years ago...

Speaking of people talking too fast, many young people at fast food joints or really anywhere they work, seem to always talk like they're on speeders (amphetamines). I tell them to slow down, it's not a race and that my ears don't listen as fast as they used to. Actually, I'm deaf in my left...

I'm always apprehensive on going all-in on any new technology that is new or version 1.0. The initial adopters are no more than testers that pay for the privilege of finding all the unfixed bugs or problems.

...You blame it on the Bossa Nova.

You need to turn on the subtitles. ;)

The last few days I've been working on getting all the wiring finished up. First thing was to get and install a new positive battery cable, as the one I had lacked about 6 inched of being long to get to the battery terminal. I thought I had some 0 gauge cable, but I didn't, so I picked one up at...

I learned a long time ago when I had semi trucks and trailers, that one you have to hunt down problems in a wiring harness, it's time to replace the wiring harness. I did that on three of my flatbeds/stepdecks and it was worth every penny and saved a lot of time repairing bad harnesses. I used...

I still have a land line, have had it since September of '74. I too keep it as I still have occasion to send and receive faxes. I rarely get spam calls, but once every day it rings, and no one is on the other end.

When I disassembled my 70 Nova, I used dozens of zip-lock bags of several different sizes to keep things organized. I put a tag in each one with what the parts were for. Now that it's nearly all back together, I have a lot of good used bags. The ones from McMaster-Carr are good ones, come in a...

The American Auto Wire kit was very good, very complete. All the wires were plenty long and every wire was marked with it's purpose, so that made it very easy to assemble. It even came with a new headlight switch, dimmer switch, horn relay and a wide array of terminals used for each specific...

Well, the temperatures have finally moderated, so I can work in the shop without freezing my fingers and feet. I got back to work on finishing up the front wiring, headlights, turn signals and side markers. The American Auto Wire front harness has a LOT more wire than needed, I think I cut at...

Probably an old airport plow truck. They used a lot of Oshkosh trucks for that years ago.

I had a high school math and algebra teacher that was from Burma (Myanmar), Mr. Sharma, that spoke Burmese, Hindi, Italian, French, German, English, and a little Cantonese, and was working on Spanish. Can't imagine how he was able to learn all those different languages.

That was the problem I had with Snap-On for many years. Even now I wonder over to the local Snap-On guy's place and pick up some odd bit or bob I need for the current project. I even got a free can of red pain to use on a utility cart I had that was looking pretty bad. He just gave me the can...

Right at the end of the left orange rod, at the fence. Not easy to see though.

I needed some 6" zip ties so I wandered over to HF this afternoon. I hadn't been in there for over a year, and was amazed how many new brands they have. I cruised up and down every aisle, was there for nearly an hour looking at their stuff. I was amazed at the huge tool boxes they have, and how...

I've lost a fair amount of weight beginning a couple of months before and since the surgery, down to 220# from 266#. BP is down too, as is resting pulse. I try to walk 1 to 1.5 miles 5 days a week to help keep the weight off. My goal is 190-200#, about what I weighed when I graduated from high...

The doc told me that I was less than a year from being in a wheelchair. Like you, the operation stopped all the debilitating shooting pains down my legs. He thought that I might regain the feeling in the outsides of my feet in time, but so far I can't really tell a difference. The thing I wish...

Went to the surgeon's office today for my last checkup. Got X-rays and went to see Dr. Smith. He looked them over and said it all looks great. The grafts have healed properly, and nothing has moved. Great news. Next week marks a year since the surgery, and I couldn't have asked for a better...

Since I have been working on my Nova for the last year, I do a lot of work at my bench assembling things and looking through the dozens of Ziplock bags for the small parts I need like screws, bolts and clips of some sort. After dropping so many of them, it's clean as a whistle under the bench...

I made one just about like yours a while back.

I have four, the additional one has a wire cup brush. Edit: Oh, I have five, I forgot about the big Makita 9" grinder. It's a monster, gotta really have ahold of it when you pull the trigger.

I've been donating blood for a few years, well I guess going on 20 years. The Red Cross comes to a local church every two months, so it's close and easy to do. I'm scheduled to donate on Wednesday, and I think the will make six or seven gallons total.

Great way to store them! I hung a lot of my parts from nails and wire in the back of my shop, kept them out of the way, and easy to retrieve. I added quite a few more after this picture was taken.

My BIL developed a tumor on his chest and refused to go to the VA to get it checked out for over a year. When he did, it was terminal and he only lived another 2 months. He was never a big guy, maybe 160lbs, but I saw him the night before he passed and he looked like one of the inmates from a...

The big thing is to properly break in the new cam. They recommend starting it, check for oil pressure and leaks, get the timing checked and set, then run it at about 2,000 RPM for 20 minutes. By then, the rings should have begun to seat also. As soon as I get the front end assembled, the...

Uh yes, that's exactly how you lower your orbit for reentry. What do you think is the method?

I have had two broken bones, both of my fibulas, the smaller bone in the calf. I broke the left one when I slipped on some ice in a ski lodge. The Ski Patrol EMT thought it was just sprained and I walked on it for six weeks until my next doctor's appointment, when he insisted on getting it...

For all the stupid things I have done over the last 73 years, I'm amazed I still have all of all my fingers. Banged a couple up pretty well a few times, but never broke one and they are all there and still work properly.

My first, and only house so far, a 1400 sq.ft. ranch with full basement, cost ~$32K in 1974, including the 3 acres of land. I am appalled at the prices of houses and land nowadays. My daughter and her husband built a house in FL a couple of years ago that was $600K. o_O

How about when you have more scars from surgeries than from self inflicted wounds? I got six new ones just last year, two from back surgery and four from gall bladder surgery.

On my god yes, that was the worst pain I've ever had. Way worse than my kidney stone. In the ER, they wouldn't give me any pain meds until the knew what the problem was. Only took them four hours to do that. What a way to spend Easter Sunday, getting my gall bladder removed.

I wasn't referring to you, but to to the"official Texas" report.

Or gall stones! Ask me how I know.

You know what they say, it's your lie, so you can tell it any way you want.

Back in the 70s when I was working on trucks and construction equipment, I had to have my wedding ring cut off twice. After the second one, I didn't wear one.

I may be forced to grow old, but I refuse to grow up!

Or her mother!

The wrench in the center, with two 90° bends , is a wrench to adjust valves and injectors on a Detroit Diesel 71 series engine. The big curved one on the right, might be used on starter bolts on those engines. A smaller, 1/2" wrench like that was needed to remove the back bolt on the fuel pumps...

I've always been pretty organized, but since I retired, I have more time to organize things even more. I spent over an hour cleaning off my downstairs work bench I use for electronic work and small projects, putting every odd screw and bit into one of my storage bins or tossed it in the trash. I...

That's gonna leave a mark.

I finished out the year by getting the right side fender installed and aligned, and inner fender installed. The fender wasn't too bad to get adjusted and aligned, but the inner fender was a pain in the ass. The radiator support, fender and inner fenders are all new parts from Auto Metal Direct...

In the last 30 years, I've gone from 5'11" to 5'9".

On the subject of cell phones, I hate it when people are in a restaurant, usually a fast food joint, and are on their phone talking loudly, like everyone in the place is interested in their conversation. Then they give you the evil eye if you stare at them.

I keep .023", .030" and .035" on hand, and use whichever size will work with the material I'm welding with my Miller 211. I also run C25 gas mix, except when I weld aluminum, then I use Argon and a spool gun with .030" aluminum wire.

I always thought Piano Man was his greatest hit.

Did you notice the different size tires on the trailer?

From the factory, almost all 71 series Detroits were governed at 2150 RPM, but we always turned them up to 2450 or 2500 RPM. They made more power up at the higher revs. We also would swap out the N65 injectors for N70s or N75s for even a little more. The N70s usually gave just a hint of gray...

Just up the road from my house. An old friend that knew a previous owner said it was used for an unusual purpose that I will have to research to see if it's true. Edit: After some research and some info from a local farmer, the barn was used to house pregnant mares, who were fitted with bags to...

She forgot to mention to make sure that after you cover your entire head, to seal it at the neck with metal duct tape.

Been working for a few days on getting the rubber mud guards attached to the inner fenders. The factory stapled the rubber flap to the inner fender, so I kinda wanted to replicate that look. The flaps came with staples, but the were pretty chintzy looking, so I bought some .062" stainless wire...

I think those engines had a special cam that let the compressor cylinders operate as a two stroke instead of a four stroke, so the output would be double what you figured.

My father had a jet boat that was powered by a slant six back in the 70s.

Lowe's has been moving a lot of things around lately, too.

Not just grocery stores do that, a lot of stores do it. That's one reason I shop at the local Martin's grocery rather than Kroger, they rarely move products around. Walking all over a store to find where they moved an item I want, and not being able to find an employee to tell me where they...

I wondered when that would come up. ;)

A friend of mine back in the 70s had a couple of Cracker Boxes with 8V-71s, I drove one a few miles once, and wasn't impressed, but they were light and pretty cheap, mostly because few people wanted them.

Obviously someone who has no comprehension of proper load distribution. I always thought that anyone who pulls a utility trailer, flat bed or enclosed box type, should have to take and pass a course on proper loading techniques and get an endorsement on their drivers license. At least then they...

One that isn't pressurized.

Judging from the number stupid of things I've seen people do, a lot of them never started thinking.

Depends on what type of coal it is. I believe metallurgical or bituminous coal is used in steel making.

I encountered another of my pet peeves today, when the DOB in the car ahead of me in the bank drive-through lane waited until she was at the kiosk to make out her deposit slip or whatever paperwork she was fiddling with for several minutes. What really pissed me off was that she had waited...

Arguing with *Insert your crackpot conspiracy theory here* conspiracy theorists is like arguing with a bull. All you'll get in response is BS.

Funny you should mention that. I live a couple of hundred feet from a T intersection on a road that serves several housing developments in the area. Today, we got our first real snow storm and with it some really slick roads. So, you can just about bet some idiot that has forgotten how to or...

I just thought it would be unusual for anyone that looked under the car to have it painted that way. Years ago I saw a driveshaft on a semi painted like a barber pole and thought it was pretty neat. Another pattern I might consider is a black and white checkerboard like on the bodies of some...

I got the driveshaft installed. I was going to paint a barber pole white stripe on it, but after a half hour trying to get tape put on in a decent spiral, my fingers were cold and my patience worn thin, so I gave up and installed it just plain black. I got the radiator support mounted the the...

I've been using on the studs on every vehicle I've owned in the last 55 years, and have never had a problem of any sort. Unless you count trying to get it off my hands.

My granddad on my father's side worked at Studebaker in the late 40s as a door fitter.

A good article about a young man with a vision. By the way, Susan from Kaley's called around 11:00AM this morning because they had my driveshaft done. She said they were waiting on parts for a couple other jobs and were able to get mine done. I went over this afternoon and picked it up, looks...

Yeah, not the greatest of locations. Susan was telling that some years back, a storm took the roof off the old building, which was built in the 1920s, so they built a new one. When I left, I went east on Tutt street past where Ace Refrigerated Trucking used to be. I still remember them running...

If the car lights are LEDs, the car is probably using PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) on the circuit for running/parking lights. Parking lights probably run at 50% or so duty cycle, brake and turn lights at 90-100%. In the dark, with the Honda's parking lights on, sweep you eyes quickly from, left...

Those cars look so tiny!