Thinning the Herd

In a recent post, I had come to a realization that we had a few too many vehicles in our collection.  HA!  Who am I kidding?  You can never have too many.  I put together this little graphic just to visualize how many we had.  I sort of thought that it was a pretty nice collection if I do say so myself.

However, the time had come to thin the herd.  We sold the '85 blue Chevy to Jodi's dad.  We sold the '91 red Ford to a friend.  And, as much as it pained us, we scrapped the Avenger.  Then, with momentum built up, we scrapped the Ghetto Van.  Some people might reel back upon hearing those painful words, but it had to be done.  The Avenger would have wound up costing me a cool $1000 to get all its issues worked out.  The lack of available time was the other factor.  It wouldn't have been worth my time with what the Blue Book value would be when I was done.

The Ghetto Van was hard to scrap for me because for years it has been my plan to revive my '59.  Upon a lot more consideration, it isn't the most ideal vehicle for me to use to properly restore my '59, though.  So, at some point, when my available time gets freed up and I'm ready, we'll get a proper vehicle for which to put my '59 body on.  Ideally, I would like a '73 to '79 Ford F100 with a carbureated 302 with a 3 speed automatic transmission, basically what I'm driving now except with a 302 small block instead of the 390 gas-guzzling big block I have now.  Unlike the Ghetto Van, I wouldn't have to do anything to the frame or drivetrain to make that vehicle work for it.  Plus, if I get a '73-'79 model, I can use the body and cab to restore the yellow '74 we already have.  It's a great truck and would be a good one for Lyric some day.

All the scrapping was hard.  But on the bright side, I actually received more money selling the Ghetto Van for scrap than what I paid for it.  In case you're wondering why we named it the "Ghetto Van", it's because of the extent of the damage to both the passenger side and the rear of the vehicle.  The guy I bought it from had said that the previous owner had hit a mailbox to which my friend replied "more like a post office."  The damage kept the passenger-side sliding-door from opening.  It also was missing all the glass on the passenger side and rear with the exception of the passenger-side front door window glass.  It made for some pretty cold winter driving.  But, it got me around for 18 months and hauled a considerable amount of building materials for us.  It was a good van.  It served us well.  It looks so lonely and sad sitting there in the scrap yard waiting to be crushed, an unfit ending to a life of good service.  But, 'tis the life of a non-classic nineties work vehicle.

Read More

A Porch Renovation Timeline

A front porch is important to the house.  While it's not necessarily the first thing people see when they pull up to your property, it's where their eyes will travel once out of their vehicle and walking towards the front door.  It's the first real personal impression of your home.  It's what they will look around at after knocking and before you get to the door to welcome them in.

Our porch has gone through some major changes in two big steps at two separate times.  The first photo shows the porch basically how we found it.  What that photo doesn't show is the baseball-sized hole near the stairs that made people doubt whether or not they wanted to take that leap of faith just to see us.  I don't know if anyone ever turned back at this point and perhaps I'll never know.  Either way, you can see from the second photo that we repaired the hole by cutting out all of the boards near the stairs and replacing them with better (still used) boards that I got from our friend, Jake Sing, after a job he did removing a porch.  Jodi scraped, primed and painted the floor giving it a much needed makeover and I ripped out the old, mismatched, rotted rails and replaced them with nice new treated rails that I built.

It looked tons better.  However, that was many years ago.  Time and wear have shown their work on the paint since then, which you can see in the third photo.  You can also see that we chose to paint the rails white.  This photo was taken last Sunday afternoon.  You might notice that the siding on the house is missing.  The siding guys (Covering Exteriors)(plug, plug) had this all prepped for the new siding that is still being put on the house as I write this.

It took me about an hour, but I got all the old porch boards removed and all the nails pulled out of the joists (4th photo).  I had to add a couple small connecting joists that should have been there given the design, but were not.  No biggie.

The new floor (5th photo) went in nicely.  I started it Sunday, worked on it until I ran out of screws on Monday night, and finished it Tuesday night after stopping at Lowe's on my way home from work.  I'm super happy with how it turned out.

The siding on the porch got completed yesterday which completed the package.  Jodi and I LOVE it!  I have to re-hang the porch swing and put the welcome mat back in front of the door.  But, I think that we are done with it!  And, that's a great feeling.  :)

Read More

Facelift

In my last blog, I listed out all the things that we needed to get done before the siding went up.  All those things are now done, which is good since the siding started going up today.  Yay!!!

The first photo was taken in September of '09.  Despite how large and in charge our house is, you couldn't see it for all the growth.  We admit that we liked it this way.  It was nice to have a natural privacy fence, and boy do I mean private!  Behind this wall of shrubs, small trees, vines, and honeysuckle, we enjoyed our island in the midst of the city.

The second photo was taken at the end of the same day as the first photo.  Though, obviously, I had been busy that day.  In case you're thinking that these photos look familiar, it's because I've blogged about this particular improvement before.  It was four and half years ago so I'm entitled to make mention of it again.  However, the real reason I showed these photos was to show what the house looked like before the white metal siding was pulled off.  Also, I want to familiarize you with all the green in the photo since we have also been involved in some herbal genocide on our property.  I won't show any of the finished photos yet since we are very much in the process, but expect some very soon.

In the third photo (all photos can be clicked on for enlargement), you'll see that the metal siding has been pulled off exposing the original wooden dutch lap siding.  These windows were wrapped by our siding guys and J-channel was installed around them.  Jodi cleaned them up and has been working her tail off getting them all painted and looking awesome!  Also, you can see our new blinds.  We got some super nice blinds for the entire house.  It was awesome to get some uniformity to the inside of our home.  Also, though you can't see much of it, in the top-right corner of the photo you can see our new soffit and fascia.  This house is looking awesome!

Lastly, here is a picture of our new siding being installed!  It's looking great!  I'm really happy with the new look and can't hardly wait to see the finished product.  These external improvements were a long time coming and wouldn't have been financially possible without some major help from Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord our Provider.  This is the year of completion for this house and with the completion of all these tasks getting checked off the master to-do list, it's seeming more and more possible that we may have some major rest coming to us in the very near future!

Read More

Home Improvement Deadlines to Meet

This winter has been a confusing one, for sure.  We've had a lot of winter precipitation and some pretty long stretches of cold that has kept us from getting much done outside like we would have liked.  However, we've also had some nice days tossed in there quite randomly, too, where we were able to get out and really use our time effectively.

In the last couple of weeks, we've really made our fire pit work hard for us.  We cleared out a ton of brush and even cut down several trees.  Our unkempt "fence line forest" is starting to look like a normal fence.  And, I look forward to both the decrease in mosquito habitat as well as the increase in sunshine reaching our yard.  More sunshine means better, healthier lawn.

In preparation for the new siding installation...  Wait.  Have I mentioned that before?  So, yeah, we're getting new siding!  How awesome is that?!  Aaaaand, we're getting new soffit and fascia, as well.  Our house is going to get a full-on makeover.  That should probably start in the next couple of weeks and potentially be completed in about a month from now, weather permitting.  We hired this one out.  Being 30 feet off the ground is not my thing.

So, back to what I was saying, in preparation for the new siding installation, we have had a list of items that need to get done before the new siding gets put on.  That list is as shown below:

• Install new locking garage door handle
• Install new garage side entry door and trim out
• Trim out garage door
• Run electric wiring for the two back door lights
• Run speaker wiring for outdoor deck speakers
• Run electric wiring to garage
• Run electric wiring to new light on front of garage
• Run electric wiring to outdoor receptacle on deck
• Run electric wiring to outdoor receptacle on front porch
• Install replacement crown trim on front porch
• Build garage door lock linkage
• Replace missing glass in garage door
• Clear off front porch

I got the marked out items accomplished last Saturday and would have liked to get more done on Sunday.  But, despite Saturday's beautiful 51 degree high temperature with partial sun, Sunday morning started out with several inches of sleet and had a couple inches of snow fall throughout the day with temperatures in the single digits and wind chills in the negative teens.  That's pretty classic for Springfield, Missouri.  The good news is that nice weather is coming back.  Slowly but surely, we are set to be back up to almost sixty degrees this Friday.

Read More

Leak-End Weekend

Last weekend, I put some elbow grease into my "new" 1973 Ford F100.  It was quite productive, I think.

First, I bought a new aftermarket exhaust manifold made to factory specs off of ebay.  It was surprisingly inexpensive and since it shipped from Texas, it got delivered less than 48 hours after purchasing it with free shipping.  That was a little added bonus I didn't expect.

I finally broke down and made the investment for air tools and WOW, I'm glad that I did.  Especially, since I bought them at Harbor Freight and was able to get all set up for very little money.  Thank you, China!  I can confidently say that there's no way I would have accomplished what I did this weekend without those new tools.  Air power is certainly the way to go.

I was able to pull the old exhaust manifold and replace it with the new one and a new gasket, of course.  I also pulled the valve covers off because they were both leaking oil on the firewall ends.  While I had them off, I decided to take some advice from a forum I found online and clean them up and repaint them.  I was floored by the difference.  I might wind up becoming one of those car show guys if I keep this up.  You couldn't even read them before.  Now they look new.

I put new valve cover gaskets on and everything seemed to seal up nicely when I tightened them down.  So long, oil leaks.

While I was in there, I also tightened the brake sensor in the brake proportioning valve.  It was leaking brake fluid around it and I was going to replace it, but had that duh moment and checked to see if I could tighten it any more.  It turned a full 360 degrees with little effort and I couldn't get it to leak afterwards.

I'm really looking forward to when I can start working on my '59. The '73 is really cool, don't get me wrong.  But, it's no '59.

Read More

Drum Brake Rebuild

This last Saturday, I got the chance to rebuild the drum brakes on our "new" 1973 Ford F-100.  They were pretty well-worn.  As a matter of fact, they weren't active at all.  Both wheel cylinders were leaking badly and when I pulled the drum off the rear-right side, two of the springs fell out to the ground in pieces.

I also used a full can of brake clean getting the insides cleaned up.  I love the way that they turned out.  I forgot how much I actually enjoy rebuilding drum brakes.  Most people can't stand drum brakes for some reason, but I actually like them.  I didn't mess around with trying to salvage anything.  It doesn't really make sense to.  I was able to completely rebuild both drum brakes with all new components for $63.  That includes a big bottle of brake fluid and the can of brake clean that I used.

Jodi helped me bleed them out on Sunday afternoon and they work awesome.  I'm very satisfied with their performance.  There's just something about repairing a vehicle correctly and knowing you can confidently use that vehicle without fear of your "repair" being some Achilles' heel to the entire vehicle.  I find immense satisfaction in it.

I took it to A-1 Custom Muffler to get new exhaust pipes welded in where they were all rusted through and so it has all new pipes on it.

I still have a few things that I need to do to it.  It needs the following:

• New right-hand exhaust manifold and gasket.
• New valve cover gaskets.
• New proportioning valve brake dummy sensor (or plug since it's not hooked up anyway).
• Wheel alignment.
• 2 replacement tires.

I found a company that makes new aftermarket exhaust manifolds for a fraction of the cost that auto parts stores sell them for, so I'll be placing an order for one of those this week.  I'll pick up an exhaust manifold gasket at O'Reilly Automotive when I get valve cover gaskets and a plug for the brake proportioning valve.  I'll tackle the wheel alignment myself.  I've done it once before on a '94 Ford van and it worked great.  I'm actually looking forward to all these little projects to better the truck and have it be a worry-free vehicle.

Read More

Home Computing Power Station

Change is hard.  And, when it comes to my personal home computing setup, I find that it's way more difficult than it should be.  But, regardless of my hesitancy, it's well past due for a change of scenery on my physical desktop.

For the past several years, I've maintained roughly the same setup for my computer at home.  I've had to make a few repairs, replace a few bad parts, upgrade several components, but for the most part my system has remained visually unchanged.  It looked pretty much like the illustration I threw together here.  I have had one computer tower running Windows XP, two CRT monitors, a printer, desktop speakers, and (not illustrated here) a modem, a router, and an external hard drive.

Once upon a time my computer would have been considered beefed up and fast.  Now, it is somewhat lacking and frustratingly slow at times.  With having acquired laptops and smart phones, I find that I very rarely even get on "the" computer.  It's location, the back room, doesn't help either.  Items that have no home crawl their way back there and find temporary (a month on average) storage on either the desk or right in front of it, making a "stuff" barricade between the monitors and one's field of vision when sitting ergonomically.  Of course, I take full credit for letting it get that bad.  Mostly, it's my stuff for which I'm procrastinating at finding a real storage place.  I clean it completely off 2-3 times a year just in time to start the collection anew.

So, what's the solution?  I'm going to actually use one of the laptops that have barely been opened as the new "the" computer.  I bought a working docking station for it for $13 on ebay with free shipping.  This laptop is running Windows 7, which, thanks to my employment for the last 2.5 years forcing me to use Windows 7, I have finally decided 7 is better than XP.  The only real practical reason that I have not decided to part with the computer tower up until now is because it runs four internal and two external hard drives.  My answer to this dilemma is to build a custom hard drive enclosure that will drive the four internal drives.  I looked them up online and the cheapest I could find was right at $100 and it wasn't even compatible with some of the non-SATA drives that I own.  In true DIY spirit, and perhaps my internal geek, I decided to make my own.

I was given an old trash computer without a hard drive from a co-worker.  I salvaged the back plate which I trimmed down to just the fan mounting, a power switch, a reset switch, a case fan, dual USB female ports, and the internal hard drive mounting racks.  I built a box out of some pine to fit everything, but it turned out to be too small.  So, I am using the box from a mixer that I picked up for free off of a trash dumpster due to its non-working status.  I was given a power supply by a friend.  I bought some hard drive to USB adapters, a USB hub, and a female USB 'A' to female USB 'B' adapter. 

In the end, I wound up with the following "power station", as I call it.  It powers the four internal hard drives with the power supply (so, only one power cord) and allows them all to be accessed through the single USB 'B' port (so, only one standard USB cable).  It's all USB 2.0 compliant and my data transfer tests resulted in great transfer speeds between drives.  And, it's expandable.  I have space for 3 more hard drives with the racking I put in it.

I no longer needed my computer tower so I will be selling it on Craigslist.  All in all, it was like I was getting paid to make this space-saving upgrade.  I no longer need the desktop computer speakers since the laptop is equipped with some on board.  The two big CRT monitors are gone, replaced by the single flat screen monitor I picked up for cheap from the same friend who donated the power supply to my cause.  Since the laptop serves as a second monitor, I still have two displays from which to work.  The "power station" sits underneath the desk, out of site.  I built a shelf underneath the desktop to hold the printer so it's now out of site.

I'm excited because all the freed up space will allow the desk to be used as a workstation for physical projects now, as well.  And, the main computer of the house can be ejected from the docking station and taken wherever it is needed.  I won't be able to access the files from all the hard drives while it's away from its dock, but I can transfer whatever I need to the laptop and then take it wherever I need to go.  So, this has been a very nice and practical upgrade.

Read More