So what are you working on that’s NOT your DSM?

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I honestly thought the same thing, like jiminy Christmas, I was thinking residential style not INDUSTRIAL size Nice piece of equipment though!

 

[yubh8tn]

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Hit a median in my daily like an idiot. Found a donor car to cut the core support off of, doing that tomorrow

 

[Stapl3]

Holy Moly that is a big band saw. How deep is that throat and thickness capacity

16" x 4'.

 

[CrackedDSM]

A friend is letting me borrow his '11 CTS, and in the meantime I'm fixing the f*ckery that his ex had done to it. On the list was replacing the 1 candle watt headlights with some modern LEDs.

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Yeeeeaaaaahhh. Everywhere said to pull the bumper, but I doubted it. After some researching and youtube university'ing it, I discovered you could just take a couple bolts out and wiggle the lights out. Much easier, had both sides out in less than 15 minutes.

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See?

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While I was in there I found one bolt holding the light in was entirely missing, and another was finger loose. Of course. Some people shouldn't be allowed to work on cars...

Out with the old, and in with the new. Got a moderately bright set for the "low beams" and a super bright set for the "high beams". Pictures of the OEM bulb vs the new ones. Starting with low beams and ending with high beams.

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Slapped them in, and pleased to report no flickering or any check engine lights. I'll take pics tonight of the brightness and depth once the sun goes down. Very pleased though.

Next up is replacing the low pressure/in take fuel pump(or add a check valve at least), and maybe replacing the headlight lenses with new fleaBay units because these ones are too far gone to save. The yellowing is on the inside of the lens.

Overall, successful weekend. This thing rides so good for what it is. It's dogshit slow, but I could see the appeal of the CTS-V if it rides this good.

 

[DreamChaser7]

Gave the severely neglected Mustang a little love today, nothing major. Oil change, wash, some fresh 93, topped off tire pressures, and new wipers.

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[chrisman287]

The usual

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[TerminalTalon]

Random photo dump of a couple weeks of stuff.
My Matco guy’s Corvette. “You guys have time to do a couple things? Or can I do them?” I trust a former tech to work in my bay on my lift while I do outside work and test drives. Those driveshaft tunnels are narrow so sometimes the trans mount shifts and it hits. He had someone else balance the tires. Outside weights looking like an amateur and not even balanced. This thing sounds amazing too.
35th anniversary C4 in to what looks like un*uck some ghetto wiring, figure out why it overheats and fix “the last guys” work. My guy hardwired the aux fan grounding the thing at the alternator bracket and tapped 12v to the windshield wiper motor plug. The best thing I can do for these is return to factory then diag from there.
That old 560 is sentimental to her. We are always busy but when people are willing to spend some money they can get a house call to drop the car off and put the hardtop on. You just never know what people actually have by possessions especially vehicles. I’d say normal vehicles nothing fancy but this is a $1.5mil house sitting on a waterway so yeah. Those taxes by themselves I couldn’t imagine.
One night with some randoms. Enjoy

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[pauleyman]

Random photo dump of a couple weeks of stuff.
My Matco guy’s Corvette. “You guys have time to do a couple things? Or can I do them?” I trust a former tech to work in my bay on my lift while I do outside work and test drives. Those driveshaft tunnels are narrow so sometimes the trans mount shifts and it hits. He had someone else balance the tires. Outside weights looking like an amateur and not even balanced. This thing sounds amazing too.
35th anniversary C4 in to what looks like un*uck some ghetto wiring, figure out why it overheats and fix “the last guys” work. My guy hardwired the aux fan grounding the thing at the alternator bracket and tapped 12v to the windshield wiper motor plug. The best thing I can do for these is return to factory then diag from there.
That old 560 is sentimental to her. We are always busy but when people are willing to spend some money they can get a house call to drop the car off and put the hardtop on. You just never know what people actually have by possessions especially vehicles. I’d say normal vehicles nothing fancy but this is a $1.5mil house sitting on a waterway so yeah. Those taxes by themselves I couldn’t imagine.
One night with some randoms. Enjoy

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Im more interested in the pair of 1970 oldsmobiles. Big fan. Family had several.

 

[TerminalTalon]

Im more interested in the pair of 1970 oldsmobiles. Big fan. Family had several.

The one with stripes is decades and decades of old shotty work and also needs the shock tower area welded or frame replaced. Lots of time in the small things on that one. It all adds up.
The other is a very clean driver that’s going to a parade here in the next couple weeks. It’s hard to find a real flaw on it besides a little wear. I fought the intake manifold gaskets not sealing the coolant ports and on the old stuff nothing is flat or true anymore. Thermostat housing leaking. Heater diaphragm on the back leaking.

 

[diambo4life]

Gave the severely neglected Mustang a little love today, nothing major. Oil change, wash, some fresh 93, topped off tire pressures, and new wipers.

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Hell yeah! Not many S197s here. Love it bro. If you have any questions....I'm on here!

Random photo dump of a couple weeks of stuff.
My Matco guy’s Corvette. “You guys have time to do a couple things? Or can I do them?” I trust a former tech to work in my bay on my lift while I do outside work and test drives. Those driveshaft tunnels are narrow so sometimes the trans mount shifts and it hits. He had someone else balance the tires. Outside weights looking like an amateur and not even balanced. This thing sounds amazing too.
35th anniversary C4 in to what looks like un*uck some ghetto wiring, figure out why it overheats and fix “the last guys” work. My guy hardwired the aux fan grounding the thing at the alternator bracket and tapped 12v to the windshield wiper motor plug. The best thing I can do for these is return to factory then diag from there.
That old 560 is sentimental to her. We are always busy but when people are willing to spend some money they can get a house call to drop the car off and put the hardtop on. You just never know what people actually have by possessions especially vehicles. I’d say normal vehicles nothing fancy but this is a $1.5mil house sitting on a waterway so yeah. Those taxes by themselves I couldn’t imagine.
One night with some randoms. Enjoy

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Wow!!!!!!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Replaced the wheel bearing on my buddy's '11 CTS. Was nice and easy except for the red loctite'd bolts for the caliper. God I love Florida cars. I didn't even have to slide hammer the hub assembly out, it fell out on its own.

I still cleaned and anti-seized the hub, the mating surfaces and behind the rotor though. For the future guy who has to replace it.

This thing was sooooo loud. Spinning the old bearing by hand sounded like spinning a wheel with dragging brakes. Horrible. Lol.

 

[BLACK'98DSM]

Red's a little much. But from what I recall in my days of auto mechanics, Most GM vehicles had yellow Loctite or some yellow threadlocker on the caliper bolts. So that's nothing new. And also was the reason why we used pneumatic ratchets or impacts to zip them out. I never myself would reapply, instead just torque to spec with a calibrated torque wrench or maybe a couple ft/lbs extra for reassurance. RFS (return from service) never earned us a dime, so we kept that to a minimum in whatever way was necessary. A lot of noobies would under-torque caliper bolts - hardly at all! - and end up doing the brake job twice (second time for no pay), plus the company having to pay for a new wheel or at least refinishing because the caliper came off

Enuff of my rambles though. Just know it isn't a Florida only thing. The manufacturers or service stations were keeping their asses from getting sued

 

[CrackedDSM]

Red's a little much. But from what I recall in my days of auto mechanics, Most GM vehicles had yellow Loctite or some yellow threadlocker on the caliper bolts. So that's nothing new. And also was the reason why we used pneumatic ratchets or impacts to zip them out. I never myself would reapply, instead just torque to spec with a calibrated torque wrench or maybe a couple ft/lbs extra for reassurance. RFS (return from service) never earned us a dime, so we kept that to a minimum in whatever way was necessary. A lot of noobies would under-torque caliper bolts - hardly at all! - and end up doing the brake job twice (second time for no pay), plus the company having to pay for a new wheel or at least refinishing because the caliper came off

Enuff of my rambles though. Just know it isn't a Florida only thing. The manufacturers or service stations were keeping their asses from getting sued

It was 150% red loctite. Lmao.

But I meant Florida car as is no rust and no corrosion. It just came right out.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

Been working on this old 64 land rover. (British of course) It is in need of A lot of attention! Whom ever worked on it before need to stop working on vehicles they use nails and wire to pins instead of actual vehicle split pins!

Anyway... I have gone through the transmission and driveline and rebuilt it bit by bit and resealed snd added new gaskets and diffs along the way. It was leaking so much. Today I did the steering box as that was terrible and now is alot tighter for a 64! Still has the classic old steering but no way near as loose

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[TerminalTalon]

Been working on this old 64 land rover. (British of course) It is in need of A lot of attention! Whom ever worked on it before need to stop working on vehicles they use nails and wire to pins instead of actual vehicle split pins!

Anyway... I have gone through the transmission and driveline and rebuilt it bit by bit and resealed snd added new gaskets and diffs along the way. It was leaking so much. Today I did the steering box as that was terrible and now is alot tighter for a 64! Still has the classic old steering but no way near as loose

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I’d like to hear your experience with American vehicles and repairs vs anything from Europe. Do you have hacks there or do people actually put forth the effort and skills to do jobs right? I feel like Everyman I know is a Google and Amazon search away from pretending they can work on vehicles nowadays.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

I’d like to hear your experience with American vehicles and repairs vs anything from Europe. Do you have hacks there or do people actually put forth the effort and skills to do jobs right? I feel like Everyman I know is a Google and Amazon search away from pretending they can work on vehicles nowadays.

Well the US is very special, and in FL where zero inspections occur, the cars are in a piss poor condition and even nice-looking outside looking are terrible and a safety concern underneath! No one cares about the inside or underside for the most and people want to cheap out as much as possible!

The place i do a few days with say they do quality but are the opposite! They buy cheap parts and worry about the item price vs quality of the item even though the customer pays for the part anyway, they seem to think they are paying for it! it is always "I will se if I can find a cheaper one" or I can get that cheaper. that on top of lack of planning even if I give a full list and part numbers for them I get half the items and then delays and then told it needs to be done!

They like me and hate me all at once, hahahaha. I do things properly and correctly and it takes a bit of extra time, but I will not skip steps or do a bodge job! I walked away from a job once where they wanted rear pads but the rear rotors were so shot and gouged from the pads wearing to the metal they said just do the pads only! I think they said the car is being sold on soon, I said nope go find some other place or you can do it (to the kid boss) and I refused to half-ass a safety concern like that. I got hung up on a you could imagine
end of the day doing things correctly and safely is what should be done and I see and fix a lot of MeCaNix jobs locally they bodged and F'd up on! most are likely backyard yobbo's!

I wish they had some proper tools and equipment as for a shop they lack alot of items they need. I had to moan at them for a breaker bar and a torque wrench!

Some places are not like that I am sure but I like to do good. when someone comes in for a part restoration, I will do just that! Since it is in the name I restore and replace what can be done inc hardware. They have no clean room, blaster or parts washer so nothing gets re-painted properly or correctly and cleaning is all by hand which is long and messy!

 

[TerminalTalon]

Well the US is very special, and in FL where zero inspections occur, the cars are in a piss poor condition and even nice-looking outside looking are terrible and a safety concern underneath! No one cares about the inside or underside for the most and people want to cheap out as much as possible!

The place i do a few days with say they do quality but are the opposite! They buy cheap parts and worry about the item price vs quality of the item even though the customer pays for the part anyway, they seem to think they are paying for it! it is always "I will se if I can find a cheaper one" or I can get that cheaper. that on top of lack of planning even if I give a full list and part numbers for them I get half the items and then delays and then told it needs to be done!

They like me and hate me all at once, hahahaha. I do things properly and correctly and it takes a bit of extra time, but I will not skip steps or do a bodge job! I walked away from a job once where they wanted rear pads but the rear rotors were so shot and gouged from the pads wearing to the metal they said just do the pads only! I think they said the car is being sold on soon, I said nope go find some other place or you can do it (to the kid boss) and I refused to half-ass a safety concern like that. I got hung up on a you could imagine
end of the day doing things correctly and safely is what should be done and I see and fix a lot of MeCaNix jobs locally they bodged and F'd up on! most are likely backyard yobbo's!

I wish they had some proper tools and equipment as for a shop they lack alot of items they need. I had to moan at them for a breaker bar and a torque wrench!

Some places are not like that I am sure but I like to do good. when someone comes in for a part restoration, I will do just that! Since it is in the name I restore and replace what can be done inc hardware. They have no clean room, blaster or parts washer so nothing gets re-painted properly or correctly and cleaning is all by hand which is long and messy!

That about sums up the auto repair industry in a nutshell. People just don’t understand quality or the amount of time into something to make it right because someone else can “do the same job” for X where I know you won’t have issues with me but I’ve fixed all the rests mistakes.
You will see the parts cannon Amazon people issues if you haven’t already.
Roughly
“We’ve replaced all the injectors. All the coils. All the sparkplugs 2-3X”
Yeah it needs an engine and every dollar you spent on it with whoever is a complete wash. That’s what I try to get people to understand.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

I get some brands can be had online off amazon so can work but the cheaper copys are not good. amazon is a big thing here. most is china yet the US hates them and still lives off of it haha

Things do take time. good quality parts are not cheap but doing it once with a higher-priced part will result in less time down the line when you have to redo it again! Like batteries here! I barely see any good brands in cars! They wonder why they fail so fast and it is wasteful! I tried to find me a Varta silver top! guess what US does not get that good battery! I swear by them always. best offered is a blue top which is good but not as powerful.

least I can get a lot more DSM parts readily here although some items I got back home were OEM parts just reboxed so kinda miss that part.

I want my stuff to take off a lot more and then I can do full time on my products and then work on DSM/EVO's for people and not have to worry about lower quality again! I do not know when that will kick off but for now product by product till it works out!

 

[steve]

There are only 14 states that have safety inspections and I doubt any of them are on the same scale as passing the UK MOT so you get to see all sorts of death traps on the road here.

 

[TerminalTalon]

People in Virginia complain about inspections. To pass
Tires 2/32
Brake pads 2/32
Somewhat complete and intact suspension
Lights work
Defrost works
Nothing can fail suspension wise that isn’t felt by moving a wheel(per the book)
Normal=everything works
You realize not a lot of people care about other people or even their kids. I always point out the car seats on the bad ones to my guys.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

There are only 14 states that have safety inspections and I doubt any of them are on the same scale as passing the UK MOT so you get to see all sorts of death traps on the road here.

Likely is very HIGH! DOT and the US seem to say they care about you and the welbeing but fail to undersyand most drive around on zero tread tires and worn bushes.

I find it highly amusing that the US can be so backwards in terms of the safety aspect. I mean everything in general! Since being here I have learnt alot and light and signals are another backwards thing. I have MANY things the US or FL could update to the modern world but then the US would not be the US then hahahaha

It is what it is and the US / FL in general still lives in the 19th century to me! They are 10-15 years behind banking. 15 years in traffic control and many more years in generally day to day life!

I really wish I could make a change as so much would be better and make a difference but the US hates change and I am told so often they do not want it

People in Virginia complain about inspections. To pass
Tires 2/32
Brake pads 2/32
Somewhat complete and intact suspension
Lights work
Defrost works
Nothing can fail suspension wise that isn’t felt by moving a wheel(per the book)
Normal=everything works
You realize not a lot of people care about other people or even their kids. I always point out the car seats on the bad ones to my guys.

The amount of parents I see on their phones while driving is crazy! It is now illegal but yet they still do it and I beep them at lights when they sit their on their phones! I need to start uploading my dash cam vidoes as it is cray how bad the drivers are and lack of knowledge! doing my FL driving test was so simple a simpleton can do it!!! compared to the UK it is piss easy and in a small rectangle it is not hard to do. the online test talks and discusses like 90&% nothing about actual driving so makes zero sense

 

[jdxnc]

Started de-winterizing my RV, first camping trip is only a month away....well it wouldn't start. Diagnosed it as no fuel, fired right up on brake clean. I then noticed the fuel gauge was about an inch past full..... We have lots of squirrels around here so I knew right away what was up. Dropped the fuel tank(38 gallons) to find the wires chewed off just as I suspected.

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I spent the day wresting 8 plugs out, running new cooling hoses and a new range thermostatic switch for the fans and it all FINALLY ended pretty good. Its a fresh engine and needs some road time for a little more breakin purposes.
I was very surprised to have it come right to life. Its my 1970 LT1 350 in a 86 Z28 with a Tremek 5 Speed.
Pops

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[jdxnc]

A fellow DSMer was on the search for a VCE so he could dyno his AWD on a single axle dyno, so I made one for him.

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[yubh8tn]

A fellow DSMer was on the search for a VCE so he could dyno his AWD on a single axle dyno, so I made one for him.

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You're the goat