Other vehicles to wrench...

[poleclimber63]

Well, after my Tundra Brake upgrade, I had other requests around the dinner table... "sweetheart, my car is making a funny noise..." and "Dad can you have a look at my car?"

As a result, I found myself replacing a starter, a couple of alternators, 3 timing belt/water pump jobs in quick succession and when one of my son's bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse, I found a subject to get him interested in mechanics... and cars. We did a fair bit of work on his Eclipse, we removed the front body panels and rust treated everything, replaced the oil cooler, TB/WP all belts and fluids. We talked about other things he could afford to improve handling and he mentioned braking. When I was under the car with POR15, I noticed the rear sway bar end links were broken and the general loosness of the rear suspension, not to mention mediocre braking performance. So, over the last 3 months we collected all the parts required to do a complete rebuild of the rear suspension swapped out from a V6 disc brake assembly with poly bushings. We're going to back the car into the garage shortly, and drop the old and assemble the new. This Spring, we'll have a look at the front suspension. I think he has plans for a few more projects! Here are some parts in our near future:

 

[fwak1234]

The other vehicle I wrench on happens to be one of my favorites, the UH-60. Don't have any pictures of projects I have undertaken but the list is extensive; engines, blades, tires, brakes, fuel system, landing gear, and much much more. Here is some eye candy of one of my lovely's.

 

[cashmoney]

1977 bronco. Currently it looks like this:

Just ordered a full fiberglass body, 5spd conversion, and a complete edelbrock upper kit. 302 bored 30 over fully balanced and blue printed with flat top pistons. Doing a roller cam with gear drive, edelbrock aluminum heads, edelbrock intake and carb. Lockers front and rear with Yukon chromoly shafts. Full roll cage. 4.10s. 35x12.50x15 BFG Mud Terrains. Painting it GM Electron Blue with a tan interior.

 

[atalarico]

Good stuff, all of you!

Good on you for getting your son interested. It's something I never really appreciated at the time growing up as my Dad would point me through maintenance, but damn I certainly appreciate it now. He did the same with my sister too, which is even better!

I'd love to see some Huey guts pictures! I'm a budding armchair aviation enthusiast (read: not rich), and I can't get enough aviation porn! I can't imagine what it's like to wrench on something that complex and that critical to get right! You can always pull over if you screw something up on your car (usually), but you can't exactly do the same when you're a few thousand feet off the deck!

That Bronco picture succession was perfect. It went from "Oh, nice!" to "OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO IT!". I definitely lol'd a little at myself.

I'll have some pics of me wrenching on m,y '16 Golf R soon enough. Delivery next week and already have a few things I'm going to do to it!

Otherwise I wrench on the lady's car a fair amount...which is a bike. Hah!

 

[poleclimber63]

The other vehicle I wrench on happens to be one of my favorites, the UH-60. Don't have any pictures of projects I have undertaken but the list is extensive; engines, blades, tires, brakes, fuel system, landing gear, and much much more. Here is some eye candy of one of my lovely's.

Wow, that's awesome! I came across another member, last year, who is also a helo mechanic! Can't remember where he was located now...
I'm in the Electronics industry and early in my career, I dipped my toe into commercial avionics but the timing was bad--- the economy wasn't good and I couldn't find a permanent position. I stayed in Telecommunications and I now design fibre optic infrastructure. In my office, my boss wrenches Unimog's

Two of us wrench 4R's, one Jeep's and one guy has a 70 Chevelle and one is into Chevy trucks.

 

[poleclimber63]

1977 bronco. Currently it looks like this:

Just ordered a full fiberglass body, 5spd conversion, and a complete edelbrock upper kit. 302 bored 30 over fully balanced and blue printed with flat top pistons. Doing a roller cam with gear drive, edelbrock aluminum heads, edelbrock intake and carb. Lockers front and rear with Yukon chromoly shafts. Full roll cage. 4.10s. 35x12.50x15 BFG Mud Terrains. Painting it GM Electron Blue with a tan interior.

Really nice setup! That engine and drivetrain can't be cheap. I wish I had the time and a garage like you! That is going to be an awesome truck! My cousin is building a Chevy 4X4 and he's dropping a 383 stroker in it. I can't wait to see the results of his, and it would be nice to see yours eventually.

 

[cashmoney]

Thanks. It's been torn down for a year right now. Been a slow build but finally making some progress on it.

 

[fwak1234]

Good stuff, all of you!

Good on you for getting your son interested. It's something I never really appreciated at the time growing up as my Dad would point me through maintenance, but damn I certainly appreciate it now. He did the same with my sister too, which is even better!

I'd love to see some Huey guts pictures! I'm a budding armchair aviation enthusiast (read: not rich), and I can't get enough aviation porn! I can't imagine what it's like to wrench on something that complex and that critical to get right! You can always pull over if you screw something up on your car (usually), but you can't exactly do the same when you're a few thousand feet off the deck!

That Bronco picture succession was perfect. It went from "Oh, nice!" to "OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO IT!". I definitely lol'd a little at myself.

I'll have some pics of me wrenching on m,y '16 Golf R soon enough. Delivery next week and already have a few things I'm going to do to it!

Otherwise I wrench on the lady's car a fair amount...which is a bike. Hah!

My unit no longer has UH-1's but wish we did because I would have loved to work on that old workhorse. Here is my favorite thing to do while crewing. Hoist work is very dangerous and very task saturated. Controlling the hoist, directing the aircraft, working the cable, clearing the aircraft, and still maintaining crew coordination. Dangerous in the since of seeing a dummy fall out of drag sked at 50 feet (catastrophic to the dummy, sked turned into a sail and almost took out the tail rotor of the bird), watched a guy snap his ankle on a spinning sked (tried to stop it with his foot after being advised not to do that and let it down to control the spin), and smashed my left hand while adjusting control cams (slow down and stop sensors essentially). More eye candy for you.

 

[Bigshankhank]

Man, nothing so cool as what you are working on, but I am tasked with keeping my wife and children's fleet of 100k+ mileage cars on the road indefinitely. My wife '00 Jeep TJ has just over 215k on the clock and apart from a rough transmission, still runs like a top. My daughter's '04 PT Cruiser is a tough little cookie standing at 125k and in need of plugs and a timing belt plus shocks all around. She just recently moved back in with us to save some money to buy a house so this is the first time in probably three years that I have been able to get my hands into this car. Somehow she has even managed to lose the hood prop, so I have a replacement on order from rockauto (seriously how do you lose a hood prop?). My son's '96 Merc C280 is the old dog, having been bought new by my dad, I bought it at 220k five years ago and it is approaching 260k now. I shudder to think of what my son has done to this car in the year he has owned it (it belonged to my other daughter before him) since he never took to wrenching despite my best effort and I know he doesn't have a pot to piss in, and that car NEEDS maintenance on a regular basis.

 

[poleclimber63]

Man, nothing so cool as what you are working on, but I am tasked with keeping my wife and children's fleet of 100k+ mileage cars on the road indefinitely. My wife '00 Jeep TJ has just over 215k on the clock and apart from a rough transmission, still runs like a top. My daughter's '04 PT Cruiser is a tough little cookie standing at 125k and in need of plugs and a timing belt plus shocks all around. She just recently moved back in with us to save some money to buy a house so this is the first time in probably three years that I have been able to get my hands into this car. Somehow she has even managed to lose the hood prop, so I have a replacement on order from rockauto (seriously how do you lose a hood prop?). My son's '96 Merc C280 is the old dog, having been bought new by my dad, I bought it at 220k five years ago and it is approaching 260k now. I shudder to think of what my son has done to this car in the year he has owned it (it belonged to my other daughter before him) since he never took to wrenching despite my best effort and I know he doesn't have a pot to piss in, and that car NEEDS maintenance on a regular basis.

Wow, I could have written your post!! I too have a fleet of vehicles out front! My baby, 98' 4Runner SR5 3.4L, my 97' Corolla DX (which was my Dads!) and which my youngest drives to school, my Wifes' 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback, My oldest sons' 1989 Mazda 626 and as I mentioned -- my middle sons' 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

Over the last couple of years I've done an engine replacement in 2014, and various other projects in my 4R . Starter, alt, fuel pump, TB/WP in my Corolla (I have a set of rear struts and an exhaust manifold waiting), TB/WP in my Wifes Lancer, TB/WP, starter, alt X2, belts, PS pump, fnt struts, a bit of rewiring in my Sons' 626, and of course with my son, TB/WP, oil cooler, rust remediation POR15 and some bodywork AND soon the rear suspension on my sons' Eclipse!

Also, last Spring a major overhaul of my 93' Mercruiser 175! That was my first attempt into marine mechanics....

I now have a decent collection of tools....

 

[atalarico]

It sounds like I need to start a family to justify keeping old cars around to wrench on! =p har har. I kid, I kid.

That hoist position sounds crazy. I'm an armchair aviation geek (read: the boring guys who play super realistic flight sims and whose significant others often exclaim "How can that possibly be exciting? You've been trying to land for the last 30 minutes and all I see is fog and you staring at an instrument cluster!") and I had never thought about skeg being able to end up in a rotor! That's scary as hell.

 

[poleclimber63]

more...

Well, I bought a fun DD to drive to work! IT doesn't need a lot but I'm thinking maybe a clutch next Spring! I f can find a reasonably priced 6 spd to replace the 5 spd, that would be awesome. The 5 spd top end isn't quite enough...
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/gener...ogress...-picture40631-img-20160621-03955.jpg

Also, my son sold his 03 Eclipse and bought an 06 Eclipse. We have a few things to do on it...

My oldest son bought an Accord ERX, the Mazda blew a tranny RIP! I spent Sunday Morning at the wreckers acquiring a window regulator for it...

 

[FourEyedWilly]

Don't do too much wrenching these days but here is my 'other'

1969 Kaiser Jeep CJ-5
Those are original miles
4:88 stuffed D44s front and rear with limited slip
Buick V6 with a Three speed and Warn Overdrive unit
Drivetrain has about 8K miles on it total.
Few inches of lift and 32 inch tires
No rust, no rot. She's kinda mint.
No power steering, no power brakes.
Spent many many years up in Clearlake, CA, sat for eight years in San Mateo, CA, now lives in Las Vegas, NV.
Taken her over the Rubi and Sierra Trek but avoid the big stuff for obvious reasons
Starter gave up the ghost. I guess starting in gear on the rocks after stalling took it's toll. On to the pics...











My last wrenching project will make many sick. I sold it. Dumb dumb dumb dumb....

 

[Becker_atc]

Oh my '96 Chevy pickup seems to always need a little attention. Never anything major either maintenance or pittly stuff like my inside driver door handle and I really need the Windows retinted

I have a '79 Chevrolet K20 that need a lot of attention I just need to drag it home.