Rat repair.

[gdavis]

sounds like you are getting a lot of ideas good luck George

[0311Chevy8152]

Stopped by to say hi and see your truck. Thank you for documenting all of your work. I'm sure I will use it to my advantage.

Nathan

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by 0311Chevy8152

Stopped by to say hi and see your truck. Thank you for documenting all of your work. I'm sure I will use it to my advantage.

Nathan

Dang someone woke up a sleeping thread! LOL! Thanks for stopping by Nathan!

Thanks for the comps too, a lot of the stuff i'm doing, and going to be doing this year is for the first time. learning as i go. did a lot of wrenching when i was in my 20's but mostly construction and farm equipment, i have a good set of skills but a bit rusty and just kinda green on the truck. the last 25 years i have worked in manufacturing, journyman machinist since 1998.

I'm getting close to comming out of hybernation, just waiting for a little better weather being as my options are the driveway or under a 10X20 car cover with a muddy floor, we have had a few nice stretches of no rain but i knew they wouldn't last, trying to keep my truck dry so the rust dosen't get much worse.. Was planning on waking up this thread soon, Thanks for stopping by.

[DWilbur]

OMG it's alive. let's keep it going.

[7dee2]

[swamp rat]

Well well, i pulled my truck out from under the cover today, it fired right up and ran like a top after sitting since about mid November, its really nice to know where to by Non Ethanol gas! Took my dog for a shakedown run, then drove it to work tonight, then it promptly rained while at work, go figure.

So a recap, I love my compressor, i pulled out my 6" disk sander the other day and i swear i ran it for about 3 minutes before the compressor turned on, love the capacity and the quieter running motor/pump, far less obtrusive sound inside the house, usually when i forget and leave the valve open and it bleeds down at the quick disconnect, usually in the middle of the night..

My quest for space in the garage led me to spend some time building a lean to shed on the back side of the house, its got 2 shelves in it and trust me the thing is packed to the gills. Typical swamp rat fashion i still haven't painted the trusses or base, or installed front vent boards and filled in the dirt around the shed, plus i didn't use flashing around the roof edges, woops! Due to space limitations being under the house roof i had to make the roof removable, roof it on the ground then lift the 100 lb monstrosity back to the top of the shed, little over 7' at the front, by myself.... Note: The roof is about 3"-4" wider on each side than the walls, just looks flush in the pic.

I have also spent a lot of time dealing with the local bike shop as i'm having a lot of work done to my Harley, big bore kit and new paint plus a number of changes, hopefully it will be done soon.

With the added room in the garage plus moving a couple small shelves i was able to add a 4'X24"X78" free standing shelf from Home Depot, bought a few totes to store small parts and started filling it with the truck parts i have bought. One of which is a complete rebuilt tilt column i bought from a guy here on the board that i plan on installing while i have the driver fender and door off, also planning on a new quick ratio steering gear from http://www.redheadsteeringgears.com/

Back to the truck, its not much but i hammered out this gas filler delete plate before i left for work, the couture is pretty close, if i have time tomorrow i'll pull the aluminum tape and weld it in. Hibernation is over and i need to start making progress again.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

... Hibernation is over and i need to start making progress again.

Glad to see you're back at it, Mike! Shed looks great. That's one thing I miss by living in a subdivision with all the rules. They'd have a fit if you put up a little shed. I'm not very handy with wood, so I'm always impressed when I see a clean little project like this.

[ryanroo]

looks nice, all around.

i wish i was more handy with construction type projects. i am pretty good at it i guess, i just dont like it... i even went to skool and got a cert in construction. but dimensional lumber makes my brain turn off... we need a shed for garden tools and whatnot and it would be a good place for me to hide some of my spare truck stuff as well. i have the clogged garage issue myself.

[swamp rat]

The worst part is how long the shed took me to build, planning it i figured a week tops..... Yea right!

[swamp rat]

Ok so i didn't weld in the gas fill delete i made but decided to do this instead, don't know how long its gonna last if it gets really windy but it will do for a while, I padded up the two cross bars on the grass side pretty good. I don't think Meg will be too happy tho...

I may still have to figure out a way to extend the cross bars to the end of the tarp, or put out some poles to change the bend angle on the side, but i'm out of time today.

[swamp rat]

Oh, I do have some tarp upright pole's so i can lift the angled down side, but thats also the side the wind would come from so it was a debate as to how to secure that side..

[gdavis]

I see you are getting ready for the spring. We here jumped from winter to summer almost 90 today. Got a lot of parts ordered and waiting until the 13th to start again. George

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by gdavis

I see you are getting ready for the spring. We here jumped from winter to summer almost 90 today. Got a lot of parts ordered and waiting until the 13th to start again. George

Over here, real nice today, but weather .com predicts overcast tomorrow, rain all weekend (70 % chance i think ) thru monday at least.

I've had 2 people allready say "nice redneck lean too"

[DWilbur]

The redneck cover I had in my driveway cost me $1,800.00 in damage last year when the wind picked it up and it landed on my neighbors car.

[swamp rat]

Thanks for the warning, i get nervous with this kinda stuff, i checked weather .com and it predicts no more than 12 mph for the next week. The good news is i live 15 minutes from work so if the wind picks up i can come home and pull it down.. Crossing fingers

I had an appt today but i started spot welding in my filler cover, got a ways to go yet.

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by DWilbur

The redneck cover I had in my driveway cost me $1,800.00 in damage last year when the wind picked it up and it landed on my neighbors car.

Brings back memories! Found my awning in my back yard wrapped around a tree. This was after I went out to check on my bike. (Garage wasn't built yet - different place) bike was fine, turned and started to head to my car, stopped in my tracks realizing there was no awning.
So swamp rat check out the e-mail my Mrs. sent me a couple hours ago.

A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT.
IN ADDITION TO CREATING GUSTY WINDS.THIS FRONT WILL USHER IN A
COLDER AIR MASS. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE IN THE 2000 TO 2500 FOOT
RANGE DURING THE DAY SATURDAY. THIS MEANS THAT THE HEAVIER
SHOWERS OR ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP WILL LIKELY CONTAIN A
LARGE AMOUNT OF SMALL HAIL. POSSIBLY COMPLETELY COVERING THE
GROUND TO A DEPTH OF AN INCH OR TWO.

THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER INTO THE 1500 TO 2000 FOOT RANGE
SATURDAY NIGHT WHICH WILL ONLY INCREASE THE THREAT OF HAIL WITH
ANY SHOWERS. ALSO IF THE SHOWERS ARE HEAVY ENOUGH WET SNOW
MIGHT BE PULLED BRIEFLY TO NEAR SEA LEVEL.

IMPROVING CONDITIONS ARE LIKELY SUNDAY UNDER WEAK HIGH PRESSURE. FOR MORE INFORMATION TO TO: WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE

Hey come to think of it. I have lots of awning pieces left over from wind and snow damaged awnings. Headed to scrap yard unless you want them?

I know you don't need to be told to tie down your cover, just remembered that uneasy feeling seeing my bike out in the weather and had to share.

[NONHOG]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

, i checked weather .com and it predicts no more than 12 mph for the next week.

Gotta love Western Washington weather forecasting.
2 sources 2 predictions.

[swamp rat]

Oh boy. Now im at work with a case of the warm fuzzies... ��

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Gotta love Western Washington weather forecasting.
2 sources 2 predictions.

Oh.it did say rain the next few days. Just poked my head outside and the temp dropped about 10 degrees. Raining lightly

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Hey come to think of it. I have lots of awning pieces left over from wind and snow damaged awnings. Headed to scrap yard unless you want them?

I know you don't need to be told to tie down your cover, just remembered that uneasy feeling seeing my bike out in the weather and had to share.

LOL! funny, my last neighbor thought he would put one up in his back yard next to mine, he didn't tie it down, it was in my back yard 2 days later..

Hey Non, if you have a couple of the top arches i could put them to use if they are the same diameter as mine. I'll have to check the dia.

No problem on the tie down warning, mine are all tied down nicely, i have had 3 car covers on the side of my house, the side that gets all the wind, going on 5-6 years and havent lost one yet, they do take a beating at times tho..

The redneck awning now is another story, if there may be hail comming in than i think tomorrow i'll most likely take it down for a bit, the only reason i put it up yesterday was that i wasn't suppose to work this weekend, but that changed, so did the weather.. . i'll save it for better weather.

[swamp rat]

The tarp has survived 2 days unscathed so i think i'll be ok for a bit.. but i'll keep checking the weather forecast.

I always envision how something is going to be before i start... The first photo represents that, i borrowed it from Fakerwade's build thread...

What i end up with is something entirely different, but it works. LOL!

3 thin layers of bondo followed by a thick coat of high build primer, still need to sand the high build back and re hit it with epoxy primer unless someone can tell me if high build UPOL is also epoxy? ether way i have to sand it back a bit as i was in a hurry to wrap it up and get to work yesterday, some of the primer is on un prepped paint.

You cant see it in the pic's very well but directly above the fill hole there is a high spot, i didn't notice it until i started with the bondo, well its not a show truck, it may get reworked before paint or just leave it but i want to keep pressing forward for now, i may be able to just hide it with another layer of bondo. Not sure if this was heat indiced or if it was already present..

[swamp rat]

Yesterday, at least i kept dry....

[Molberg]

Looks real good from what I can see. I used u-pol hi builds. Different animal than epoxy. We quite commonly would spray hi builds on areas over filler etc, and sand it out once dried. Wipe it down, then hit entire car with epoxy. Give it its recommended flash time (usually an hour) and then nail the paint on. (Wet on wet they call it). I had a portable car shelter out here for a couple of years. Wind got up and broke some of the anchor cables. (70 mph wind). One cable held somehow... It looked like a drag cars parachute. With pipe in it. Hahahah. Took the wife 2 days to clean it up. Lol. Good work brother.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

The tarp has survived 2 days unscathed so i think i'll be ok for a bit.. but i'll keep checking the weather forecast.

I always envision how something is going to be before i start... The first photo represents that, i borrowed it from Fakerwade's build thread...

What i end up with is something entirely different, but it works. LOL!

3 thin layers of bondo followed by a thick coat of high build primer, still need to sand the high build back and re hit it with epoxy primer unless someone can tell me if high build UPOL is also epoxy? ether way i have to sand it back a bit as i was in a hurry to wrap it up and get to work yesterday, some of the primer is on un prepped paint.

You cant see it in the pic's very well but directly above the fill hole there is a high spot, i didn't notice it until i started with the bondo, well its not a show truck, it may get reworked before paint or just leave it but i want to keep pressing forward for now, i may be able to just hide it with another layer of bondo. Not sure if this was heat indiced or if it was already present..

Good job, looks great I'd be happy with that!

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Molberg

Looks real good from what I can see. I used u-pol hi builds. Different animal than epoxy. We quite commonly would spray hi builds on areas over filler etc, and sand it out once dried. Wipe it down, then hit entire car with epoxy. Give it its recommended flash time (usually an hour) and then nail the paint on. (Wet on wet they call it). I had a portable car shelter out here for a couple of years. Wind got up and broke some of the anchor cables. (70 mph wind). One cable held somehow... It looked like a drag cars parachute. With pipe in it. Hahahah. Took the wife 2 days to clean it up. Lol. Good work brother.

Ok thanks, I'll certainly sand it down and cover it with epoxy primer to keep the elements out. i'm probably going to realize that high build is harder to sand next. LOL!

My covers have survived some pretty high gusts and storms, all 3 are next to the chain link fence and i have tie downs hooked to the fence, 3 per side on the windy side, one on each end on the other, if a major storm is predicted i also run a couple straps on the inside to the trucks as well. I keep the backs open and the upper part of the front cover open down to the second set of grommets to allow some wind to pass inside. i have had them just snapping tight in the wind at times