happy sticks™

Within days of installing the big auditorium speakers in our living room,

I became painfully aware that while powerful in their sound,

the cabinets had a fragile flaw,

especially in our confined space.

I haven't played a Liar's Club in a while,

so let's see how long it takes to figure this out.

I had many ideas for a design,

but was limited to the scraps lying around.

Sure I could drive and get some 1/4" round,

but where's the fun in that.

A couple Model A Ford brake rods would do the trick.

A rusty scrap of flat bar was dug up.

This had the perfect patina to match the 1930's brake rods.

The modified band saw worked it's wonders yet again.

I get asked if I'm a welder all the time,

well a couple times a week it seems.

It's a common term for a metal worker to the common folk.

There usually is more time cutting, filing, fitting, drilling, etc.,

then actual welding.

Can you believe no grinder was used in this project?!

Obviously I'm trying to stall right now.

Have you you figured it out yet?

Here's some choices...

1 - mechanical Xanax

2 - big booty reducer

3 - point guard

4 - happy sticks™

Okay the top pic was actually the finished deal.

What did you guess?

Here's before the install.

See that point?

Well it's sharp and dangerous looking...

...but is defenseless against a clothes bin.

Remember these Klipsch La Scalas were made for a stage.

In this household,

the 7' spot inbetween the couch and the TV is also our folding area.

If your gonna waste time in front of the boob tube,

the #1 reason for the big booty syndrome,

may as well get something done.

Clean clothes need clean hands,

which means no greasy snack food too.

It's a win-win on all fronts,

and bottoms...

#2 it is!

This is also the primary wrestling area for the kids.

When you combine bodies and boxes,

what would be expected.

Things get knocked around.

I'm telling you this is prime real estate.

#3 it is!

I had a holey chit moment when I saw a really light mark.

After a wtf moment with the family,

it was easier to build the guards 

then to limit fun and chores over mashed points,

and sound like a raving lunatic.

Yep #1 it is too!

So if you chose #4...

Ding ding ding winner winner chicken dinner.

These guards are basically are recipe for happiness.

No more stress about ruined speakers,

a toned butt brings better self esteem, comfort and well happiness,

and really this helped justify keeping these!

I almost gave them up when they became to much of a liability for damage.

Yes I did contemplate on the round bars effect to the sound wave.

There's engineering involved in designing that bass cabinet,

and if it was water flow  it would definitely make a ripple.

Well I can't tell a difference!

TP

liar's club #1940 - monumental structure

When the green 40 was under the knife,
the garage door wouldn't shut with the bumper installed.
This wasn't a problem,
because when I had tried to tow it last year,
the passenger bumper mounts had totally ripped out.

beater 1940 ford coupe

With no recent luck finding a replacement set,
I considered making some kind of temporary bracket.
Lo and behold I bolted up the tweaked spring steel mounts,
and the bumper was only slightly tilted.
Enough to live with til a better set is found.

Time for a "Liar's Club"...
One of the fun things about being able to weld,
is whipping out random structures.
As long as there is enough metal scrap lying around,
it is possible to quickly create a solution to a problem.
Of course it may not be the most ornate work,
but that is what flat black paint is for.
We call this "temporary permanent",
as it will usually be there forever.
So,
guess what it is yet?

monument

Here's a hint...

dirt

Over 6 years ago the sheetmetal was coated with a case of rattlecan green.
It's taken a while,
but the paint finally has a true patina finish.
The kids make it even more authentic since this is the bike and trash wagon path.
Which is another reason for this little monument.

1940 ford custom license plate mount

Ok if you haven't guessed yet,
it was a simple over-thought license plate mount.
Strong enough to be difficult to pull a snatch-and-grab,
and angled to not flutter at highway speeds.
I'd prefer to not have the front license plate in a place so glaring,
but now there's no excuse for any parking enforcement tickets.
Looks like the June Bug may be kicked out on the street!

TP

donkey cheese

Remember Liar's Club?
Haven't done one of those in a long time.

disposable art

This looked so cool in the sunlight.
I had to take a pic or two.
Figure out what it is yet?

donkey cheese

Not as exciting looking from this last shot!

office

I'm the designated dishwasher.
The other side of grease monkey.
How do you think I keep my hands so soft!

TP

liar's club - little helpers

What can you see in this pile of scrap?
Let's play "Liar's Club" and see how long it takes to figure it out.

scrap

After about an hour I had most of the essential parts.
It may have been 2.
Very tedious.

liar's club

Each one had 5 individual pieces,
for a total of 65 parts.
Sure 13 were the eye bolts,
but even they had to be trimmed to make hooks.

christmas ornaments?

A little bit later the pieces were assembled,
and they were stashed away for safe keeping.
Figure out what they are yet?

stashed

In the meantime,
Ken had been working on the hurtlocker truck seats,
and we also finished off the old grand dad bottle.
Time for a new one!

empty old grand dad bottle

I will spend a c-note buying some old speakers or stereo equipment,
but I am too cheap to buy these things at 4 for $30 or so.
The fact that I will spend a couple hours building them justifies my other addictions.

sheet metal clamp in action

If you haven't guessed it they are sheet metal clamps.
I ripped off the idea from many others,
and modified the design to fit my materials.
These should have been made a long time ago.

Stay tuned for the project(s) they are needed for,
it's gonna be a fun one.

TP

liar's club 2012

While digging through my parts stash,
I re-found this old thing.

a. prop shaft adapter for a boat
b. ford flathead timing adjuster plate
c. coaster for a hot mug

Somehow I've kept it together.
You know what it is?

I want to play a liar's club,
so if you think you know before you read this,
be the first to post up the correct answer.
The winner will receive a damn good prize!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SPOILER ALERT!
Don't read this if you're playing the game!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

machined pieces

So if any of you have an early flathead with the crab or diving bell distributor,
you'll know that the distributors are bench-timed on a machine.
The early crankshaft pulleys don't have any timing marks or timing pointers,
so a timing light is basically useless.

a. prop shaft adapter for a boat
b. ford flathead timing adjuster plate
c. coaster for a hot mug

If precise timing is important,
than the best way is to remove the cylinder head,
find the true TDC on the #1 piston,
and file a mark on the pulley, along with fabbing up a pointer.

mallory dual point distributor ford flathead

The newer aftermarket crab distributors have slots to adjust the timing.
So timing is adjusted by feel or by the custom mark/pointer.

timing mark

The early distributors had fixed holes.
This thing made timing easy by creating a slotted adjustment,
and then hoping the timing marks were true to the engine.

Pretty cool huh?
Of course I've never used it
 and adjust timing by performance or water temperature...

Let's see who wins!

TP

blasted - tnuom repilac ekarb tnorf

Mark brought over a small project for the Wasp Sidecar.
Let's do a "Liar's Club".
First person to figure it out gets a free trip to our TJ dentist.

detailed instructions

He always has detailed instructions.
I could tell he spent some time figuring this out.

tnuom repilac ekarb tnorf

After welding,  I tried bead blasting it,
it kinda made it look like a cast piece.

back side

I think it will look better installed!


TP

together again - chief & tortuga

Grabbed a couple hours at the shop before the wife went to work.
Nothing much accomplished but walking around in circles cleaning and organizing.
It will help things get finished or rather started during the week though.

Something did happen that was cool though.

reunited
1929 ford roadster pickup...

The guy that bought the old '68 BMW 1600/2002 dropped by.
I will admit that one of the drawbacks of selling a car
is wondering if the new owner is stoked or pissed,
especially when it's a keeper and not a flipper.

...and it feels so good
1968 bmw 1600/2002

Fortunately Aaron (not the guy standing there) was happy,
able to deal with the minor issues and now its his daily driver!
So far he's racked up at least 500 miles!
One way to work is 30 miles,
and he's averaging about 18 mpg, not bad,
but he's going about 75 mph with a 1:1 final ratio.
I never even took it on the freeway!
Cool!
He does have a mechanic friend that helps tune it up,
so he's lucky in that regard.
I was surprised to see that it is unchanged otherwise.

There was a box of extra parts at the house,
so he followed me through the windy streets home,
basically the only path I had ever driven it, back and forth.

la tortuga
the turtle
only by name

Oh yeah.
500 miles rockin the unfinished panel paint!
We had nicknamed it "the turtle" back then.
I'd love to get the rattlecans out and finish it.

Anyway it was a good visit and he wants the 5-speed overdrive installed soon,
so you all will be seeing more of it later.

*****

Another good thing about cleaning is finding missing parts.
Wanna do a "Liar's Club"?

Liar's club.
what could it be...

Not quite sure what I was thinking back then,
it only needed to be the angle iron with 4 holes!
Guess I liked grinding.

guess yet?

Around here you get a fix it ticket for not having a front license plate.
Sure it doesn't look as sleek but its not worth the hassle.

still going...

It's an elaborate system for such a simple need.
But it's solid and keeps the plate from getting messed up.
Also if I'm stuck in the boondocks I can use it to attract a plane or something.

finally

Yeah,
maybe I should blurr out the number.
I swear,
if someone screws with my registration,
I will hunt you down.

oil spot?
what oil spot?

At least now I can park out on the street.
It sucks to cater to a legality,
but I need to be smarter than the monkey that gets zapped trying to get the treat.

More better car stuff to come...

TP

Liar's Club III - sharpie sketch

Ok,
this Liar's Club edition is gonna be a little tough.
My brother's drawing far exceeded any previous vagueness.
Very reminiscent of heiroglyphics or cave paintings.

birthday cake

Stay tuned...

TP

worm miners

A couple posts ago,
I showed you a picture.

liar's club

I didn't give the three choices,
but if you had picked "worm mine" you would have lost.
It's more like "worm fishing".

a "WTF" moment

Sometimes you have to eat shit to poop!

Add caption

Stay in school, behind a desk...right...

baiting the trap

Start by setting the hook...

Got one!

Wait, wait, snag it...
Yes.

We win!

This one was tore up,
usually they come out nice and big.
Shitty job,
but hopefully it got us in the door.

Ok,
its not a worm mine,
it's actually a "stuffing box" for a rudder shaft.
This is the old packing seal,
basically a rope/wax seal, like for a crankshaft.

tug boat

For car engine's,
the tool is called a "sneaky pete" and is a corkscrew with a piece of wire.
Cool how big boat stuff is just a really big version.
Might edit in a pic later.

What I'll do for my brother!

TP

how NOT to install a roll bar

Since the (temporary) sweatshop starts early,
i'm trying to get at least a couple hours in a "night"
once the sweet spot was 12-3am,
now its 5-8pm.
Wow.
The BMW is a perfect project for this afterwork time,
since a "big box" type boatyard saps any desire to think correctly.
So why not start tearing things up!

This is the biggest joke of the car,
as a roll car automatically makes it a race car.

big red roll bar

I swear its the first thing people talk about when they see it.
"Oh, its a race car cool!"
"Look at the rollbar!"
Maybe cause its so red.

Anyway the roll bar itself isn't that bad,
its how the guys mounted it.

spittle

When in doubt,
thru-bolt the base plate to a piece of sheetmetal not attached to the floor,
and never use washers on the bottom.

droppings

When in doubt, don't worry about using bolts,
even if the baseplate holes are predrilled.
The welding smoke must have been unbearable for the welder.
These rear pads popped off with one light smack with a hammer!

we don't need no stinkin bolts!

When in doubt,
just paint over everything!
Even better that the seatbelts were attached to the rollbar!

square one

I don't think the roll bar will be reinstalled.
Some sembleance of a back seat would be better.
Anyone in need of a small car roll cage? craigslist time...

Gotta love those flintstone holes huh!
And whats with that part underneath the window?
For some reason it was cut and resectioned in, badly.
Maybe someone replaced the window bottom with a different year.
Sigh.

little whistler

Also found the source of that exhaust leak!
It sounded like the exhaust had a lisp.
And yes,
I rarely use exhaust gaskets,
just some high-temp RTV.
The trick is to coat it with the hi-temp,
bolt it all up but not too tight.
Let it harden a bit maybe half hour or less,
than tighten it up as much as normal.

6 big bolts 10 little bolts

Why stop there?
Might as well really clean up the engine bay,
clean and rebush the front suspension...
There's also some good rust holes in the actual subframe that will be easier to fix.
This is a surprisingly easy car to strip down...
please get back together as easily!

...Sigh...

These 2002's, well 1600's, are made almost entirely of very thin sheetmetal.
Its like metal origami.
No wonder they were popular for rally cars.

If you think this is bad,
than take a look at this.

liar's club entry #3

If anyone knows what this is,
you win.

Makes the Beemer look like a cakewalk.
Come on friday.
Now I know why they invented beer!

TP