Called in to work and went on a Route 66, Oatman, Topock drive with some buddies.

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looks like Four Seasons.

Hyatt Ziva. Los Cabos.

I started trimming the overgrown magnolia tree in the front yard - so the freshly developing seed pods wouldn't be falling onto the little trick-or-treaters' noggins. Realized it was a bigger job than I anticipated, so called a professional arborist to tackle the remainder. It had been at least three (3) years since the last trimming ...

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All done in time for Halloween, but possibly due to the lingering C-19 virus, we only had four (4) people even show up on Halloween night

Fortunately, we didn't spend a lot of calories decorating the whole yard this year

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Also, finally came up with movable a solution for the soda-blasting cabinet. Cut & primed (oil-base) a plywood deck and bolted it to an HF cart, then secured all 4 legs to the deck with some 'L' brackets. Now I can move the behemoth to a safer space (and closer to the compressor) before winter weather sets in

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@euro911 Mark -They did a beautiful job on your tree.

Trying to get my shop in order. The hacks who built this in the 70's decided to put the gable end truss hanging way off the edge of the wall. Sheathing the whole thing to keep the bugs and mice out too. Man door is gonna have to wait till spring. Gonna add 6 inches of exterior insulation to this structure too eventually.


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Lots has been done over the past few weeks. New garage is basically complete and my father and I just finished setting up the lift. Hopefully we can get more finished before permanent snow sets in and access is cut off but the cars are tucked away for the winter. The olympic will be getting rebuilt next and cabinets and shelves will have to go up soon. Still have more benches to take out of storage along with the welder and various other fun toys. Lots to do still.... excuse the mess

Wow. That is a real nice garage.

so, a new life for oildrums. Some paint, holes in the bottom, wheels under it so they can move around in the garden....fill with claybeeds and fresh soil and in went the bamboo....
(it was an idea of the wife, but I liked the 'garage theme' so came together fast)
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Future new 914 home, after two years of permitting

Helped my buddy install the windshield in his '58 Speedster. He's owned it for over 50 years, used to race it, had a 4-cam in it for a while, too!
It's a bit hot rodded with late 356 discs, period magnesium wheels and some other stuff like that 4-cam tach. Such a cool car, but a total nail-biter to work on!

Beautiful car!

Took the Cayman for a drive with some friends to Rhyolite.

Oooh - another Shark.

Let’s see it please.

Funny, but I also had to take the instrument pod out of my '85 928 to tackle a stubborn fuel gauge that won't work and replace the instrument lights with LED bulbs. Oh what fun it is to ride...

Look at that machine! Glad fat finger syndrome did not kick in while holding the glass.

That is a very pretty car.

Well I did do something on a 914 today but I did not do more because I’ve been working on getting this sorted out. Engine rebuild and gearbox swap later, entirely new springs and shocks and rebuilt suspension later it actually drives quite well.

It was a long-term Reno NV car so please excuse the sun baked paint.



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Restoring old 911 toolkit roll. Evaporust for a few days and a little scrubbing.

Going to resew next week.

Cooking RIBS big time...

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I love Ribs, cut them in pairs because nobody asks for a rib, I only hear "Hey Joe, did you bring any Ribs?
The eight single bones you see on the pic are end cuts and I only buy racks that weight 4 pounds or better. There are almost 40 pounds in the picture. 6 racks still in the freezer.

RIBS

Here ya go... my favorite driver

Made up a couple of work lights for the garage. One for all around and one for under the car. Tall one 6000 lumens and the small one 3000 lumens.

Back to trying to finish up the laundry room project ... ceiling ready for drywall

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Because I wasted time on this: Low gear in one direction, higher gear in the other.
Truly a trip to ride!

And the answer to the question at the end is: A retro-direct pedaling system.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuIDgLoVPp8

Needed to scab an additional ceiling joist and construct a short height furring wall in the laundry room above the doorway from the pantry. This was required to offset the existing exterior stucco wall, that became an interior wall after raising the roof.

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Getting closer to finally getting some drywall up

My oldest son gave me a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle for Christmas. He really wanted to start work on it with me before he went back to grad school (he left this morning), so we started on the puzzle last Sunday. It took all week, but we finished it last night:
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The puzzle turned out to be every bit the royal pain in the butt that you'd expect a 2K piece puzzle to be.

I made up for the 914 neglect today, by starting to fix the rust on the driver's side of my car.

P.S., the cat in the background is the "covid kitty" my wife adopted from a pound last April. Nice cat, but still rather feral, so kinda odd to live with. Also, she's not happy in the pic, because she had gotten a bath just a few minutes earlier.

@VegasRacer Did you go through Titus Canyon?

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No, but some of our drives do include an off road loop.
As a passenger, I have been amazed at the places a Cayenne can easily go.

On our quest to visit all 23 Nevada State Parks, I did traverse some treacherous trails.
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OK, but that is a red Cayman- not a Cayenne. I really like the Cayman and would love one of the 6 cylinder manual cars. I think it could be the best handling car Porsche sells.

Water heater leaking...in attic on second floor

Fortunately, I new where the all the water and gas cutoffs were.

Unfortunately, the access to attic is smaller than the water heater

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Sides of access hole are vertical members of prefab trusses (of course), with wiring/junction boxes (of course).

Well, OK then...

I was able to cut a new access hole from inside the upstairs bedroom's closet. New access is between the trusses where the heater sits.

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New heater going in now.

We will have to be careful around the lines coming out of the floor...and it will be some work to reframe and insulate, but nothing like expanding the existing access would have been.

I'm thinking of adding an auto shut-off (that second floor thing again). And maybe replacing the heater at about 10 years...

So I have to ask... why is the water heater on the second floor (and in the attic)? The leaking issue aside (as you have discovered), but a full water heater is 300-400 lbs, depending on capacity, PLUS the weight of the empty unit. Seems like floor loading would also be a concern.

I can't work on the 914 because the 944 Cab is hogging the jack stands.

Finished the job around 4PM. Old unit came out fine, new unit went right in too. So far, so good. And you're right, 50 gal unit weighs 400+ lbs when full. AC, gas furnace, and air handler are also in the attic. Go figure.

FWIW, I agree with you, but that's how the builder designed it...and it seems to be a relatively common approach here in VA. This particular installation (with the too-small access) should NOT have passed code/inspection.

Already planning to raise that issue with the city/county inspectors just so they are aware in the future.

Maybe the builder installed the tank in the attic to keep the system from freezing in the winter months?

Have you thought about building a door for the opening? ... less hassle for when 'the next time' comes to pass

Also, does the catch basin have a drain hose going to the exterior of the house?

Still no work, but getting stuff moving in the garage...got the 356 started for the first time in years...and the last time had a fuel leak, got that fixed.
Also loaded the bridge jacks on the lift, but they roll like ass and Amy trying to figure out why.

Next I need to restore/paint some cabinets and get them in place. Fingers crossed 914 work begins this year.

Spent quality time with the wife. Happy wife.. more Porsche parts!!

LOL ... my wife's happy when I get rid of stuff


Saturday morning, I braved the rain - washed the Tacoma, the Subaru and the Vanagon ('Eileeen') - and let the downpours apply the final rinse

Early B-day present from the wife...hope to have it up and running next week.

For scale the red plate is 10" in diameter.
Lathe is a 12"x36" capacity. (Dia x length for part in theory )

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Worked all day and then picked up this sweet little 1970 numbers matching 914. Same super cool owner since 1972. Originally purchased in Germany and then imported directly by the first owner. hasn’t been running for over a decade and likely has some valve issues

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I traded some of my time doing metal work on a friend's hot rod for his 2001 CL500. It's actually pretty fast!

Sadly, they are depreciation kings of the highest order. It's mechanically sound but has a ton of broken little cosmetic things and needs too much to make it worth "fixing".

So, I'm thinking gut it, cage it and go Group 5-style wide body! Lemons / track / drift car anyone?

That will be a beast!

After driving the 914 to work 3 days this week, mild weather here in S. AZ., I gave it the rest of the week off, and working on more painting around the houseClick to view attachment

Although I didn't drive it today, I removed the bumpers and have them out to be refinished. I didn't drive today because my car now has no carbs and as you guys know, it don't run too well without them carb thingys........... The other thing I will tell you from my experience is do not park your car in the remote parking are of the SoCal Ritz Carlton coastal Resort. That is where the unfortunate theft occurred.














Not of the carbs - My Isuzu trooper about twenty years ago.

The IDT3C and C1 carbs are in SoCal sitting on the Carb Guru's bench in exchange for a fully rebuilt top to bottom set of 40IDA's now due a week out from now.

(see PIX)

Benz track day car prep is well under "weigh"!
This beasty is HEAVY! 3977 lbs. The interior is now mostly gutted. The seats are heated, ventilated and have a massage feature. They must weigh 100 lbs each. Not kidding.
This thing is so over-engineered/built/full of ridiculous luxury, it's no wonder no one uses them as the basis for a race ca, er, wait...

Fear not, this was all but a throw away car as it needed all that luxury stuff fixed and it wasn't worth fixing. First load to the dump was just over 200 lbs and that didn't include the seats, glass, airbags (8 of those in the car) and a ton - pun intended - of other crap that will be removed.

Cage building starts soon.

That car is going to fun there Chris.


I spent some time the last few days cleaning and organizing the garage again.

Made some holders for the nut drivers so it would easier to access and grab the correct one instead of flopping around in the top drawer of my tool box.

Made these from some material I've had sitting in the shop for like 20 years, I think it is nylon?

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Double double...