We’re about 66% with the floor, probably a little more but the hard part of cutting it in is coming up so we’ll see how that goes. Also started a docker course to finally get to the next level with that. And it looks like I have a seasonal gig that should end by the end of the year so I can keep working on the house, learning and still make a few bucks. Life is good.
The floor is going down. I got 3 of 8 boxes down. As this is my first attempt at this snap together flooring, I have to say I’m pretty impressed. You basically hammer it together and it’s free floating. It’s taking me a bit of time because the saw is in the garage but I got my steps so it’s kind of nice.
As the title says, the front end alignment is complete. It wasn’t that far out of whack but it’s good to know that it’s now in spec.
Pippa has gone home, I’ve never seen an animal so happy to see their human. It’s a good thing that makes me smile. The cats, again, have free reign over the house and are busy investigating the smells left over from the dog. It’s stressful having a dog around, I forget how much work they are.
The floor is getting closer to getting laid. I did go to LL and got the spacers I needed for half price. They’re going out of business after all. Got the chop saw and stand out and set up and did a test cut on a test piece of flooring. Cut the first row of barrier and we’re ready to roll tomorrow.
After yesterday’s debacle, I took it easy and finally got the bolt out of the passenger side and got it replaced. I was going to hold off on the driver side until I got the new impact gun but they had deep well metric 1/2 inch impact sockets and an adjustable breaker bar both on sale at HF for ITC members. Saved $20 between the two, another savings for the membership. And the breaker bar is really cool because it’s expandable. So while the impact gun is still in transit, we’re good to go with the Xterra. Now I just need to get the front end aligned. $150 for that.
I cleaned up the garage this afternoon and it looks good if I do say so myself. I’m all out of car work to do for the time so now I don’t have any excuse not to finish the back room.
We did our (almost) 10 mile bike ride this morning, I forgot to set my watch for biking but it worked out.
Got home and I finished cleaning out the garage and moved the Xterra in and got to work getting the front shocks out and ran into an issue. The lower bolt wouldn’t budge. Heat didn’t do anything, so out came the grinding wheel. I removed the head of the bolt and got it about .25 inches though, then I was trying to bang it though, well at that point I started to get mad and hit it hard, it dislodged and then my finger sliced on the brake guard, lots of blood and ended the repairs for the day.
But it did get me thinking and the impact gun I have delivers 250 ft/lbs of torque, this hasn’t been much of an issue but it was bought probably in early 2001 when I was working on the cutlass and only use it for taking off tires really. I stared looking around and it’s at the low end of power. Now you can get up to 1500 ft/lbs but that’ll set you back $150 at HF. I figured I’d check Vevor just to compare and they have a 1400 ft/lbs for $66. Long story short, I’ve got to wait for the new gun to do the other side.
I’ve been feeling out of sorts for the past couple of days and it took me that long to put one and one together that the magnesium supplement is trying to kill me. It’s 420Mg is over the 350Mg that’s recommended. I’ve gone ahead and suspended use for now. Probably won’t be taking that one again.
In other news, it was men’s breakfast at church. Nothing too much going on there. Got home and did the lawn, then I started cleaning the garage. Adrian said he may stop over tomorrow to work on the Xterra front shocks with me and Sandy finished up the final painting in the back and so we’re ready for the floor.
My sister had a work conference this weekend and we’re sitting Pippa the pup. I’m a huge fan of animals but the amount of work involved with a dog is pretty big. I’m more of a cat person in part because cats are like furry houseplants with legs. Don’t get me wrong, I aspire to dog ownership but it’ll happen if any when I get some property that they would have room to run on. But even then you don’t get to travel much unless they come with you and I just don’t know if I could do that.
In much sadder news, Keli’s mom Claudia passed last night. I’ve been in tears thinking about what Keli must be going through. The older I get the more omnipresent death appears to be. It scares me because Sandy has yet to lose a parent and I have yet to lose the hard one, mom. You try not to think about it but it’s going to happen, there’s no way of avoiding that. Keli has handled her mom’s passing with such grace, I’m hoping that I can be half as together when I have to go through it.
I realized the other weekend when we went biking and drove through an unpaved parking lot that the Xterra was riding like a brick. I tried to order springs but that didn’t work out because you can’t find them for a RWD only 4WD. So I still have to send those back but I did get shocks. Considering that they are the original shocks and 16 years old, it was time to replace them. While the shocks are held on by one nut and one bolt, it was a day long event. Jacked it up, put it on stands, removed the tires, dropped the spare, and pulled everything apart, there was (of course) one bold on the lower passenger side that wouldn’t come loose with the Ryobi impact, so I pulled out the air impact and it still wouldn’t move. Had ordered a nut splitter but after the sun moved out of the way, I pulled out the propane torch and heated the nut and that did the trick. Got it all put back together and it raised the back at least two inches and it rides much better. Still need to do the front strut and shock but I’ll have to get a front end alignment so I’ll figure out where that’s getting done before I do it.
My apologies but we seem to be having issues with the galleries not linking to the actual picture preventing you from clicking on the thumbnail to get the actual image.
We are aware of the issue and I’ll do my best to address this ASAP, sorry for the inconvenience.
We got the last of the painting done today and it’s looking pretty good.
Tomorrow I’m starting the floor, here’s hoping that goes as smoothly.
