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Mark or Jeff, I'd gladly swap mechanical jobs with either (or both!) of you in place of my remodel. I'd be done a LOT sooner .

Wow where has the time gone, so many pages of projects. Decks, out door stereo systems, cars, bathrooms, shops, MST3k projects. You name it, its been tackled here this weekend. I don't get much time to post when I am down at the lakes. Well I should say, I put the phone away and enjoy the scenery. I did how ever get my water going, I had to drive the well piping down approx 13' which gave me 5-7' of water. I all so did some smoking in my ugly drum smoker, that thing works great. I will have to see if I have some pictures to share. Sounds like everyone had a nice long weekend, I could use an extra day for recouping. Coffee today, is extra good tasting, but now its time to run. I will catch you guys later.

Will do. The bathroom was original to the house which would make it 40 years old. It really needed it. It will get new cabinets, granite tops, tile floor and shower, new lighting, wall texture, etc. I just finished my daughters bathroom. It takes me forever as I do everything myself (except the granite and cabinets) and only work on it on the weekends. We're fortunate that we have another bath and a half to use in the mean time.

Had no idea you were this handy, or brave, not sure which, probably both. I don't mind the engine part so much it's all the wires and vacuum line that scare me the most. I have flashbacks from a Toyota pickup I did that had about 4 miles of vacuum lines, took me weeks to get it right, good thing it was an extra truck at the time. Yea dtel....those old mid 80's Toyota's were hell with the vacuum hoses...They give you a "map" of the hoses but no numbers...all of the Honda's vacuum hoses have numbers on them.....still not easy. Running though a diagnostics tree to hunt down a vacuum switch valve problem on those old cars was hell. I was the guy back at the dealer that got all running problems when other techs could not fix it..... ahhh the days of carburetors and distributors....I'm glad there gone..... MKP :-)

LF and I rode 12 miles on our bikes....about an hour and 20 minutes. Jake sat it out in the AC. Mosquitos are active so he stays in quite a bit. Ever notice how the days run together when you don't work? Well next big project is planning lunch. Cheers Ladies and Gents

Good morning coffee gang............ MKP.... I'll try and keep this short... Those are GREAT numbers from those Honda cars! Problem here is, the bodies just don't last long enough around these parts for that to happen. You and I know, a lot of it all comes down to the care the engine and driveline components receive through the car's life time. Proof of that? My 1982 Chevette. I wanted a small car getting good mileage since I did not need to move my keyboard gear any longer we had a road crew and truck to do it when the band started to make good $$.. (some laughed and snickered with my choice - but, I loved driving my sister's and I liked it enough to get one of my own.) So, as it goes, I wasn't quite ready to go metric at the time, and surely wanted to stick with rear wheel drive which I was so used to... The Chevette was the only new SUB compact American made car at the time that fit that bill. I had it for 11.5 years, sold with 286k on the OD... Lots of rusty body components and 71 oil changes later, that little Brazilian made 4 banger was still running beautifully .. The real surprise was that the CLUTCH was not only replaced BUT, never adjusted from it's factory setting !!!! Many of my friends in the auto field found that hard to believe. But, I would show them the clutch adjuster that had some original factory weather seal spray on it, Untouched and it it's original position ! I am just very easy on clutches and brakes.... My 2012 Escape has 27k and the front brakes are showing hardly any where shown at my last oil change...Hardly any brake dust stains on the wheels. It is all in the way you take care of the machine (driving habits...?...) Have a nice day my friends, off to Dunkin' Donuts before hitting this morning's pipe organ tuning... .............Gary

Yea Tigerman....the 86-89 Accords were Great cars. Those were some of the 1st Honda's that we really started seeing super high mileage. My mom got one from one of my customers when I was back at the dealer. He sold it to her with over 250K on it....she drove it to about 290+k.... she gave it to me cuz she got a new car.....I drove it to about 310k....then sold it to a young kid for a couple bucks.My eldest daughters 94 Accord has about 410 K and my youngest daughters 99 Civic has about 320 K..... I've worked on both those cars when they had under 50 k on them....got them from my customers. MKP :-)

.......very nice Carl, can't wait to see the completed project..... I need a new vanity and toilet as well.... Paint will finish the ordeal nicely.... Keep us informed.....

I 've been told I can't build any subwoofers toll this is finished.

Good Memorial Day evening to everyone.... Just finished reading through the days posts and auto/truck and engine themes.... Wow, days of worn out engines seem to be part of an old past.... My recent long lived cars had great running engines... Everything around them goes south including the body.... Had a wonderful old Honda Accord (loaded 1986, cost just under 14k!!) and in 1999 when I bought a new Saturn, you could not even use a jack on the car, OR, I had to warn my rear seat passengers to NOT put weight on the floor when stepping in, else a foot could go through !!!!! But that little engine at 165k was wonderful, still had plenty of power.. Too bad reverse went on the auto trans, which caused the push, pull, tow in trade deal for the SL2 ..... Enjoy your evening my friends...... I am here in Music Hall listening to a great Aaron Copland recording to finish my long weekend, back to the grind tomorrow.... ..........Gary

Another vanity will go on this wall.

You can rent a big electric demolition hammer ya know. What fun is that? I went maul and chisel as I didn't want to get into the water pipes. I had to get my long handle splitting mall to bust out the old cast iron tub. The cast iron tub was about 3/8" thick and tough as nails. It fought me the whole way out. After I busted it up into 4 pieces, I still had to use a dolly to get each piece out. Here's a far view. I'll go back with a shower only. I've already replaces the insulation as there was an opening in the wall (courtesy of the home builder) that was perfect for lizards and bugs to enter and make themselves cozy. The hole has been filled.

Yard work long done. Working on tan while LF reads in the shade. And Jake? Just chillin......

At least you have the concrete part done, right? I might have to chip a little more when I move the pipes but I won't know that till I try next weekend. I've side drilled the slab so I can put a couple of pieces of rebar in and prevent the new concrete from settling. After that, I'll build the shower enclosure and start on the pan.

Nope. Seems like I'm always working. Somebody's got to do it, sorry you got the vote. Don't worry it only last until you get OLD, on the bright side, I think, your heading that way quickly.

I know, isn't it great. You're just plain wrong.

Lots to get caught up on. So much so that the only guy that got a formal 'like' since I last posted is Jake. Cool shades. Need to keep up better. Super lazy Memorial Day after the grass cutting and trimming. In between rain showers I did make good progress on the covered patio project in terms of cosmetics. No big plans for the week other than that project and starting to get ready to go see the kids in Germany in early June. duder ... congrats on the well. Try to check back in a bit.

I know, isn't it great.

I keep forgetting it's Tuesday, it feels so much like Monday.

Morning guys..... Yea was a good weekend for sure...... We got the deck rocking yesterday.......Hooked up the EV's got the Crown powered up.....and fired up the new grill for the 1st time. We celebrated my one sister-in laws birthday.....my birthday (next week) my neice and nephew graduation and of course memorial day.......was a good day----pics coming... Yea Gary....good mainance of a car is what's it all about....I know what your saying about the body of the just rotting away....I think you guys have it worse up north. Gotta roll out....a good day to all MKP :-)

MST3000, yes they call us "Mistys", well iv been called worse. Parts are still coming in and im reading up on the "Crow" project, only a few in history have gone with servo controls, and seeing a couple on youtube, they are crap. Will learn servo Control/Mech, iv got a great Mentor w/jerry jewell at skulltronix.com, he's been a bud for 20+ years, gave me all kinds of stuff to play with and is only 10miles away. These pics are from the web, not mine, my guy is still in pieces.....

Morning Gang Must go get that first cup, has got to be done by now

Was wondering how that would help the toothache ? I get it now

Here's where the vanities will go. I've already gone into the wall to replace the supply pipes as I'll go back with new 1/4 turn ball valves.

I broke a piston skirt somehow. Engine supposedly has 100K on it. I've pulled everything on this less the crank. After I get everything spotless, I'm going back in with new pistons, cam, oil pump, lifters, timing chain and sprockets, new ss headers, etc. Right now I'm using dawn detergent and hot water sparingly to wash these freshly deglazed bores. Yes... Dawn is the right stuff to use on a fresh deglazed block..... I have not cracked into a V8 in years......I pull the heads of some of the 4 cyl Honda's.... pull the oil pan and pop the pistons out and do a re-ring job with the block still in the car. Someone stopped by one day while I was washing out the cylinders with my hot soapy Dawn water. They could not under stand why I was doing that. I told them it's the only way to remove all the grit from the cylinder walls....Then they said it looks I was using a toilet brush....I said it is. I have this round toilet brush I got 15 years ago it fits most of the Honda bores just right... MKP :-)

Very smart, I have seen a few times where the connectors can only be connected to the other matching end, but it's not always, that would be to simple I guess, good luck. That toyota was ridicules with vacuum hoses, all the same size running everywhere, and of course it runs terrible if even one is wrong. I got it all running and about 6 months later my daughter wrecked it and bent the frame, she was OK but I wanted to kill her. Bought it back from the insurance company for $300, tore off the wrecked bed and built a flat bed for it made of wood and used it to haul stuff around the yard. Redneck I know but we were still doing landscaping and were always moving a lot of plants around, hundreds at a time.

Had no idea you were this handy, or brave, not sure which, probably both. I don't mind the engine part so much it's all the wires and vacuum line that scare me the most. I have flashbacks from a Toyota pickup I did that had about 4 miles of vacuum lines, took me weeks to get it right, good thing it was an extra truck at the time.

I know it is a friggan long time since I was last on here (probably at least a good year and half). I just got bored with the forum and was busy doing other things, like skiing, working out, running, and so forth. Lets put it this way, since September of 2013, I've lost over 50 pounds. Hell, just this morning (Memorial day), I ran my very first 10K run and posted a pretty respectable 48:13 time. Anyway, just this past Saturday evening, I, along with Larry Clare and Marty (thebes) was up in Bethesda at the Strathmore music center and saw a performance of Shuman's Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Opus 61 by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra which was being conducted by a guest conducer, Markus Stenz. According to the article in this applause magazine they hand out at the performance, he is the principle conductor for the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a while since I took in a good symphony performance. Just wish it was not such a PITA for me to get up there through some of the worst traffic in this country- would've LOVED to seen that performance of Pictures at an Exhibition back in April. This was actually a very refreshing break from all the hard rock/heavy metal concerts I've been at lately. For example, I just saw Delain, Sabaton, and Nightwish just the prior Thursday, and will be seeing Rush this next Saturday on the 30th. I've also been doing semi-professional concert photography for the past year or so and invested in some pretty nice photography gear. The evening started out with dinner at the Oakville Grill and Wine Bar. Excellent food was served and made for a very nice relaxing dinner before the show. The actual concert started out with a performance of Overture to Der Freischutz composed by Carl Maria von Weber. This is actually a very fascinating piece. Starts out kinda slow and somewhat ominous, but really starts to pickup at about 4:30 in. Unfortunately, the conductor could've put a bit more "oomph" in the performance. My first impression I thought it was kinda boring until it started to really pickup with a nice strong finish. Larry pointed this YouTube video showing a more more interesting performance of this same piece: This was followed up by Strauss' Four Last Songs. I got to attend a lecture before the concert and the lecturer pointed out some really fascinating information about this. First, these four songs ("Fruling (Spring)", "September", "Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep)", "Im Abendrot (Sunset)", were never intended to be presented together as they are. This was done posthumously as a way "sell" these songs together as a complete performance. The soprano, Heidi Melton, did a fantastic job in singing those songs. She had a good strong, powerful voice, that was also very beautiful and melodic as well. I found the second of these four songs, "September" to be particularly beautiful. Also, here, I think the conductor did a much better job in getting a good performance out of the orchestra compared to the first piece of the evening. Also, was quite convenient that there was a lyric sheet with both the original German text and the English translated included in the evenings program. Nice touch also that they brought the house lights up a touch during this part of the performance to make it easier for everyone to be able to read and follow along with the lyric sheet. Intermission followed (tip - pre-order your drink at the bar before the show, so you don't have to wait in line to get one during intermission. I did and there it was, sitting on the counter, and ready for me to enjoy when I came out). Was a beautiful evening weather-wise, so it was really nice to go out on the patio and enjoy some fresh air during intermission. The evening finished up with the four-movement Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Opus 61 by Robert Schumann. Seems this is very underrated piece in much of the musical academic circles. The Larry C mentioned this to me after the performance and in fact, the lecturer during the pre-concert lecture also mentioned this. He was indicating it seem to fall outside of what many considered "mainstream" at the time (i.e., the Beethovens, Mozarts, Bramhs, etc) I personally thought this was actually a very interesting and brilliant piece of orchestration. I guess the fact that much of the music that I personally listen to is very much outside what is also considered mainstream, so I can really appreciate a piece that can be a bit daring sometimes (take for instance, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Having seen that myself as well, I almost considered that very "progressive" akin to much of the progressive rock and metal that I normally listen to). I will admit that the particular performance that I say this evening was actually very well done, considering the somewhat lackluster start to the evening with that opening Overture piece. One part that I thought quite fascinating is during the third movement there is a somewhat quiet passage with a very gothic, "churcy" feel to it. I just thought it was just so cool how it sounded there. In addition, I was told during that lecture that the Scherzo during the second movement is just "loved" by the violinists, in that it is a difficult passage to learn and perform well. The string section at the BSO did an excellent job in performing that section. Overall, it was a very nice evening of music and sharing it with a few good friends.

I use to watch a little MST3000, I thought it was funny but the movie part was hard to watch sometimes. BUT I have to ask, been thinking about it so here goes......... Building MST3000 robots, do your kids know, I ask because they may be thinking dad's loosing it, (maby even the wife wonders) he's building robots from MST3000, OK that's probably not what they thought you would be doing when you retired. Although for some strange reason I have a feeling it may not totally surprise them, it sounds like you have not done the normal standard things for a long time if ever. I say that as a complement, anyone can be normal I only mean this in the best way, well, as best as building MST3000 robots can be at least.

Uh yea, I was talking about Jake, yes must have been Jake, yep that's the story. But everything's looking good, cool porch, new paint inside, recoated porch, riding bikes with a shiny new LF and Jake, life's good, happy for you.

Good midmorning gang It would appear i have more of the "Jake" life, the only time im up is looking for another place to relax. Looks like im the driver today for the dental appt, dam, need to shave for the first time since Sat. Welp, on the bright side, maybe ill come home and finish the truck, maybe, ya know that's trying to plan 5hrs ahead. I really better get the truck done, in another daay, ill forget how to do it......

Looking good, the porch came out nice also, BUT who's the old hippie looking dude out there with the LF ?

At least you have the concrete part done, right?

And a couple more.....

LF skipped lunch to strum the Taylor on the refinished front porch. Home made chicken soup for me. A couple of pics......

Nope. Seems like I'm always working.

Good Taco Tuesday morning gang Waiting for the wife to roll out, see how my day is planned. That's ok, id rather sit in the waiting room than the "Chair" anyday. 80s 90s for the week, so far Skeeters in check, i like this.

Mark Mark Mark........I new what you were saying ;-o MKP :-)

I had a thought of a disclaimer No, A real KitKat

Evening gang Quite day, truck is fine and still looking at me as i walk out to the Cave. Iced coffee W/Duggans is tasting mighty fine. Wife just informed me she has a toothache, Soo, im eating her KitKat. Looks like im driving to the Denist in the morning, Then a midtown Pub we dont get down to very often. Time to go find her stash ice cream, i know it's in there somewhere........

I just took pictures of everything BEFORE I started tearing it down. I'll use those should any questions arise.

Deck is looking good there Tarheel. Springtime time w/no tan lines brings out the heliotropes of all shapes and sizes. Jake has got it made alright. Living the life of riley. A movie star What's for dinner,lol ! Been awhile since was that deep into an engine. More power to you mechanics. Watching old war movies so far today. Edit: Summertime

Just up from Nap, at the rate im going, you will be finished before me anyway. I see my wife has put the Flag out, that is twice as much as iv done all day so far......

I broke a piston skirt somehow. Engine supposedly has 100K on it. I've pulled everything on this less the crank. After I get everything spotless, I'm going back in with new pistons, cam, oil pump, lifters, timing chain and sprockets, new ss headers, etc. Right now I'm using dawn detergent and hot water sparingly to wash these freshly deglazed bores.

I finally got around to watching American Sniper this weekend. One of the rare movies that exceeded the hype - just a fantastic movie and great visually and audio-wise as well! Having a 2 and 4 year old my wife and I rarely get to watch anything non-animated nowadays so it was nice to get to experience a great movie for a change.

Light at the end of the tunnel. The T-nuts installed 10-24's to secure the woofer. Foam tape on the baffled to seal the woofer to the baffle. Binding posts in, and 1st bit of the wire loom run. ALKs AP12-500, ES5800 in route... ETA thurs.

Ahh yes, makes my project look "little".......