End of the old year and in with the new

 Hello everyone,

This year has been amazing for my wife and I as far as concerts and traveling goes. Logged over 21,000 miles on Diego. Saw a ton of cool places and things, and met a ton of new people.

Finished up some projects, got all the wood cut, finished the car port, getting ready to start on my wife’s she shed. Got my son’s car back together but have run into an issue that I haven’t quite figured out yet. I believe I have an idea of what’s wrong but been pretty busy with the holidays and my youngest son was visiting. Managed to put a trailer hitch and wiring on his new truck before he left for home.

We’re going to celebrate New Years out at our new found place for music, Austin’s. Should be fun. Then back to the grind next week.

Hope all who read this a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon, 

TVI

Amazing show and a little more accomplished

 Hello everyone,

Yep, the show was was amazing, Kofi Baker is every bit as good as his dad was! I wish I could post some of the video I took of him and the musicians that were playing with him, but I’m not good enough of an editor to make that happen.

Got home this morning and got a little more done on the car port. We had two 2x12’s 24 feet long that had to go along the sides of the thing at the very top. I had tried to enlist a friend with a work truck and crane to come and help but his truck was in the shop and he wouldn’t be able to help until next weekend. So, I did my best “ well, let’s think about this and came up with this solution:

I had several of these500 lb. Come alongs that I used as a field mechanic and I used the to do a lot of things, some questionable, but they worked very well. We had both sides up and installed in about three hours. They’ll eventually be bolted on to the 6x6’s with long carriage bolts, but for now there up in place and screwed in.

Even the boss/ safety coordinator showed up on the job!

She chewed my ass out for being up on a ladder!! LOL

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon,

TVI

Assembling the car port

 Hell everyone,

Been working on the carport for the last few days.

Making some progress.

There’s still two more posts to go up where the 2x4 is standing. It’s a lot bigger than we thought it was going to be, but it will still work perfectly.

Went to a friend’s house yesterday and borrowed some scaffolding to get the project finished up. Should make it a little easier.

All set up and ready to keep going!

The wife and I are going to see Ginger Baker’s son perform tonight. If you aren’t aware Baker played for a lot of old rock bands, including Cream ( with Eric Clapton!) and a few more. I’m interested to see if his son is as good a drummer as Baker was, pretty much top five on any list you see. 

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon,

TVI

Hopefully done cutting wood

 Hello everyone,

Yes, I believe we’re done cutting wood for the year! We’ve cut and stacked more wood than any other year and it’s almost half way through December. Plus I have quite a bit of dry wood for the shop and the fireplace.

Picked up the head for the Kia and it’s sitting ready for assembly. Also laid out out all the parts for the carport but it’s been to windy to start trying to stand up the frame.

So, a couple of weeks ago my oldest son asked me to go on a camping trip with him and the grandson, and I said yes. We’re are currently in the Smoky Mountains having a blast! They rented a cabin and we drove down in Diego, they have the cabin and I’m in the van! 

We’ll be heading home tomorrow and back to the grind. I’m helping the middle son with the car port and working on the Kia. I need it running before Christmas because the youngest son wants me to help him install a trailer hitch and wiring on his new truck when he comes home. It’s like I’ve been saying, it never ends!

Well, the steaks are cooking and I think that’s all.

Talk to you soon ,

TVI

Still going

 Hello everyone,

Managed to sneak in an overnighter and saw a very cool Doors tribute band called “ An American Prayer “. They were very very good.

After that back to business. They delivered the stuff for the roof thing for the van, but shorted us one piece, which should be here tomorrow.

Plus cutting wood, while waiting on the piece and the cylinder head for the Kia project. I’ve been trying to put a video here but I’m not having any luck. I hope we’ve cut the last tree down for this year. It’s on the ground and mostly cut up, now just splitting, picking up and stacking. The weather has finally turned into winter here, so progress outside is a little slower.

I talked withe the guy who has my cylinder head yesterday and he said it looks like just the two valves are bent, no other damage. No damaged guides or seats or more valves. Pretty lucky with that one! So hoping to get it back next week and start putting it back together.

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon,

TVI

Slowly but surely

 Hello everyone, 

Making progress on both fronts this week. Managed to get some more wood cut split and stacked and finished getting the cylinder head off the Kia.

You can see in the middle pic where the valves hit the piston, the damage is minimal, the valves on the other hand, are bent pretty badly. The two valves pictured are the intake valves for #3 cylinder which was why I had zero compression.

I took all the pieces and sensors out of the head this morning and dropped it off at the machine shop. Should hear from them next week hopefully.

This week is looking like mostly cutting wood although, all the wood for the roof setup to park the van under this winter should be delivered this next week, another project to do before I can get back to the car or the bike. Well, at least once we get the frame up my middle son can take over the roof project.

Well,I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon,

TVI 

Started the car project

 Hello everyone,

Got the shop all cleaned up and things moved around enough to make working on the car a little easier. With some help from everyone here we got the car pushed up into the shop.

I spent some time on YouTube, and did some reconoitering on my own and got the car jacked up and the front cover and stuff out of the way and found what was left of the broken timing belt.

After that I went to town and picked up a new timing belt and a compression tester. Put everything back in time and installed the new belt. Ran a compression test and CRAP! Number three cylinder has zero compression. Thought maybe I’d get lucky. So the cylinder head has to come off. After I get it off and hopefully no major damage just some bent valves, I’ll find an automotive machine shop and get the bent ones replaced and the others ground and hopefully be back in business.

Well, I think that’s all for now.

Talk to you soon,

TVI