Monday, May 7, 2018

Quiet Day, and Another RT to DIA....

"RT" as in a round trip.

Took the wife's BFF back to DIA, or DEN, your preference, and had an uneventful trip....always good.

Only had one snag on the way there, and that was a semi trailer that had the back FOUR wheels and tires on the right side go up in smoke, and was just about cleared up when we passed it.

And one snag coming back. Right about milepost 248 on the East side of I-25 is a microwave relay tower, some weather stations on 20' towers, and some commercial antennas for UHF. To my "radio eye", and the lay-of-the-land, it has to be the highest point around. Well, traffic just slowed down a couple of miles before it, flowed over the crest, and then resumed speed. Just one of those baffling "standing waves" that can develop on highways without any visible reason.

And we stopped for dinner at Freddy's, a good place for burgers. I wanted to stop at Johnson's Corner and try the food, but she wasn't in the mood for "Truck Stop Food" as she put it.

Got back home about 1930 and rather than work on the Supra tonight, I busted up cardboard boxes and styrofoam, and cleaned up the garage. I now have the area between the two cars cleaned up, and I'll use my floor jack to play "Slide the Supra" and move the car about two feet in the garage. That will give my wife plenty of room to get out of her car, and I'll have another couple of feet on the driver's side so I can finish cleaning the paint on that side.

One thing I noticed last night was that I haven't really cleaned the hood properly. I started out on the hood using the blue "no scratch" Scotch-Brite and the detailer spray. It took the "surface crud" off the paint and smoothed it out, but wasn't aggressive enough to remove the top layer of stained paint like the green Scotch-Brite does.

SO......I'll have to redo the hood. Hey, I'm a bit rusty on paint cleaning procedures, so I started off gentle and it didn't work. I'm tempted to get out my orbital buffer and try that on the hood, but I think I'll stick to my current method. Over the last couple of weeks I've got the process down to where I understand it pretty well as far as how much pressure to use on the pad, and how much spray to use. I'd hate to change horses midstream and use a different process on the hood. One of the things I'm shooting for in this is good uniformity of surface cleanliness and surface finish. Changing the cleaning process at this late stage could alter the results and leave me with a SHINY hood, and it would stand out like a sore thumb....

8 comments:

  1. "Slide the Supra." I looked at those roller dollies from the company that sells tools and rhymes with eight.
    Then I thought that our garage floor slopes to the front, the garage apron slopes to the drive, and the drive slopes down sharply.
    The mental image of me staring wide eyed at a runaway kinetic energy weapon made me say no to buying them.
    (and me screaming "stop" in a voice so high pitched that dogs for miles around would have their head's cocked was also in the mental image)
    For a perfectly flat floor, they might be just the thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I looked at those, too, but I'd want 4 of them, and that pushes the total cost to well over $200.

    Geez...for that kind of money I'll buy another floor jack!

    Our garage floor is pretty flat, except for the "second half" of the slab where it's sloped towards the garage door. Building code requires some pitch to the floor so any water runs out the door.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is an alternate route to DIA that avoids the mousetrap and I-70. Get off at the Brighton exit, and go into town. Turn south (right) and get on I-76 south. Get off at 104th and go under the overpass east to Tower Road. Go right and hook up with Pena, go left and you're there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll map that out and try it. I just take I-25 to e470, the toll road, and take that right into the airport.

      Yeah, I know it costs extra, but it seems to save about 20 minutes, and to me that's worth it.

      Delete
  4. About the "standing wave" of traffic as you call it. I firmly believe that virtually all traffic slowdowns or stoppages on the freeway are caused by idiots following much too closely, necessitating excessive braking to keep from hitting the car in front of you. By the time the braking action gets back a few cars, or even 20 or 50 car, some must stop, requiring all behind them to stop as well. As soon as the car in front only loses a few mph, it does no good to just let off on the throttle and scrub off a few mph yourself because you need more deceleration than that provides (all assuming an inability to change lanes to avoid it all). And how about the upcoming lane closure about which you are warned a mile ahead of time. How many idiots wait to the last second to try to get to the front of the line instead of just moving over and dropping their speed (without braking) to near the lower posted limit for the construction zone? The base reason for it all is: "It's all about MEEEEEEEE, and I am not part of the problem, so I am justified in not trying to fit it."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep...it'll 'ripple back' with each car braking harder until it gets to the point where somebody either stops, or gets down to 5MPH.

      Don't get me started on lane jumping by idiots too stoopid to see the signs, or the self-absorbed moron in his BMW who figures that since he's driving a bimmer, he's 'made it', and the Rules For Little People no longer apply to him...

      Delete
  5. IF your present method doesn't give good paint results, use this:

    https://www.amazon.com/No7-Heavy-Duty-Rubbing-Compound/dp/B000BO56JU

    and an old bedsheet wrapped around a shop towel.

    Seriously. Best for paint I have ever used. Simple hand pressure (and not much!) and keep the pad moist.

    YMMV

    ReplyDelete

Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

 At 1700 local it's as described in the headline; 30*F, 88% RH, completely overcast, snowing like crazy (small flakes, but lots of them)...