First Steps....

Spent about 3~4 hours today pulling out the radio gear, power cables, signal cables, Aux GPS cables, and returning everything to the way it was before I put the stuff in.

Got the shop vacuum out and sucked all the crud out of the car, and cleaned the glass.

I pretty much know everything about this car that needs attention, and some of it I'm going to do (the headlights, again), and some I'll farm out (the detailing). And some items won't get done, like 4 new shocks. I put new brake rotors with high-end ceramic pads on it before we moved here, and the pads show like (maybe) 10% wear. The rotors still look new. The objective at this time is to get it a much presentable condition than it is now. In short, it's filthy! The carpets need to be shampooed, along with the headliner, and the seats need to be professional cleaned. The drivers seat needs a couple of small repairs, the windshield needs to be replaced, the driver's side outside mirror is getting cloudy and should be replaced. If I can find a cheap used one, I'll swap it out. Other than the items mentioned here, it's a rust-free "California Car" that's low-mileage (2006 model year, 87,000 miles), never been wrecked or abused, and always had regular maintenance. Once I get it presentable, we'll start the serious shopping.

And we haven't decided 100% on buying a Gladiator. I've been reading reviews of the other trucks in the size class, and one I want to look at is the Honda Ridgeline. The "Truck People" look down on them for various reasons, but they'll tow up to 5,000lbs when they have the all-wheel drive package, and since I doubt if I'll ever do any serious off-roading, the all-wheel drive capability they have should be sufficient. The Get-Outta-Dodge roads we'd have to use can be easily handled by one of these, as I've seen a couple "Up On The Mountain".

The only thing the magazine reviews faulted them on was the brakes. Soft pedal, lots of travel, and longer-than-average (for the class) stopping distances.

So the game's afoot, and I'm proceeding with the fact that if we really do buy a new car, the Jeep will be traded in or sold to a private party, and we're keeping her Hyundai. The little Elantra is seven years newer, runs like a top, and only has 38,000 miles on it. It's been an excellent car (never mind the two big accidents; wasn't her fault), it's pleasant to drive, gets very good fuel economy, and has been dead reliable except for the time she didn't close the door all the way, the dome light stayed on, and the battery croaked.

Hmmmm...Should I, Or Shouldn't I?

Sweet Little Wife has been talking lately about us "needing" a truck. She can't really haul much besides me, groceries, and The Little Guy around in her beloved little Hyundai Elantra, and with her recent furniture refinishing and gardening projects, she really does need to haul some stuff around.

And there have been numerous times when I needed things that were too big to fit in my Grand Cherokee, which has less space inside than you'd think by looking at the outside.

She also said it MUST have four doors (a.k.a. "Crew Cab" configuration) as she likes being able to take more than one person somewhere, i.e. The Little Guy and one or both of The Kids. Hmmm....guess I get to ride in the bed, then.....

And it MUST be four wheel (these days "All Wheel") drive, AND be capable of getting up to the The Homestead of our extended family, something she says she would NOT attempt in the little Hyundai, and I don't blame her one bit, having driven up there numerous times.

So I mentioned something about the new Jeep Gladiator being a four-door, all-wheel drive, "Trail Rated" vehicle with a pick-up bed, and just let it fade out after that.

We went running around doing some errands this afternoon (Home Depot, CVS, etc) and went to Freddy's for dinner. I *finally* got my Patty Melt from Freddy's and it was fabulous! She mentioned how nice it would be if we had a "nice little truck" to run all out errands in as she looked at how packed we had my Grand Cherokee.

I said we'd drive by the Jeep dealer tonight on the way home, and see if they had any Gladiators in stock.

They only had two, one pretty basic, and one pretty loaded. We looked at the "pretty loaded" one, and except for the color (black), she loved it. She absolutely detested in in black, though, saying "It Looks Like a Gestapo Car", which really cracked up the sales guy.

So we came home, went online, and did the "Build and Price" thing, and looked up the resale value of my Jeep.

Current delivery time is running about 8 weeks for a special order car, and if we're gonna cough up the Ka-Ching for one, we're going to get exactly what we want, so unless they put $10k "On The Hood", we're loathe (well, *I* am) to buy one out of stock.

I'm gobsmacked she's considering this. She even says I can get it with the six-speed manual trans. She knows how to drive a manual trans car, but I'm not so sure she'll like driving one of these with a manual, and that's the last point we have to discuss, as an automatic transmission is a $2,000 option.

Other than, should we get RED, or White?

R.I.P., Charlie. You Brought Joy To Countless People.....

This is the first time in recent memory that the passing of a musician has bummed me out. His music had that "something" to it that resonated with people across all backgrounds and walks of life.

Uneasy Rider

Still In Saigon

Long Haired Country Boy

In America

God Bless you, Charlie. I've got a feeling there's gonna be a lot of toe tappin' going on  in Heaven.....

Happy Independence Day!

As our friend Shaun says, "Be well and embrace the blessings of liberty".

Embrace them very tightly. Once gone, they're nigh well impossible to restore without great sacrifice and hardship....

Huh...just noticed the HOT DOGS are missing from the above picture.

Not to mention the Chevrolet emblem.....

Yep, we did it once....

And we've always been ready to do it again.....

Might not be a bad idea.....

So go ye forth, and Embrace The Blessings Of Liberty!

Here We Go Again.....

Ground out the dings and divots I missed the first time, and feathered the edges of the paint around them.

Then I sanded the whole thing down again, this time using 150 grit.

The black paint makes a good "guide coat", easily showing the high spots where the paint sanded off, and the low spots, where it didn't. And wonder-of-wonders, it's almost acceptably smooth. This stuff sands off relatively easy with 150 grit, and I probably would have blown right through it with 80 grit.

I'll go over it again tomorrow when I have more light coming in. I have some "High Build Primer", but it doesn't specifically say it's for flexible parts, so I'm loathe to use it. The "recommended" primer should be here Monday, so I just have to sit on my hands for a while. This is starting to look like I can pull it off successfully, so I don't want to blow it using wrong materials.

It's not like this is the ONLY project I have cooking......!

Back In Black!

The bumper cover is painted.

And as expected, the surface prep was less than perfect well done. Since I didn't have any grey primer, I couldn't see how many and how deep the sanding scratches (and you ALWAYS have them) were. Since the finest paper I used was 220 grit, it left quite a few. The 80 grit I started with to knock everything down and get all the bad paint off left some deep ones, and I should have (at least) sanded it down with some 600 to smooth it out.

This is the only picture I could get that shows the surface decently, and you can see I still have more work to do.

It's pretty "rough", and it looks like these coats of black paint will be my "primer".

I just wonder how tough this stuff is to sand. I'll let it dry/cure a few days, and then WET sand it with 600.

A Decade of Solar Activity in Six Minutes

One of my radio buddies sent me this link, and it's amazing to watch.

So, I embedded it here. The music is a bit "spacey", but the video is fascinating to watch.

Watch it full screen for maximum effect.....




And speaking of solar activity, 6 Meters is "open" again, and several guys in the area made contacts with Japan just now @2300UTC.


It's damp and rainy today, so no painting.....

Taped Up and Almost Ready For Paint

Got the front of the car lifted up about 18" today, and mounted solidly on some NON Harbor Freight jack stands.

I'll lower the hood, and cover the front with some old moving blankets I have. Since this a "Rattle Can Job" the spray won't go very far, and I masked back far enough to prevent any overspray from getting on the car. I'll wipe it down with some prep solvent and check my masking once more, then spray it with the adhesion promoter, and then the color coat.

And this is the table SLW has been refinishing:

She saw it at the local ARC Thrift Shop and liked it, even though it has some really bad spots in the finish. She's been sanding away and learning things, and has just about declared it finished (no pun). She'll probably Varathane it tomorrow and then polish it out after the coating has cured.

This is the second one she's refinished, and her technique is getting much better. She's realized doing stuff like this is NOT as easy as a YouTube video makes it out to be, and that you actually have to pay attention to what you're doing so you don't do some damage that's difficult to repair, like sanding clean through the veneer, something I've coached her about, showing her how thin the veneer is in on spot where a small piece had broken away.

So it looks like I should have this painted in the next day or two, and it's been the #1 item on the punch list since I got the car.

Just About All Taped Up....

After letting it sit for a few days to allow the filler to shrink (it didn't), I sanded it once more, wiped it off, and started taping it up to paint.

Still have the bottom section to mask off, and that's gonna be a PITA. Thursday I'll raise the front end about 12" with my jack, and put some stands under it to get the nose up so it's easier to get at, both for the masking, and the painting.

The engine compartment and hood will get covered with some old blankets. I'll dampen the floor and close all the doors to keep the dust down, put my respirator on, and spray it.  This paint and primer "flash off" very fast, and are dry to the touch in about 15 minutes. Then I'll open the doors and turn on the fans to get the fumes out.

As you can see in this google-sourced front end shot, there's a whole lotta body colored stuff under the lower edge of the black bumper, and all that has to be masked off.

Having the nose up in the air a foot will so let me get down there easier to scrub all the white painted parts, something which I didn't do a long time ago when I "cleaned" the paint to get the crud off it. And I have to address some damage to the lower edge of the "air dam" (They call them "splitters" these days...) from people bumping into things with it. There's supposed to be an "Engine Undercover" for airflow reasons, but they generally got removed at the first oil change, as they "collect" the oil that spills when you change the filter, and any other stuff that leaks out of the engine. It pools there, and then drips out on your driveway at it's leisure, making for angry owners with oil-stained driveways.

If it were a British car you'd expect it. Marking it's territory, you know?

Anyway....the missing undercover also had some stout metal strips in the front where it attached to the lower edge of the airdam, reinforcing it to take the abuse of people hitting things. With the undercover removed, the lower edge of the airdam is floppy, and can get snagged on things. Then when you back up, it snags on the thing, and tries to peel itself off the car. So mine is a little tatty down yonder way, and I have some aluminum angle I have to cut and drill to fabricate some replacements.

I have a complete undercover, struts, reinforcing strips, and new hardware, but I'm not sure if I'll put it on, at least right now. I still have to do the timing belt, (and hoses, and belts, and alternator upgrade, and....and....and...) and putting the cover on now just means taking it off again when I do the mechanical work.

Getting the bumper refurbed means I can put the turn signals, fog lamps, and grill back on the car, and bolt the front license plate back on, the main thing that has stopped me from taking little local jaunts. I'm told Colorado is very strict about having a front plate, and I don't want tickets at "my age". The Cops not only write you the ticket, but chastise you a bit with "You Should Know Better!".......

Hopefully I'll have this painted in the next few days (yeah...I'm slooooow), and then I can clean the bottom of the front properly, wipe some paint sealer on it, put the rest back together, and HIT THE ROAD!!

Oh....gotta get the radio antenna and speakers installed, too. Just gotta have tunes on the road.....

Sad News.......R.I.P. Our Beloved Little Coco

SLW just told me that one of The Kids' dogs (well, "our" dog, too), Coco, passed away this morning.

Our son told SLW  he thought she'd been having seizures, and was acting "strange" the last few days.

No information other than that at this time, and our son took her up to one of the clan's houses in the mountains to lay her to rest.

The Little Guy doesn't know yet, and I'm wondering how he'll take it.

R.I.P. little one. You'll be sorely missed.....

Happy Father's Day

To all my fellow Dads out there.

Today we got up early, loaded the cooler up, and headed out to the Greeley Old Time Farm Show. Unlike last year, I took the correct road, and hit all my marks on time.

WELL.....on time for today, but nobody was there! Since the field it's in is also an RV park, I asked one of the people coming out of an RV if they knew when the farm show was.

It's NEXT month! Oooooops.......

The day wasn't a total loss, as we stopped at Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers for lunch. They were fully open, with some restrictions, and about 2 minutes after I'd ordered my steakburger I remembered I'd promised myself months ago that the next time we went there I'd get the patty melt. Oh, well...it's a good "excuse" to go back there! Great burgers, marvelous fries (shoe string style), great frozen custard, and friendly, efficient, polite staff. Had a wonderful lunch on the patio with SLW and TLG, who was mystified why we couldn't see tractors after I'd talked it up all week. I don't think he understands "Grandpa Made A Mistake" yet, but he took it in stride and gobbled down a bunch of fries and some burger.

Ms. Swan's front bumper is now smooth enough to need primer, and unfortunately I don't have any "Flexible Parts" primer. I'm NOT going to prime it with "regular" high-fill primer as I don't think it will stick well enough, and be flexible enough, to not cause problems. I'd hate to use the wrong primer and watch my top-coat of the special black paint peel off in strips and sheets like I've seen happen. A buddy of mine repainted the front bumper on his 1968 GTO, the first year with a flexible "Endura" bumper, and six moths later it looked like it was suffering from terminal sun-burn. The paint was just peeling off like crazy, and he had a really red face about it as he was quite a good body and paint guy. And I need a few other things from the auto parts store, and Home Depot, and Harbor Freight, and CVS, so tomorrow may be a busy day.

And besides the auto body work, I've been moving stuff out on eBay, and have actually made a visible dent in the stacks of stuff I have in the basement. I still have things in the "I'll Never Use It" and "Why Did I Buy It" category, but I'm also getting rid of a few items in the "This Is Gonna Be Hard To Part With" category. I've got four items to photograph, list, and schedule tonight so the auction starts Sunday at 1600 Kalifornia time.

Oh well, the more stuff I sell, the faster I'll get that "My Last New Radio" fund built up. I'll probably keep my Elecraft K2 radio and Buddipole because they're "SHTF" items, and I'd rather have them and not need them....you know the rest.

Have great Father's Day, Dads and Granddads!