I Was Productive Until I wasn't

Well, that was a waste of time. I left more annoyed than I was when I found the fuel pickup tube dropped off in the fuel tank. I also decided to invite one fewer people next time I round up a lunch time catch up session.

Now about those carbs... and those broken fittings. Still not done.

I found fittings that, "should" work. Good. One less thing to deal with.

And it may not have been necessary to break those fittings. The fuel line has a liner, and the liner bunch up creating partial obstructions at each point the fuel hose was splice for things like a squeeze ball, fuel filter, quick coupler, etc. Frack!

I do have some automotive alcohol resistant fuel line on hand, but I'll have to wait for those replacement fittings to arrive now or go ahead and make some.

Since I have them off already I'll go ahead and take those three carbs apart just to be safe.

It's turned into a whole-nuther thing. I figured since its down I'd move some weight "permanently" forward. Flat bottoms are notorious for porpoising and slapping at speed. Often you can get more speed out of them before they trim to high and porpoise by moving weight forward. The heaviest items in the boat usually are me and my passenger, so moving the console and bench forward is what I decided to do. I could put trim tabs or flotation boxes on the back instead, but I would prefer to keep the boat no longer than it is if I can help it. There are some backwaters I can barely make it into around some very tight turns. Moving everything forward really only requires a longer steering cable anyway. I already had longer shift cables and wire is just wire, of which there was already an excess.

I do think I may make a new console rather than use the old one, so there may even be some actual metalworking involved. Not just unbolting some stuff to move it.

I'm making progress on a couple of my own projects . I was gifted a chipper/shredder because they "couldn't find cutter blades" - which it doesn't need , it uses pivoting strips of steel like a bush hog . It needs the (new) carb installed and a couple of mount tabs on the rotor shaft bearings welded and probably could use some new belts . I'm also fabricating/modifying a winch mount for the ATV , which is also getting a new set of rear tires and the rest of the new tie rod ends installed . Once I get these two wrapped up I'll be installing new brakes on the Yanmar compact tractor and repairing some fatigue cracks in the fenders and their brackets since I have to remove them to access the brakes . And somewhere in this mess I'll find time to work on my toy , the '86 GMC pickup . It's going to get me into new territory replacing rocker panels and parts of the floorboards . It also needs some electrical work in the dash and I'm still puzzling out the torque converter lockup problems - it doesn't lock up .

And somewhere in this mess I'll find time to work on my toy , the '86 GMC pickup . It's going to get me into new territory replacing rocker panels and parts of the floorboards . Snag

-------------------------------- I'm still beating (literally) on the 91 Ranger's cab floor rustout patches. The job was on hold while I split and stacked next winter's firewood to dry.

I bought the HF door skin hammer and dolly kit after unsuccessfully looking for a used one for less than HF's price. Several body shop men showed me how they reshaped the faces of theirs to form compound curves in difficult recesses the long necked head can reach into. Stretching the metal over a deeper recess in a wooden block doesn't ding it as much as compressing it on an anvil. A replacement floor panel would still have the primer drain hole whose rubber plug trapped salty wheel splash that started the rust, my patches cover it and extend the stiffening ribs that stopped short of the plug hole.

The other useful tool which I made is a 90 degree vee groove anvil hardy to form radiused bends at the rib edges by hammering the sheet metal into the vee under a rod of the proper diameter. My 36 Lb Wilkinson anvil is heavy enough for flattening, curving and riveting sheet metal, and light enough to take out to the job. In sunlight I could see the light stamping of ...'SON' on the uneven forged surface.

Apparently that weight range is a "bench" anvil meant for tin and copper smiths and knife makers, rather than heavy hot forging. It cures the temptation to pound on machine tools, as students did to my lathe's tailstock.

Amazon supplied 25 more Clecos to the 10 in my Aircraft Spruce kit. #5 bolts of 1/8" diameter also hold a patch temporarily while you fit and drill more of it as long as you can reach both sides to tighten them, which is not always easy or possible in auto body repair. Clecos are much faster and easier.

And somewhere in this mess I'll find time to work on my toy , the '86 GMC pickup . It's going to get me into new territory replacing rocker panels and parts of the floorboards .

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In case you or another reader don't know, there are several suppliers of replacement full and partial body panels.

These cut sheet metal in relatively straight lines without distorting the cut edges. I cut apart an ice damaged above-ground pool into manageable sections with it. The weather and chemical proof liner and trim are my source of sheet metal for projects like the truck floor patch I should be out working on instead of cooling off here in the fan breeze.

LMC truck has all the pieces I think I'll need , and their prices are still reasonable . I should probably go ahead and buy them now even thought this project is some time in the future . I bought a pneumatic hole punch/flange tool in anticipation of doing the rocker panel/floor pan repairs . I also picked up a stud welder and slide hammer (from a friend who closed his resto shop) for some of the other body repairs . My neighbor has a CNC laser etching setup , he's going to make me a bunch of round tuits ... as soon as he gets around to it .

I bought a pneumatic hole punch/flange tool in anticipation of doing the rocker panel/floor pan repairs .

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The floor pan in my truck is too curved and corrugated in the rust hole area for flanged edges, and covered by carpet, so I settled on a patch on the top. It will be attached with stainless pop rivets inserted underneath and hammered down on top where I can buck them with a jacked up steel plate. This drives the broken-off tip into the central hole for added shear strength. Where I can't buck them in rib recesses and over the frame they will insert from above. By not welding I can prime and paint the area before assembly.

Right now after much precision hammer and anvil adjustment the patch edges fit flush (within caulking distance) to the hills and valleys on top, the next step is bolting it tight with #5 hardware and pounding the rust hole edges against the patch from below with a hammer and punch, the parking brake cable blocks direct hammer hits. My stiffening ribs continue across the drain hole while the original ones stopped short of it, leaving some gaps under the patches.

Another tool I made is a steel strip the height of the ribs that let me pound them to matching shape at the correct height and width. A 3/16" rod at the edge matched the original curvature.

Closely copying the floor stamping has been a lot of effort. Now I know I have the tools and skill to do it and can consider other tricky sheet metal patching.

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The door skin hammer wasn't as useful on this job as expected. It was to clean up another deeply concave job that had gone poorly with a less suited hammer. The essentials for free forming sheet steel were the anvil and ball and cross pein hammers for bending and flattening (erasing mistakes) and the wooden block with a recess for stretching concave. I turned it on the lathe from firewood, the recess by swinging the compound.

Stretching hardens steel the same way bending does, so it tends to stretch uniformly as thinner areas become more resistant. That's similar to glass blowing in which thinner areas cool and stiffen more.

I used to make dished artsy stuff from scrap copper pipe by compressing the metal to expand and curve it, then had to pound ball pein dimple texture all over to hide the resulting ding marks.

The vee block fitted to the hardy hole helped form the edges of the raised ribs but so was the rib height shim and round rod for adjusting the rib width, all held on the anvil with a welding Vise-Grip. Clecos made trial fitting much faster and easier than #5 screws even though I could reach the nut on the back.

An auto body planishing hammer with the back a rounded end cone flattened wrinkles more neatly and closed up poorly supported edge gaps better than the ball pein, nice but maybe not necessary. I could have used a square faced one. Old style tin snips could cut the pool trim steel. My bench shear just made it easier and left one side flat.

On my anvil the edges around the center are rounded, at the square end beyond the holes the edge is almost sharp. Both are useful. I've tried hot forging on a Chinese cast iron anvil as well as a large old one and noticed the difference. I think for the lighter mostly cold work I do at home the HF type cast steel (not iron) anvil might be good enough according to reviews. Viking smiths forged fine swords and armor on anvils the size of bricks with points to drive into a log end.

Don't dismiss the value of a bag of sand instead of an anvil. We're in my case. Just walking outside and throwing it on the ground in the sand.

Don't dismiss the value of a bag of sand instead of an anvil. We're in my case. Just walking outside and throwing it on the ground in the sand.

--------------------------- The loose sand or a canvas or leather bag of it substitutes more for the hollowed log end than the anvil, for forming smooth depressions. I haven't needed to closely match curvatures enough to need one, and don't want to risk my benchrest sandbags which are thin split suede instead of grain leather. Used canvas bags such as banks once gave away have become rare and leather bags are expensive craft show products.

I was talked into ordering Tiger Seal to go between the patch and the truck floor. Does anyone have experience with it or other auto body seam sealers, like SEM? I didn't find much on line. The opinions of rubberized undercoatings were generally negative. I expect to use a little at a time over many months and don't want an expensive one with a short shelf life.

Grease on the cap threads under an aluminized food bar wrapper seems to keep opened tubes of glue etc fresh for at least months.

Go to the local thrift store and buy some used blue jeans - heavier fabric being the main requirement . The legs make great sand bags - fat guy jeans for bigger bags for metal forming bigger panels . I have some that are over 40 years old , some filled with sand and some with rice .

Go to the local thrift store and buy some used blue jeans - heavier fabric being the main requirement . The legs make great sand bags - fat guy jeans for bigger bags for metal forming bigger panels . I have some that are over 40 years old , some filled with sand and some with rice .

----------------------------------- I checked Goodwill recently for cheap work pants and found a $9 pair in my size from LL Bean, $79 in their catalog. They still had the labels attached. IOW I failed, they are too nice to risk. Maybe next time.

Yard sales too ...

Go to the local thrift store and buy some used blue jeans - heavier fabric being the main requirement . The legs make great sand bags - fat guy jeans for bigger bags for metal forming bigger panels . I have some that are over 40 years old , some filled with sand and some with rice .

-------------------------------- I have plenty of sandbags, a neighbor had weighted down the bottom of a tarp garage with them. After snow collapsed it on his truck he bought a better round top model and I rock-drilled the asphalt for its screw anchors. The sandbags and tarps are blocking water from running under one of my hillside woodsheds.

So far I haven't need them for shaping compound curves in sheet metal, hammers, the anvil and wood forms have done all I wanted including a (too) closely fitted costume armor steel helmet, to go with an inherited chainmail shirt and Templar sword, plus a silver(y) chalice from some southern Soviet Republic. They enjoy historical reenactments too. I was a warlord's accountant who did 'head counts'. Point at ground, count 788, 789, 790, ... If interrupted I looked puzzled and then went back to 1, 2, 3, ...

The ceremonial accoutrements originated from a relative by marriage from a fancy auto maker family of the 20's that went broke in the 30's. I assembled the chainmail from a big bag of broken fragments, they must have held lively parties.

Way down on the to-do list is grooved spotwelder tips that join stainless rings to make more mail, this time with smooth joints instead of the split key ring overlap that catches on upholstery unless I wear a leather jerkin over it.

Pounding produces fine abrasive dust that puffs out through cloth. I might ask the flea market leather smith who made my coin pouch wallet if he has any damaged sacks. He gets good money for the nice ones.

I recognise the frustrations. I'm learning to be a householder, and finding all the "little things" you have to do. All that welding insights, Euler-Bernoulli beam and Finite Element Analysis modelling and applying it, all other goodly-level "theory meets practice - all because I was lodging as an itinerant all those decades...

I wish I could get to some "galloping ground" where I am doing a lot of a thing I am good at and getting rewarded for it.

The flat-bottomed Ali boat / punt ...

Got a welding machine which, tested at the factory, did good Ali-MIG. On single-phase, was matched, maybe bettered, only by a very good German

On a planing boat with a lot in, I've jumped up and landed on the bow, and got the boat on the plane. As if rotating it so a quick transient gets it from bow-up beyond its displacement hull-speed to broken-free and planing??

Flat-bottomed boat... That thought came to me looking to offset costs while I am refining my Ali-MIG skills... Looking at the cost of second-hand fibreglass boats, I could cover abundant material use - and train to a purpose.

Best wishes to you and everyone on here.