A Christmas present to myself!

Dad and I spent much of Christmas day working over in the shop, as our family doesn't do much for Christmas, and I was really wanting to get my car finished up and out of the shop...  That goal was accomplished, as I was able to get the car out and drive it around a little bit. :-)  I do need to work on a couple of minor things yet, but it is at least in drivable condition now!  Here are a couple of pictures I took this morning:

Unfortunately I am going to have to have the Sheriff decaling removed, or else I might get in trouble for impersonating an officer... :-(  Oh well, better safe than sorry...
  Got to go,
    Andrew B.

Happy (belated) Birthday Mother!

Happy Birthday Mom!  Hope you had a very special day!  :-)



Thanks for being such a wonderful loving Mom...  We all love you lots!

   Andrew B.

Shop with indoor pool!

I have been writing a lot about our shop, but have avoided mentioning the fact that we have an indoor pool...

... table!

   Sorry, that was kind of misleading, but it has been a bit of a joke around here and I couldn't help sharing it with you. :-)

 We actually got the table for free, as someone was giving it away over on www.bismanonline.com, and we happened to be the first to call about it...  We have been having a lot of fun playing on it, and have already noted an improvement in our playing skill!

 Want to come play a round with us?  You are all more than welcome! :-)
  Andrew B.

The sweet smell of success...

Today, the sweet smell of success came in the very familiar, but quite nasty smell of exhaust from a gasoline engine...  That's right, I got my Charger put back together far enough that I was able to start and run it for a minute or so. Hurrah! It is still in the shop, as I am waiting for a couple of parts yet, but I have proved that it will run... :-)
  Best get to bed,
    Andrew B.

What we have been doing in our shop...

As promised, here is a quick update of what we have been doing in the shop. :-)

  I started work on my Charger,  taking out the engine and pretty much the whole front end...  Here you can see a snapshot of the project just getting under way:

A day or two later:

Here you can see a few of the parts removed in the process:

After totally disassembling the engine, my suspicions were confirmed -- the main bearings and crankshaft were severely damaged, and a couple of the connecting rod bearings were so bad they had even spun...   After checking around with several different places, I decided to buy a used motor from a junkyard, rather than trying to rebuild the old one. Here is a picture I took of the used engine I bought:

Dad has been working on one of our tractors, as there is a bearing that is literally falling apart somewhere in the transmission, we just haven't been able to find it yet!

More to come!

  Andrew B.



Our New Shop!

Last week and the week before found us pretty busy in the shop, not fixing something, but totally redoing the inside of the building!   We built a wall about 2/3 of the way toward the back, to divide the front part where we will be working, from the back, which will just be cold storage...

We put a walk in door in the front...

 ...and we insulated the walls, put up plywood, and painted the whole inside white!

 But best of all, we got our wood stove set up, so we can keep it warm in there! Looks like Mom likes the extra heat:

Coming soon:  What we have been doing in our nice warm shop...

Enough reading for...

...  a year, at least!  'nough said...