Making Money

So, I have been pumping out some work from my garage in the last week.  Now, none of this would be considered "custom creations", but it is paying work that someone needs done.  And word is, I'm the guy who knows how to do it. 

Customer #1.  Brought me a 2005 Sportster that had been dropped out of a pickup truck, in an attempted stealing.  Dudes a cop and grabbed his gun to chase after them.  They stepped on the gas, and the bike fell out of the truck.  The bike had a few dents and dings.  Nothing major, but the guy had a box full of new parts and needed a little help installing.  So I installed new drag pipes, apes, Arlen Ness hand controls, new chrome switch housings, new cables and brake line, re-routed the wiring to reach, and installed a solo seat. 

After Dudes bike was ready to pick up, he called to say that his blinkers, running lights, and cruise weren't working on his Roadglide.  I told him to drop it off and I'd take a look. So he came by, swapped bikes and left me with another project.  I tracked it down to an aftermarket wiring module that was suppose to make the blinkers flash along with the brake light being activated.  Cheap aftermarket parts blew the brake light/cruise fuse.  I pulled the aftermarket crap, pulled the aftermarket LED blinkers out, put stock bulbs and a new fuse and everything was better.  Plus, he had a new brakelight that needed installed.  LED, but good quality, super bright and has selectable flash patterns for when it gets activated.  Pretty slick.  Took it for a test ride and everything worked good.

Customer #2.  Late 90's Ford Minivan needed new tie rods.  Nothing fancy, but why is it that you just about need a special wrech to get to everything on these vehicles.  The clearances are so damn tight that I was all banged up by the time I was done.  I measured the length of the old ones, and made sure that the new ones were the same.  Trying to make sure they were good until they got to the shop for a proper computer alignment. 

Customer #3.  2005 Toyota 4Runner needed a new timing belt.  And while I was in there, might as well replace the waterpump too.  Boy, is there a lot of stuff to get out of the way before actually getting to the belt.  Radiator had to come out.  A/C pump needed to be moved out of the way.  Fan and shroud had to come out.  Water pump was super easy, once everything was out of the way.  Also replaced the tensioner roller, and the upper roller between cams.  Pretty straight forward, but took ALL DAY.  Damn!  But she went back together, and worked good.

Customer #4.  My Mom's 2000 Monte Carlo.  Had a mysterious leak of watery/oily mix dripping and constantly needing to fill up coolant level.  Turns out there is a weep hole on the underside of the waterpump shaft, to let you know when your pump is about to go completely out.  The fluid was running down the engine, collecting on the road grime and leaving a nasty spot on the pavement.  Again, waterpump is an inexpensive part, but always in a horrible location.  Coolant resevoir and powersteering pump had to come out and then I still only had 8" of room to work between inner fenderwell and engine.  Big downside to these front wheel drive, transverse mounted engines.  So much crammed into a tight spot.  New waterpump went in, everything else back together, new coolant...no leak.  Hooray. 

The second problem she had was that here blinkers weren't working.  She would have to hold the hazard light button with the blinker lever, just to get them to work.  The hazard light button includes the relay and I figured thats where the problem was.  Another $35 for a new switch/relay, plus I had to pull the entire dash off just to get to it.  So far so good.  Blinkers seem to be working properly.

No pretty pictures on this post.  Just been busy busy.  Doin' Work, Son!

LCC x OMG - Collaboration

While in town, Ted threw us a freebie and tinted the windows of the Tahoe.  I have done a lot to this Tahoe, but the one thing that was missing was a solid tint job.  The front windows had some crappy tint from WAY back on them.  And the rears were stock.  Definetely not anywhere near good enough.  So as I was fixing a bad window regulator motor on the passenger side, Ted took off throwing limo tint on the rear windows.  I had the new window motor in, window working properly, and Ted was on my heels to get in there and finish up the last window.  HUGE improvement on the look of the Tahoe.  What do you think?

OMG in Texas

So, Ted (and Laura) came in from MD for a long weekend in Texas.  Definetely was planning on getting some work done, as well as some partying. The kegs and live band were planned for Saturday night, and we thought it would be a good time to make the most of having some extra guys around the house.  The hotrod isn't running under its own power as of yet, but I was dying to get it turned around in the garage.  But having such a steep driveway certainly has its downsides.  So Friday night, Ted and I rolled it out of the garage, down the driveway and parked her on the curb.  Gotta say, she looked DAMN fine sitting there. 

Trey's Rubicon - The ColoRADo Pics

Trey just sent me some pics today, of what he's been up to since getting back to Colorado.  Looks like he is having some fun.  And it looks a bit colder there, then here in North Texas.  Sunny and 75 here, today.  Enjoy the pics.

Kelley's Tahoe - New Transmission

So, I mentioned before that the transmission in the Tahoe went out on our trip home from Houston.  Big BANG and all sorts of noises, as we are flying at 75mph down the freeway.  Kelley was freaked out as we made our way to the next exit and pulled into a parking lot.  Looked under the truck, nothing obvious so I knew it had to be inside the transmission.  I tried driving a little further, but ended up losing all power and pulling over onto the shoulder.  A call to AAA, and a 45minute wait for the tow truck, but we were loaded up and headed back home.  Luckily, Trey was right behind us and we got to ride with him instead of in the tow truck.

Now that we were home, I was on the hunt for a transmission.  I wasn't about to pay a shop to swap it out for me.  Can't be that hard, right?  I ended up looking all over the internet and settled on one from Mad Dog Performance.  Stage 2, 500+hp rating, crisp shift kit, corvette servo, beefed up internals.  Made a quick call, and had one headed my way the next day.

So, while I am waiting on the new transmission to arrive, I still have a TON of work to do on Treys new Jeep.  I'm looking at well over a week of solid night work just to get both vehicles complete.  The trans arrived the day I was finishing up the Jeep.  Now it was time to dig into this swap.

Just to get to the trans required removing the Y pipe of the exhaust, rear crossmember, driveshaft, and some random brackets.  Of course, one of the exhaust flange bolts stripped out and was the biggest headache of the entire process.  But exhaust was out, crossmember was out, driveshaft was out, and I was working on reaching the upper bellhousing bolts.  Don't remember how many extentions I had on that ratchet, but it was quite a reach.  A little help from a floor jack, a good nudge, and busted trans way laying on the ground.

There was no way I was going to be able to get the new one in with a standard floor jack.  So I stopped at Harbor Freight and picked up a transmission jack to make things a bit easier.  After installing a few new studs in the exhaust, and blowing out the trans cooler lines, the new trans went in pretty well.  Everything lined up, bolted back together, and looked good.  Add fluid, and fire it up...problem, problem.  Wicked clicking sound.  Definetley not a good thing.  I was pissed and frustrated.  I called it a night and ran through my head what it could possibly be.  I thought I had it figured out, so I went to removing the entire transmission again.  Luckily, much easier this time.  My suspisions were correct.  One of the flexplate/torque convertor bolts wasn't snugged down completely, and was clipping the head just a bit.  New bolt, snugged down, and we were all good.  No more clicking, everything seemed good so I took it for a lap around the block.

The new trans is definetly a HUGE step up from a stock unit.  More solid, more smooth, more responsive, more of everything.  Minus a small oil pan leak, everything was back together and Kelley had here Tahoe back.  Got a new gasket, fixed the leak and she was 100% again.  In fact, the Tahoe was so much better that Kelley got a speeding ticket the next day.  WTF? 

Trey's Jeep - 2006 Rubicon

First, let me say that Trey is one of my best friends. Real stand up dude. Also, one of my best customers. Always down for doing some cool stuff, and lets me fly with my ideas. So I mentioned before that he got run off the road and had to lay down his bike. I didn't mention that he broke his arm and had a plate with like 6 bolts put in to hold everything together. Couldn't ride for a while. Good part was...Insurance Money!!! Now Trey moved from DFW to Colorado last year and his Dodge Ram just wasn't the most desirable vehicle for his new terrain. A Jeep was in tall order. And not just any Jeep, a fucking bad ass, ready for anything type ride. So while back in TX for holiday break, Trey, myself, and Kelley took a quick trip to Houston to pick up a 2006 Rubicon that he had found online. A quick road test, hours of paperwork, and a few signatures and Trey was the proud owner of a new Jeep. Time to head back North. We've got PROBLEMS, Houston. Transmission in our Tahoe goes out. And it goes out with a BANG! We'll get more into the Tahoe later. Called a tow truck, hopped in the new Jeep and headed home.

 

So now that Trey has his new ride, where does he go? 4x4 store, of course. I came home from work and my garage was FULL of new stuff. Problem was, I only had 4 days to put it all on. The list goes as follows - new intake, exhaust, engine programming, rear rack with gas can mount, Hi-Lift jack with hood mount, fender flares, aux lights in the back, aux lights in the front, light bar up top, new winch cable, new winch rollers, new hood latches, LED headlights (Military grade, sick!!!), steel skid plate...what else am I missing? Really, it was a blur of wrenches, parts, and empty boxes.

All in all, he is stoked on the results.  I'm stoked on another successful project coming out of LCC.  And there is another vehicle out there to help draw more business.  Enjoy the pics.

Fun in the Sun, on Saturday

Had fun hanging out with these 2 on Saturday. Mobbin' the freeways of DFW
in search of free beer and cool bikes. Found a lot of 1, not so much of the
other. WAY too much road construction. Guess that's what they make the
shoulder for. Splittin' lanes and takin' names.