BACK AT WORK

Back in the garage working on the GARAGE LAZY SUSAN project. Building  the last of the tooling/jigs for the manufacture of the SUSANS. I'll post pictures with all the jigs and fixtures pretty soon. It takes way more time to design and build the tooling than the SUSAN! Good accurate tooling thats easy to use is essential for ending up with a high quality product. STAY TUNED!!!

FIXING A NO START

This is a 1995 Acura Integra 1.8 twin cam. It died while driving. The first thing I check since it's easiest is spark http://www.youtube.com/user/MYFASTDAD?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/6KpPEiMT-G8.  If there is no spark, then I proceeded to make sure the cams were turning by removing the valve cover. I did this to also check the condition of the timing belt which is critical on this engine. All is good so then I installed a rebuilt unit and checked for spark again http://www.youtube.com/user/MYFASTDAD?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/wnzd5Kf4yhw. As long as everything was good I did a complete tune also. It's getting cold so it makes good sense to do that now. It works great so it can go back on the road with confidence.

COME ON AND JOIN

I invite you to join the Blog. I am a BLUE COLLAR guy all the way. I build almost everything I need by hand. I'v got projects going all the time. I race a Formula Continental in the SCCA and thats what I'm welding on in the picture. I about to complete a series of jigs (I'll post pics) for a new product that will be avaiable on WWW. FASTDAD.NET Take the tour of the shop thats posted on the web site. You might say thats my office, it's where I create all of the ideas and actually build them. If you could. go to FASTDAD'S facebook page and do the like thing, that would be great!
Thanks for stopping
FASTDAD

Welding on the race car. Filling in about 280 rivet holes so I can install a new aluminum floor. The floor is a intregal part of the chassis for eliminating flex and adding stiffness. The aluminum is both riveted and bonded to the chassis tubes. A quality job is really important here! 

NEW IDEAS and YOUR INPUT

Ok, so I have some ideas I'd like to put out there to get some feed back. To start with I will post some photographs and hand drawn drawn pictures. These will be applied to T shirts like we have at FASTDAD.net at the store. What I would like to know is WHICH ONES YOU WOULD PREFER TO PURCHASE? Let me know on the web site or here on the blog. This will all start in the next several days. It takes alittle time to do the art work and set up good photos.

MAINTANENCE

One of the things people need to  do is change their timing belt. Many manufacturers recommend this service at around 100K miles. Some are sooner, some later. It's very important for alot of engines that may self destruct if the service is not done. If your concerned about the mileage look it up under the technicals informationan about your particular engine. Many times the timing belt will drive the water pump also so it's a good time to change that and your anti freeze. This particular engine is a 92 Honda Civic 1.5 16 valve engine. It is what called an interference engine which meeans if the belt is not changed the engine will self destruct if it's not changed in time. Many times it is a good point at which to combine services and save a few bucks by doing them now, like I did a valve adjustment and tune on this engine.

WINTER IS COMING!!!!!

Winter and cold weather is right around the corner! Be sure to get the usual items checked on your vehicle. Things like, battery condition; maybe go to your repair shop and get it cleaned up and a load check done, fresh oil in the engine always helps, maybe a draw test on the starter to see if it's drawing to many amps, spark plugs replaced per manufacture recommendations, anti freeze level,protection and condition, how about the fuel filter,ever change it? These are all things that will make life easier for you if they are in good condition. A few areas that you may not think about; that tire that goes down slowly will go down faster in the cold, maybe get it checked out before it goes flat in the cold. Aluminum wheels are known for getting corrosion build up between the rim and tire and actually lifting the tire off the sealing surface and letting air leak out slowly. The fix is cleaning off the corrosion. Check the air in the spare tire before it's needed. Performing a transmission flush can help the tranmission during the cold monthes. Safety items like your lights (it's dark along time now), wiper blades, and windsheild washers all can come into play during these cold monthes.     If you got any concerns drop a line I'll get back to you.