Screen Room Phase II

The floor is finished, we've got some wall posts and some ceiling beams. We've passed all the critical inspections and surveys.

Roadster Top continued

We've made some good progress on the top. It's all uniform now, meaning no more foam showing. Unfortunately we've added so much spackle to build it up, it's currently to heavy and brittle to remove.

Our idea for the next phase, is to get the rough shape more symmetrical and basically almost a finished shape. Then we'll put a few coats of fiberglass on it and that will give it the strength we need to be able to lift it off and work the edges. From there we will decide if we'll keep working that plug, or use the glass as a mold and create a more reasonable plug to work on.

Roadster Top Phase II

We basically decided we had tapped out the potential of the foam - it was a great base, but now we need something that we can build up as well as cut down. So for our next phase of build-up, we're going with a quick set spackle.

Screen Room Phase I

This is after I busted down the banisters, and Don and Ron dug the footer holes.

After extending the current deck northward 4 feet and added the frame for the new deck.

'Nother view.

Roadster Top Phase I

It started with a few sheets of 2" foam.

These were assembled to create the first shell.

These were shaved down to a rough shape, then built back up with more foam then shaved back down.

More to come...

Current Projects

I was planning to post about my current projects with lots of before/after/during photos, but I'm stuck at the car dealership with some work being done on the ol' truck so I have a good opportunity to write about it now.

First there is the hard top for the cobra.  It's coming along, slowly but surely.  The idea is to start with a mold of styrofoam and to build up from there using bondo and fiberglass until a final mold plug is ready.  I'm still in the foam stages but it's coming along.  Started out with one 2" layer of foam and carved that down to shape.  We ran out of material though, so I had to build it back up with another layer of foam.  That is where we are now.

Next project up is the screen room.  We got a greenlight from the homeowners assoc so I spent a few minutes this weekend demolishing the old deck.  Well, not the whole thing, but the handrails and anything that isn't going to be part of the new room.  I also cut down a tree that I wanted down before the deck went up.  I had to use an axe, but was able to get it to fall right where I wanted.  Had to dig up a few bushes and plants as well.

The last project is the yard.  I borrowed some spike shoes from Tony and thatched and mowed the yard with them on.  They rubbed a horrible blister on my heel, but I got good coverage on the yard!  Then I planted some grass.  It's a bit early for planting grass, but I want to lay down weed & feed as early as possible so I can kill the weeds before they choke out all the grass.  Thinking about planting a cherry tree in the near future.

So it was a pretty busy weekend and I'm pretty worn out!

Fixing up the truck

The trusty ol' Ford Anger has been collecting quite a list of things to repair/replace. I had to decide whether to work down this list, or replace the truck and I decided, it's time I get going on that list. Here it is from things to do through things I have finished.

• New Clutch (more specifically a new throw out bearing)
• New brake drums and shoes for the rear
• Some burned out Dash bulbs
• Interior dome light - now that the door ajar sensor appears to be working, I should hook this back up.
• EGR system repair - I recently replaced a pressure sensor and sprayed some brake parts cleaner up in there. Seems to have fixed it.
• O2 reading error codes - I got tired of these and replaced all 4 O2 sensors.
• Broken armrest/console and seatbelt latch - I found a junkyard in IL that had these parts in stock. They are in the mail! I broke a seat bolt getting the seat out - I'll need to fix that before being 'done'
• Burned out high beams - Replaced both headlight bulbs

So yes I have the difficult/expensive things left to do, but I've made enough progress on the other stuff now that I feel like it's worth it.  It might even be kinda nice when I'm done!  I'll probably replace some worn out suspension components and put some properly sized tires on it eventually, but I want to avoid this truck being my project car :-P