Shop Table

Shop Table
Originally uploaded by mynameismiek

Almost finished my shop table. I am borrowing a circular saw from a friend of mine to cut the MDF for the lower shelf (my Ryobi 18v cordless just wouldn't cut it).

I designed it myself one afternoon last week.

Top surface is 49"x97"x40" (WxLxH)
Lower Surface is 24"x88"x12"

Materials:
12 - 2"x4"
2 - 3/4"x4'x8' MDF
~80 - 10x3" exterior wood screws

5-6 hours of time

6 Month Hiatus Comes to an End!

Well, after having another kid and the holidays, I finally have more progress to report. My Dad and Chris came over and we destroyed 6 cutting discs, 3 saw blades, an angle grinder, a reciprocating saw oh and an RX-7 frame!

Metal bits lay strewn about my garage and front yard.



I think the most satisfying thing was actually cutting it in half. It was a lot of fun cutting other bits and trying to kick the windshield out but that was by far the best.



Now, on to building!

Almost done!

... stripping the donor.



I had quite the productive day on Saturday further tearing down Adam. The only things I have left to take off are the gas tank, fuel lines, fuel filter, A/C condenser, oil cooler, front sub-frame, rear bumper and windshield. And wow... there are SOOOOO many wires in a car.


Its amazing that I didn't have to cut but more than a couple wires (3 out of 100's) to take the entire wiring harnesses out.

A car definitely takes up a lot more space in pieces than it does as a whole. I had to put the doors BACK on the car because I didn't have anywhere to put them. There's also a lot of parts sitting in the car since I didn't have room for them as well.

I also had a bit of fun with some spilled gas as is evidenced by this picture:



Who wants to buy some RX-7 parts? I need room to build a frame!

Yes, kids are great for providing lots of diaper and wipe boxes for parts and baby food jars for nuts and bolts.

Yes, my wife let me use that comforter, its old, has a big tear in it and for some reason we had two of them?!?

Yes, this is going to be a big For Sale list.

IM IN UR BAYZ STEALIN UR ENGINEZ!!1

Yup, this is my dad. He is quite happy if you can't tell.

And here is me, taking a break and relaxing.


My dad was a humongous help this Memorial Day weekend. We got the whole rear end out, the engine and trans out, the dash cover, the vert top off, vert motors out, the doors off, the rest of the exhaust, rear brakes and suspension and probably some other things. No one was seriously hurt (few scrapes) and a number of sore bones and muscles, and we only made a little bit of a mess!!

The transmission decided it couldn't hold its bladder anymore and it peed tranny fluid all over the garage floor. But thanks to O'Reilly Auto being open on Memorial Day we were able to get a nice big bag of 'kitty litter' aka Oil Dry, so now my garage floor is covered in clumps of tranny turds (not THAT kind of tranny!!!).

A guy I work with, Gary, was nice enough to let me borrow his 2 ton engine lift. And while we (my Dad and I) were picking it up, Gary said, "hey, I got an engine stand and a balance bar in the shop, you want to borrow those too?" Two tons of hydraulic lifting is probably a bit overkill for a 300lb engine.

Its a lot of hard work, but man, tearing a car apart is a lot of fun! I can only hope putting one together is as fun.

I CAN SEE THE FLOOR THROUGH THE ENGINE BAY!

Well, busy in the sense that I got a lot removed from Adam today.

In the past few days I have made a lot of progress on tearing Adam apart. Here is a (incomplete) list of everything that has been removed:

Alternator

Power Steering Pump

A/C Compressor

Radiator

Fan

Both front lower control arms

Both front shocks

Both front spindles

Front brakes (calipers, discs)

Both front quarter panels

Bumper Cover

Bumper

Both Headlights and motors

My shed is really starting to fill up.


On another note, it is a lot of fun talking to other people about this project. I am really feeding off of their enthusiasm which most people get after I explain that I am NOT keeping the frame/restoring the RX-7/souping it up.

A bunch of our (my wife and I) friends came over last night after dinner to watch a movie. It is fun hearing friends ask "can I see your car?" And then the "Someone stole your wheels and your radio!!" jokes started...

WTB: Custom Seats

My dad just sent me a  clip from Jay Leno's Garage that featured a company that makes custom seats. WOW! These Stitch Corp seats look really nice.  Maybe someday I'll be able to afford custom seats that are not made for some average person that is 5' to 6' tall.  Just about every seat I sit in, the lumbar support is too low and the upperback/shoulder support is too low as well and ends up pushing my shoulders forward. Oh, and the "head rest" lands at about the base of my neck. The seatpans are usually too short as well. They are just not comfortable. 

And while we're on the subject, a LOT of modern cars have negligible headroom in the back seat. There are VERY few cars these days where I can sit up straight in the back without the top of my head cramming into the headliner or in a worse scenario, the rear window. In some cases there isn't any room for my entire head and I end up having to lean over sideways (*cough* Mustang *cough*). I bet that is really safe in the event of an accident. Then there is the Toyota Celica GT-S which I can't even sit up relatively straight in the front seat because my head hits the roof. I have to lean the seat way back and pimp it big all the time.

I feel sorry for Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal.

Japanese have Tiny Hands

I know I said this before but I think the Japanese build their cars like a puzzle... the whole thing, not just the dash. I was working on taking the body panels off today so I wouldn't have to worry about denting or scraping them and I only managed to get the bottom trim piece off of the front bumper.  From what the repair manual says (in a picture), the bumper cover is attached at a few easy to get to places... and then two nuts, which happen to be located in the space between the bumper cover, the headlights and the quarter panels.  How I am supposed to get my giant, fat, American hand in that area, WITH A WRENCH to take them off is beyond me. There's also one bolt or something I havent removed from the headlights and it must be underneath all that black skirting (you know, the black stuff in the wheel wells, what is that stuff anyway?). If I can get the black stuff out and/or the headlights, I might be able to get to those two bolts. 

So, I left that alone for now, and put the front of the car up on blocks and took the wheels off. I can now get to that black stuff.  Then I can take the front suspension off next week. (Note to self: buy another set of jack stands and some more cinder blocks for the rear end.)

I also had the A/C *ahem* discharged so I can take the compressor and all that stuff out after I take the power steering pump off. 

If you didn't know, Georgia is hot. Its hot most of the year, but its exceptionally hot in the summer. And it doesn't help that the sun sets shining S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T into my garage. 

And if you read the title and are Japanese and/or a person with tiny hands, don't feel bad, my 9 month old daughter has tiny hands, too.