Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[ofreen]

Google isn't our friend but it is useful occasionally -

P plater
Noun. P-plate (plural P-plates) (UK, Australia) A plastic square sticker consisting of a large red letter P on a white background, placed on a vehicle to indicate that the driver only has a provisional (UK: probationary) driver's licence.

P-plate - Wiktionary

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, sorry for that reference guys, over here, “P Platers” are kids who’ve just got their license and bought a car that they then proceed to destroy by driving them like they’re playing “Grand Theft Auto” and all of the other games they’ve been brought up on.

I worked at gas stations as a second job for many years and was always amazed that kids could drive a car without being able to perform a task as simple as changing a wheel when the got a flat tyre. I had a rule, if it was a girl I’d change their tyres for them, if they were boys I’d show them how to do it. My two sons can change a wheel, check their oil and other fluids, and perform an oil and filter change.

I keep forgetting though, that there is a generation that probably don’t have their fathers always around to ask due to the high incidence of divorce nowadays, assuming that their fathers know basic maintenance anyway.

[BenelliSEI]

Terry..... my kids are fairly resilient and can fix most things themselves. My duaghter is the smartest, she usually brings me things to fix, most visits. The most recent was an electric kettle that was assembled entirely with “one way” screws (can only be done up). Unbelievable. Most stuff today is specifically designed for rapid redundancy! The kettle is repaired.....

[BenelliSEI]

Stumbled on another ex Toyota Echo Series car. It will be here Thursday. The “rent a racer” is resurrected! The plan is to move the top hatch winglet from the wrecked car over, and tell the Team the car is “rebuilt from the wing down”! They are currently leading GT3 in the Championship, so it’s important to make the next event in the “same” car.......

[RAFster122s]

Congrats John!

[BenelliSEI]

Congrats John!

Thanks! Bit of luck. Needs current dated fire suppression system, belts and window net, that I can strip from the wreck. Moving on.

[Kelly E]

Today I finished up the welding on the trailer. After that we reinstalled all of the lighting and it works, woo hoo.
The purpose of this project was to replace the wood deck with diamond plate and install bigger fenders so we can run 225/75-15 tires with a higher load rating that exceeds the 4500lb axle.

[RAFster122s]

Very nice Kelly! Congrats a job well done ...

I rode my MC to my men's breakfast Bible study and then to my doctor's visit. After that I stopped at Chick-fil-A and had some tea and read a few things before returning home. The heat felt far worse than it was and I didn't wet my helmet liner or wear my cooling vest as it was only around 92-93f at 10am-ish... I think I will start doing one or both. Was zapped when I got off the bike and brought the hard panniers in the house. Just locked the gate and locked the steering on the bike and left it outside all day...
I need to go put the bike away...

[grcamna2]

Today I finished up the welding on the trailer. After that we reinstalled all of the lighting and it works, woo hoo.
The purpose of this project was to replace the wood deck with diamond plate and install bigger fenders so we can run 225/75-15 tires with a higher load rating that exceeds the 4500lb axle.

Kelly,what are the heaviest things you will carry on the trailer ?

[Terry in Australia]

Very nice Kelly! Congrats a job well done ...

I rode my MC to my men's breakfast Bible study and then to my doctor's visit. After that I stopped at Chick-fil-A and had some tea and read a few things before returning home. The heat felt far worse than it was and I didn't wet my helmet liner or wear my cooling vest as it was only around 92-93f at 10am-ish... I think I will start doing one or both. Was zapped when I got off the bike and brought the hard panniers in the house. Just locked the gate and locked the steering on the bike and left it outside all day...
I need to go put the bike away...

How's that dog going David, is he still hanging around?

[Kelly E]

Today I finished up the welding on the trailer. After that we reinstalled all of the lighting and it works, woo hoo.
The purpose of this project was to replace the wood deck with diamond plate and install bigger fenders so we can run 225/75-15 tires with a higher load rating that exceeds the 4500lb axle.

Kelly,what are the heaviest things you will carry on the trailer ?
[/hous

It will carry up to 3000lb of load. I can haul one of the MGB GT's with it. We use this trailer all the time. In a few days Bill is hauling some stuff to South Dakota to work on one of his rental homes.

[Don R]

 I was fixing a long time oil drip and replacing the fuel line on my 40 chevy and the braided stainless fuel hose began to sprout leaks. If you have any old, braided line, change it out. The rubber inside dissolves and you can't tell until it's too late.
 I had run it between the steel line and pump and between the pump and carb. There is also 4" between the tank and rear filter. That will require a drastic quick change outdoors or draining the tank. 
 The age of the line is really unknown since a Hot rod is an ongoing project.

[dave500]

My old holden drivers door has probably been opened and closed a few thousand times since 1973?the lock was getting a bit stiff and the window pane a bit tilted so i thought id open it up and lube it and adjust the glass,the mechanism is encapsulated in a sort of heavy silicon,i decided not to rip it apart but poked a spray can spout into it freed it up nicely and got the window squared up and lubed its mechanism aswell,earned me a beer!!

[grcamna2]

My old holden drivers door has probably been opened and closed a few thousand times since 1973?the lock was getting a bit stiff and the window pane a bit tilted so i thought id open it up and lube it and adjust the glass,the mechanism is encapsulated in a sort of heavy silicon,i decided not to rip it apart but poked a spray can spout into it freed it up nicely and got the window squared up and lubed its mechanism aswell,earned me a beer!!

Dave,that looks like a good way that GM protected that heavy duty mechanism;hopefully the strong rains you might get there won't wash it out.

[dave500]

if holden did this to their in door mechs im sure other GM depts like chev/pontiac etc did the same?old tech but good,no power windows or central locking here!

[Terry in Australia]

Well it was a poxy wet winters day today, so I was thinking about working on my Fireblade, but whilst chewing my breakfast and trawling thru FB adverts, I found a guy selling a NOS tub for my little Mitsubishi truck. I've been looking for one ever since I bought the truck, as much as the galvanised steel tray is great for carting a ton of stuff, I like the sleeker looks of a tub. Also, Spotty had pointed out that the tub has a lower floor which makes it easier to load a bike, which would be good.

Gary, the seller, had bought a "twin cab" triton, which had a tub 850mm (about 3 feet) shorter than the tub on a single cab (my) Triton, which eventually pissed him off, so he had an engineer stretch his chassis by 850mm and bought not one, but 3 NOS tubs for it, a silver one, a white one (mine) and a red one. His truck is red, so he'd planned on painting mine red until a Mitsubishi dealer found him the red one. Gary uses a little factory building to store his collection of 1960's and 70's Aussie built Ford V8's and decided that he needed to do a bit of a cleanup, so advertised the tubs. He was a nice guy and helped me load it before he even asked for the money, and offered to give me a complete GoKart that I noticed in one corner, but I bravely refused as I just can't think of anything that I could do with a GoKart apart from shove a Honda CB750 engine in it and drive it up and down my street. 

Anyway, next task is to crawl under my little truck and unbolt the tray, drag it off, and install the tub. That should keep me busy for a few days.

Triton Saturday 23 Jul 2022 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Triton Saturday 23 Jul 2022 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Triton Saturday 23 Jul 2022 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[RAFster122s]

Wow! Lucky you!
In the Midwest and north and parts of the south where snow flies a d they salt the roads rust takes out the beds of trucks...some cars it did it faster than others and of course rusts put fenders and floors...
Not uncommon to see different beds on trucks as they tended to wear out before they had to do major surgery to keep the cabs going and water tight...

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks David, and whilst we don't have those weather conditions here, I am thinking of painting the underside of the tub with something to protect it from rusting, I intend to keep this little truck forever, so it'd probably be a good idea to give it a coating of something to keep it all metal.

[grcamna2]

Terry,how's your bike-lifter project ?

[Don R]

 I got my 40 chevy starter fixed and the fuel pump oil leak fixed and the fuel lines in front replaced. Now the o ring in the Holley pressure regulator is leaking. I ordered a kit. Even though I avoided alcohol like the plague my storage fuel seems to have eaten nearly everything that is rubber based. The fuel pump seems to still be OK but the regulator at the carb sprung a leak. It has a paper gasket at the diaphragm that tore so I ordered a kit for it. I also got an AN swivel and billet fuel filter for use at the regulator inlet.

[Don R]

  Terry, that's going to be a snazzy little truck.
  I find myself making excuses to not drive my 8.1L GMC dually. Not towing, I can squeeze 13 mpg highway but that's driving conservatively   

[Terry in Australia]

  Terry, that's going to be a snazzy little truck.
  I find myself making excuses to not drive my 8.1L GMC dually. Not towing, I can squeeze 13 mpg highway but that's driving conservatively   

Thanks Don, yep I'm stoked that I managed to buy an almost new tub for it, I probably would have settled for a sh1tty old used one that could have been rusty and full of bondo, so this one is a real bonus with a new tailgate and lights etc, it was worth way more than $1100 AUD. (about $750 USD) I should correct my self though, it's not technically "NOS", it's one that a dealer took off a new vehicle to install a flat tray like the one on my truck, if it was NOS it wouldn't come with a new tailgate and tail lights fitted.

Bill, the motorcycle lifter is still going to happen, and I'm glad that I haven't chopped up all my metal to make it fit the flat tray as it'll have to go into the tub now, which will still be long enough for a bike to fit in as it's only a few inches shorter than the steel tray. I've got a big piece of 4 inch angle iron that I want to bolt onto the chassis underneath the front of the new tub to secure the winch which I might drill and tap for the winch mounting bolts, I'll sort that when I pull the tray off, and before I install the tub.

Single cab Mitsubishi Triton's are hard to find, twin cabs were a lot more popular but I wanted a single cab with the longer tray so I could fit a bike on it, and I've discovered that single cab Tritons with tubs rather than trays are even harder to find. I wanted to find a pic to post here and this was the only one I could find, a 2006 model (last year of production MK, mine's a 1997) so a bit fancier than my little "Poverty Pack" truck, but it gives you a general idea of how it'll look with the tub fitted. I bought a new set of extractors (headers) for it when I bought the new head, I think I'll get them installed with a "sports" exhaust system, just for fun......

MK Triton single cab ute by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[grcamna2]

Terry,the 'tub' on the back of your Ute will be very functional with the sides,tailgate to carry miscellaneous small items without losing them.
Will you be able to remove,then reinstall the motorcycle lifter machine without too much trouble,if you needed to at some point ?

[HondaMan]

My Explorer's radiator sprung a wispy leak last week, so I got a new one, new hoses, new heater bypass diverter valve, and installed it all last weekend. Not bad for 200k miles!

Now the transmission cooler on the NEW radiator leaks....
...maybe I should put this in the "what pissed you off today?" thread?

[scottly]

Bill, the motorcycle lifter is still going to happen, and I'm glad that I haven't chopped up all my metal to make it fit the flat tray as it'll have to go into the tub now,

The other day as I was leaving the post office, I saw a pick-up go by with an RD400 in the bed, so I followed it to the gas station a block away. When I saw the lift ramp, I immediately thought of you Terry, so I snapped a few pics hoping to catch some useful details. The guy mentioned he might sell it for $1500, and I gave him my #, but I think I would rather have a motorcycle trailer: the ramp takes up a lot of space in the bed, and isn't easily removed or installed, compared to just hitching up a trailer.