Ace-Garageguy

Liking the chop and the nose. Cool little drag car.

I'm in awe. Seriously. Beautiful work.

Always a pleasure to watch your clean craftsmanship in progress.

Not the first time I've seen similar behavior by noobs lately, probably won't be the last. Of course, a man who's justifiably confident in his own skills (or in himself), won't be drawn into immediately attacking others to establish his place in the pecking order. He'll lead by example, posting his own exemplary work, and offer help and encouragement rather than general or veiled criticism of long-time members.

Lately I'm increasingly irked by midwits. Along with Karens, they seem to be multiplying like rabbits.

Very clever assembly jig for the grille insert. I'll have to remember that one.

Yup. I've seen people, more than one, driving obliviously down the interstate at 70MPH+ on a totally flat front tire, sparks flying, rubber smoking. Poor vehicle musta been howling in pain and pulling hard to the flat side. Once I tried to get a woman's attention, pointing to her tire. She sped up, apparently thinking I was some nutcase. Wait...there was no thinking involved...just irrational fear, and not fear of her actual impending doom. I always kinda wondered what it might be like to be that completely out of touch with reality. Seems to be more and more common though.

Woulda been $1500 if the wheel had been destroyed, which happens a lot in similar run-flat cases.

Or a diorama...

Musta had a 30-person committee design the front of that puke-ugly mess. HORSE: HORSE DESIGNED BY COMMITTEE:

Twirl a small drill bit lightly, with your fingers, everywhere you want a hailstone divot. After primer, should be pretty realistic. Dog knows, I've fixed enough real ones.

You musta offended the great Lord Tinylimp.

What irked me today? Excuse-making, buck-passing, mentally deficient and morally bankrupt babies masquerading as competent adults. Big-boys take the blame and take the whipping they deserve, rather than insisting that "the dog ate my homework".

Got a cheap, old-school Thrush Turbo muffler for my '89 GMC. What was on it was so rusted out, it was gassing me. The Thrush Turbo is, of course, a copy of the 1960s Corvair turbo muffler, developed by GM for very low restriction and reasonable sound levels. For a long time, it was my go-to performance muffler, and lotsa what's on the market for a lot more money is essentially the same (off-patent) design.

Yeah, but I learned early on (when I used to use newspaper to mask real cars, 50+ years back) to never let masking material touch any critical surface unless it was specifically made to resist solvents. That's a ticking bomb for people who use "cheap hardware store tape" too, as that garbage is generally made to withstand water-base latex and not much else. They'll learn when all the adhesive transfers to the model, and/or the tape is firmly glued to the surface. The inexpensive "store brand" body-shop masking paper in 12-inch wide rolls, and genuine real-car masking tape, is the best insurance you can get...available at any body-shop supply outlet. Considering what a royal PITA it is to strip a bodged paint job and re-do everything, it's money very well spent. EDIT: At least if you place any value on your time.

Yup. And the rear brakes are seized on the '86 XJ6 from sitting since 2014. Not really looking forward to that job, but I can't even load it on the transporter otherwise.

Usually, just whatever I have lying around...depending on how critical the masking is. Brown wrapping paper as apparently shown above, leftover shelf paper, newspaper, junk mail, clean plastic wrap from packaging, and I usually have a 12" roll of real-car body-shop masking paper in stock if it's something I really need to trust completely.

Kinda surprising GM hasn't licensed these for production. If ever a machine was a reflection of the society that spawned it...

Talking hysterical gibberish, or sounding like I'm having a mental seizure is much more fun...with the same results. Marketing calls are down to about one or two per week now.

Yeah, it's not the kids so much 'round here either. But whenever I see children, I immediately slow way down anyway, knowing kids can do really stupid things. And it's tough to get them cleaned out of the suspension. Unfortunately, it's primarily the "adults" who seem to think any paved area is their sole property, and it's my obligation to take care of them no matter what they might do. Some of the waddling sacks of protoplasm in the parking lots won't even get out of the way as a courtesy, but insist on walking right down the middle of the aisles. The kids at least seem to have a better sense of self-preservation.

The cars are just a reflection of a society-wide mindset that says taking personal responsibility for the control of one's own vehicle, or any aspect of one's own life for that matter, is old-think, no longer relevant. Everything is supposed to be guaranteed to be "safe" and to take care of widdle babies from cwadle to gwave. Don't bother to become a competent and skilled driver. It's hard, and it interferes with texting, taking selfies, and updating your social media accounts. Everything in the real-here-and-now world is either somebody else's fault, or somebody else's responsibility. Old man yelling at clouds? No. Just a dose of truth widdle babies don't like to swallow.

A business associate is moving his shop, made me a smokin' deal on a 20-ton Chinesium shop press. My 15-ton unit got away years ago, caught in the crossfire of another guy's divorce, and I've been making do with a little guy at the house. This thing will last forever, as seal kits for the ram are easy to come by, and cheap.

I'm justa yearnin' for a rig like this...

Lotta the opposite around here. Entitled pedestrians just step out in traffic anydammwhere, expecting drivers to slam on their brakes to accommodate their whims. Guess their mommas never taught them to look both ways before crossing the street, or to cross at crosswalks if they're designated...and to wait for the lights.

^^^ What Pete said. As for me, I'd still be more than happy to answer or clarify just about anything from my old build threads. Funny thing though...there seem to be a fair number of users who are of the opinion an older thread can't possibly have anything of value in it if it's been dormant for more than a couple of days or weeks...kinda the internet mentality in general, where anything more than a few hours old is ancient history. Their loss.