Fun Stuff

DAY 1

I have to replace my 16 year old Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.2L V8 engine. It no longer passes emission testing and smokes like a mosquito fogger!

Being this engine swap-out project will take several days I’m going to post each day’s progress below with a DAY Number heading marking each day’s work. Unfortunately this will not be a full tutorial but rather just some eye-candy photos and progress blurbs. You will learn what is “generally” involved in replacing a motor and you may realize it is something you could do someday instead of junking out a nice vehicle and taking on 5 to 6 years of new car payments.

In the past I normally pull my motors, tear them down and replace and rebuild as need be. But that takes a ton of time so for my Jeep I decided to order a fully remanufactured “long block” from Engine House in Phoenix, AZ. They have a great rating with the BBB and everyone I asked recommended them.

Below is a photo of a remanufactured “short block” which does not have cylinder heads installed. With a short block you would have to use your old heads or get new cylinder heads and install them yourself.

I chose to use a new “long block” like seen below which has new cylinder heads already installed. 

If you need new cylinder heads its cheaper to just buy a long block, plus its a big time saver not having to put the cylinder heads on yourself.

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I converted a Harbor Freight utility cart into a multifunctional welding cart. The conversions to the cart make it easier to move about in tight places yet strong enough to support 100lbs of brick and a plate steel top. I added a second smaller chopped up Harbor Freight utility cart as a firebox to catch all the sparks when cutting with the oxygen-acetylene and plasma torches.

Final cart modifications: Large plate steel top for MIG welding, bricks for oxygen-acetylene welding and firebox for plasma cutting.

Converted to oxygen-acetylene welding and plasma cutting:

Converted to MIG welding:

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How to build a “Trampoline Soaker” for only $26.68

What is a trampoline soaker you ask? Well it’s a name to describe any contraption that sprays water over a trampoline. It’s great fun for the kids on days when it would otherwise be way too hot to play on a trampoline.

I’ve seen this done before in many simple ways but found all examples quite difficult to put up on the trampoline, take down, control direction and change the type of spray. My first few builds were failures in all the above noted difficulties. I needed something much simpler, more functional and still flexible enough so my wife could take it down to spray her plants along the side of the house and then hang it back up on the trampoline.

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This is a fun post, for me, about our 2004 German made
Schimmel SP189 Konzert Diamond Edition 6’3″ piano. (Man ain’t that a mouth full?) We purchased the piano in May of 2008, but these photos are from Oct. 2008 and March 2009 because I just didn’t get around to taking photos of it for the blog. I guess I was having to much fun enjoying it to take photos or post the lighting design my wife and I came up with for the piano room.  So these photos are just to enjoying the beauty of a wonderfully made piano and some tips on piano care and how to create the perfect lighting for a grand piano.

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Project: Tool to help teachers draw rule lines for elementary kids to practice writing letters and words.
Requirements: Tool must be easy to use, easy to change markers and increase efficiency of drawing rule lines on white boards.

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I found myself in need of a better mouse trap. We had (had ) a very clever mouse. Each night for about a week our “ninja mouse” would take the bait off the trip pan without tripping the trap. I remember once, long ago, my Dad tied some cheese to the pan. I tried that but this mouse was too smart for that. He just ate through the string! Being an Engineer I know I could do one better. A little hot glue a bit of dog food and BAM, you have a ninja proof mouse trap. That night was the mouse’s last night on earth. We don’t normally have mice and we have not seen another since, but I’m ready if any want to try me out again.

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Rebuild your 1979 Jeep CJ7 2 barrel carburetor

This is a collection of photos I took when rebuilding a friend’s carburetor. He had two and both where previously rebuilt or reassembled incorrectly.

Start by going to NAPA or other auto parts store and getting a carb rebuild kit ~$20 and a new float ~$12. Make SURE the rebuild kit has not been opened because these get bought for just one broken bit and returned to NAPA for a refund WITH THE PARTS MISSING that you will need. Pictured here is the Choke.

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AHAB was “A High Altitude Balloon” project posted on Make Magazine plus original PDF posting. Some novice balloonists with tons of electronic skill devised a payload including cameras, cell phones and GPS equipment to take photos from near space. The GPS data transmitted back indicated they achieved 109,000ft which is just amazing. Photos from near space would have been spectacular. Unfortunately they never found the payload. There GPS transmitter gave out during the descent around 60,000ft. They searched but with no luck.

The call went out for others to help in the search. I was going to be in the area on a vacation to the Pacific Coast a few months later so I got the new projected targets, my GPS and a team to help search. (See our results posted at Make Magazine). The following larger photos are boring snapshots of us at the target areas. Sorry to say we too did not find the payload.

The balloon

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