Arizona 2014

[ClydesdaleKevin]

INSANE amount of catapults built this week!  8 Ballistae, 5 Trebuchets, 160 mousetrap catapults, 100 Bandit catapults, and 50 Twister catapults...oi vey!

And I still had time to mount the new XS White Dot Tritium sight on my .357 Ruger LCR revolver, and the Crimson Trace laser grip on Patti's .38 LCR revolver.  SWEET!

Also had time to pick up the supplies needed for my mechanic to reinstall the spring boxes on Monday...and make arrangements for a local trusted shop to install the AC on the K5 Blazer. 

Its all coming together, although the logistics is a nightmare!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

We had an AWESOME day at Faire today, and anticipate another awesome day tomorrow.

Monday morning we are bringing the K5 into a local trusted shop to have the AC installed and fixed completely.  I already have the compressor, the hoses, and the metal can thingy, whatever its called.  They are going to install them, the new brackets, a new condenser, a new evaporator, the right orifice for R134A, the good blower switch I got from my friend Mel, and get it all working again for a quote of 600 bucks.  I'd say that's a good price all in all!  Gotta have AC at our next stop, which is Muskogee, OK.  It gets DANG hot and humid there!

Kev

[TripleJ]

Muskogee Oklahoma, where even squares can have a ball

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Awesome day at Faire today, and met up with our friends Mel and Lisa and took them out to dinner after faire. 

Tomorrow the AC gets fixed in the K5!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

850.00 bucks and ALL DAY at the shop later, S.T.E.E.V. now has ice cold AC, and the heater and blower work!  Complete conversion to 134A.

The shop is still trying to round up the last 2 small support brackets for the compressor...it works the way it is, but they tell me that if I don't put those last two brackets in, the vibrations will chew up the belts in no time.  They installed the donor switch cluster out of my friend Mel's 90 donor, and it works great!

Also have to replace one of the missing duct hoses that goes to the lower left AC vent on the driver's side, since its missing, but I can do that later when I have time.

Actually ended up being what I thought was a fair price considering they had to run ALL new wires in the engine bay, and track down the correct wires for the switch cluster.  That price included all the new parts I didn't have (all I had was the switch cluster, the compressor, the hoses, and the dryer canister thingy), and all the labor.  And they didn't charge me for 3 hours of that labor.  The shop is called K&W, and they are located in Apache Junction, AZ.  Awesome folks!  They are starting to specialize more and more in classic cars, hot rods, and 4X4s and lifts.  The owner Kurt is a Chevy guy all the way.  As of now, every last part of the AC system is brand new.

Anyhow, I did notice an unusual almost burny smell when trying out the AC on the way home...and my volt meter with the blower on drops quite a bit...so while I'm running errands tomorrow I'll be dropping by the shop again first thing in the morning for them to check out the smell, and make sure nothing is shorting out and whatnot. 

Another thing they told me was that the idiot who owned my K5 before me put the pitman arm on wrong!  Which is why it turns just fine in one direction, but not nearly enough in the other.  They are going to put in on right for me at no charge when they install the rest of the bracketry, also at no charge except the cost of the brackets.

That should make it easier in tight parking lots!

While all of this was going on, my buddy Gabe reinstalled the spring boxes on the Holiday Rambler and got it all ready to go.  Patti paid him for the work, and we gave him the special spring compressors I had to buy as a bonus, since I'll never have to use them again...hopefully!

All in all a very productive day and a lot got done!  I ended up waiting at the shop all day since the guy who was supposed to follow me and bring me home and back was a no show, but it ended up being fun anyways.  The guys at the shop are great, and I spent most of the day playing with the shop owner's young German Shepherd dog named Darko!  Super awesome friendly GSD who loves to play!

Kev

[DonD]

Great news Kev!    They have an A- BBB too!!

[chicknnhead]

kevin if you can't locate the brackets let me know, I have boxes full of brackets for the 80's gm. I deal on 80's Monte Carlo's and the motor brackets are the same, just let me know what you need



this pic is with them all bolted up but objects removed


To do it right you need A, B, G, H and J

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Success!!!  And another long day of working on the K5 when I probably should have been doing other stuff...lol!

So I got up really early and got to K&W Automotive at 7:30am.  The "smell" I was smelling, and the reason for my lack of power after the AC install, was that the mechanic had accidently knocked a spark plug wire out of a loom, and it melted to the exhaust manifold, resulting in unburned gas from the exhaust...but it was fortunate it happened, since the smell clued the main mechanic Mick that my Edlebrock carb was set WAY too lean!  He adjusted the carb for me, replaced the spark plug wire, and that part was a done deal.

He then looked at my pitman arm, and took back what he said about it being in the wrong position...since its 4x4...he was thinking 2 wheel drive.  He did immediately identify the problem though!  Whoever did the lift didn't replace the steering arm with one for a lift, so it binds when turning to the left!  Gonna have to get me the correct steering arm when I have the time.

Then we discussed the voltage drop I was getting on my dash gauge when I turn the AC on.  And we both decided it was probably the blower motor going bad and drawing too many amps, since it squeeled like heck when we finally got it going again, and then wasn't blowing very forcefully.

They didn't charge me for any of this, so I reached for my wallet to give Mick a 20 dollar tip...and realized I left my wallet at home!

Back to the camp I drove, and then picked up my wallet.  I decided to test voltage at the battery with my Fluke when I got home, and it was fine at the battery...13.8 at idle, with or without the AC on, so maybe it was just a bad ground somewhere?

Regardless, I drove back out to get a blower motor...in for a penny, in for a pound...and on the way to Autozone I decided to stop at a junkyard I'd never stopped at before just in case...and Voila!!!

I got super lucky and found the other 2 small brackets at the junk yard!  One is a tiny 3 bolt hole bracket with a loop on top that mounts to the front of the intake manifold and then to the main AC inner bracket with a nut and bolt, and the other is a rod that goes from the top of the main AC brackets to another bolt on the side of the manifold.  Wasn't cheap though...the junkyard charged me 20 bucks for those 2 little brackets!

Anyhow, first stop after that was Autozone for the blower motor...15 bucks, not bad!...Then back to K&W...and they were SWAMPED!!!  But they are so cool!  "Hey Kev...just park it in the shade there and you can use our tools if you want to get it done right away..."  SWEET!

With good tools available, the two brackets went right in (got lucky and they were working on an El Camino with the same engine and AC, so I was able to use that truck as a visual reference for how my brackets are supposed to go in...lol!), as did the new blower motor.

Started it up, and MAN does the new blower blow that ice cold air now!  Still had the voltage drop issue though...hmmmm...

Figured I'd just go home and get some other stuff done, but when I told my wifey about the adventures, she told me to go back out and get the alternator and battery checked just in case.

So back to Autozone, where the battery and alternator tested good...but then I had a horrifying thought...what if the amperage was too low on the alternator and it was the one for the non-AC model?  Autozone gave me a box of wrenches to use, and out came the alternator and into their bench tester it went.  Tested perfect, and it was indeed the higher amp unit.

Noticed the alternator connections were crusty though, so right in their parking lot I replaced the terminals and reinstalled the alternator with good terminals.  The battery positive terminal snapped when I was tightening it, so back in I went, got another, and installed that as well.

Started the truck, and noticed the volt meter reading higher than 13 volts, but still dropping to around 10 volts visually with the AC on...but with my Fluke still reading 13.8-13.9 at the battery.

So at this point I'm thinking a bad ground at the blower motor.  I'll clean them up in the morning and see if that makes an improvement....otherwise I'll just keep cleaning up every ground I find as this project continues.

Now is when I made a mistake in judgement, and since I didn't have to buy a new battery and alternator, I figured I'd go ahead and finally replace the broken glass on the passenger side mirror.  8.99 for the glass that was supposed to fit my OEM fixture...yeah right!  It was way too big to fit inside the metal frame, and chipped when I tried to force it.  No problem, says the folks at Autozone!  We have the whole shebang in stock for 19 bucks!  They gave me back my money for the mirror glass, and I bought the aftermarket version.

And the aftermarket version was a piece of crap! Dimensionally its similar, but not nearly as well made,  the metal on the frame is super thin, the cover for the body mount is plastic for god's sake, and more importantly, the tubular riser part that connects the mirror head to the body mount was 2 whole inches shorter than the OEM version, which placed the mirror way too low!

Solution, as there always is...even though it took me a while to figure it out.  I used most of the parts off the OEM version when all was said and done, except the mirror head.  Which I managed to pull off of the aftermarket riser and force onto the OEM riser without breaking it.

It looks okay, but I'm keeping the OEM head.  I'm going to have them both sandblasted eventually, and paint them black, and then I'll just take the OEM mirror head to a glass shop and have THEM install the new mirror.  Until then this ones good enough and at least its not broken!

Last stop of the day was K&W again for a SWEET trade the owner Kurt wanted to make with me!  He had a complete dash bezel out of a who knows what square body...and its no shite wood inlay!  Not just wood colored plastic, but real wood bonded to the plastic!  And its complete and unmolested, except that someone spraypainted in black some years ago.  I can sand all that paint off, refinish the wood, and its going to look awesome in our K5 with the fancy leather and wood interior Patti wants!  All he wanted in exchange was our aluminum billet bezel cover that we were intending to get rid of anyways.  AWESOME!!!

By the time I got home from all of this to relax, it was already 5pm.

Tomorrow I'm going to get up super early again, and try to get as many of the interior parts I got from my friend Mel installed in the K5 before my workers come in at 10am.  I especially need to get the headliner and other fragile parts installed before they get here, since they are sitting in the workshop right now.  Can't have them getting damaged!

Kev

[Stripe]

Well, at least it was a short update..

[chicknnhead]

From your description it looks like you bought brackets A and H, from my posted picture, sucks they charged you so much

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Another busy day on the Blazer. First I got a lot of prep work done for my workers, then installed almost all the interior stuff I got from Mel. New headliner, all the plastic trim, door panels, and even the crappy dash since Patti REALLY hated the camo ones. I'm still debating whether I should get a new one and paint it to match, or just cover this one for now and wait until I get up north to look for a good condition OEM dash. Ah hell...no matter which way I go, I gotta put a cover on this one! It looks like crap, but better than what was under the cammie!

The difference is pretty amazing though, and Patti likes it!

One thing I noticed replacing the dash was that all the duct work was missing for the AC/Heat vents. I'll be doing that little job before we leave for Oklahoma next week. I'll MAKE the time.

Even replaced the steering wheel with the one I got from Mel. The only things I didn't replace yet is the lower kick panels, since I have to modify them for the speakers, which I don't have time for now...and the center console, which Mel is going to ship to me.

So on the immediate SOON to do list is a dash cover, followed by a dash replacement if I can find a nice tan one in a junkyard in OK. If I can't find a nice one in OK junkyards, I'll probably just buy a new one from LMC and paint it to match. And the lower panels on the doors, which are still camo, since Mel didn't have those. And new carpets...mine are YUCK! Just in the front though...LMC only has complete carpet kits, so I have to find somewhere to just get the front carpet set.

The immediate burden is the dash though...DAMN its ugly and cracked...and Patti STILL likes it better than the camo...lmao!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So my buddy Mel gave me a call to let me know the console out of the 90 was in pretty bad shape, so at his suggestion I started looking for an alternative...and found the most awesome console made specifically for the K5!  Its a Tuffy console...http://www.tuffyproducts.com/p-88-series-ii-security-console-12-12-wide.aspx.  This is going to be perfect!  Not cheap at 270 bucks...but I think its worth it.  Not just for how good it looks...it will be a secure place to put my revolver if I have to run in someplace like a Post Office or whatnot.  SWEET!  I'll be ordering one when I get to my next stop, Muskogee, OK.

Kev

[Stripe]

Nice..

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Crazy long day building a HUGE amount of catapults.  Great weather expected for this weekend, so our closing weekend here in AZ should be awesome!

Kev

[DonD]

Blue skies and big bux!!   

[Thundercloud]

 ;)Can you launch humans with those catapults? That sounds pretty fun into a lake. Am I a redneck?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL!  I can make them that big on commission!

Going to be a great weekend, and then a hectic week packing everything down and sending everything off to Southern California with my workers to do that show, while Patti and I scramble to get out of here by Friday and on the road to Muskogee, OK for that faire. 

As soon as we get to Muskogee, we'll have to quickly set up that workshop and get right back into production.  We'll be building stock for both shows, and shipping them what they need on a weekly basis.

So. Cal ends on May 15th, so we'll be able to take a breather at that point!  Oi Vey!

Kev

[Froggy1936]

Oh O Growing pains expanding into two simutanious sites Good Luck . Hope you have some dependable people running things . Wishing you the best of luck Ya gotta make it wile you still have the strength to do it . Frank

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks Frank!  I trust my guys totally to do a good job and make us lots of money.

Great day at faire today, and should be just as good tomorrow!

Then the crazy breakdown and packdown begins, and its off to Oklahoma!

At least the poor pups will be able to play there in a fenced in yard, and with fields to run in!  Ordering electric training collars for them as soon as we leave here.  They are SO bored with our schedule and no place for them to play!  Today they tore down the passenger side visor in the RV, which I beat them profusely with...lol!  I'm going to have to repair it before we leave and remount it so Patti won't have the sun in her eyes on the trip!

Kev

[joanfenn]

Kevin, we need more pictures of the kids.  Haven't seen how big they have gotten.  How is Barnabas doing with the young ones?

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Barnabas has definitely maintained his alpha status, and the pups love him and respect him, which is a very good thing!

The pups are getting huge!  Well, Paladin is!  Karli is going to stay a very petite GSD...she'll be a year old in April and only weighs about 55 lbs, even though she eats like a horse.  Paladin is only 7 months old and already weighs 78 lbs!  He towers over Karli now!

I'll take and post some recent pictures when I can.

Gotta make some breakfast, costume up, and head over to the booth.  Last day of the Arizona Renaissance Festival!  I'm hoping its a good one!

Kev

[Stripe]

He Kevin, check these collars out..
http://www.amazon.com/Dogwidgets%C2%AE-Rechargeable-Training-Individual-Vibration/dp/B00771WQIY/ref=sr_1_2/180-5708419-7839465?ie=UTF8&qid=1396200798&sr=8-2&keywords=dog+widgets+shock+collar


I bought this set for both of our dogs and I loved them.  I won't go too much into detail but essentially you get two collars, one remote for both collars w/individual controls for each collar, two levels of shock and one level of vibration. Also included in the kit are different prongs for different K9 sizes, shock test light bulbs and one plug in wall charger W/ one USB charger cable.  First thing I did was order a second charger and cable so I could recharge both collars simultaneously.


The remote is pretty cool as it has two individual rows of buttons, one for each collar, and a center V button to vibrate both collars at once.


I have a 65 Lb Husky mix and a 85 Lb Dutch shepherd mix and I only ever had to use shock once on the dutch otherwise it's strictly vibrate.  For some reason she hates that more than shock.  The husky is a dog of another color. Shock had to be used more than once as vibrate fascinated him more than anything. 
For the dutch, we needed it to control her barking and it worked now all we have to do is show her the collar or remote and she quiets down.
The husky was a runner whenever anyone came by house and he would try to run out of the house when home or run away while at camp. One press of the low shock setting paired with a verbal correction did the trick.
While the collars themselves aren't totally waterproof, this can be remedied by applying a small bead of silicone to the seam where the collar is glued together. After I did that we stopped worrying about forgetting to remove the collars when we would take them to the Sound for a swim and some ball chasing.

That's it in a nutshell..


Hmm, Hm? I think I will copy and paste this to product reviews...

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Going to order those collars and the extra charger tomorrow.  Hope they work as well as our old Dogtra collars!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Just ordered the collars and extra charger this morning.  Hopefully they ship pretty quickly!  We are leaving for Muskogee either tomorrow night, or more likely Thursday morning, and it would be awesome if they were waiting there for us!

Got the tent packed down and our site all cleaned up yesterday.  After I finish my morning coffee, I've got to stage everything that is going with the boys to So.Cal then cut out some more parts for them...then I have to start breaking down the shop and cleaning all that up.

Gonna be busy!

Kev

[pvoth1111]

Did I miss something.....did you get that rear suspension welded back up?