Arizona 2014

[legomybago]

Anyone else re-bushed hinges on a AMC Pacer?? Huge doors!! Love them fish bowls....

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I got lucky with the hinge pins in the doors we pulled off the 90...we pulled them hinges and all.  Nice and tight with no play.  Its definitely the catch bolts that come out of the door jam.  On the driver's side the nylon bushings are gone altogether, and there is a deep groove worn in the top of the metal part.  Nylon is still there on the passenger side, albeit cracked, but there is also an almost as deep groove worn into that one.

Today is pretty much a day off!  I surprised Patti this morning with a box of Valentines candy and a card.  The rest of our day is pretty much free.  Just have to bring the catapults to our booth and set up for the weekend, and go get marshmallows.

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

And as promised, some pictures of S.T.E.E.V., our 85 K5 Blazer, after its nose job.  Now instead of major body work, its all minor now.  And now instead of looking like a piece of junk, its looking like a work in progress!  Its going to look even better next week when I put the "new" topper on!















Enjoy the pics folks!

Kev

[Stripe]

Are you getting another "Stock" topper or are you going with one of those cool looking toppers that makes the K5 look like a HMMV?


Or maybe go this route??  http://www.adpost.com/us/vehicles/975591/ 


Or maybe this??

[M & J]

We have a soft top conversion for our 91. Got it from Best Top.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I was thinking a soft top from Softopper.com, but Patti's against the idea.  The one we are getting is just stock, but in like new condition and already smoothed out (they were textured from the factory and looked crappy).  Big improvement over ours, which has cracks and chips and screw holes in it, and scratched window tint.

Kev

[Stripe]

Tell Patti you've been nominated as Admiral of the "Aluma-Lite" Fleet and that an Admiral should have a softcover so as to be able to open it and stand up to address the rest of the Fleet Commanders..

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL Frederic!  I'm still trying to convince her.  The Softopper is 350 lbs lighter...that's my angle right now.  Hers is that her hair will blow all over.  I'm like, we'll keep the top up when you are in the truck with the AC on.  She's not convinced yet...lol!  Anyways, the new topper is no extra money out of pocket except the gas to get there, so that will happen this coming week.

Three day weekend coming up with lots of stock and great weather predicted...time to make some money!

Kev

[Stripe]

Ahh well, was worth a shot..

[M & J]

Kevin, my wifes hair is very long and she puts her's in in ponytail. And there is nothing wrong with running the AC with the top down.......

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL!  Its when the wind whips her ponytail into her face that she gave the the stinkeye all the time in the Jeep.

Great day at the faire today, with two more to go!  Gotta get materials and tools on Tuesday, as well as make the trip to get the topper and spare tire...so its going to be a BUSY Tuesday, and super busy the rest of the week!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Holy crap!  The hot weather brought in droves of people, and we pretty much doubled what we made yesterday!  One more day to go.  Glad we still have lots of stock!  Gonna be a LOT of catapults we have to build this coming week!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Oh yeah.  To make life even more interesting, Karli has been in heat for almost the last 2 weeks.  Now she gets to wear "pretty pants"!  We made and make a big deal of them, and she's actually pretty proud of them now!  Only SHE gets to wear the pretty pants!  LMFAO!!!

They double as a chastity belt, as well as keeping our carpets and bedding clean.

We don't want to breed our pups, but we are determined to not spay or neuter them until they are at least 2 years old, and probably closer to 3.

The latest research shows that dogs neutered and spayed before 2 years old have THREE times the chance of getting hip displatia, and a 60% higher chance of bone and other cancers when they reach their elderly years.  And Sheps already have a high incidence of hip displatia.

No way no how until they are at least 2, and probably more like 3.

So until then, twice a year she gets to strut her stuff in her pretty pants.

Funny thing happened a couple of days ago though...Paladin, who is definitely getting old enough to be interested in interesting smells, got a hold of my wallet and had a whole bunch of dollar bills spread all over the house.  The running joke was that he was trying to get Karli to remove the pretty pants...lmao!

Kev

[Stripe]

HAHAHAHA!1 Kevin gets to be the "DADDY" Police!!!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Another amazing and profitable day at faire today!  This has been an awesome 2nd weekend, our best ever at this faire, and we are definitely back in the black after vacation, even with the expenses of retooling the workshop, paying next year's faire fees for NC, and everything else we got behind on.  SWEET!!!

Gonna be busy as heck this week with no days off, but its all good.  Not a bad problem to have at all!

Kev

[Stripe]

Wow, Nice!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Gotta get an early start.  Going to leave here to pick up the topper and spare tire at 9am so I won't hit the Phoenix rush hour traffic.  Once I get that done, its off to various pawn shops to look for good bargains on good tools, then Home Depot and Lowes to get tools I couldn't find on the cheap, then the pet supply place for dog food, and then Harbor Fright for the car port and another saw horse.

If I get back early enough I'll set up the workshop so we can get an early start tomorrow.

Kev

[M & J]

Dunt forget my seatbelt latch kind sir please.

[Stripe]

So I take it No Admirals speech from inside a soft top??   

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Front seat belts were already sold and gone...sorry!

Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Got up to my friend Mel's place fairly early today (awesome new friend I met on the ChevyK5Forum), and he and his son helped me switch the toppers.  Way lighter than any of us thought it would be!  I guess the 80s toppers are considerably lighter than the full toppers from the 70s.  There goes that angle to convince the wife to get a soft top...lol!

Loaded up the new spare tire, then hit a whole bunch of pawn shops looking for tools.  OMG are they overpriced at pawn shops in the Phoenix area!  Any of the woodworking tools I needed were almost as expensive used as getting them new with a warranty at Home Depot and Lowes!

So after the pawn shop fiasco, I drove down to the pet supply place for dog food, then over to Harbor Freight for a carport to use as a workshop, and picked up a few tools I need there like a small compressor and hose for my nail guns.  Then off to Home Depot where I picked up a whole bunch of reliable Ryobi tools...good for the price anyways.  800 bucks poorer I stopped by the beer store to console myself this evening...lol!

Tomorrow morning early I need to run back to Home Depot for a router table, then to Lowes for some wood, then get back to camp by 10am to start setting up the workshop with my workers so we can get these catapults built this week.

Not going to be any time this week to do any more work to the K5 or the RV, but dang the Blazer is starting to look a lot better!  The new topper is in almost like new condition compared to the old one. Wifey is very happy with how it looks and how clean it looks inside.  I removed the lap belts from the topper when I got home since we don't have a back seat anymore.  Had to make room for 3 German Shepherds!

Spare tire takes up a LOT of room in the back though...really going to have to get an external spare tire carrier before we leave this show.

Funny thing about working at Renaissance Faires for a living.  When you have the money, you don't have any time...and when you have the time, you don't have any money...lol!

If I have time I'll try to post a few pics before the end of the week of the new topper inside and out.

Kev

[chicknnhead]

Funny thing about working at Renaissance Faires for a living.  When you have the money, you don't have any time...and when you have the time, you don't have any money...lol!

I think that is life in general not just faires

[legomybago]

I agree on the time vs. money!!

Pawn shops are a rip from what I've seen (gun prices???)...but you have to remember....The price tag is just the "asking" price.... N:(

[M & J]

I frequent pawn shops for guns and buy most of what I have from them.

If you didnt know, the tag price is AT LEAST double what they have in it.

So, start at splitting the difference or slightly less. Pay no more than 75% of asking regardless.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Workshop is all set up, and a whole bunch of catapults were built start to finish.  Going to be a busy next couple of days, but we'll get it done before the weekend...like we always do!

And now, a gratuitous topless picture!



Kev