Tonight I finished the sanding on my transmission, except for some areas I might touchup.
Last areas in progress:

This section sucked.

It was warm out, so I pushed it outside to rinse some of the sanding dust off.  It still needs a couple more rounds of cleaning before it's ready for primer, but that might happen this weekend!

The area around the axles and around the end cap are still textured.  I'm going to paint those areas ultra-flat black, the rest of the chassis will be satin or semi-gloss black. 

The rest of my ARP bolts for the transmission came in.

Our friend Mike brought over a little trophy from his most recent drag race... which was his Nova's last drag race :(  This will get hung on the wall with all the other mangled racecar parts.

They're doing construction in the parking lot at work.  As I was leaving for lunch, a gust of wind blew a surveyors tripod directly into my quarter panel as I drove past!  The guys weren't too happy, I'm sure their smashed laser transit was worth more than a couple hours of panel repair.  I got their insurance info, hopefully it gets fixed without much trouble. 

I received a couple more old Blue Point body hammers - another BF611 and another BF603.  I got a smokin' deal on these two so I couldn't pass them up.  I already have both of these hammers so I won't resore them right away.  There are traces of red paint on these, so they could possibly be pre-war.

I went to my parents house for some spring cleaning this weekend.  The main focus was my old bedroom.

It was just as I left it - a huge fucking mess!  Check out those sweet Ferrari posters.

I found a kids size DeWalt T-shirt from 1995.  I was 10 and I wore it almost every day!

I found this kick ass Grave Digger poster.  I also found 4 shirts, a hat, and a bunch of Monster Jam ticket stubs haha. 

I sanded for a few more hours.  The trans is almost ready!  I probably have 2-3 more nights of sanding before it's ready for epoxy primer.  I don't plan on polishing the section around the axles, I'm going to paint it a different shade of ultra-flat black for some contrast.

More sanding tonight.

I assembled another shelf.  The new parts are starting to arrive, and things are getting crowded. 

Temporary roommate: racecar!

Woody and Miller reached the limit of the Kart tires last weekend!

It's laundry night so I had to stay home, I decided to tackle a problem with my bedroom door.  It hasn't shut since I moved here almost 4 years ago, it hits on the top edge.  I guess during the remodel all the doors were removed and put back in random places, but mine is the only one that didn't shut. 

The problem:

I've used a dull plane once or twice with minimal success, but I had never owned one.  I bought this little Stanley block plane for $21 at Lowes, and it worked really well.  I like the plane; it's a good tool.  I'm probably going to collect these when I'm an old guy.

Great Lakes makes a good planing fluid.

Success!  I removed about 1/16" and it clears just fine. 

But of course there is some trouble...

Hinge side bottom:

Hinge side top:

Handle side bottom (not to be confused with the adjacent closet door):

And then here is the handle side top:

After all that, the door still will not latch because the jamb is so far out of plumb.  Damn.

I'm back in action!

I spent some time yesterday making a battery box for a friend's car.

I got some new supplies this week.  I ordered a bunch of stainless washers and ARP bolts that I will use for the transmission and motor, the rest of the bolts are on backorder.

Today I tinted the windshield of Tommy D's new Silverado.

I put the summer wheels back on the Rabbit and passed 74,000 miles last night!

It was a beautiful day outside, so I pushed my seat and trans outside for some more sanding. This is the first work I've done on my Jetta in over a month! 

I saw this badass body dropped Chevy on Friday in the Southside.  I'm pretty happy with the framing of this picture, which I snapped in between cars coming the other way while I was driving in heavy traffic.  Too bad this clown rode into my shot!

I wonder how far they had to go?

I felt a little better tonight, I'm almost back in action!

The mailman brought a Snap-on 1-1/16" wrench to fill the last hole in my set.  I also bought some more Awesome and drawer organizers from the Dollar Tree.

I got a little bit of real work done tonight, I changed my oil in the Rabbit.  I made the final payment last week and the title came in the mail Friday :)  It's due to explode at any minute.

I'm still sick, but I spent a few minutes at the shop today.  I bought some new tools and rearranged a few drawers to make them fit.  This is the most exciting thing I've done in 3 weeks... except for watching Road House twice.

The trays that Snap-on includes with their tool sets are huge, which is a smart business plan for a company that also makes tool boxes.  They are great for organization, so I try to cut away the unused area and still use them. 

The pick set came with a free trim prybar set, so I moved some vise grips to another drawer.

I also sawed a hole in my screwdriver tray, then I trimmed a square storage bin from the Dollar Tree (3 for $1!) to fit in the hole. 

Before:

After:

This mod saved enough room to fit (read:buy) two more screwdrivers!

I've been sick for over 2 weeks now.  I think it started as some sort of sinus infection, now it feels like bronchitis or pneumonia or something.  I have seen every single episode of How It's Made.  I got tired of sitting on the fucking couch and drove to my shop today, I had to deliver the stuff I bought that has been piling up in my car. 

I bought a new respirator, my old 3M disposible unit was well past its usable life.

UVEX Bionic face shield to replace the scratched up old one. 

I rearranged my screwdriver drawer after buying a mini screwdriver set.

Back to bed :(