The Tactical Panda's Sometimes Funny Great White Money Pit Build and Observations on Life thread.

Thanks I appreciate the response, I'll try it after work

 

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

 

Was up this morning at the butt-crack of dawn to get a few things done on the Tacomeister. They say "Make hay while the sun shines" but lately I try to make hay while the sun is NOT shining. It's been so bloody hot outside you can't hardly breathe, let alone work.

First up was to re-install the spare tire after the air tank installation. WOO HOO! It fits. The forward end of the tire just barely touches the tank but the two are not in conflict with each other. That's one worry out of the way.

Second was to install the air pressure gauge in the cab. I yanked out the coin tray at the lower right of the steering column and mounted it there. Perfect location.



I also ordered Toyota part number 55548-04010-B0 which is the plastic cover that mounts into the same holes as the coin tray. This is the cover used on Tacomas with the manual hand brake.



This is perfect. It trims out the area nicely yet leaves an opening for the air hose and the wires for the gauge light to pass through.

That will be it for today. Wifey and I will be having a little quality time with each other and the doggies this afternoon.

 

Lifelong commitment is not what everyone thinks it is. It's not waking up early every morning to make breakfast and eat together. It's not cuddling in bed together until both of you peacefully fall asleep. It's not a clean home and a homemade meal every day.

It's someone who steals all the covers or snores like a chainsaw. It's sometimes slammed doors, and a few harsh words, disagreeing, and the silent treatment until your hearts heal. Then...forgiveness!

It's coming home to the same person everyday that you know loves and cares about you, in spite of and because of who you are. It's laughing about the one time you accidentally did something stupid. It's about dirty laundry and unmade beds without finger pointing. It's about helping each other with the hard work of life. It's about swallowing the nagging words instead of saying them out loud.

It's about eating the cheapest and easiest meal you can make and sitting down together at 10 p.m. to eat because you both had a crazy day. It's when you have an emotional breakdown, and your love lays with you and holds you and tells you everything is going to be okay, and you believe them. It's when "Netflix and Chill" literally means you watch Netflix and hang out. It's about still loving someone even though sometimes they make you absolutely insane, angry, and hurt your feelings. Who loves you for fat or thin, happy or grumpy, young or old.

Living with the person you love is not perfect, and sometimes it's hard, but it's amazing, comforting, and one of the best things you'll ever experience.



Next month it will be 32 years. Plus a six-year courtship prior to that. That is 38 years with the same person. More than half my life.

 

Tim, that is the absolutely must truthful and beautiful post I've ever read on a truck forum. Congratulations!

 

My latest toy.

A belt holster for my cell phone made out of Kydex.

 

OK.

The Air Horns project is 99.999% complete! Pictures and details (and maybe a video with sound) coming soon. Only things left to do is connect some wires to light up the switches and the pressure gauge, and I seem to have a small air leak I need to track down and secure. Otherwise the horns are functional.

Stay tuned.

 

I figured out the air leak. It's actually coming from the compressor. I thought these ARBs had a built-in check valve but I guess not. New leader hose with a check valve is on the way. Should have it tomorrow.

 

Air horns are done!

 

An Imaginary Conversation Between God and St. Francis of Assisi on the subject of Lawn Care

God: Hey Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on Earth? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect "no maintenance" garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.

St. Francis: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers "weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

God: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it... sometimes twice a week.

God: They cut it? Do they then bail it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Oh, I see. It's a cash crop. Do they sell it for money to feed their families?

St. Francis: No Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God: Wait. Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow and when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

St. Francis: Yes, Sir.

God: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

St. Francis: You are not going to believe this Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

God: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle of life.

St. Francis: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away too.

God: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

St. Francis: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

God: And where do they get this, this mulch?

St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up.

God: Enough. I don't want to think about this anymore. Oh good. Here comes St. Catherine; our patron of the arts. Hey Cathy, What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

St. Catherine: "Dumb and Dumber", Lord. It's a real stupid movie about.....

God: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

 

OK. I'm back from the Carlisle All-Truck Nationals. Didn't win a trophy but that's OK. There were a lot of nice trucks in my division and I'd rather lose to worthy competition than win because no one else showed up. Hung out with come cool Taco people from Connecticut and my dog Scooter was the Beau of the Ball.

 

Made an appointment to have Katzkins and seat heaters (or as my wife calls them, Bun Warmers) installed in the Taco. Stay tuned.

 

BTW, that is T-Bone sitting on the motor. I have a Clifford the Big Red Dog stuffed toy for my Corolla when I'm at car shows and I have his friend T-Bone for my truck.

 

New Katzkins!

 

Sub'd because of this awesome post Tim

 

Got the Center Console organizer and tray from @salex installed.

 

Only the U.S. Government could take something as simple as a plastic gasoline can and regulate it to the point of near unusability.

All gas cans sold after 2009 must be equipped with spill-proof vapor-proof pour spouts which usually require three hands to operate: One to hold the can, one to pull back the slide valve on the spout and one to aim the spout where you are pouring it.




Then a couple weeks ago while browsing some YouTube videos I stumbled on a solution to this awkward problem in the form of the EZ-Pour Spout Replacement Kit. It seems that selling gas cans without the spill-proof spout is illegal but selling non-spill-proof spouts by themselves is not.




The kit comes with a 6-inch flexible spout (with cap and spare cap), two screw rings (with different threads sizes) to screw the spout to the can and a vent opening since the spill-proof spouts have their own venting system.



In my case neither of the screw rings fit the threads of my cans so I just used the original rings which worked nicely. Then you just drill a ½-inch hole in the can somewhere above the full line, pop the vent unit into the hole and you are all set.







Pro tip: Install this when the can is empty. Then rinse it out with a small about of gasoline to wash out any plastic particles that may have fallen in when drilling the hole for the vent.

 

A little "Throwback Thursday" for you.

Here is my Supermodel Wife posing with my then-ride; a 1992 Mazda B2600i. This was taken about 1994 or so. I scanned this from a photograph so it is not razor sharp.

 

Throwback, uh Sunday.

Stumbled upon this picture on the 'net. This is not the exact one, but my very first non-previously-owned car was exactly like this. A 1980 Dodge Colt (which was actually built for Dodge by Mitsubishi) with the Rally Sport package. Paid a whole $6000 for it.

It had a unique 8-speed manual transmission and two shift levers. One was a standard 4-speed shifter and the other was a lever for "Power" mode or "Economy" mode. You could put it in Power mode when zipping around town when you needed quick pick-up, and on the highway you could switch to Economy mode and increase the final drive ratio by 25% for better fuel economy.

Or you could do like I did and up-shift through all eight gears by throwing both sticks back and forth! I mastered the trick of throwing both shifters at the same time with one hand.

It also had a recently-innovated feature called a "silent shaft". It was like an extra camshaft that was counter weighted on one side and as it turned it offset the vibrations so inherent in 4-banger motors.

The scrappy little car got about 28mpg which was pretty good at the time and could do 0-60 in 11 seconds; 1/2 a second faster than a Porsche 924.

Too bad it fell apart at 85000 miles and got traded for a 4WD Subaru.