Month of June 2019
 

Good morning guys.

Only 40 degrees when I left this morning. Pretty nice weekend overall, great day yesterday. Mid 80s Saturday, mid 60s yesterday. We had a line of pretty strong storms move through Saturday afternoon that dropped pea to blueberry size hail on us for probably a good 3-5 minutes straight.

Also made some progress on my brake work this weekend. Got the caliper brackets prepped and painted and am in the middle of painting the calipers - I shot the back and bottom sides yesterday and will turn them over to get the top today. Red is definitely not the easiest paint to work with - I had to do 5/6 light coats on the brackets to get the right coverage on the bare metal. It's going better on the calipers since those were black. Sorry, no pictures to share today. I guess I wasn't in a picture taking mood while shooting paint - the overspray is ridiculous but I made sure to cover everything. If all goes well I should be able to start reassembling everything tomorrow after work. :happyanim:

Not been on here in a while because we've been paying more attention to our new baby.... No, not that kind of baby, a new Silverado. Getting used to it more and more each day. Had it for almost three weeks now. So far we've tinted the front windows, tuned out the dreaded AFM, and are moving toward replacing the exhaust system. I think Monte is feeling a bit neglected, lol..... Had to drive 335 miles to get it, as no one here had what I wanted. Here it is!.....and yes, I like red and black.....(photo taken at dealership before leaving)


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...c38b9abdb9.jpg

Hey Gang!
I think I mentioned shortly after I got home from my trip to the Michigan Monte Carlo meet I had some noises (brake noise and some rattles) in the Monte. I finally got to inspect and resolve them this past weekend.
1. - Brake squealing (does not happen all the time). The noise made me think I was rubber the wear indicators. Nope. Pads and Rotors, still plenty of material. Best I could find is a lot of brake dust. I hit the calipers and pads with the air compressor on all brakes. Seems to be gone now.
2. - While doing the brake stuff, I recently had new tires put on. The old foam/adhesive from the original wheel weights was still on the inside of the wheels (I do NOT use the clip on weights, they destroy the finish). A friend recommended a "rubber eraser". Basically, a rubber disc you chuck into a power drill and buzz the stuff away. Maybe I was not aggressive enough, as it looked like it spread the junk around. I grabbed some GooGone and poured some on a paper towel, too very low effort swipes and the junk was GONE! Big win!
3. - Rattle #1 - One of my sway bar end links was just a little loose. I thought I tightened it up when I did all my front end work before the trip, perhaps not. But if it comes loose again, I will be replacing the nylon nut used on the assembly.
4. - Rattle #2 - So I had two rattles that I thought were one rattle. I found this because a couple weeks ago when I had the engine running and the hood up, I thought the back of the engine sounded a bit loud. Turns out, the connection from the rear exhaust manifold to the down pipe was a little loose (funny, as the nuts were locked in pretty tight). I soaked the hardware for two days with penetrating oil (good old rusty/brittle exhaust hardware). The one nut came off, the other nut and stud came off. Replaced the gasket, left the one factory stud in, replaced the nut and other stud with a stainless nut and stainless bolt (added a washer and lock washer). Here is to hoping I never deal with that again!

A productive weekend with the Monte. Ready for my trip to Carlisle later this month. :)

Good morning guys.

Looks like another nice, sunny day today. I finished caliper paint yesterday and am ready to begin reinstalling the brakes.

@ chifan, nice truck! Those Redline editions Chevrolet does are nice looking.

Local news caught a police chase live in southwest Detroit yesterday mid-afternoon. Michigan State Police and Detroit Police were in pursuit. From what I've read, the passenger was killed and the driver was injured as police fired gunshots at the vehicle while the driver attempted to smash through patrol vehicles and officers while blocked in.

Eyyy happy June!

Good morning guys.

High 70s today with scattered thunderstorms today, potential for severe. Already had one round of storms move through this morning and the sun is peaking back out.

Last night I got everything unmasked and prepped for reinstall - I'm planning to do as much of that as possible tonight. Goal is to have the car back on the ground by tomorrow night. I haven't done as much undercarriage detailing as I'd hoped for but I'd like to get from the rear wheels back done now and then come back to do the rest another time.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...bb8473788f.jpg

Your progress is looking good Matt!
I am anxious for the Chevy Nats in Carlisle coming up.... Its the next big thing on my calendar lol.

I'm sure the Chevy Nationals is a blast. Every year I say I'm going then can't. So this year I say I'm not going, Maybe I'll wind up there lol.

The Chevy Nats would be good, a few folks wanted me to go down to Dale Earnhardt Chevy to the Car show next weekend. There are so many roads flooded that It adds 650 miles onto the trip. Yesterday I was at a car show and met some folks that were Dale Earnhardt Fans they just returned from NC and they said it was a difficult and challenging trip, the 1189 miles mapquest indicated is more like 1700 now with all the detours.
anyway the car-show was good to me. I got a first in my category.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/monteca...0f5d152880.jpg
My first place trophy.