Saturday, January 13, 2007

Welcome to www.ad-libs.ca !!!



.
.
What are we up to these days? Find out here: MAIN BLOG
What are we renovating these days? Find out here: HOME RENO
What are we wrenching on these days? Find out here: VW
Interested in camping for free? Try this: CROWN LAND BLOG
.
.
2006 ARCHIVES:
.
Non-categorized:
.
The Garage:

Bob's Bug:

The 1974 Thing:

The 1976 Westfalia

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Changes Coming Soon, check back often!

A few exciting changes are happening here at the blog. Here's a hint:



As the title says, check back soon. You won't be disappointed!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

The 2003 Hyundai hits 200,000 KM!

I snapped this picture with my camera phone today as I was merging on the 407 at Brock Road. I thought it was fitting to post a tribute to the car I love to hate.

I bought this car on my birthday, October 24, 2003. It was a demo model from Pickering Hyundai. I had admired the Elantra GT (a 5 door hatchback similar in looks to a SAAB) from the day they were introduced (in 2002). I signed the papers more out of necessity than anything else - this dealer was the only one that would help me get out of the lease on the 2002 Dodge Dakota I owned. Soon after I took possession I decided to treat it as my tank, not to baby it, but to load it full of whatever I needed to, and to not be concerned about scratches or dents. The latter two were an additon after Vanessa accidentally backed into the front fender one morning, leaving no damage on her car and a sizeable dent in mine!

So I admit I've never been particularly in love with the car but it has a number of redeeming qualities that make me think twice about replacing it. For example:
  • In three years and 200,000 kilometres the car has required a rediculously small amount of maintenance. Naturally it has had routine oil changes, a set of tires, brakes and rotors, windshield wipers, etc. Unexpected repairs have been few - two rear wheel bearings, a rearview mirror (my fault) and an unusual wiring fault. Since I do my own maintenance and repairs (and this car makes it easy) I've spent very little in this area.
  • The car drives like a tank through any weather conditions. Rock solid at all times.
  • I don't care for automatic transmissions, but this has to have one of the smoothest I've ever driven
  • The electronic fuel mileage, distance to empty calculator gets heavy use.
  • The air conditioning is so cold you can see your breath if you breath into the a/c stream in the summer. Best air conditioning I've ever had in a car.
  • The cruise control is the smoothest and most accurate of any car. It's weird a creature comfort would stand out like this, but it has very intuitive controls and gets continual use (I've never bothered with it on any other car I've driven but this one lends itself to being used).
  • The stereo system is very well balanced, 6 speakers with no distortion or rattling, even after 200,000 km and thousands of hours of use.

The car has also performed some remarkable feats for a 4 cyl econobox. Most notably:

  • We used the Hyundai to tow our camping trailer a few times. Both the trailer and the car were fully loaded, plus Vanessa, the dog, and I. We towed it this way to Algonquin Park, and I've towed it to Balsam Lake and Orillia on at least two occasions.
  • I've used the Hyundai to tow UHaul trailers to the dump, and to pick up goods at Home Depot.
  • I've used the car for multiple trips to the dump carrying over 1000LBS, often with long planks hanging out the tailgate!
  • I hauled Bob's 1600 DP engine AND front axle beam (in the back of the car) from Niagara Falls to Oshawa
  • I hauled a stack of counter tops from Ikea in Vaughan to Oshawa, with Vanessa in the car too
  • I loaded the car full of VW parts from the seller of our Westfalia, including a 091 transmission, three sets of fuel injection, camper tables, 2 van doors, and more
  • I've made countless trips to Home Depot loading the car full of lumber, pipes, hardware, etc.
  • I've made countless trips to Algonquin carrying samples of their auto parts and my packaging, often filling the entire car, sometimes even part of the driver's seat!
  • I've driven from Peterborough to Oshawa with a bathroom vanity, completely assembled, hanging out the tailgate.

That's about all I can think of for now. So, despite not loving the car, it sure sounds like I like it a lot! I think I'm going to have to keep it now, at least until it hits 300,000. Or maybe 500,000??

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Basement Update - 2007/01/07




Well, I don't have pictures of everything that has transpired, but I've been busy! Here's a point form list of what's been going on:
  • front outlets reconnected (new wires fished to each)
  • side room/upstairs circuit fixed (upstairs bedroom on one circuit now, side room switches and office on another)
  • bathroom exhaust fan installed, wall drilled and chiseled to allow installation of energy saving vent
  • both the dryer and exhaust fans now have the same vents, the last picture above shows how they prevent influx of outside air (the picture here shows the dryer in use)
  • bathroom circuit roughed in
  • support for pool table lamp roughed in as well as electrical box
  • partition wall beside stairs removed
  • jacuzzi tub junction moved to under tub

The work needs to continue, though. Here's what's up next:

  • adjust pot light placement over Vanessa's art area
  • adjust pot light placement over pool table, wire in pool table light, remove pre-wired dimmer switch from original rough-in
  • complete bathroom circuit, including outlets in art area
  • replace feed to washer/dryer
  • tie down loose wires, pipes
  • make bulkheads around ductwork
  • add nailing edges as needed
  • after drywall is moved downstairs, build new partition wall beside stairs, jack up the room above and make it a supporting wall.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Basement Update - 2007/01/02








The Christmas break offered some free time to get started in the basement. In between working, visiting friends and eating out I finished the hot and cold water plumbing rough-ins for the new bathroom. I also re-plumbed the pressure lines and drain lines for the laundry room and added proper 1/2" copper piping and braided hoses to the fridge and humidifier. Part of the change involved re-routing the main cold water line from the water meter, through the new bathroom and through the joists to meet up with the main water distribution lines. It's been a multi-year project (not necessarily intentional, but born from necessity of multiple renovations) but now every single pipe - copper and ABS - in the whole house has been installed or replaced by me!


Next I need to tie the loose ends up on the wiring project. Basically this will involve finishing three existing circuits - the front room outlet circuit that has been disabled for nearly a year (a tedious and slow fishing job), the rerouting of the computer room / TV outlet circuit (a very simple job), and the reconnection of the outside plug (the hardest part will be finding a circuit to join it to). Then I need to replace the washer/over-counter outlet circuit, reroute the dryer wiring, add a circuit for the bathroom/Vanessa's art and portfolio area, and repair the circuit feeding the outlets in the main room. Once the high voltage wiring is finished I will reroute the phone and cable circuits.


Then we're ready for drywall! This will mean adding some 2 x 2 nailing cleats here and there, but should exhaust not only our current funds but our patience...


We also got a great deal on some large planks from Ikea that we will use as countertops, desktops, desk legs, etc. As you can see I've mocked one up over the washer-dryer. We also got a deal on a base cabinet at Ikea I will use with one of Bob and Dianne's cabinet doors to finish the lower cabinets. The rest of their oak doors will be used for access panels, upper cabinets, breaker box doors, etc.


Other (vehicle) projects are currently on hold... I'm postponing the fun, really. Vanessa bought me all the brake parts for the Herbie project. Bob and Dianne bought me some gift certificates at California Import Parts so I'm excited about spending the big bucks... I think the Kafer Cup Bar will be the next purchase in order to continue the Lemon project....


Lots of stuff up on Ebay and The Samba right now, check my links on the link bar and purchase at will!