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The Garage

Since putting the nose back on the car after repairing so damage, I had been wanting to smooth the paint out for a couple light runs and some overspray. But, since it's acquired some rock chips , decided next time I sand it down, I'll just do a better paint job. So, decide to add a sticker to the nose just for the heck of it. My original broke when taking it off and not gonna pay 50-75 bucks for a replacement. ;-)
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Had a quest to finish this morning so me and my pardner got in the car.
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Then took off going out of town to get 9 more miles on my 03 Vette coupe so we would have this across the ometer
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Then returning home to wash and vacuum the car, clean the garage and driveway.

Finding a large can to gray paint and looking at the old beat up KLR, decided it was time to leave the green behind and start going gray with it.

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Might take the rest of the week but we'll get it mostly gray. ;-)
 
Several happenings in the Garage and Shop to mention. First thing was another batch of wine and this time fig wine as my little tree did a fine job on figs this year. Even a few weeks ahead of normal production.
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Then came the final move turning the Ex-green machine into the Grey Ghost and doing some electrical stuff on it for grins. As in running a separate wire from the start button to the starter solenoid bypassing all the safety stuff so gotta think old school when going to start it now.
As far the paint job, no high tech, just light sanding, wiping and hit it with a spray can and a bit of clear. So don't expect it to last long without touch up.
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Then came the 4th time I think, on repairing the transmission on the old Craftsman self-propelled lawnmower I've been having for 15 yrs now. Problem is that Sears-Parts-Direct is in turmoil at present and one phone call and one chat with them just lets me know that they are changing suppliers to be patient. But they wasted no time in charging my credit card the day after I made the order on Oct. 16th. So, it sit's waiting on my bike lift.
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And last for the last few months but not least is the completion of a fine batch of Banana wine and it's being loved by my friends that have sampled it so far.
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Yesterday was pickin' satsuma's from a friends tree and getting them ready for ? Well Satsuma wine of course. ;-)
 
Great job on the bike. Did you you use that plastic paint stuff called fusion paint made specifically to bond to plastic?

All your doings around the garage is becoming a neat thing to tune into :popcorn:
 
Really just a very light sanding and not sure what the can said. It wore though pretty fast on the tank where the tank bag was sitting after just a few trips down some ruff roads so just touched it up again. Think it's just a Krylon paint or something kin to that. . Not a great job or preparation ,but the plastic is very ruff and deteriorated. Was just getting tire of the old beat up green after near 19 yrs with the bike. ;-)
 
Tell me about this banana one. What’s the recipe?
Scot, I kinda followed this one.
Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs. (2.0 kg) peeled bananas
1 3/4 lbs. (0.79 kg) finely granulated sugar
6 1/2 pints (3.1 L) water
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 Camden Tablet
1 pkg Red Star Côte des Blancs or Epernay wine yeast


I heated up about 3 gallons of water, put the chopped up bananas in there and churned it up with an egg beater. Mixed in the yeast nutrient and added sugar till I got a 1.100 gravity on the mix.
Let it cool down and put it in a plastic 5 gallon bucket , mashed up a Camden tablet ( kills the natural yeast ) put a towel over it and let it set for 24 hrs.
Then warmed up so water for the yeast , put it together and let the yeast come alive a bit ( about 4 or 5 hours ) . Then stirred that in and put a lid on with a bubbler attached.
Took about a day for the yeast to come alive and start producing CO2 to activate the bubbler.
I would shake the mix everyday for about one week.
Then take the lid off and strain into a 3 gallon water jug with a bubbler attached to it also. Shake it a bit about every day till pretty near stopped bubbling. Let it set for a few day and transferred to 1.5 liter bottles with screw caps and leave the caps loose till you know the yeast has died.
With the cooler weather this batch was done in about 1.5 months.

Next is some satsuma wine. ;-)
 
Scot, I kinda followed this one.
Ingredients
4 1/2 lbs. (2.0 kg) peeled bananas
1 3/4 lbs. (0.79 kg) finely granulated sugar
6 1/2 pints (3.1 L) water
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 Camden Tablet
1 pkg Red Star Côte des Blancs or Epernay wine yeast


I heated up about 3 gallons of water, put the chopped up bananas in there and churned it up with an egg beater. Mixed in the yeast nutrient and added sugar till I got a 1.100 gravity on the mix.
Let it cool down and put it in a plastic 5 gallon bucket , mashed up a Camden tablet ( kills the natural yeast ) put a towel over it and let it set for 24 hrs.
Then warmed up so water for the yeast , put it together and let the yeast come alive a bit ( about 4 or 5 hours ) . Then stirred that in and put a lid on with a bubbler attached.
Took about a day for the yeast to come alive and start producing CO2 to activate the bubbler.
I would shake the mix everyday for about one week.
Then take the lid off and strain into a 3 gallon water jug with a bubbler attached to it also. Shake it a bit about every day till pretty near stopped bubbling. Let it set for a few day and transferred to 1.5 liter bottles with screw caps and leave the caps loose till you know the yeast has died.
With the cooler weather this batch was done in about 1.5 months.

Next is some satsuma wine. ;-)

Thanks.... Thinking I'll have to give this a try. I've got a Welches Concord grape and an Ocean Spray Cranberry/Apple going at the moment. Almost done with primary fermentation, probably rack it off the gross lees this evening. Just bought a 60l primary fermenter. Sheesh, that's like 15 gallons. Hoping the Welches will work well and then I'll just scale it up.
 
15 gallons = Wow! I used to do 5 gallons at a time but got to be such a hassle with the bottling and getting rid of that I tuned it down to about 2.5 gallons a batch. Have some satsuma is the freezer to work on today for the next batch. Then comes grapefruit and cumquarts and lemons and maybe some muscadine grapes.
 
Well, we at it again. Just started about 4 gallons of Satsuma wine yesterday. Wrapped an electric blanket , then a blanket around the electric one to keep the temperature above 65F. Just started doing this when making wine and the garage/shop temps get down to 40F once in awhile.
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Being as I gave a young lady and her mom a ride in our Christmas parade last Saturday. And of course had the targa top off for her to sit up there. I decided to see how the dark see though top would be like. I keep a top on due to noise when cruising down the back roads with my music on. It is different when riding about for sure but the jury is still out on if I kept it on or back to the stock silver one.
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And shooting murals during the afternoon ride to see how I liked it. A bit about the photo. The Wave Cafe was at Lake Arthur , La. and a common go to place in the '50's - '60's. Maybe into the '70's. Not sure when it got torn down.
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Being as I gave a young lady and her mom a ride in our Christmas parade last Saturday. And of course had the targa top off for her to sit up there. I decided to see how the dark see though top would be like. I keep a top on due to noise when cruising down the back roads with my music on. It is different when riding about for sure but the jury is still out on if I kept it on or back to the stock silver one.
IMG_1999.jpg


And shooting murals during the afternoon ride to see how I liked it. A bit about the photo. The Wave Cafe was at Lake Arthur , La. and a common go to place in the '50's - '60's. Maybe into the '70's. Not sure when it got torn down.
LA%203_1280_x_1024.jpg

I thought this story was going to take a totally different direction when you started talking about a mom & daughter connection.... :eek2:
 
Yes it started with the reason I took the top off. I don't take it off generally due to noise and wanting to just chill and listen to the music. But, a pic of the young lady at line up for the parade.
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Today, finally got the Vet's Home car show in after 3 re-schedules due to weather. A very fun event for the old vet at the home and really brings back memories of their youth. I put all the photos I developed on my photobucket account and will put the URL to a slide show here.
I decided to break out the Canon SX50 for a change so see how it would do in the cloudy conditions and play with the big zoom. I was surprised at how clear the duck pic came out as they were about 30 or so yards from me and I was doing hand held on the pics with pretty much zoom on them.
http://s100.photobucket.com/user/achesley1943/slideshow/2018/Vets Car show 12 2018?sort=9
 
Well, today ordered 285 bucks worth of bearing hubs and axle bolts for the rear of the Vette. Getting a howl out of the left rear bearing. Crossed the 130K mile mark a few days ago. Changed all the wheel bearing and stem bearing on the Suzy Bandit at 60K miles. And the KLR was getting rears about ever 15K miles and front were changed at 30K miles . When I pull the wheel and the bearing feels the slightest bit ruff, I change them.
 

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Well , did get the left rear wheel bearing on the Vette changed out after about 4 hours total time messing with it. Had to use the heat gun for some of the bolts and ball joints to get them to turn loose. But, tis together again and about 150 miles later , it's nice and quiet still. When I do get around to changing the right side, won't take as long as this was a learner for me.
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Then today was Cumquat wine making day. Or more like the work to get it ready to make the wine. Picked about a 1.5 gallons off the tree,
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sliced and washed them.
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and put them in a pot on the stove and brought to a boil. Then fire off and egg beater time. Then some more.
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Now in a 3 gallon jug with a bubbler on top with a few chemicals to kill the natural yeast , and nutrient for the coming yeast.
Tomorrow is add sugar and bring the gravity to 1.100 and later, introduce the mix to some wine yeast.

Now, time to get ready for the playoff game in which a young man from Jennings is the running back for Clemson. The whole town is in the Orange Mode at present pulling for our #9.
 
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New shocks ordered for the car yesterday. AC/Delco soft rides for the C6 Vette. Most all suspension parts for the C5 and C6 interchange so wanted to try these. Bout $285 to my door from Rock Auto. With over 130K miles on the car, and, no record of them ever being changed, due time.
 
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