Thread: Covid-era projects.

Tom, that truck will ride like new on those bilsteins!

Getting rid of any Toyota is always a win too in my book, hehe.
But damn it sounds like your neighborhood has really declined and that’s always a shitty deal.

Our first house purchase was in Brampton, south of where we live now by a ways. Anyway, was out walking our basset hound one night through a park crosswalk when my wife was far along in her first pregnancy.. this guy in the one yard appears at the fence asking for a smoke, my dog goes Cujo at the fence,the guy backs up we carry on home. Here the next day that the next guy through the park was robbed at gunpoint by three dudes hiding in that same yard.
For sale sign went up the next week..

Anyway,
Y’all know how I’ve been keeping busy during this pandemic. In a way, it’s been handy as there is no way I would have been able to dedicate as much time to the car as I have with these lock downs and stay home orders.
So thanks for that Covid, shaved probably three years off this rebuild..
I might still get it completed before it’s really over too.

Bart is in old age. Misses a lot. Foxie the barker has been gone a while.
Tough times with old pets!

I did a major milsurp firearm resto/upgrade which took a lot of time. Anyone want to see, let me know.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I did a major milsurp firearm resto/upgrade which took a lot of time. Anyone want to see, let me know.

YES.



On the topic of the thread, I’m not sure how you guys got more time. I’ve started a lot but haven’t finished much. It’s good to see you guys being productive. My guess is the age of my kids, 3 and 6. The cost of child care doubled but we get less hours. I get up at 5 and don’t sit down until 21:00. What little time I get I’m usually screwing around in the forge or thinking about all the projects and remodeling I need to do to the house. Time has been so tight I can’t dedicate more than a few hours most weeks or none at all for the remainder. It has made it really difficult to get any real construction going at my house because of all the restrictions, ie going somewhere besides your house while your husband/father rips out all the windows and siding...

I had many grandiose ideas of how I was going to spend all my free time. I got almost 4 days off of work for covid lock downs. I managed to make about 20% less than the year prior, due to lost hours for architect/client bs. Almost had a mental breakdown now I’m trying to pick up the pieces.

This whole situation has made me feel trapped and rabid. I’ve been vaccinated too but got no mental relief from it which has kind of compounded from all the nonsense, that was my light at the end of the tunnel. Not to mention taxes went up for us too. Got to start paying off the debt, hope we’re done spending and willing to look at the real issue before they spend my great grandchildren’s tax money too.

Sorry to hear that jfk. I understand what you're going through. I went from working 60 to 80 hours a week to 10 to 20 hours. So basically hobbies were to fight the depression. Not that it always worked, but it helped some of the time.

I hope things turn around for you.

Yes please.
Re: milsurp.

Before the pandemic, we started to rehabilitate a house, for resale. It was a two year project. We did it all. Foundation excavated, new waterproofing, then air gap membrane, new roof, doors, window, siding and soffits. Full gut on the interior, with some minor floor plan changes. Full interior, wiring, plumbing insulation, kitchen bathrooms flooring. The only thing left of the original place was a bunch of framing and sheathing. The sale closed at the beginning of April. That was a lot of days off burned up. As an essential service worker, my schedule is unchanged. Since the house project finished up, I managed to get some yard work done. I managed to get rid of 8 yards of crushed rock, and three pallets of pavers, converted an 11 foot fibreglass satellite dish into a pond. When I get back from work, it is time for some razor projects.

I remember when you began that project, Shaun. Happy it all came to fruition!

It was a long grind Tom, but it all worked out in the end. I’ve never been so happy to finish a project.

Like John, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness were mounting. I knew I had to get busy and stay busy.
I wanted to do something which would be labor-intensive and not require much dough.
This will be a bit lengthy. Sorry. I documented it. May as well share it.

Bought an old French MAS 49/56 which had been converted from 7.5 French to .308 upon importation back in the 90's for 200 bucks. Looked like this.



Shot it some. did allright. Tossed brass into the next county! These conversions by Century Arms are much maligned in the gun circles. Some did ok and some notsomuch.I decided to drag it out and see what I could do to perfect things.
I learned they had cut the recoil spring down. Nobody knows why. They are overgassed and extractor does not work quite right with .308. Some chambers were done roughly when reamed. Slam fires were common using commercial soft primer ammo.
Most info I found came from Gunboards Forum, so I joined-up and started searching. Did not ask many questions as some guys were internet parrots and only wanted to perpetuate faults they had read over and over.
I wanted to fix the faults, not dwell on them.

I took each thing on and handled them all and then some!

First the recoil spring. Got a new one. Then, a member there makes an adjustable gas valve to turn the gas down a bit. It replaces the pin on the grenade launcher gas cut-off pin. Got that.



No pics, but took a fired case and attached it to an aluminum cleaning rod. Coated it with Maas polish and worked it in and out of the chamber, stopping, cleaning, and testing on occasion. I had to pry a round out when I began. Stopped when I could tilt the rifle up and it slid out.

Then, I bought a spring-loaded lightened firing pin from another member who does that. Did not want this beast going full-auto!

Next, a member provided instructions and a diagram on how/where to take some off the extractor to better grip the .308 round.



Having done this the rifle ran great. Tuned the gas valve at the range. It will lay the brass right on the table now.

Decided a 20 round clip would be cool. Settled on a FAL clip and trimmed pieces from a MAS 10 rounder. Spot-welding and some TIG from my buddy. Engineered a way to make the bolt-hold-open work.



Lots of tweaking of the feed-lips, etc. Got it working good.