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ReTonkulous

Utlilmaster P30
I freaked out there for a second because at first glance I thought the backing plate was aluminum. :eek:
:haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha:
That would be a major fail. My brain it not that far gone, yet.
I did OHM check the lexan first. O.L. So should be all good.

Not this bad yet. But I thought of this meme when I drilled each hole.
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Made this yesterday from stuff I had on hand. Not the cleanest I've done, but it was free.View attachment 514532

Now I need to hook everything up.
Well, technically you already paid for them so not free, but no new purchase which I always love when it happens.
I get things in bulk or when they are on sale so when I do need them I have them
 
:haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha::haha:
That would be a major fail. My brain it not that far gone, yet.
I did OHM check the lexan first. O.L. So should be all good.

Not this bad yet. But I thought of this meme when I drilled each hole.
View attachment 514534
That meme reminds me of a video I watch just recently. The guy used a small piece of cloth under the drill bit when drilling holes to make them more round. I've known for awhile that when I use my drill press to drill holes they end up kinda triangle shaped. I always thought it was because of runout on the press, but supposedly it's because of the way the bits work. Gonna try it next time I remember.
 
When it was all bought through the business and billed to the clients, then not used due to changes, they are free.
Oh that changes things.
I am starting to experience this now, using left overs from one job to do other small jobs
 
That meme reminds me of a video I watch just recently. The guy used a small piece of cloth under the drill bit when drilling holes to make them more round. I've known for awhile that when I use my drill press to drill holes they end up kinda triangle shaped. I always thought it was because of runout on the press, but supposedly it's because of the way the bits work. Gonna try it next time I remember.

A good friend of mine told me that the reason that is, is if you look at a drill bit they have three points of contact when they are being used or something along those lines from what I remember. Something like a unibit is more prone to make a circular hole as it only has one cutting edge
 
A good friend of mine told me that the reason that is, is if you look at a drill bit they have three points of contact when they are being used or something along those lines from what I remember. Something like a unibit is more prone to make a circular hole as it only has one cutting edge
I feel like it's also a pilot thing. The very first hole of the unibit isn't that round either when you drill by hand, but once you have the first hole and the bit pilots off of that diameter to keep itself centered, the rest of the holes are pretty nice.
 
I feel like it's also a pilot thing. The very first hole of the unibit isn't that round either when you drill by hand, but once you have the first hole and the bit pilots off of that diameter to keep itself centered, the rest of the holes are pretty nice.
I can attest to that, I learned the hard way to do a pilot hole for more precise and faster hole
 
Trip report.

Left the house Sunday the 5th. 588 miles with one gas stop and 2 old man stops. The truck ran great. It developed an exhaust tick about 2 hours in. I kept going, because it sucks to work on hot exhaust. Traffic sucked in numerous places. I every Slug Utility Vehicle, with dad, mom and multiple rugrats and 5 bicycles hanging on the back, were on the road. Fall break this week in our area.

Ran the truck at 75 to 80 mph for most of the trip. For the blue state people, speed limits out this way are 70 to 75 mph on the open roads. It did not use any oil. Fuel gauge would not go above 3/4 tank. Has been this way for a while and I can not figure out why. More on this later. The last 150 miles was running in torrential down pours. The wipers need to due better. I think I have a solution.

Monday morning junior and I went to O'Reilly's by his house and bought some Cometic all steel gaskets. The gaskets in it were fiber multi layer. Pulled the dog house out and saw the front 2 bolts were 1/2 out. :yikes: Tightened those and the rest of them as they all could use some twisting. Fired it up and the tick was still there, but at the back port.:dunno: Those 2 bolts were the tightest. At least it is supper easy to get the the head on that side. Swapped the gasket that was clearly blown out of the top. Torqued the bolts to the click/click of my tongue. Junior was laughing.

We went for a drive down highway 90 to get gas. I should have filled up the night before, because I was low according to the gauge. Put 27 gallons in a 40 gallon tank. I received a text message from a friend in Tennessee. He saw me go by. Small world. Not a lot of cars out mid-morning on Monday. We drove down to where my friend was and hung out there to watch cars go by.

Monday evening I pulled the tank cover. I disconnected the fuel sending unit wire, ran one from there to the gauge wire in the dash and checked the continuity. The factory harness wire showed 27 OHMs. Never going to show full with that. When the temp wire was hooked to the gauge, it showed full. Put it back together with the factory wire and just ran it.

Tuesday morning we went to a senior care facility for a parade lap through for the old folks. I asked if burnouts were allowed. "YES". So I let the others know. Every car there did one in their parking lot. I finally got to use the line lock. The truck pushed through the brakes twice. I did lay down some 20 foot stripes.

The weeks stuff is listed in the Cruising the Coast thread.

Headed north at around 10:30 am Saturday. The plan was to be in Guntersville AL by 5:30 ish. The Slug Utility Vehicles were out again. Maps showed me getting there by 4:30, but I had a stop to make and would need to stop for gas. My nephew in California named his son Henry. They call him hank. So I had to stop at the Hank Williams Sr. child home and museum. I was barely able to get into the parking lot. Gat was 8 feet wide and the trailer hitch drug hard into the pavement. Museum was OK. Picked up some Hank Williams to send to the great nephew. Leaving, I had the hitch hang up in the curb. I had to back up and get a run to get over it. No way to go out at an angle due to the fence.

PXL_20251011_181623757.jpg

According this sign, he was not Henry. My nephew did not know this. I told him I was going to call his son Hiram.

With all of the traffic, I did not make it to Guntersville until a little after 6pm. Met @TuckerK5 and his wife for a very nice meal. He reserved a hotel for me, so I did not have to deal with that when I got there.

Cool city. He said it was the biggest lake in AL. View from the room. This is small section the lake.
PXL_20251012_132421478.jpg

He came by Sunday morning because we forgot to take a picture. So he gave me a tour of his Mill. cool operation. A lot of custom automation to make it more efficient. Big operation.

Headed north after another fuel stop. Those $100 bills are going fast. Arrived at Rocket City Dragway for day Zero of Sick Smokies. See the "All things drag racing" thread for the pictures. A lot of really nice builds, and some "what were you thinking?" Test and tune was supposed to start at 1:30pm. Did not start until 2:45. Saw the class A, B and C cars run. Left at 4pm because I was 4 hours from home. As much as I hate driving at night, especially this truck, with all of the tinted flat glass, I kept going. The reflections in the windows suck.

I was cruising at speed limits because of the traffic flow. Stopped once for an old man issue. It was dark out. When I pulled of of the freeway, I thought I did not have headlights. Hit the high beams, the light changed, but was not better. Right headlight looks good for halloween. Dim and orange. Goes out on high beam. Checked the ground and the plug. It seems to be the bulb. So I motored on.

Pulled in at 9:10 pm. I forgot about the time difference.

The repair list.PXL_20251013_144123566.jpg
 
Have I mentioned lately, about how well this truck drives? My face hurts at the end of the day from smiling so much.

It did give me a moment of "OH CRAP" at the event. I was getting ready to leave and the starter would not make clicky or spinny noises. I pushed the button numerous times, NOTHING. I stepped back, (yes, I was standing in the truck) and looked the interior over. I had removed the steering wheel to show a guy the release and adapter. Hung the steering wheel on the shifter. The Park switch was not engaged. Easy fix.

14.8 MPG round trip. When I was not sitting in traffic in Nashville, I was running between 70 and 80 mph. Over 80 a few times. Does that way to easy. With the group on Natchez Trace, we ran about 55mph. 125 trucks ran that section.

So pretty happy with it.
 
I’m missing Norm as its Veterans day this week.
I know he would have liked to check Retonkulus over. And give it a “huh” as he contemplated how you did everything to it! He worked on USPS trucks at the end of his career there, so I'm sure he seen plenty of similar trucks back in his day.
Glad you're enjoying it, especially w your son!
 
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