Sunday night BBQ.

This week I don't have any burritos to eat so I bought some barbecue spare ribs and soaking in my private teriyaki sauce and now I'm going to put a couple on to cook to see how they're going to turn out.

Turning on the Gas Heater in the Living Room. October 6th, 2016

   This morning I got up to a cold house again. So I decided that I better turn on the gas heat. I never can remember exactly how to do this so I had to look up the pictures that I had posted from a couple years back on Blogger.

   For the summer the gas valve is turned Crossways so there will be no gas coming into the house. The top of the heater is held on with 4 S2 (square) head screws. 

At 11:21 I turned the gas on. It takes about 20 or 30 minutes for the gas to make it to the pilot light so I had to turn it on a little early. 

At 11:40 I turned the black valve from OFF to ON and then moved it back to Pilot. 

After trying the striker several times it finally lit the flame at 11:51. 

   At 12:01 I turned the valve to the ON position and went over and turned the wall thermostat on.
Everything seemed to work so looks like we will have another warm winter. 

Faucet Repair - While at the store, my daughter called to say the shower wouldn't shut off!

Changing the front brake pads on a 1986 Nissan Maxima

This weekend I had the task of changing the front brake pads on two of our vehicles. It started out about a week or two ago when I was out doing laundry and my daughter showed up at the laundromat. I asked to borrow her car and run to a store and as she gave me the keys she told me the brakes were getting noisy. She didn't elaborate, but instead just said you'll see.
As I drove away it began making a loud gritty growl and continued all of the was to the store and even though I tried to keep my foot off of the brake it would hardly let up when I wasn't braking. When I got back I told my daughter that she couldn't be driving it like it was and that she should take it to my house and trade me for my Honda.
Well I didn't get right on it, and last Sunday my wife came home and said "My brakes are making noise... You drive it and I'll drive the van till you get it fixed!"
This leaves me with only one choice... Get them fixed!
First roll the car up on ramps loosen the lug-nuts then jack it up and block the front-end up so you can pull off the wheels.

This whole process should only take about two hours if all goes well and you are just changing the pads.
You can see here how I blocked it up, but I won't describe it to you. I thought it a little precarious  and that I should have jacked it from the center and blocked it on the sides. Leaving enough room for the jack pushed the block off center on the frame. But when both blocks were in place I found it pretty steady.

Notice my block! It it is the case from a UPS, I think a computer would work, I tried smashing a computer with a 3,000 pound ecology block once and found them very stout, Even after dropping it on it several times and even trying it from the corner it was too tough to collapse.

After taking off the wheels the calipers are held on by two approximately 1 1/2 inches long and their heads can be reached from the back side with a 12mm socket wrench.
Mine were lightly torqued, I would guess about 20 ft. lbs., but I didn't look it up, I just tried to put them back about the same tightness.
Here I am trying to show the socket size.. I figured I would otherwise forget. My rule of thumb is that it is the always the socket you can't find in your toolbox anywhere. I did get lucky, I still had one in with the half inch drive set. :)
The other thing about this image is... Notice the awesome gloves I am wearing? I  piked up a box of fifty rubber gloves at the surplus sale and wore a couple to keep the black off of my hands, worked great!

When you pull of the calipers you can slide out the pads sideways, watch for the extra plate on the back side, it comes off and yet needs to go on the new pad.
Don't let the calipers hang from the hose. On this vehicle I think you may not ever need too completely remove the upper bolt.
Pivot the calipers up out of the way slip the back shoe back into the caliper and then use a C-clamp to push the brake cylinder back all of the way.
Next slide the new pads back into the notches the old ones were in and swing the caliper back down into position so the bolts an be put back in.

I had some damage one the back side of the disk and really should have taken them in to be turned. The other option would have been to buy new.

I used the 13/16 socket to help turn the wheel nuts back on.