Well, I got the front wall almost finished today. I figured I ought to show you how I lifted the larger plywood sections up. so here is my redneck plywood hoist (unless it should be under tools). A C-clamp to grip the sheet of plywood, a length of rope, a pulley, an S hook, my 1000 lb come-along, the CM hoist as neither by themselves had enough travel and my 1983 Craftsman GTV16 with a sleeve hitch to anchor the stuff to. I ran the setup back about 30 feet so the pull wouldn't lift the tractor wheels.

 

Ingenious! And safe. Good job.

 

Almost there, looking good too. So when's the garage warming party?

When I was a kid we built a new chimney up the back of the house, and to get the lifts up my father put an pulley at the top of the staging, and a rope down to the Gibson garden tractor we had then. I'd tie onto a lift at the bottom, run the tractor out until he could grab it, then back for more. Sure beat carrying 110lb full lifts up the scaffolding.

 

Somehow I'm reminded of the story I heard about a guy working on the roof of his house. The pitch was so steep that he couldn't stand, so he tied a rope to the rear bumper of his VW that was on the other side of the house, and ran the rope over the roof to where he was working, and tied the rope around his waist. It worked really well as he could pull on the rope to maintain his balance - until he heard the distinctive sound of an air-cooled opposed four crank to life as his wife took the Beetle to town.

 

Finally got the wall closed in just before the nice present Gary and Bruno sent.

 

Looks good. Remind me what kind of siding you are using?

 

Vinyl, and it will be as close a match to the house as we can find.

 

Good. Vinyl will be easier to cut, install, etc.

 

Some Christmas gifts a few of which (one in particular) will be for the garage. There is also a rechargeable light with tilting head and a pull out LED section, and a pair of 8 size multi-fit swivel ended box (sockets really) wrenches.

 

The clock will be good wall art for the shop. Better than the one my sister-in-law got me, which has different muscle cars revving up each hour. But, it does get people's attention. I've wondered about wiring it into the input side of the audio amp.

 

Gary, I have one, one hundred years of Ford, starts with a T ands with a GT. !2 different Fords.

 

Cool. Does it roar on the hours? Does one of them have a top, not including the Gurney bump, that is 40" off the tarmac?

 

The sound on the hour is the engine of that car. The GT is the late street GT, it was released in 2003 for Ford's 100th anniversary. When I can get to it (it's still in Newport News) I will get a picture of it for you.

 

There would be enough difference in many of those engines to be able to tell what hour it is without looking. Obviously a 4 cylinder low-compression engine is going to sound different than a higher-compression, but still low, flat-head V8. Then they probably have a 428CJ, and maybe a 427 SOHC, which would have different sounds.

But mine has a Hemi, a 455, a 440, a 454, a 383, etc. Not much to diffentiate between them as they are roughly the same size, all are V8's, and most run 10:1 CR. So I really can't tell the difference.

 

While I passed through Newport News yesterday (Christmas dinner at daughter's in Chesapeake) since the dinner was going to be later than originally planned, I stopped and grabbed some things, like the tire chains for the tractor or tractors depending which one needs them.

Then I found a temporary place to hang the nice clock, in the bedroom but Mary doesn't want it lit up, too bright she says.