Who else USED TO wrench outside?

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I like your street. Looks like a nice place.
the two shots of the duster were at the old place, the bronco is where we live now

back when i lived there, i was known around town as "the James street duster"
it was one of the main thoroughfares of the town we live in and as you can tell, i did a lot of work right in the driveway

(in fact, i got a cease and desist letter from code enforcement one day, because they claimed i was not zoned for "major vehicular repairs. i called their office and explained i was not doing "major vehicular repairs, but that ma mopar had forgot to install 2 cylinders in my duster and i was simply rectifying that mistake. they were pretty good about that)

we had bought that place when my father in laws health started to decline, and i wanted to find a two family home and move them in with us
we searched for quite a while and couldnt find anything, it all just felt like a single family home with a kitchenette added as an after thought

we finally bought a duplex and moved in there

it was great
the wife was always worried it would be too busy and the kids might end up running into the street but in the back yard, you couldnt even tell we were so close to traffic

(you can see some of the back yard in this thread wood shed suggestions )



i kinda wish i could have kept it, but when it became time to move again i couldnt to swing two mortgages
 
2 Weeks ago. Scored a 4.8/RWD od tranny, brain, Radiator, wiring harness for $300. for my 58 GMC pickup.150K just needed a fuel pump. Only catch was had to pull in dirt before he scrapped it.

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Think it was christmas day, 81 or 82. -30 and block heater in my brothers mustang crapped out. Downtown winnipeg in the back yard. It was a battle at the very least.
Another one i witnessed while on a job hauling tailings at a minesite. Loader quit. They dropped fuel tank and the guy pulled off the cover, and reached in to see what was blocking the fuel pickup screen. It was ice pellets. Did i mention it was -44 celcius? He was pretty much up to his armpit in that fuel. Insane!

My shop gets up to 65f on days like today, i dont play outside anymore. Winter sucks.
 
Messages from my 64 year old brother who's address is Fairbanks, but it's a 30 mile drive to the post office. This year was his 40th since he moved there.

Nov 5th.
"Serviced battery and changed headlight bulb at +5°F. Both easy but not with gloves on.
It may warm up to 20° next week, think I'll see for the oil change and front end lube."

He swapped a rebuilt 390 into his '61 F-100 unibody, but that was decades ago and in warm weather. He doesn't do heavy work like that anymore.

I remember shoveling snow on a gravel driveway at Christmas in 1980. We then did a clutch job on his Super Bee. He sold it to me for $150 when he left for Alaska a year and a half later.
I've been there its nice, but it was summer time it stays daylight 24 hours a day. I was walking in down town Fairbanks, and it was strange imagine being in a city environment but no one is on the streets. Its very low population thats what i liked about it. It still has the remnants of when the pipeline workers were there in the 70s and supposedly it was booming.
 
Back in the 90s in Fairbanks AK I built a 74 WarWagon (Warlock/Powerwagon) mud truck/daily driver. I lived in base housing on Eielson AFB and my truck wouldn't come close to fitting in the garage. So it was work on it outside or let it sit. This first picture was taken during an engine swap December of 97 @ -25F. The clutch went out and I had to drive it home 25 miles speed shifting it. It was a NP435 4 speed with a divorced 205 TCase mated to Dana 60 1 Ton 35 spline full floater locked 4.10 axles powered by a 318 (being pulled) and then a 340 out of a Cuda went in. I could only work 10-15 minutes until my hands went numb. After pulling the 318, without having to remove the hood, we towed it into the base auto hobby shop and installed the 340. Make note in the 3rd picture the onboard trickle charger and 4 way box inside a Tupperware container mounted to the inner fender!!:eek: It was a fun truck. But I sure don't miss those temps.



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yep for many many years
 
You guys are behind the times. A couple years ago I poured a slab and put a lift outside. I have my cuda on a rotiserie in one garage and my swinger in the other so if I have to work on something else its outside. The lift was the best thing I ever did. I dont miss laying on the ground.
 
I lived in very rural Colorado from 61-73, then moved to LA to go to college. Fast forward another 12 years and I get the chance to move back to Denver so I take it. I bought a 1/2 ton Chevy longbed when I got there, Labor Day of 85 or so. I was pleased it had a block heater in it already. I was taking the week off between Christmas and New Year's so I parked the truck in the driveway and holed up as there was a major storm going on and very cold. Lows were something like -40 and the highs were sub-zero for two weeks. I went to start the truck to go to work and found out the block heater didn't work - it was plugged in all week for nothing. When the weather finally broke the first day it was above zero, 15 degrees IIRC, sunny and no wind. I shoveled the drive and got after the block heater. After all the super cold temps 15 felt like a heat wave. I replaced the heater on my back in the driveway, and boy do I remember the cold antifreeze dripping down my arm into my shirt. Colder than cold!

Getting older and having invested some resources in creature comfort, I now have a fully insulated heated shop with a lift. Life is good! I'll be out there this afternoon trying to button up the flooring in the truck. I don't miss the outdoor in the dirt repair work at all.
 
We still do sometimes but in the late 80's to 2002 all we had was outside in the gravel driveway changing engines and transmissions with my dad before he built a 36×28 garage.
 
There are still times today one has little choice. I haven't done any work in below zero weather outside for a while. Last was a brake job about 10 years ago. My daughter ground her brakes farther than I have ever seen. At first I thought it was some new rotor design. But quickly realized she shaved all the metal off. And the caliper was literally fused to what was left. That was the most ashamed I've ever been with her. "My God!" How she had killed herself or someone else is beyond me to this day.
 
Work with what ya got... plucked and reinstalled the 390FE outta my 67 Lane in the driveway.

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Good times amirite?
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you mean now? i used to work at a sinclair station that had an oil change lift outside along side the building.
 
Bought a property when I was 19 moved a mobile on and started life. Had a 69 f100 starter puked had to lay in a snow bank to change it. Frozen fingers and a lot of swearing later got the job done. I told myself never again, next summer put up a shop just a shell but a shop nonetheless better than laying in a snow bank.
 
Back in the 90s in Fairbanks AK I built a 74 WarWagon (Warlock/Powerwagon) mud truck/daily driver. I lived in base housing on Eielson AFB and my truck wouldn't come close to fitting in the garage. So it was work on it outside or let it sit. This first picture was taken during an engine swap December of 97 @ -25F. The clutch went out and I had to drive it home 25 miles speed shifting it. It was a NP435 4 speed with a divorced 205 TCase mated to Dana 60 1 Ton 35 spline full floater locked 4.10 axles powered by a 318 (being pulled) and then a 340 out of a Cuda went in. I could only work 10-15 minutes until my hands went numb. After pulling the 318, without having to remove the hood, we towed it into the base auto hobby shop and installed the 340. Make note in the 3rd picture the onboard trickle charger and 4 way box inside a Tupperware container mounted to the inner fender!!:eek: It was a fun truck. But I sure don't miss those temps.

Still do, the garage is full of Barracudas. Have to replace the alternator on the 2001 Cherokee outside next week. When I was in my 20's, living in South Dakota I had to change a starter in a Chevy Blazer (not mine) outside in the winter. The stinking starter literally froze to my hand.
 
Back in the '90's I had a mobile auto repair business I ran from my '85 Dodge Caravan "Ram Van" (two bucket seats, open rear compartment, 5 speed, four cylinder) in Lake Tahoe, California (gets up to 400 inches of snow during winter). I still remember changing out a heater core outside a customer's house in the freezing cold (and it was a bear to remove the heater box--refused to budge for a long time). Photo is A-Frame cabin my parents built in Kings Beach back in the '60s and where I lived at the time.

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I have a 2-car garage and a 2-car carport, but for big jobs like removing an engine or transmission, I prefer working in my open driveway, behind a wooden fence, so no concern with creepy people nosing around and stealing tools. Gives better light and room to maneuver. The climate is benign here (oranges) and no rain from June to October. Watch youtubes by OldSkoolFunk in San Diego. He does all work outside, such as repairing warped heads. Working in a mild sun with palm trees while I'm under a cold fog blanket in winter much further north.
 
Back in the '90's I had a mobile auto repair business I ran from my '85 Dodge Caravan "Ram Van" (two bucket seats, open rear compartment, 5 speed, four cylinder) in Lake Tahoe, California (gets up to 400 inches of snow during winter). I still remember changing out a heater core outside a customer's house in the freezing cold (and it was a bear to remove the heater box--refused to budge for a long time). Photo is A-Frame cabin my parents built in Kings Beach back in the '60s and where I lived at the time.

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Moved to Reno just over a year ago and we spend a lot of time in Tahoe now... I've likely driven past that home several times just cruising through.

Changed a heater core in my 72 Dart in the snow in Kansas City.. blew as I was driving it... coated the windshield and I had to drive with my head out the window all the way home to see. I remember the cold.. the smell and those "joyful" little clips on the heater box. Swapped the transmission in that same car in front of my parents home... was not allowed to tool in the driveway. On a hill using a planter dolley by myself. Mid summer and triple digits on the mercury... like 80% humidity. Good times.
 
Me with my 70 Bee .tree limb, come along and a chain.. I was 16 and new to Mopars and wrenching... love every minute back then.

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Only when I have to! LOL! Starter went out on a 94 S10 ZR2 I had. Right in front of a buddy’s house in town. He ran me to the parts store and enough tools to do the repairs. It was in the winter: snowing and 12 degrees out. Local cop stopped by and wanted me to climb out so he could check my ID. I told I would when I had the starter installed. He didn’t like that but didn’t push me. He thought we were drinking and we weren’t. He did wait until I finished and then wished us a good day!!!
 
We used to all the time as kids. In the winter time we would use a buddies Dad's kerosene torpedo heater to blow on us while we worked on things even in the snow.
Now in my 50's I still do most of my side jobs in the driveway, but now I have an insulated, heated and air conditioned garage to work on my toys.

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