Cars, hurricanes, insurance, and replacements.

[wfooshee]

One of the reasons I wanted to replace the top was... well, it leaked. Floors would get wet, my seat belt would come out of the retractor wet, and while driving, the front corner of the driver's window acted like a faucet that wouldn't quite shut off: drip... drip... drip... drip...

So obviously I've replaced the top now, but when I removed the carpet after the Hurricane Sally flood (see that post in the How's the weather where you are thread...) I found another problem: the passenger footwell floor had a hole that looked like a 30mm shell had come up from the road! There was no hole in the carpet, but while driving around without the carpet I found that the front wheel does indeed spray water into the car from wet roads. So that wet floor was probably not the leaky top, after all...

I had no idea for quite a while what I was going to do about that. The "proper" repair is to cut out the metal around the hole, weld in a new piece, prime, paint, and done. This is a process for which I am most eminently unqualified, and further complicated by the fact that it's two panels that were pierced, with a space between them.

A friend at work suggested pop-riveting a piece of sheet metal over the hole and slathering the edges with sealant of some kind. Over those ribs? Are you serious? It'll NEVER seal!!! And wait til you get a peak at the firewall side of this puncture! something hard and heavy got kicked up into this thing sometime in its history... or the car got dropped onto something. Anyway, take a look:

WTF am I going to do with that, in my driveway? With hand tools?

And I remembered seeing an episode of Rust Valley Restorers where they were trying to repair a car frame, had found that someone covered rust holes in the frame with fiberglass, and they had to throw away the frame. Fiberglass patch on a structural piece? Incredibly stupid!!! But this isn't structural! So I went out and got a fiberglass kit: the cloth, resin, hardener, mixing tray, all in the box. I already have a box of rubber gloves, because I'm an essential worker during this pandemic.

Now, where are mom's sewing scissors?

I clean the panels of the car around the holes as best I can in my not-really-giving-a-shit mode that I'm in, then mix up a batch of the resin, squeeze a few drops of hardener in there, and waste a cheap paint brush slathering it into a piece of the cloth and onto the panel around the hole. Do the same thing for the inside hole. I let those sit for 20 minutes or so, mix up a new resin batch, slather up a new piece of cloth with a new wastable paint brush, and lay that second layer on while the first is still a bit gummy. Repeat once more. OK 3 layers done, and it's getting dark. Done for the day.

Next morning, I go out and check on my work, patches are good and solid. Cover the up with a spritz of undercoat spray, not caring about sanding or cleaning any edges. This is under the car, for cryin' out loud, and the inside patch is going to be under the carpet!

Satisfed with the waterproofness of my patch, I now set about laying down some peel-and-stick sound-deadener/heat-insulation I Amazon Primed. The carpet originally had some fiber mat stuff underneath it, which was absolutely destroyed by the water. The sides of the footwells still had the mat, but underneath was shot.

Then just a matter of laying the carpet back in, all clean and fresh.

Seats back in, drive around, and boy is it quieter inside! I'd just taken the car down to Anna Maria Island to see my son and his family while they vacationed there, and nearly seven hours in the car with that road noise, and the tunnel trying to cook my leg... I was motivated when I got home to get this done!!!

By the way, don't ever buy a used car from me!!! I did absolutely nothing about any of the rust around those holes, just covered it up with the fiberglass. You'll probably never see a car for sale from me, though; I tend to use them up before looking for another one. Of the last ten motor vehicles I've owned, I still have three, two of the others were insurance totals, and the other five were all scrapped when they could no longer be repaired economically. Even then, all but one of those would still run, and were driven to the yard. So if you see me advertise a car, RUN!!!! or maybe, tell your ex about this great car from a guy you know, maybe THEY'D like to buy it!

By the way, the Mercedes never started after the flood. It got towed to the dealership in Tallahassee, where nobody's been able to look at it until just this week. I'm expecting that on to be totaled, but there's a slim chance I'll have to keep it. No clue what I'm going to get for it, but I've been looking around. I got rather attached to the S-Class space, comfort, and features, I have to say. I've not run across any S55s nearby, but there was one in South Carolina I could probably get. There seem to be a number of E-class AMGs around... a bit smaller, but still well-equipped, and thunderously quick! I have an anti-BMW thing in my head, even the M cars; just don't want one! Don't know enough about Audis to think about them.

 

[Bounce]

Nice work! I had a ragtop Corvair in HS and someone used a small knife to put a "Z" in it that was about 12" x 4". I was exceedingly poor at the time so patched it with a square of canvas and some epoxy glue. It, of course, discolored so stood out glaringly. It was water-tight and lasted until I sold the car.

Your solution is much much better!

 

[wfooshee]

Progressive called yesterday, they are totaling the S55, as I expected. The check coming is... generous. It's more than I paid for the car over the 22 months I've had it, including purchase, wheel-and-tire replacement, such repairs as were done, oil change, and fueling. In other words, use of the car was free...

Now to go shopping. I've mentioned, I think, that I'm not into BMWs, unless an M5 or M6 came around that was in the right money range. The Mercs really still appeal to me, especially that S-class size. AMG-ness would be nice, but not vital. I might be convinced to "settle" for a E-class, especially an E63. I don't know anything about Audis, but in browsing the sites, the A8L might be appealing. Not seeing any W12s out there, but the V8 should be sufficient, even though it's not AMG-level power.

Other lines, I've seen a couple of Saab 9-3 cars out there that look appealing, even a couple of convertibles.

There aren't many American cars I would consider. Maybe a Cadillac CTS. Toyota, Nissan, and Honda don't make anything I'm interested in, although Hondas are reliable as dirt and would be good cars. I despise SUVs, wouldn't be caught dead in one. I'm of an age that grew up with large sedans, and I want a large sedan. Why is that so hard?

 

[hppants]

What's the status on house repairs?

 

[wfooshee]

House repairs are in teh suckage.

Electrical upgrades for code are complete, nothing else started, yet.

I'm scared that my contractor is about to fold, with some of my insurance money already paid to him and nothing to show, yet... I don't have any real reason to believe that other than the glacial progress. Signed them in April, no work started until September 1st. Nothing else since electrical rough-in. Called to gripe, he said he can't get help. Somehow, my mind hears "can't make payroll." Hopefully just being paranoid.

 

[sullivan]

As a life long contractor and carpenter, I feel your pain.  I've even been taken a few times.  Curious as to the electrical rough in picture.  Who pulled the wires out of the boxes? Should be all tucked in, ready for drywall. 

 

[Bounce]

Did your contract include the phrase, "Time is of the essence"? If not, then they can legally slip the estimated completion date. If it's in there, then you have another toe hold in court.

Nice rough-in work. You're in territory I understand.

Did my own electrical (and everything else but the floor covering and sheet rock) on this project and called in an electrician who only called in an inspection after eyeballing the work.

https://fjr-tips.org/misc/pics/shop/shop.html

 

[wfooshee]

That picture with the wires hanging out was during the work.

 

[Bounce]

Right. A rough-in. Like my photos.

My real question was why they notched the studs. We drilled holes to pull Romex through to keep the studs stronger.

 

[wfooshee]

No clue on the notches. That wasn't done for this work, those were there when the sheetrock came off, and the boxes, while new, are in the same place as the old boxes.

Oh, wait... The entryway had a banister rail with spindles down to the floor, kind of guiding you into the room against the wall rather than diving right into the furniture or something. That may have been an anchor for that.

 

[wfooshee]

And with the Mercedes money, I went and bought a 2007 Jaguar XJ8 L today, with nearly a grand left over! Don't have the car, yet, but he has my money and I have the title. We can't get to the tag office to "officially" transfer it until maybe Friday, but hopefully tomorrow. We both have to be there, in person, since it's a private sale.

This picture isn't my car, but it's exactly like it.

Long-wheelbase, so back seat passengers don't have to dig knees into the backs of the front seats. Car "grew up" in Arizona, he moved here a couple of years ago. It's been garage kept; he actually has several cars and rotates through them to keep them all "alive." Those not in use are in indoor storage. Paint looks showroom new, and leather has absolutely no signs of wear!

White, tan leather with brown piping. No supercharger, so I'm definitely gonna miss that from the Mercedes, but otherwise this is a phenomenal car, and I'm quite pleased to have found it, especially locally. Elegant, without an "in-your-face-lookit-me!" attitude about it. Still a monstrously gorgeous car considering its age. (Of course, maybe its age, along with mine, is what makes me think it's gorgeous...)

 

[Bounce]

Congrats. Nice place to spend time in. And, it's younger than you so that's a win, too.

 

[infrared]

And with the Mercedes money, I went and bought a 2007 Jaguar XJ8 L today, with nearly a grand left over! Don't have the car, yet, but he has my money and I have the title. We can't get to the tag office to "officially" transfer it until maybe Friday, but hopefully tomorrow. We both have to be there, in person, since it's a private sale.
This picture isn't my car, but it's exactly like it.

Wfooshee,

Not my business, of course, but most states in the USA will give the car owner a replacement title for about US$5~$10, if the original title is "lost." 

Many states have a nice .PDF Bill of Sale form that you can download from the DMV; can't hurt, might help.

Here's hoping that you have good reason to trust the seller, such as going to their home (not a rental or a workplace), checking driver's license info, title search, et c.   For a private sale, a minimal good-faith deposit should be enough to secure the deal until the "tag & title" office opens.  Best wishes.
.

 

[wfooshee]

I wasn't clear about it, I can see now, but I've driven the car, met the owner, handed him the cash in his living room, made out the bill of sale and did all the signatures on the title at the same time. The only reason I don't have the car is that we can't get to the tag office to submit the paperwork until tomorrow. COVID has shut down the tag office to appointment only, no walk-in traffic, and on a private sale in Florida, both parties must be present at the counter to transfer the title, void his registration and get it registered to me. I'll transfer the tag from the Mercedes, so I'll pay a small fee for that, plus the sales tax on the purchase price.

As we arranged to meet, we decided on a Walmart parking lot near his place. I told him I'd be in a blue Miata so he'd know what to look for, and he immediately replied, "I'll be in a white Jag. lol" I knew then that we'd get along fine. 

 

 

[hppants]

That is a fine example of a later model of a very long generation of perhaps the best Jag ever built, in my not so humble opinion.  Others performed better, but with an ever present risk of catching fire, at least in my book, that puts them to the back of the line.   I don't have a lot of inherent love for the big cat built over the pond, but that is a big car that rides like a big car, but drives/handles like its much smaller, again IMNSHO.

Congrats - hope the good fortune continues.

 

[wfooshee]

That's my thought as well... I'm not too fond of anything Jaguar has done since then. The current sedans are just hideous, with that pig snout they call a grille!

 

[wfooshee]

OK, my car!!!

Insurance money received and spent! After picking this up I have a couple of Franklins left, even!

 
2007 Jaguar XJ8 L Porcelain/Tan.

 

 
Paint is showroom, interior has tiny visible wear on the base of the driver's seat, but it is otherwise like new. "Excellent," as they say for Kelly Blue Book. The car "grew up" in Arizona, has been in Florida less than two years. Guy I bought it from has several cars, but lives in a condo with parking limits, so cars not in use are in indoor storage. He rotates out every week or so to keep them "alive."
 
As far as XJ8s go, this is "entry level." No GPS, no touch screen for the climate control (which doubles as the satnav screen.) Not having GPS is no big deal, because it would be DVD-based, and updates are 200 bucks, and probably not current. GPS requirements will be met by Google maps on the Android phone! It has Bluetooth for the phone (but calls only, no music - gaaah!) CD slot in the dash unit and a 6-disc changer in the trunk. Not the sound quality I was expecting, subwoofer is muddy as hell, and the rear speakers (back seat doors) don't seem to work. There will be investigations into this.
 
Power-every-which-way seats, with three memory settings. Memory includes settings for seats, outside mirrors, steering column, and pedal reach.
 
The carpet is not as dark as this picture looks, it's in shadow. Back seat picture shows the color.

 

 
Good luck fitting aftermarket into that and making it look good...

 
Modules I've seen that will let it play Bluetooth music basically steal the CD changer hookup in the trunk, but I haven't investigated deeply, yet. Haven't even had the thing 24 hours, yet!
 
Analog clock. "Grandpa, what time is it?!?!?"

 
Somebody put drilled and slotted rotors on it. They coulda put a supercharger on it from an XJR while they were at it...

 
Full-size spare, and a GIANT battery

 
Under the spare is the pressure tank for the air-strut suspension. Compressor lives behind the front bumper. Air only, there are no metal springs. This car has Arnott replacement struts, not sure when they were done, but they were on it when the guy I bought it from bought it, and he's had it less than two years. Struts might be 2 to 5 years old.

 
No plastic in this grille!!

 
300HP 4.2-liter DOHC V8. Not the 490HP madness of the S55, but it's no slouch!

 

[Auburn]

nice replacement

 

[fastpappy]

Beautiful. My favorite color scheme. 

 

[wfooshee]

Small, tiny progress on the house. The "contractor" I signed last April (I mean LAST April, 2020!) has not done a single thing except to hire that electrician subcontractor last September. That guy stopped work when he had trouble getting paid on other jobs he was working for with that general contractor. The wires you saw in my pictures earlier did get tucked into the boxes, connections to adjacent boxes all tied with wire nuts, pigtails for hot wires ready for switches. The electrician also stuffed into a new panel in the laundry room. The house originally had a 16-circuit panel:

Ground strip at the right, neutral strip down at the bottom, only one open space. The new panel wasn't hot, as he'd removed all the breakers from the outside box. I had to move my trailer over to the house, as the city where my office is, and had the trailer behind, denied the permit renewal back in February, since it's not a residence. I stuffed a single-pole 30A breaker in the outside box and got the trailer hot.

I contacted the electrician and hired him myself, because with my code coverage I will have no trouble paying him. Meanwhile I'm trying to fire the GC, but all of a sudden he's not in charge any more, has no authority with the money, and I have to get with the home office in Ohio. Everything to them has been ignored, no response whatsoever. Emails, certified letter, everything. I've submitted a complaint to the Attorney General's office, and it turns out that this contractor "has a trend," according to them.

So legal wrangles. It will probably still take lawyers to get my deposit back from my non-performing contractor ("work will commence within seven days...") if there's even anything to get. They seem to be fairly well Tango Uniform.

Getting back to the electrician, he came by the house a couple of times and we met, and he agreed to continue. Then he got an injury and was down for a while, then his wife went into the hospital. Meanwhile, I need some juice into the house. The fridge in the trailer is dead, and I'm not going to fix it. I ran an extension cord from the trailer to inside the house to run my actual kitchen fridge, which is working. I can store food! Yay!

Still, the house is dark, and it would be nice to be able to turn on a light here and there, or have the outside receptacles hot for yard tools. So with my electrician out, I took it upon myself to complete the 120-volt work. I put a 100-amp breaker in the outside box so the inside box is hot. The new inside box is 24 circuits, and has the ground and neutral strips where they belong these days. I learned about code. All interior spaces must have arc-fault protection. All outdoor and garage receptacles, kitchen circuits, bath receptacles, and laundry room receptacles, must have ground-fault protection. Obviously, kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms are indoors, so they need both.

It's OK to have ground fault in your breaker as opposed to at the receptacle. Also, if there is a string of receptacles on a circuit needing ground fault protection, only the first one has to be a GFCI receptacle (if the breaker isn't GFCI.) Also code now, and not when the house was built, every outlet and circuit in the kitchen has to be a circuit by itself. Refrigerator outlet included. The fridge has an icemaker, so GFCI is required. There are three outlets besides the refrigerator, plus the box that feeds the dishwasher and disposal, so five circuits just in the kitchen.

The electrician wired the living room as one circuit. There are SEVEN outlets, a ceiling fan, a ceiling fixture at the door, two outdoor light fixtures, and the blower behind the fireplace. I split that into two circuits, one for where the TV and audio stuff goes, and one for the rest of it.

Arc fault breakers are about 40 bucks each. Dual function breakers with arc fault and ground fault protection are about 50 bucks. A standard breaker is 4 bucks, so populating the panel is much more expensive than it used to be! Also, a GFCI receptacle is about 20 bucks, where a plain-Jane outlet is less than a dollar. Still, a 50-dollar breaker and a couple of standard receptacles satisfies code and is cheaper than a 40-dollar breaker and two 20-dollar receptacles. The two bathrooms each have only one outlet, and those outlets are on the same circuit. So one dual-function AFCI/GFCI breaker and standard receptacles there. Five circuits in the kitchen, each getting a 50-dollar dual-function breaker and standard outlets. The circuit for the laundry room gets a dual-function breaker, and includes one rear porch light and the garage ceiling lights. The circuit for the washing machine outlet, separate by code, also gets a dual-function breaker. For those playing at home, we're up to 8 of the 50-dollar breakers, now, but plain outlets and switches, all still less than a dollar each.

There are branch circuits for the Master bedroom (which includes the ceilings of both bathrooms - the lights and fart-fans,) each of the two other bedrooms (one of which includes the hallway ceiling light,) a circuit for the dining room (which includes another rear porch light and a rear corner floodlight, and two circuits for the living room, one of which is the media center, the other will include the other outlets, lights, ceiling fan, porch light, and driveway flood. That's six of the 40-dollar breakers, for arc-fault protection in interior spaces with no water.

The garage outlets are on a circuit, but not being interior living space, it does not require arc-fault protection. It does require ground-fault, though. There are 4 outlets in the garage, the first of which is GFCI, and the breaker is a standard 4-dollar breaker. Same with the outside receptacles. there are three of those on one circuit, again a standard breaker and the first outlet is GFCI.

I replaced the exterior outlets and put new weather covers on them. Not sure they really needed replacing, or new covers, for that matter... [/SARCASM]

Inside, I found a couple of issues. NONE of the original switches were grounded. The circuits were, but the ground wire was not attached to the switches.

Not only that, but instead of a hot pigtail for each switch, there was one long pigtail that wrapped around the screw of one switch and then connected to the next. It works, but I'm not sure it's code.

Worse, though, is that the pigtail was not tied to the hot line with a wire nut, it was TAPED!!! I found that in several boxes!

I got some modern stuff for the fan and lights in the living room. Originally, the only light in the living room was the ceiling fan's light kit, and I've always hated it! The wall had a big round knob for the ceiling fan speed control, and a switch for the light. I'm going to have a fan, but do away with the light on the fan, and instead put a couple of those dimmable LED surface-mount lights at the front of the room, and a couple more at the back over the seating area, so then that switch by the fan control will be the front lights, and switch by itself will be the rear. The lights I've gotten are dimmable and adjustable for color-temp, and they only draw 8 watts apiece!

Here's the populated panel. This was empty of breakers on Friday evening July 2nd. It just had the circuit wires stuffed in and wrapped around the edge, each one about two feet too long. Lots of clipped wires on the floor, now! The mixture of brands is because none of the stores had as many as I needed, so I've got some GEs and some SquareDs. 24-circuit, 125-amp capacity, 16 circuits built. Ground strips on both sides, and neutral strips on both sides, very modrun and all!

I've also populated every switch and receptacle inside and outside the house. The 120-volt system is DONE. I have no faceplates and no ceiling fixtures because I have no sheetrock, yet. Sheetrock can't go in until the HVAC ducts are replaced (mold) and the electrical passes inspection.

The electrician changed out my ceiling boxes, but he didn't use fan-rated boxes, so I've got 4 of those to replace!

I'll also be adding Ethernet while the walls are open. I've already picked up a customer throw-away 24-port gigabit switch, fanless so it's quiet, and I'll be getting scraps of cable from work. (They toss anything less than 100 feet as being useless on job sites. Trying to pull cable and coming up 8 or 10 feet short is extremely wasteful of time!) Two of the bedrooms still have walls and ceiling, so some old-work boxes for those Ethernet jacks and some drilling on the wall sill. The rest of it is going to be pretty easy. I also will be getting wires and actual connectors for the surround speakers, rather than just a hole in the wall with wires poking through, hopefully hidden when the speaker gets hung, like it was before.

One last thing... I mentioned that I split the living room into two circuits. Well, the Romex I pulled up from the outlet where I wanted the split wasn't long enough to reach the panel, and I didn't have another piece that was. I did have a piece that when spliced onto the first one was long enough. So... throw away two pieces of new Romex and spend nearly 80 bucks for a new 50-foot roll, close to 20 feet of which would be wasted, or use the two pieces I have. Just laying a splice in the attic would be a BIG no-no, but I'm hoping this is kosher... Spliced inside a grounded metal box that will be covered.

Before it can be inspected, I've got to get my single-pole 30A breaker for the trailer out of the outside box; double-pole breakers only outside! What I intend to do is use one pole of the dryer's breaker for the trailer, and leave the dryer receptacle cold until I can get into the house and dispose of or burn the trailer.