Working on my Z06 today and my son took a pic of the old man getting it done. I have billions of hours under a car, I was a mechanic as a lad. I feel sorry for those Vette owners who do not get dirty. A few cases in point.

Changed the oil and filter, no big deal. Except as I was poking my head around inspecting things, I noticed a lot of debris caught on the air conditioning condenser coil. I'd say 10-15% of the air flow was blocked, which means less air colling the radiator. Wet-dry vac to the rescue. It really gets jammed up there, so at least I know the aerodynamics is working!

My point is that as a do it yourselfer you get to pay attention to some of the smaller details of maintaining the car. I sincerely doubt any fixit shop here would have noticed and cleaned it without asking for this to be done.

I also wanted to install my Raptor shift light as it is drag strip night tomorrow. This is a fairly big job really, at least to do it correctly, tearing apart interior parts and splicing in to computer bundles is not for the faint of heart. As the picture indicates, it is not easy for an old dude to get up under the fender, remove everything, find the freaking correct wire and solder up the connection for the tach signal. I got this all working OK on a test run, but I will have to wait for another day for the final install. Ran out of time and patience.

The benefit of the shift light was I got to really clean up the brake dust on the caliper and especially on the inside of the front rim. I don't enter those silly car shows, but if I did I'd have gotten points for spiffy clean rims for sure! LOL. In addition, I got to grind off some of the rust that builds up on the rotor where the rim mounts on. Black bumper paint from NAPA works great as a protective coating here - also on plastic parts like the front spoiler, good stuff. Of course I also got to inspect the brake pads and rotors - looks like I have 10k miles or so left.

 

Nice looking Vette..!

Man I hope your using a Jack stand under that thing.. !

 

ditto

and DOUBLE ditto

 

You guys read my mind! I didn't see a jack stand either. At least slide a wheel/tire under the frame.

 

My thoughts exactly - "got thousands of hours under cars" as he says. Using what appears to be a cheap jack and no jack stand is guarantee one day will be the last.

I've not been under a car for thousands of hours, but can say every time, it is held in the air by both the jack and quality jack stand. No China or Korean made crap.......

 

I think the jack stand to the left of his shoulder and at the beginning of his ramp. See the rusted leg.

I thought the same as well

 

Wow... great minds think alike.... I was really concerned there for a minute

 

C'mon TaTaa, don't leave us hanging. Were you using a Jackstand that day? No Answer: means we have to start calling all the hospitals in that area to see if a big guy checked in with a tatoo of a Rotor on his chest.

 

LOL. Calm down you guys. I had a jack stand behind my head, but you're right I could have done it better, thanks mom(s).

"Quality" jacks fail too, no matter where they are made. For occasional uses, these work fine. China and Korea make some fine products and some crap ones, just like in the USA or any other country for that matter.

Besides, my kids some insurance $$ and get a chance to sue NAPA if the jack fails and splatters what little brains I have all over the driveway.

And just a reminder, we all are terminal, one day will be yours too.