Assembling a WWII Jeep from scratch took a toll on my body, my marriage, and my house, and I’m working to improve all three. Since I don’t want to show you photos of me working out or going on dates with my hot wife, I’ll focus this article instead on my house, which has been a dumpster fire for over a year thanks to my ambitiously awesome Jeep project.
I’d never categorize my wrenching style as particularly … neat. I’m meticulous and organized in the ways that matter (you can’t complete challenging projects on a tight deadline like I have unless you’re organized), but my workplace often looks like a disaster zone.
Here’s what I mean; this is the worst my suburban LA home got during my brand new-WWII Jeep project:
The thing you see a lot of is blue shop towels. That’s because I was dealing with lots of components that had to be very clean — primarily bearings and brake parts. Grease on brakes or contaminants in bearings can lead to performance/longevity issues, so I was wielding blue towels a lot. Should I have trashed them as soon as I was done using them? Yes. As they say in the popular Hulu Series The Bear, “clean as you go.” I did not.
But I did get the job done while maintaining high standards for quality, so I guess it is what it is.
Laurence and I had to erect a tent at one point when it started raining:
This was the view from our bedroom:
My wife, Elise, loved that.
Eventually, that tent did come down after things became way too hot in there:
And eventually, I completed the Jeep and slowly started cleaning up, revealing the oil stains on what was a brand new concrete deck pad/driveway:
Will those stains ever come out? Probably not. I’ll pressure wash the driveway, but the concrete deck pad (the left side of the photo above) I’ll have to cover with a shiny new wood deck. Elise is excited for that.
I recently gathered a bunch of metal scrap from the build and threw it out. “We’re rich!” I told Elise. “I made $15 on scrap!”
“How much did the gas cost you to get there?” she replied.
She had a fair point.
Still, things are looking better these days. The insane number of boxes from all the parts I ordered off eBay are gone, as is the big pallet on which the Jeep body tub arrived, as are all the wood planks that were shrink-wrapped to the frame to protect it during shipping:
I also managed to sell off a bunch of stuff locally. This big shed that stored my motors and other parts?
It’s gone:
My spare WWII Jeep axles? They’re out of the driveway and went to a local Jeep nut, for free:
The Red Cross Camp that was on our back patio has been dismantled, and I sold it for $40:
In addition, I managed to sell my reference Jeep and my spare engine. After buying them all for a total of around $4000, I sold them as a package for $6000. Not bad; I made The Autopian a couple stacks:
So what does the driveway look like today, with the shed gone, the tent gone, the axles gone, the metal scrap gone, and the reference Jeep gone? Lemme ask Elise to snap me a picture:
So much for that.
The lawn is still toast from all the degreasing Laurence and I did there.
And many of my clothes are ruined forever.
So there’s still work to do. Elise bought me a bunch of clothing for a white hot deal at Costco (Costco’s clothes are somehow … not bad?), and the driveway is clearer than it has been in months. But there’s still a ton of junk on it. I need to clean it all up, because my son is now not only walking, he is running, and he has never once gotten to play in our backyard.
So folks, I’m in the doghouse, but — with the help of my power washer and a bunch of deckboards — I plan to soon make the back area look better than ever. I just need to find time between running a media company and running after a toddler. Hmm …
All photos: David Tracy/The Autopian
Plenty of good ideas for cleaning the oil stains off the concrete here. Just know that there’s one more thing sort-of working in your favor — the good ‘ol sun beating down on you with a vengeance will also bleach them right out over the summer.
Here in the upper Midwest, where we’ve been getting “high UV” weather warnings pretty much daily for the past several years, my old diesel Dodge’s former Superfund site has steadily bleached away to a shadow of its former petroleum-soaked glory for the past few months. I’d thrown down some oil-dry and scrubbed the worst off with a stiff push broom, then sprayed the worst with just a hose. The sun and the weather has been doing the rest to render it pretty much just like the rest of the concrete around it. It’s kind of scary, because I grew up in this region, and the sun did not bleach oil and grease stains nearly that fast when I was a kid. (I know this because I was given the chore of scrubbing the driveway whenever the Jeepster Commando marked its territory every time it was left parked outside the garage for too long back in the 70s…)
Given the rather alarming rate the at which the sun has been steadily burning away at the oil stain, I’ve taken to wearing one of those floppy sun hats while working in the yard a lot more regularly.
Given that the ozone layer is healthier now than 20 years ago, might it also be possible that the makeup of the liquids generating the stains in the first place have contributed to the bleaching changes?
Everything about this stresses me out. What a pigsty.
The doghouse are not that bad, and also is good to see that your wife is getting you, hopefully she is going to get a steak dinner.
Leaving greasy rags in a kitchen is a good way to start a fire, no? That’s why clean-as-you-go is so important? Guess we’re lucky your backyard didn’t spontaneously combust.
Dawn. Not kidding. Pressure wash only goes so far.
Clean as you go should be a life thing. I am a bit of a slob too, so I have to remind myself at times.
What a great project! You have a great son!
Good enough for waterfowl and seals, good enough for driveways.
My admittedly, anecdotal evidence says that it really does work well for petroleum products.
And a wire brush. All my oil stains came out from owning BMW’s
My BMW Bavaria didn’t leak oil, but it made the garage smell like raw gasoline. I started parking it in the driveway to avoid blowing up the house.
I know about Dawn for ducks. Are penguins waterfowl too?
You got me. I should’ve said “aquatic birds”. That’d cover the penguins too.
I was legit wondering.
Pressure washing will not do much to these stains. Lots of better ideas in this thread, including Dawn, Oil-dry, enzymes, and lots of options at the big box and auto parts stores. My favorite used to be a Gunk product, but I don’t think their current offering is what we used to use – still likely a really good product. This might be a good project for Project Farm.
I’d watch that PF video, even if my wrenching at home days are largely behind me. I think I tried dish soap back in the day. But that was also before Dawn existed.
Dawn, Queen of the Degreasers. It’s like Corexit 9500 you can get on your hands.
Get the “Powerwash”-branded version, it’s formulated without salt thickeners so it won’t be as bad for your grass (and salt’s not great for concrete either).
I expected a lot worse. At least the mess was outside and didn’t migrate indoors.
Technically we don’t know that.
for the stained driveway just throw dish soap on it, scrub it in, and let it sit for a few days. rain will clean it up.
But will rain clean it up in the middle an L.A. summer.?
that’s his problem, not mine. We get plenty of rain here in north east ohio
This is exactly why HOAs exist, and I hate HOAs.
If I don’t own my beighbour’s property, it’s none of my business what he’s up to.
If you’re trying to sell your home and the place next door looks like something from Sanford and Sons, it becomes your business.
Sounds more like someone didn’t buy enough land in the first place.
When I find neighbor’s stray cattle in my driveway, I treat them as free range unless they create problems. My house isn’t visible from the road here. The neighbor has had various equipment next to the road all winter. Would that be good or bad for real estate, considering his big Kubota is somewhere in six figures?
It’s different in the ‘burbs. We moved to a 20-acre, I’d call it a hobby farm, when I was 15. We had a couple of dairy goats, geese, ducks and chickens. And our farmhouse was visible from one of the busiest roads in the county.
A six-figure Kubota (presumably running and not in a state of disassembly) is different than several no longer running cars/pieces of equipment.
My dad hid the broken stuff out of sight until he either fixed it or got rid of it some other way. And no, arson was not one of those methods. 😉
David – there are enzyme cleaners that you pour onto the concrete, agitate a little, and it will eat the oil stain out of the concrete. Pretty crazy stuff and not terribly expensive.
I got perfect results from a clear enzyme cleaner and didn’t put a lot of effort into it.
If nothing else works, Kano has some specialty cleaners.
All this discussion of how to get the stains off the concrete, but wouldn’t it be easier to lay down some sheet plastic over it before you start? A good thick mil can be pinned down easily, do the work, then roll it up and recycle it. Works for me.
Can’t go back in time. I usually use cardboard boxes, myself.
Yup cardboard is great and it doesn’t get slick from a drop of oil or coolant like plastic does. Plus David had a ton of cardboard from all the boxes the Jeep came in.
I’d just dump the plastic, assuming some petro-solvent being used didn’t eat through it. Recyclers have enough to deal with already.
Mobile car detailers have what are, in essence, large rectangular inflatable kiddy pools to contain the soap/wax/dirty water/et cetera
Do a collab with eBay to build a Jeep, and then sell the leftovers on FB Marketplace?
I don’t know if the leftover stuff was obtained off eBay, and most of it looks too bulky to ship.
Try Chomp Pull It Out on the stains: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Chomp-32-oz-Concrete-Stain-Remover-53019/203082110
This guy used it to good effect: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/cccoltsicehockey-garage-build-2440sqft-storage-shop-and-loft.484209/page-28#post-11667493
I’ve had good luck using pallet wood for things. You can get away with just saw and brad nailer. It’s supposed to be sort of rustic anyway. Can make an accent wall and furniture. My wife and her friends all love it. Her friends kept trying to buy pallet wood side and coffee tablets off of me. I would just make them up in a few minutes and give them to them.
You have to be careful though, pallet wood is often full of some nasty chemicals they treat it with. Not intended for humans to touch it a lot
Most wood pallets are not treated, and those that are treated are heat treated to kill bugs. Historically hardwoods were used for the top & bottom and were made from the parts of the log that cannot be made into dimensional lumber. The collapse of hardwood lumber markets in the U.S. (furniture went offshore, flooring went engineered or vinyl, cabinets shifted to painted, etc.) so pallets (especially in the U.S. Southeast) have shifted to softwoods as Southern plantation pine has taken over framing lumber from Western Canada and therefore is creating lots of downfall that can be used for pallets and industrial lumber.
I suppose so. But in my experience those are coming out of Asian countries. The wood on those are so bad they don’t really survive shipping and would break it you tried to take them apart. Not sure what you can use them for. Most of the stuff from Europe and the Americas is untreated hardwood or pine. Decent stuff that would be expensive to get from a specialty mill.
Coffee table I had may have been one of many gems out of the art college here.
Low legs fixed for chair level.
Longer folding legs inside the table.
That works. I built a few with some grade 2 hardware like that. Most of the time just very ‘rustic” and just brad nails. They loved them wanted me to set up a stand selling them at some market. I don’t really understand the hype. It’s just a 15 to 20 minute salvage wood table. Pallet wood and tin has sort of been in for a while I guess. The whole Joanna gains pickup trash and hang it on the wall probably helped it stay.
I know someone that did a floor in pallet wood. Used to be a lot of exotic woods came in, in Asian crates. Carpentry folks looked for them.
When I had that table I assumed it was production, and could have been, but it’s clear there was a class focused on innovative furniture. It was always hand painted, often very unique.
I picked up a few pieces from the same house even, one being a very flexible worktable. I realize I’ve been running across these pieces most of my life.
There was even a tiny country getaway built like a faerie tale mansion in miniature by the head of the academy. Later occupied by a graduate for ages, and part of rock and roll history here.
Pallet wood floor would be interesting. Not sure I would attempt that. I guess you could plane them before the install or sand it with a floor sander. I’ve done a few walls and they tend to have some texture to them.
My dad used to get European pallets and crates from the import bike shop guy he knew. They had some really nice wood. I haven’t seen a decent Asian crate or pallet in probably 20 years. Used to be some interesting decent stuff. Then most of the crates went to metal, plastic, and cardboard all that dried up.
I got a mini ex from China it was in a crate and on a pallet that had the worst wood I’ve ever seen. Thin broken almost dry rotted but not.
I think the pallet floor was imperfect before being covered, but I don’t know. No one told them they shouldn’t do it. They used a glossy top coat. Very acceptable though.
When I started looking at houses, I searched for a real property inspector, not a mortgage shill. Hired him to teach me how to check out a house. Money well spent.
He emphasized the difference in cosmetic or non square issues versus things that are serious problems. Like a floor with enough vertical curve to roll a ball across, but structurally sound.
If it works why not I guess.
That concrete foundations are basically a living floating rock that will absorb what’s around it has always been fascinating to me. Plus the whole old stone mason thing where you have to feed the concrete or mortar. Mud jacking slabs that haven’t settled right always interested me. I’ve gotten to witness and talk to the guys several time got to know a few. Now people are doing it with spray foam and they about blew my mind. You think about it and it makes perfect sense it’s just you don’t really think it will work but it does.
Plot twist: your wife is paying them to pretend they like those things and take them away.
Not likely as they didn’t exist before I built them and she kept the original ones I built.
I’ve seen Christmas yard decorations made from them, usually tree shaped, painted green or white, and decorated with lights. They store flat, which is a plus.
Oh yeah I’ve seen those I think at the lobby of hobbies. And some random Christmas markets too I think along with some animals made in the same way.
How many Stain-O-Flage shirts did you and Laurence go through?
I think right here is why they they invented them
I’ve noticed you did not change the article title to Elise’s suggestion. You might want to get on that in case she reads this…
“Edit car factory to junkyard. Factories are organized.”
Man she really loves you. Only true love allows you both the knowledge and power to make fun of someone that well.
I was gonna say the same. Hang onto her tight, there will always be another Jeep or job but a forgiving woman with a good sense of humor is the truest of holy grails.
Elise (NHRN) has to be a little impressed with your wrenching wizardry.
Costco clothes are good! At least the ones I’ve gotten are. My wife also likes me to get new cloths instead of car parts
There’s nothing wrong with Costco clothing at all… I know a couple Costco buyers and a *lot* of thought and effort goes into the products they offer, with non-Kirkland product limited to a 14% margin. They know they can’t hose their client base, as their model depends on volume/return customers.
They also seem to treat her staff and vendors reasonably well.
Yes! I have Kirkland shirts that are 25 years old and still look great. I had a couple of Orvis shirts that cost at least 10x as much and were showing obvious signs of wear around the neck and the end of the sleeve cuffs after less than five years.
At least your wife finally got to meet Detroit David.
It’s like Michigan Assembly all over again.
Speaking from experience, the alkalinity in that degreaser is going to keep the grass from growing back until you neutralize the soil a bit. Soil acidity can be tested so you dont overdo it the other direction
I was thinking the same thing, soil remediation is definitely needed.
Does Superfund even exist anymore?
Depends.
I caught Memphis govt dumping toxic waste in residential areas and alerted the EPA. Zero consequences for the city.
Chlordane sites were still being worked last I heard. Poisoned water is a serious issue. There are still waste sites in this area basically unrestricted.
Sad, but true. Driving east on I-10 through the southern edge of W Texas (Fort Stockton, S of Midland/Odessa) at night looks absolutely dystopian. Flares burning, the smell. There are so many uncapped or inadequately capped wells venting methane at ground level. And all that is similarly ignored. And now the havoc being wreaked on ground water by fracking and injection wells to get rid of that crap.
It’s easy to see problems, but I don’t know how to fix them. And modern-day capitalism is so focused on short-term gains, the long-term consequences or solutions seem out of sight.
Chlordane! Ha! I remember my dad spraying that stuff with a little hand-pump sprayer around my grade school home to kill ants. We didn’t have termites.
His brother was a medic in the Korean War and told me about how he and his buddies would rub powdered DDT in their armpits to keep mosquitos at bay. He lived to be 93 and was mentally sharp and ambulatory until he passed away in his sleep a couple of years ago. After a very profitable practice as an ENT specialist, treating and rebuilding cocaine-ravaged noses in the Silicon Valley.
I flagged for a crop-dusting firm one summer in high school. Who knows what drifted on me then. I’m 69 now and still in decent health. The only cancer I’ve had is a melanoma, probably from spending too much time in the sun at swim meets 50 years ago. I had my fourth colonoscopy today, and other than a few unsuspicious polyps, no problems there. And no more melanomas 12 years out.
I guess my point about this, so far, is that I think (and I’m not a physician or epidemiologist) a lot of stuff comes down to genetics and whether you have genes that are susceptible to any and/or all the stuff in the environment. I think there’s probably a genetic component to who died during the initial time of Covid. Despite the vaccines, my ex-wife has had it four times. Our neighbors, twice. I never have.
Up in Tacoma, WA, where I live now, Superfund paid for testing, digging up and replacing soil contaminated soil above action levels over 1,000 square miles of land contaminated with lead and arsenic from an Asarco copper smelter that operated for nearly 100 years. The plant had a 571-foot tall smokestack that distributed bad stuff around Puget Sound. Exact figures of how much dirt they dug up and buried (somewhere hopefully safe) are hard to come by. But it was a lot. The company alone has 20 Superfund projects to its “credit” around the US.
Ok. Sorry. Kind of went down a rabbit hole over all this. Totally unrelated to David and his plight. Maybe I need to find another forum for my (well-reasoned LOL) observations/rants.
DNF, this was written after thinking more about your Memphis/ignored observation.
A lot of information about toxic waste is kept secret even after the EPA got involved.
It’s true that some people survived exposure to asbestos, at least for some time. Silicosis seems to be equally dangerous to everyone. Genetics is a recognized factor in drug reactions and treatments now.
Probably only scratches the surface.
The federal government made Denver safe after radioactive contamination by raising the acceptable limits.
Re disease exposure, I was reminded recently by a doctor that registering exposure to something and being well, often means you acquired immunity, rather than more risk of illness.
There is a general mathematical proof (silly and non-serious) that can be applied to this:
project vehicles are time times money
project vehicles = time x money
time = money
project vehicles = money^2
money is the root of all evil
money = √(all evil)
money^2 = √(all evil)^2 = all evil
project vehicles = all evil
project vehicles are all evil
I’m sure someone more clever can figure out an extension to wrap the family aspects into this as well.
The more things change…
Now that you’re a father Costco clothing is all you will ever need again. Take your wife on a nice trip somewhere. Cabo San Lucas is a short flight away and you can get a few nights at an all inclusive resort for not too much.
Costco = the home of Dad clothes.
You can get a good deal on the trip at Costco.
And cheap dysentery meds, too, in case you drink the water there.
Even a staycation at a place like Terranea in Palos Verdes would be nice in case Elise really can’t relax without bringing Delmar along. It’s a waterfront resort hotel on the old Marineland site.
You can take the boy out of Detroit, but you can’t take the Detroit out of the boy!
Seriously, though, for the sake of your marriage you are going to need a dedicated shop space. I don’t know if there is room on that property to build a small shop, or a place you can rent space, or if The Autopian could pony up for a company shop. I’m guessing it would be a no on The Autopian ponying up since you are all fairly spread out across the country.
Also, DT. Genuinely, actually, and with love. Talk to someone about an ADHD diagnois. That level of disorganization and chaos screams of executive disfunction at a diagnosable level. I’m not a doctor, I’m just a dude who also has ADHD and was not diagnosed until my late 30’s, but the chaos here is basically every project I’ve ever attempted multiplied by 10.
Glad you said it. My wife has ADHD and it’s a battle for her to organize anything. I try to help but accepted that there’s always going to be a mess somewhere in our house.
At least it’s not some form of dementia. My brother and I have been cleaning out the old family farmhouse my mom (90) lived in for 53 years, after she wrecked her car, the State of California suspended her license, and we got her into assisted living.
The stuff we found… more than 50 pens, at least two dozen pencils so old the erasers had gone dry and at least 10 pairs of scissors. Also, canned food in the kitchen that was five years or more by the “best by” date. Bulging. Leaking. OMG.
Along the way, we had both noticed the accumulation and tried to nicely mention she didn’t need all that stuff. She even had four reams of paper for a computer and printer she couldn’t remember how to use anymore.
She hated not having a car and being able to drive anymore. At first. Nearly a year later, she enjoys someone else doing the cooking and the social contact with people her age.
I have both empathy and sympathy for families dealing with this.
Same here, it breaks your heart to see someone who was vibrant and self-sufficient become someone else. Saw it with both my mom and recently my MIL.
Early in my career (traveled constantly), when I lived in a different state than my mom, I was able to stop by for a surprise visit. I knocked and since the door was unlocked, I walked in and started calling out to her. When she came into the room, she screamed in total terror. She didn’t know who I was. I’m shouting out, ‘Mom, it’s me, your son.’ She kept screaming and finally calmed down, but I could tell she still wasn’t clear who I was. Got in touch with an older brother who lived in the area. He knew she was slipping, but no idea it was that bad. It haunts me to this day, and was the last time I saw her. She was gone within a year.
MIL got to the point my wife went to live with her to help, but she was gone in about 6 months.
Wife and I both watch for signs now that we’re getting older, it’s not a good feeling knowing the previous generation of family went that way.
My MiL is nearing that stage, and unwilling to acknowledge it, even though she missed her hip surgery day and who knows what else out of forgetfulness. 🙁
You may be on to something. DT is also capable of intense focus on certain things, which AFAIK also comes with the territory.
Yup. Hyperfocus is a real thing too.