Air leak and rig working
 

Well I have been down here a month and a half and the old girl is still plugging along. It still goes into a no start condition every once in a while, but the open the injector line trick is still working for now. I hope to go home for a while this week. My question is, does the top of the tank need to be air tight? If I overfill it from the auxiliary tank, it leaks from the top. My intuition tells me that it does not have to be, but what do I know? [duhhh][duhhh]I plan on pressurizing the tank to find any leaks when I get home, and am pretty sure that the top gasket will not let me. Here is a pic of me hauling steel, It is about the third trip. Each time that I do it saves me around 100 bucks, so it is well worth it. I hope to have the house done in Oct. or Nov....Mark

Nice work Mark and Sweet looking Truck.

Thanks! I can't hardly wait to get it done and get my boat out of the weather. 2 guys have built this whole thing, with me being the unskilled labor. That big pile of dirt was delivered yesterday and tomorrow I get to put it all inside the wall, I can't wait, it should only be 105 tomorrow. My friend should be back soon to take over watching out for things and I can get home and get some more stuff to haul down. The house should be done by Oct. or Nov. and then we are going to have a "grande pachanga grande" (a great, big Party) to celebrate. Get your passports ready, those of you that haven't been scared to death by the US media...Mark

Well I found my air leak, it is where the fitting from the lift pump to the fuel line from the tank. It was not leaking until I put air pressure into the tank, then it was obviously leaking. I went to put some Teflon tape on the threads and when I went to tighten it up, the cheap pot metal opening on the lift pump split. The leak was coming from the threaded area, so it may have already been cracked, and when I tried to tighten it it snapped. That is my story and I am sticking with it [coffee][laugh] I have an extra in my tool box, but I ordered 1 up from Genos, so that I'll still have an extra, I know it's a slippery slope [duhhh][duhhh]. I just gerry rigged a nozzle out of an old rubber hose and duct tape, worked like a champ...Mark

la casa sube
 

Well we finally got the roof done after some labor problems. We are looking at finishing the house by late October or early November. That is good because the building permit expires on December 15th...Mark

She's getting close
 

Well the old girl got me down here again, woo-hoo. I have not been here for about a month and I can't believe the progress. I'll be moving in by the end of November, if the money doesn't run out first. I am looking at less than 70k, with the land included, try that in the states [duhhh]...Mark

Mark,

You should have a vent hose with an anti-rollover valve at the top of your tank.

It does have one. It is a very well made tank. The only thing that I didn't like about is is that it was designed to be bolted directly to the bed. So, like you, I was worried about it coming loose if I roll it. So, I built a platform for it and put 6 retaining straps with 1/2" bolts to keep it in the truck. The platform is held to the truck by 16 1/2" bolts. It also gives me 8" below it so that I can slide things in below. You can't see it, but there is a check valve and vent where the arrow is. This tank only cost me around 800 dollars delivered to my house. It has 91 gallons and gives me close to a 2500 mile range. I got it from northern tools...Mark

This new crew that I have in here is kicking butt. The plasterer is almost done inside and almost all of the concrete work is almost done. I am going to have a house warming pachanga (huge party) in the spring. so get your passports ready and come on down...Mark

What weekend? Need to book holidays

By the way, that disk shaped pile of rocks in the foreground of the above pic is how they mix a large amount of concrete. I call it a concrete pancake. For as much concrete as they mix, we would use big mixer trucks. They can probably mix up 5 or 6 yards at a time this way. The concrete and plaster feels like glass when they are done finishing it. It is very impressive how fast these guys do masonry work with just the most basic of tools Mark

I'll post it up when we are a bit closer, it should be fun, they know how to have fun down here. I plan to schedule it around something, so that people can get the time off to come down. The international airport in Hermosillo is only 50 miles from here...Mark

Getting closer
 

Well, I have been here for the past 3 weeks and it is getting very close. The plaster inside is 90% done. We will pour the floors inside and lay tile this next week. In 2 weeks we will hang doors and install windows. That will leave just paint, landscaping and other details. I hope to be in it by Thanksgiving. Our building permit expires on Dec. 15th, so it is getting down to the wire...Mark

Mark,
I just have to ask, do you really pour the floors after the walls are up?

Also how do the building codes compare to the ones here in the US?
Good luck, hope everything goes as planned with little or no suprises.
Jim

What is this? A bunker? [coffee]

I love the garage if that is what it's going to be (: