Brakes and Oil Change

Driving over 1,000 miles a month put quite a bit of wear and tear on the existing brake pads and rotors.  It was time to be replaced.  With that in mind, I went to check to see how much it would cost me.  I am also due for an oil change so why not kill two birds with one stone.  The mechanic wanted around $300 if I remember correctly, just to change the front brakes and to "resurface" the rotors.  With the oil change added into it, it would have cost me roughly $325~ and that does not include the rear brakes, probably would have been another $150 for the rear.  By doing it myself, I saved a ton of money and I have "new" rotors.

Project:

Change front brakes and rotors

Change oil - used Mobil 1 Full Synthetic*

Rotate tires

*with the change to full synthetic, I noticed the car runs better, and gas mileage improved slightly also

Total time it took to complete:

One Saturday afternoon (4 hours?)  It would have been much quicker if I did not have to change the rotors.  Took forever for me to figure out how to remove and replace existing rotors, they were STUCK lol.  Had it only been the brake pads, it would have been done quickly.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take pictures.  My hands got way too dirty to use the camera haha.  Anyways, total cost of replacement parts came out to under $200 listed below:

A jug of Mobil 1 Full Synthetic Extended Performance and genuine Honda filter

Wagner ThermoQuiet Front and Rear Brake Pads

(2) EBC Front Rotors

I haven't changed my rear brake pads yet but will be doing it probably in July or August.

Getting ready...

Starting to jack up the front of the car, gave up taking more
pictures after this lol.

Engine Air Filter and Cabin Air Filter Replacement

As we all know it, car dealership mechanics charge an arm and a leg just to have some simple air filters replaced.

Project:

Replace
Engine Air Filter(2) Cabin Air Filters

Total time it took to complete:

10-15 minutes, including the time I took to take a few pictures.

Went with a reusable K&N engine filter.  Study shows that
it increases air flow into engine, improving gas mileage.

To remove existing filter, simply push down on the (4) clips
shown, and the cover comes right off.  Simple as that.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Don't know how people charge like $20 to get it changed.
Literally took me like 2 minutes.

Onto the cabin air filters.  My filters are located behind the
passengers compartment.

Up close, there are two plastic tabs (on each side) that
serves as the stopping point for the compartment.  Simply
remove it and the door comes right out.

The plastic tabs

Access to filters.

Remove the small plastic door panel and filter is revealed.

There are two filters, simply pull the first one out by the
plastic tab sticking out, then slide the second one over to
the left and repeat.  Can't get any easier than that.

Was definitely due for a change.  I forgot to take one more
picture but basically, I took the old filters out and placed
the new ones into the existing plastic housing.

Kitchen "Upgrades and Repairs"

Since the kitchen was primarily one of the rooms in the house that was used quite often, or the most, I went and looked to see what was needed to be done or "improved".  First thing that was already on the list would be the broken garbage disposer.  Then the next thing was the deterioration of the wood countertop due to water penetration.  Before you know it, I had a list of to do's.

Projects (not in specific order):

Wood countertop
- strip and refinish

Garbage Disposer
- remove/replace old broken disposer

Upgrade current faucet to a gooseneck faucet for added space to clean deep pots etc.
Install inline water filter on the cold side

Install Blu-motion

- drawers and doors currently have BLUM hardware,  blu-motion hardware basically clips/screws into existing hardware to facilitate in slow motion of closing cabinet doors and drawers.

Total time it took to complete:

For all the projects, I would say 15 hours tops, not including the extra trips made to the hardware store.

Here are the goods.

Consists of a Delta gooseneck style faucet (satin),
filtrete under the sink inline water filter, an air activated
switch, 1HP top of the line insinkerator disposer* and
a hot water dispenser

Note the hot water dispenser.  Initially, I was going to install an
under-the-sink hot water dispenser but changed my mind
 Would have been nice though for those times when you
come home and just want a cup of tea, hot chocolate
 or noodles but do not want to wait nor hassle of boiling water.

*plan to use it to it's fullest so it has to handle everything lol

BLUMOTION hardware for the cabinets and doors.
Sorry but I did not take pics of installation, its fairly simple.

The before:  Sink with the old faucet, and if you look
towards the right you can see what I meant by
the countertop deteriorating.

Another before picture:  underneath the sink with the
broken disposer and the rest of the setup.

Removing the old layer of poly/stain with a citrus based
stripper.  Never used a stripper before but so far so good.

After stripping, the countertop is lightly sanded with a
Dewalt random orbital sander with 150 grit paper, then
sanded some more with a higher grit sponge.  After that,
mineral spirits and tack cloth was used to remove the
dust particles in preparation for the stain and poly.

Now to tackle the garbage disposer, and faucet.  Yeah, it's
a bit messy but what you expect? lol

Removed the old disposer and started cutting the existing
plumbing to fit the new disposer.  On the left you will see
that I mounted the switch and added a outlet as well.
The outlet will be used for the air activated switch that
I will be installing.

Of course as usual, with cutting comes bleeding.

The faucet I bought does not have the valve directly
attached to it so a hole had to be drilled.
Make sure to drill hole at the right spot, you only get 1 try.
Look closely in the picture and you will see the chrome
button looking switch that I have installed into the countertop.

Back to the disposer, it is finally done with the new plumbing
in place, along with the air activated switch I mentioned.

The black box you see on the left mounted is the switch.
The way the switch works is that when the "button" on the
countertop is pressed, air is being pushed into the black
box, making the disposer turn on.  By pressing it again, it
turns it off.  The good thing is since its air activated, you can
turn on the disposer while your hands are still wet.

Here are the final results, countertops refinished.

The new polyurethane sealant up close.  It is much glossier
than the old poly, which was quite dull actually.  Also, with
the old poly, water soaked in, causing black marks.  With
the new poly, nothing penetrates.  Water beads on top. 

TV Stand - Ikea Hack

With a 47" LED TV and A/V equipment sitting on cheap Ikea Lack tables, I began looking around online for a stand suitable for my needs. Unfortunately, all the ones I have found cost hundreds. So after some quick brainstorming, I thought to myself, why not just build one with what I had? Note that I kept this "Ikea Hack" as simple as possible since I was working on it at 1am haha (after work).

Project:
TV Stand
- consist of (3) Ikea LACK tables ($7.99 each)
- wheels for moving to access rear of components

Total time it took to complete:
Overnight - 4 hours or so. Bought the stuff in the afternoon and started on it when I got home from work.

Definitely needed a makeover.

(3) Lack tables upside down with plywood for test fitting.
Cats are keeping me company lol

Attaching the tables together with metal brackets.
Since Ikea is well known for making furniture out of
cardboard, I had to come up with something to connect
the tables together securely, using heavy duty anchor.
Holes had to be driven for every anchor used.

Attaching the legs together with the same anchor
method above.  Shim was used as a spacer.

Casters were screwed into the plywood, eight total.  Should be
more than adequate in supporting the static load of the components.

Here is Lack table put into place to see
how it would look.

Almost complete, picture missing the middle shelf.
The board with the wheels was basically painted
black and screwed into each of the Lack table's leg,
also by anchors/screws.

I will be posting a final picture when I get to it.