Volpone
Zombie Hunter
Cleaning vehicle interiors today.
My rent money hit a day before I expected it so I zapped off to the bank to move it from my business account to my personal one (don't ask why I can't just do that from my computer. It's a long and stupid story), but the full amount hadn't posted yet so it was a wasted trip. Gun shop I wanted to go to was closing in 11 minutes when I checked the hours on my computer. What with it being 20-30 minutes away I opted to skip that trip.
Did get to work on finally cleaning the van and car interiors.
At some point I retired my vacuum cleaner. It was terrible and I hated it so much. It pained my cheap ass to do it because technically it still "worked" so I relegated it to the garage for cleaning vehicle interiors. It works as well as it did the day I bought it. Which means I was very close to attempting to smash it into tiny tiny pieces. I will say that it is built solidly enough that attempts to smash it into tiny tiny pieces do not in any way make it work any worse. But it was usable.
The van is relatively easy. I'd been using it to haul a lawnmower (so there were grass stains on the carpet) and assorted junk from my last rental (so there was assorted junk residue everywhere), but it is basically a big metal box, so cleaning is fairly painless. Vacuum everything. Touch up with assorted attachments to get crevices etc. Scrub carpet stains with carpet shampoo. Wipe everything else down with paper towels of Armor All. Easy-peasy. Also, since it is driven relatively little, the accumulation of dirt and grime isn't so bad.
The Mustang is another story. That's my daily driver. And it has so many more curves and contours and nooks and crannies and surface materials. And crud accumulation that has been ground and ground into the surfaces. And it hasn't been cleaned in literally years. Attempting it was very demoralizing. But it needed to be done so I kept at it and made some progress. Only had time for the initial vacuum. But that did make it look better. Tomorrow I've got to get to work with the Armor-All and carpet shampoo--and another vacuuming. One rabbit hole I went down is the front seats. It's a 2009 model. So 15 years old or so. Years and years of getting in and out of the driver's seat have worn it--the fabric where my back and butt hit it and even the trim there. The power seat developed a short but I narrowed it down to the lumbar support control so I learned to just leave that alone and it won't blow the fuse. I addressed the worn seat--and by "worn" I mean actual rips and holes that expose foam padding and even springs--by taping the tears with Gorilla Tape and then putting after-market seat covers on the front seats.
Here's the problem with that: The fabric seats are really cool. The edges are made of a kind of carbon fabric pattern nylon while the actual seating portion fabric has this propriatary "MUSTANG" pattern fabric. The seat covers fit perfectly--but they're a very boring light grey plain nylon that looks terrible and doesn't at all match the back seat. So I took them off. I'm going down a rabbit hole I should've left alone until I have more time but I had to. Gorilla Tape really bonds nicely to nylon fabric after being in place for years, exposed to plenty of heat and pressure. I probably should've left it, but I managed to get it off with out damaging the already damaged fabric under it much worse. I may be able to stitch it up until I can try to find/afford an upholstery place that can do a better restoration.
I think that's about it. I absolutely should NOT have another cocktail. But I kind of want another cocktail. So there you are.
OH! The short! I forgot that bit. So the controls for the power seat are embedded in this plastic fantastic trim. Well one of the hooks that locks the trim to the seat busted off at some point. As I was cleaning the floorboards I noticed a discongruous drywall screw in said trim. Apparently at some point I shot a screw through the trim to fix it to the rest of the seat, replacing the broken latch. On closer examination, what to you think it looks like the screw was attached to? Yup, the wiring harness for the lumbar support switch. Pulled the screw and replaced it with repurposed Gorilla Tape. Didn't have the courage (or did I have the sense?!) to see if pulling the screw would let the lumbar support switch work without blowing the fuse. Tomorrow I need to get to the bank, the gun shop, and finish cleaning the car.
My rent money hit a day before I expected it so I zapped off to the bank to move it from my business account to my personal one (don't ask why I can't just do that from my computer. It's a long and stupid story), but the full amount hadn't posted yet so it was a wasted trip. Gun shop I wanted to go to was closing in 11 minutes when I checked the hours on my computer. What with it being 20-30 minutes away I opted to skip that trip.
Did get to work on finally cleaning the van and car interiors.
At some point I retired my vacuum cleaner. It was terrible and I hated it so much. It pained my cheap ass to do it because technically it still "worked" so I relegated it to the garage for cleaning vehicle interiors. It works as well as it did the day I bought it. Which means I was very close to attempting to smash it into tiny tiny pieces. I will say that it is built solidly enough that attempts to smash it into tiny tiny pieces do not in any way make it work any worse. But it was usable.
The van is relatively easy. I'd been using it to haul a lawnmower (so there were grass stains on the carpet) and assorted junk from my last rental (so there was assorted junk residue everywhere), but it is basically a big metal box, so cleaning is fairly painless. Vacuum everything. Touch up with assorted attachments to get crevices etc. Scrub carpet stains with carpet shampoo. Wipe everything else down with paper towels of Armor All. Easy-peasy. Also, since it is driven relatively little, the accumulation of dirt and grime isn't so bad.
The Mustang is another story. That's my daily driver. And it has so many more curves and contours and nooks and crannies and surface materials. And crud accumulation that has been ground and ground into the surfaces. And it hasn't been cleaned in literally years. Attempting it was very demoralizing. But it needed to be done so I kept at it and made some progress. Only had time for the initial vacuum. But that did make it look better. Tomorrow I've got to get to work with the Armor-All and carpet shampoo--and another vacuuming. One rabbit hole I went down is the front seats. It's a 2009 model. So 15 years old or so. Years and years of getting in and out of the driver's seat have worn it--the fabric where my back and butt hit it and even the trim there. The power seat developed a short but I narrowed it down to the lumbar support control so I learned to just leave that alone and it won't blow the fuse. I addressed the worn seat--and by "worn" I mean actual rips and holes that expose foam padding and even springs--by taping the tears with Gorilla Tape and then putting after-market seat covers on the front seats.
Here's the problem with that: The fabric seats are really cool. The edges are made of a kind of carbon fabric pattern nylon while the actual seating portion fabric has this propriatary "MUSTANG" pattern fabric. The seat covers fit perfectly--but they're a very boring light grey plain nylon that looks terrible and doesn't at all match the back seat. So I took them off. I'm going down a rabbit hole I should've left alone until I have more time but I had to. Gorilla Tape really bonds nicely to nylon fabric after being in place for years, exposed to plenty of heat and pressure. I probably should've left it, but I managed to get it off with out damaging the already damaged fabric under it much worse. I may be able to stitch it up until I can try to find/afford an upholstery place that can do a better restoration.
I think that's about it. I absolutely should NOT have another cocktail. But I kind of want another cocktail. So there you are.
OH! The short! I forgot that bit. So the controls for the power seat are embedded in this plastic fantastic trim. Well one of the hooks that locks the trim to the seat busted off at some point. As I was cleaning the floorboards I noticed a discongruous drywall screw in said trim. Apparently at some point I shot a screw through the trim to fix it to the rest of the seat, replacing the broken latch. On closer examination, what to you think it looks like the screw was attached to? Yup, the wiring harness for the lumbar support switch. Pulled the screw and replaced it with repurposed Gorilla Tape. Didn't have the courage (or did I have the sense?!) to see if pulling the screw would let the lumbar support switch work without blowing the fuse. Tomorrow I need to get to the bank, the gun shop, and finish cleaning the car.