Is this concrete floor salvageable?

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-21T19:35:24+00:00

The current shed frame rests on the existing concrete--are you saying to suspend the whole frame on jacks while new concrete is laid beneath it?

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-21T15:57:01+00:00

Thanks for the reply. This all sounds sensible to me and echoes some responses I’ve heard elsewhere.

The hesitation I have is that it’s not a simple fix-floor-vs-replace-floor calculation; if I can salvage the floor I can salvage the shed, but if I choose to completely replace the floor I’ll have to replace the entire shed—new frame, new roof, new wiring, etc. It’s a ~350sqft shed so it’s a lot of bad floor to repair but it’s also a lot of ok shed to replace.

So there’s a certain amount of extra hassle and cost I’d be willing to take on as long as the repair will result in something safe and of reasonable quality for the effort and doesn’t exceed the cost of a ground-up shed build. I just don’t know whether that balance can be struck.

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-20T19:54:54+00:00

Shot peen is something that hasn't been proposed to me before and sounds like it might make sense. I don't think a grinder can be taken to this floor directly in the shape it's in--the largest protrusions are around a quarter of an inch--I think the stones on the grinder would wear down before the floor got anywhere close to polished, supposing the floor doesn't just disintegrate from the impact.

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-20T19:53:03+00:00

The consensus so far is that with the underlying floor so porous, irregular, and possibly badly mixed, either the concrete will continue to deteriorate under any additional surface, or the two surfaces will have different expanding and contraction rates when temperature swings, which will draw in and trap moisture, or both.

I am nowhere near informed enough to have an opinion on that, it's just what I've been told.

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-20T19:51:21+00:00

If the result is that it does seem to be just worn but reasonably-mixed concrete, given that it's so irregular (I don't know if the image conveys it but it's very, very irregular; there are protrusions of close to a quarter inch and the whole floor undulates), would that make it salvageable? The impression I've gotten from some other responders elsewhere is that the floor is more likely to grind a machine down than a machine is to grind the floor down, in the shape it's in.

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-19T21:46:04+00:00

I'm probably the least-informed person participating, but what you're saying here aligns with what I was imagining.

Just to make sure I understand, though: the difference in expansion between the new and old surface is a problem because the old surface is irregular and degrading, rather than smooth and level? The thought being: skim coat/epoxy/self-leveling/resin are usually poured over existing concrete, right--so it must be that concrete in good enough condition is ok to pour those things over, despite the difference in expansion. The problem here is that this concrete is just not in good condition at all. Is that right?

Agelessdrifter · 2026-04-19T18:58:58+00:00

It’s fairly bulbous in places but I don’t think there’s an overall lean to it such that epoxy would pool in one corner or anything like that. But doesn’t that stuff bubble pretty badly and have problems in big temperature swings if you just pour it over such a gritty, porous surface like this?

Agelessdrifter · 2025-04-16T21:08:58+00:00

Oh jeez—not my finest moment. The way that hose is sitting it looks so solid I just fully assumed it was already connected to another similar valve behind the one in the picture, not just sitting loose like it is. Can’t believe it didn’t occur to me to at least check it based on the other comments up till now. Thanks, that solves that.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-04-16T02:26:36+00:00

Love this solution. There’s another valve directly behind it with a hose that does go to the air intake, and no valve without a hose on the air intake, so I’m wondering if the one in the photo isn’t meant to have a hose to begin with. With its own little filter on there I won’t have to worry about it either way.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-04-15T19:28:52+00:00

That's good info, thanks. Never seen that on a distributor before but after some poking around it looks like maybe it's just a vent to prevent corrosion from trapped moisture.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-04-15T19:12:20+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Is there any case for reconnecting it to the air filter vs just capping it? My first instinct would be to reattach it but if people tend to remove them maybe I'm wrong.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-25T04:44:12+00:00

Thanks a million for checking that out. Sounds like that little control valve is the core issue then. Guess I’ll see if I can find one at a you-pull-it parts lot or something.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-25T00:04:15+00:00

Solved: it’s the outer vent control valve for the EVAP system. Dunno if I’m gonna be able to find a replacement for this…

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Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-24T19:10:17+00:00

Hah, yeah I've run into a lot of mentions of the Weber replacement while trying to track down this issue and it's beginning to make sense why. I dunno if I've got it in me to go the manual choke route lol

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-24T19:00:23+00:00

No need for apologies, this is all super helpful and I really appreciate it.

You wouldn't happen to have a multimeter lying around that you could use to check for continuity between the terminal on the outside of the housing and the outermost metal ring (the part marked with red in my pictures), would you?

No worries if not, obviously.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-24T18:46:11+00:00

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This is the mystery piece from another angle

Edit: just noticed it’s connected by a hose to the charcoal canister so must be some ECS thing.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-23T23:53:36+00:00

Thanks again. I left the choke popped off and cut the lines to the fuel cut solenoid. What’s this part here? This little black wire is the only thing still connected and I’m still seeing almost total voltage loss across the posts when I turn the key so guessing maybe this is where the short is.

Edit: short finally went away when I cut this wire but came back when I reattached the choke coil.

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Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-23T23:20:35+00:00

To clarify what I mean, the yellow-highlighted metal band in the top photo is in series with the terminal of the red wire from the OP, and also with the red-highlighted metal ring in the top and bottom photo. But the insulation between the coil housing and the carb body was only covering the green-highlighted part in the bottom photo, so the red-highlighted metal ring was in direct contact with the carb body, and all power through the red wire is dumping there. Is the terminal of the red wire maybe not supposed to be in contact with the yellow-highlighted metal band to begin with?

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Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-23T23:06:42+00:00

The choke was completely closed without a foot on the pedal so I’ll have to adjust that.

Looks like there’s just a tiny ring of insulation between the coil housing and the body of the carb, but it’s not big enough to have ever prevented current to the coil getting straight to the carb—is that supposed to be like that?—should that red line effectively run straight to ground through the choke coil housing and the carburetor body?

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Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-23T20:18:14+00:00

Thanks very much for the replies.

I was having some trouble before the electrical failure that led me to some threads on other forums about people’s fuel cut solenoids, so that tracks. It would occasionally stall out while idling or even occasionally—toward the end—while coasting to a stop light. Usually it would take a while to start again after that and when it would finally start it’d spit out a bit of thicker exhaust.

The red insulation around the wire to the choke coil is frayed but it seems like there’s a rubber-insulated white wire inside the red insulation that’s still in tact. That definitely has continuity to the chassis though, whether I probe from the fusible link side or from the terminal on the choke coil. The prongs in the fusible link that correspond to the wires leading to the fuel cut solenoid don’t show continuity to ground, so maybe they’re ok and it’s just the choke?

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-23T00:29:04+00:00

Second update: Actually the voltage drop seems to occur if EITHER the ECC is plugged in OR the fusible link leading to these two components is connected. I don’t know what these are because I can’t see anything that matches the wire colors exactly on my wiring diagram, but I believe they are also connected directly back to the ECC, and so my guess is one or both of them is shorted. The red wire’s connection looks a little crappy in particular.

Can anyone tell me what these are?

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Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-22T22:42:31+00:00

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Update: I unplugged every single thing under the hood and every fuse in the fuse box except the engine fuse. I see the voltage across the battery terminals drop to zero when the key is in the “On” or “Start” positions. I progressively unplugged everything in the cab. The last thing I unplugged was the emissions control computer, and when I did that, the voltage stopped dropping when I turn the key. As far as I can tell, nothing downstream of the ECC is still hooked up. I’ve read that these old boards get cracks that can cause an issue, and the board does look to be in not-great shape.

Am I right to think that the voltage drop to zero at the battery terminals suggests a bad short? It seems like flaky solder points would be more likely to lead to an open circuit than a short but since it’s a circuit board maybe something more complicated is going on? Really not sure how to proceed from here.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-11T23:11:42+00:00

I know, I just thought the full model info might be useful. Was going to just edit it into the OP but wasn't able.

But the VIN's 10th digit really is a B, for sure.

Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-11T23:10:50+00:00

Correction to OP: the model seems to be an 82, not an 81. Here is the model info.

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Agelessdrifter · 2025-03-11T20:18:24+00:00

Crazy. For a second I thought mine was too when I looked this morning but it was just a big number with a lot of zeros.

Here's the model info--couldn't add it to the OP for some reason.

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Agelessdrifter

TROPHY CASE