Does anyone's first 5 tries always end up as sad kitchen science experiments like mine?

Learned that lesson the hard way too. Changed my whole approach after a bad callback.

Yeah I thought brakes just needed to be worn in but turns out I was doing it wrong this whole time.

Three hours to clear the impeller by hand" sounds like a real good time. I bet you named that pump something nasty after that. Nothing like a surprise mud spa treatment to spice up your Tuesday afternoon.

Get yourself a good tape with a lock on it @rubybarnes, that changes everything. The trick is to mark the cut line first, then double check the measurement against the actual space, not against the tape itself. I still mess up sometimes when I'm rushing through a job, but slowing down and talking through the numbers out loud really helps me catch stuff before I cut. Cutting once and having it fit right is way better than wasting material and having to start over.