I’m tangentially related to automotive.  I’m a mechanical engineer for industrial trucks, so it’s still automotive in a way, but not consumer passenger automotive, so a little less useful around these parts.  Think class 8 semi as far as chassis and drivetrain, but with a pickup truck engine and lots and lots of…

Yeah, I plan to at some point. It’s one of the few movies that actually has a Viper in it, and being an owner myself I’ve always intended to watch it since I learned that. I was never the biggest import or drift fan, but I can still appreciate the cars all the same and the talent that goes into it. It’s on the list of…

Tokyo Drift (and I guess maybe the latest one) are the only ones I haven’t actually seen yet.  They are silly, but ultimately fun movies.  I’m not really the biggest critic though, I just care whether they are entertaining to watch.  It’s fun to see the different cars they come up with though.  You can get some fun…

I’m going to have to watch all of these videos one of these days. The articles have been really fun to read to get the gist of it. I’ve intended to watch them for a while now, but just haven’t sat down to do it.  Need to just make up a playlist for the next rainy day.

Interesting note, a lot of “canned air” is effectively R134a, though branded as HFC-134a.  You’d think it would have been phased out as well as the actual use and intent of the product is to be vented to the atmosphere.

I think this is an ER problem, not a race or gender problem.  I think part of the issue is the lack of “after hours” medical options for people.  I was suffering from fairly severe abdominal pain for the better part of the whole day (it basically felt like I was doing an all day sit-up) and finally decided to go to…

A good service manual goes a long way as well if you are doing anything more than basic maintenance.  For most of my life I took the “if that bolt looks like it’s holding on the thing I want to remove, take it out” approach, which will get you pretty far.  If you want to do some major surgery or get to parts that are…

I had the original version of this that was called “watching over dad’s shoulder”. I realize that’s really apples to oranges, but it’s nice that it is more available to people now and especially those who don’t have mechanically inclined families.

For supposedly being a “holy grail unicorn” there certainly seem to be a lot of them popping up in the news here lately.  That’s three now that I can recall in what feels like less than a month.

I’d rather see someone drive barefoot than with heels or flip flops or something other footwear really not suited for the job.  Though with some cars it’s not so pleasant to drive barefoot.  Metal pedals or a heavy clutch or brake could have you thinking twice about pressing really hard, which could be dangerous.  I…

Anothing thing with this will be what is going on now of teams doing way advanced research before the caps go into effect. It will likely be a few seasons in before that all levels out, if it ever does, so I would expect the top teams to still have the upper hand for a while.  The gap could close, but I still think…

I think there are specific rules and regulations that somehow prevent that.  I don’t know exactly how, but I’m fairly sure that’s been an issue even today and has been somewhat mitigated through the rules.

One of the stations I typically visit has moved to chip not that long ago, but I think it’s the only one I’ve personally seen yet. I don’t do a ton of travelling though, and I only really go to two different stations because of the tie in with grocery store points for discounts. Like one of the comments below, I’d…

Yeah, for me it was more I was just going to keep going until it was done or I was done. Fatigue really didn’t set in for me that bad as I was actually enjoying myself for the most part and didn’t even realize how late it was. I wasn’t on any kind of really tight deadline or anything, I just wanted to get it done…

I know the feeling of just completely wearing yourself out in a garage working on something.  I just recently put the engine back in my Viper and spent probably somewhere between 10-12 hours working on it the day I finally put it back in the car.  I had finally gotten the last parts to finish putting the engine…

With less regulations than the automotive world

Even more important on an old carbureted car. My 71 Vette will flood if you try to start it with the A/C engaged because the giant old A/C compressor sucks a lot more power than the newer more efficient modern ones. It feels like hitting the brakes when you turn it on while cruising down the highway.

There’s a huge aftermarket for these in the company 3SX, so I wouldn’t be too worried about keeping one running.  They are constantly coming up with factory replacement parts and even modern replacements for obsolete stuff.  My dad only had an ES version Stealth, so far less gadgets, but that car made it 355,000+…

Interestingly enough, it kinda feels like the 90s all over again when all trucks were super boxy and Dodge came out with a styled truck that had some curves and grabbed some attention.  The GM and Ford offerings appear to be leaning really hard on that tough and square aesthetic while the Ram (to my eyes at least),…

To keep it in the Dodge stable, would have been nice if the Viper went out with a little more fanfare.  The chassis was pretty consistent from 2003 through the end.  There were tweaks and updates, but nothing super crazy.  One guy actually turned a wrecked gen 4 into a gen 5 with only minor modifications.