NHRA took a lead from NASCAR and IRL to combine the 2 most non-mixable components of sports and call it an accomplishment:  They have receded to slow down racing.   Other than the obvious oxymoronic idea of making a sport based entirely on speed go slower, it shows people like me, that even tough guys are getting too sensitive. In this article you can see what I’m talking about.  In a nutshell, the old guys feel it would be safer if top fuel and funny-car dragsters only went 1000 feet, about 300 feet shorter than their regular 1/4 mile.  These are the same old guys that knew people like Leroy Chadderton who strapped themselves to the bottom half of a shopping cart  behind a gas tank, a V8 and a truck axle.  O ya, they had a helmet too.  People were killed every year back then. My friends, if you want safety, don’t race.  It is impossible to test the limits of mankind while imposing on yourself every other limit to getting there.  Man’s limits cannot be tested without danger.  Except the danger as part of the package, and stop ruining it for the rest of us.  You have no idea how many of us would be willing to strap ourselves to a piston powered rocket even as primitive as the danger buggies of the 60s.  All i ask for is a seatbelt and goggles.  O ya, and a helmet.  Let me be the one to decide what kind of crap i step in, don’t decide for me.  I can give you a list of 1/8 mile drag tracks all over So Cal.  I’m sure they would love to let you ride their asphalt. Stop riding mine, I want my fast.

Posted on July 12th, 2008 by admin
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speaking of old Volvos:

wired has this article on the invention of the 3 point seat belt.

Posted on July 10th, 2008 by admin
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My first car was a 1969 Volvo 142. I got it with a bad engine, and about 200k on the clock. I threw in another engine and ran it till it hit 300k. I drove it for 5 years. I unofficially wrecked it twice, drove it at insane speeds on every dirt road between Pioneer Town and Indio CA. It was almost the most reliable car I ever drove. Not because it didn’t break down, any car under that abuse would.   But, when it did, there was still some way to get it home. 5 years in that 142, as well as nearly 17 years growing up in my mom’s 1971 robin egg blue 145, stuck me on Volvos for the next 5 cars I wore out. My last Volvo was a 1985 244.

To this day, I tell people my dream car is a 1994 Volvo 940 turbo wagon. That is the last real Volvo. I still work on Volvo cars, but not with the same respect. I recognize elements from their parent company Ford in every one I work on now, and for those of you who hate fords like I do, that is not a respectable recognition. (gee, that fan motor looks like the same one thats in that Lincoln…. why are they using coarse thread and shallow taper on a ball joint? The previous 60 year old bullet proof design not good enough?) the hardest job on a real Volvo can be done with a small toolbox under a tree. Ive had customers on adventures in their p1800s talk about changing head-gaskets on the side of the freeway. Just about any job on a new Volvo takes most of a day and a full array of special tools. It all started with the 850 transmission-over-the-frame tool. One wrong move, thousands of dollars. Why did they make a 1 bolt timing belt cover, but make it so you have to pull EVERYTHING off the front of the engine to get the crappy plastic frame off to get the water pump out of an S80. Reminds me of the Aerostar van or the 80s Taurus 3.0. yeelch.

This month so far, our shop has seen 3 newer Volvos.  2 of them have throttle module issues, the third needed 2 days and 1600 bucks to change an intermittent compressor clutch and a radiator.   I used to hate Ford. Now the company has bred a whole fleet of cars to hate. I’d almost rather own a Passat.

Posted on July 9th, 2008 by admin
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try to eat this:

This is called a Sloppy Poppa.  It looked better on the menu, and strangely tasted better the next morning out of the microwave in the hotel room before catching the flight home from New Mexico.

For those of you reading with an eyebrow raised, I went to visit the Blocker part of my family in Rio Rancho NM for the first part of their family reunion.  For breakfast on sunday morning, my dad suggested Weck’s, a local hangout.  First sign of the kind of restaurant it was:  lets just say almost every patron was well rounded.  I saw this on the menu and ordered this to get a sample of possibly some good southern gravy, and was kind of disappointed.  The waitress handed me this terrain on a plate with a glint of sarcasm in her eye, as if to say “lets see if you townies can handle this.”  I guess It wasnt quite close enough to the south to get the good southern style gravy, but everything else about this dish is southern.

This is an order of hash browns.

its on 2 sliced biscuits, toped with bacon, cheese, southern gravy, and of course a NM staple, green chillies.  on top is a pair of fried eggs.  the pen is for size reference.

It took me and Sarah together over 2 days to finish this.  i would look this up for calorie content, but i don’t have the time or the bravery to find out.  i will decide simply not to mention this to my personal trainer.

Sarah and I are planning next year’s vacation, to NY city, were we hope to visit my Uncle Frank, see lots of stage performances and behave like foodies for a week.  I don’t think we will find food like this in New York. I can hardly wait.

Posted on July 5th, 2008 by admin
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got this from “http://www.dvorak.org/blog”

can you imagine this in the US?

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by admin
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Why it costs $1600 bucks to fix the A/C on some cars.

Posted on June 26th, 2008 by admin
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I sucked my new wife Sarah into a ritual I started years ago. One night a week, I set aside for nothing but relaxing. Since most of what’s on TV sucks, I watch a geeky selection from netflix, drink a thick German beer, eat elaborate snacks and smoke a cigar. Since I usually watch star trek episodes, I call it star trek night.
Sarah does like some of what is on TV, tonight she wants to watch the “I survived a Japanese game show” load. This is yet another car accident that’s tarnishing the air-waves, IMO. Its another reminder to me of the fall of the Roman Empire. Remember the gladiator fights? They had the same idea. Lets get an audience to watch a tragedy of human behavior, and call it an event!
Some see Star Trek as tragic in itself, but that show, unlike most today, was looking forward. It strives for something better. People bouncing off of giant foam objects into unpleasant substances does not.
My choice of entertainment is pure wild fantasy. Give me something my brain couldn’t come up with on its own. Give me invertebrate intelligent creatures, traveling buildings, variable ending passageways, time warp, incomprehensible tools, dimensionally functional toys, and you got me hooked. There aren’t enough books on that stuff, and only occasionally is one really good, but I still like it.
Until this becomes more popular than ego-distorting judges critiquing human stupidity, I wont be paying a cable bill.

Posted on June 24th, 2008 by admin
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When i was a kid growing up in the desert, my sister adopted a German Shepard looking dog we called Woof.  (Its name was Wolf, but it was a dumb dog, so he didn’t mind)  As a puppy, it gallantly skittered across the tile floor, sliding sideways like a NOPI drifter around corners, then over the living room rug and under the coffee table.  As the puppy grew up, it didn’t seem to notice its size increasing.  Soon, as he made the Starsky and Hutch maneuver into the living room and under the table, Woof bonked his head on the crossbeam.   Every time.  Never figured it out.  I think one time the dog actually growled at that crossbeam.  That dog reminded me of someone today: Myself.

As many know, i am DIYing a mobile home to maintain its habitability.  Todays project was installing new air conditioner.  I had planned it all in advance, wired up a new lead from the box for the 220volt connection, and bought support materials.  As with any project you figure out as you go, you need to have patience.  Today, however, i had a gym appointment, dirty laundry, dishes and yard, and wanted to get it done in a hurry.  Ya cant do that.  Even if you have good plans, having good plans includes room to fix screw-ups and reinventions for ideas that didn’t work. I ended up missing my gym appointment.  Ya, the AC is installed, and i write this blog in a nice cool house now, but I’m not happy about it.  It works, but it could have been done better, could have looked a bit neater, could have had better support and vibration dampening.  I could have done without scratching the linoleum, cutting a last minute beam with a chain-saw, or having fingers, tools, and trash stuck together with sticky foam.  I’m one of those people that talks to himself when he’s mad, (family trait)  I was Woof.  As soon as I slowed down, things went better.  But, i still have foam stuck to my fingers, Its just nice that I’m not sweating too.

Posted on June 19th, 2008 by admin
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Used to be a good thing. I have AAA myself.  I consider it a necessity when driving the car i do, even actually used it once when my fuel pump failed on my way to final exams last year.  now i wonder.

A few weeks ago, a client called and said their car died and AAA was there trying to sell them a battery.  they had “a computer printout” that “proved it”.  sure, go ahead, that battery isnt going to be any cheaper anywhere else, and its gona save you a tow, but if you want some comfort room, bring it over, i’l check it out.

We have an ancient sun/snap on vector tube scope.  we have newer scopes too, but this beast, about the size of a standup freezer, still does the best alternator check. it showed a bad diode.  not a shorted one, but the small blip in the pattern showed one was leaking the wrong direction. I have no idea the condition of the old battery, but it just encourages me to remind people, they don’t always find everything. On a hot day with AC running, stop and go traffic, and short errand runs of a minni-van,  sure enough, it died again a few days later.  we installed an alternator, all is fine now.  I still have that “printout” from the AAA tester that said the alternator was ok.

Then there was they mystery noise.  Big BMW 740 comes in with the client complaining about “a huge noise” from the rear end. It sounded like brakes, but they looked new.  with the car on the rack, things got stranger.  the bearing was loose, allowing the brake rotor to rub on the caliper, but i also noticed a bent up backing plate.  then i noticed the sheered off brake bleeder. and hay, that shock looks funny. hmm.  curiosity had me looking at all the rims inside, to see if any were scratched up.  all looked ok.  I opened the trunk.

In the floor of the trunk were 2 partially destroyed lug bolts.  under the floor was the BMW factory spare, scratched all along the inside surface.  The Man called the customer and then got the real story.  They got a flat tire, AAA changed it with the spare.  The car has big fancy after-market wheels, and the tow guy did not remove the spacer.  Since the lug bolts were not tightened to the hub, the wheel had fallen off the car on the freeway. (no doubt scaring the crap out of the client)  AAA is paying the bill, over $1000 of damage.  cant help but to wonder why the tow truck guy didn’t notice that the wheel didn’t fit right.

Make sure you have a good mechanic, and watch the tow guy.  if you don’t like him, get another one.

Posted on June 17th, 2008 by admin
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Today my truck got alot of work done.  I got tired of the grinding noise every time i pushed the clutch, so a few weeks ago, i toured the salvage yards for a pedal assembly and anything else useful that would fit.  I rebuilt it fashioning new bushings from brass pilot bushings to replace the crappy plastic ones. Brake lathes sure come in handy sometimes, dull blades do not. I got pedals to work smooth, ordered everything i could think of connected to them including; brake servo, master cyl, clutch cable, pedal pads (made a throttle bushing).  Wednesday afternoon was the mess of making it all work.  of course nothing quite fits like its supposed to when your car is made from 3 other cars, 2 of which your not sure of. after some grinding, bending, threading, straitening, adjusting, tweaking, cleaning and painting, i got it all to resemble its various functions.   After the PITA of bleeding everything, it drives like a whole new truck…   Well the pedals feel good, now the other smaller problems seem a bit larger.  next project will be either something with the fuel system or a new rack and column.

Posted on June 12th, 2008 by admin
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