Animals & Cars: A Friendly Photo Collage.

Before my short lived pre-teenage career in newspaper delivery, I had no idea that dogs could run 100+ mph.  It turns out that every dog in my neighborhood could, and they chased me like my pockets were full of delicious steak.  The highlight of every dog’s day was when I tried to sneak up to the front door with my GIANT yellow newspaper bag that might as well have said “attack me” on the side of it.  Looking back, I think I spent about 10% of my delivery time actually delivering newspapers, and 90% throttling my BMX away from the fastest dogs in the entire universe.  For years this traumatized me into fearing dogs and all other animals for that matter.  For all I knew – horses, cows, sheep, Bison, and turtles could chase me down, knock me off my bike and bite my legs.  Luckily for me, this all changed in high school.  A good friend of mine got a dog that was the biggest, scariest looking, friendliest, most lovable dog you could ever imagine.  This dog was the turning point for me & animals.  So since cars are my passion and animals are just plain fun, I put together this animal & car – friendly photo collage for your enjoyment. Read More

Twin Engine Delorean on eBay!

There is a time to buy and a time to sell, and for this Twin Engine Delorean owner…..It’s time to sell.  Obviously, I could fill an entire paragraph with Back to the Future references, and maybe even include a picture of Michael J. Fox sporting red leather to really drive some points home….. but I’m not going to.  I think when you look at these pictures, you will draw your own opinions, and likely want to take this car back to 1982 before it had a Cadillac V8 and a Prelude engine stuffed into it. eeeek!

Facts:

1982 Delorean
Front engine:  2.0liter dual overhead cam Honda engine from a third generation Prelude.
Rear engine:  8.2liter high compression Cadillac engine, from a 1970 Eldorado.

Twin Engine Delorean eBay Listing

Item # 110516547384

"April Fools" Automotive Style.

Has anybody ever done anything to their friends cars as an April Fools joke?  I have always wanted to do something over the top to one of my friends, but never had the real audacity to do it.  Here are some of my favorite ideas.

Automotive April Fools:

1) Take your friends steering wheel off. Leave it on the passenger seat, doors locked.

2) Remove your friends drivers seat. Put it in the trunk or rear hatch. Again, doors locked.

3) Remove the entire interior carpet, put everything else back in and make sure nothing else is out of place.

4) Fill your friends vehicle with crickets.

5) Disable the engine from starting, and put a giant sign under the hood that says something humorous.

6) Fill the car with balloons, don’t forget the glove box, trunk, console, etc.

7) Make a sign that says “Please stare at me awkwardly” and tape it to the outside of the passenger door.

8 ) Poke tiny holes in a carton of eggs, and hide it in a friends car. Wait patiently for epic stink.

9) Jump the horn wire to permanently be on.

10) Grease under all of the door handles, heavily. The more grease the better

What Automotive Related jokes have you played on your friends?

Why Is The 9/10ths Necessary When Buying Gas?

Yesterday, I was filling up some premium gas at a premium price, and began wondering why the heck they add the 9/10ths to the end of it?  If the oil companies need that extra penny, just take it! Why do they need to bring fractions into my happy fraction-free lifestyle?  Considering that they add a buck (or more) per gallon to the price of gas every summer anyway, I just don’t see the need for the extra 9/10ths of a cent.  Is this something that was a really great idea in the 1920’s when a penny was a big deal?  Or maybe it’s a conspiracy designed by high school math teachers to make us think that fractions are used “in the real world”.  Of course I don’t want to pay more than I already do for gasoline, but that fraction really cramps my style when I’m pumping my fuel.  Did I miss the day in school when they explained why this insanity exists?  Is it common knowledge?  Somebody help! Read More

Question: Do I really need 17 wheels for one truck?

While doing a little spring cleaning recently, I began to realize that I had amassed a massive quantity of extra wheels and tires for the 1989 Dodge truck I have. If you combine the number of tires (18), with the number of wheels (17), you can imagine just how much space this takes up. Now, I can look at this a few different ways. I could think positively, and say “Hey, I have 1 set of wheels for each season, plus a spare!” Conversely, I could be a downer, and say “I have 17 wheels, and only 7 will physically bolt on to my truck at this very moment.” Yes, they all have the same bolt pattern, but let’s just say that my truck is weird, and doesn’t willingly accept change.  The question then arises, if the truck can only handle 4 wheels and 4 tires at any given time, do I really need 3 extra complete sets?

Metal Lathes are The Bees Knees.

Over the weekend, I got to be a part of something extremely awesome that every gearhead needs to check out at some point in life.  I brought a 66 pound round cut of 4130 steel to my brother-in-law so that he could machine it for me.  Hey, that doesn’t sound that cool! I know, relax. Let me explain.

When you think of a metal lathe built in 1942, the first thing that comes to mind is “heavy”, and that is for good reason.  It weighs around 4200 lbs and looks like an absolute man eater, but it has a gentler side as well.  If it were an animal, it would be an agreeable triceratops with a luxurious fur coat.  To give you a little perspective on what 4200 lbs feels like; just imagine the heaviest thing in the world.  This particular lathe is at least 46 times heavier than the heaviest object that you just imagined. Yes, it is that heavy.  The strange thing is that when it is in motion, it looks like smooth rotating perfection.  Everything spins with surgical precision, and all the rotating parts intermingle with each other to create a beautiful symphony of metal cutting goodness.  At the risk of sounding like a wimp (too late?), I found it to be quite soothing to watch.  Then again, I love metal.

Let’s back up the story a bit, because you don’t even know why I’m doing all this work.   I am making (really my brother in law is… 🙂 ) an upper wheel for my English wheel.  I wanted to have the greatest upper wheel in history, but I didn’t want to pay for it because I’m cheap. Thus, I am dead set on making it “myself”.  We started with a round cut of 4130 steel that was about 3.5 inches thick by 9 inches in diameter, and weighed 66 lbs.  The wheel will end up being as big as my English wheel can handle, which is totally awesome.  By the time I am done, I will probably have a few hundred dollars into a really nice set of upper and lower wheels (called anvils).  This sounds like a lot of cash money, but when compared to buying a nice set already built, I am saving hundreds.

In any case, we stuffed the giant hulk of steel into the lathe and got it spinning.  The first thing to do was to face it, because it was apparently last cut with dull rock, an axe, a sledge hammer, or a maybe a grenade.  “Rough” was the nicest way to describe it.  Several hours pass and the face of the metal was like a mirror, absolutely flawless.  Then we began on the outside of the wheel, which was apparently cut with the same prehistoric tools.  Shortly into this cut, the cutting insert that we were using became dull, and we had run out of spares.   So, we wrapped things up and made a game plan for Metal Day 2, which will take place in a few weeks.

If you’re a gearhead and ever have the opportunity to hang out in a machine shop, be sure to jump at the chance, because you may enjoy it more than you think.  There is something oddly intriguing about giant machinery that effortlessly rips metal apart.  Maybe I am alone here, but this stuff gets the adrenaline going for me.  Just remember that if you don’t respect the agreeable & furry triceratops, he will gobble you up before you can say “Cool Lathe!”.