Ulu

They have announced that here in California they’re going to make gasoline cars illegal, so I’m gonna start trying to figure out how to convert mine to run on moonshine made from lawn clippings. I can get all the free lawn clippings I want from my Gardener. You wouldn’t want to drink this stuff but it might be 0K to run in a car.

Yesterday I took the Mrs out for a gourmet burgers at The House of JuJu here in old town Clovis. It was the first time we've been in a restaurant for 8 mos. Twice I got take-out, but every day we have been at home except simple one-mile trips to the grocery etc. The boat, motorcycle, sedan, and all the project cars are dusty and unloved. If I can't GO, I lose my motivation to DO. ;(

I always wanted to do this too, until I decided that I wanted struts and Rack & pinion. Then I decided I wanted a Cadillac, and the Plymouth has been aging ever since. (Cadillac gone for 20 years now, but still keeping '47 Plymouth.)

Notice how reversion of the intake flow spits raw fuel into the intake plenum, that just sits there in a still air pocket, because there is no flow. It's in a sort of "backwater" motion. I'll bet if you shut this car off then restart within 30 secs, you get a too-rich hot start and have to really crank it.

Pawn shops here are all in a part of the county seat I avoid. We have a tiny one here that only deals on jewelery, coins etc. No tools nor shootin' iron.

Maybe so. The other iron one is a Benfield Electrunite. The markings are much nicer than on the T&B. The aluminum ones are modern style aluminum Gardners with the levels. Those are like $80 new. I bought all 4 for $15 I miss going to auctions. Since the virus, they've been all closed down.

The cast iron one on the right, and the moving hook one on the left are both marked for 3/4" EMT.

This is a question for some old electrician with conduit bending experience. I bought these benders at auction years ago, for a pittance, and they have certainly worked OK for me, but the one with a movable hook is a total mystery. It's marked "T&B Steeltubes Bender" It had a short handle and there's no pedal to step on. Is it removable? Is the pedal missing? Is this from a bench bender? Some roll-about unit?

ASSUMING you have fuel, compression, and pretty good timing. . . . If the engine is a bit rusty/sticky inside from sitting, I would tow-start the car instead of burning up the starter. Once everything loosens up a bit it may be easier to start. Now if it's a rare and valuable engine, I wouldn't want to do that. I'd want to tear it all down and build it back up. But not everyone can or will, and this is a cast iron Mopar. You won't really hurt it unless there's already something very wrong, in which case you'll be tearing down soon anyhow. But a quick tow around the block may get it running enough to tell much more about the condition of things. You're going to have a rusty cylinder, ring and valve on whichever cylinders stopped with a valve open, and sat there for years. The only time this doesn't happen is if the car is properly prepared for long term storage, which almost never happens.

Oh yeah. I am officially jealous of Plymouthy's pole barn and lift.

I've wired up a lot of LEDs in the past, including putting in can lights in my garage, lamps in the workshed and toolshed, and built many low to high power aquarium lights. I find there is good performance overall, and they usually last and last, but there are some inferior ones on the market. If you put up a dozen new bulbs, and one is a little "different" in the color or intensity, check that one by bulb-swapping. If your connections are good, you've found a brand with poor quality control. I've built a 5-lamp fixture from Walmart "Great Value" dimmable LED bulbs, and one is failing prematurely. It now takes more voltage to boot than the rest. They are all on one big dimmer.

That 18 gauge will be 0K to run several lo watt LEDs, but Don’t try to run power tools off of it.

That car didn’t actually have working brakes! The calipers were just dragging 24/7 on the rotors.

Home wiring is designed with wire that is double insulated. Commercial wiring goes in a steel conduit and it has insulation designed to go through a conduit without damage. Automotive wire doesn’t have that. But a stranded wire is better than solid wire of the same gauge. It’s just more expensive, and it can carry more current than the solid wire. Anyhow using automotive wire in household lamps is not a problem as long as you don’t have excess heat or abuse the insulation. I put up some LED bulbs (not the tubes) in my shed the other day and when I looked at it the package said it should last 50,000 hours. I didn’t even buy sockets. I just soldered them right to the 12 gauge copper. Now, I did not come out of the commercial electrician business. I am a radio guy and I’m used to building chassis on the bench. It doesn’t bother me to solder things that cause other people grief in the future.

I sketched out my pumpkin today for the Halloween jack-o’-lantern.

Paul, this happens often when I show a strong opinion on things. I hope nobody thinks my purpose was to start a fight.

Actually vibration’s not a bad method. It also helps to ensure 100% mold fill. I’ve seen lots of concrete work friend. I used to work in an engineering office designing foundations for school buildings. I have used the solvent-wash method to smooth clear PVC plastic parts that I created for my aquariums. This works very well with plastics like acrylite, plexiglas, polystyrene and PVC. It does not work quite as well with Lexan, But I can solvent glue Lexan to PVC Or plexiglass. I also make parts out of high density poly, but with plastics like polypropylene I use a torch and flame polish them. No common solvent will touch that stuff. That’s what they use for glue bottles because nothing sticks to it.

I believe lot of hopeful theories will add up to a dead red dirtball, unless we can some day terraform on a planetary scale. Living in domes on Mars is a worse backup plan than fixing the Earth or living in domes here. I've read a million words about Mars, and as a backup plan it's a large prison. That doesn't mean we shouldn't explore Mars, and beyond. But as a species we don't even know how to survive responsibly in an easy situation with air and water. What makes anyone think we're not ignoring our failure to just sneak on to the next? It's like this: If you have 9 cars but you don't have the talent and resources to preserve the very best one, you certainly can't approach restoring a rusty hulk, once you get to it. Thinking otherwise seems a willful disregard. It's like thinking, "our utopian idea will work, because the people will react better this time." Imagine the Earth is fried by a captured planetoid (not hard, as it's been the subject of a hundred SF tales) and some small remnant is left to survive on Mars alone. How would it not wind up the same? IMO We don't want to change planets. We want to change ourselves. That's harder than going to Mars.

OH, yeah, special mixing nozzles may be available, and they help eliminate bubbles vs stick-mixing. Now that frank piqued my interest, I started some research and it seems the pressure pot degassing method method is very popular now. we weren't allowed high-pressure air in the shop.

My Pontiac just had the chrome chief head, without the lovely amber plastic, but I loved the light in the P15 ornament. I tinted the inside amber, because it looked better than just a little yellow bulb. Eventually the amber tint turned smokey grey from the sunlight. No UV stability in the tint I used. A 3D printer will work, but it won't be smooth. You'll have to sand and buff to make it shine like glass. And you will want to use a plastic that's UV resistant or "stabilized". If you can capture a silicone mold from a perfect metal ornament, and stiffen it to hold the weight, it can be used to mold plastic resin into a smooth surface like glass. We did this in the 8th grade at Woodland Jr High, 1967 shop class. I used a ceramic statuette, cast the silicone, then recast with catalyzed polyester resin. Many special resins are available nowadays, and I would consult a plastics supplier. The issue is getting the bubbles out. You can use heat, centrifuge, or vacuum degassing pot; degassing being the best IMO. To centrifuge you need a strong mold. using the heat gun is OK, but I'd avoid the torch. Hard to get even heating.

I'm tellin' ya it was all about body english. ? Fred was strong enough to wedge the chassis left or right in a curve, as he drove. What looks like a steering wheel was just for leverage. Nothing "steers" conventionally. To go left sharply he stomped down the left foot and the car did a skid-steer . . . stomp right to go hard right. Stomp both feet for brakes.

The asparagus here has been legendary. I had never seen any such thing as a child. Not that I'm growing it. I can see the Savemart just down the block from my back fence! I live where vegetable stands and fruit stands dot the countryside. There's 10 million small farmers here. It's easy to find food. Try finding a good plumber, mechanic, electrician, or mason! They are busy as hell. We've had thousands of houses burn down in a state with a shortage of affordable housing. Any guy with a framing hammer and a skilsaw had work if he wanted. So I fix cars, run wiring, build dog kennels and pour quikcrete. This week I've been running industrial-type power to the sheds, and soon the random extension cords will be history. This is inside the wife's garden shed, and the next-to-last receptacle in the run, which I installed first. (There will be a lamp on the other end of the flex.) I used compression connectors for max rigidity. I didn't get clips for the MC flex cable yet. That exits the shed, running to my shed, overhead thru the dog kennel. There you can finally see some garden. It looks hazy as there is still smoke coming down the mountains. Also this shows the silver 1/2" EMT running between sheds. It's about 76" long. I'll want to clip it to the steel awning frame. You can also see the subpanel on the house where my power will come from. It will all eventually meet in my shed.

Ehhhh, I've heard of artistic license and I've heard of lazy artists. If ya gotta draw a car, go look at one first. They're in the parking lot right outside. You don't have to guess. Who remembers the exposed rockers and pushrods slinging oil from Cruella de Vill's engine, as she literally ripped the bodywork off, chasing dogs cross-country in a low-slung saloon? (Reportedly a 1936 Alvis) Now THAT was a cartoon!

OMG! I don't need a heat attack today. Yikes! If that was you, I was going to come take your power tools away. (Assuming Darlene had not already sold them.) As carpenters go, I know first hand that you are a bit of a cowboy, sir. I was 100% taken. ?

"Artist" has never actually looked under a car once.... Otherwise, pretty funny and somewhat true.