Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
Foreign press leaks pics of New Saab SUV concept car
Saab’s putting out a new small SUV to compete with the BMW X3 and Land Rover LR2 Freelander. It’s called the 9-4X, and a prototype will be shown at the Detroit Auto show next week. The first pics hit the web ahead of schedule. Not bad looking, but does the world need another small SUV?
2010 Ford Mustang GT spied, sporting GT500 wheels?
Jalopnik was the first to bring you pictures of a heavily camouflaged 2010 Ford Mustang and now they’re going up-powered. They’re the first to bring pictures of a similarly camouflaged 2010 Ford Mustang GT…and it appears to be sporting GT500 wheels.
Toyota reveals A-BAT El Camino-like concept pickup truck
It’s a truck-car from Toyota that looks like it was formed via a menage-a-truck between the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevy Avalanche and a Toyota Prius.
Exploding the new Corvette ZR1’s LS9 engine
An exploded view of the 620+ HP supercharged LS9 engine from the newly revealed 2009 Corvette ZR1 just to show how it ticks. Here’s every single part in the engine — in detail — for all to see.
5 Things you need to know about the new Corvette ZR1
This cocktail party cheat sheet might come in handy this week. Among the weirder things: the Ferrari Enzo’s front brakes are the new Corvette’s rear brakes, and a special paint coating for the roof cost GM over $60,000 per gallon.
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Saturday, January 5th, 2008
I went out today to give my new Sony Handycam Camcorder a try. I have mad skillz and I know how to use them. I decided that a look at the engine of the new car would be cool as well as a drive down the road. I had to go drop off some clothes at the clothing drop anyway, so it was a good excuse to use the camera.
As you know, I have been putting some videos on YouTube. My Honda Accord videos have been getting quite a few views. I guess people out there are interested in the new body style. Get this – some little 19 year old posted a comment on one of my videos stating that the car I posted a video on wasn’t really an “EX” or a “V6.” Ok, then…just for him, I took some video of the engine…
…and this is me trying out the camera while driving down the road…
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Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
I gave the Honda dealer down in Middletown a call yesterday just to feel them out. I know I have been talking about getting a new car recently, but the fact of the matter is, my car runs great and I don’t really want to buy a new car. This is supposed to be the year of saving money.
It seems that around every corner I swing myself, there is someone standing there with their hand out looking for thousands of dollars. I don’t like to give out thousands of dollars. I just don’t like it. Over the Summer was the porch, last month and this month is the kitchen. Am I supposed to pay for a new car this month too? As my father used to say, (as well as every other father out there, I’m sure) “Money doesn’t grow on trees. Now get out there and split some wood.”
Let me tell you the reason why I feel like I am being pushed into buying a new car. The first nudge was by the accountant. Accountants don’t like getting yelled at by their clients for the client having to pay lots of money in taxes. The accountant would rather the client spend lots of money for write-offs. The second nudge is the mileage of the car. I think I have over 150,000 miles on it. I got the timing belt changed at about 80,000, which means it needs to be changed again. That’s a bit more than $600 (because of the V6 and no room to work). The final thing that may put me over the edge is the fact that I have to get the car inspected by the end of the month. That wouldn’t be so bad if the “check engine” light wasn’t on. They won’t inspect the car if the “check engine” light is on. That whole thing really stinks, because so many cars always run great (including mine), but because of the check engine light, people can’t get them inspected.
The light went on over the summer and I brought the car to AutoZone. They will plug the engine light thingy into the car to get the error codes for free. There was nothing wrong with the car. A cylinder “missed,” which tripped the light. I took off one the battery terminals to reset the light and it stayed off for a good long time. When the light went back on, I tried the same thing. This time, the light turned off for a much shorter time and then went back on. This may be something as simple as a spark plug wire arcing or something with a spark plug itself. Who knows. The fact that it’s 3 degrees outside doesn’t help any.
I guess I could go out there later in the week to fool around with it. I am going to give the dealer another call today, just to see what they have in stock, but make no mistake, I don’t like it.
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Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
My brother has gotten to the point of rebuilding the engine of his 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. The engine is a 1970 351 Cleveland that was built on Aug 10, 1969. That’s a pretty long time ago.
I gave Jeff a call yesterday and he told me about what he was doing. I got excited, because it reminded me of the days when I was cool…rebuilding engines of my own. I am partial to Chevy small blocks, but I guess Fords are ok too. I remember every detail of rebuilding all my engines. It is quite interesting, because you get to see how everything works and how different parts have different effects on performance.
So, here is what he told me. He pulled the engine a while back. He recently took the heads off to measure the bore of the cylinders. This is important because if the bore of the cylinders is too large, that means the cylinders are worn and they need to be bored out. You hear this kind of talk a lot among 16 year olds that ride 2-stroke dirt bikes. They are always talking about “boring out” their engines. I know this, because I was one of them (16 year old, that is). Remember, if measuring the diameter of the cylinders, make sure you take the measurement more than a half-inch down, inside the cylinders. The top half-inch of the cylinder doesn’t get touched by the piston rings…the part that wears the cylinder.
Anyway, there is another important measurement that Jeff needed to take, and that was the diameter of the bottom of the cylinder compared to the top of the same cylinder. This is a measurement to see if the cylinders are “tapered,” meaning, one part of the cylinder is worn more than the other. Since this is kind of a tough measurement to take, Jeff brought the engine down to his local machine shop. He is getting a bunch of work done to the engine down there. Here is a list of what they are going to do:
- Measure the cylinder diameters (like I described above)
- If ok, (which they are…it was already done) hone the cylinders the proper way for the type of rings that will be installed
- Clean the outside of the engine block and heads
- Flush the inside of the engine block and install new freeze out plugs
- Install new camshaft bearings
- Give the cylinder heads a valve job
- Install hardened valve seats to allow for unleaded gasoline
I am probably missing something. I forget a lot in these later years of life. In any event, this is all the stuff that requires professional attention. Jeff can take care of the other stuff, like installing the camshaft, the timing set, etc… All that takes in a steady hand and a torque wrench. I am sure the engine will come out very nicely. Jeff is currently looking for genuine Ford colored engine paint, to get the color just right. This is important with an engine like this because it is going to be restored to original specs. With a “matching numbers” car like this, you can’t make mistakes like painting the engine the wrong color.
Here are some “before” photos of the engine:
Jeff is also sending the carburetor out to Pony Carburetors for a total rebuild. Apparently, their rebuild techniques take a lot of natural issues out of the carburetor. I am sure there will be a post dedicated to that alone.
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Saturday, August 12th, 2006
I have been holding onto a gift certificate that Laura gave me for almost two years now. It is from 1-800-SKY-RIDE. The gift certificate was for tandem Hang Gliding with an instructor. How I ended up with this certificate escapes me. I am assuming that about two years ago, I was probably running my mouth about how awesome it would be to soar like a bird and how I would love, just love to go hang gliding one day. Low and behold, Christmas rolls around and a hang gliding gift certificate finds it’s way into my hand.
I though about switching it up with the company and adding a few bucks so we could both go on a balloon ride or something nice like that. Then a year passed. After that, the next year’s summer was coming to an end and I began to think that it would be a terrible waste to let this very expensive gift expire. Ah, what to do.
Today, the car drove me to Randall Airport in Middletown, NY. There was a guy there who accepted these gift certificates. 1-800-SKY-RIDE is a national company that works with local places. They charge a premium to purchase the gift certificate through them, because it is much easier. Then, you just have to redeem it at a local company that accepts them.
I arrived at about 9AM. It was quite breezy and cold. There were a few people hanging around talking the talk. No one was walking the walk yet. Everyone kept looking at the tops of the trees move in the wind. I think they all agreed that it was just too breezy to go up at that moment. I had to be home by noon because I had to meet a wood stove guy at my house. We were going to go over an install (another post). I asked the hang gliding instructor about just taking a ride up in the ultralight. I always wanted one of them and dreamed about cruising above the treetops around the neighborhood to friend’s houses. They agreed and we started walking towards the ultralight.
I thought to myself that this was going to be a snap. After this I would hop in my car and get back home. That’s when things got interesting. The pilot and I jumped in the seats and buckled up. He started the engine and we began to taxi up and down the grass runway looking for the best spot to take off from. In such a light aircraft, you have to find where the wind is coming right towards you. I yelled out a question…”How much runway do we need to get airborn?” He yelled back, “Not much at all.” Just then, he nailed the throttle. We jolted forward at about…I would say…400MPH. After about 10 feet of my chest collapsing, we were in the air. The ultralight was bouncing around in the wind and we were going straight up. I have never in my life felt such a sensation. It was not a good one. The air began to get colder as we rose higher. I could now see Middletown below me and the airport getting smaller. Just then, I looked between my legs, down past my sneakers at the ground. THE GROUND!!!! Wait, we were now at 2500 feet and rising and I was looking down past my sneakers at the ground??? Oh crap. I decided to really try to relax and enjoy the ride. I couldn’t do it. There was so much adreneline running through my veins, my legs started to shake. I was freaking out and it was freezing. All I was wearing was a fleece.
I took a quick glance at the altimeter to see how high we were. We were now at 3000 feet and still rising. Apparently, the wind was sucking us up. With something so light and wings so big, the lift is incredible. We kept getting pulled up. After about 20 minutes of sitting in the same spot flying into the wind, I waved to the pilot, motioning politely and thinking, “Ok, you crazy bastard, let’s get the hell out of this sky and off this flying bicycle.”
He banked hard left and began to decend. We were having a tough time getting down because the wind kept pulling us up. We finally made it so the runway was straight ahead. We started decending quite rapidly. A little too fast for my taste. I swear we were going right towards the ground. I pretty much admitted to myself that we were dead. I honestly thought we were going to die. As we made our way down, down, down, the ground got closer fast. When we were about 5 feet from the ground, my arms now fully braced on the pipes on either side of me, the pilot pulled up fast. We landed quickly and smoothly. We taxied back to our place of origination and turned off the death machine. The pilot was all grins. He asked how I liked it. I mumbled out, “Great. I really had a great time.” At the same time I tried very hard to conceal the fact that my knees were almost clacking together.
Everyone on the ground who watched us go up agreed that they saw a lot of turbulence on our way up and a complete nosedive on our way down. They thought it was too windy.
I hung out for a few minutes and then got in my car to leave. I called a few friends and after about a half hour, began to relax.
If you are reading this and in any way, shape or form think that I may be exaggerating, please, be my guest and reserve your spot on the next ultralight ride out of Randall Airport in Middletown. Heh, heh. Then, give me a call and we’ll talk about it.
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Friday, August 11th, 2006
Life is way too short. There are many reasons why someone would like to take flying lessons…for the thrill, the advantages of getting from one place to another in a shorter amount of time than driving, enjoyment, etc… Many reasons.
For me, the driving force is to get places fast. I really need to start visiting my family in North Carolina more. I need to see my nieces and nephews. I don’t want to be that uncle who never visits, or the one who the kids hear alot about but never really got to know.
My dream is to have my family waiting for me at the Wilmington International Airport (KILM) and for them to watch me land in my own plane. I really think that would be something.
My father has talked about getting his pilot’s license and getting a plane, but never got around to it. Maybe some day. Until then, he will have to sit in the passenger’s seat. Maybe I will let him fly…a little.
I looked around the area for a small airport and bumped into the Orange County Airport (KMGJ). It’s about a half hour from where I live. I called Quade’s Flight School. Gary answered the phone. He seemed like a very nice guy who has been around planes for a very long time. I set up the “Intro” flight lesson for $60. Basically, it is a half hour flight to get the tip of your toe wet. When you land, you say, “Sign me up, I am taking out a loan” or “Get me the hell out of this thing.” I said “Sign me up, but I will pay by check.”
We went up in his trainer…a Piper Cherokee. The intro flight consisted of learning about the pre-flight inspection of the plane, going over the checklist, taxiing to the runway, takeoff, some maneuvers and landing. The instructor, Gary let me perform some turns at about 2500 msl (mean sea level). That was pretty cool. I have never controlled an airplane before, so that was a thrill. I flew by myself for about 15 minutes. When we were approaching the airport for landing, Gary cut the throttle. He said he liked to do this for the new students to show that if an airplane of this size loses the engine in mid-air for some reason, you won’t spiral out of control and plummet to the earth. We landed very smoothly with no power.
After we landed and taxied to the hangar, Gary asked me if I was in. I said I was and set up my next lesson for Sunday, August 20 and 10:30AM.
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