NickD
PowerDork
4/22/19 11:53 a.m.
Knurled. said:
NickD said:
I have to replace a steering rack in a GMC Envoy. What a berkeleying automotive abortion the Envoy/Trailblazer is. I once called them "GM's failed attempt at a Grand Cherokee" much to a few of my ex-Chrysler coworkers' amusement. I still stand by that
My record is 1 hour 15 minutes. Go.
At least they give you lots of opportunity for practice.
I don't know what the procedure calls for, but if it calls for disassembling the suspension so you can pull the axles, I have always just sneaked a deepwell socket past the CV joint and held it with Vise-Grips. Cheaters never perspire
Yeah, you are supposed to pop the upper and lower ball joints loose so you can pull the knuckles completely off to get the CV shafts free. I just pop the upper ball joint loose, then lay the knuckle outwards, pup the CV shaft free from the front diff so it has some wiggle room and get a big breaker bar and deep-well socket on the nut. It's a E36 M3 setup. Honestly, this all turned out to be a bit of a farce replacing the rack too, The rack appeared to be pouring fluid out of it, but on further disassembly I found that he had it somewhere else and they put new power steering lines in (which are a whole 'nother headache to replace. At least the cooler was looped off, like most) and never put the weirdo seals back in the rack.
In reply to NickD :
Yes, those seals can die screaming.
NickD
PowerDork
4/22/19 2:42 p.m.
Knurled. said:
In reply to NickD :
Yes, those seals can die screaming.
Some engineer found out his wife was cheating on him shortly before he was tasked to design a new power steering fluid seal. That's the only reason for those to exist. They're awful. Even new, half the time they don't seal because the lines don't puncture them correctly.
Not sure how I feel about a car dealer not knowing what a limited slip diff is. Messaged the dealer that sells the P71's locally and he doesnt know what an lsd is... I sent him the door code for LSD's in p71's so I will see if he has any or attempts to look and see if any of his cars have them.
In reply to MrChaos :
Just tell them to park it in the dirt, do a burnout and send you the pics. It's way easier than explaining what an LSD is.
On a similar note, when I was test driving a FiST, I asked the salesman if it had a first gear boost cut. He had no idea what I was talking about. Not everyone who sells cars is really all that into them.
In reply to kazoospec :
the man only sells govt surplus cvpi's and explorers
I chopped the finger print off my left index finger wit a very sharp knife. Lots of meat with it, too. Lots of blood. Suprisingly, little pain. But the bastard throbs, hard.
I amused myself by calling said finger, "THROB ZOMBIE."
Flat top stoves... I'm on my third one and I've yet to use one that wouldn't turn everything into charcoal instantly, even at the lowest setting.
It's like every engineer tasked with designing one of these said "let's just pulse the power at maximum volume, it'll average out to the temperature they selected..."
NO! NO IT WONT!!! It's going to burn everything I try to cook into charcoal crust on the bottom of all my good stainless cookware the first time my pan is up to temp and the stove cycles again!!!
Yesterday I made egg charcoal, hamburger charcoal, and baked bean charcoal. I also managed to turn butter into brown sticky too that won't come off without using industrial grade acid.
AND THAT WAS AT SETTING "2"!!!!!
I hope the engineer(s) responsible get divorced so they have to do their own dang cooking on their crappy flat top stoves because I KNOW they aren't the ones doing it now because if they were they would KNOW that full power for one second and zero power for three does NOT mean the same thing as 25%.
Give me gas, wood burning, or the good old fashioned coil tops but I'd rather have salted lemon juice poured on a thousand paper cuts than another flat top stove.
mtn
MegaDork
4/23/19 7:36 a.m.
I have been cooking on flat-top stoves for most of my life--used 4 different ones, although all have been higher end. We have gas now. I honestly have never experienced what you're describing with either gas or electric, or flattop electric. Are you using good pots and pans? Is it a super cheap stove?
In reply to Hungary Bill :
My mother has a flat top like that. Hers does have two settings though. Slightly Warm but never cooked, and Heart of the Sun.
We switched to gas a couple of years back. I'll never go back.
AWSX1686 said:
My neighbors decided to throw a fit about street parking as soon as I got out of the car tonight. I tried to handle it calmly, but it ended up being about 10 minutes of yelling at each other in the end. I’m so “inconsiderate” apparently. Ugh!!!!
I’m not a confrontational person, but if you’re starting the issue with me by yelling instead of just asking nicely, it would go a whole lot better.
Anyways, calmed down by looking at houses online to be not so close to neighbors in general. Actually found one we might want to look at.
Now I find out he may be harassing one of my tenants.
Make a fuss about my parking is one thing, but if you're actually harassing my tenants, and her grandchildren, I'm not going to let that slide. Confirming with the tenant directly before I say anything, but their landlord will be getting a notice, and a police report will be filed if that makes sense. I won't stand for that type of behavior towards women.
Fortunately, he has never said anything to my wife besides one day yelling about her parking. Probably a smart move on his part not to.
Yeah, good, thick, stainless cookware.
Slightly warm or heart of the sun describes it perfectly. All three of them that we've had were all the same way...
It makes me want to do unspeakable things to the engineers every time I cook something. Our last house had gas and it was everything dreams are made of.
I'm thinking of asking a local machine shop cut me some thick stainless discs about the size of the burners to see if it would help buffer things a bit (Like a flywheel, but for a stove ).
Dear Advance Auto,
If you have to have my name, address, and phone number to complete a sale, then I have to buy my crap somewhere else. My $20 bills don't require that. I don't want your card. I'm perfectly capable of keeping up with a receipt. You don't need my info. That was $100 in oil and filters I just left on your counter.
Even Walmart isn't as nosy as you people. I'll just buy my crap there.
Thanks,
Not a customer.
In reply to Hungary Bill :
I thought it was the way my wife used the cooktop. Had a coil top unit and burned out the big coil. Replaced it a couple times then went with a glass top. The big burner now has 2 settings, inferno and off. My Korean wife always puts the big pots on it to make some type of soup and to heat the bit pot it takes a high setting. Cook top worked like it's supposed to when we first got it. Now have to stand there and turn it off when it starts going inferno and then turn it back on when cools off too much. But only on the big burner, all the rest work as advertised. The big pot she uses for her soup is one size smaller than a turkey fryer pot. Probably shouldn't be used on a stove in the first place. Going gas isn't an option where my house is. No gas lines in my neighborhood, would have to install a propane tank, plumb the house/kitchen for propane and buy the cook top. Not economically feasible. Was talk a several years ago about getting gas in the neighborhood but that talk died down quickly when everyone figured out that the city would only run the lines in the neighborhood, homeowner would have to pay to run from the street to the house and plumb the house and buy all new appliances. Just too costly to justify.
In reply to wlkelley3 :
Just as a FYI, I had to plumb my house for the gas stove. We run a 20 pound propane tank and it lasts about 3 months of normal cooking for a family of 4. It was well worth the time and the money.
Great, I suspect the SSD in the Mac Pro I’ve been limping along appears to have just jumped off a bridge. As usual, no warning but it’s about the only explanation I have why simultaneously thinks it has 200GB free and no free space.
Of course this happens right after time machine decided it had to wipe the previous backup, too.
Maybe this is finally the incentive for me to move the remainder of my personal stuff (mostly music) over to my PC. Or build a Hackintosh.
BoxheadTim said:
Great, I suspect the SSD in the Mac Pro I’ve been limping along appears to have just jumped off a bridge. As usual, no warning but it’s about the only explanation I have why simultaneously thinks it has 200GB free and no free space.
Of course this happens right after time machine decided it had to wipe the previous backup, too.
Maybe this is finally the incentive for me to move the remainder of my personal stuff (mostly music) over to my PC. Or build a Hackintosh.
Nah, replace the SSD, reinstall OS and keep trucking.
You’re the one that didn’t backup your backups, don’t take it out on the hardware for that.
In reply to Stefan :
Oh, I do have backups of the backups for the past three months, that’s not the issue here. The timing of OSX deciding to wipe the previous backup is mostly annoying as it leaves me with potentially having to do three restores (first check with the current backup in the hope that the data isn’t corrupt, if it is because it came from an SSD going bad, go back and restore the data from the external drive to my fake time machine and then back to the Mac Pro).
This box has seen a tons of mods to keep it usable over the years, because I don’t like the newer Mac Pro hardware as it’s hard to fix. That has made the box a bit of a hodgepodge of parts over the years and it hasn’t been as rock solid as it used to be. OTOH I also get the impression that the software in general isn’t getting any better either.
To be fair this is a ten year old machine. That it lasted this long in pro use is a testament how well built it is.
Picking up TM from the airport this morning (5 am and an hour away from home) I was planning to take her Jag as last night I started it (after Easters’ starter failure) by tapping the solenoid with a hammer. Apparently that trick was good for exactly one try because two tappings at 4 am just yielded the horrid starter not-quite-engaging noise.
So the airport run is being done in the STR Miata. It’s “darty”.
Spent until 11PM night staring down into a 1000 gallon E36 M3 tank in my yard while the serviceman pumped out 6 years of my family's E36 M3. Because the toilets in our house stopped flushing.
mtn
MegaDork
4/24/19 12:47 p.m.
FLOUNDER ALERT
A presidential candidate has proposed forgiveness of student loans. I have an acquaintance that keeps posting on Facebook about how this needs to happen, the student loan system is out of hand, etc., basically implying that her loans NEED to be forgiven.
This infuriates me. I worked my ass off through MIDDLE SCHOOL, high school, and college. I went to a state school. I have had at least 2 jobs since I was 18. I'm 29 now, and I STILL have 2 jobs. My wife has 2 jobs. I also try to pick up money where I can by buying things at estate sales and selling on eBay. In 2018, when we were 28 and 29, we bought my wife a brand new van... that was a year old. Prior to that, our two cars were an average of 13 years old and worth a combined $6000. I still am driving an 18 year old car with 290k miles on it.
This person who is touting this loan forgiveness on facebook, has bought 3 new cars since college (same age as us). They went on numerous vacations each year. They had brand new phones. They ate out every meal in college. They "deserved" all this nice stuff, they said, because they were working hard in school. Now, they "deserve" to have their student loans forgiven.
Where the berkeley is my free lunch?
I don't deny that I have been fortunate. I don't deny that there is a HUGE problem with financial education for teenagers and college students. I don't deny that SOMETHING needs to be done about the student debt crisis. But forgiveness of the loans? Are you going to double my hard work during MIDDLE SCHOOL, high school, and college? Or the second jobs that my wife and I have had? Do we get a free vacation or 6? Where the berkeley is my free lunch?
mtn
MegaDork
4/24/19 12:54 p.m.
Oh, and if you want me to make a proposal about what to do about the problem:
- Limit the interest rates to 3%.
- Double the repayment period for all existing loans with outstanding balance
- REQUIRE a comprehensive course for anybody taking out a new loan with what it actually costs and how long it takes to repay
- Reward early repayment somehow on top of the interest saved
In reply to mtn :
berkeleying A! ive always worked hard. 2-3 jibs at a time so my family can have a decent live. Drive 20 year old vehicles. Etc. And then some entitled motherberkeleyer who has no financial acumen whatsoever bitches about their debt and how "the struggle is real". Only debts now are medical and mortgage for us. And i GUARANTEE i make less than mpst people i know. Sorry, you hit a button with me.....
mtn said:
FLOUNDER ALERT
A presidential candidate has proposed forgiveness of student loans. I have an acquaintance that keeps posting on Facebook about how this needs to happen, the student loan system is out of hand, etc., basically implying that her loans NEED to be forgiven.
This infuriates me. I worked my ass off through MIDDLE SCHOOL, high school, and college. I went to a state school. I have had at least 2 jobs since I was 18. I'm 29 now, and I STILL have 2 jobs. My wife has 2 jobs. I also try to pick up money where I can by buying things at estate sales and selling on eBay. In 2018, when we were 28 and 29, we bought my wife a brand new van... that was a year old. Prior to that, our two cars were an average of 13 years old and worth a combined $6000. I still am driving an 18 year old car with 290k miles on it.
This person who is touting this loan forgiveness on facebook, has bought 3 new cars since college (same age as us). They went on numerous vacations each year. They had brand new phones. They ate out every meal in college. They "deserved" all this nice stuff, they said, because they were working hard in school. Now, they "deserve" to have their student loans forgiven.
Where the berkeley is my free lunch?
I don't deny that I have been fortunate. I don't deny that there is a HUGE problem with financial education for teenagers and college students. I don't deny that SOMETHING needs to be done about the student debt crisis. But forgiveness of the loans? Are you going to double my hard work during MIDDLE SCHOOL, high school, and college? Or the second jobs that my wife and I have had? Do we get a free vacation or 6? Where the berkeley is my free lunch?
Well the person complaining should really keep their mouth shut because of the 3 new cars (and other upper-middle-class luxuries), but on the other hand, if you have a specific aversion to letting younger people have things easier than you, that's crabs-in-a-bucket thinking.
Duke
MegaDork
4/24/19 1:14 p.m.
Duke said:
ARE YOU BERKING KIDDING ME
I've been working 10-hour days all week on a crush deadline. Next week won't be any better due to backlogged projects put aside for this one.
I'm having 20 people, mostly family, to my house on Sunday. Some of the fun ones aren't coming and some of the not-fun ones are. Typically the last folks trickle out around 9:00p, and the place is a wreck with dirty dishes, leftovers, etc.
Monday morning I have to be on site, 2 hours' drive away, at 9:00a.
Next Saturday is our first autocross of the season, and I have to finish prepping the car and getting the T&S equipment ready. And find somebody to tow the trailer to the site.
IT NEVER BERKING FAILS
A week later, now I'm stressed twice as much:
- Workload hasn't slowed down. At all. Everything is overdue.
- Got 2 extra tasks dumped on me today. Only a couple hours each, but every minute of every day is already spoken for.
- First autocross of the season is Saturday. I'm program chair. Season opener is always stressful. This one especially so because:
A) It's our first with the "grand re-re-opening" system that I put together after the main bits of the previous system got destroyed in a microburst last August, and I am not 100% (or even 90%) confident in it;
B) It's our first at a new venue where I've never run before, which has some quirky terrain;
C) Preregistrations were down enough to worry me 10 days ago, but now they are up enough to worry me - we're about at what I consider comfortable capacity (75 cars) even without walkups, and I know we'll get some;
D) At least half of those are names I have never seen before, and are therefore unknown quantities;
E) A bunch of my regulars are not coming, so I may be shorthanded for experienced workers and setup help;
F) Program budget is tight, and I had to buy a new mobile hotspot because our old NetZero 3G dongle (which was perfectly adequate) is no longer supported, so that's an entry and a half in break-even money lost;
G) I still have a bunch of data gathering and printing to do for the event;
H) The course draft design still isn't finished.
At least Easter is over. It was fun (as always) but a lot of work.