Today I Learned (TIL)

Knurled said:

TIL that if you heat a brake caliper orange around the bleeder area, then go to run water over it to cool it off again so that you don't heat-damage the seals because they're kind of smoking a bit, use a long pair of tongs and not a 5" long pair of Vise-Grips.

Peripherally, TIL that cold water will turn into scalding steam instantly upon contact with metal that isn't even hot enough to be dark red in color anymore.  I don't mean steam like gentle steam from a really hot shower, either.  This is not a good thing if the 5" pair of Vise-Grips forces your hand to be directly above the caliper.

My right middle finger is a bed of blistered skin.  How will I drive in traffic now?

A long time ago i learned that if a caliper bracket has a seized slide pin, and you try to free it up by heating the bracket red hot, that all you have to do is graze the pin with pliers and it will shoot out with about the same velocity as a rifle. The ceiling in the shop was about 25 feet high, it put a hole in the insulation. It sounded like a gun going off. It missed my face by inches. That heat built A LOT of air pressure in there. It was very scary.

In reply to gearheadmb :

I've done this a few times (before I got tired of it twice a year per caliper, and got some reman calipers on Rockauto for the Subarus).  

never let go of one fortunately, to put a hole in the ceiling though, wow....I always had vice grips locked on as tight as they would go to get it moving.  
but there was definitely some considerable explosive force behind the pin when it got vice-grip wiggled all the way out.  (the little internal rubber boot around the recessed part of the pin  probably had just melted into goop when the caliper got up to 900 degrees... according to  cheapo HF laser/IR thermometer)

Some replacement wheel cylinders for 50-plus-year-old American cars come with metric bleeder screws.  I learned this while laying on the ground with 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8" wrenches at hand, thinking I was prepared and wouldn't have to be up/down too many times.

TIL how easy it is to completely and utterly cook Crown Vic brakes.

The 72-Hour Rule is tough to follow.  

slantvaliant said:

Some replacement wheel cylinders for 50-plus-year-old American cars come with metric bleeder screws.  I learned this while laying on the ground with 1/4", 5/16", and 3/8" wrenches at hand, thinking I was prepared and wouldn't have to be up/down too many times.

I'm pretty sure that every fastener that used to have 9/16" across the flats heads is now actually 14mm.  14mm sockets fit SAE nuts/bolts made in the past 20 years or so but not ones from the 60s and earlier.

TIL that Arby's isn't a name.  It's a pronounciation of RB.  Roast Beef.  Why is it that every time I learn something I feel dumber.

TIL that the distrust I have for modern "art" is well-founded.

In reply to Knurled :

From wikipdeia:

the name "Arby's", based on R. B., the initials of Raffel Brothers. The Raffel brothers opened the first new restaurant in Boardman, Ohio, just outside Youngstown, on July 23, 1964.

They did run an ad campaign years ago with the slogan "America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir" 

So, I'm not 100% sure which is correct. Good sandwiches though. Dammit. Now I'm hungry.

It took me entirely too long to realize that "Eminem" was literally just "M and M", or Marshall Mathers' initials. 

Also TIL, according to the state of Kentucky, my Malibu is literally worthless. Frankly I agree with them.

Knurled said:

TIL that my Volvo is for sale.

This revelation sponsored by the letters "R" and "S", and the numbers "turbo" and "all wheel drive".

 

Giggity.

 

Well, it's dependent on what the credit application spits back, but filling out one of those for the first time in over a decade, I kind of did a double take at how much I make a month now.  That and having no real credit issues in the last 15 years or so, I'm probably good...

TIL that an awesome credit score doesn't mean that anyone will actually lend you money.  I keep getting reports in the low 700s range, but I can't yet get a loan because nobody has loaned me money.  Mind you, I *do* have about $7000 in revolving credit, about $1500 of which is utilized at any given time, plus a couple lines of unlimited credit that I am damned sure to not abuse.

Oh well.  If they want to be weenies, fark 'em.  I'm still perfectly happy with throwing money at $1000 cars instead of making payments.

TIL how to rebuild a magneto on a 1950 cub tractor.

Tractors are very different beasts than cars.

TIL that you don't really feel like a racer until you call all the parts stores in the area looking for a part using the line "but my race is this weekend" and then end up overnighting said part because racecar. 

Stampie said:

TIL that you don't really feel like a racer until you call all the parts stores in the area looking for a part using the line "but my race is this weekend" and then end up overnighting said part because racecar. 

From Japan?

TIL just how powerful an OEM electric radiator fan motor is, and just how sharp fan blades can be... And my right ring finger was painfully reminded of why we either disconnect the battery or start with a cold engine before reaching down there to unplug the motor connector. This cut being well into the muscle on my fingertip, it prolly ought to get a couple of stitches. Berk.

TIL how easy it is to set toe alignment. Why the berk haven't I done this before?

In reply to nutherjrfan :

Unfortunately from Tennessee. 

today I learned (remembered) that Land Rover Discoveries use higher air pressure in the rear tyres than the front. According to the sticker on the door, the fronts should be at 30psi and the rears at 45(?!?)psi. A few weeks ago I rotated the tyres when I did the brakes and never bothered to check pressures against the door sticker.

I usually do not break 60mph on my commute and even when going out of state, I tend to go slow to avoid single digit MPGs, but the past few days I have noticed that with the wind, my disco is ALL over the road, usually with the rear leading the dance. A stop at the nearest gas station saw 28psi in the rears. The Yokos say not to go over 40, so i pumped them up to 40, so much better.

Today i learned that office politics will suck you in regardless of the fact that you are never seen in the office.  

Dusterbd13 said:

Today i learned that office politics will suck you in regardless of the fact that you are never seen in the office.  

Well, duh...if your not there you must not be working, so whose posterior are you embedded in?

TIL that NASA accidently started a chinchilla on fire and killed it by subjecting it to very high sound pressure levels. Whoops!

TIL people who deal professionally with building and mechanical equipment acoustics all have hearing loss.

In reply to Knurled :    5/16" and 8mm are practically the same.

In reply to iceracer :

1/2" and 13mm as well ;)

Desperation makes for great new ways to round off your fastener heads!

RossD said:

TIL people who deal professionally with building and mechanical equipment acoustics all have hearing loss.

people who deal with ALL Acoustics have hearing loss. I have yet to meet a professional soundman who was not partially deaf

In reply to Greg Smith :

I have a set of sockets that only include commonality between SAE and metric. Sockets are marked with both sizes. The case has a chart that shows the commonality sizes.