Minor Confession Thread

I had a wee pour of the Aberlour that was under the tree.  At 830 am . . .

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Part of the reason i've stalled on my GTI is that 1.8l is too big and clunky of an engine for a sub-2000lb car and it would be nice if 1500s were easier to find in my part of the country.

I think one of the new 1.4t w six speed would be just about perfect.

I don't know what everyone makes such a big deal about planning weddings for. 36 hours engaged and all that's left to figure out is the food.

Probably helps we only know like 25 people between us, and just want to do it at the Courthouse then party here, but still. Simple stuff.

Signed up for HBO Max yesterday to watch Wonder Woman 1984 and watched a couple of the new Looney Tunes cartoons. They aren't actually half bad.

matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Part of the reason i've stalled on my GTI is that 1.8l is too big and clunky of an engine for a sub-2000lb car and it would be nice if 1500s were easier to find in my part of the country.

I think one of the new 1.4t w six speed would be just about perfect.

Yuck no.  Want something light feeling and revvy, the 1.4 sacrifices breathing ability for combustion efficiency and makes it up with a turbo.  I want something where you tap the throttle with the clutch in and the revs sing from 4000 t0 8000+ with no effort.

It occurs to me that my fascination with free revving engines may have a lot to do with how I've never driven a car where I could heel-toe downshift without letting off the brakes so I could reach the accelerator, and then most of the time it takes a lot more accelerator pedal motion than I can articulate.  (That, and they sound awesome)

cmcgregor (Forum Supporter) said:

eastsideTim said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

eastsideTim said:

Every time I see a post by cmcgregor , I read it as “cmc gregor” instead of “c mcgregor”, for some reason.

....it's not?

Hmm, maybe it is...

LOL

It's cmcgregor, of course. What could be more clear than that? 

My name is not Gregor and I don't drive in the Camaro Mustang Challenge or have anything to do with the Chicago Music College or the Carnegie Moscow Center and I'm certainly not a Command Master Chief.

It's c mcgregor. My name's Collin.

So, you're Italian?

RevRico said:

I don't know what everyone makes such a big deal about planning weddings for. 36 hours engaged and all that's left to figure out is the food.

Probably helps we only know like 25 people between us, and just want to do it at the Courthouse then party here, but still. Simple stuff.

Slowpoke. My wife and I were engaged for 28 hours.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I hear you on revving to 8k+, but it seems like a lot of transmissions don't like shifting up there. What are you thinking is going to fit the bill better?

In reply to matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) :

I have liked the 4AGEs that I have driven in MR2s.  Toyota actually had an engineering goal of accelerating from idle to redline in under one second.

Needs to be a short bore center for a light crank, preferably DOHC.  I keep thinking about a B6 with independent throttles and happy cams, but it seems like all the good stuff is made for BPs, and for the amount of effort needed to roll one's own, it'd be easier to work over the VW engine.  But then I get into a hole of how tractor-like they can be.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I'm trying to learn because I have spent many hours on the same thought process, so I figure we can compare notes.  The new 1.4t is 82mm bore spacing and 80mm stroke. I would hope for free revving on 80mm stroke, but anything can be screwed up, I suppose.  Twin charge it (or just supercharge it) so it has enough boost at low RPM to still rev quickly?

The 69.5mm stroke crank from the 1.1 might be fun, but I am not certain what the newer motor needs for geometry on the end of the crank (single sprocket? dual sprocket?, spacing?) to know if one of those would fit.  The 69.5mm crank, while forged, is only a 4 counterweight crank, so that works against it at high RPM, too.

Started spending some time on my sim rig a couple days ago and now I've gone deep down the Assetto Corsa rabbit hole, I've been downloading addon cars and rare tracks from dark corners of the Internet all day and I can't stop!

I've given up on butter and have replaced it with bacon grease in my cooking.  I'm willing to sacrifice my arteries for the greater good.

I'm still an "LS swap all the things" fan boi. But I don't want an LS any where near my Miata.

I was so pleased when I repaired the intake manifold "basically just a nylon reinforced plastic tube with a 90 degree elbow" on my 22 y/o B&S 5.0 Hp lawn mower and put her back into service.

I had so many aspirational plans to really bring the old girl up to spec in the two weeks I have off for the holidays...Oh, let's get the magneto gap spot on and give her a fresh plug, air filter, blade, and oil change along with a good pressure washing.

Um, I'm now the proud owner of a cheap-o $3.50 can of starter fluid...spray the carb intake like it's antiperspirant before a hot date and beat on the mower like it owes you money.

Whatever, I've got an old 16' Duffy electric catamaran boat that has been in the family for decades that for some reason, I've suddenly taken an interest in fixing up.  Custom made new cover is ready for pick up (1K so not at all GRM'y), squeaky clean in and out, about to install a new blue tooth radio and working on improving the electrical system so the refrigerator continues to get dock power even when the batteries are fully charged.

Assuming I get all of the mechanical stuff squared away, I'm thinking of changing the graphics from the current dolphin / wave theme to what I'm calling "Ruff Sea Rescue" which will be cartoon dogs in a micro brewery style of artwork...

For context, the boat is on Westlake which is a private lake in Southern California that's about 4.5 miles around with half being in Ventura and half being in Los Angeles.  I'm sure the highest wave ever recorded is less than 6" so this is intended to be amusingly exaggerative.

Bottom line, I made a to-do list for my two weeks off...most are done, some are works in progress, but some have been abandoned because I confess that after really thinking it through, I just don't care enough about them.

Real confession...

I turned 56.5 y/o yesterday and on January 20th, I'll be two years older than my brother was when he died suddenly...I used to do things just to say "I accomplished what I said I would accomplish" but now, almost everybody is gone, there's hardly anybody left for me to show that I accomplish what I said I would accomplish so what's the point.

In reply to RX Reven' :

I encourage you to keep accomplishing.

I saw a wide body charger out in the wild. I'm not sure if it had an exhaust on it or not, but the looks and sound of it triggered a definite "Do Want!" my bank account cant afford. 

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

In reply to RX Reven' :

I encourage you to keep accomplishing.

I'm with woody, show us.

In reply to RX Reven' :

Who says custom covers aren't GRM?

Hi Woody & chandler,

Thanks guys - just the nudge I needed.

Here's my sweeeeet B&S 5.0 tune.

Get ready, get parts, get organized...

Don't do work that's crappy, crappy, accurately set the gappy, gappy.  Sorry for the blurry image but you can sort of see the intake manifold (gray thingy with two bolts at 11:00 & 5:00) repair I made with super glue and duct tape)...

All cleaned up and ready to kick some ass and cut some grass...

I'm fresh out of GRM stickers but the next time I buy some swag and hopefully get one, I'll put it on the mower as a reminder of what an amazing community we have.

Thanks again,

Brett

Instead of, you know, actually working on stuff, I'm daydreaming about buying parts instead.

What I really want for my Forester are General Grabber ATs with raised white letters, because they look awesome.

What I really should get is the Nokian Rotiiva AT, because they have the compound and siping for severe snow service, which is probably more useful for this application than off-road traction.

What I'm probably going to get is the Cooper Discoverer AT3-4S, since it is also snow rated; and while probably not as good as a Nokian; it has raised outlined white letters. 

I never would have ever mounted white letters out when I was in high school, but now I want them on everything I own.

In reply to newrider3 :

Get the tire you really want. And some of these:

Baller level 2.0 if you go yellow instead  

In reply to RX Reven' :

Hey! I lived on the island way back when (Junior High). I had a racing rigged Sabot that I could carefully get under the bridge without swamping, though it was more fun to just swamp.

In reply to matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) :

Hi matthewmcl,

Awesome, small world!!!

I had a Laser that had to be swamped to fit under the bridge but that's actually a good thing as I'm not super studly but the local cute lake chicks generally agreed that I consistently managed the maneuver pretty well which gave me some measure of street cred.

I see you're in Utah now...what's that like?

In reply to RX Reven' :

We are up in the mountains, about 4500 ft. I am still next to a manmade lake (Pineview Reservoir) but not on the water. We get snow, which I like. Our house has a 3 car garage and a 2 car that I use as a workshop. Being out here is not as nice as being in Flagstaff, AZ, but there are a lot of good jobs out here (most linked to aircraft and aerospace), so that is nice. I count myself has escaping California twice (I first went to Embry Riddle in AZ, then Cal Poly SLO).

I was on Freshwind on the island, then off the island and on Sailview lane (High School years).

matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to RX Reven' :

We are up in the mountains, about 4500 ft. I am still next to a manmade lake (Pineview Reservoir) but not on the water. We get snow, which I like. Our house has a 3 car garage and a 2 car that I use as a workshop. Being out here is not as nice as being in Flagstaff, AZ, but there are a lot of good jobs out here (most linked to aircraft and aerospace), so that is nice. I count myself has escaping California twice (I first went to Embry Riddle in AZ, then Cal Poly SLO).

I was on Freshwind on the island, then off the island and on Sailview lane (High School years).

FWIW, I do a lot of interviewing and Cal Poly SLO consistently serves up the absolute best and brightest...you guys rock!