Minor Win thread - Life is good!

Streetwiseguy said:

Another trivial thing.  This is a British rhd 72 144E.

Someone told me that North America only got 142e, 142s, 145s and 145e, 144 was twin carb only, 144s.

Any old fools remember that to confirm?  It sounds true to me.

We also got an inline six version of that engine. 164?

I only know this because I saw one in person. 

IIRC he sold it off after much tinkering because the fuel injection was all stuffed up, and the rather inconvenient placement of the steering box made a B230T swap unpalatable.

Last month I had an abdominal ultrasound as follow-up on some kidney stones, and they saw what appeared to be a mass on my liver. Thursday I had an abdominal MRI to take a better look, and dr contacted me today to say the was no sign of mass on MRI. That is a relief.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Streetwiseguy said:

Another trivial thing.  This is a British rhd 72 144E.

Someone told me that North America only got 142e, 142s, 145s and 145e, 144 was twin carb only, 144s.

Any old fools remember that to confirm?  It sounds true to me.

We also got an inline six version of that engine. 164?

I only know this because I saw one in person. 

IIRC he sold it off after much tinkering because the fuel injection was all stuffed up, and the rather inconvenient placement of the steering box made a B230T swap unpalatable.

Yes, 164e was pretty popular.  The d-jet takes a certain amount of knowledge.  The first ones had twin Strombergs, in 1969 or 70.

Its a little known fact, Norm,  the B30 was used by Volvo Penta as an inboard boat engine, too.  Made for a nice cruiser.

Chesterfield said:

Last month I had an abdominal ultrasound as follow-up on some kidney stones, and they saw what appeared to be a mass on my liver. Thursday I had an abdominal MRI to take a better look, and dr contacted me today to say the was no sign of mass on MRI. That is a relief.

That's great news.

Got a text last night. House were looking to rent was ready for inspection. Jump in the car and head out there. I didn't really pay attention to the neighbors the first time we saw it- wasn't sure how this exact spot would pan. Worried that maybe my car predilections would haunt me. 

Neighbor directly to the left had a c5 Corvette and a Miata in the driveway. 

Neighbor to the right had a wrx. 

Neighbor two doors down had a late c3 under a car cover. 

I'll be fine. 

I had a proverbial brother win.

I have a few close friends who look at me as their brother. One of them, a mid 20s single girl going through college and working as some form of nurse that you can be before your nursing degree, had car trouble. She has a 90s Chrysler sedan something which she calls The Potato, and a TJ Jeep. She likes the Jeep and despises the Potato. It (the Jeep) was stolen a few months ago, and one of her family friends owns a shop and they put it back together after recovery, mostly, for free. She told me that it had a death wobble the shop could not fix. It went something like this:

Sister: They can't seem to find it, they think it might be some suspension part. They checked all of the bolts and tightened a few things, but they're rednecks and I'm not really sure they know how to fix this.

Me: When did it start?

Sister: I was trying to save money when the big mud tires wore out so I bought a newer wheel/tire used from a guy, and we had to use wheel spacers...

Me: It's the wheel spacers

Sister: Well maybe, but it got better after.... blah blah

Me: It's the wheel spacers.

Sister: One of the guys there thinks it's the frame, but the other one

Me: It's the wheel spacers. Can you drive it to my house?

(Now I have -0- free time, but I hate things like this and am willing to spend that time.)

Sister: I can't really drive it like it is unless I drive really slow.

Me: OK, I'll drive it, when are you available at like midnight?

-----FFW two days-------

Sister: Hey they swapped the wheels and tires with another set they had at the shop which didn't need wheel spacers and it went away!

My wife called MIL and let her know that they missed seeing our daughter all dressed up for prom because her husband is a manipulative shiny happy person. MIL always covers for his bullE36 M3 ("he's just trying to protect me") but SWMBO wasn't having any of it. She's let her parents guilt her into doing things and forgiving E36 M3 that her brother's did and never apologized forever. Our therapist and I told her that they will keep manipulating you until you are willing to let them go. She's finally standing up to them. The sad part is that MIL will forget it all and she'll want to have the same conversation again but the win is that she'll give FIL an earful today. 

I got my official acceptance today and paid my confirmation fee.  In August, I'm going back to school to finally finish the degree in Information Systems that I started about 30 years ago.

In reply to wae :

That's awesome!  Great work!

Rough day at work today. Just got home and headed out to the shop to install some new seatbelts in my wife's Spitfire. I heard an unmistakable sound as our neighbour flew his P51 right over our house. The sound of a V12 Merlin just can't make you anything but happy. Quick edit. My wife's Triumph Spitfire not Supermarine. That'd be a way cooler story though.

In reply to Wayslow :

A doctor in a small town in SC that I lived in has (had?) one. I was out in town one day and heard it fly over. I went to the airport as fast as I could. Just in time to watch it land and taxi right up to the FBO in front of me.  It was over 20 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday. Amazing machine. 

Casual home shopping has been a really good time. Our area has a lot of cool, different homes come up that could suit us really well - and it's not a big pressure to make a decision. Today I looked at a late 1800's small 2 story on 4000sqft lot, a massive (1600sqft - everything is relative) but outdated 1950s ranch spitting distance to Woodward Avenue, and Saturday we will go see a partially updated 1910's house on 1/3 acre with a 4 car garage. All within ~1.5 miles of each other, and ~$20k of each other. 

Didn't you move in 2022?

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Didn't you move in 2022?

We've been here since 2019. Had an offer accepted on a house last year but fell through because the house was in shambles (which is why we wanted it lol). Looking for slightly different stuff this time.

I'm trying to get a motorcycle horn to work. I take it apart, and this little 58 year old insulator crumbles.

I get a piece of cardstock and take the remaining center part and created the rest.

Afaik there are no NOS horns. The used ones are $80 and up and they don't work either.

The horn is LOUD!

Super win! Edit: The paper piece is about 3/8" of an inch and I have fat fingers.

I've been somewhat hunting for a minivan/wagon/suv as my do-it-all daily driver for a little while. An '04 Outback popped up on facyspace and it's literally a few blocks away. 


It's haggard. +

It's a manual. +

It has very little rust. +

It has no rear seats or carpet. Weird

It drives surprisingly well. +

It has a bit of an oil leak from the driver's side head gasket.  A bit scary but, at the price we agreed on, I'm willing to roll the dice.

It needs shifter bushings but there were no grumbly wheel bearings or crunchy synchros, and no whine from the center diff.

So now the wife has the '17 Expedition, I have the '07 Focus (manual everything, our spare car), The oldest kid has an '11 Fusion, I will soon have the '04 Outback and the '12 Accord is kind of up in the air. It is an absolutely stellar daily driver with the K24/5MT combo and gets mid-high 30's mpg. Combine that with the 17? 18? gallon fuel tank and I get 600 miles per tank from full to nearly empty. But, it's a coupe so insurance for a 16-year-old kid would be expensive. I'd like to trade it for a '10-up Fusion or Escape (I like to stick with one make for the fleet for oil and filter, coolant, spark plugs, etc. buying simplicity.


Anyway, it looks like I'll be back in an old, beat up Subaru soon! That's a win for me. :) 

I've been liquidating the collection of Miata parts that I've accumulated and have realized I will never use. I sold the old, leaky, 140k mile short nose crank 1.6L (still ran great though) for $150, my old set of Konig wheels for $300, and last night sold off a cockpit cover and boot cover that came with the car and I'd totally forgotten about for $200.

The fourth one stayed up!

I got 28% word recognition on my latest background noise-enhanced hearing test!  Terrible, right?  This means I Finally meet the criteria for cochlear implants.  Just a few weeks now!

Take your hearing seriously and work with your audiologists to get what you need when you need it.  This has been a fight but I'm looking very forward to having (more) normal conversations with real humans.  

Have been recruited for a pretty cool job over the last few weeks. Part of the appeal is that from the beginning, the recruiter/company/myself have all been aligned on pay. Got my offer today and it was for less. Throws the whole excitement for the deal out of whack. I told the recruiting guy I'm happy with the OG number, and I'm happy if I stay in my current role. But those are my 2 options. Going into the weekend content - whether I stay or go for new offer I will be happy.

New hoops, new SUM, new brakes, new fluids, ready for summer

And I still think the 17 inch wheels look waaaay better than the stock 18s

I think I've won Ace Hardware Boss Level.  I walked in today looking for a M12 x 1.75 nyloc nut.  The dude standing in the center aisle waiting to help people didn't even offer to help me.  Guess I've been in too much.  I walked to the bolt and nut aisle and right to the metric section finding my nut.  I heard the other guy on the aisle talking and I said excuse me?  He apologized saying that he thought I worked there.  I asked him what he was looking for.  He showed me a picture of what he was trying to do and said he thought he needed a washer.  I replied no you need more surface area than a normal washer.  You need a fender washer and I walked over to where they were and handed him what he needed.  He looked at me like I was Jesus and I walked away proud, well until I realized I didn't look at the price of my nut and had to go back.  On the way back up front I told the same employee that I was doing his job on the bolt and nut aisle and he just laughed as I walked to the cashier.

There was a quickly scheduled zoom meeting at work for this afternoon. 

All of my teammates were required to attend, along with our boss, his boss and her boss. No agenda was sent beforehand. 

TLDR summary...

My condescending and prickly boss is no longer my boss. He has accepted a new role and we will now be absorbed into his boss's team.

Not quite sure this was a promotion for him.  Seems like his boss's had enough negative feedback from my team that they were forced into making some changes.

My stress levels dropped like a broken elevator when I heard the news. This is actually more than a minor win.

I decided in February to lose weight. I don't think I need actual current weight on the internet, but yeah,  it's working.