Today I Learned (TIL)

ShawneeCreek said:

TIL that you can fit the wheel from a Pontiac G6 onto a Ford Focus, even though it is a 5x115 bolt pattern to the Focus's 5x108. And it looks pretty nice too. 

The good news is that the sightly wider and taller tires on the G6 wheels fit in the Focus wheel wells. I'll just have to get the tires switched over onto the Focus summer wheels. That way I save $500 by not having to buy new tires.

G6 should be 5x110, not 115.

The funny thing about 5x115 is that if you look closely, the studs are on a 115mm circle but the Enkei built wheels are slightly smaller, so the lug nuts contact on the outside first.  Betcha they are 4.5" (114.3)...

Not TIL, but a couple days ago.  Was scanning teh S60R with a borrowed, relatively high end scan tool to monitor what "normal" data is for a drive by wire 5cyl, because of a problem child at work.  This scan tool could read the pressure sensor, while my little MAC dongle won't, and neither would any of the four scantools we have.  Supposedly the first few months of 2006 autos only ran 10psi boost like the 5 speed autos did, and my car is a September 2005 build.

Nope.  15psi boost (2010 hPa absolute actually) with spikes to 19psi on upshifts.

Still freaks me out a bit to be running that much boost on pump gas.

TIL a BFG Comp 2 a/s is still not a mud terrain tire. Attempting to slowly and quietly traverse a yard that has become swamp in a Mustang with these tires will end poorly. 

Today I have not learned anything informative. but discovered that making gifts for other people is very nice.

TIL Canada gets the C43 AMG Wagon for 2019 and America doesn't

TIl that when working on anything, one should go to YouTube first and see how someone else skins that cat.

I decided to replace the wheel bearing on the Windstar before the whole thing fell off.   So being confident in my mechanicing abilities I jacked it up, removed the axle nut, brakes, etc.  But to get to the bearing assembly bolts one has to remove the CV axle.  To remove the CV axle one must separate the lower ball joint.  All reasonable enough so far, right?

So I loosened the bolt that clamps the upright to the ball joint and started trying to separate the two.  After an hour I gave up.  Today I went to the utube and watched as the mechanic REMOVED said clampy bolt.  And easily removed the ball joint stud revealing a big ole groove in it.  Sigh.

TIL Bea Arthur was a Marine.

TIL that M+S ratings are not created equal.  I didn't expect epic rallycross levels of traction, but I expected them to traverse an inch or so of snow/slush at a reasonable speed.  I think rallycross experience kept this to scraping paint vs bodywork repairs.  Thanks for nothing Nexen CP672 all-season tires.  (They were on the car when I bought it.)

The other night I learned it's possible for a male duck to fornicate a female chicken to death. I was reading up on raising ducks and chickens together because I like eggs, and a big warning kept coming up about the difference in chicken vs duck genitalia. 

In reply to RevRico :

Odd information, that. My folks have a male mallard in a run with 6? chickens. As far as I've seen, those chickens are boss and the duck eats last. And the cats leave them all alone. Also the chihuahua doesn't bark so maybe all the animals are a bit odd there. Something in the water?

Appleseed said:

TIL Bea Arthur was a Marine.

And is that surprising?

Makes perfect sense. 

TIL that iftop has a way more intuitive display than jnettop.

TIL just because you may own and drive a car that handles fairly well does NOT mean you are a good enough driver to handle that car to its full potential... little immature mr Smokey that I am spun his 07 328i around a corner going too fast trying to “drift” ... hit the ditch hard and thank God it didn’t roll landed on its feet and was able to drive out (with a busted up bumper and grass in the bead) *sigh* thot I was broke enough without tearing up my dd... at least it’s still fine to drive (mostly)

TIL that Colin Chapman *MAY* have borrowed his famous quote" Simplify, then add lightness" from William Bushnell Stout who said "Simplicate and add lightness".

Disclaimer: Basing this assumption on their timeframes in history.

TIL that Robert Leonard, who was a founding member of Sha Na Na and who played at Woodstock in a gold lame' suit, is a forensic linguist who has helped solve several murder cases.

TIL what FOMO exists as an acronym, what it stands for, and that it is actually a thing.

In related news, last month I learned what TIL was...

Cooter said:

TIL what FOMO exists as an acronym, what it stands for, and that it is actually a thing.

In related news, last month I learned what TIL was...

I just learned what BOGO meant about six months ago. 

In reply to dean1484 :

You got me beat.

And this is for the dumb arse award......DONOTCROSS ROTATE directional tires......even though i have dome it twice on this set of BFG Comp 2G a/s's....'GRMPSA' front to back and back to front....but y'all knew that anyway g'night

TIL what a Backscatter Van was when one came up for aucton...

 

In reply to 759NRNG :

Cross rotation is ok if they’re dry weather only. The directionality only affects their ability to shed rain water. 

TIL that AMC Pacers look berkeleying badass when climbing rocky hills on 35" tires. If AMC had built them that way from the factory they'd have sold more, I'm sure of it.

TIL that not only does Winnebago now own Chris Craft, but apparently when OMC was making Chris-Craft boats they had to pay Rupert Murdoch $500k a year plus 1% of sales because NewsCorp owned the name because Chris-Craft wound up getting into the business of owning TV stations and TV studios....

TIL that GM does not learn or chooses to just pork their customers with sub standard designs and materials.  My work truck is a 2014 Suburban, we bought it in December of 2014 and it now has 155k miles. While it has been very dependable, it has some if the same issues my 2004 Yukon had when it was nearing 8 years old and about 200k miles. When ithe 'Burb was in for an oil change 6 weeks ago they told me it would need 2 of the 3 transmission cooler lines replaced and one of the rear axles seals was leaking. Dropped it off today and they call me to let me know the aux cooler is rotted badly enough they can't get the old lines out and the rear diff cover is nearly pourous and has to be replaced.  I get I live in a hostile environment but keep the truck clean, to me 4 years old is still pretty new. The underside looks like it is 50 years old and while crawling around under there it looks way worse than my friend's '05 Tahoe, which we just replaced its trans cooler lines back in December,  I think he is at 225k miles and his frame and under carriage look much better than mine. I'm thinking this belonged in the minor rant thread. Why can't they fix things that the rest of the world knows is a problem? I've been drinking the GM koolaid  for 40 years,  maybe it's time to switch to something with a less bitter aftertaste,  rant off.