About brians356

brians356 · ‎21-04-2022

Before WW II my dad flew aboard a Tri-Motor into a forest fire staging area along the Salmon River in rugged central Idaho. Inside the narrow, deep river canyon the pilot had to employ a spiraling descent through broken columns of smoke. Pucker factor: high.

brians356 · ‎14-04-2022

The value of the Yen vs US Dollar just hit 125:1, the highest I've ever seen (it was 104:1 a year ago) Our dollars go a long way in Japan, but few replacement parts (OEM or otherwise) are even manufactured in Japan now.

brians356 · ‎04-04-2022

>> YouTube has some hilarious videos of failed heists And a few of them are actual theft videos, not, er, "reenactments". Very few. 😉

brians356 · ‎05-02-2022

"They're only original once!"

brians356 · ‎27-01-2022

Jack, do suppose people will buy BEVs, most of those produced even, if gasoline prices are forced by a Planet-Saving Cradle-to-Grave nanny state to, say, $20 per gallon, AND it's in short supply to boot? Because that's the plan. (Re-posted minus the moan about comment sorting.)

brians356 · ‎27-01-2022

Quicker than a real Mustang, huh? I gather you never leave town with it. Try beating any ICE vehicle in a road trip between any two cities ~400 miles apart. You drive your Mach E as fast or as slow as you choose. I can beat you from Reno to Las Vegas by 1 hour, a 440 mile trip, driving my bone stock, tire-out 250k-mile 1992 Civic.

brians356 · ‎27-01-2022

Why can't we sort comment by "Best" or "Most liked"? Jack, do suppose people will buy BEVs, most of those produced even, if gasoline prices are forced by a Planet-Saving Cradle-to-Grave nanny state to, say, $20 per gallon, AND it's in short supply to boot? Because that's the plan.

brians356 · ‎18-01-2022

What don't you get? Under the FAST Series rules, this team is simply doing what all teams are trying to do, only better. There's no subterfuge in their approach. All their tweaks are exposed, except the engine internals. If it passes FAST inspection, well, there it is.

brians356 · ‎07-01-2022

Not much. There's no way that rubber tip is going to allow the can to build up so much pressure that it explodes. If that's what you're alluding to. (The author already mentions the possibility of some paint spluttering out.)

brians356 · ‎06-01-2022

Huh? FYI radio is still free, with dozens of AM and FM stations to be had even on my 1970s Realistic pocket "transistor radio". And TV is still free. I have a friend, in his '70s but still working for $100 a day as a substitute teacher, who can only afford what he catches on his inexpensive "rabbit ears" antenna, and that's a dozen or more channels or so in this mid-size city.

brians356 · ‎06-01-2022

But what's its real-world range when ambient is near zero degrees, or 100f with the A/C blasting?

brians356 · ‎06-12-2021

I'm calling "BS" on your actual cancellation.

brians356 · ‎06-12-2021

I'm curious, does Hagerty insure these cars? How would Hagerty handle a claim against the owner of a car with "elbows" causing mayhem, even inadvertently, say to a pedestrian?

brians356 · ‎06-12-2021

What kind of gas mileage might one expect from a 240 wagon (manual or auto)?

brians356 · ‎30-11-2021

Sounds like an ideal candidate for or any endurance road race or continental rally! I wonder why EVs aren't winning any, or even entering, against ICE vehicles?

brians356 · ‎29-11-2021

You need to start questioning the so-called settled science. On Planet A, much of North America was covered by sheets of ice only 15,000 years ago. Planet A has been slowly warming ever since, thank God. We are technically STILL now in an ice age, the Quaternary Ice Age. Planet A's "normal" climate has been ice-free (no glaciers or sea ice) for most of Planet A's history. It's all out there for you to verify.

brians356 · ‎29-11-2021

A Tesla will smoke a Hellcat in a straight line ... albeit a very short line. The 0-60 or 1/4 mile times mean nothing. Let's see which car wins a straight line run over the most boring Midwest 400-mile section of I-80, obeying all speed limits or driving the Tesla as fast as you dare.

brians356 · ‎29-11-2021

I hate to clue you in, but $4 gasoline is near normal in real dollars (adjusted for inflation) for the past 60 years and, compared to the rest of the world, a real bargain. You need to appreciate just how historically cheap the $3 gas we recently enjoyed was. A $1 gallon of gas of 1973 would cost over $6 today.

brians356 · ‎29-11-2021

It's the EV mandate, not the autonomous part, that matters. What makes you feel your masters, the "saviors of the planet", will care that semi-rural and rural citizens are kicked to the curb? After all, those are the folks on the wrong side of history, best filtered out of society.

brians356 · ‎02-11-2021

As tested here, the Porsche is all of 13% more expensive than the Mustang. With a 6-speed manual (recommended by the author) it's only 9.5% more expensive. That noise-level stuff.

brians356 · ‎02-11-2021

I get that. But it's not the price of gas, it's the shorter road trip segments between fill-ups. Sam stated the GT500 tank empties "quick" and I believe him. A very valuable option in a 356A today is the 80-litre GT gas tank. Anyway my purchase price comment still stands - the 918 is not really "an expensive toy" relative to the GT500.

brians356 · ‎02-11-2021

But without Walter, is it really Steely?

brians356 · ‎02-11-2021

The price difference is not as it first appears. The Cayman "as tested" is only $12.5k more than the GT500. But subtract $3.2k from that to opt for the recommended manual tranny, and it shrinks to a bit more than $9k. Then consider the cost extra time and money spent refilling the thirsty GT500.

brians356 · ‎01-11-2021

I have a strong hunch that Graseck Hotel sign is in Turkish, not Arabic. There are approximately 7 million Turks in Germany.

brians356 · ‎26-10-2021

Funny, but not very fair. We're never heading strictly west on any highway, for more than a mile or so. There's always a north or south component, as in "WNW". But suppose you were in Pendleton, OR, and headed "west" on I-84" (Being an even-numbered Interstate, it's an East/West highway.) Do you not agree it takes you to the Columbia River?

brians356 · ‎16-10-2021

During the "Malaise Era" Chrysler featured debonair British actor Rex Harrison singing "The new Dodge Aspen is unbelievable!" as in a Broadway musical. Also recall worldly Peter Ustinov saying of Gallo wines "Probably the finest wine you've* ever tasted." ( * Not myself, however.)

brians356 · ‎16-10-2021

Remember that photo of Dan Blocker on his ranch riding a tiny minibike, the original kind with a Briggs & Stratton motor? The bike kind of disappeared under him.

brians356 · ‎16-10-2021

Bingo. Spotted immediately their loping nonlinear rate of rotation indicating eccentric weights placed inside the tires.

brians356 · ‎27-07-2021

SJ, I was thinking the same thing. I recall following the rover antics in HS, but it only just now occurred to me it seems impossible the tiny, cramped Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) was capable of carrying this thing along, even folded up. I'd like to see a diagram of how they stowed and deployed it. And with those batteries and motors the weight was significant, again given the restrictions.

brians356 · ‎27-07-2021

A friend in his mid '60s has ridden dirt all his life, and rallies in various amateur age group events. Tumbled a few times, sure, but recently he crashed out by himself, breaking six ribs, partially collapsing a lung, and concussion. Somehow walked two miles before a quad rider came along. He's selling all four of his bikes and taking up something safer like parasailing or abalone diving.

brians356 · ‎26-07-2021

Seems like every other photo is of working on the bus. But, how would one make that trip using a plug-in EV? Hey?

brians356 · ‎24-07-2021

>> This setup separates the front and rear braking circuits Wrong! It separates in an X pattern, so you are unlikely to lose both front brakes, or one whole side or the other. E.g. left front+right rear tied together, and right front+left rear. If one circuit fails, you still have one front brake and the opposite rear brake, which reduces the good front brake pulling to its side.

brians356 · ‎21-07-2021

You don't know permanent smell until you sit in a vehicle parked every workday at a paper mill for a decade. My dad worked at a paper mill for 35 years, and us kids never wanted any of his otherwise pampered low-mileage rigs when they became available. An old boyhood prank of The Greatest Generation was to hide good Limburger cheese under the back seat of someone's car.

brians356 · ‎20-07-2021

There's a dark underbelly not mentioned here. Members of my immediate family have had harrowing experiences in Vancouver with Asian youth gangs preying on visitors with US license plates. Portland, OR, another classic car Mecca, has a similar problem. The chances of having a problem are statistically slim, but it ain't your grandfather's Vancouver.

brians356 · ‎19-07-2021

A guy I worked with, an former AOL stock option windfall guy, was like a kid in a candy store. Among the expensive toys he acquired was one of the first HumVees in the area. It was horrible to ride in, and drank fuel by the barrel. But what ended his romance with it were the niggling repair issues. There was a procession of "bugs" needing sorting out. The one that sticks in my mind was the Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS) but I'm sure his transmission kicked the bucket and needed R&R. It was all under warranty but your time's worth something after all. And it was horrible to ride in.

brians356 · ‎19-06-2021

Since humans don't cause climate change, why reduce carbon emissions at all? That said, I'm all for as much nuclear power as we can muster, and quickly. But not to charge EVs, the demand for electricity for our modern economy is growing fast enough to challenge even the virtually unlimited fossil fuels still in the ground.

brians356 · ‎19-06-2021

Take the longest-range Tesla available. Drive it from Boise, ID to Reno, NV as fast as you dare. How long will the trip take? Answer: 9-1/2 hours. I can drive it in my tired old 1.5L '92 Civic VX in 6-3/4 hours, and average over 45 mpg.

brians356 · ‎19-06-2021

Lied to? So the lease contract the customers signed said nothing about the end of lease terms and no option to buy? I find that hard to believe. Check that, I flat don't believe it.

brians356 · ‎19-06-2021

Not to mention the $Billion (in '90s dollars) dumped into the program.

brians356 · ‎19-06-2021

One of the museums may sell off their decommissioned example one day. Be ready.

brians356 · ‎18-06-2021

My first drive on the Autobahn in 1986 was in a USDM Mk2 GTI. It worked very well in that application.

brians356 · ‎18-06-2021

I drive my '92 Civic VX (250k miles on the original mill) like my grandma Wilma drove her '56 Ford sedan to the grocery store, keeping the rpm below 2000. In this way I coax 40 mpg *around town* out of the 1.5L VTEC engine. But, about once a week, on an uphill freeway on ramp, I wind it up to 4000 rpm in the first three gears, well past the 2500 rpm triggering of the secondary valves opening. I figured it would keep the valvetrain honest. Maybe I was onto something?

brians356 · ‎18-06-2021

Huh. Interesting that 9 of the top 10, and 14 of all 20, are Japanese.

brians356 · ‎18-06-2021

Don't regret the money. That $3200 you duly invested in an S&P 500 index fund in 1980 is worth well over $300k today (returns reinvested). You should be proud!

brians356 · ‎16-06-2021

I use a large variety of neodymium magnets in my shop. I get them from K&J Magnets. A great use for strong magnets is to wrap one in kitchen plastic wrap then suck up steel debris (filings, steel wool shards, etc.) from a workspace, without anything actually sticking directly to the magnet. One thing I'm a little leery of, though, is magnetizing certain tools. There are times when a screwdriver or socket sticking to a fastener is annoying and counterproductive. Other times a magnetized tool is welcome.

brians356 · ‎26-05-2021

Haywood seems like a very personable and attentive chap. I love his description of Peter Gregg's personality. The more I learn about Newman, this more I like him. Like my dad he played trombone in school and became a radioman in the navy, something musicians excelled at due to the Morse code.

brians356 · ‎03-05-2021

That's a somewhat conspiratorial "Haves" vs "Have Nots" point of view you express there. The term "Elitist" alone is a tell. "Blocking people out of the Hobby"? Really?

brians356 · ‎03-05-2021

Ed, I've owned my '59 356 for 22 years now (and owned my first one in 1980) and, believe me, your estimate of how long it's been since stateside folks "could care less" is laughable. Sure, many Porsches' values have soared, but so has the stock market. An investment only 20 years ago in the S&P 500 index would be worth 10x more today, notwithstanding several "crashes" along the way including the so-called "Great Recession". Twin-cam Porsches have been fetching big bucks perhaps since before you were born.

brians356 · ‎28-04-2021

I have no problem with having hybrid options available, if there's a market for them. A hybrid makes a lot of sense for a lot of people, depending on where they live and their driving patterns. Bu the statement "the greenest SUV in the world" is just soooo stupid and misleading. The notion that driving a hybrid (all variables considered, including mining rare earths and manufacturing/disposing of batteries) is better for the environment than driving a modern ICE vehicle is pure virtue signaling and statist propaganda. For starters, human activity is not heating up the planet. Yeah, I said it. Even better, more CO2 = a greener planet, since CO2 is pure plant food, over and out.

brians356 · ‎23-04-2021

Climate has changed many times naturally. Did you know we're in a relatively cold enough period today to be called an "ice age"? Search "Quaternary Ice Age" and read all about it. Only about 15,000 years ago much of what is our America was under an ice sheet. We've been gradually warming since. Perfectly natural, and positively uncontrollable. Also, CO2 concentrations have been much higher in past epochs. If CO2 were to drop to about 250 ppm most life on Earth would die off. This is easy to calculate because plants live on CO2 and are relatively simple to understand. It's much better that we're gradually warming (and plants are getting more food) than gradually cooling, believe it.