About Tinkerah

Tinkerah

A terrific hack Kyle, and I can add one small suggestion: wrap any cable you intend to cut with a few turns of tape (masking tape works fine) right at your cut line. With the cable held firmly near the cut line, cut through the tape and cable with a cut off wheel. When you unwrap the tape the ends will not fray.

Tinkerah

That's true if you're only considering the dollars and cents per unit time aspect, and there are powerful arguments for that perspective. But there are those of us who get a twisted kind of thrill from solving it by being clever and resourceful. We just haven't been able to work out a dollar value for thrill per unit time yet.

Tinkerah

Here at the 42nd it's not a "heat wave" until it's been 90F for three days straight and even that's not so hot that running at speed all opened doesn't feel good.

Tinkerah

I'm the one childish enough to say that that Delage has one helluva sexy waistline.

Tinkerah

Yes and yes. If it were so valuable I'd auction it off and get a base model to change to the way I like and be $$ ahead. I'd resent not being "allowed" to use a stripe that I preferred just because it was "incorrect".

Tinkerah

I'm gonna hafta give that thought a once-over.

Tinkerah

The ignition requirements for any 4-stroke engine are refreshingly similar no matter the displacement or number of cylinders. The capacitor doesn't even have to fit under the cap; if you can wire it up it will work. Glad you tried what you had access to!

Tinkerah

Wow I never knew that! I can think of a handful of better ways to tune out power without losing the blower though.

Tinkerah

A good play!

Tinkerah

Hear here!!

Tinkerah

Here are two solutions that spring from my coiled mind for tire pressure regulation: How about a proprietary fill valve that only judges have access to for setting and verifying pressures? Even easier: any unenforced rule should be stricken with no further consideration.

Tinkerah

Thanks for taking the fall DUB6 - I try to imagine all the ways my musings might be misinterpreted before hitting the Blue Button and am still occasionally surprised. And though you are a thoughtful problem solver, I hope the day when your solution would come into play will be so far in the future none of us will remember what the problem was!

Tinkerah

Ross Bentley? Victor Wooten? You travel in some highly respected yet wildly disparate circles Jack.

Tinkerah

We probably all think we're "old" but trust me: ten years from now we'll look back and wonder "What the hell was I complaining about back then??"

Tinkerah

I'm sorry DUB6, what I tried to say was I'd rather not leave too much behind when my time is up. Since I have no heirs (and my wife makes more than I do) I think it'd be ideal to have a bank balance of zero and all my toys completely worn out on the day I pass. Of course there are too many variables in play so I'm not stressing about it but I think that's a worthy goal. Bonus points for anyone who takes out a 30 year loan in their last years though!

Tinkerah

I, and likely others here envy you Jack: you are not "trying", you are indeed "being" about it, even while talking about being about it!

Tinkerah

The story about your parents not withstanding, I have a mild fear of my resources outlasting me.

Tinkerah

Gotta love that the Settrington Cup announcer was just as excited as if it were the last stretch of a nail-biting Le Mans!

Tinkerah

Thanks Air_and_Water - I'll relay the tip.

Tinkerah

Getting away from the kids to sort hardware might seem like a poor use of time but is actually building a reserve of resistance to throttling them.

Tinkerah

Monkeemobile = grooviest car EVER. The only misstep is it's a dummy supercharger but I could fix that.

Tinkerah

I'm fine having more crumple space in the rear of my car to cushion the impact of screen scrollers running into me. My brother's Tesla S pulls so much energy through the regen system that all his calipers routinely seize from lack of use, and he's not particularly gentle with it. Impressive as it is if it were up to me I'd still insist on a mechanical backup braking system of at least marginal effectiveness.

Tinkerah

Years ago I prepped a well used 1997 CR-V (Honda) to tow a motorcycle on a trailer cross-country and back. I insisted on carrying both radiator hoses and no one had them. The last resort, days before departure was the dealer. The parts guy said they don't stock them and questioned why I wanted them. After telling him he said he'd never heard of one failing and not to worry, they wouldn't. And they never did. For the entire life of the car.

Tinkerah

There ya go, throwing a bucket of reality into a carefully arranged stack of statistics.

Tinkerah

Being denied is easier to take when it rhymes.

Tinkerah

I could save money liking an unpopular model, right?

Tinkerah

I'm not really a Dodge guy but the Charger has tremendous potential to win me over (best grille!). "Affordable" to me means $10K or so, which is five times more than I spend on daily drivers....Should I get my hopes up?

Tinkerah

To me, front engined slingshots are among the most beautiful, most terrifying automobiles ever conceived. I got to sit in a friend's a few times, it wasn't even running but with the pumpkin between my knees and legs hooked over the axles I couldn't imagine pushing that machine to its, and its driver's limits. Kudos to all the madmen, like Don, who pushed those envelopes ever further.

Tinkerah

Thanks for the research jimkwriter - now I'm surprised they're not specifying a maximum age. I'm nit-picking though, this is still a fantastic program.

Tinkerah

Gee none of my wacky contraptions have ended up in a museum. Yet.

Tinkerah

This will become a fascinating legal issue as manufacturers in all industries begin to use additive manufacturing (It's so tempting to call it addictive manufacturing!), and consumer gear rivals commercial equipment. How will authenticity be verified for warranty purposes? Or liability? It's a new frontier.

Tinkerah

I also want to hear about their final disposition. Salvage seems extreme for a bounce into a median...though the chips they're carrying likely have exorbitant value.

Tinkerah

I know! What's the 10th passenger going to listen to?

Tinkerah

If I needed to spend that much money on a behemoth I'd get two H1's.

Tinkerah

There is no need. Its tech for tech's sake. The hardware is cheap and software engineers need to keep their jobs.

Tinkerah

This opens up a whole world of possibilities for all you guys (and gals? Hopefully some gals too) with a 3D printer and a wacky idea.

Tinkerah

You need such a small amount of carpeting for a car than a room. I picked the one I liked best from the remnants at a local salvage lot store. Can't remember the cost but it was insignificant.

Tinkerah

Always a good practice to (figuratively) scatter the brains of people who would tell you what to do with your stuff.

Tinkerah

I accept I'm out of touch with the times but as an old-school nuts and bolts guy, body graphics that look like a printed circuit board (even though they show some arcing across traces) are not the way to impress me.

Tinkerah

I wonder if they'll use sales results from this to rationalize "See! No one wants manuals anyway!"

Tinkerah

I don't follow late model options but was going to comment that even if I were thinking about it, getting stuck with all the nonsense I probably don't want would be enough for me to pass on the whole thing.

Tinkerah

My 1st and 2nd favorite moments can only be told in private so you're getting a distant third: After spending a great day at a New England Summer National car show in my T-Bucket about an hour and a half away from home, the weather turned quite cold. The girl with me that day (coincidentally also key to favorite moment #1) agreed to let me put the hammer down to get home and warm as quickly as possible. Cruising right around 90 MPH in the left lane of the interstate I wasn't quite sure as we approached, but it looked like it might be...YES it was a state trooper parked just off the left lane shoulder! Figuring even trying to slow down in time would've been a useless gesture I didn't even lift. A roofless, windowless car with side pipes at speed is loud enough but during the few milliseconds my slash cut pipe reflected off that trooper's car the noise was startling even to me. If he was asleep he surely would've been awakened by that. If not, I must've had too much of a lead for him to run me down. Either way, I never saw him again and that's one of the moments that help me to accept paying the fines that I do incur.

Tinkerah

So the buttering has begun! And for anyone who thought I was joking about the leaking tank, the new one is on the porch ready to be swapped in. After that the volatility will have to come from my posts!

Tinkerah

Thank You DUB6 for the kind compliments. You must realize, of course, that you're only encouraging me....!

Tinkerah

So in a field of one....I WIN!

Tinkerah

I can't help wondering what the volatility score of my Camaro with the leaking fuel tank would be.

Tinkerah

So inspiring to see newcomers prosper on their own skills and work ethic. The Chaviks are more "American" than many who were born here.

Tinkerah

I'll concede it could be an illusion but even so: are they so proud of that bracket that they had to section the pulley to show it off? It sure invites wisenheimers like me to claim "Hey - I see why the belt won't stay on!"

Tinkerah

I'm ready to be corrected by anyone who knows better, but in the photo of the Ford V8 at the top of the page: it looks clear to me that that idler bracket is interfering with the crank pulley.

Tinkerah

Years ago I was blessed to be part of a crew for a PCA team. It cured me of the attraction of being the owner/driver forever. I learned so much so fast and had many wild experiences without risking my own life or finances. Some of you may be able to guess why I would at one point be screaming at a helper, in the hot pit at Lime Rock with cars roaring by: "Air out of the tires!" "What??" "LET THE AIR OUT OF THE TIRES!" "How much??" "AS MUCH AS YOU CAN!!!" It's funny now....