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Everything posted by Ace-Garageguy
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Single Axle Mack Cruiseliner
Ace-Garageguy replied to TruckerAL's topic in Model Trucks: Big Rigs and Heavy Equipment
Great looking truck. You don't see many cabovers on the roads anymore. I miss 'em. -
Went for what I thought was going to be a nice relaxing hike yesterday, and of course the sides of the trail were littered with the now ubiquitous little plastic bags of dog owners' brains. But the most maddening was the little 6" box turtle someone had stomped to death, left in the middle of the trail, covered with flies. No question about it being a "natural" death with a shattered shell, and not a "predator" kill, as there were multiple sets of boot prints around the thing, obviously from a joyous killing dance. While we do have wild coyotes capable of getting into a turtle shell the size of the one on the trail, they don't wear boots, nor do they smash the shells flat and leave the meat inside. I hate evil, stupid people.
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Oh man, that's sweet. Really sweet. My favorite of all the Italian exotics. Beautiful work, sir.
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'70s were the most intense years of my life, some of the best and some of the worst.
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Boomer Bucket to Little T backdate project #1
Ace-Garageguy replied to JTalmage's topic in Model Cars
Real purty. -
Westminster Abbey was initially built by Henry III in 1245, and is one of the most important Gothic buildings in England.
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There's always one...
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Crue be like homies but speld rong.
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"City girls just seem to find out early, how to open doors with just a smile" should be "pretty girls..."
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Day to day problems you learn to take in stride, though having to compensate constantly for slackers and incompetents just to make a living really gets old...but if you're not self-employed, you won't understand.
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Today was a pretty good day, actually; nowhere near as many chimps to corral as usual.
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Some things are stranger than fiction. Maybe...ummm... "she's real bland, my Ford Transit Minivan" to the old 409 tune?
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Because all the hot-hip-happenin'-rainbow-haired-APP-savvy-CAD-jockeys just KNOW they can do better than the stupid boomers and their parents...even though only one in 20 can even change a tire. But they all got trophies, so that proves it. I mean, come on, man. I'll say it again. You know...the thing.
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Glad you didn't scatter your nice engine, but that's the main reason I change my own oil, and will until I fall off my perch. You ever watch the mouth-breathers that work in most of those places? When they're not hooting and playing grab-ass like a bunch of lower primates, they're on their phones keeping up with the latest world news and market reports. And they don't apparently pay enough to hire people capable of putting a filter on right (which sure as h. ain't rocket science), or getting the drain plug in without cross-threading, stripping all the threads from overtightening, or just leaving it loose. Nothing much has changed in 5 decades. When I was working warranty claims in a Datsun dealership (my first job in the car biz), my first paid-for major engine work was changing out the rod bearings in a brandy-new 240Z with 1500 miles on it, because our shop oil-change chimps drained it, then took it to lunch without any oil. In my 50+ years in the car biz, I've seen too many engines destroyed because of incompetent oil-change "professionals", and owners who assume that when they pay for a job, it gets done right. Vehicle owners do bear at least some responsibility to look under their vehicles for wet spots occasionally...particularly after an oil change...and check the oil level regularly.
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As an aside, I have a Geo Metro 3-cylinder 1-liter convertible with 250,000 miles on the clock. A friend bought it new, I maintained it since day one, then bought the salvage from the insurance company after it was an "economic total" following a light front end hit. Little car ran fine until 160,000 miles, when it burned an exhaust valve. Easy fix. It also has a dry timing belt, very easily accessed for scheduled interval replacement, which was always done on time. Ran Mobil 1 full syn since day one too. When I did the valves at 160k, there was no measurable wear in the cylinder bores, and the honing pattern was still visible. When I pulled the rod bearings to look at them, assuming that they'd be down to copper at 250k miles, they looked like they had at least another 30k left in 'em. Again, no measurable wear on the crank journals. Though not fast, or even quick, it will easily "keep up with traffic", topping out at around 85 MPH...while returning about 40MPG on the highway. EDIT: Little car's previous owner drove it pretty much flat out all the time in heavy Atlanta traffic, where speed limits on the interstates were usually ignored. So it's not like it lasted because it was babied.
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Quote from a dealership mechanic: As a Ford tech for a little over 2 years, this is the 6th time I've personally seen this happen, not including the rest of my shop. What we hear is either 1. The tensioner itself fails and there is no longer any oil pressure, or 2. The timing belt loses every single tooth (likely still tensioner failure) and becomes smooth and of course, no oil pressure. Most cars will keep driving like this until the "Low Oil Pressure" warning crops up, at which point we get it. There is no recall, but ford issued a TSB which directs to replace the long block and turbo. Which is why they are in such high demand. Obviously just a horrible engine design.
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The beyond stupid "wet" timing belts are reason enough to steer clear of anything with these engines. As the belts inevitably deteriorate, the debris clogs the ridiculously undersized oil pickup screen, compromising oil delivery. Irrefutable evidence of same being the failed turbo bearing, and the wear on the rod bearings. In general, oil is the enemy of toothed "rubber" timing belts, period, so a "wet" timing belt is a very poor engineering solution. A chain, on the other hand, would last hundreds of thousands of miles....but wait...there's more. Another case of "why follow industry-accepted designs that have worked well for decades, when we can reinvent everything to be mo' better because we have never actually seen how anything wears or fails in reality, and don't care to know?"
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Atlantis Suspension Help...Continued
Ace-Garageguy replied to Calb56's topic in Model Building Questions and Answers
That particular car is an unusual take on the "suicide" design. The cross-spring is behind the radiator, shackled to the ends of very long radius rods that are cantilevered way out in front of the shackles to carry the axle. If those radius rods aren't engineered right, it is as much a recipe for disaster as anything I've ever seen. If they are strong enough to do the job, fine, but there still might very well be some odd suspension dynamics if the car is driven hard, or fast. Sure looks good sitting still though. -
Spiral notebooks are good for build notes.