Ace-Garageguy

Managed a 2 hour hike, first time since I broke my ribs. Started out a buncha times earlier, but something always came up. Took some ibuprofen and a stick, 'cause my hips need some rehab, but overall it was pleasant. Not fast, but OK time, and towards the middle of it all my parts seemed to be working more-or-less right again.

Monogram T'rantula...which was pretty much the go-to SOHC Ford before the aftermarket 3D guys came in. EDIT: There have been other SOHC Fords kitted in competition cars, but they're all kinda lame. EDIT 2: Here's a thread about what was previously available:

I could answer that, but I'd be banned for life.

If it wasn't a roller cam I'd be more concerned. I can't feel any texture on the cam lobe nose, but there's a slightly different color on it than the rest of the lobes. That's why I'm thinking roll-the-dice and load her up with ZDDP. Roller cams are much easier on cam lobes than flat tappets. ALSO...the head that's coming off is definitely in better shape than the junkyard head that's going on, and I'm thinking if A) I can find a manual gearbox to swap in later, that would be the time to build the original head and do a cam and headers (I already have a set of 40mm sidedraft Webers and a design for an intake manifold and cold-air box, which ought to get little car up to around 175 HP...enough to be entertaining), or B} if. I can find an SRT-4 or a B16 or B18 Honda to swap in, there's no point wasting effort on the little 2-liter. I don't have any idea what the potential is for the 2.0 SOHC, but I've seen folks say 150HP is easily attainable. The last Neons weigh right at 2600 pounds, the SRT-4 makes about 230HP, so if I could get around 200 out of the 2 liter and get it to stay together, I could probably get enough weight out of it to match an SRT-4's performance. Of course, Honda B16 and B18 engines will make a LOT more than that and stay together...but they can be spendy.

I believe in large part because the image of "truck" has evolved from "working man's tool" to "compensatory fashion statement". Who can you impress with your pretend masculinity driving a little truck?

Taking a day off from cars for a hike...though I might do a little touchup on the black trim on the Blazer later. Tomorrow I'll start serious cleaning of the '05 Neon head, which I got torn down and checked for several things on the 4th. The valves and guides are pretty good and it's flat enough, so after everything is sterile, it's time to hand-lap the valves, then another very thorough cleaning to get rid of the lapping compound. Even though the cam is a roller, there is a little visible wear on the surface hardening of one lobe, so I'm on the fence as to what to do there. I'm thinking maybe a mild cam, but the cheap part of me is leaning towards just running it, with a little extra ZDDP, until a few other things in my life stabilize. She ought to be good for at least another 50,000 miles after the head and cam belt and water pump and front seal are done, either way. If she was a 5-speed car, I'd definitely do a cam and headers at this point, but under the circumstances, probably not, as she may need to find a new home after I get either the drop-top Celica or the white XJ-6 or the PT back on the road. Long term plan for the PT if I live long enough...

It depends on the specific modeling project. Real-car guys add temporary bracing when doing extensive heavy mods like top-chopping because...doors. Model cars with solidly molded in doors don't require this step, but bodies with opening doors do. And model builders who strive for quality work don't rely on poorly thought-out sloppy craftsmanship and buckets of filler any more than competent real-car guys do.

To certain extent, yes. Until fairly recently, automatic transmissions were 3 or 4 speed units, possibly incorporating lockup torque converters. This usually meant rather large differences in gear ratios in forward speeds and low RPM shift points, not particularly conducive to keeping turbocharged engines "on boost". Don't forget the 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire was the very first turboed production car, followed shortly by the Chevrolet Corvair. There were numerous problems with both of them, largely relating to owners' failure to keep the Jetfire's water injection bottles topped up, melted pistons and blown head gaskets as a result, oil leaks due to rapid seal failures from high operating temperatures, and turbos "coking up" on both of them. The Jetfire could be had with a 3-speed slushbox, which was the more popular option on that car. The Corvair was more successful overall, but initially only available with a required 4-speed manual gearbox option. A 3-speed manual box was allowed later, but never an automatic, in large part because Corvairs used 2-speed Powerglides, not at all suited to keeping an engine "on boost". The recent trend to "multi-speed" automatic boxes with 6 or even 8 or 10 forward ratios make high-revving small displacement engines (with turbochargers added to achieve adequate performance in heavyish crashmobiles) a more viable option, but not without consequences. Small high-revving engines with turbochargers generally have much shorter lifespans than larger slower-revving engines with no boost, for what should be entirely obvious reasons. The highly complex automatic boxes, with necessarily small internal components for packaging within a reasonable volume, are collections of problems waiting to happen too...and almost universal unavailability of repair parts just makes everything worse.

I've been up nearly an hour and have nothing to complain about...yet. Remarkable.

I slept OK and woke up feeling OK. That's a lot these days.

Most excellent, sir.

"Story time" in some schools has taken rather outré twists recently.

"Bagger" has a coupla meanings that are not entirely family-forum-friendly.

Must be the impending end of the world we keep hearing about. I wish it'd just go ahead and happen so all the doomers can say "I told you so".

102F in one of the shops today, 95 in the other one. I work in it, no problem. The Blazer's ambient temp readout said 98 as I drove home happily with all my windows down. Only real downside of working in heat once you're acclimated to it is electrolyte depletion from drinking so much water. Probably one of the reasons I tend to have leg cramps at night in the summer. I'm working on a non-"sports drink" solution.

Workers with advanced physical skills...like me...are pretty much immune to AI replacement in the foreseeable future. But because physical skills have been looked down on by the sneering clean-hands set for decades, they are in serious decline in the USA, and most everywhere else in the "developed" world...and consumer-grade AI seems to think it can do what I do fairly soon. Yeah, right. Good luck getting your fancy know-it-all AI to fix your plumbing leak at 3 AM while your basement fills with raw sewage, or accurately diagnose and repair complex vehicle systems. Remember...onboard vehicle diagnostics already don't have a stellar record of actually knowing where problems really lie, hence the "parts cannon" approach of most "technicians". Get two idiot computers talking to each other and all you have is GIGO, multiplied many times over. I'll be laughing until I fall off my perch.

Me feets sometimes smells like 5-day-dead rodents.

Angry Birds was a fad for a while, but I never took the time to find out what it was all about.

More like $2000... Just the decals would be $200.

"Fun" to some people is being jabbed in the eye with a sharp stick, while "fun" to others is doing the jabbing.

Forming replacement "glass" parts that are actually better looking than the thick kit parts has been covered in depth...and it can be done very effectively WITHOUT vacuum-forming.

"Public service announcements" presented by people who sound like they're addressing Romper Room rather than intelligent adults. Hmmmmmm...maybe they have a point.

Employees who lack competence are often bolstered by hiring even more incompetents, not exactly solving the problem.

Knowing what you don't know is at least as important as knowing what you do know.