Ace-Garageguy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?"

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.

As mentioned, "suicide style" uses a particular type of front spring perch, fabbed and welded to the front crossmember. As some fellas welding was a little on the sketchy side, the highly loaded weld joint at the crossmember is prone to failure if not done correctly. I particularly like the ride height options this style of axle mounting allows, and use the design frequently on models.

Learn from your mistakes, or you'll find yourself in an endless loop of failure.

And stewing in your own sweat from the heat.

The low bidders weren't "offshore", and they didn't get their bids lower by substituting hardware-store-grade parts. The American subcontractors FOLLOWED THE SPECS, and the people at NASA at the time DOUBLE CHECKED EVERYTHING.

Embarrassments like showing up for a calculus exam unprepared, and with no pants to boot, can make your college experience memorable.

Yes. It's on the way. Thanks for posting the destructions too. Looks like it's well detailed.

To the immediate left of the leaf springs. It doesn't look exactly like the illustration.

Looking good.

That bites. No shortage of rear-ends in the world.

Dumbguy double post. Looks like I might have the cred for a job at Boeing.

Yup. Interesting how many successful leaps and bounds Mr. Musk's people have made towards renewing the space program, far more cost-effectively than anyone ever before (except for Burt Rutan), but one of the old line major players can't seem to get all their ducks lined up. There are some scary things concerning a subcontractor on Boeing's 737 fleet that haven't been widely publicized too, the older 737s NOT affected by the MCAS software/sensor issues. Major structural stuff resulting from just awful tooling that wasn't anywhere even close to as-specified, but parts were accepted anyway, and incorporated into the aircraft (anybody see a pattern emerging here?). Supposedly it's a non-issue at this point, but every time I board a 737 I kinda wonder if I'll get home. ?

Cool stuff. I like your wide variety of interests. Muy OK. Like that panoe too.

It's a spacecraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Starliner

I have the Boomerang kit, and it bears as much similarity in line and proportion to the real one as these two do to each other. I suspect the rest of the Airfix kits are just as bad. Cool kits to have anyway, but if you want reasonable representations of reality... Sorry to rain on your parade, but all is not lost. I have a link somewhere showing how a very skilled builder corrected the Boomerang body to actually look like the real car...and it's not insanely difficult. If you're interested, I'll dig it up and post it here. The Silhouette and the Jalpa are really the same car with a few styling differences, mostly. Correcting the Airfix Silhouette should be similar in concept to doing the Maser, as the hard-edge styling is relatively easy to modify. And good luck on the Lambobeemew. ?

Nice work. And you must have the patience of Job.