Ace-Garageguy

Pass/fail school grading systems discourage the pursuit of excellence, while encouraging mediocrity.

Very nice. Those are wildly underrated cars, and are a vast technical improvement over the previous generation, with great brakes and handling, and clean, timeless styling. Nice other thing...now that they're out of emissions requirements in many locations, the reliable old Chevy smallblock will happily pony up enough additional power to make it as fast as it looks.

Actually, the way things are going, civilization may be a passing fad. Unless people who do know something replace all the leaders who think they know everything, a lot of what used to be the "developed" world is going to be shivering in the dark, eating their bugs raw.

Beautiful work, as always. What's the story on the individual kit sources?

"Day two" is a term used to describe a production car with relatively simple, bolt-on mods performed shortly after delivery.

PM'd

Energy costs in Europe and Great Britain are through the roof across the board. Something like 80% of homes in GB are heated with gas, and there's very real concern there won't be enough to get them through the winter, and if it's available, it'll cost close to 4X what it was last year. The entirely unrealistic rush to de-fossilize and de-nuclearize the energy sector, and a dependence on foreign sources, is about to bite many of the world's "experts" in the butt. Gee, I hate to say "I told you so"...

I don't envy you that one. HVAC work was hardly service-friendly on those, particularly anything under-dash. You will likely use every swear word in your vocabulary before it's over.

Subject yourself to honest self-criticism and introspection; it may not solve all your problems, but it will certainly help to understand why you might be having similar ones repeatedly.

I like it. Realistically faded and varnish-peeling look to the wood, too.

"Out of sight, out of mind" is a behavioral flaw that tends to let important things deteriorate completely out of conscious control, and is a flaw I know personally only too well.

"Feels" outrank thinking and reasoning and facts and reality among one segment of society.

I really wonder if American air travel will ever return to pre-bat-flu efficiency. It's been pretty annoying since 9-11 anyway, another case of a small group of fools ruining things for as many people as they possibly can.

I hike a lot, mostly 1-2 hours at a stretch locally. Camelback water carriers work well for long marches, but I think they look dorky for shorter work. Too urban-commando dweeb. I got a new old-school military-style stainless steel canteen to replace my ancient grotty plastic one, which can leach BPA into the water, possibly causing a variety of interesting health issues. Aluminum, also common in this style canteen, has been linked with Alzheimer's. So why risk it? This one's all stainless, has a nesting cup with a handle, can be boiled in a survival situation, and has two belt retention options. The buttoned cover can also be wetted to get evaporative cooling...just like the old GI-issue styles, but better. The one-quart capacity is enough for 2 hours in hot weather, and it'll pay for itself in 10 hikes. No bottled water plastic waste either, and hands-free carrying.

Convoluted constructions like that are the mark of the truly gifted linguist.

Beer...'tis the breakfast of champions.

Fence posts are as difficult to have meaningful conversations with as some people I know, and just as intelligent.

Confused about the meaning of "sentence" as a grammatical unit, or about the rule whereby one is supposed to start his sentence with the last word of the previous post?

...or when you have to move to a bigger house, with a barn...

Dosing on some unknown substance might account for some folk's apparent misunderstanding of the definition of "sentence".

Another thought...the VW type-3 (squareback / fastback / notchback) has a 1600cc "pancake" engine quite visually similar to the 411/412. Maybe a 1/24 scale diecast could supply something... https://www.vehiclediecast.com/diecast-volkswagen-1600-model-124-scale-gray-by-maisto-p-1720.html

Smokey Yunick was one of the real race-car genius-mechanics.

Under the cooling "tin" and fan, the Beetle engine is similar visually to the 411/412 engine they used in the Coyote...close enough to pass for most anyone who's not intimately familiar with VW aircooleds. Just for the sake of clarity, UNDERNEATH the different cooling fan ducting and "tin", both the VW Bug engine and the correct-for-your-build 411/412 engines look pretty much like this (though there are differences, they're close enough in 1/25 for all but the most hardcore VW buffs): This is a 1600cc Beetle engine, with the "upright" fan driven by the generator/alternator, and the tall fan shroud installed. Below are some photos of the 411/412 engine for comparison. The major visible differences in this 1700cc 411/412 engine and the Bug engine are the fan on the end of the crankshaft, the aluminum shroud that ducts cooling air into lower-profile "tin", and the centrally-mounted fuel injector body attached to the intake manifold tubes. Here's another shot of the cast aluminum fan shroud. How much work is it to convert the Bug mill to a 411?? In my mind, not that much. Some kinda fiddly scratchbuilding, but if you take the time-honored approach of making individual shapes, and then putting them together, it becomes a logical and straightforward task.

Again and again, it's just one damm thing after another.

"Fuzzball" is what I called my cat when he was just a wee thing.