Well I have spent a lot of time thinking about what needs to be done on the Spitfire, but finally this weekend we will actually get to start on many of those things. There is the issue with the killswitch location, it just has to be moved to be with in the reach of the strapped in driver. We also need to add the extra protection to the rear for the fuel cell, it will add some unwanted weight to our car, but what must be done, must be done.
These are the kinds of things I do not enjoy doing. I enjoy working on the motors, the suspension, the drive train in general, but not the safety stuff that I thought we were done with over a year ago is not as much fun.
At least it is Friday and I have a full weekend planned. Going to the museums at Balboa Park in San Diego on Saturday with my girl, then up to my dad's to work on the Spitfire on Sunday. As for tonight, some chill time with my girl and I need to make a call to ask a friend a favor......
I don't have much to complain about today, things are good, nothing in the news got me fired up, and I was told I was to be given a raise starting Feb 1st. A pretty good one as well, nothing special, but a raise is a raise...
Maybe I can convince my girlfriend to go thrift store shopping as well this weekend. I want to find some things for my Sex Pistols theme for my race team. All I currently have is a t-shirt and my dad is out shining me, but it is pretty cool a picture of him with the Spitfire made it to the Car and Driver article about LeMons themes.
Props dad!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
1-13-2012
It's Friday.....
Can't wait to start the weekend, simple relaxing night tonight. Might go out for dinner, will have a few beers, relax, and play some video games.
My girlfriend and I went with a few friends to see NOFX play the other night with Lagwagon. Was a pretty sick show. I drank a bit too much and suffered a bit at work the next day. NOFX still rocks!
Tomorrow I am going to my pop's to work on the Spitfire stuff. We should be getting started on stripping apart the 3rd car. We can use the motor as a spare if it is good and I want to pull the diff out of it to use as a spare.
There is also a posibility that we will be cleaning up the garage a little to make room to tare down the original motor. I am going to try and do as much of this rebuild as I can to learn some things.
I can taste that first beer already......
Can't wait to start the weekend, simple relaxing night tonight. Might go out for dinner, will have a few beers, relax, and play some video games.
My girlfriend and I went with a few friends to see NOFX play the other night with Lagwagon. Was a pretty sick show. I drank a bit too much and suffered a bit at work the next day. NOFX still rocks!
Tomorrow I am going to my pop's to work on the Spitfire stuff. We should be getting started on stripping apart the 3rd car. We can use the motor as a spare if it is good and I want to pull the diff out of it to use as a spare.
There is also a posibility that we will be cleaning up the garage a little to make room to tare down the original motor. I am going to try and do as much of this rebuild as I can to learn some things.
I can taste that first beer already......
Monday, January 9, 2012
1-9-2012
We went to sea world...
So after a great day of working on the Spitfire with my dad on Saturday, my girlfriend and I went to Sea World on Sunday. I have not been there in quite some time, but the new sea turtle exhibit is cool, and the new rides they are building look like they will be a lot of fun. We have passes for the year so we will go back at least four more times this year I am guessing. I noticed that the whales at Sea World all like to swim upside down. Why is that? does it feel good? I know when I swim I enjoy floating around on my back, maybe they enjoy swimming around that way, who knows? I also got a video of a penguin pooping. I will add it here later....
Now that I have started the blog for the race team, I am not sure there will be much for me to write on this one. I guess I could tell some stories of things in my life time or just rant about some random crap. Who knows, maybe I will come to the realization of the meaning of life and anyone who was actually reading this will have their mind blown, but most likely not. This writing will more then likely continue to be a jumble of meaningless thoughts and reflections of my days.
Meh I don't know...
So after a great day of working on the Spitfire with my dad on Saturday, my girlfriend and I went to Sea World on Sunday. I have not been there in quite some time, but the new sea turtle exhibit is cool, and the new rides they are building look like they will be a lot of fun. We have passes for the year so we will go back at least four more times this year I am guessing. I noticed that the whales at Sea World all like to swim upside down. Why is that? does it feel good? I know when I swim I enjoy floating around on my back, maybe they enjoy swimming around that way, who knows? I also got a video of a penguin pooping. I will add it here later....
Now that I have started the blog for the race team, I am not sure there will be much for me to write on this one. I guess I could tell some stories of things in my life time or just rant about some random crap. Who knows, maybe I will come to the realization of the meaning of life and anyone who was actually reading this will have their mind blown, but most likely not. This writing will more then likely continue to be a jumble of meaningless thoughts and reflections of my days.
Meh I don't know...
Friday, January 6, 2012
1-6-2011
It’s Friday.....
Can’t wait to get off work today, with a relaxing night planned with the girl friend and a day of wrenching planed for Saturday, this should be a good weekend.
I got the 8 GB ram kit installed in the MAC mini last night and I could tell right from the get go that it was much faster. When opening applications, surfing the web, viewing photos, etc... it is just quicker. I then loaded up Half- Life 2 and ran it at 1080p with mid to high settings and it ran great. Sure it’s an older game but this is a budget MAC that only has a built in intel 3000 GPU so being able to run any game at those settings is impressive. I won’t be playing games on it much though as our desk is not really set up for comfortable gaming. I also noticed it would be rather cheap and easy to set up dual monitors on this MAC which would be cool. If I get back into any development stuff maybe I could see this happening.
I have started a new blog for my race team so for now on most of the racing related stuff will go on there. A lot of it will be duplicated from this blog, I just improved it.
Gotta tie up the day at work and head home for ... uh.. no idea yet...
Can’t wait to get off work today, with a relaxing night planned with the girl friend and a day of wrenching planed for Saturday, this should be a good weekend.
I got the 8 GB ram kit installed in the MAC mini last night and I could tell right from the get go that it was much faster. When opening applications, surfing the web, viewing photos, etc... it is just quicker. I then loaded up Half- Life 2 and ran it at 1080p with mid to high settings and it ran great. Sure it’s an older game but this is a budget MAC that only has a built in intel 3000 GPU so being able to run any game at those settings is impressive. I won’t be playing games on it much though as our desk is not really set up for comfortable gaming. I also noticed it would be rather cheap and easy to set up dual monitors on this MAC which would be cool. If I get back into any development stuff maybe I could see this happening.
I have started a new blog for my race team so for now on most of the racing related stuff will go on there. A lot of it will be duplicated from this blog, I just improved it.
Gotta tie up the day at work and head home for ... uh.. no idea yet...
Thursday, January 5, 2012
1-5-2012
And work continues.....
Many of the issues we are testing fixes for are not fixed, on top of that there appear to be some new major issues that have sprouted up in the last few weeks. The customer is coming in less then 2 weeks for a demo. Getting it all ready in time will be interesting....
I realized today the 8 GB ram kit I ordered for our MAC mini has been sitting in the mail box for 2 days. I could have had 8 gig awesomeness in the MAC already.. Really I do not know how it is going to do me any good in the near future as I have no videos to edit and I have not purchased a copy of Windows 7 to load with boot camp. Honestly I just bought it because the kit was only $35 and the reviews very positive with claims of major performance gains. It is funny how there are so many great reviews then bad ones from people who bought the ram for older MACs that do not support this ram speed. Why should the product get a bad review because of these people’s ignorance? Every time I start thinking about what I can do with this MAC mini, like dual booting, using virtual machines to run multiple OSes, gaming, etc.. I remember I bought the cheap reliable MAC to be just that. A cheap reliable computer that will use very little power, run silently, edit videos, edit photos, burn CDs, store media, and look nice while doing so. I do not know why my geek out itch keeps coming back with this MAC. I don’t want to screw with the thing and lose our data.
Chump Car has managed to land another race at Launa Seca AKA Mazda Raceway. Man do I want to race there. I may have to try and fly out there and buy myself some seat time... haha yeah right. I do not have the time or the money and the race is February 12th 2012. The open seats teams have for this race will sell for top dollar as I am not the only one who loves this track. I have become very fond of this race track over the years, though I have never driven on it in real life but only in race car games. This track is just a great layout and the famous corkscrew (a drop into screw down hill chicane) is just awesome.
Strange thread on the 24 hour of LeMons forum..
http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=13801
Not sure what he is trolling about exactly all I got was one email about the sponsorship and nothing more. It sure is a funny read though and brightened up my day.
My pops just called me, he is going to wait to do the work on the Spitfire motors (removing the heads and inspecting parts, regular maintenance, value work, etc) until I am there Saturday. This is great because normally he would just do the work on his own and I miss out on the action. Really I need to be learning as much as I can so I can do these kinds of things on my own. Besides it is easier to learn from him and by doing, then reading some book or website. I can’t wait to get wrenching!
For now I just want to go home and install the ram on the MAC … geek out....
Many of the issues we are testing fixes for are not fixed, on top of that there appear to be some new major issues that have sprouted up in the last few weeks. The customer is coming in less then 2 weeks for a demo. Getting it all ready in time will be interesting....
I realized today the 8 GB ram kit I ordered for our MAC mini has been sitting in the mail box for 2 days. I could have had 8 gig awesomeness in the MAC already.. Really I do not know how it is going to do me any good in the near future as I have no videos to edit and I have not purchased a copy of Windows 7 to load with boot camp. Honestly I just bought it because the kit was only $35 and the reviews very positive with claims of major performance gains. It is funny how there are so many great reviews then bad ones from people who bought the ram for older MACs that do not support this ram speed. Why should the product get a bad review because of these people’s ignorance? Every time I start thinking about what I can do with this MAC mini, like dual booting, using virtual machines to run multiple OSes, gaming, etc.. I remember I bought the cheap reliable MAC to be just that. A cheap reliable computer that will use very little power, run silently, edit videos, edit photos, burn CDs, store media, and look nice while doing so. I do not know why my geek out itch keeps coming back with this MAC. I don’t want to screw with the thing and lose our data.
Chump Car has managed to land another race at Launa Seca AKA Mazda Raceway. Man do I want to race there. I may have to try and fly out there and buy myself some seat time... haha yeah right. I do not have the time or the money and the race is February 12th 2012. The open seats teams have for this race will sell for top dollar as I am not the only one who loves this track. I have become very fond of this race track over the years, though I have never driven on it in real life but only in race car games. This track is just a great layout and the famous corkscrew (a drop into screw down hill chicane) is just awesome.
Strange thread on the 24 hour of LeMons forum..
http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=13801
Not sure what he is trolling about exactly all I got was one email about the sponsorship and nothing more. It sure is a funny read though and brightened up my day.
My pops just called me, he is going to wait to do the work on the Spitfire motors (removing the heads and inspecting parts, regular maintenance, value work, etc) until I am there Saturday. This is great because normally he would just do the work on his own and I miss out on the action. Really I need to be learning as much as I can so I can do these kinds of things on my own. Besides it is easier to learn from him and by doing, then reading some book or website. I can’t wait to get wrenching!
For now I just want to go home and install the ram on the MAC … geek out....
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
1/4/2012
I feel this NDAA act that was signed into law will effect our country greatly in my life time...
It is strange to now know what the president can do. When I read it, I can hardly believe it is real. Some peoples interpretations resemble..
“Anyone accused of “substantially supporting” such groups or “associated forces.” How closely associated? And what constitutes "substantial" support? What if the president stated that a member of congress is a threat by being suspected of association with terrorists because simply they do not support the president Is that substantially supporting? Is there a dollar amount on it? What if you donated a large sum of money to a political party and later it was found this party was backing some newly declared terrorist group? Would that be substantial support?”
I am not quite sure what to think and believe at this point, but I can not help expecting the worst from it. Why would the government grant itself this type of power over the past 10 years if they did not intend to use it? Even if they did not, who is to say the next group in power will not exploit it?
On to much nicer thoughts, I have a design in my head of how to build the new fuel cell protection into the back of the Spitfire. It will be a bar that runs across the back stay rails that is then supported and welded down to the frame rails. Kinda the same way people build the cage around the back of a baja bug’s motor. This will cover two issues the obvious of protecting the fuel cell and will also connect the roll cage to the frame making the car a more solid structure. I am sure the LeMons tech and safety inspectors will be more at ease with our drivers’ safety with this new addition.
Looks like I will be doing some testing from home again tonight, which means......
I am out of here!
It is strange to now know what the president can do. When I read it, I can hardly believe it is real. Some peoples interpretations resemble..
“Anyone accused of “substantially supporting” such groups or “associated forces.” How closely associated? And what constitutes "substantial" support? What if the president stated that a member of congress is a threat by being suspected of association with terrorists because simply they do not support the president Is that substantially supporting? Is there a dollar amount on it? What if you donated a large sum of money to a political party and later it was found this party was backing some newly declared terrorist group? Would that be substantial support?”
I am not quite sure what to think and believe at this point, but I can not help expecting the worst from it. Why would the government grant itself this type of power over the past 10 years if they did not intend to use it? Even if they did not, who is to say the next group in power will not exploit it?
On to much nicer thoughts, I have a design in my head of how to build the new fuel cell protection into the back of the Spitfire. It will be a bar that runs across the back stay rails that is then supported and welded down to the frame rails. Kinda the same way people build the cage around the back of a baja bug’s motor. This will cover two issues the obvious of protecting the fuel cell and will also connect the roll cage to the frame making the car a more solid structure. I am sure the LeMons tech and safety inspectors will be more at ease with our drivers’ safety with this new addition.
Looks like I will be doing some testing from home again tonight, which means......
I am out of here!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
1-3-2012
Back to the grind...
and back to work as the holidays are over, but at least this is a 4 day week. There is a bit of a rush here to get things done as we have a demo for the customer in less then two weeks.
We got our response back from the LeMon’s safety tech and we have to only do a couple of things to be ready for our next race. They want a larger back brace plate for our seat and they want us to protect the fuel cell. The seat brace is easy, but the fuel cell guard can provide a few challenges. Ideally to protect the fuel cell a bar should go around the back of it that is welded to the frame rails and the roll cage back stays. The thing is it seems like we have plenty of time, 75 days to be exact. We mostly only work on the weekends, so that leaves us about 22 full days to work on the car, but we will most likely only work on the car one day per weekend, leaving us a total of only 11 full days. Now it does not seem like a lot of time, but between my dad working on a few things here and there during the week, and a friend of mine who is an excellent welder and metal fabricator helping us, we should be able to have the car ready to pass tech with all the maintenance work done. We just have to get started and I will for sure this weekend.
I am very spacey today and I am having trouble focusing on anything. For my work I have to read things over multiple times to grasp, the forums I am reading don’t interest me or make sense, and this blog entry just feels forced.
I am going to be going home from work early today, I have a three minute test to do that can only be done from 11:55pm through Midnight and I can do it at home.
So peace out...
and back to work as the holidays are over, but at least this is a 4 day week. There is a bit of a rush here to get things done as we have a demo for the customer in less then two weeks.
We got our response back from the LeMon’s safety tech and we have to only do a couple of things to be ready for our next race. They want a larger back brace plate for our seat and they want us to protect the fuel cell. The seat brace is easy, but the fuel cell guard can provide a few challenges. Ideally to protect the fuel cell a bar should go around the back of it that is welded to the frame rails and the roll cage back stays. The thing is it seems like we have plenty of time, 75 days to be exact. We mostly only work on the weekends, so that leaves us about 22 full days to work on the car, but we will most likely only work on the car one day per weekend, leaving us a total of only 11 full days. Now it does not seem like a lot of time, but between my dad working on a few things here and there during the week, and a friend of mine who is an excellent welder and metal fabricator helping us, we should be able to have the car ready to pass tech with all the maintenance work done. We just have to get started and I will for sure this weekend.
I am very spacey today and I am having trouble focusing on anything. For my work I have to read things over multiple times to grasp, the forums I am reading don’t interest me or make sense, and this blog entry just feels forced.
I am going to be going home from work early today, I have a three minute test to do that can only be done from 11:55pm through Midnight and I can do it at home.
So peace out...
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