Yes. He really did drive away like this – probably even got onto the freeway too. After staring at it for a while, he eventually did put one sad 1” ratcheting tie-down strap around the stack (widthways with respect to the truck).
Monthly Archive for May, 2012
Really, WTF kind of a name for a kid’s bike is “slumber party”? Like what is that supposed to mean in this context? Are they saying this bike is a one-way ticket to a dirt nap? You know things are bad when the company importing horrible death-machine bikes from the PRC even gives up naming their products and relinquishes control to the non-English-speaking Chinese product manager to name with random non-sequitur English words and phrases. I think this bike is from the same company that brings us the “Catapult” dual-suspension “mountain bike” (that’s in quotes because it really isn’t one).
So this is where I’m at with the battery relocation. Pulled out the mounts for the spare tire & jack. A little hammering on the tire mount bracket to reshape to fit, some zaps with the welder, and they’re secure. BTW, you see stuff about filling up a hole with welder using a copper backing plate? It’s not as easy as it looks. Maybe if the materials are shiny clean metal. I tried & failed pretty miserably. Putting ill fitting patches in back from scraps cut from putting the battery in made it all better.
Dave at Mojo Tactical just got these in last Friday amongst a few others. Ckucke told me at lunch today that Dave told him to tell me that he got even more patches today, including Weyland Corp and more Hello Kitty patches! Check out the Mojo Tactical Facebook storefront to see what’s available.
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Chris, Dave, and Root did the Lanikai pillboxes from the Enchanted Lakes side via the Kamahele Street trailhead.
D = 6.22 km, Vavr = 3.0 km/h, Vmax = 6.6 km/h, T = 2-hours
Pictures here
Got under the rally FX this afternoon, yeah, that don’t look right. I’ve now done this so many times that with the impact gun, it took me longer to air up the compressor, jack up the car and put it on stands than it took me to pull out the CV shaft. 
Is it supposed to do this? I suppose the good news is that the splines did not strip so I don’t need a new hub, which would be harder to find than the shafts. Although these shafts are getting hard to find through common channels too. Last time I ordered from Napa, the one they ordered from the mainland was the last one they showed in stock. Empi make all kinds of shafts, although they seem to be known for VW parts. Unfortunately it looks like these new proudly manufactured in China in ISO9001 facility shafts still cannot handle the stress of rallying. It actually may not be a fault of the manufacturing and the specs of the OEM shaft are simply not high enough to hold up to the abuse I’m putting it through. Continue reading ‘Snappy’
Unexpected late day at work on friday threw a monkey wrench into my plans. By the time I got fome & dinner was done, it was well into the evening. I wanted to finish the battery relocation by Saturday’s race. No heavy fabrication to do, but I ran into a snag that I didn’t have a 6mm bolt long enough for the battery hold down. Luckily I made it to Home Depot just in time & they just barely had a bolt long enough. So this is up front where the battery used to be. Mounted a power post I picked up from West Marine.
I routed the extension 2 gauge wire through the fender well to the power post. Things finally came together pretty well.
The rubber terminal covers is a bit ugly, but oh well. Hidden under that second cover is actually a honking 150A fuse. Wow, the spare actually does still fit, as will the OEM jack!
Didn’t run into any major roadblocks at this point, but it was 2:00AM by the time I finished & cleaned up. Yikes, I need to wake up at 5:00 to get to the rally cross early enough!
Having missed this the first time around, I was glad to get the chance to get one, but at the same time I was a little disappointed how quickly it came around in the special bi-weekly flavor rotation. The woman working was unfamiliar, but she made my taiyaki in short order, and even left on the mold flash how I like it. I’m sure that is more an issue of laziness rather than adherence to rustic appearance traditons! After taking a bite I felt a bit let down – perhaps because I was denied last time and the anticipation of this maboroshi flavor made me expect more out of it than it had to offer. The filling was essentially coarsely crushed and moistened Oreo cookies. It is good, but it isn’t the end-all of the myriad alternative taiyaki fillings: I’d take the conventional anko filling over the Oreo without a second thought. There is a slight residual crunch from some of the larger cookie pieces. This one might appeal to those who don’t like really sweet things. Continue reading ‘Akimune-an Oreo Taiyaki’
In cutting out the big ol hole for the battery box, I over shot on this edge. 
I was left with plenty pieces of sheet metal to make a patch with. It’s always nice to patch with pieces of same metal, when the pieces are different thicknesses it can get tricky getting a good heat and speed in welding without blowing holes in the thinner piece. Continue reading ‘Patchy’
The rare Corpse Flower native to Sumatra.
It wasnt really super stink, I think a lot of the stink already vanished, though I get the feeling that it can get pretty stink when its ripe.