Various Wednesday sundries
Aug. 29th, 2013 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greatbearOur trailer, baked during the fire in April, is finished. Finally! After various delays and incidents I can drag it back home. That is, after I give it a thorough inspection to see how well it turned out. Being the entire side had to be taken apart to repair the damage, there's lots of potential for half-assed workmanship. The door, door frame, windows, fender, trim, hardware and other bits all had to be taken off to remove the siding. There are also the swooshy graphics to contend with, as well as the always finicky gutter and roof membrane interface. Part of me dreads seeing it. If it all looks good it will be a huge relief. If things don't pass muster, we are both in for a world of stress. I'm just glad I didn't send it in for repairs before our sole vacation trip with it to PTown. Originally the estimate of the time needed was only a week, and we did have the opportunity to take it in before the trip, but I wisely declined and hoped for the best during the trip. Luckily we had no issues other than a slightly wrinkled trailer. In all, the time needed for repairs took over five weeks. Wish me luck.
Jeff and I have been doing much needed cleanups around the yard. I'm working around my back issues and needing to take a day off after any sort of strenuous work. Being the work I've put off involves pruning and trimming the row of spruces along the front yard which involves me crouching with a heavy pole saw machine to reach under the trees to cut the branches then getting under the canopy of branches to trim while sitting down, I was a wreck the next day. I was going to continue today, but the rain kept me indoors and domestic. As it turns out, the work I did inside clobbered me too. I am persevering though.
On Friday, me and a best bud did some junkyarding in the rain. We picked up more stuff needing to upgrade and maintain our aging rides. For the longest time I had my eyes peeled for a trip computer to hack into the Stratus without luck. Now I find them practically every trip to the junkyard (they come from Sebrings). The same goes for the factory CD changer. I had picked up both the changer and computer with a revised dash escutcheon a while ago, the latter being a successful installation. The factory changer is made by Alpine, and it's the same thing Alpine sold under their own brand, and, as it turns out, as a MINI and BMW labeled unit for those factory sound systems. The first changer had no magazine it it, and during this last trip, I found another changer in a Sebring (that also had the damn computer AGAIN) that had a magazine. Since the whole unit from the junkyard is about 30 dollars and a replacement magazine is about 25, I took the rare factory option changer just for the magazine this time. I half expected there to be CDs in it, but since the unit needs to be powered up to eject the magazine, there was no way to tell until I got it home. Sure enough when I bench tested it, I popped the magazine, there were three homemade CDs inside. One titled "Rap Mixtape", another one "Old Skool Gangsta Rap" and "Momma's Country Mix." Okay, props to that vehicle owner for having diagonally opposite tastes in music, something I can relate to. Once I disassembled and cleaned up the changer (it sits ahead of the center console in front of the cupholders, it had coffee spilled in and on it), I connected it to the factory radio/cassette deck I removed from the car years ago for a DVD headunit, powered the mess up with success and used the freshly acquired CDs as my test source and entertainment for the night. What surprised me as far as the rap music goes, despite not knowing all but two songs, I knew who did some of the others. There was enough good music on the "Rap Mixtape" CD that I dropped it in the MINI changer for listening later. I'll give the country CD to Jeff if he wants it. It's not bad other than a big difference in playback levels.
Speaking of cars, it's hard for me to believe the MINI is over ten years old. Seems like I just got it. It's beginning to show some wear and tear, but nothing some detailing and a few new exterior parts aren't taking care of. The tail lights, like so many plastic bits on cars these days became damaged by sunlight. The design of the lights, with the red and amber lenses behind a clear plastic cover, allowed the cover to turn a milky white. Unlike some sun damage, the discoloration went through the depth of the plastic, nixing my usual repair of sanding and polishing the surfaces. I got new lights a few months ago and finally installed them Monday since my back was unfit for more stressful work. while tearing into the back of the car, I took apart the hatch in order to lever out the one lone dent in the car that had been bugging me for years. How this dent showed up on the hatch next to the center MINI escutcheon is beyond me. It had to be deliberate. I dragged out my PDR tools and massaged the dent out. The license plate lights were burned out (one was broken) so I replaced those with LED retrofits. Slamming the hatch with the lights on is rough on incandescent bulbs, so I hope the LEDs are a long-lived solution. he headlights are also looking grim, but I will try the sand-and-polish method before spending the coin on those. I am considering hacking the HID lights from an '05 model if replacement is needed.
The day after I posted the humorous coincidental yet unrelated photos from my Facebook feed, the same thing happened.
I haven't seen anything else like this in a while. I will be on the lookout though.
Since this post mostly involved motor vehicles, I guess I should mention that Jeff and I are heading to the Baltimore Grand Prix this weekend. We have paddock passes as well, so I think it will be a good time to dust off the SLR and take some serious pictures of the action. I've never been to a GP race, and when Baltimore had staged theirs with a fair amount of success, we decided we might attend. For a while it looked like Baltimore wasn't going to have another race due to financial shenanigans by the company tasked to run the event, but some new outfit has stepped up to give it a go. Couple that with lessons learned from the first race, Baltimore and the organizers feel confident they'll have a much better race this year with more events in coming years. Should be a blast.
This turned out to be a much longer post than I first envisioned. I hope nobody was scared off by the teal deer.
Jeff and I have been doing much needed cleanups around the yard. I'm working around my back issues and needing to take a day off after any sort of strenuous work. Being the work I've put off involves pruning and trimming the row of spruces along the front yard which involves me crouching with a heavy pole saw machine to reach under the trees to cut the branches then getting under the canopy of branches to trim while sitting down, I was a wreck the next day. I was going to continue today, but the rain kept me indoors and domestic. As it turns out, the work I did inside clobbered me too. I am persevering though.
On Friday, me and a best bud did some junkyarding in the rain. We picked up more stuff needing to upgrade and maintain our aging rides. For the longest time I had my eyes peeled for a trip computer to hack into the Stratus without luck. Now I find them practically every trip to the junkyard (they come from Sebrings). The same goes for the factory CD changer. I had picked up both the changer and computer with a revised dash escutcheon a while ago, the latter being a successful installation. The factory changer is made by Alpine, and it's the same thing Alpine sold under their own brand, and, as it turns out, as a MINI and BMW labeled unit for those factory sound systems. The first changer had no magazine it it, and during this last trip, I found another changer in a Sebring (that also had the damn computer AGAIN) that had a magazine. Since the whole unit from the junkyard is about 30 dollars and a replacement magazine is about 25, I took the rare factory option changer just for the magazine this time. I half expected there to be CDs in it, but since the unit needs to be powered up to eject the magazine, there was no way to tell until I got it home. Sure enough when I bench tested it, I popped the magazine, there were three homemade CDs inside. One titled "Rap Mixtape", another one "Old Skool Gangsta Rap" and "Momma's Country Mix." Okay, props to that vehicle owner for having diagonally opposite tastes in music, something I can relate to. Once I disassembled and cleaned up the changer (it sits ahead of the center console in front of the cupholders, it had coffee spilled in and on it), I connected it to the factory radio/cassette deck I removed from the car years ago for a DVD headunit, powered the mess up with success and used the freshly acquired CDs as my test source and entertainment for the night. What surprised me as far as the rap music goes, despite not knowing all but two songs, I knew who did some of the others. There was enough good music on the "Rap Mixtape" CD that I dropped it in the MINI changer for listening later. I'll give the country CD to Jeff if he wants it. It's not bad other than a big difference in playback levels.
Speaking of cars, it's hard for me to believe the MINI is over ten years old. Seems like I just got it. It's beginning to show some wear and tear, but nothing some detailing and a few new exterior parts aren't taking care of. The tail lights, like so many plastic bits on cars these days became damaged by sunlight. The design of the lights, with the red and amber lenses behind a clear plastic cover, allowed the cover to turn a milky white. Unlike some sun damage, the discoloration went through the depth of the plastic, nixing my usual repair of sanding and polishing the surfaces. I got new lights a few months ago and finally installed them Monday since my back was unfit for more stressful work. while tearing into the back of the car, I took apart the hatch in order to lever out the one lone dent in the car that had been bugging me for years. How this dent showed up on the hatch next to the center MINI escutcheon is beyond me. It had to be deliberate. I dragged out my PDR tools and massaged the dent out. The license plate lights were burned out (one was broken) so I replaced those with LED retrofits. Slamming the hatch with the lights on is rough on incandescent bulbs, so I hope the LEDs are a long-lived solution. he headlights are also looking grim, but I will try the sand-and-polish method before spending the coin on those. I am considering hacking the HID lights from an '05 model if replacement is needed.
The day after I posted the humorous coincidental yet unrelated photos from my Facebook feed, the same thing happened.
I haven't seen anything else like this in a while. I will be on the lookout though.
Since this post mostly involved motor vehicles, I guess I should mention that Jeff and I are heading to the Baltimore Grand Prix this weekend. We have paddock passes as well, so I think it will be a good time to dust off the SLR and take some serious pictures of the action. I've never been to a GP race, and when Baltimore had staged theirs with a fair amount of success, we decided we might attend. For a while it looked like Baltimore wasn't going to have another race due to financial shenanigans by the company tasked to run the event, but some new outfit has stepped up to give it a go. Couple that with lessons learned from the first race, Baltimore and the organizers feel confident they'll have a much better race this year with more events in coming years. Should be a blast.
This turned out to be a much longer post than I first envisioned. I hope nobody was scared off by the teal deer.
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no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 04:31 am (UTC)HUGS!
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Date: 2013-08-29 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 04:38 am (UTC)Speaking of decade old cars and aging plastics, my taillights both look great, despite the fact that the turn signal and the backup lamps are both clear (with amber bulbs for the turns), still look fine without discoloring. The side repeater lights still look good as far as I can tell, however, I do note the repeaters on similar vintage Golf/Jettas do turn yellowish as someone recently replaced theirs on their Jetta, and it's obvious they were new and shiny - and clear, not yellowed.
My headlight buckets, however had been clouded but I think the Honda dealer may have buffed them out, sort of, missing some spots and I just noticed a small crack in the driver's side of maybe 3/4 of an inch. However, they aren't nearly as yellowed, or glazed as many I see so the light output is still decent.
The same goes for my driving/fog lights, look reasonably clear and shiny as far as I can tell.
Other than the wheel bearing, mechanical issues have been pretty minimal outside of needing a fresh upper radiator hose, which I still need to replace, and the transmission (automatic) leaking a little and needing fresh ATF at some point.
But for 123,600+ miles, not bad.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 01:59 pm (UTC)A gen-1 Mazda5 passed me yesterday - I always pay attention when one does as I wonder if it could possibly have been mine at one time.
Anyway, I notice the headlights and the 'Altezza' tails were clear and shiny, while a Honda Civic from about 2010 had noticeably fogged and yellowed headlights.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-29 02:04 pm (UTC)Yeah, seems Mazda has done something good with their exterior plastics.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-30 02:35 am (UTC)What is the issue with your back? I recall some things from a long time ago, but I don't think I really knew the deal.