What are you doing today, next week, next month
What are you doing today, next week, next month?
Today: Played corporate all day and tweaking shit.
Next Week: Flying to SF with Sara and some friends for a few days to eat all things.
Next Month: Too much. But Sara turns 40, that'll be a fun party.
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Today: Returned to work after two weeks of vacation.
Next week: Unpaid overtime, physical therapy for the kid, and bowling.
Next Month: Halloween, some family parties, too far out for much else.
Today: Sipping vodka and chilling out with a book of circuit diagrams.
Tomorrow: Work, then hopefully an evening bike ride.
Next week, or the weekend...: Got a half-finished car project to add a "Ok we're warmed up" light to the dashboard on my old Saab - already got lights that warn me when the manual coolant fan is turned on and one that warns me when the engine temp reaches 105C and the autoprotect kicks in. Have mounted a BMW 95C thermoswitch in the turbo coolant port (it's a non-turbo version) and fitted the light , run a wire through the firewall (used a pen barrel to push through a firewall grommet and threaded a wire thru the barrel), just got to complete the connection and thread a wire from behind the headlight switch along under the dashboard, round the back of the radio and up to my indicator panel.
There's so much work involved in running wires in cars. its ridiculous.
the n the next stage is to run a link from the handbrake switch so that when the parking brake is on and the engine is running, the 95C warning will trigger the radiator coolant fan, but when moving, or ignition off, it won't. ...
Next month: Start xmas shopping.
What sort of circuit diagrams are you reading/studying?
Also I forgot how much you tinker to keep cars tweaked and running. What sort of car is it?
It was a book of NE555 time circuits... I have reasons.
2 years ago, my Volvo V40 started losing coolant at a worrying rate indicating a failing head gasket. I'd bought it for £950 and had 56,000 troublesome miles out of it but at 14 years old with 144,000 miles, with an engine showing early signs of failure it would have been poor ecomomics to consider a £600 repair job, and a job I couldnt do myself.
I did a search for any cars available at that time for up to £1000 with up to 120,000 miles and among the more interesting results came up a 1996 SAAB 900S Convertible which had been locked in a barn on a farm near Oxford for over a year. I went to see it, the owner collaborated to have a travelling safety inspector come and check it over, and 2 weeks later I got a lift out there and drove 60 miles home through an autumn storm in a then 19-year old car.
I've been watching a Youtube series called Mighty Car Mods for a long time. A while ago one of the presenters made some remarks about how you have to change what you drive, and what you do to learn more about driving , mechanics,and yourself. I've been driving 4-door and 5-door executive cars all my life. it was time to do something different - to be someone different.
It had a pretty basic spec. Since then... sports 16" SAAB-BBS alloys from a scrapyard. LED side, tail lights. Fitted LED front foglights by splicing a modern lamp unit into vintage SAAB housings. Every internal light and backlight is now an LED. Ripped out the SAAB double cassette player, fitted a modern single DIN head unt that plays mp3s off an SD card and has USB and bluetooth. In the gap above, built an extra dash panel.
Currently it has 3 LEDs - radiator fan on (triggered by a switch), engine warm, and overheat-protection, next to an LED voltage read out & 2 powered USB ports. Shortly adding a digital engine temp gauge (never trust a needle - too vague) and an external air temperature gauge as well. It already has a car computer for trip counting and miles per gallon, but mid 1990s car computers are pretty crude and it misses a lot of data I consider useful and am used to having easy access to...
I have a prototype temperature control ECU on my desk that interfaces to the crude 1990s temp control system nad gives options for fan speed modulation, heavy traffic and parked-tickover modes that will hold the engine steady at 90-95C thus reducing internal pressure in the cooling system (good for long life). It uses a variety of timer chips for interval cooling and toggle modes.
I'm not convinced its electrically robust enough for deployment hence still using the manual fan control switch and thinking of linking it to the handbrake so I can force the engine never to reach its overheat protection point. I dont think 105C is a sensible max temp for an engine but thats what the SAAB spec ECU allows, most cars top out at 102C
Awesome. I've always enjoyed the Saab styling and that funny dash. Is your ignition down by your shift/parking brake between the seats?
Insane mods. How do you like the output from the LED headlights? I ended up wiring in a HID setup into my car as all the examples of the LED output looked pretty short.
Yes, ignition by the gearstick, locks in reverse to remove key, no steering lock.
Its LED sidelights.. with the LED fogs as well thats enough brightness for many situations though. I have weathertinted filament headlight bulbs. I am thinking about going HID though.
Another mod I enjoyed was replacing all the old rubber vacuum hoses with bright silicone. Old engines run SO much better once you kill all the air leaks
Fuck you guys and your car talk.
Today: 10 hours of work, made filet mignon with rosemary bleu cheese butter for dinner, Now watching crap tv, and once I'm out of my food coma I'll load the dishwasher and go to bed.
Next week: Lotsa stuff, starting Saturday (Yom Kippur) with a Jewish themed run with my drinking group with a running problem hosted by two of my not too religious Jewish friends, maybe Sunday running with another chapter of the same group in Bremerton (if I can function after Saturday), verbal de-escalation training at work, running with the all women's chapter on Wednesday.
Next Month: Board game night, NG drill, cross dress Prom themed run/Halloween party, Dark Wonderland themed Halloween party, Spiders of the Duwamish lecture and nature walk, Walk against Pancreatic Cancer (DONATE TO PURPLE STRIDE), and Hump! film festival with Dan Savage.
Yay. Welcome back