summer fun

summer is just around the corner and i'm kinda excited. not only will there be a severe lack of school, but i have recently learned that several of my buds from out of state will be staying in the general vacinity also. it's going to be a party.

i'm also pretty excited about work this summer. i will still be working in the sas auto shop this summer as i did last summer, but this time i will have a duece-and-a-half more experience... and several new tools. woohoo! not going to lie, the beginning of last summer was kinda rough... it was my first time working in an actual shop and the learning curve was kinda steep. this summer i hope to be over all that and actually able to kick some rear.

to be truthful though, the end of the school year is always a bitter-sweet time for me. i mean not having school is alway a good thing but i have several close friends that live out of state so i will not be able to see them for the whole summer. this combined with the fact that everyone is exhausted and on edge from a long semester at school doesn't make the first month of summer to bright for me. but i'll make it i guess... thank goodness for gtalk and facebook!

anyway, i'm trying to earn a lot of dough this summer so i can put a major dent into my truck... as in i want to overhaul the engine and trans along with getting a new paint job... yeah, if i can do all that it will basically be a completely new truck. rock on.

so i hope all your summer plans are coming together and that you are able to throw some junk down this summer.

bra

my truck

well, at least i call it my truck because i pay for the gas, the oil changes and general maintainence, the "upgrades" and actually preform all of the above as well, but technically it is my father's '91 two wheel drive ford f-150 xlt lariat. as i alluded to in the previous sentence it is an automatic half-ton pick-up with some features that were considered upscale in the early 1990s. i enjoy it. i only wish that is was four wheel drive and until recently have wished that it was a manual transmission. you might be a little confused by the fact that i no longer wish to have my specific truck to be a manual asking "aren't manuals more fun to drive, more manly, and save on gas?", and though you would be right on the first question, you wouldn't be so correct on the last two. i have recently learned in my transmission class that the A0D transmission found in my style truck actually has higher break away torque due to the force multiplication factor of the torque converter. in short, if i were to start to pull a decent load from a dead stop in the manual version of my f-150 i would be reving my engine high and dumping the clutch and maybe start to move... but more likely stall out. with my truck though, i have nearly twice the torque coming out of the end of my transmission when starting from a stand-still.

getting better gas mileage in a the manual version of my truck is not actually true either (i keep on stressing the fact that i am discussing the differences in the manual and automatic versions of MY TRUCK because this is not necessarily true for all vehicles... f-250s with four wheel drive low gears and dual clutch plates rock more than you can probably fathom). anyway, back to the gas mileage thing. all i need to say is "overdrive." if you are not exactly sure what that means don't worry, it is pretty simple. basically it is a big gear driving a smaller gear which means more speed, less torque... essentially you can drive faster with a lower engine speed (rabbit trail: engine speed is like 90% of fuel mileage... aerodynamics and road fiction contribute to gas mileage but really play a small factor). in actuallity the A0D transmission doesn't use a big gear and a small gear, but rather a planetary drive to accomplish overdrive, but the effect is still the same as a big gear driving a little one.

anyway, i'm kinda spending all my money on my truck instead of my car cause lets face it, it actually runs. not that i'm going to completely forget my car, but i think it needs to wait till i get the money and time to work on it.

so far i have pretty much changed all the fluid is my truck. transmission, differential, coolant, brake, and hopefully soon the power steering fluid. while doing this i have replaced the thermostat, several radiator hoses, transmission filter etc. i have also changed all the wheel bearings, wheel cylinders, rotors and tires. unfortunately i have to do some unsuspected work like replacing the starter and worst of all... the freaking upper intake gasket that i blew right out the sides of my intake. anyway, it has all been fun and a great learning experience. i find the more you know about your car the more you are able to empathize with it and consequently treat it better and make it last longer.

in the future i hope to replace all the shock (which really are quite bad) with a set of rancho rs 5000s, replace all the bushings, replace the drive shaft u-joints along with of course straightening the bed, getting a new tail gate and painting it.

thank you sc and bob jones for paying me to go to school.

T.A.T.E.

dude, i decided to get back into the blog-o-sphere. the word is now "tate." ie, poTATEo. yeah, we launch them from a pvc pipe full of tresseme ignited by a tazer and they go far. unparalleled fun. above is the image of our best gun yet. it is roughly 7 feet long with a 4 inch diameter barrel. it rocks. we (being me, phil, tim, and jigger) have gotten a tate to go 'bout 125 feet. the gun is surprisingly loud and has a good amount of kick to it. once we shot a bottle of great stuff (actually i wasn't there, but a bottle of great stuff did get shot) and sprayed cr*p all over the flaming place. all this to say that tate guns are fun and you should build one, but remember to do your home work cuase it sucks to spend a ton of money and then figure out you have a bad design and have to plug holes with drywall screws and make your gun look like the dumbest thing since cr*p. so anyway, do it.

money, money, money

since the stagnation nazis won't leave me alone i guess i have to post again. the subject for today's post (i say today since i probably will be getting "stagnation" notices tomorrow, again) is tools. yup, that's right, i just dropped another 2 grand this semester for some quality snap-on tools. among other things i ordered a top box, box cover and prybar set. the top box alone set me back 1100. anyway, i am not complaining, these are quality tools... garunteed for life. now i know what you're thinking. you're thinking "hey, crafstman tools are garunteed for life too and they cost a whole lot less." well let me tell you what my good friend and snap-on rep, randy ferney, told me: "with craftsman it's 'when it breaks,' with snap-on it's 'if it breaks.'" anyway, i am trying to buy as many tools as i can now because i get a huge discount on tools when i am a student (an even bigger discount than what the government gets... but don't tell them that). all together i have dumped well over 5 grand on tools... and this is only my first semester... well, until next time, scream your head off at some concert.

amanda update

yup, i have some slight rust problems

this is my differential, as you can clearly see i have irs (idapendant rear suspension)

yeah, this is the space i have to work in... pretty cramped

i have removed the radiator, radiator housing, fan shrowd and fan
and gutted the interior

well thats all the pictures i feel like posting right now. if you want more... beg or something.

the south

since i have recently posted on both love and (killer) bunnies i decided to post on the south. in short, i love it, if for no other reason than cars don't completely rust in two years. i mean, whats the use of buying a car that is going to start falling apart as soon as you buy it? ok, right now i'm really mad at the north in case you din't pick up on that. see, amy is from pensilvania so her inards aren't in the best condition, i mean you'd think that they would have invinted something else to stop ice instead of still using salt. northern people are just stupid. anyway, thats it for now. bah.

wierd

well, i might not be posting as often from now on cause my internet filter has decided to block all blogs for some reason (actually i know the reason i just dont want to tell you). so i'll try to make my posts of more value to compensate for the longer spans of time between them.

well, now that we have that covered, how many of you like baby-sitting, cause that is basically what i do at work now. i have this little fourteen-year-old that i have to "teach the ways." yeah, baby-sitting. i really dont know what some girls find so attractive about it, i mean, maybe if it was my own kid, but someone elses? yuck, yuck, yuck! anyway, more power to ya you baby-sitting lovers out there, and timford, dont be shy, i know that includes you too.

well this post should last about a week. see yall later. oh, and dont forget to sugest future posts.