Project Truck Update: Getting all dolled up Edition

When we last left off, Patches still had a blown exhaust gasket. Well, we're finally past Saints in the Superbowl, Mardi Gras, bad weather, and all, so today it was back to work.

It took a little while to get everything pulled together. The first trip of NAPA left me with the wrong sized gasket. When it's possible to get the wrong size gasket, you will and then you'll find NAPA is closed. That was me a couple of weeks ago. Today, though, I had the right gasket.

Got the whole exhaust attached. Not too many photos of the process. It was a lot of grunting and torquing and yelling and grease and grime and sweat. In other words, fun!

I had some help from Steven and we got everything back in place and replaced all the exhaust U-Bolts.

Patches is now even relatively quiet!

Also gave Patches a nice new coat of paint on the hood.

Patches will (weather permitting) make an appearance at the wedding (now less than 3 weeks away). We have to have her looking her best. Candice has been getting ideas on how to dress Patches up...

Links of the day - 9 Aug 09

Mostly lighter material today:

Americans that know math *GASP* actually make money. 14 out of the top 15 highest paying jobs for recent graduates are engineering or computer science. (H/T Maitri). It pays to learn math. Remember kiddies, do your algebra homework.

How a T-Rex Femur Spawned a Scientific Smackdown. Great article about Bioinformatics.

Nuns get 112 MPH ticket. "But we're on our way to see the Pope!" That's what they all say...

How a differential gear works:

Great 1930's video.

THE must-have gun accessory of the year. Cupholder to hold your beer at the range.

Pete Sessions (R-Texas), fierce earmark critic, earmarks millions of dollars for blimp research in Texas. "Blimp Researchers" background? Yet Ferguson acknowledged that neither he nor his father has a background in the defense or aviation industries, nor any engineering or research expertise. Their qualifications? Being friends with a Representative.

TV is best contraceptive? "80 per cent of population growth can be reduced through TV.”

Port Fourchon still extremely vulnerable to hurricanes. Port Fourchon took a moderate hit during Katrina/Rita, but was able to be repaired in short order. It was critical in quickly restoring oil production.

10 Strangest Movie Sex Scenes. No tree-rape scene? Also, Re-Animator is one fucked up film.

The car that cannot be killed

Yesterday's Exxon-Valdez spill needed a serious overhaul. It's a 1981 Mercedes Turbo-Diesel. These engines are legendary for reliability and refusal to die. Their last legs will give out over and over, only for them to sprout new last legs. In another race, a Benz refused to die, even after having its oil replaced by New England clam chowder. Someday, all that will be left are roaches eating twinkies while driving around in diesel Mercedes.

Ain't Done Yet. Got Oil?

Yesterday's oil slick seriously damaged the car. The team worked all night, but halfway into the second day, they got it roaring again.

The crowd cheered when it roared to life (and then went into spastic coughing fits from the acrid black smoke).

People's Curse

One of the features of 24 Hours of Lemons is "The People Curse." In order to ensure the spirit of the race is followed, one car is crushed into a pulp. It's generally a cheater or an asshole that pisses off the rest of the racers. The car with the most votes gets sent to the crusher. The "winner" is usually a Miata or BMW racing team that takes the race a little too seriously. This year's winner was the #2 Miata:

Black Widow Miata leading a pack of cars around the track

This team has all sorts of racing-spec Miatas. They showed up in a big caravan of air conditioned trailers, campers, duelley pickups and generally pissed everyone off. They got a big penalty for spending too much on their car, but it wasn't big enough and they made up the laps and were in the top 5 when the ballots came back. 9 out of every 10 votes were for their #2 Miata. THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN!

This team has actually gotten the People's Curse 2 other times. Each time they drove a spec Miata in a way that rubbed the competition the wrong way. Each time, their car was crushed. Third time was apparently too much for them, so they actually absconded before the punishment was complete! Cowards!

Fortunately, one of the BABE rally cars stepped up into the fray. A sample of the carnage below:

Repair time at Lemons

When your drive $500 shitboxes, there are going to be a few breakdowns. When you push them to their absolute limit in 90 degree, 1000% percent humidity, you're going to get every breakdown known to man. Every mistake the mechanical engineers made designing the car will be exposed for all the world to see.


This Z did a couple of laps early and then went into the pits never to return.


The Cajun Jihadi's put up good times in their Mitsubishi Mirage, but they had to pit regularly and to cool their engine. They had every fan they could lay their paws on blasting into the engine compartment.


This Golf had its brakes seize up on it. When they first tore the wheel off, the brake rotor was glowing from the heat.


An old, turbo-diesel Benz was out on the track. It's engine started out making the most god-awful sound and it only got worse as the day wore on. The team had to push it back to the pits after it went KA-CHUNK and lost all its oil.

The oil slick it left was rather impressive. At least 5 quarts decorated the pit for the rest of the afternoon.


A Pontiac Fiero also put up nice lap times, when it wasn't smoking from a leaking head gasket. The team was planning on rebuilding the engine tonight. We'll find out how that one went.


Cars that died on the track had to suffer the indignity of being towed away. Supposedly, the tow truck operator was sadistic and tried to rip everyone's bumper off.

The biggest mechanical breakdowns of the day involved the fighting Tauri. The Ford Taurus (Robocop's car) is infamous for grenading transmissions. Three showed up to the track. By the end of the day, only one was still running (thanks to some parts from the other two).

I drove a '92 Taurus to high school, so I'm rooting for them. One Taurus' transmission blew up on the track and left so many pieces, they had to sweep the track.

One of the Taurus teams was in the middle of open-heart surgery all day on the track. They had 2 engines and I think 3 transmissions laying out in their pit area. None were in their vehicle.

The Penalties of Lemons

For driver's that misbehave, there are a multitude of punishments devised by sadistic judges. Here's a sample.

The Penalty Board. Spin out, spin the wheel.


Penalty Pig. Welded to the car by the Arc Angel. Note the Chief Perpetrator (Jay, the organizer) in the photo, too.

Another penalty involved everyone on your team getting decked out in beads and parading around the entire pit area (~1/4 mile long loop) chanting "we are horrible drivers."


The Bart Simpson Penalty. You get the picture. And yes, they did write it 100 times on their hood. There's also the related rambling email punishment where drivers must write out several paragraphs explaining why their penalty is unjust.


The Bobby Bosch Penalty involves a pile of relays and you have to figure out which one is dead. As long as you have a multimeter, shouldn't be too hard.


The Burning Man Penalty. The offending team must pitch a tent, everyone has to get inside, and then the most awful techno music in the world (DJ Mix - Hidro-Ponik - Hadron Particles) is blasted into the tent. There is one track on the CD that is over one hour long! The link to download the song is 2 MP3's that are each over 100 megs.

I noted this one on the list:
The Bobby Jindal: "Judge Johnny wanted an excuse to do an exorcism. Maybe he'll just resort to simple voodoo, but if he gives you this one, he'll probably be making it up as he goes."

We'll see if it gets implemented.

The final penalty, I'll leave to Candice to cover later. The judges picked up a calender full of shirtless male models. The offending driver has to strip and replicate the poses until the female attendees are satisfied he's matched the pose on the calender...

DEATH TO THE INFIDEL (FEMA)!!!

Team Cajun Jihadis at 24 Hours of Lemons New Orleans.

Keep up with Jalopnik for more.

UPDATE- Back from the race. Hogging all the bandwidth in the city to upload photos and video. Here's some more of the coolest themed car out there today:

Driving through the pits:


They left the music playing on loop throughout the course to "intimidate" their opponents:

Note the serious doppler effect on the sound as the car runs the hairpin turn.

Project Truck Update: Passenger Door Internals

When I last left off on the truck, I was about to put on the passenger door after painting it that nice red and white.

Well, now the door is on:

I've gotten almost all the internals on the door:

The window goes up and down with ease! Still having some issues with the locks and the exterior door handles. I'll try to resolve those soon.

I'd like to get the truck running well enough that I could leave it on the street where I live, instead of going all the way back to my mom's house when I want to work on it. Maybe even, heaven forbid, USE the truck to haul things again.

Before I do that, I'd still like to (at the very least) put a coat of topcoat on the roof, replace the wiring, and get the locks in.

Project Truck Update: New Door!

Put that door I've been working on on the truck today.

Just swapped it out at the hinges. I also changed out the rubber stopper on the other end of the door.


Here's what the driver's door looked like before and after.


Took a nice overall shot of the truck in it's current state, too. A little damp because I got ambushed by some light rain.


The brand new white looks almost jarring compared to the rest of the cab. Lots of tools strewn all over the cab. Made a very wise choice installing the shell of the door first. The old door with the glass, locks, etc. weighed almost 80 pounds.

march09 040
Originally uploaded by candice quates

More work to do next time...


More here.

Project Truck Update: Door Painting

The end of Mardi Gras means resuming work on the truck. I'm going to try and finish up on the driver's door and get it mounted before moving on to the passenger door.

I think I'll leave it red on the outside and white on the inside, because the contrast is just so cool. The inside needs a more sanding and another coat, but it's coming along nicely.

Links of the day - 3 March 2009

PennyMac opens for business. "Sort Of Like The Arsonist Who Sets Fire To The House And Then Buys Up The Charred Remains And Resells It" Screw up CDO's and then get to profit off taxpayer bailouts.

Toyota asks Japanese government for 200 Billion Yen Bailout. This a HUGE story that nobody is picking up on. It's only about $2 Billion USD, but this is just the beginning. Given the huge amount of government support that Toyota gets and Japanese cultural values, this is hugely embarrassing. If you read through the details, Toyota is trying to downplay the situation and save face as much as possible. What's that Senators Corker and Shelby?

Toyota just can't build cars to keep up with the Domestics. They've been struggling for YEARS. They insist upon their antiquated business structure to reap profit from sub-standard cars. They need to focus on more fuel efficient vehicles. Enough with all their sports cars! Toyota just really needs some decent cars right now. Oh, and they really need to consolidate their brands and dealer network. End the struggling Lexus and Scion brands. I can't stand Toyota. Let them die. They need to learn from their lessons. This has been coming for a long time.

Finally GM can be on top again.

Open wide for those feet Senators.

'CNBC Teabagger takes legal department butt plug all the way in, cancels Daily Show appearance, issues groveling apology.' I love the Exiled.

13 year old allegedly kills 16 y.o. brother to take over drug ring. So many fucked up things about that headline.

Pastor John Raphael believes the solution to stem violence in New Orleans must come from within African American community. Pastor Raphael is an ex-NOPD cop and truly believes in empowering those who most have written off and giving them a reason to live.

Dallas levees structurally deficient. Could George W. Bush end up on a rooftop begging for FEMA help? (H/T Greg)

Project Truck Update: Can you pick the door?

Now that Mardi Gras is over with, I can get back to working on the truck. Had to fill in the patch panel that I welded into place last time. It was a tedious process of laying some bondo, letting it dry, sanding it down, bondo, sand, bondo, sand... Eventually I got it built up enough.

Here are the two "good" doors. Can you guess which one went under salt water in Katrina and which one was fresh?

Also played around with some "filling" primer. Not too impressed. Doesn't do much more than regular primer and looks like it takes a little longer to dry.

Tested out a little painting, too. Got some red and white rustoleum. I'd like to get a topcoat on that will be a good water and oxygen barrier, that way I can park it on the street. I like the red and white two-tone idea for the color.

Carpocalypse Now!

From Jalopnik:

Laid off Germans, frustrated with increasing unemployment, stagnant wages, and rapidly rising rents have taken to the street to vent their frustration on the elite. This map shows an explosion of burned cars all over Berlin. Looks like even the Germans are getting testy. We'll see when that starts to translate over here.

More Carpocalypse coverage from Jalopnik here.

Project Truck Update: Polishing a Turd Edition, Part 2

Picked up where I left off yesterday.

Left to cure
Here's what the door looks like after I left it to cure overnight.

Patch
Before I could get down to painting, though, I had to secure a little metal patch in the corner.

Tack Weld

Ground down
Took out my welder and tack welded the patch in and ground down the slag and excess weld.

Primed
Primed the door and put it away with it's friend.

Finished
Next weekend, I'll clean up the doors a little more and see about installing hardware into the doors.

Mini-Baja and Mini-Formula SAE being built

A Mini-Baja car and a Mini-Formula-One car being built by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign SAE chapter.

But they're doing it all wrong! It's supposed to be assembled the night before you hit the road on a binge of caffeine and junk food!

Project Truck Update: Polishing a Turd Edition, Part 1

Looks like there was a close encounter with a post.

So, I've decided to concentrate on getting the truck streetworthy and part of that will be replacing the doors. I have a good passenger door, but the question has been, 'what to do with the driver's door?'

I'm going to try to clean the driver's door up as much as possible, then use a phosphoric acid-based spray to convert the rust, then pain on top of that. Given how rusty the door is, I'm not expecting it to be perfect, but if I can get the doors on while I look for a better replacement, that will do for now.

Start of work.

As rusty as the door looks, it's actually structurally solid, thanks to the incredible thickness of the sheet metal used. The rust is really just cosmetic. Started sanding it with some 60-grit sandpaper. If I had a full-sized sandblaster, this would take 5 minutes.

After some sanding. Fresh Metal starting to show through.
Lots of rust came off. Looks a lot better.

Katrina Mud

This door went underwater in Chalmette in Katrina. There's still a residue of Katrina muck inside.

I then used some "Rust Neutralizer" on the door. It's a mix of phosphoric acid and other stuff. The phosphoric acid reacts like this:

Fe2O3 + 2 H3PO4 -> 2 FePO4 + 3 H2O

The rust (iron oxide) is converted to Iron Phosphate. The spray I used actually does a few other things on the side, like convert the red rust (Fe2O3) to black rust (Fe3O4, aka- millscale) and draw water out of the metal.

After two coats of phosphoric acid.

We'll see how it works. I've left it to cure overnight. I'll paint on top of it to protect it and see what happens.

Also on rust chronicles.

Project Truck Update: Water Pump Do-Over

I forgot to paint the pump and use teflon tape on the nipple when I replaced the water pump the first time, so I had to go back and do it again.

I've painted the new one to make sure it doesn't rust this time.

Here's the old one dangling in place.

Decided to leave the fan blades off for safety, but I'll probably go back and put it back on next time I work. There's no cowl around them, so they don't pull much air through the radiator, but it does do a good job of pulling fresh air into the engine compartment in general.

Unfortunately, the alternator bracket I had to replace the old, rusty one doesn't fit (they were fibbing when they said it would fit a 350 with a long nose water pump). Oh well.

Still need to do more work on the inside, get door locks, rewire the truck, fix the oil leak, and then maybe try and get a brake tag.

UPDATE- Here's the new pump installed (minus fan):