The Case for Owning a Toyota

img_5489The neck of the filler cap on my 2 gallon methanol tank is made of steel. Everything else in the system is either stainless or plastic. So the neck has corroded and little flakes of rust have been falling into the tank and eventually taken off to the nozzle filter. I couldn’t find another filler cap that was the right size made out of plastic or stainless so I decided to paint it, in hopes that the paint would offer a good resistance. Well, two days of use and I see that the paint is already loose and soft.  I called the manufacturer and learned they do make a chrome plated model that might hold up a little better, but they have a minimum order requirement.  So now I need to find a reseller.

img_5493As I was re-installing this cap, I found that the bolts were all buggered up.  I got my tap & die set out to see if I could salvage them.  After lots of trial fits and scratching my head, I figured out that the bolts were metric and the nuts were SAE.  Good grief, some numnut didn’t much care what he was doing when he put this together.  Auto parts stores near me don’t carry a very good selection of stainless fasteners either, but I found some suitable ones at Lowes.

img_5490So why do I have a custom-fit 2 gallon methanol tank?  Because, when I ordered my supercharger kit, I upgraded it a bit so that I could order a smaller pulley to get more boost.  Before I could use the extra boost, I had to deal with the problem of knocking due to the fuel not having a high enough octane rating to resist the extra pressure.  (spraying a mist of alchol and water into the intake air raises the octane rating of the fuel)  Oh, there was also the copious amount of extra fuel needed too, but I had that taken care of already, upgraded injectors and replaced the fuel pump, which of course required upgraded relays and wiring.  So now I have an issue with belt squeel.  It sounds like one of my idler pulleys is going out, again.  (replaced both of them once already)  I don’t think people who drive Toyota Camerys have these type of problems.  These are self-created problems.  I actually like these problems, except that I don’t have enough time or money to keep up with them!

Quadzilla has been pretty neglected this year.  All the time I’ve spent out of town and my vegetable garden projects have really taken away from the autos.  To relolve my belt squeel problem, I ordered a new idler pulley, and while I was on the phone, I went ahead and had Procharger send me a 3.4″ drive pulley too, which might get me up to around 12 or 13 psi of boost.  Tech support says anything smaller than that will require me going to an 8rib setup, which is about $1000 to get new pulleys for everything that belt goes around.  I need to go ahead and switch to a speed density tune, since the MAF is out or range at the upper end already.  Oh, and my rear diff or rear bearings are going out too…

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Obama Jokes

In my tireless attempt to fight the man, I provide a little humor:

Q: What’s the difference between Obama and Hitler?
A: Hitler wrote his own book.

Q: What’s another difference between Obama and Hitler?
A: Hitler got the Olympics to come to his country.

Q: What’s the main problem with Barack Obama jokes?
A: His followers don’t think they’re funny and everyone else doesn’t think they’re jokes.

Q: Why does Barack Obama oppose the Second Amendment?
A: It stands between him and the First.

Q: What’s the difference between Rahm Emanuel and a carp?
A: One is a scum sucking bottom feeder and the other is a fish.

Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?
A: A fund raiser.

Q: What’s the difference between Obama’s cabinet and a penitentiary?
A: One’s full of tax evaders, blackmailers and threats to society. The other is for prisoners.

Q: What’s the difference between a large pizza and the typical Obama backer?
A:The pizza can feed a family of four.

Q: If Pelosi and Obama were in a boat and it started to sink, who would be saved?
A: America!

Q: What do you call the US after four years of Obama and the Liberal congress?
A: An Obama-nation.

Q: Why doesn’t Obama pray?
A: It’s impossible to read the teleprompter with your eyes closed.

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An Indian’s View of DST

IndianDST

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Trick or Treat

We took Bryson around the neighborhood to trick or treat. He and I practiced the routine many times this afternoon: He would knock on the door, I’d answer, he would yell ‘trick or treat’, I’d hand him some candy, then he would say ‘thank you’. He was pretty funny.

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Not So Easy Quiz

This is a quiz for people who know everything!

I found out in a hurry that I didn’t.

These are not trick questions.They are straight questions with straight answers

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn’t been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ‘dw’ and they are all common words.. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter ‘S.’

Answers To Quiz:
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Validation

Fifteen minute movie that has it all!

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Tennessee Pumpkin Carving

When you don’t have time to use a knife!

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My Christmas Lights

I hope one of my neighbors steps it up a bit so my ‘ditto’ lights will make an impact!
ChristmasLightsDitto

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The One Finger Salute

Read below pic before making judgement on ‘The Finger’ gesture and you’ll understand…
OneFingerSalute
Leading the fight is U S Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt, known as ‘Iron Mike’ or just ‘Gunny’. He is on his third tour in Iraq . He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour.

Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US Marines. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. ‘You can’t react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision,’ he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term ‘the longest walk’, stepping gingerly into a 5 foot deep and 8 foot wide crater.

The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground. ‘I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs,’ he says. ‘That’s when I knew I was screwed.’ Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant’s feet ‘A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded,’ he recalls. ‘As I was in the air I remember thinking, ‘I don’t believe they got me…’ I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down.’
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Obama Jokes

Q: What’s the main problem with Barack Obama jokes?
A: His followers don’t think they’re funny and everyone else doesn’t think they’re jokes.

Q: Why does Barack Obama oppose the Second Amendment?
A: It stands between him and the First.

Q: What’s the difference between Rahm Emanuel and a carp?
A: One is a scum sucking bottom feeder and the other is a fish.

Q: What’s the difference between Greta Van Susteren and Barack Obama?
A: Greta only talks out of one side of her mouth.

Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?
A: A fund raiser.

Q: What’s the difference between Obama’s cabinet and a penitentiary?
A: One’s full of tax evaders, blackmailers and threats to society. The other is for prisoners.

Q: What’s the difference between a large pizza and the typical Obama backer?
A: The pizza can feed a family of four.

Q: What’s the difference between a zoo and the White House?
A: A zoo has an African lion and the White House has a lyin’ African.

Q: If Pelosi and Obama were in a boat and it started to sink, who would be saved?
A: America!

Q: What do you call the US after four years of Obama and the Liberal congress?
A: An Obama-nation.

Q: What’s the difference between Obama and Hitler?
A: Hitler wrote his own book.

Q: What’s another difference between Obama and Hitler?
A: Hitler got the Olympics to come to his country.

Q: Why doesn’t Obama pray?
A: It’s impossible to read the teleprompter with your eyes closed.
Understanding TV News Acronyms

* NBC: New Barack Channel
* ABC: Another Barack Channel
* MSNBC: My Seriously New Barack Channel
* CBS: Continuous Barack Show
* FOX: Flagrant Obama Xenophobes

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