Tales of an Aspergian Bus Driver

More on OnStar...

I figured some people might be curious as to my cracks about OnStar & such. Much can be learned here about it.

An interesting clip from the article (which discusses among other thing the data recording system standard on most new cars):

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said public concerns about personal privacy shouldn’t get in the way of providing a valuable tool for accident investigators.

OnStar allows for two way voice communication, location tracking, and information on high G-force driving (accidents, or autocross, or slalom...). It's generally useful, but certainly has some interesting possibilities of use (or misuse).

Me? I'll stick to my older cars. Nothing fancy in them! And the current "What's wrong" list is...
RX-7: Leaking brake master cylinder, possible small coolant leak on hose going into block, radio acting up in cold (or in general), suspension in need of replacement.
Subaru: Leaking radiator, no radio, needs new rear brake drums.
'Ricer: Leaking right rear tire, radio works some of the time, no heater, possibly still overheats on highway (haven't tried it lately).

-=Russ=-

Tagged & Transponded (or, Christmas gifts)

Well, Christmas is over, and I have some fun stuff to take back to Ames. Highlights:

New digital camera (mine worked... some of the time... when it felt like it.) 4 megapixel, pretty snazzy. You can count the hairs on a cat with it.
Haircut (photos here and here)
Assorted books, including a reference of "Where to find Bible verses on various topics" - it's a very large reference.
A food chopper thing - hard to describe, but it has blades, and you press it down on top of stuff to chop it. Whap it a few times, and it'll make onion bits or such. Very useful!
A few other kitchen things (no room on the counter for them, but I'll find space... somewhere) including a crock pot (yay soup!) and a blender.
And, iPass unit. In the infinite wisdom of the IL Tollway Authority, cash tolls are DOUBLING on the 1st, but iPass tolls are staying the same. For those unfamiliar with tollways, you have to pay through the nose to drive on them. iPass is a transponder deal that allows you to zip right through, and automatically debit an account. Cash tolls are now doubling... basically affecting out of state folk and those few nuts who don't really want a transponder in their car (me included). I have a transponder now. :-/ The data mining that could be done with iPass data is absurd - a computerized record of where every iPass equipped car is, direction traveling, and average speed between toll plazas. It's really kind of frightening if you think about it, though probably no worse than OnStar... home of "You've just been in an accident. Do you require assistance?" "No, actually, we were just taking the car through a performance course, and doing some slalom & braking tests."

Now for Faithwalkers!

-=Russ=-

What has the graduated Russ been up to?

Well, I graduated Saturday, and it looks like I actually might be getting my diploma, despite my best efforts to foil that (missing finals & such).

Subsequent days have generally been spent in my garage, working on various things. I need to remove all the wiring harnesses from the parts RX-7 for someone, which is slow going. I don't envy the person putting them back in.

Then, I fixed the oil leak in the Subaru. There's a 50 cent o-ring buried between the cam cover and the cylinder head. It requires taking apart a good chunk of the engine to access - timing belt cover, timing belt, radiator, main pulley, valve cover, and finally the cam cover. Clean, reseal, put new o-ring in place, reassemble. This worked well. Sadly, the radiator didn't fare so well - when I pulled it, my first reaction was "Wow, what a piece of scrap..." It was missing half it's fins, and the rest moved when I poked them (well, those that didn't just disintegrate on touch). After putting it back in, I discovered a coolant leak (somewhere around Des Moines on the attempted trip to Chicago). So, back to Ames. I'm getting a new radiator for it when I get back to Ames. When it warms up, I'm thinking of pulling the engine and rebuilding it (or at least replacing all the soft seals). Mostly for experience with piston engines, honestly. There was more complexity in the little bit that I took apart than in an entire rotary engine.

Now, I'm in Chicago, via RX-7, hoping it doesn't snow between now and the 27th. I have no desire to attempt to get the RX-7 back to Ames in the snow.

I've also discovered that none of my primary cars have unequal length half shafts. Thus, no torque steer! I knew this, but driving around in the snow was very nice.

-=Russ=-

"Rotary Teardown" party - success!

In the land of "Weird events in the living room": Rotary engine teardown party. I had a blown rotary engine (rear rotor let go) from the parts car, and a bunch of people I know have been expressing curiosity about what a rotary engine actually looks like inside. So...

Around 3 PM, UniqueTII helped me move the engine from the back of my Subaru into my living room. So much fun, carting an engine around with 2 people. It's really not that heavy. We proceeded to rapidly tear it down to the short block... at which point it became really obvious that the flywheel was next. Earlier, much effort had been spent trying to free it. The nut was off, but the flywheel was clinging to the eccentric shaft. Just before heading out to the store to get a small sledgehammer, I decided to search the 'net. A minute or two later, I stuck a crowbar under one side, pried up, and tapped the opposite side a few times. Boing! Flywheel off.

Ripping the engine apart went fairly smoothly from there, though the tension bolts (that hold the whole thing together) were a pain to remove. The rear rotor was, as observed through the exhaust port, badly chewed up. It's actually one of the most damaged housings I've had a chance to see. Most of the time there are just scrapes & such... this one had gouges taken out of it (by the apex seal bit embedded in the rotor). It was quite toast. Maybe a fish tank...

The front rotor & housing are still in good shape. A good idea was suggested... turn the front part of the engine into a see-through rotary engine coffee table. Build a stand, put a motor on it to turn it, and put a glass top over the open side of the housing. Have a slow turning motor (with a button to make it fast), and just a slow turning rotor inside a housing. Great conversation piece, and more practical than the demo rotary engine I was planning (that would just be visible, not functional).

After moving the parts into the garage, and pulling up the tarp, it didn't even make a mess. Very nice.

-=Russ=-

Some architecture humor for the holidays...

Friend of mine sent me this. I thought it was worth passing on.

-=Russ=-

My persocon died :-(

Well, not quite (cookie to anyone who catches the reference). But it feels about the same. My iPod is no more. The hard drive died on it, and now it just clicks. And I can't afford to fix/replace it.

I realized that iPods are probably the most "personal" of assorted digital lifestyle devices. On most devices, the interface & applications are the bulk of the experience. My Powerbook is different from Matt's Powerbook, but they're still quite similar in terms of setup, applications, etc. On an iPod (or other similar music player), the interface is the bare minimum needed to explore the content - it's entirely content.

*sigh*

-=Russ=-

New stuff!

*bounces*

I have a parts car (86 RX-7, half gutted), a blown engine (S4 NA, unsure of what it's problem is), and a garage to work on stuff in!

Project time!

And if anyone is interested in helping me move a dead car halfway across Ames late late late at night, let me know. I'm hoping to move it tonight.

-=Russ=-