So, I spend untold hours scouring the intarwebs for interesting and informative car sites. Quite frequently, you find these hidden little gems that you'd never find otherwise. I was doing some research on TVRs this morning for the side project I'm working on and came across this web site: http://tvr.m-fix.co.uk/. The fellow who runs it has put together a ton of valuable information.
If you're like me and just curious about the TVR 1600M, TVR 2500M, and TVR 3000M then this site is a great resource! If you're into TVRs or restoring one, then you must stop by and check the site out.
Cheers!
Jody
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Jensen Healey in a tv commercial
This came across the wires today. This is a european commecial for some yogurt product. The nifty thing is the pretty 1975 Red Jensen Healey that's driven throughout the commercial!
Snack Avoidance with..
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Happy Father's Day
So today is my first official Father's day.
Spent the morning doing quality time with Young Master Jensen while the rest of the household slept. He and I seem to be on the same time schedule and we get up very early in the morning (much to his mother's dismay).
Then it was time spent farting around in the back yard playing with tools. Since everyone else was still asleep, Jensen supervised from his "johnny-jump-up" while I messed about.
Then, when the lazy women awoke it was present time. My Mum has officially decided (and I now have a t-shirt to proove it) that I'm "The Big Guy" (we used to refer to my Dad as that, it's a bit wierd, but also nice to think of myself that way. I do miss him today, especially because he never got to see the family we've built and the grandchildren he has).
I also asked for one thing, and recieved it, a new laptop. I've been fiddling, updating, installing and testing all morning, and dork-like, I'm happy farting around with this computer. It will be the new tool I use for updating this site.
Tonight it's BBQ! So, I hope all of you other Dads out there have has as good a day as I have!
Cheers!~
Jody
Spent the morning doing quality time with Young Master Jensen while the rest of the household slept. He and I seem to be on the same time schedule and we get up very early in the morning (much to his mother's dismay).
Then it was time spent farting around in the back yard playing with tools. Since everyone else was still asleep, Jensen supervised from his "johnny-jump-up" while I messed about.
Then, when the lazy women awoke it was present time. My Mum has officially decided (and I now have a t-shirt to proove it) that I'm "The Big Guy" (we used to refer to my Dad as that, it's a bit wierd, but also nice to think of myself that way. I do miss him today, especially because he never got to see the family we've built and the grandchildren he has).
I also asked for one thing, and recieved it, a new laptop. I've been fiddling, updating, installing and testing all morning, and dork-like, I'm happy farting around with this computer. It will be the new tool I use for updating this site.
Tonight it's BBQ! So, I hope all of you other Dads out there have has as good a day as I have!
Cheers!~
Jody
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Binge and Hoard
So, it's been an interesting few days. Not necessarily because of the car work (that will follow in a later post) but in terms of psyche. We, as car people, are pack rats. We hoard things away that we find for the eventual, or possible, "hey I need a..." or "does anyone have a..." This is especially true of car people that work on orphaned cars. You never know if that nearly ruined part may be needed by a nearly ruined survivor.
Well, Junior Grease monkey #1 (I refer to my children as Junior Grease Monkeys) incurred a parental room cleaning after not heeding warnings for over a month, an finally, "forced labor" for three days (parentally assited until wit's exceeded patience) which involved cleaning one's room. While the overall process was ongoing I was assisting a friend in street readying a car.
What I finally determined is that there are two distinct types of hoarders: organized super hoarders and volume based hoarders. The first is like me. I cannot stand disorganization. Myentire garage may be filled with boxes of things, those things may invade my workspace, but because they are organized (to the most anal retentive level) they are easily categorized and later stashed away. These folks make inventory lists and label boxes. They are, for a lack of a better term, from the Martha Stewart school.
The second is like my daughter and my friends Steve and Chip, piles of junk everywhere, stored willy nilly. They have active recall of the previous period of time, but anything stored later than that period of time is "lost in the mess." They know that they may or may not have the item, they vaguely remember it, but they're damned if they can put their hands on it.
I like organized messes, disorganized messes scare me. The wife and I are on hour 4 of the child's room, It's time to go back to work.
Be organized, it makes life so much easier!
Well, Junior Grease monkey #1 (I refer to my children as Junior Grease Monkeys) incurred a parental room cleaning after not heeding warnings for over a month, an finally, "forced labor" for three days (parentally assited until wit's exceeded patience) which involved cleaning one's room. While the overall process was ongoing I was assisting a friend in street readying a car.
What I finally determined is that there are two distinct types of hoarders: organized super hoarders and volume based hoarders. The first is like me. I cannot stand disorganization. Myentire garage may be filled with boxes of things, those things may invade my workspace, but because they are organized (to the most anal retentive level) they are easily categorized and later stashed away. These folks make inventory lists and label boxes. They are, for a lack of a better term, from the Martha Stewart school.
The second is like my daughter and my friends Steve and Chip, piles of junk everywhere, stored willy nilly. They have active recall of the previous period of time, but anything stored later than that period of time is "lost in the mess." They know that they may or may not have the item, they vaguely remember it, but they're damned if they can put their hands on it.
I like organized messes, disorganized messes scare me. The wife and I are on hour 4 of the child's room, It's time to go back to work.
Be organized, it makes life so much easier!
Monday, June 15, 2009
The REAL truth about The Stig
A TheyMightBeRacing.com exclusive, uncovering the true origins of the Stig.
Anyone who has watched any variant of the BBC TV programme Top Gear is familiar with the race driver known as "The Stig." What hasn't been known until now was the true origins of The Stig, nor how so many variants of him have been possible.
It was recently discovered that a little known project, funded by the BBC in the late 1990's, was used to genetically engineer The Stig. There is little available documentation about the original Racer Genome Project, excepting for the fact that it's primary goal was to identify all the greatest racing characteristics evident in the genome of all known great racing drivers.
It was this information that was used to clone the original Stig (known as Black Stig). The state of genetic engineering before 2002 was not at the heights that it is today, and that Stig was known to be deficient in a number of areas. Clarkson himself was heard referring to it as "having a very small brain, who had worthless opinions, and a disorder described by Clarkson as 'Mansell Syndrome'."
What wasn't known during the first two (reformed) seasons of Top Gear was that top BBC scientists, having finally nailed Doctor Who regeneration cycles, were off to a much greater task. Building a bigger and better Stig. This Stig was completed towards the end of season two. Now, Top Gear, needing to find a way of getting rid of the original Black Stig came up with a perfect means of his disposal: launching the Stig off of the HMS Invincible and losing him at sea.
Interestingly, it was a side effect of his "Mansell Syndrome" that made this possible. Based on research done at the Mansell Syndrome Research Institute of Helsinki, Finland. It was determined by MSRI scientists that sufferrers of "Mansell Syndrome" are unable to resist driving modified Jaguar XJ-S's.
With the commencement of season 3 of Top Gear the revised White Stig was introduced. While this Stig was significantly improved over the earlier version it was determined that the increased brain capacity forced the Stig to don white overalls and led to a strange auditory OCD variant where The Stig could only listen to specific genres or types of sound/music for a six month period, with this choice, oddly enough, changing in between seasons of Top Gear.
Further discoveries occuring early in 2005 have resulted in the ability to create other, specialized Stigs. The first of these was debuted in Series 9, Episode 3. During the visit of Top Gear to the United States, a US specific Stig was required. To make a more American racing friendly version of the Stig (and because it made it less expensive to clone) they removed the ability to make right hand turns. It was rapidly discovered, though, that this limitation had side-effects of having to feed the US version on Twinkies, beer and nachos. By the time the Top Gear team met their US versioned Stig he'd doubled in girth, thus their naming him "Big Stig".
This new ability has led to boutique versions of The Stig now being created for subsequent series of Top Gear. OF interesting note, all these Stig variants contain their own abnormalities. In the series filmed in Botswana, the "Stig's African Cousin" version, modified to be able to survive without water for weeks at a time, was actually able to determine that Jermey Clarkson was rubbish at picking challenge cars and opted to walk the track rather than drive Clarkson's "Lancia Beater Coupe." Season 12 saw the creation of two Stigs: "Rig Stig" and "Red Stig." The former was cloned for an earlier episode in the series and is actually the second "Rig Stig" clone. The first "Rig Stig" was accidentally mixed with US Trucker genes, and was permanently tanned on the wrong arm. Last minute resequencing was then performed using Lorry driver genes and the tan appearred on the correct arm. The lesser known "Red Stig" (as we've termed him) was built for scooter driving in Vietnam. It turns out that there were some mistakes in his sequencing, where researchers accidentally applied the tricycle rather than bicycle gene, and Red Stig was only able to ride a small child's red tricycle, which is the real reason why the scenes containing it were cut from the final episode.
Further experimentation has allowed for two additional Stigs to be created. these two appear on Top Gear Australia and Top Gear Russia. The former was created by adding the gene sequence F-M-K-H (Football, Meatpies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars) is was so greatly changed by this that he subisists solely on Vegemite, Meat Pies and Twiglets. Because of this, the OZ Stig is constrained to stay on the Australian continent. Little is known about the Russian Stig's genetic sequencing (being the most recent publicly known Stig).
Until now almost all of this has been strictly conjecture. Recent results, however, have enabled us to validate that this is the truth without a doubt. When the proposed Top Gear America series was canned, the development of a Stig for this series was halted. Thanks to the efforts of the ISPCS (International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Stigs) not only have the episodic Stigs been rehabilitated after being abandoned (Big Stig, et al), but the early gestation American Stig has been rescued, and we have pictures!
You'll note that this Baby Stig is quite fat. Originally bereft of his ability to make right turns he is presently undergoing extensive gene therapy to replace that ability. There is much hope for him to eventually succeed at turning both left and right.
Here you can see an additional photo during his physical therapy. Here, the doctors are assisting him in making right turns.
--Disclaimer. This is entirely for humor purposes, any and all
trademarks or copyrights are retained by their original owner.
--Side note. BBC, Make a proper "I am The Stig" onesie! Baby Stig
wants one! He's presently 6-12 Mos. size.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Jensen Healey Transmission - Getrag 5-speed 235/5
So, got some good news today. Thanks to some info from a fellow Jensenite Mitch Ware I have a line on a BMW versionof the Getrag parts catalog. So, Once I recieve said catalog I'll be able to update teh Jensen Healey parts catalog with the BMW Part#s for the transmission. This will make finding parts far simpler as the BMW part#s are far more prevalent than the Jensen ones.
I have to thank the folks at: http://www.2002ad.com/ for the BMW part numbers, so if you need bits think of them first, since they've agreed to help us out!
I'll let everyone know once I've recieved the parts information and have it integrated into the database!
Cheers!
I have to thank the folks at: http://www.2002ad.com/ for the BMW part numbers, so if you need bits think of them first, since they've agreed to help us out!
I'll let everyone know once I've recieved the parts information and have it integrated into the database!
Cheers!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
POR-15 Tricks and site update
So, I realized as I was putting things away tonight that there may be a couple POR-15 tricks that not everyone is aware of.
1) If you're working with the tins, particularly the small ones, you know that you can't resal them once they've been opened. Well, here's the trick. use some plastic wrap or a sandwich baggie between the cap and tin. It'll allow you to reseal the POR-15 tin and open it later!
2) POR-15 and bolt threads. If you're laying on the POR-15 thickly, then you risk filling in the threads on bolts so that you'll not be able to put a nut on later. If you wait until you're done painting and lightly address the threads without adding new POR-15 to the brush you can get a clean coating without filling out the threads.
Also, I updated some code on the site to better enable the blog functions. You can now go back and read the older posts via the blog page. In addition, you can comment on the blogs now.
Cheers!
Jody
1) If you're working with the tins, particularly the small ones, you know that you can't resal them once they've been opened. Well, here's the trick. use some plastic wrap or a sandwich baggie between the cap and tin. It'll allow you to reseal the POR-15 tin and open it later!
2) POR-15 and bolt threads. If you're laying on the POR-15 thickly, then you risk filling in the threads on bolts so that you'll not be able to put a nut on later. If you wait until you're done painting and lightly address the threads without adding new POR-15 to the brush you can get a clean coating without filling out the threads.
Also, I updated some code on the site to better enable the blog functions. You can now go back and read the older posts via the blog page. In addition, you can comment on the blogs now.
Cheers!
Jody
The latest sandblasting experiment
So, over the weekend I bodged together my media cabinet set-up and my pressured sandblasting pot. The basic idea is that the siphon feed is good for most things, but items stuch as brake drums need more heavy duty power.
Well, the initial results are a positive failure. Positive meaning I did get some good results, failure meaning it all went wrong very quickly....
So, what I found is the following:
1) My shop-vac air cleaning set-up simply couldn't keep up at full blast. There were times when I couldn't tell if I was blasting the drum or the side of the cabinet. Perhaps with a frech filter it may work better. It held it's own until the pot output became uncontrollable.
2) The craptastick nozzle set up that comes with the pressure pot failed very quickly. It would either be full bore or nothing. There was no inbetween. When I still had control I could dial it down to a controllable level. After that, it was a sandstorm in a box.
3) Media recovery is a chore. So, in a siphon setup you just reuse the existing media until it's too used up, remove it and replace it. With a pressurized system the media is all in the pressure pot and it gets dumped into the cabinet. Well, the cabinet isn't well designed for a free flow out the bottom, so everything has to be scooped out, screened for oversize debris, and then loaded back into the pressure pot. This is highly inefficient, especially when you can't control how fast you use the media.
Now, all this being said. There's some finer points to be thought through. If I can:
A) Find a better sandblast "gun" that works with a pressurized system I can control flow better.
B) Either a clean air filter, bigger shop vac, or a dust collector may be able to keep the field of vision clear.
C) Some modifications to my cabinet and it's stand may better allow for media to drain out the bottom, be filtered and returned to the pressure pot.
For tonight, I'll use the old siphon feed to finish off the brake drum. But I've got more mods in mind for this kit. And, I'm also thinking about what it would take to build my own cabinet, just because I'm anal-retentive that way.
Cheers!
Jody
Well, the initial results are a positive failure. Positive meaning I did get some good results, failure meaning it all went wrong very quickly....
So, what I found is the following:
1) My shop-vac air cleaning set-up simply couldn't keep up at full blast. There were times when I couldn't tell if I was blasting the drum or the side of the cabinet. Perhaps with a frech filter it may work better. It held it's own until the pot output became uncontrollable.
2) The craptastick nozzle set up that comes with the pressure pot failed very quickly. It would either be full bore or nothing. There was no inbetween. When I still had control I could dial it down to a controllable level. After that, it was a sandstorm in a box.
3) Media recovery is a chore. So, in a siphon setup you just reuse the existing media until it's too used up, remove it and replace it. With a pressurized system the media is all in the pressure pot and it gets dumped into the cabinet. Well, the cabinet isn't well designed for a free flow out the bottom, so everything has to be scooped out, screened for oversize debris, and then loaded back into the pressure pot. This is highly inefficient, especially when you can't control how fast you use the media.
Now, all this being said. There's some finer points to be thought through. If I can:
A) Find a better sandblast "gun" that works with a pressurized system I can control flow better.
B) Either a clean air filter, bigger shop vac, or a dust collector may be able to keep the field of vision clear.
C) Some modifications to my cabinet and it's stand may better allow for media to drain out the bottom, be filtered and returned to the pressure pot.
For tonight, I'll use the old siphon feed to finish off the brake drum. But I've got more mods in mind for this kit. And, I'm also thinking about what it would take to build my own cabinet, just because I'm anal-retentive that way.
Cheers!
Jody
Monday, June 8, 2009
The website threw a rod
Hey Folks,
If you were trying to access the website tonight and you got some sort of error don't worry. I've been doing some serious "engine rebuilding" in the background in the past bit. I tried to get it out to the public and the site did the equivalent of "throwing a rod."
We're working on it right now, and everything appears to be resolving correctly. Another 1/2 hour and we'll be back in the race, running leaner with higher horsepower. :)
Cheers!
Jody
If you were trying to access the website tonight and you got some sort of error don't worry. I've been doing some serious "engine rebuilding" in the background in the past bit. I tried to get it out to the public and the site did the equivalent of "throwing a rod."
We're working on it right now, and everything appears to be resolving correctly. Another 1/2 hour and we'll be back in the race, running leaner with higher horsepower. :)
Cheers!
Jody
Sunday, June 7, 2009
New Article and weekend efforts
For starters, I published a new article on the Frame-Off restoration process. It's about dealing with the Front End Accessories under the hood.
In addition I spent some timeout in the garage this weekend. In part it was working on the Studebaker brakes (I'd forgotten how much of a pain removing rear drums are) and in other part experimenting with mating up my pressurized sandblaster with my media cabinet. I'll report on how well that goes.
As for everything else, It's getting hot here in Arizona, which means garage time gets curtailed a bit when the heat is up. That being said, once I get the brakes done on the Studebaker it'll be time to move on to rebuilding the differential / rear brake assemblies on the Jensen Healey and rebuilting the Master Cylinder and Carburetor on Mum's Spitfire. as with all projects, look for articles on these written once the work is completed.
Cheers!
Jody
In addition I spent some timeout in the garage this weekend. In part it was working on the Studebaker brakes (I'd forgotten how much of a pain removing rear drums are) and in other part experimenting with mating up my pressurized sandblaster with my media cabinet. I'll report on how well that goes.
As for everything else, It's getting hot here in Arizona, which means garage time gets curtailed a bit when the heat is up. That being said, once I get the brakes done on the Studebaker it'll be time to move on to rebuilding the differential / rear brake assemblies on the Jensen Healey and rebuilting the Master Cylinder and Carburetor on Mum's Spitfire. as with all projects, look for articles on these written once the work is completed.
Cheers!
Jody
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Top Gear
Only 16 days until the new Top Gear season starts, thank the gods! Things have gotten so bad during the off season that I've not only rewatched the first 12 seasons, but I'm in the process of breaking down and watching Top Gear Australia. First time I watched it we had to turn it off after the second episode.
If you've never seen this show, find it, watch it, love it.
If you've never seen this show, find it, watch it, love it.
Efforts to get rid of the Arizona speed cameras
I just ran across this site on the news tonight: http://camerafraud.wordpress.com/.
I don't believe in big brother policing and I will join the fight to get rid of Phoenix speed cameras. I find this extra-ironic as I normally drive around with 2 kids in the car these days, so speeding is the least of my worries, driving 70 feels too fast. :)
Jody
I don't believe in big brother policing and I will join the fight to get rid of Phoenix speed cameras. I find this extra-ironic as I normally drive around with 2 kids in the car these days, so speeding is the least of my worries, driving 70 feels too fast. :)
Jody
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New Articles and other improvements!
I've made some recent additions to the site articles. For starters, I've finally published the article on going over the front suspension of the Triumph Spitfire. In addition to this I've exposed a browseable version of the Jensen Healey parts catalog. Whil I was working on this I noted that the Getrag 5-speed parts information had never been added. It took me a few nights of data entry drudgery, but it's all there now.
I also discovered a new piece of software that assists with optimizing web site images. I spent a few days working with this and have significantly reduced the iamge file sizes on the web site. Now, this is all boring technical stuff, but it really means that every page will now load much faster!
Cheers!
Jody
I also discovered a new piece of software that assists with optimizing web site images. I spent a few days working with this and have significantly reduced the iamge file sizes on the web site. Now, this is all boring technical stuff, but it really means that every page will now load much faster!
Cheers!
Jody
For my Australian friends
I recently shared content rights for one of my videos (the one on gas tank restoration). In exchange for allowing Permanent Painted Coatings Australia (http://www.ppc.au.com/)the rights to display my video on their site I negotiated a 15% discount on their products through the month of June and July of 2009.
To get the discount you must either order via their web site or call
them at (02) 9999 0122. Additionally, you need to mention my web site
"TheyMightBeRacing.Com" to get the discount. (I'd recommend calling as
I don't know how their online shopping cart functions). The specific
fellow I worked with there is named Rob (on the off chance that they
don't know what you're talking about).
Cheers!
Jody
To get the discount you must either order via their web site or call
them at (02) 9999 0122. Additionally, you need to mention my web site
"TheyMightBeRacing.Com" to get the discount. (I'd recommend calling as
I don't know how their online shopping cart functions). The specific
fellow I worked with there is named Rob (on the off chance that they
don't know what you're talking about).
Cheers!
Jody
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