Nonsense Thread

[ForcedFirebird]

There was a warehouse fire a few blocks from my shop. No planes involved and the steel roof girders melted in half after less than an hour of burning. Rode my bike down the block just as it was collapsing.

[varg]

The strength of steel remains essentially unchanged until about 600°F. The steel retains about 50% of its strength at 1100°F. The steel loses all of its capacity when it melts at about 2700°F. However, for design purposes, it is usually assumed that all capacity is lost at about 2200°F.

https://www.aisc.org/steel-solutions-center/engineering-faqs/11.2.-steel-exposed-to-fire/#9370

how have you prepared for this?

I'm used to people stripping shelves and acting foolish when things start to get a little bit sideways. I'm a Florida man. So I did what I do before hurricane season, I bought my "hurricane food" and other essentials early (early February) so now I don't have to go shopping for weeks if people get particularly panicky. I also got some masks (well I have had them for a while) among other things that people panic bought and stripped the shelves of immediately upon things getting a little scary like alcohol and sanitizer. Not so much getting ready to catch it or treat people (beyond my wheelhouse), but making it so that I don't have to deal with people's erratic and panicked behavior. I also prompted my Mom and Grandmother to get some stuff set aside so when the grocery stores started getting raided they were good to go.

Now all I have to deal with is being home a whole hell of a lot. Online engineering school sucks and it's much harder to focus when you're home day after day. The only thing I wish I had the foresight to have done before this was pick up a barbell, weights and bench on craigslist, I miss lifting weights.

[2mAn]

TGIF

[ForcedFirebird]

TGIF

What's different on Friday? lol. My days and work hours blend with my personal life - oh the joys of working at a job your enthusiastic about.

On another note, it's funny how little things can make you feel so good. The lights burned out in my office and the landlord is dragging his feet with the repair. Been sitting in a dark office whenever I need to do something - or have the front door open for side light. Got some organizing done at the back of the shop around the lathe and welder - happen to find an old pair of fixtures that I could just rob the ballasts from. Between the cleaning up and a now bright office, the day is starting out well. :)

[2mAn]

What's different on Friday? lol. My days and work hours blend with my personal life - oh the joys of working at a job your enthusiastic about.

Right now?... not much but I look forward to my Saturday morning drives and being that rain is in the forecast for sunday-thursday it will be a nice thing to take out the Roadster

[ForcedFirebird]

Ugh. Wanted to make a new drift tool to easily install m20 intermediate bearings, but the metal supply house is closed. :( Didn't think a place like that would be closed - now gotta order online and hope that even shows up. Tried ordering some carbide inserts for the lathe yesterday and the site let you go through untilt he cart to tell you nothing is shipping out. Grrr.

[MrBurgundy]

Right now?... not much but I look forward to my Saturday morning drives and being that rain is in the forecast for sunday-thursday it will be a nice thing to take out the Roadster

Are you going tomorrow morning?

[ForcedFirebird]

Only took 13 years, but finally have 7000 posts lol

[2mAn]

Are you going tomorrow morning?

Yup, I usually am up and out of the house by 7:30ish and am back home before 10am. Just depends on which path I take

[rturbo 930]

Can anyone give me an explanation as to why my oil pressure is gradually (over months) dropping, from 60psi on start up (according to a post of mine from a year ago) and 9psi hot idle, now down to about 55psi cold, and about 6psi hot, that doesn't include impending engine failure? Looked at my oil pressure gauge coming home the other day and noticed it was lower than usual (call it about 7.5psi hot in recent months). Due for an oil change, but I've had so many issues with the motors in my E30 that this is making me nervous. Don't wanna make a separate thread just yet, wanna do an oil change and move up to 15w40 I think to see what that does.

[varg]

Oil is losing viscosity with age probably. Maybe even fuel diluted. What kind of oil pressure gauge are you using? I've had annoying issues with both oil pressure gauges I've had. The intellitronix gauge I have now has never shown a number between 8 and 18. It's pretty annoying that even a gauge that isn't a chinabay cheapo has these issues. I would not recommend buying one. I hate how rare oil pressure gauges are as a standard feature in cars.

I'm looking forward to seeing the oil analysis results for my recent oil change. I've been using Mobil1 15W50 since the installation of the new turbo along with the new feed setup and kludged oil cooler installation.

[rturbo 930]

What kind of oil pressure gauge are you using?

It's a VDO gauge, 0-100PSI. I considered that maybe the oil had become thinner with age, but I wasn't sure if that was something that happened, but it sounds like it is. I forgot to mention my E30 has had some starting issues lately, kinda hunts for idle, but ends up just stalling because the RPMs drop too low. Based on that chart, I think 15w50 would be ideal. My E30 is a 3 season car, so typical outside temps are above freezing. I'm considering doing an oil analysis when I change out the oil.

I hate how rare oil pressure gauges are as a standard feature in cars.

Tell me about it lol. My mom's newer Jetta doesn't even have a water temp gauge. I miss the days when cars came with all the gauges you needed for operation, not just warning lights.

[TeXJ]

speaking of shipping...I ordered some parts for my jeep, transmission solinoids, on Wednesday...looks like they are still sitting at the place I bough them from. They created the label yesterday...thought they would have gone out today...oof

Loosing oil pressure, I suspect the gauge first. I'm not a mechanic by any means, but I would think having 9 psi of oil pressure, you'd start to hear some banging going on in the motor or maybe a piston that might want to free itself. Check with a mechanical gauge like was suggested. You maybe able to rent one from O'Reily or VatoZone

[roguetoaster]

Tell me about it lol. My mom's newer Jetta doesn't even have a water temp gauge. I miss the days when cars came with all the gauges you needed for operation, not just warning lights.

You sound like an episode of Motorweek from the 1990s.

[Northern]

Tell me about it lol. My mom's newer Jetta doesn't even have a water temp gauge. I miss the days when cars came with all the gauges you needed for operation, not just warning lights.

ugh my Outback is the same way. The worst part is that they removed it to add an analog econometer à la E30 dash... why the fuck do you think I need this? It's a heavy, AWD 3.6L with a horrible automatic. I'm burning a ton of gas? No shit, Sherlock.