Peter Vieira
Wow, you're reading this? Thanks! If you're into RC cars and I seem vaguely familiar, it's because I spent over 25 years writing and editing RC car news, reviews, and tech articles in print and online. What else, what else ... I have a degree in Film Studies (useless), most of a degree in Graphic Design (useful), and I'm married to a wonderful woman with horrible taste in men. Thanks to her, we have a terrific daughter who just earned her Journalism degree and is way, waaay more together that I was at her age. Or right now.
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God, The Expanse was such a good series. I really could go for more of it.
I also need to play the Telltale game, which is canon and has Cara Gee. There is a new game coming out, but I am not sure if it is canon or not (though it still looks very interesting).
@SWG: do you have the “Hole Hearted” Horn mix? If not, it’s worth seeking out.
Edit: of course everything is available on the internet. Makes all the time I spend record store looking for CD singles in the ’90s a waste of time?https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mApPrVBlwsQ
I just finished The Expanse series myself. It’s a page turner. The novellas are pretty entertaining, too.
I hate that current events have ruined so many pieces of media for me. It’s either “competent leadership? As if” or “This cartoonishly evil villain is far to close to reality for my comfort”.
I like Brian’s choice of paint. My house is a similar color, and can I just say I hate how grayscale house interior design has gotten? Beige is now a daring color simply by not being black, white, or gray.
This one must be a keeper, Brian. Ladyfriends don’t get home remodels until they cross the GF -> wife threshold, otherwise think what would happen to the neon beer sign and plastic patio furniture industry! 😉
Re: Brian’s apartment – I think that looks great! I like the whole wall and trim the same color thing. My whole house, bathrooms excepted, is just plain white – color comes from the wall decorations and furniture. Planning more of a light mushroom color in the new house though.
I’ve thought about reading The Expanse. I’ve seen most of the series but didn’t quite finish it. Easier for me to read books as I spend so much time on airplanes. Though being a cheap git, I do tend to stick with what I can get with my Kindle Unlimited subscription, and there is TONS of decent sci-fi on there. Plus my guilty pleasure romance novels, LOL.
I’ve always been a fan of stark, flat white and let the art and furniture do the talking.
Same, though in the new place I am going a little bit less stark.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about it. After all, we’re sort of neighbors.
I started consuming the books shortly before the show aired and loved being able to go back and forth between the books and the episodes because they cast those characters so damn well. Don’t forget, after you finish the 9th novel there are also a handful of novellas and short stories that slot in between the main novels!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(novel_series)
The chicken rides again!
The Expanse, both the books and the show, are excellent! I too picked up the first book after enjoying the show and then proceeded to read the entire series. Awesome stuff!
What’s a front cover (& related gasket)? Is that the timing belt/chain cover?
Two names for the same part. It’s also referred to as a timing case cover. The GM 3.1 V6 used an oiled chain instead of a belt.
Dammit now I’m going to have to read that entire series. I don’t have time for this…
I haven’t announced it widely and specifically, but I’m back to real work again as of two weeks ago. What this means for you, dear Autopianians, is that I’m probably going to buy an AC machine and double my annual salary doing AC jobs in the summer time.
I mention that because I might also buy a coolant exchanger machine to similar ends, including helping our poor folk hero SWG et al do real coolant flushes instead of homeopathic half-flushes. (in truth he’s probably juuuuuuust far enough away that it’s not worth it, but the idea of an Autopian Space & Service Share has been on my mind a lot lately. I feel like an ASS Share could really bring us all together, y’know?)
Great news!!!
I love ASS sharing too!
Congratulations! A real weight off your mind I bet. Just be sure to not let the quality of the commenting slip okay?
You bet your ASS you’ll get the same highly-variable content you’ve gotten from me up to this point. Bizarrely eloquent musings on cars and maintenance? You bet. Hilariously bad takes that expose my ignorance? Oh yeah. Hissy-pissy reactions to truly minor things? This, this is my bread and butter. I will not fail you or the community, except when I do.
I’m here for ASS!
Slogan: “Wow, this car runs like ASSS!”
I’ve always been an ASSS man, so I fully support this.
Congrats on the A/C machine! I do all my fills with a set of gauges and a scale. Machines don’t make sense for us in Transit, as you’d be constantly tank swapping. a 60ft articulated bus holds 42lbs of R134a. The average bottle has 30lbs of Frosty Sawce.
That’s great news! Good idea on the A/C side work. I really like doing A/C work – it’s relatively clean and easy once you understand the principles of it. At least until you have to swap an evaporator that was held in the air by a string and the car built around it. Grumble, BMWs, grumble.
ASS is a great idea. I have long shared my big garage and lifts in Maine with my friends, and I would be happy to do the same here in SW FL if the damned thing is ever finished. Getting there finally, another 2-3 months and I should be moving next door to the new digs. Not as big, but much, much more usefully tall. Though thanks to an oversight on my and my builder’s part, there is a support beam right where the lift needs to go that is taking it down to about 10.5ft of overhead clearance instead of the 11.5 I thought I would have. Might be able to cheat the lift over enough that smaller cars will clear it, but it’s not like I own Canyoneros anyway.
When did the engineers/accountants stop working on cars?
Not that long ago the toughest thing about changing a water pump was taking the fan clutch off, and could be done in under two hours the first time you did it, then under one hour the second time, and then maybe half an hour, depending on your bench setup. This is the way it should be – the water-pump driven by a fan-belt or two that is only connected to water passages and maybe a thermostat. Bearings and seals wear out, the OEM should plan for this to some extent.
Here the engineers made a water pump swap so difficult SWG’s Firebird’s previous owner just didn’t want to deal with it. This is a shame. SWG is a national treasure – thank you for keeping all your (and your friends’ and family’s) rolling-stock on the road.
Thanks for the kind words, Peter! That was very nice of you to say and means a lot.
I 100% agree that this H2O pump job absolutely did not have to be nearly this difficult.
I understand the difficulties of engineering-in accessibility and ease-of-repair when you have a budget and assembly lines and suppliers and platform sharing, but the lack thereof makes your product disposable if you can’t fix it easily/cheaply.
As a former OEM engine designer: I’m sorry. We know stuff like this is annoying because we drive shit old cars. But also: it’s 35 years old! I’m delighted that some of my stuff is still working 25 years later.
Having met and fought the accountants who force terrible compromises on to engines I think I can speak for them: I guess you mean “thanks for making cars that were affordable”.
Thank you for your reply from the inside – and maybe I am being a bit too curmudgeonly. Engineers are often stuck with conflicting constraints, and have to get “creative” to make everything work. And yes, 25 years is a long time, but resource-wise I hate to see (almost) anything go to the crusher.
I do think that some of the modern CAD tools make it too easy to just stick something where those working on paper would never think of. Typical comment from (young) engineers today when the physical prototype parts arrive: “Wow! I didn’t think it was going to be that small (or big.)” One old timer from early in my design career noted that you get a much better concept of what you are designing when doing it on paper – the first thing you need to do is decide what size paper to use, which gives you a better perspective on the physical scale you are working with… He also would leave what looked like dots in the CAD files and when you drilled down into them they would end up being something like a stick figure yelling “Gotcha”. Good times ;-).
CAD or paper are just tools, I’m old enough to have worked with both. CAD makes revising a design much easier and quicker though, so you get many more iterations done before a design freeze.
I used to hide tiny biplanes doing stunts in my early CAD drawings, and occasionally Airwolf.
The last graduate I hired spent the night before his interview changing the clutch on his Mini, so don’t worry about the latest generation of engineers, they still understand. Or at least the good ones do.
Engineer here – have worked in Industrial Maintenance for 25+ yrs. One thing I try to press on our Project Managers is ‘design for maintenance’. Putting in alignment jack bolts, jib cranes, trolley beams, etc… is FAR better in the design phase than as a later retrofit.
My first engineering job was machine maintenance, it’s definitely shaped my approach to design.
One project I worked on (on the repair team) didn’t even have a standalone repair team until the thing had 100+ preproduction builds and was well into V&V testing. Trying to add any input into design for service/repair after the fact was a big fat LOL.
Well first thank you Peter for trusting us readers enough to share you are into dressing in drag. I’m sure that wasn’t easy.
Second good call on painting the wall and trim as it appears the other wall the trim was a different color so matching would be hard. And as women have the ability to see 23 different versions of white you would have never been able to match it
Thank you on behalf of so, so many of us for including the sounds of “shouting in a parking lot over an idling engine” rather than those of Gary Cherone & Nuno Bettencourt et al.
(Nothing against anybody’s music–I actually like that song, and everybody knows Nuno shreds–but the last thing I want is for it to get stuck in my head.)
I legitimately don’t know any of what you’re referring to, but I once shared one of my favorite bands with an ex-coworker who said it “sounds like the train going by.” Which like. If I could live next to Archspire just sort of going off mostly-predictably? I wouldn’t be mad at that.
I listened to the new Archspire song, thanks for the tip (“sounds like a train going by” is right up one of my alleys)!
If you are unfamiliar with Metalocalypse, I urge you check it out.
I actually got to see Dethklok in concert a year or two ago! They were out of the badass Facebones tour shirts (it was the coolest design no doubt), my my hot pink Dr. Rockzo shirt always gets laughs in the mosh pit.
Only one month til Too Fast to Die, let’s goooo. One of the only Kickstarters I’ve ever backed but it was a no-brainer. Went through Relentless Mutation and Bleed the Future on a 3 hour drive today, I hope those speed cameras I passed weren’t on….
*chuckles nervously in totally non-incriminating solidarity*
I’m guessing that we’re about the same age, since everyone older than 50 and younger than 40 has no idea who Gary Cherone & Nuno Bettencourt are.
The squeaking serpentine belt did add a bit of treble to the “shouting in a parking lot over an idling engine” soundtrack, but I was just glad that it was making noise at all (from starting back up after surgery) to shout over! Thanks for reading and for the musical knowledge, Matt!
This 60 year-old certainly knows and still listens to them. Nuno rules! If you don’t like what you see here… get the funk out.
I’d have thought that an evil lair underneath a volcano would lend itself to nice warm year round wrenching?
+1 on the Expanse. The books are fine, as is the series on Prime though you probably need to give it a few episodes to get into it and get the story rolling. Once you’re in, you’ll appreciate the multi-layered and sometimes flawed characters and the rare but well played humor.
Science depicted is mostly accurate and mostly plausible thanks to the unfortunately named “Epstein” drive that lets the future spaceships cruise at a constant 1-g acceleration and deceleration without running out of fuel. No transporters, no gravity plates, no warp drives, just really, really efficient engines. No sound in space either but I think the show sometimes fudges on that – you do hear the breathing similar to 2001.
I’ve read that the books were inspired by the two mechanic characters from the original Alien movie played by Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto. A story based from the crew’s / worker’s point of view. Makes it feel real.
Enjoy!
Re the unfortunateness of the Epstein drive, reminds me of Rendezvous with Rama where the Spaceguard system first detects a massive presence incoming into the solar system on…9/11.
Bobbi says “Hitch up your tits! I’m gonna peel the paint!” when she blasts off with the senator in the racing ship.
That is now my go-to phrase to warn my passengers when I’m gonna hit the gas.
Bobbi is a treasure, as is the eventual Secretary-General Avasarala (not senator).
Interesting how both Epsteins died rather horrible deaths. Only one deserved it though.
Also, Shohreh Aghdashloo was fantastic as Avasarala.
I’m also actively reading The Expanse. I just finished the third book. I normally read non-fiction so this is a great series to throw in there when I need a change of pace.
I don’t hate Nancy Pelosi or anything, but “Space Nancy Pelosi” is kinda terrifying.
she’s one of the best characters in the books and very well portrayed in the show by Shohreh Aghdashloo (yes I had to look that name up).
The “where are you going with this?” scene is utterly iconic.
I recall the scene. Absolutely!
“You’re damn right it’s personal!”
Her voice and tone make nearly all of her lines perfect. One of the realest characters on the show.
Is Nancy Pelosi a potty-mouth like Chrisjen Avasarala?
She is a bad-ass character and great politician, with the welfare of her constituents and humanity at heart.
/Pure and utter BS Fiction.
/Love the show, and I’ve read all the books.
So if I read that right, the Firebird’s previous owner was topping off the coolant with water constantly, so by this point, there was a microscopic amount of actual coolant in the system? How long can a modern engine survive on just water anyway? Probably longer than I imagine, but still…
It’s a GM, running badly for longer than imagined, lol
Homeopathic coolant, which is even better than regular coolant.
Can staff win COTD?
We used to run plain water with a pinch of nutmeg on the farm. In California mind you. Kept the pump from leaking. Does that count as homeopathic coolant?
I think that counts. Bonus points for adding some NaCl (completely non-toxic and FROM THE EARTH) to lower the freezing point.
We grew sugar beets, so I suppose beet juice would work.
The well water here has vast amounts of of calcium too.
Re: engine survival rate on plain water, What was left was a brown, watery, rusty mess that didn’t resemble coolant whatsoever.
I’m going to weigh in and say that usually whenever the first 31-degree day comes about and it’s cracked open by ice! I’m frankly surprised that it didn’t freeze and crack this past winter – those freeze plugs in the block were working overtime and the GM engineer that came up with them in the 80s deserves a salute.
Thanks for the Comment, Jack. Always nice to hear from you, my man!
I think the paint looks good. It’s probably more common to keep the trim white, but I don’t think it’s a rule. If you like it and your girlfriend likes it, it’s perfect.
If Brian hates it and his girlfriend likes it, it’s still perfect.
Fair point.
Hard disagree. If you hate something, you should be able to say so. But if you just don’t like it or are ambivalent, maybe it’s not a hill worth dying on.
I stopped voicing my opinions a long time ago on anything that didn’t really impact my habits and routines. Life is much easier that way. Offer an opinion once, then move on.
I think it’s *interesting*. Which might or might not be good, frankly that doesn’t matter. When you have limited space like a NYC apartment with 2 people interesting is great. And when it’s no longer interesting new paint isn’t so tough. Especially in that color, where a good primer will cover it well.
I do like the paint on the trim, too.
It’s called color washing. My wife did it to one of our bathrooms and our bedroom. I think it looks good. It certainly saves on taping and worrying about accidentally getting paint on the trim or ceiling. Our trim has gathered so many layers of paint over the last 130 years that it doesn’t matter.
Ultimately, I think it will be a fad that will pass but that’s life.
I’ll be honest. That specific shade reminds me of every shitty, dated, hotel/motel I’ve ever stayed in. It screams “you may wanna sleep on top of the covers, fully clothed”
But the customer is always right in matters of taste, so my opinion matters not.