techimoto

Writing this from just a few blocks from the UCLA Hospital, where just a few hours ago, Michael Jackson passed away from heart failure. Where I live, we often “hear” the presence of dignitaries, and the rich and famous, since we are only blocks away from major Los Angeles Hotels, and the Beverly Hills Hilton, before it even hits the news.   The skies vibrate with airplanes.

Right now it sounds like a warzone, with helicopters buzzing overhead like a swarm of bees. Honking from Wilshire Avenue, and Santa Monica Blvd., both main roads leading into and out off UCLA.

Only 50. A musicians life can be hard, even for those who achieved fame.

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized.” – Edward Bernays

Life in America

The Republicans love their “trickle down” theory.  This theory, for the uninitiated, can be described as “terms of political rhetoric that refer to the policy of providing tax cuts or other benefits to businesses and rich individuals in the belief that this will indirectly benefit the broad population.”

Interesting idea, but why hasn’t it worked?  The answer is simple; Greed.    The majority of a corporations profits go to the top executives for allocation.  That part works fine.  But then, IT STAYS THERE!  NO WAY DOES IT “TRICKLE DOWN”!

It’s no secret about  the enormous salaries, bonus, and benefit packages received by the top guys and gals in major U.S. corporations.  Ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina comes to mind.  She got a severance package worth about $21.4 million, but stood to get another $21 million after she was forced out by the company.  Nice pay for messing things up royally (consider the logic of such packages: the board hires a CEO, gives them an incredible golden parachute.  If they fail and are thrown out, they get rich.  If they succeed, they get rich.  What a Motivator!).

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Geez, I never thought I’d have to resort to being an “image consultant”, but the republicans are becoming soo retarded in that respect that I just have to jump in.  Take a look at the picture on the right.  You probably know that you’ve seen him somewhere.  You might think he’s one of those Wall Street guys, you know, the one that sold investors those flaky financial instruments that have brought down the worlds economy?  Or, you might think he’s top sales guy for a men’s hair cream, or perhaps some activity director from a Cancun resort.  Either way, your initial reaction to his looks is probably not a good one.   We collectively hate Wall Street right now, the wet hair look is way out of date, and none of us can afford a trip to Cancun anymore.  Also check out his suit.  What would you guess, a $5k “outift”.  Meanwhile we’re sewing patches on our jeans.

Introducing Republican Minority Leader John Boehner.  Now here’s an example of what NOT to look like in 21st century America.  You republican dudes would be way better off with some badly dressed geeky looking person as your spokesperson.

Sorry John, I’m not available right now to help you update your image.

By the way, when he speaks, he sounds as dumb as he looks.

“Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink”.  Something about this line from the “Ancient Mariner” makes it stick with us.  I guess somewhere in the dark recesses of or psyche, their lurks the fear of going without this  magic elixir: it has the power to sustain our lives.

For cruising boaters, having enough potable water is always an issue.  Modern cruisers carry 80, 100, or more gallons in their water tanks.   Yet if in a remote area, local water may either be suspect, hard to find, or difficult to transport back to the boat for future use.

Most boats have some space under their galley sinks, usually used for various cleaning supplies, etc.  If you can spare a few cubic feet, I will present one technique that will help the boater supplement the water from their tanks.  It also lends itself well to seperating your available water supply by QUALITY; i.e., keep your tank water for things like dishes, showers, etc., and use your new jerry jug setup described here, for your high quality drinking water.

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Christian Conservative Right, would you like to get back in the game? Maybe win a few elections? Have some significant influence over frail humans? Then you need to change your mindset. The recent presidential election shows us that most Americans are tired of fear, intimidation, and most of all, anger. We don’t want it anymore. It is destructive, and ultimately self-defeating. In other words, it is a waste of time, and time is what we are beginning to run out of.

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So now that the Jeep is running and drivable we wanted to spruce the exterior up a bit.  We thought a nice change in color was in order,  and since we already have a white Jeep we decided to go with something a little more exotic, like, uh, yellow. After a bit of research we decided to get nasson paint since it is available at Carquest in any color combination.  After some debate, and much asking of opinions, we ended up with a yellow that was one shade lighter then the Nissan Xterra color.

The supplies needed for this was:

• One Gallon Paint
• One Gallon Primer
• Paint Activator
• Primer Catalyst
• Laqour Thinner
• Measuring Cups
• Stirrers
• Sand Paper Varied Grits 60 – 2000 Grit
• Polishing Compound
• Electric Buffer Polisher
• Spray Gun ($14 Harbor Freight)
• Air Compressor and Hoses
• Tack Cloth
• Bondo for smoothing body panels
• Resperstor masks!!! !! Very Important !!

The paint supplies cost us about $350.   This included everything but the aircompressor and air hoses. Everything else on the list had  to be purchased.

Once we had finished researching how to paint a vehicle and we had all the supplies,  it was time to start prepping the body of the Jeep.

First we had to remove all the trim and windows from the Jeep.  Most body shops just tape around all the trim but we wanted to take the time to do it the right way, which meant removing any windows that could end up with some paint mist on them.   Ditto with all the rest of the trim and door handles, resulting in only tape off three parts which ended up being just the door locks.

The Jeep had been repainted at one time in it’s sordid past,  using spray paint (rattle cans).  Because of this, the paint was chipping and flaking away, which meant we had to sand down past the spray paint and create a smooth clean surface at the original primer level. Read the rest »

WASH, RINSE, and REPEAT

With the recent rash of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia, hi-tech entrepreneurs are coming to the rescue.  Most people figure pirates probably don’t bathe often, at least often enough, so here’s one solution that kills two birds with one stone:  The instant wash, but with no rinse cycle: This solution (no pun intended) allows crews of ships under attack to coat the side of the ship, ropes, ladders, etc. with a slimy liquid that makes it almost impossible to walk/climb/hold-on-to.

Ron Mathis, senior program manager of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, says the foam was developed for the Marine Corps to control unruly crowds. But, he says, he’s optimistic about selling some for “the pirate application.”

The idea would be to spray the pirate’s vessel as it approached, or to coat ropes, ladders, steps and the hull of the ship that’s under attack.  Mathis says walking on a surface that has been sprayed is like walking on ice. Climbing steps becomes nearly impossible. And ladders are out of the question.

Next, we have the super-sized “sound blaster”.  Think that pirates won’t take orders?  Think again, but this time the order to “get the H__ off of my ship” command can be heard loud and clear.  It’s a high-powered directional loudspeaker that allows a ship to hail an approaching vessel more than a mile away. And it comes with recordings of useful phrases, like “You must leave the area immediately,” in Somali and dozens of other languages.

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When we got the Jeep the transmission was slipping badly and was not drivable, because of this we wanted to rebuild a transmission we had pulled from our 88 Jeep Cherokee. 

We started by removing the transmission from the Jeep and carefully examining all the components, we took a close look at the torque converter and quickly noticed that the oil bearing was stuck to the shaft. This would explain why the transmission was slipping, but since we had the Jeep apart we decided it was smarter to go ahead and put in a new torque converter and rebuild our spare transmission. 

The first step in the process is to source the parts, We have used Transmission Parts of Oxnard in the past and decided to stop by the shop to see what they had.  After a few minutes we where on our way with a new torque converter and all new seals and bushings for the transmission, the owner of the shop had a look at our clutch pack and we both agreed that it was unnecessary to replace them at this time because they had minimal wear. We also inspected the oil pump and sun gears for signs of wear but they all looked good with very minimal wear. 

Digging into a transmission may sound like a daunting task but it is really a strait forward repair and with a little patience anyone can do. We also recommend downloading the factory service manual for the transmission you are working on, this will have many detailed images and tips for working on your transmission. Read the rest »

Now that the Jeep is registered we had to make a game plan of what we would do to the Jeep. Since the plan was to create a daily driver (DD) that is also highly capable off highway, because of this we wanted to lift the Jeep but also have a smooth ride on highway. 

After a bit of research we came up with a list of major parts to install into the Jeep. 

1. Rubicon Express 3.5″ SuperRide lift 
2. Rubicon Express 1600 Adjustable Trackbar 
3. Doestech Shocks 
4. Rubicon Express SYE Flange, Custom Yoke
5. Coast Driveline, CV Rear Shaft
6. Nasson yellow paint & epoxy primer 
7. New master cylinder & booster
8. Interstate Battery
9. New pads, shoes, rotors, and drums
10. Peel – N – Seal for the floors
11. New Carpet, Seats, Headliner

So now that we had a list of the parts we needed it was time to order, we decided to get the lift online and the rest of the parts locally. After a week of part gathering we had a pile of parts ready to be installed.

In the next article we will show the process of rebuilding the transmission and getting the Jeep running.