March 29, 2012

Jan Opperman video - should Hollywood do a movie?

February 18, 2012

You will hear the roar of our engines!

Appropriate that Chrysler uses this for a tag line in their new commercial - because for the last 60 years, the standard for ground-shaking horsepower is a single word - HEMI. Chrysler produced 2 lines of "Hemi" engines in the 50's - the small (270 ci)"Red Ram" or DeSoto, and the mighty "FirePower" - 331-392 cu. in. in stock form. Aluminium 417 c. version by Donovan Engineering
In the early 60's, Chrysler comissioned Weslake Engines to design a HEMI cylinder head for the then-current big-block "wedge" engine, resulting in the "426 Hemi". Several aftermarket mfrs. - KB, BAE, TFX, JP, AJ
The hemispherical combustion chamber design is particularly good for exotic, alcahol based fuels, including nitromethane, and lends itself well to supercharging.

A 426 Hemi, in a Charger Daytona at the Bonneville speed trials

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The Burkland's 450mph streamliner twin Donovan 417's blown on alcahol


Al Teague - handbuilt on a paycheck, 408 mph - "Stage 5" Hemi, blown on 60% nitro
2nd car in vid

Vintage dragsters fire up en masse for a "cacklefest" at the California Hot Rod Reunion 2011


New England Dragway pro finals

February 4, 2012

The Vermont Rule of 'Foot

"If you see a creature of an appearance similar to the legendary Bigfoot or Sasquatch, do not approach without offering a cold beer, or perhaps a fried egg sandwich. More than likely, it is a native who wanderd away from a gravel pit or boat ramp party. They may be attempting to return to a familiar "civilization" after becoming disorented, or thrown out of the back of a moving pickup."

February 1, 2012

You can make your own beleifs

But you can't make your own facts.

Hey, I'm a machinist - we routinely measure to .001/inch - that's half a hair! You can beleive all you want - but a pin that measures .752 isn't going to slip-fit into a 3/4" hole. .752 - .750 = .002 interference. Steel to steel, that'll take a small sledgehammer or a big-ass press to put together, beleif or not. Heat or cold can be used, as well - but when the temperatures equalise, it ain't movin'. Or, you can turn/file/polish the pin down a bit - but that is changing the facts!

The trouble is, the folks who watch Fucks News take beleifs (or conjecture, or outright friggin' lies) as fact - and it just don't work!

Or, as a friend of mine put it - the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle aren't "trim - to - fit"!

My Dad was a precision inspector by trade - he saw his job as establishing the facts (to .00005, in a temperature - controlled room, with measurements traceable to NIST). He was fond of quoting Sen. Sam Ervin "Once you have the facts, the law will take care of itself."

January 26, 2012

Mittens and Nootie are both full of shit

But Willard is traditionally full of shit - like this old school, "dry" shit spreader - if you don't lay it on too thick, it don't stink too bad......


Newt OTOH is a new standard in full of shit - like this new-tech liquid spreader - spilling over the top, spraying in all directions, don't get downwind 'cuz this shit would gag a maggot, fresh outa the giant lagoon SHIT!

January 23, 2012

Another consideration or 2

When a manufacturer outsources, It frees them from a lot of employee/employer relationship issues - many of which become vendor/purchaser issues.
A lot of managers prefer the relationship of purchaser to vendor, for a couple of reasons which aren't so nice. First is the fact that there is much less of a collegial relationship with a vendor than an employee. I can tell you, from 35 years as a machinist (outsourced, restructured, leased, temped, harassed, and generally screwed over) that the finance and marketing people HATE pushback from the technical side of things. They literally do not want to hear it - even if the pushback makes/saves significant $$$$$$.
The second issue is about who has power within the management structure - the purchasing function becomes much more important with outsourcing, as does finance. A lot of detailed engineering work ends up at the vendor as well, so there are fewer of those nerdy engineers around the office, and if the vendor's engineers have to deal with their customer, they have to be prepared to kiss a mile of ass! American engineers and skilled trades are not shy about telling the "suits"that their expectations are unrealistic, or, to be blunt about it "Hey, you guys fucked the dog again on this one!" A vendor will jump through hoops and bend over backward to keep the suits from finding out how badly they fucked up.

January 8, 2012

Check this out! (I built the engine)

The whine you hear is from 2 sources - straight-cut gears in the QC rear, and the (Milodon) gear drive.