Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Ah, cheap sealed bearings that have been in too long. :p

Guilty as charged. The replacement is equally cheap.

That said, I am in love with my new tool.
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http://www.amazon.com/AIRCAT-1150-K...ie=UTF8&qid=1432346834&sr=8-1&keywords=aircat

Quieter than my normal impact gun. Sounds and feels VERY weak, in fact. But a few weeks ago when I tried to do this job, my normal gun wouldn't do a damn thing to the axle nut, even wailing on it at 130PSI for minutes on end after heating it with the bloody torch. And then trying to use breaker bars and ratchets with a cheater pipe just broke every ratchet I owned.

This thing? On the slowest, lowest torque reverse setting (in reverse you've got a continuous spectrum to ramp up through, as opposed to a fixed number of settings), it just lazily unscrewed the bastard on the first hit. I didn't even have the opportunity to get mad at it. Rust belted ball joint castle nut? Not even there. Knuckle to bearing bolts? No problem (once I hammered the socket on, my cackhanded self screwed up the heads on them last time, apparently).

In my mind, it has completely erased any need for the entire 3/4 inch drive class.
 
I get the impression that BMW has completely misunderstood the meaning of the word 'Eleganza'. This is the atrocity they've unveiled at the Concorso d?Eleganza Villa d?Este:

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Two spoilers. Xzibit would be proud.
 
If you get the "appearance package" on a Mazda 3 hatch back, you get a larger roof spoiler...but it's just layered over the one that's already there.
 
Is that an i8 underneath? If so I'll die laughing
 
Yay! New car! (Actually had 4 when I left the dealer...)
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Girlfriend bought the e-Golf. I picked up a 2015 MAZDA 3 S Grand Touring hatchback.

NCD post tomorrow.
 
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I'm looking for someone in the East Bay Area to look at a car for me, out in Vacaville. I'd like to fly up north and drive it back down, ideally. Possibly next weekend or so. Payment in beer, etcetera, will be doled out.

Anyone willing to help out?
 
Altoid hasn't had his even a full year yet, so the jury is still out.
 
There's also a few tributes among the Miata world, but theirs are fabulous in entirely different ways.

I just love the fact Mia and Tia were fun loving sluts.

I poked the rust... Never poke the rust...

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Will you ever learn?

That's a Mazda 3 instrument panel

I like Mazda3's but good gawd they rust quick. I think they are the only Japanese brand that still has a rust problem (other than Toyota trucks).
 
I've just got back home from a 1924 km roadtrip through Northern France... in a rented three-pot 1.0 Focus which proved to be a decent car. :blink: It had torque, but no turbo lag (pretty much the opposite of what I expected) and it really liked to rev. Ford, wherever you've spent the money for engine r&d, give those people more of it!
 
I've just got back home from a 1924 km roadtrip through Northern France... in a rented three-pot 1.0 Focus which proved to be a decent car. :blink: It had torque, but no turbo lag (pretty much the opposite of what I expected) and it really liked to rev. Ford, wherever you've spent the money for engine r&d, give those people more of it!

I took a 125hp version (titanium trim, estate) for a drive back when it first came out and was thoroughly impressed. The biggest reason I'm not driving one right now is that they only come (or came) in manual and I have no need for that.
 
Will you ever learn?

Technically I didn't poke it first, the MOT tester poked it first, then I took it home and poked it all the way back to solid metal. Next will come sanding, then grinding and then welding...

I concur on Mazda 3 and their rust issues, there is one in the car park at work that has a fist sized hole in the front wing and the metal around it would probably give way in a stiff breeze. There are very few newish cars that can rival it for rusting I'm sure...
 
Technically I didn't poke it first, the MOT tester poked it first, then I took it home and poked it all the way back to solid metal. Next will come sanding, then grinding and then welding...
Yeah, that stuff needs to be fixed. Not a thing you can leave a lone.
 
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