Christopher McKitterick's Blog, page 34
September 4, 2011
Astro-Porn of the Day: Saturn is gorgeous.
The Cassini spacecraft has been working Saturn for a while, but WOW has it ever sent us a couple of amazing shots lately! First up, check out this AMAZING shot of Saturn eclipsing the Sun:
Click the image to see the APOD page.
In 2006, Cassini spent about 12 hours in the giant planet's shadow looking toward the eclipsed Sun and photographed many wonders: The night side of Saturn is lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Normally, the rings appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but bright when viewed away from Saturn, scattering sunlight in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that scientists even discovered new rings! Particularly nice is Saturn's E ring, created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus, the outermost ring visible. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the "pale blue dot" (thanks, Carl Sagan) of Earth.
Next up is a current photo of Saturn displaying its HUGE storm, 8 times the surface area of Earth!
Click the image to see NASA's Saturn-JPL page.
Cassini first detected the storm on December 5, 2010, and it has been raging ever since at approximately 35° north latitude. Cassini photos show the storm wrapping around the entire planet, covering approximately 2 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers).
The storm is about 500 times larger than the biggest storms we've previously detected. Scientists studied the sounds of the new storm's lightning strikes and analyzed images taken between December 2010 and February 2011 and learned that lightning flashed more than 10 times per second. As you might imagine, the storm is also a prodigious source of radio noise, so if you have a radio telescope now's the time to observe this active world. The lightning is produced in the water clouds, where falling rain and hail generate electricity. The mystery is why Saturn stores energy for decades and releases it all at once.
"Cassini shows us that Saturn is bipolar," said Andrew Ingersoll, Cassini imaging team member. "Saturn is not like Earth and Jupiter, where storms are fairly frequent. Weather on Saturn appears to hum along placidly for years and then erupt violently. I'm excited we saw weather so spectacular on our watch."
Go Saturn go! Too bad it's not in great viewing position right now....
Chris
Click the image to see the APOD page.
In 2006, Cassini spent about 12 hours in the giant planet's shadow looking toward the eclipsed Sun and photographed many wonders: The night side of Saturn is lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Normally, the rings appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but bright when viewed away from Saturn, scattering sunlight in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that scientists even discovered new rings! Particularly nice is Saturn's E ring, created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus, the outermost ring visible. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the "pale blue dot" (thanks, Carl Sagan) of Earth.
Next up is a current photo of Saturn displaying its HUGE storm, 8 times the surface area of Earth!
Click the image to see NASA's Saturn-JPL page.
Cassini first detected the storm on December 5, 2010, and it has been raging ever since at approximately 35° north latitude. Cassini photos show the storm wrapping around the entire planet, covering approximately 2 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers).
The storm is about 500 times larger than the biggest storms we've previously detected. Scientists studied the sounds of the new storm's lightning strikes and analyzed images taken between December 2010 and February 2011 and learned that lightning flashed more than 10 times per second. As you might imagine, the storm is also a prodigious source of radio noise, so if you have a radio telescope now's the time to observe this active world. The lightning is produced in the water clouds, where falling rain and hail generate electricity. The mystery is why Saturn stores energy for decades and releases it all at once.
"Cassini shows us that Saturn is bipolar," said Andrew Ingersoll, Cassini imaging team member. "Saturn is not like Earth and Jupiter, where storms are fairly frequent. Weather on Saturn appears to hum along placidly for years and then erupt violently. I'm excited we saw weather so spectacular on our watch."
Go Saturn go! Too bad it's not in great viewing position right now....
Chris
September 2, 2011
Time floweth in hyperspherical directions
This forward-and-backward-memory effect makes a lot of intuitive sense because explains a lot of human experience, including why confident people are more successful (because they know they'll succeed), why we "get a bad (or good) feeling" about stuff, deja vu, and so much more. Plus it's just logical that we can perceive time's natural state rather than just the linear fashion in which we experience it.
My intuitive metaphor for time is water, because of the complexity - and widening complexity the farther you get from the epicenter of perspective - of water molecules moving and interacting in fractal and almost-random fashion.
At various times in my life, usually at super-stressful moments, I'm able to remember backward; that is, if I don't intervene in, say, a painful argument, I know exactly the direction it'll take. It's not psychic powers or anything; it's more like living through a scene of deja vu, knowing that if I act out the part of future-memory-Chris, things will go exactly as in my memory from the future, my forward remembrance. The interesting part is not just that but the part where I can change the future by not following the script of my memory from the future. It's been inexplicable to me - well, in general - but specifically because it doesn't make sense that intervening would change a future deja vu. Except that time isn't set in the "future" because there's always an ever-diverging and multiplying set of alternate paths one can take, each decision and diversion from our rut enabling more and more possible paths, each one of those branching into more.
Reading this, it's pretty clear that we have infinite possibility in our lives, and listening to our gut and seeking adventure and novelty are ways to live across multiple possible universes, not just the one in which we're deeply rooted. Now if only scientists could find a way to strengthen this skill... I wonder: Perhaps by working hard to remember backward (studying for things in the past, deeply learning from experience, and so forth) we can strengthen our time-sense.
Thanks for the heads-up,![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380451598i/2033940.gif)
chernobylred
!
Cool beans!
Chris
My intuitive metaphor for time is water, because of the complexity - and widening complexity the farther you get from the epicenter of perspective - of water molecules moving and interacting in fractal and almost-random fashion.
At various times in my life, usually at super-stressful moments, I'm able to remember backward; that is, if I don't intervene in, say, a painful argument, I know exactly the direction it'll take. It's not psychic powers or anything; it's more like living through a scene of deja vu, knowing that if I act out the part of future-memory-Chris, things will go exactly as in my memory from the future, my forward remembrance. The interesting part is not just that but the part where I can change the future by not following the script of my memory from the future. It's been inexplicable to me - well, in general - but specifically because it doesn't make sense that intervening would change a future deja vu. Except that time isn't set in the "future" because there's always an ever-diverging and multiplying set of alternate paths one can take, each decision and diversion from our rut enabling more and more possible paths, each one of those branching into more.
Reading this, it's pretty clear that we have infinite possibility in our lives, and listening to our gut and seeking adventure and novelty are ways to live across multiple possible universes, not just the one in which we're deeply rooted. Now if only scientists could find a way to strengthen this skill... I wonder: Perhaps by working hard to remember backward (studying for things in the past, deeply learning from experience, and so forth) we can strengthen our time-sense.
Thanks for the heads-up,
chernobylred
!Cool beans!
Chris
September 1, 2011
Hot-Rod Newport build progress for August 31
No new photos tonight, but made more progress since my pre-class post:
Cleaned and painted driver's-side rear brake drum, then installed that wheel.
Cleaned and painted driver's-side front brake drum; it's drying now.
Cleaned and painted A/C unit.
Cut and installed heater hoses.
Cut and installed and primed fuel line from fuel pump to carburetor (primed carb, too).
Created and installed heat shield for starter (driver's-side header was almost touching there, too). Of course, this meant loosening the header from the head and re-torquing same.
Moved coil from firewall to stock position on intake manifold (don't ask).
Installed vacuum lines for PCV breather, power brakes, vacuum advance, and something that sucks from the dash.
Installed driver's-side exhaust.
Set up for block coolant-flush tomorrow.
Attached misc. wires (and repaired a couple that had been mouse-gnawed).
Sealed oil dipstick where it mounts into engine block. I was concerned about the odd fit.
Went through many bolts and clamps, tightening - and discovered a couple of loose ones and one nut that was completely missing.
Yoinked the old exhaust out from under the car - which meant Sawzall time!
Tomorrow: Flush the block to rid it of the cruddy, most likely rusty, coolant; cut to fit and install the spark-plug wires (ceramic-tipped to protect from where they'll touch the headers); install main power to the starter (which has been a PITA, requiring cutting and such); install the oil-pressure and water-temperature gauges... and light 'er up!
...which will likely lead to a quick shut-down to fix leaks. Then fire 'er back up again and set the timing. Hopefully (OH PLEASE) it won't need a valve adjustment or any major surgery. Then I just cross my fingers that the front-wheel spacers arrive in time to bolt 'em on before the 11th annual Kowtown Custom Greaserama show!
Now I'm freakin' tired and need to eat.
Chris
Cleaned and painted driver's-side rear brake drum, then installed that wheel.
Cleaned and painted driver's-side front brake drum; it's drying now.
Cleaned and painted A/C unit.
Cut and installed heater hoses.
Cut and installed and primed fuel line from fuel pump to carburetor (primed carb, too).
Created and installed heat shield for starter (driver's-side header was almost touching there, too). Of course, this meant loosening the header from the head and re-torquing same.
Moved coil from firewall to stock position on intake manifold (don't ask).
Installed vacuum lines for PCV breather, power brakes, vacuum advance, and something that sucks from the dash.
Installed driver's-side exhaust.
Set up for block coolant-flush tomorrow.
Attached misc. wires (and repaired a couple that had been mouse-gnawed).
Sealed oil dipstick where it mounts into engine block. I was concerned about the odd fit.
Went through many bolts and clamps, tightening - and discovered a couple of loose ones and one nut that was completely missing.
Yoinked the old exhaust out from under the car - which meant Sawzall time!
Tomorrow: Flush the block to rid it of the cruddy, most likely rusty, coolant; cut to fit and install the spark-plug wires (ceramic-tipped to protect from where they'll touch the headers); install main power to the starter (which has been a PITA, requiring cutting and such); install the oil-pressure and water-temperature gauges... and light 'er up!
...which will likely lead to a quick shut-down to fix leaks. Then fire 'er back up again and set the timing. Hopefully (OH PLEASE) it won't need a valve adjustment or any major surgery. Then I just cross my fingers that the front-wheel spacers arrive in time to bolt 'em on before the 11th annual Kowtown Custom Greaserama show!
Now I'm freakin' tired and need to eat.
Chris
August 31, 2011
Hot-Rod Newport build progress: T-minus 2 days.
Yesterday saw me working on the project from around lunchtime until 3:15am. Tons of things done, some big and some small, such as making custom bolts and studs as demonstrated here:
Look at all those blazing needles fly! The plate beneath the grinder wheel would sometimes glow red from molten steel - and those red-hot fragments of hurtling metal are... interesting when they bounce off exposed skin. This is one example of the thousand times I had to make a custom part for this build. Here I grind the head off a 5/16" 24-count-thread #5 bolt and carve the ends to make a stud for the transmission-downshift lever at the throttle.
More custom parts: The next photo shows a custom heat shield made from insulating material over a shaped aluminum plate, bolted to the tranny pan (using two custom brackets) to protect the transmission fluid from heat radiating from the VERY close (almost touching) exhaust header on the passenger side:
And more custom work: Here's the, um, "exhaust system" - at least as much as it'll have before this weekend's Greaserama show:
That woven stainless-steel bit between the header reducer and the short piece of exhaust? Not a muffler. No time to build a full exhaust before Friday, I'm afraid, so I rigged up this shorty turn-out pipe to blow fumes out behind the front doors, at least. Even so, mine will not be the loudest car at the show, though I expect it'll be the loudest on Kansas Highway 10 for many miles. This will be interesting ;-)
Oh, and it's starting to look more like a hot rod now, too! Check out how the American Racing Torq Thrust II vintage-style 17" wheels tucked under those sedate fender skirts:
After figuring out how to remove the skirt (drop the latch in the center; tap skirt with a rubber mallet at front, top, and rear; then pull down and out at the rear where a peg sits in a slot - two pegs on top and one at front won't budge), I cleaned, de-rusted, primed, and painted the brake drum as I had up front. After the paint dried, I installed four missing screws into the hub cover and new lugs and torqued 'em down. Viola! Complete makeover. The wider-than-stock rear tires just fit inside the wheel well, and the fronts will get 1-1/2" spacers to get the right stance. Oh, and I discovered that only the front-driver-side wheel uses left-hand bolts; the rear was swapped at some point to accept standard right-hand-threaded lug nuts... after I already ordered a couple sets, naturally.
Other successes: finished the custom tranny-downshift throttle linkage and installed it, installed lots of hoses and misc. related bits, completed a bunch of wiring, cut and ground and installed various bolts and studs and so forth, battery tray adjusted to fit battery, battery support plate drilled and painted and installed, anti-acid and vibration-damping mats installed beneath and around battery (also installed - which required trimming even there), heat-resistant covers installed over fuel line and transmission-cooling lines near driver's-side header, and a bunch of other things I can't recall. Hell, I worked on it for a few hours today, about 14 hours yesterday, 8 hours on Monday, and so forth.
Tonight after class: finish prepping and installing the other rear wheel, pull the front to prep for the soon-to-arrive spacers (*fingers crossed*), install the driver-side "exhaust," finish installing the hosiery, and anything more I can manage before I fall dead asleep!
Chris
Look at all those blazing needles fly! The plate beneath the grinder wheel would sometimes glow red from molten steel - and those red-hot fragments of hurtling metal are... interesting when they bounce off exposed skin. This is one example of the thousand times I had to make a custom part for this build. Here I grind the head off a 5/16" 24-count-thread #5 bolt and carve the ends to make a stud for the transmission-downshift lever at the throttle.
More custom parts: The next photo shows a custom heat shield made from insulating material over a shaped aluminum plate, bolted to the tranny pan (using two custom brackets) to protect the transmission fluid from heat radiating from the VERY close (almost touching) exhaust header on the passenger side:
And more custom work: Here's the, um, "exhaust system" - at least as much as it'll have before this weekend's Greaserama show:
That woven stainless-steel bit between the header reducer and the short piece of exhaust? Not a muffler. No time to build a full exhaust before Friday, I'm afraid, so I rigged up this shorty turn-out pipe to blow fumes out behind the front doors, at least. Even so, mine will not be the loudest car at the show, though I expect it'll be the loudest on Kansas Highway 10 for many miles. This will be interesting ;-)
Oh, and it's starting to look more like a hot rod now, too! Check out how the American Racing Torq Thrust II vintage-style 17" wheels tucked under those sedate fender skirts:
After figuring out how to remove the skirt (drop the latch in the center; tap skirt with a rubber mallet at front, top, and rear; then pull down and out at the rear where a peg sits in a slot - two pegs on top and one at front won't budge), I cleaned, de-rusted, primed, and painted the brake drum as I had up front. After the paint dried, I installed four missing screws into the hub cover and new lugs and torqued 'em down. Viola! Complete makeover. The wider-than-stock rear tires just fit inside the wheel well, and the fronts will get 1-1/2" spacers to get the right stance. Oh, and I discovered that only the front-driver-side wheel uses left-hand bolts; the rear was swapped at some point to accept standard right-hand-threaded lug nuts... after I already ordered a couple sets, naturally.
Other successes: finished the custom tranny-downshift throttle linkage and installed it, installed lots of hoses and misc. related bits, completed a bunch of wiring, cut and ground and installed various bolts and studs and so forth, battery tray adjusted to fit battery, battery support plate drilled and painted and installed, anti-acid and vibration-damping mats installed beneath and around battery (also installed - which required trimming even there), heat-resistant covers installed over fuel line and transmission-cooling lines near driver's-side header, and a bunch of other things I can't recall. Hell, I worked on it for a few hours today, about 14 hours yesterday, 8 hours on Monday, and so forth.
Tonight after class: finish prepping and installing the other rear wheel, pull the front to prep for the soon-to-arrive spacers (*fingers crossed*), install the driver-side "exhaust," finish installing the hosiery, and anything more I can manage before I fall dead asleep!
Chris
August 29, 2011
Hot-Rod Newport build progress: T-minus 4 days....
A couple of pics showing progress as of August 25, 2011. First, the passenger side:
Maybe it doesn't look much different than in the last shots, but I've made lots of progress that represent working late into the night for many evenings: Radiator mounted! Overflow bottle mounted! Alternator mounted! Fuel pump cleaned, painted, and mounted! Intake manifold swapped front-to-rear and re-mounted! Carburetor and spacer mounted! Coil mounted!
Also, custom radiator hoses mounted! New battery box ground and drilled to fit and mounted! Throttle-lever mount ground to fit new intake manifold, then cleaned up and painted and mounted! Mopar-specific throttle adapter for the carburetor mounted! Misc. fasteners and brackets reattached! New thermostat-housing pulled and old one cleaned and painted and mounted! (The snazzy new aluminum housing won't fit under the A/C unit, and to run belts to the alternator, one needs to mount the A/C *sigh*)
Oh, I also figured out how to remove the rear fender-skirts. Then pulled the hubcaps and sprayed bolt-release compound into the studs and nuts in order to remove the stock wheels and mount the new wheels. SO CLOSE!
Today I pay for insurance and tags on all the vehicles, then gather some missing stuff (hoses, etc.) and install fuel lines and maybe some more stuff.
Chris
Maybe it doesn't look much different than in the last shots, but I've made lots of progress that represent working late into the night for many evenings: Radiator mounted! Overflow bottle mounted! Alternator mounted! Fuel pump cleaned, painted, and mounted! Intake manifold swapped front-to-rear and re-mounted! Carburetor and spacer mounted! Coil mounted!
Also, custom radiator hoses mounted! New battery box ground and drilled to fit and mounted! Throttle-lever mount ground to fit new intake manifold, then cleaned up and painted and mounted! Mopar-specific throttle adapter for the carburetor mounted! Misc. fasteners and brackets reattached! New thermostat-housing pulled and old one cleaned and painted and mounted! (The snazzy new aluminum housing won't fit under the A/C unit, and to run belts to the alternator, one needs to mount the A/C *sigh*)
Oh, I also figured out how to remove the rear fender-skirts. Then pulled the hubcaps and sprayed bolt-release compound into the studs and nuts in order to remove the stock wheels and mount the new wheels. SO CLOSE!
Today I pay for insurance and tags on all the vehicles, then gather some missing stuff (hoses, etc.) and install fuel lines and maybe some more stuff.
Chris
August 25, 2011
Astro-Porn of the Day: "Y dwarfs" stars as cool as the human body
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) has discovered stars that are as cool as 80°F. No, really! And the nearest ones discovered are only 9 light-years away. Here's an artist's rendition:
Click the photo for the full story.
From the NASA press release:
Astronomers hunted these dark orbs for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of a half dozen Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years.
"WISE scanned the entire sky for these and other objects, and was able to spot their feeble light with its highly sensitive infrared vision," says Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The Y stars are the coldest members of the brown dwarf family. Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as "failed" stars. They are too low in mass to fuse atoms at their cores and thus don't burn with the fires that keep stars like our sun shining steadily for billions of years. Instead, these objects cool and fade with time, until what little light they do emit is at infrared wavelengths. The atmospheres of brown dwarfs are similar to those of gas giant planets like Jupiter, but they are easier to observe because they are alone in space, away from the blinding light of a parent star.
So far, WISE data have revealed 100 new brown dwarfs. Of these, six are classified as cool Y's. One of the Y dwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, is the record holder for the coldest brown dwarf with an estimated atmospheric temperature cooler than room temperature, or less than 80°F (25° C).
-----
Oh, and the first week of classes is about to wrap up. Should be a great semester, if a bit overworked... technically, I have nine (9) classes this semester, though only three are full-size courses. Yeah, I know.
Chris
Click the photo for the full story.
From the NASA press release:
Astronomers hunted these dark orbs for more than a decade without success. When viewed with a visible-light telescope, they are nearly impossible to see. WISE's infrared vision allowed the telescope to finally spot the faint glow of a half dozen Y dwarfs relatively close to our sun, within a distance of about 40 light-years.
"WISE scanned the entire sky for these and other objects, and was able to spot their feeble light with its highly sensitive infrared vision," says Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The Y stars are the coldest members of the brown dwarf family. Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as "failed" stars. They are too low in mass to fuse atoms at their cores and thus don't burn with the fires that keep stars like our sun shining steadily for billions of years. Instead, these objects cool and fade with time, until what little light they do emit is at infrared wavelengths. The atmospheres of brown dwarfs are similar to those of gas giant planets like Jupiter, but they are easier to observe because they are alone in space, away from the blinding light of a parent star.
So far, WISE data have revealed 100 new brown dwarfs. Of these, six are classified as cool Y's. One of the Y dwarfs, called WISE 1828+2650, is the record holder for the coldest brown dwarf with an estimated atmospheric temperature cooler than room temperature, or less than 80°F (25° C).
-----
Oh, and the first week of classes is about to wrap up. Should be a great semester, if a bit overworked... technically, I have nine (9) classes this semester, though only three are full-size courses. Yeah, I know.
Chris
August 22, 2011
Astro-Porn of the Day: I think this would work....
Click the image to see the xkcd comic website.
...and I want to try.
Chris
August 20, 2011
Stunning film of stunt-trials rider Danny Macaskill
Hey, writers, filmmakers, and human beings: You want to understand drama, story, action, emotion, and tension/release without using any dialogue and from the POV of a single protagonist? This is an AWESOME example:
I've watched it a few times now and get teary-eyed every time. This man's level of competence, his physical artistry, the *gasp* - WOW! of each stunt so smoothly executed, the superb filming, the lovely music, the gorgous setting... this is a great piece of work to study and understand in order to write better scenes, make better films, create better art of any form. Plus it's some fantastic stunt-trials riding.
Filmed on location in an abandoned train yard in the Scottish countryside, this music-video/filmof Danny Macaskill doing what he does best was directed by Stu Thomson for Channel 4's documentary, Concrete Circus.
Chris
I've watched it a few times now and get teary-eyed every time. This man's level of competence, his physical artistry, the *gasp* - WOW! of each stunt so smoothly executed, the superb filming, the lovely music, the gorgous setting... this is a great piece of work to study and understand in order to write better scenes, make better films, create better art of any form. Plus it's some fantastic stunt-trials riding.
Filmed on location in an abandoned train yard in the Scottish countryside, this music-video/filmof Danny Macaskill doing what he does best was directed by Stu Thomson for Channel 4's documentary, Concrete Circus.
Chris
August 17, 2011
Hot-Rod Newport build progress part 2
A few more details to add to yesterday's Hot-Rod Newport update:
To install a crankshaft balancer (the round, silver thing just behind the Crescent wrench), one needs specialized tools. In this case, that included a balancer-installer: essentially a threaded shaft with a flat spot on one end for a wrench and three pieces on the other end (plate, bearing, and bolt) to press the balancer onto the crankshaft snout. Once the shaft threads into the crankshaft (into the hole where the pulley-bolt goes), one holds the shaft still with a small wrench while cranking down like you wouldn't believe with a HUGE wrench, in this case a monstrous Crescent wrench:
This next shot demonstrates how to install the heater-hose tubes into the top of the new aluminum water pump housing: A big, flat tool that fits into the notch is handy! After loosely assembling everything, I gave it a couple coats of clearcoat to prevent future oxidation and dirt accumulation:
Here's what the vintage Edelbrock DP4B intake manifold looked like when it arrived, after removing the carburetor spacer (no room for it beneath hood). Nice condition but grungy:
And here's what it looks like after soda-blasting, priming, and painting. The aluminum-colored paint matches the color of the raw aluminum beneath, only without the stains:
Today, after I finish teaching-related work, I hope to get the alternator mounted, attach the throttle, and start plumbing the fuel lines!
Chris
To install a crankshaft balancer (the round, silver thing just behind the Crescent wrench), one needs specialized tools. In this case, that included a balancer-installer: essentially a threaded shaft with a flat spot on one end for a wrench and three pieces on the other end (plate, bearing, and bolt) to press the balancer onto the crankshaft snout. Once the shaft threads into the crankshaft (into the hole where the pulley-bolt goes), one holds the shaft still with a small wrench while cranking down like you wouldn't believe with a HUGE wrench, in this case a monstrous Crescent wrench:
This next shot demonstrates how to install the heater-hose tubes into the top of the new aluminum water pump housing: A big, flat tool that fits into the notch is handy! After loosely assembling everything, I gave it a couple coats of clearcoat to prevent future oxidation and dirt accumulation:
Here's what the vintage Edelbrock DP4B intake manifold looked like when it arrived, after removing the carburetor spacer (no room for it beneath hood). Nice condition but grungy:
And here's what it looks like after soda-blasting, priming, and painting. The aluminum-colored paint matches the color of the raw aluminum beneath, only without the stains:
Today, after I finish teaching-related work, I hope to get the alternator mounted, attach the throttle, and start plumbing the fuel lines!
Chris
August 16, 2011
Hot-Rod Newport build progress!
I haven't posted a progress report for a while, so today's a good day to catch up! My goal is to finish by the end of the month, so I can drive it to the Kowtown Custom Greaserama car show. Will he finish in time? Will the gods of the machines smile upon him or throw broken bolts in his path? Check it out:
Accomplishments over the past couple of days: New radiator and custom mounting plates installed: check! New radiator hoses cut to length and installed: check! Water pump and fan installed: check! Distributor and drive gear installed and timed: check!
Since last week: Header, valve cover, and intake manifold bolts torqued: check! Oiling system pre-oiled and tested: check! Power-steering pump installed: check! Oh, and about a hundred trips to the hardware store for bolts, nuts, tools, and so forth. Also a bunch of custom fabrication as well as tons of cleaning and painting bits and bobs. For example:
That's my new high-performance aluminum radiator. To get it ready to install, I cleaned the rust off the mounting brackets, rust-proofed, then painted them to match the aluminum of the radiator. Then I had to fabricate custom plates (with help from a friend) to mate the car's radiator support frame to the radiator's non-matching brackets. To get everything to fit, the custom plates bolt to the original mounting-holes in the car and the radiator bolts to the plates. Would have been nice if it had arrived with aluminum brackets and, oh, A PROPER FIT.
Speaking of bits and bobs: This is just a shot to show the quick'n'dirty way to make your brackets look nice without a ton of work. Just clean 'em up, coat with rust-proofer, then spray with high-temp paint to match:
Finally, this next photo demostrates that oil is, indeed, pumping into the valvetrain rocker arms. To do this little job, you need a helper to drive the oil pump with a high-torque drill (See the bit poking up in the middle of the orange section of the block? It drives a shaft about a foot long that fits into the oil pump.) while you simultaneously turn over the engine with a long socket wrench. Previously, I hadn't been able to verify oiling by just running the oil pump myself; you need to turn over the engine at the same time to open the little oil ports in the crankshaft, camshaft, and rocker arms.
Other customization and fabrication I've done since the last update include drilling out mismatched bolt-holes in the thermostat housing, grinding out casting lumps in the water pump, drilling out other misaligned holes here and there, grinding down the too-long bolt-heads for the camshaft timing gear, cutting down and carving the cam-button, and lots more. Thank our lord Hephaestus that this is not a car I needed to drive while discovering all these joys and opportunities to extend my machining skills.
What's left before it's ready to rumble? The to-do list includes wiring in the fuel-injection electronics, plumbing high-pressure fuel line, installing and wiring the new fuel pump, welding in the exhaust oxygen sensor, installing enough of the exhaust to make it legal enough to drive to a muffler shop that can weld in the rest, hooking up and wiring in the new water-pump and oil-pressure gauges, miscellaneous this'n'that, and of course troubleshooting the inevitable leaks and issues. That's not too much to complete during the first two weeks of fall semester, is it?
Greaserama, here I come!
Chris
Accomplishments over the past couple of days: New radiator and custom mounting plates installed: check! New radiator hoses cut to length and installed: check! Water pump and fan installed: check! Distributor and drive gear installed and timed: check!
Since last week: Header, valve cover, and intake manifold bolts torqued: check! Oiling system pre-oiled and tested: check! Power-steering pump installed: check! Oh, and about a hundred trips to the hardware store for bolts, nuts, tools, and so forth. Also a bunch of custom fabrication as well as tons of cleaning and painting bits and bobs. For example:
That's my new high-performance aluminum radiator. To get it ready to install, I cleaned the rust off the mounting brackets, rust-proofed, then painted them to match the aluminum of the radiator. Then I had to fabricate custom plates (with help from a friend) to mate the car's radiator support frame to the radiator's non-matching brackets. To get everything to fit, the custom plates bolt to the original mounting-holes in the car and the radiator bolts to the plates. Would have been nice if it had arrived with aluminum brackets and, oh, A PROPER FIT.
Speaking of bits and bobs: This is just a shot to show the quick'n'dirty way to make your brackets look nice without a ton of work. Just clean 'em up, coat with rust-proofer, then spray with high-temp paint to match:
Finally, this next photo demostrates that oil is, indeed, pumping into the valvetrain rocker arms. To do this little job, you need a helper to drive the oil pump with a high-torque drill (See the bit poking up in the middle of the orange section of the block? It drives a shaft about a foot long that fits into the oil pump.) while you simultaneously turn over the engine with a long socket wrench. Previously, I hadn't been able to verify oiling by just running the oil pump myself; you need to turn over the engine at the same time to open the little oil ports in the crankshaft, camshaft, and rocker arms.
Other customization and fabrication I've done since the last update include drilling out mismatched bolt-holes in the thermostat housing, grinding out casting lumps in the water pump, drilling out other misaligned holes here and there, grinding down the too-long bolt-heads for the camshaft timing gear, cutting down and carving the cam-button, and lots more. Thank our lord Hephaestus that this is not a car I needed to drive while discovering all these joys and opportunities to extend my machining skills.
What's left before it's ready to rumble? The to-do list includes wiring in the fuel-injection electronics, plumbing high-pressure fuel line, installing and wiring the new fuel pump, welding in the exhaust oxygen sensor, installing enough of the exhaust to make it legal enough to drive to a muffler shop that can weld in the rest, hooking up and wiring in the new water-pump and oil-pressure gauges, miscellaneous this'n'that, and of course troubleshooting the inevitable leaks and issues. That's not too much to complete during the first two weeks of fall semester, is it?
Greaserama, here I come!
Chris
Christopher McKitterick's Blog
This is my long-lived LiveJournal blog (http://mckitterick.livejournal.com), but if you really want to stay in touch, check out my Tumblr and Facebook pages.
...more
- Christopher McKitterick's profile
- 31 followers
