rootboy 

Thanks Grady. Thanks those flies are working for ya.
Nah, I don't guide, but I do go out fishing with visiting friends.
Come ahead next Spring!

Chombi1 

My lease on my really fun to drive 2015 Mazda 3S HB is ending in May next year.......... and this will be my next "Hobby".....

Most likely a purchase and a keeper instead of a lease, Just like my Honda VFR750F I got in 1995 that I still have and enjoy.
I will surely be very distracted from my C&V bikes most if the time with this baby and the budget for bikes will be surely affected!
Dang, I still can't figure out how I'll carry a bike on this car......

RiddleOfSteel

I think so as well, though it seems as though a bunch of us meddling "Millenial" guys either rejected or weren't taught properly about basic mechanics or cars or other things. Maybe there's also the added element of cars today last at least twice as long as the one's my parents drove growing up, and with less minor maintenance needed to keep them humming along (like adjusting points). Other things tip the mechanically-inclined nature away from manifestation, but I think the seed of interest is there from the start. My nephew, when he was just nine months old, saw an electric model train (steam loco) running around a small track and was instantly AMPED about it. It still warms my heart. Now, a year later, he's still on board the trucks and trains...train. Trains especially. He's drawn like a magnet to them. I've been rediscovering steam locomotives and have been following the immense and intense restoration of the UP's 4014 loco, the 4000 class of which I've liked for a long time. It is scheduled to be done in time for the 150th anniversary of the Golden Spike (I've been out to Promontory Summit 5-10 years ago, seeing the recreated steamers there).

So @scozim we are still out there, happily. I was in line at Chipotle just by where I work in the middle downtown Seattle and I overlooked a guy watching a video on his phone. Turns out it was the latest Cleetus McFarland video that had come out that day. [Cleetus is an alias for a guy named Garret who is actually from Omaha but who now lives in Tampa, FL, with a shop that they share with a good friend of theirs who tunes cars. They are mostly Chevy guys, but have a Dodge Ram to tow cars and a retired Crown Vic Police Interceptor that now sports a heavily-enhanced supercharged 5.4L GT500 motor and 6-speed manual transmission. Four racing seats in the car and that thing is a burnout and drift machine, and sounds incredibly doing it. Garret is about my age, as is his friend and oft-camera man Cooper, along with a guy named James who is a very good mechanic. Garret can wrench well, and can drive--holding the GM car stick shift world record that runs 7's in the quarter. In a de-body-paneled C5 Vette named Leroy.] All that to say: in the middle of the city, in Seattle of all places, sees a few of us that keep the light for the "A-chromosome" on. I should have said hi to the guy, but he had earbuds in and we were moving through the line pretty good.

I have upgrade dreams of mine for my Z28, and they're suspension related as that's the next thing. It doesn't stop me from eyeing a freeway sled like an LS430 ('04+ only with the better looking lights) or a '69 Sedan Deville. A young, kinda shy and eccentric guy my age just around the corner has a late '60s Deville that he just had a full disc brake conversion done while keeping the stock wheels and tall white wall tires. And we live barely out of downtown. There is hope. But I still want to live not in the city. Just need a job that will allow me do so because I'm not commuting an hour or more if I can help it.

jimmuller 

I don't recognize that (not that I try to keep up with the latest zippy cars anyway). Is that a Z4 coupe?

Chombi1 

It's a Mazda Miata RF with the electric drop down hard top targa roof.
I'm totally sold on Mazda now l, after my great experience with my present Mazda 3S Hatchback. Just so much better than all the cars I'ved owned!

CoRide59

I love my HD650's, fantastic headphones. I run mine through an Objective 2 amp.

jimmuller 

Ah! I guessed Z4 coupe because of the rear flank treatment like the Z4, reminiscent of the Triumph GT6. But I guess BMW isn't making a Z car now or at least not importing them. I've never seen a Miata with that roof line and flank treatment. Very cool.


It amuses me how some people trash-talk Fiats. I had two of them back in the old days, a '69 124 Spider and a '74 X-1/9. Both were nice, stylish, easy to drive hard, and reliable enough if you were simpatico with them. The 124 had a 5-spd gearbox and 4-wheel disc brakes, rare back in those days, and a DOHC 1438cc engine that absolutely loved to rev. The X-1/9 had a tiny engine, 1300 IIRC, made worse by the '74 emissions regs, the worst year because it was before the engine guys had figured out how to do it. It called for a 6000 mile tune-up interval but if I went more than 3000 it didn't like to start on a damp morning. So in that sense it was problematic. But boy did it love to dance. Put it on a curvy road and it was pure twinkle toes. Made up for the small engine.

I have only about 3500 miles so far on the Cayman (officially named 718 Cayman), but I'm lovin' it. The car mags complained about the engine exhaust sound because it's only a 4-cylinder. It sounds like a baritone singer instead of a tenor but boy can it belt out a tune. When it sings the song stays sung. Of course it is turbo-charged. I've had opportunity to bury the gas pedal only once, and that gets up to notice-me-ticket-me speeds real quick. The coupe body is tight as a drum, and the mid-engine handling is superb. I will be sorry to have to park it when the snow flies.

bikemig 

JSD amp? That looks good. I was thinking of the schiit magni amp as well.

obrentharris 

Both. I'm the general contractor and my wife and I are the clients. But most of my experience is in heavier construction so the real brains behind this project is an old friend of mine who's been building homes for the last 40 years.

Here's today's update photo:



Brent

obrentharris 

In the seventies I also had a few Fiats. My favorite was an 850 sedan, lowered with Koni shocks and all the go-fast PBS engineering stuff in the engine. A fabulous car to drive on the twistiest roads that the Santa Cruz Mountains have to offer! But definitely a poor choice for an only car. I rebuilt the carburetor on a gravel road in The Sierra Nevada. I had to replace the engine in a friend's front yard when I was visiting him in Los Angeles. Other roadside repairs included multiple fan belts, water pump, small waterfall out of the heater valve, hot wiring a failed ignition switch, and others I've gratefully forgotten.

I'd take your Cayman anyday!
Brent

gomango

I'll check in after New Years with you.

We are headed out east next summer for several weeks.

Family and friends in Northern Virginia, Baltimore and D.C. proper.

I could slide north or south from there with some ease.

I better pack a rod or two I reckon.

gomango

A top shelf design for sure.

More pics when possible please.

clubman 

Real coincidence, I pulled my CC out last week after 20 years in Rubbermaid. Just cleaned the optical sensors in the Turbo Mouse and it works a charm. Now I needto get it networked, may I contact you if I have trouble?

I really wanted the IIci but it was over 3K cdn at the time.

I've also got 4 motorcycles to play with and I'm trying to build a telecine unit for Super 8 film transfers

svoperokram

Photography and vinyl records.

RiddleOfSteel

I took one look at it and said Miata RF! They are lookers! I am a fan of the cars, in spite of the fact that at 6'5" I have never been able to fit in any one of them in any generation. :/ I do fit, IIRC, in an S2000, a car that I really like. But...I am spoiled on some proper amounts of V8 torque (and sound). I've done the 4-cylinder life before, and an S2000 makes one of the best inline-4 sounds so I'm game for those. Though finding one that hasn't been lowered or otherwise molested or salvage titled is needle in a haystack stuff. I must be growing up when I think a stock car is incredibly cool. "Oh, but you put new/nicer wheels on it?" "I did. They're OEM, so they've been designed for the car and they've had a warranty behind them at some point. Fully trustworthy. Isn't that great?"

Rollfast

Paying bills isn't a real hobby but it's No. 1 on the charts.

KraneXL

There's no need to be shy, I can absorb as much detail as you care to share. I watched the entire This Old House series...and all the copies cats too.

BTW, I couldn't help but notice the solar panels. How efficient are they? Do you have the batteries? Anyway, congrats on your new home.

CoRide59

Yeah, you can find them sold by other builders but I went with JDS Labs, they are the ones who worked with NwAvGuy and I think do the best job of putting them together. You may have found his old web site, but if not NwNavGuy put up loads of information here. NwAvGuy: O2 Details More info probably than you really want or need but if your a tech head it makes interesting reading. Surf around his site and you'll find plenty on the amp. I had thought about just building one myself but in the end decided the price difference didn't really justify it from a cost perspective, and I had a lot going on at the time so decided to just buy the thing and enjoy. I ended up getting a killer deal from JDS by purchasing from their "B Stock" list. These are the cosmetic seconds, and mine looks to me to be perfect. If it's a second, I cant figure out why. It's an amazing deal for a really nice little portable amp. https://www.jdslabs.com/store/#b-stock

I never listened to a Schitt so cant comment on how it compares, and really I doubt that after all the years of loud engines, loud guns, and loud music my 59 year old ears could tell the difference. What I can tell though is that my O2 drives my HD650's just fine and sounds wonderful.

fender1

Nice! I would definitely reccommend the Lollars. They are expensive but I think they are great. I tried the lower cost ebay T-Bird pickups but they did not have the same lows and range of tones to my ear. Accoridng to the Lollar website they were reverse engineered from a set of 1964 T-Bird pick ups. I have another set in a 2014 T-Bird, replacing the original ceramic magnet, humbuckers. Pretty much nails the Quadrophenia era Who bass tone.

As an example of how close they sound to original T-bird pickups my wife (who does not play bass) and I were in the car and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesady Gone" came on the radio and she said "Hey, that sounds like your bass! Not scientific but a pretty good endorsement.....

The Golden Boy 

I always say *THE* T-Bird sound is the Kids In The Hall theme "Having An Average Weekend" by Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet.

Freqman1

Cars, motorcycles, clocks, watches and whatever else catches my fancy! V/r Shawn

cmcnall

My biggest money sinks are finishing my basement, landscaping and financing my bike roller startup. Pretty much broke.

Marci

Well it used to be my horse, Shadow. But she died a couple years ago so I replaced her with the bike. Big Red.
I guess my other passions are my dog Toby, and swimming. But since Toby loves to run along side the bike or ride in one of the baskets it works well. The swimming is for days when I can't bike. Too wet or too cold.
Now what keeps me from buying more bikes? Being poor and living on disability and the fact that I can only fit one bike behind my couch.But she is tricked out....

jaydubu

You can never have enough guitars.

noglider 

How did your gig go, @fender1?