Monday, December 03, 2007
Nice for awhile
Things have been really nice for awhile now. We had family in town for Thanksgiving. That was a real load off since there is always so much work to do here. I managed to install brakes on all four corners of my car and adjust the parking brakes. It is nice to be able to stop again and also to have a working parking brake.
The last few weeks of the semester for me always seem to ramp down rather than ramp up. I think it is part of being in a Ph.D. program. It is kind of nice this semester because I have had to schedule somethings that I normally would not have to do (such as my 2nd year paper).
I've gotten a few other things done on the car and truck, which have been nice. I finally got the PCV system fully working in the truck and I also found out why it is pinging at higher throttle positions. Turns out, the "all in timing" is about 5-7* too much. The fix will have to be out-sourced to a machine shop, but should be inexpensive.
I also set the timing in the Daytona today. Turns out, it was REALLY far off. The car is running much better now. I also fixed the back hatch so that I no longer have to hold it open with a stick. Turns out, the parts I needed were cheap and easy to install. I figured they were no longer available for some reason.
One of the best things has been an early Christmas present from Palila. It is a solar powered battery charger. I LOVE IT!!! What better present for a guy that used to be on a solar car race team. The batteries Palila bought for the Wii controllers are NiMH. It is fun to hook up my DMM (like what we used to have on the solar car team) into the circuit and watch the voltage, and then position the solar panel to get the most light, and then to spray the panel down with water to keep it cool since solar panels are more efficient when they are cool. ... the best.
The last few weeks of the semester for me always seem to ramp down rather than ramp up. I think it is part of being in a Ph.D. program. It is kind of nice this semester because I have had to schedule somethings that I normally would not have to do (such as my 2nd year paper).
I've gotten a few other things done on the car and truck, which have been nice. I finally got the PCV system fully working in the truck and I also found out why it is pinging at higher throttle positions. Turns out, the "all in timing" is about 5-7* too much. The fix will have to be out-sourced to a machine shop, but should be inexpensive.
I also set the timing in the Daytona today. Turns out, it was REALLY far off. The car is running much better now. I also fixed the back hatch so that I no longer have to hold it open with a stick. Turns out, the parts I needed were cheap and easy to install. I figured they were no longer available for some reason.
One of the best things has been an early Christmas present from Palila. It is a solar powered battery charger. I LOVE IT!!! What better present for a guy that used to be on a solar car race team. The batteries Palila bought for the Wii controllers are NiMH. It is fun to hook up my DMM (like what we used to have on the solar car team) into the circuit and watch the voltage, and then position the solar panel to get the most light, and then to spray the panel down with water to keep it cool since solar panels are more efficient when they are cool. ... the best.
# posted by chilort @ 11:31 PM 
