Who is that goofy guy they got for Fearless Planet? His delivery of lines was just a shade shy of my “ah ha ha ha, you inferior human beans!” Nathan told me he wasn’t sure what they were going to do with footage after they came back for the second shoot, which was with goofy guy. Now we know. Basically the footage that you can’t see Goofball face is Nathan. The magic of editing! Thankfully gratuitous skids was identifyably Goofball. Don’t think they used any of the footage I helped with. Well, at least Nathan got credited.
Monthly Archive for November, 2007
Page 2 of 4
After all of Saturdays running around getting car stuff done, turns out only the AE86 got all legal. So I decided to go ahead and drive it to Wayland’s for dinner tonight. The transmission was making it’s whining sounds, but everything else seemed alright. Some burning oil smell that seemed to go away, I attributed that to left over brake fluid & power steering fluid that dripped on exhaust manifold burning off. This engine was really made for right hand drive. On the LHD we have here, the brake cylinder & P/S lines all end up on the same side as the hot exhaust. Anyway, things seemed to be going alright, although the burning oil smell would come and go. I got to Kalihi area on the H-1 when I saw that I was trailing big clouds of smoke out the back! Holy chrome, I pulled off the freeway onto Waikamilo and pulled into gas station. Popped the hood & took a look around. Either the fitting for the replacement p/s hose I installed wasn’t tight enough, was leaking, or was leaking somewhere else. It looks like it was spraying p/s fluid all over the place, which would collect and drip onto the manifold, producing the Spy Hunter (come on, you don’t remember that old arcade video game?) smoke screen. People sure stop following behind you in a hurry! So I turned around and nursed it back home. I laid down quite a few more screens, but made it home ok.
So the next time some kid asks me that question, I can rightfully answer, ‘why yes!’ Today on Discovery Channel they should be using some of the footage shot a few months ago with Nathan riding. You won’t see any of me, the most you might see is my back tire. The show is Fearless Planet. It should be interesting to see how what we did will actually be used and show up on the screen. We’ll see if my name shows up anywhere in the credits, looks like it’s scheduled for 8PM, catch it if you can!
Weeks after verifying that the FJ80 didn’t have some kind of electrical problem causing the battery to drain, I finally got around to going to Sears and picking up a new Enersys-built Diehard Platinum battery. Hot or cold, the current draw was below 10-miliamps which was well within spec, and the old Optima was only putting out 12.3-12.5 volts. I’ve grown dissatisfied with Optima batteries. My first one lasted almost as long as my original factory Toyota Yuasa open battery (which lasted about 7-years with maintenance!), but my second Optima went flat in less than 5-years. Continue reading ‘Tons of Fun’
That was quick & easy, the connector for the alternator wasn’t on good. Pluged it in good, cranked up the car, 14V baby! And while I was looking for wiring gremlins, looked at why the fans were constantly on. Yet another problem all the FXs I’ve had suffered. Looked over the FSM. Finally found it, doh, now I remember! All my FX’s also had A/C that was disabled/removed, and in so doing a pressure switch was either unplugged or chopped out. This switch runs in series with the fan temp switch so if it’s simply removed, the fan gets stuck on. The proper way to do it is to jumper it, or like how I did on previous and on this one for now is to just take the pressure switch and plug it in and leave it dangling. Aaaah, silence of no fans with cold engine. So wow, finally both cars are ready! The AE86 has a leaky brake master, but that’s easily fixed and can pass safety even without.
And after messing with all this alternator stuff, I just realized I am the man of alternators. Allen installed a new one into this FX, and stuck the old one in the trunk of the AE86. In all likelyhood that alternator is probably still good. I have the one in the 2nd FX, and one on the original FX block. So I have 4 FX alternators. Maybe if I took one of my bikes and hooked a belt to all of them I could power my house during a power outage….
It took three tries to finally get the toe-in adjustment set correctly on those new Northwave Ninja shoes. Now they’re all set and I only need the camber shims to set the rotational angle. I took them on a test spin, and they feel a lot better than when I first installed the cleats, but I really do need the shims. I put on a set of shortened Nike spikes. The threaded holes in the sole are fairly deeply recessed, so you need about 7mm of thread showing below the base of the spike for them to be fully engaged. I pushed out the threaded studs, cut down the ends of the plastic spikes, then reinserted the studs so more thread would show.
D = 4.22-miles, Vavr = 11.3 mph, Vmax = 25.4 mph, T = 22-minutes
Hrm, monday freeride is totally rained out. Pick up a new battery from Sears. Expensive. Heavy. Noticeably heavier than the Exide Optima clone I replaced. Go home and fortunately the rains have stopped. Quickly take advantage of that and fix the bad alternator wire. The soldering is a little iffy. The heavy gauge wire is too big even for the butane iron on full blast. Reinstall the alternator and belt. Install new battery and replace bad clamps. Car starts no problem. Yay! Then I go to measure voltage. It’s only running 12 volts, and when I stop engine, voltage goes up. Looks like alternator is not outputing anything. I then watch the dash, the charge light does not come on when I switch ignition on. This indicates that there is no power getting to the alternator to initially start it functioning. Damn. After checking fuses, I quit for the night. I’ll have to recheck the alternator plug, and also here’s one I didn’t think about until reading up on alternators on the net. If the bulb is burnt out, the alternator won’t work.
Sunday, 05 August 2007
Clear to partly cloudy, 20-25C, still
We awoke early and puttered around the condo until opening time then headed down to Blendz for Belgian dark chocolate mochas. The sun was just coming over the mountaintops, and the still-sleeping village was quiet and deserted, save for a few odd souls who had risen with the sunrise. We wandered down toward the health clinic, passing fresh bear scat on the sidewalk. The intent was to go to the tennis club for breakfast, but mapless and going on only a vague recollection on its location, we ended up going on a nice 1.5km stroll down Blackcomb Way, then over to 99 and back again – basically circling around the tennis club! Not to say a brisk walk on a crisp, clear morning was unwelcome – it was a good way to loosen up the tightness and soreness from the many riding days before. The air was cool and a layer of convective fog hung in the low-lying areas aside Blackcomb Way. The sun rising in the clear sky would soon heat the air and burn the fog away, but in the meantime the wispy ether cast a faint rainbow in the light that managed to ply the spaces between the pines. Continue reading ‘Whistler MTB – Day 10’
Saturday, 04 August 2007
Scattered clouds, 22-28C, breezy
A beautiful morning broke on our last riding day. The forecast was for clear weather for the next few days after the wet spell yesterday morning. We finished the bagels for breakfast, pretty much depleting the groceries we bought at the beginning of the week. Today was to be a medium length ride out North. According to the maps, it wouldn’t be a deathmarch like the Riverside-See Colours and Puke ride, or the Kill Me, Thrill Me-Green Lake Loop ride. Continue reading ‘Whistler MTB – Day 9’
Friday, 03 August 2007
AM – rainy, 20-23C, still
PM – overcast, 23-25C, still
As predicted, the morning was rainy. The wispy, high-altitude clouds that rolled in yesterday afteroon were the precursors of the moist front that arrived from Hawaii via the Pineapple Express. I awoke before dawn to the sound of rain falling on the vinyl furniture out on the terrace. I closed the window and returned to sleep. We eventually had Pizza muffins then went down to Blendz for Belgian dark chocolate mochas. We wandered around the village, eventually ending up back at Opa! in Marketplace for lunch. It was busier this time, but the workers’ routines were getting more established, so I got my food quicker. The weather was clearing up and the ground was drying up, so we headed back to the condo to gear up for an afternoon spin. We could have easily taken the whole day off, but it seemed like such a waste since we came all this way to BC to ride. Continue reading ‘Whistler MTB – Day 8’