My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on September 9, 2013

I chuckled when I saw this top ten list appear in a hands-on automotive forum (there were more than 10, but I shortened it). It is pretty accurate.
 

1. Wherever you go, you hear your wife say "let my husband help you fix that."
2. You have many tools (and multiple toolboxes), including special service tools for tasks you’ve done just once. But the only tools you usually use are adjustable wrenches, a couple of old humble looking screwdrivers and a pair of pliers your father (grandfather) gave you.
3. Your favorite possession is a Leatherman that you received for Christmas. Nothing says love like the gift of tools.
4. There is a very large box in the corner of your garage filled with miscellaneous fasteners. It used to be a baby food jar, then it was a jam jar, then a pickle jar. Now it takes a very large container to hold all the nuts and bolts you’ve accumulated.
5. You can reach into that box of parts and come up with exactly the right fastener, by feel.
6. Nothing gets thrown out unless you strip it for fasteners, motors, sheet  metal, tubing and switches. No matter how much of this stuff you have, it’s  never enough.
7. You know the horsepower, torque and axle ratio of every car you’ve ever  owned.
8. You never take notes when you disassemble something. You always get it back
   together, without any leftovers. Sometimes, you make something new from the parts, just for fun. (whoops!)
9. No matter how you scrub, the black won’t come off your fingers. Corollary: it won’t come off the couch either.
10. You have a collection of bottled gasses … as well as a few that aren’t in bottles that should never be released indoors.
11. If it can’t be fixed by welding, epoxy or duct tape … it can’t be fixed. (I just added that one!)
    

Category: Humor, Tools | No Comments »
Tags: Humor, toolbox, tools

Posted By RichC on September 8, 2013

My dad and I enjoyed the day together doing something we both enjoy – looking at cars and being together. As usual, he took his 1958 Packard Hawk to the Shelby County Applefest in downtown Sidney Ohio on Saturday and wondered if I was going to enter my Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel this year. I laughed at the idea since its my daily driver and not a show car … but after realizing that there wasn’t a single Mercedes in the town or in the fairly large showing … I might consider it next year?

Panorama of downtown Sidney Ohio during the Applefest and Carshow (more photos below)

Dad (Bud Corbett) by his 1958 Packard Hawk and at the registration table above.

A little info on the rare 1958 Packard Hawk …

Engine

Type: Cast iron 90° V8, Silver Light dish-type pistons

Displacement: 289 cubic inches

Bore X stroke: 3.56 X 3.63 inches

Compression ratio: 7.5:1

Power @ rpm: 275 hp (205 kW) @ 4,800 rpm

Torque @ rpm: 333 lb·ft (451 N·m) @ 3,200 rpm

Valvetrain: In-head valves, solid lifters

Main bearings: 5

Ignition: Delco-Remy breaker-point

Fuel system: 2-bbl Stromberg 380475 downdraft carburetor, McCulloch supercharger, 5 p.s.i. max

Lubrication system: Full-pressure, gear-driven

Electrical system: 12-volt, 30 amperes

Exhaust system: Cast iron, dual exhaust

 

Transmission

Type: Borg-Warner Flightomatic automatic

Ratios: 1st: 2.40:1

2nd: 1.47:1

3rd: 1.0:1

Reverse: 2.0:1

 

Differential

Type: Semi-floating hypoid, Twin-Traction Spicer-Thornton limited slip

Ratio: 3.31:1

 

Steering

Type: Power assist, Saginaw recirculating ball

Ratio: 19.2:1

Turns, lock-to-lock: 4.5

Turning circle: 41 feet

 

Brakes

Type: Four wheel, power-assist Wagner hydraulic

Front: Cast-iron finned drum, 11 X 2.5 inches

Rear: Cast-iron drum, 10 X 2 inches

Swept area: 172.8 square inches

 

Chassis & Body

Construction: All-steel, box section, double-drop side rails, 5 crossmembers

Body style: Two-door, five passenger hardtop, soft top prototype

Layout: Front engine, rear-wheel drive

 

Suspension

Front: Individual unequal-length upper and lower control arms, coil springs, hydraulic shocks, anti-sway bar

Rear: Live axle, semi-elliptic leaf springs, hydraulic shocks

 

Wheels & Tires

Wheels: Kelsey-Hays tubeless 5-lug stamped steel

Front/rear: 5.5 X 14 inches

Tires: Classic bias-ply

Front/rear: 8.00 X 14 inches

 

Weights & Measures

Wheelbase: 120.5 inches

Overall length: 205.2 inches

Overall width: 71.3 inches

Overall height: 54.6 inches

Front track: 56.7 inches

Rear track: 55.7 inches

Shipping weight: 3,470 pounds

 

Capacities

Crankcase: 5 quarts

Cooling system: 17 quarts^[vague]

Fuel tank: 18 gallons^[vague]

Transmission: 19 pints^[vague]

 

Calculated Data

Bhp per c.i.d.: 0.95

Weight per bhp: 12.62 pounds

 

Performance

0-60 mph: 12.0 seconds

¼ mile ET: 16.7 seconds @ 82.3 mph

Top speed: 125 mph

Fuel mileage: 12 mpg city, 20 mpg highway

 

Production

1958 Packard Hawk: 588 (est 250 restored or under restoration)

LINK

Category: Automotive, Personal, Photos | 3 Comments »
Tags: applefest, carshow, dadc, hawk, ohio, packard, sidney

Posted By RichC on September 7, 2013

I’m at a loss for words … and might even have a nightmare about this! (video below)

Category: Aviation, Misc, Video | No Comments »
Tags: cats, flying, popsci, quadrotor

Posted By RichC on September 6, 2013

The newest BMW X5 diesel will be making its debut at the 2014 Frankfurt Motor Show in a few weeks and will turn a few heads; it is the most powerful X5 diesel BMW has ever built. The M50d is not planned for the U.S. but will make its 546 lb-ft of torque and 381 HP heard in Europe. The top speed is limited to only 155 mph, but can make it to over 60 mph in just over 5 seconds. The fuel efficiency is calculated on European mixed course and came in at an impressive 35.1 mpg – that is something I’d love to see. The suspension is adaptive and the SUV comes standard with 19 inch alloy wheels and low profile tires (20 inch are an option). The price has not been disclosed, but it is said to be the most expensive diesel burning X5 available (a few photo below).

Testing the new Mac GifGrabber app. Nice, ehh?

Category: Automotive, BMW, Diesel | No Comments »
Tags: BMW, diesel, m50d, SUV, x5

Posted By RichC on September 6, 2013

Category: Humor, Misc, Photos, Social Media | No Comments »
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Posted By RichC on September 6, 2013

When I first started my company, I had the privilege of learning about “taking care of customers” from Earl Gerber who was a long time business and sales professional in northeastern Ohio. Earl passed away at 92 in Cleveland this past week, and even through all his age related ailments, I never heard him complain. He was a positive role model for me and those that knew him.

Brenda and I met Jean and Earl through the same growing church in Solon Ohio — at that time we were meeting in the Solon High School auditorium … now Parkside Church. Brenda’s sister (Ann) met Earl and Jean’s son Gary (now my brother-in-law); they married and the rest is, as they say, “history.” Throughout the years we enjoyed including Jean and Earl – or Gerb as we fondly knew him – in our extended family gatherings. In fact Taylor and I were recently listing all the cars I’ve owned in my lifetime and I remembered that Gerb bought out the lease on one of my company cars (a silver-grey ‘84 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport). He will be missed especially by his loving wife Jean … but we ALL rejoice in the knowledge that he knew the Lord.

Category: Faith, Friends, Obituary, Personal | No Comments »
Tags: cleveland, earl, family, gerber, ohio, solon

Posted By RichC on September 5, 2013

Zip, zip, zip … thank goodness we have airports and jet aircraft, even if air travel isn’t as comfortable as it once was. Taylor is off to North Dakota interviewing for a city planning position in the rapidly growing city of Williston ND … where his education would be seriously tested, as well as his internal antifreeze. Nothing like a contrast to his previous trip to Santa Barbara!

Drew and Katelyn are off to San Francisco via different flights for a Breast Cancer Symposium where Drew has a presentation. I suspect the two of them will also find time to make it an enjoyable weekend. They will connect in different cities for flights as Katelyn is juggling her work schedule and Drew is in the middle of fellowship interviews … I think this trip includes Orlando and Minneapolis (but I can’t keep them all straight). Have a great time and show me where you go on the photo above sometime.

Category: Personal, Travel | No Comments »
Tags: conference, drew, katelyn, medical, san Francisco, taylor

Posted By RichC on September 4, 2013

Who likes to admit that they may have been wrong, or at least partially wrong? Not me that is for sure, but in the case of duct tape, I always thought “Duct Tape” the correct name and that it was around before Duck tape (branded). Unfortunately it looks like I might have to re-think this in the future or at least keep from rolling my eyes when someone writes or says “duck tape”  (Wikipedia still “leads” with Duct tape).

According to a bit of reading, the sticky waterproof tape was created by the Permacel division of Johnson and Johnson back in World War II when the military needed a way to keep moisture out of ammunition cases. They developed an easy to tear mesh backed tape with a strong rubber based adhesive — colored drab-green of course (not post-war grey) — specifically for that purpose. They called it “duck tape” because it was waterproof. Just like today, the tape found many alternative uses, so it should come as no surprise to know it was used to patch and repair tents, jeeps and even aircraft … that was well before it was used to patch our dinghy or win a “Stuck at Prom” scholarship. After the war the color changed to the common grey and booming housing industry used it for heating “ducts” – hence “Duct tape.”

The durable cloth-backed tape first appeared during World War II, when Johnson & Johnson developed an olive drab version as a handy way for American soldiers to waterproof their ammo cans. According to the company, soldiers dubbed the product “duck tape” because it forced moisture to flee “like water off a duck’s back.”

Troops realized that the tape was good for more than just keeping their powder dry, and after the war, it caught on as an easy and effective way to seal, among other things, heating ducts. Johnson & Johnson even began offering a silver version of the tape specifically for this purpose, giving rise to “duct tape.”

So which is correct? “Duck tape” has the chronological upper hand, but “duct tape” is a more accurate description of the product’s historical use. To make things even more complicated, though, it’s no longer used to seal ducts! You could always just hedge your bets the way the leading manufacturer does when it bills itself as “Duck brand duct tape.”

MentalFloss

Category: History, Misc, Tools | 1 Comment »
Tags: duck, duct, interesting, mentalfloss, tape

Posted By RichC on September 3, 2013

Labor Day was great! I was home alone and able to work around the house, although accomplished very little.

Most of my time was spent in the garage sanding and adding body filter to the Mercedes Benz 300D. Since the temps were warm, I regularly cooled off in the pool and pretended to be cleaning it. Brenda was in New York again with her mom and Taylor busy with the NFL fantasy football draft … something he takes seriously.

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Holiday, Mercedes, Photos | No Comments »
Tags: 300d, diesel, labor, mercedes, richc

Posted By RichC on September 2, 2013

It is not like my long distance swimming wife needs an additional incentive to keep swimming further and further, but hearing this is sure to keep Brenda’s motivation alive. Congratulations to long distance swimmer Diana Nyad in succeeding in her open water swim “without a shark cage” from Havana to Key West this Labor Day afternoon. (video below)

Category: Misc, Sports, Video | 2 Comments »
Tags: brenda, ocean, swimming