BrokenVaporware Photoblog

Ridiculous!!!

brian — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:38:37 GMT

Everyday there's more snow!

Playing in the ice and snow

brian — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:04:57 GMT

I walked Flash up to the schoolyard a few blocks away. The snow now
has about a 1/2" layer of ice on top. It breaks right away when I
step on it, but Flash can walk across the top if he's careful, but if
he tries to go too fast, he breaks through and has to plow through a
bit.

While he was playing fetch, I broke some big pieces of the surface ice
and stood them up in the snow. The thin ice is really fragile, so
some of the bigger pieces fell over or broke when I tried to place
them. Most broke when I tried to pick them up, so this is all I ended
up with.

More snow!

brian — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:07:11 GMT

It snowed pretty much all day today. The ground was covered when I
woke up. I took Flash for a walk, then Josh and I found a big parking
lot and did some donuts in my Vanagon (video on my Youtube channel).
It snowed so much that by the time we got
back, our footprints outside my house were no longer visible.
(8 more photos)

Blue Easter Bunny

ccons — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:07:20 GMT

At the gay Hanuka party, go figure.

Dumping snow

brian — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:06:45 GMT

Woohoo!

Yoinked!

brian — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:20:08 GMT

I finally got the motor out of the Syncro today. I had disconnected
all (well most) of the hoses and wires a few days ago. On Saturday I
did a little more work, but I quickly grew tired of the rain.
Yesterday it snowed. Today there was still snow on the ground, and it
was maybe 25F outside, so I bundled up and got to it.

Looks like tomorrow will be sunny and 30 degrees, so maybe I'll get
the other motor out of the blue vanagon and see if I can shove it back
into the syncro. It would be really nice to have 4wd in this
weather. There may be more snow later in the week.

I think I may need another set of jack stands (though getting to a
store to get them may be a challenge on the icy roads); I used the
motor as the jacking point, so with it not there, I don't think I can
get the stands out from under the syncro. I think I'll have to air
down the front tires to get a little more clearance to install the
motor. I'll put some boards under the jack when i lift the blue one.
(2 more photos)

Cannabis freedom?

ccons — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:58:33 GMT

At Oakland Arena.

Saxby Rally

brian — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:40:25 GMT

I'm at the rally for the Republican candidate for the last remaining
Senate seat. Sarah Palin will be speaking in a little while. Should
be interesting.

FX-16s out the Wazoo!

brian — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:33:58 GMT

Yesterday Josh and I pulled the motor out of the latest FX-16 (the
black one on the far end). In order to get the dead black one into
the garage, we had to move all three around, so I figured we may as
well park them in the neighbor's driveway and get a picture of the
fleet.

After that, we used the crashed black one (center) to push the new one
into the garage. Pulling the motor took a while, but we plodded
through it, eventually dropping it down on a motorcycle jack and then
pulling it off to the side. This morning we dropped the empty shell
at a shop to get a roll cage. Its all moving along.
(3 more photos)

Gutted the "new" FX-16

brian — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:39:55 GMT

Quick recap: Back in May I bought another used FX-16 GTS to turn into
a better rally car for next year. In the meantime I was using it as
my daily driver. Then about 3 weeks ago, someone turned left right in
front of me and we got into a little fender bender (no injuries). It
also collapsed the crumple zone on the front of the frame. We might
have been able to beat it back into shape, but it was quite a bummer.
A couple of days later at Rallycross, I found out about another pair
of FX-16 GTSs, a nice motor, and some spare parts for sale. On Sunday
a few of us went and made an offer and I brought home another black
carfor less than what I'll be getting back from the insurance company
for the "wreck", plus I bought the wreck back for parts.

The "new" black car will be the rally car. This morning I gutted the
interior to get it ready for the roll cage builder. Josh and I will
pull the motor and transmission sometime this week, then I can send it
off to get caged. I'll send the motor to an engine builder to get it
built up strong, too. We'll have 3 engines and 3 transmissions for 2
rally cars.

The old black car will be stripped for parts, then I"ll take the
carcass to the junk yard and sell it as scrap. We're going to try to
use the roof and sides to repair the red rally car, too.
(1 more photo)