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What are you doing this weekend?
Even if you don't have any plans for the weekend, and just want to talk about how you are doing, this is a good place to do that too.
You can find last week's topic here.
So, Tildarriors, what (or how) are you doing this weekend?
This weekend I'm picking up a project car I've been wanting for many years, a 1972 Opel GT. (The one in the photo isn't mine, but I may paint mine that color.)
I've been keeping an eye out for years, and one finally came up that is almost completely rust free. Plus, it's not missing any of the hard parts to find. I'll probably spend most of my weekend tearing it apart.
I don't have a car, I don't drive, I've never even had a license, but I can still appreciate the aesthetics of classic cars. I really don't understand what happened to auto design in the past 30-40 years but I do not like it. Cars all look the same, there's no personality, no individuality. You've got a gorgeous car there, and I hope you have fun with it. :)
Right? I love the classic curves man. I love the design of the Jaguar E-Type, the Toyota 2000GT, Nissan 240Z, things like that. Ferrari of the 60's were also some of the most beautiful cars ever designed, love the 246 Dino for example.
What happened (I think) is mostly pedestrian safety regulations. Bumpers and fenders have to be a certain height/shape to decrease injury/death of collisions with pedestrians/other vehicles. This forces manufacturers into narrower design limitations. Of course a manufacturer can get certain exemptions and what not for certain things.
Safety became a big part and form follows function. Combining safety and economics you get more or less what you see today. I think Tesla is a good example of fighting this as a. Electric car does not need a hood but people expect it so you get a.... fronk?
It probably is needed for safety in a crash
I wonder why pretty much all cars have incredibly boring single color paint jobs. Usually coloured some shade of white/black/gray. I really like how bikes usually come with some really nice and unique colors like this
So, I'm no expert, but I'd be willing to bet that time and money have a lot to do with this. It's very time consuming to paint a car and it costs quite a bit of money, even if you're Toyota. Introducing color variations on the same panel, or even just having two different panels be different colors, could lead to quite an increase in how long it takes to finish and assemble those parts. There's a big difference between "give me a red Corolla" and "give me a red Corolla with blue quarter panels."
That being said, some manufacturers do allow customers to request custom paint colors and even designs. Porsche, for instance, will allow you to order a 911 in a custom color for anywhere between ten and thirteen thousand dollars.
That actually isn't as outrageous as it sounds, and is relatively close to what I've seen people pay local shops here in Houston for a similarly, incredibly high end body and paint restoration.
Of course, Porsche is still taking a profit on this option, but the cost and the general low volume of 911 sales means they can typically meet the demand brought on by customer requests.
Toyota on the other hand, would probably burn to the ground if they offered an option like this on their vehicles, which they produce in the millions each year.
If Toyota did manage to offer this option with relative efficiency, it would probably cost more than what most of their customers would be willing to pay.
Hey! That looks like this one! (Post expired. RIP.)
Seriously though, I'm super jealous. The GT looks so good and it's so light too. Every time I see one for sale I'm tempted to take a look at it, but my inner adult tells me "No, you don't need another project."
I came pretty close to buying a Manta A a few years ago from a fella here in Houston. Didn't, and I regret it everyday.
Congratulations and good luck with the car.
Hey! It does! Mine isn't red, but it may be, I haven't decided on what to paint it yet.
So light! I'm usually a purist when it comes to originality, but they made so many GTs that I'm going to put a different motor in it, a Chevy LTG ecoboost. It's got somewhere around 270hp, it's going to be way more than enough power for something that light.
Mantas are so neat! That would be cool. You are lucky down in Texas, I bet the Opels around there aren't completely rusted into the earth yet.
The LTG is a great choice, if you can get it in the car. When I started entertaining the idea of swapping my car's engine, the LTG was my first idea, but it turns out that fitting the turbocharged Ecotecs into my car requires a bit of cutting to make them fit, similar to what's required for a LS swap.
Now, as far as your Opel goes, you might have plenty of space, in which case, hell yeah. If you don't and you don't want to or can't do any cutting to make it fit, the natural aspirated Ecotecs are great engines, especially the 2.4L.
Not exactly a GT, but here's a forum thread where a fella is restoring his Manta and planning a LTG swap.
Good luck, and keep us updated!
Yeah I've definitely got to figure out some dimensions. However, the Ecotecs are only a couple inches taller, and a lot wider. I think it will fit a little snug. But hey, if people manage V8s in them (somehow), I think I can squeeze an LTG in there. What's great about the GT is the engine is behind the front suspension, gives a lot more room for tall motors.
Which 2.4 would you recommend? I like the idea of the LAF, it's got lots of power for an NA motor.
If you don't care about E85 then I'd totally take the LAF.
Beyond that, the only other question is whether or not you want direct injection.
Full disclosure, I pretty much know nothing about direct injection and very little about engine tuning, so everything you're about to read could be totally wrong and you should do you own research (and let me know if I'm wrong, please).
Okay, so my understanding is that direct injection is harder to tune. Not impossible, but when you start shopping around for a place to get a tune (which you really should do) you might have a harder time finding someone who will handle DI and it might cost more. If you plan on doing the tune yourself, it's a whole other ball game.
Aside from that, the DI injectors are typically more expensive than regular injectors, so if they ever have to be replaced, you'll pay for it.
That's about it really, that's all I think I know, and I could be wrong on both counts.
Personally, I would do the LAF if it were up to me. The LE5 seems more popular and there might be some accessory differences that you have to watch out for, but I'd still shoot for the LAF. Both engines are old and probably obscure enough that the prices won't be very different between them.
Sorry, I know that's not exactly illuminating information, and it's really just me regurgitating second hand knowledge I've heard and read, but it's all I got.
I just arrived in Los Angeles. Never been before. I'm visiting a friend for the weekend.
I'll be checking out the local food, seeing a concert, and of course 4/20 is tomorrow so I'll need to do my duty and support the local weed economy.
Easter Sunday being this weekend, it should come as no surprise to anyone who has read my past comments on these topics that I'll be at my uncle's enjoying some delicious food, but I will actually be doing that Saturday, not Sunday.
Last weekend I mentioned that the USB-C port on my Planck keyboard broke off and that Jack, the owner of OLKB, was nice enough to send me a brand new PCB. I'm happy to say that I haven't experienced any issues at all since replacing the PCB, so I'm pretty happy with that.
What I'm not happy about, is how lazy I've been in developing the keymap for this keyboard. The Planck uses the QMK firmware for configuring what each key is and does, so the keyboard is infinitely customizable, but my keymap is pretty tame. I'm going to experiment with some of the neater functionalities of the firmware to see if I can't improve my speed when typing up comments or editing code.
For instance, it's pretty darn rare that I need to type a semicolon twice in a row, so if I type
;;what I actually want it to put out would be(, a left parenthesis. If I type''(two apostrophes), I might want)as well. With my current keymap, I have to tap and hold theLowerkey, theShiftkey, andKorL, which become9and0whenLoweris held, to get a(or). So, by using a double tap function, I can actually cut down the effort it takes to type a(or)by one keystroke and it'll only take one hand to do it. It's these little improvements and optimizations that add up in the end.Here's a visualization of my current keymap. I made this using keyboard-layout-editor.com.
If what you just read leaves you confused, don't worry, that feeling is normal. Ask me questions if you want.
Aside from that, I'll also be doing my usual OpenStreetMap editing. This time around I'll actually be tackling a new feature on the map that I don't quite know how to map out yet. If you take a look at this image here, you'll notice that in the top right, water flows in from the coast line, and forms a little "stream" into the neighborhood that goes all the way down to the bottom left of that screenshot, and terminates somewhere inside the forested bit. Here's a screenshot with a crude line tracing the flow of the water. There are a lot of these little water features around Houston, but very few of them are mapped, and I'm not even sure what they're actually called. Stream? Inlets? Rivers?
So, I'll be figuring out how to map those this weekend.
It’s 4/20 today, so obviously I’m going to do my duty as a responsible citizen of a state that hasn’t legalized marijuana in any capacity and avoid all cannabis while helping improve my community and collectively work towards a utopian vision of tomor... yeah no I’m getting high and replaying Bloodborne.
Then on Sunday I’ll play D&D with my usual group. Overall, it looks like this will be a chill weekend. I may write a bit for a short story I’m working on, but that just comes down to whether I’m feeling like it. I have enough time during the week to finish it up, anyway.
Going camping for the first time with my gf and our dog. Supposed to rain and storm all day today so it should be a fun weekend!
I hope you rolled enough joints!
Three was the magic number, my damn vape pen leaked though and ran out after a day or two (usually lasts 5 - 7)
Either playing more D&D or working on my own D&D stuff. I'm reading through Lost Mine of Phandelver (the adventure in the 5e starter box) and working on my own campaign. I have an okay amount of detail for the start of the campaign, but need to tie some events together and put together some more encounters. I think I've got a good story, so I need to do the work of building out the detail.
Lost Mine is a pretty fun one! Had a bunch of friends over and were itching to play so one of us read over the DM manual real quick and had a great time. It's pretty long too. Whats the story for your homebrew?
Glad to hear that LMoP worked out for you! It's definitely longer than I was expecting, but there's a lot of guidance so I feel comfortable with it.
As for my homebrew... I'll try to summarize; I just sent someone a 600 word overview ;). It's set in the Forgotten Realms. Lolth, the major drow deity, wants to usurp power from Eilistraee, the good drow deity, in a bid to eliminate her as a threat. Lolth is following a multipronged approach, both through rebranding as a deity of love and service and by making Eilistraee worshippers look bad. The latter will be done through forging fake holy symbols. The holy symbols need a mineral that's only found on the surface, which is fitting for a surface deity like Eilistraee. One specific drow house is jockeying for favor in this initiative and contracted some orcs to manage the mining. They "hire" some kobolds to do the work, who took over a mine that a local mining town used to use. This is where the PCs come in. There's a lot more detail, and I can go into much more detail if you're interested, but I figured I'd give you a summary first. :)
Going to a rave today then probably going to spend some time in the city or in Berkeley the day after with my friend. I have a meeting with another friend this Sunday (tentative) where we're going to try and workshop some more ideas around this startup idea that we've been working on. Hoping to be able to land some contracts and work for ourselves rather than a big corp entity that doesn't really give a shit about it's employees.
Unfortunately my wrist is injured, so I would like to say riding my bike and doing some filming and stuff... It will have to wait.
Instead I am watching MMA fights and eating pizza. A noble endeavor, to be sure.
I'm relaxing most of Saturday, but I plan to bake some homemade blueberry scones & a blueberry cake for Easter breakfast and dessert. I must also work on typing a screenplay I wrote last July into my script software.
Playing the first session of Invisible Sun with my wife and friends. I'm super jazzed for my character to come out and play.
[Cut a whole lot of gushing about character concept]
It's a really cool system from Monte Cook, who's done some great concept-heavy, systems light RPG systems lately. Invisible Sun in particular is crazy heavy on physical props, which is a lot of fun. With the base game you get several hundred cards that describe different potential magical items and spells, while leaving you free to make up your own within the framework. It feels a bit like Mage crossed with Planescape, where everyone is a caster but you can go so many different directions with it.
It’s “Holy Week” (Semana Santa) around here – Catholic country. I should be with my family but I have three tests next week and haven’t studied squat. Among other things I have 6 days to learn basic Java. Wish me luck.
If you've got any programming experience, six days is enough time to become proficient in the basics. Java is something of a lowest common denominator, once you get past the verbosity. You can do it!
I agree... it’s just that I really dislike Java. But you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Thanks ;)
In no particular order:
As you can see some VERY riveting things. lol
I've got finals on Monday and Tuesday, so my weekend will be filled with studying. Can't wait for this semester to be over.
I'm taking my son to the University of Georgia spring football game. It's his first G Day game. I'm just hoping the weather isn't nasty.
I'm going to be spending my weekend taking ableton live and push 2 courses I recently got into music so it's all new to me. My peers that I talk to on a daily basis are all so much younger than me but so far ahead I feel discouraged a lot of the time but I just gotta keep working at it. Also going to be getting Adobe CC to start up my art again. I fell out of it for many years and I want to get into it. Being IT for so long I've put my creative side off for so long it'll be a struggle and lots of practice to get it back up to par. I'm excited though.
I've got an assignment for parallel computing, but I've also been working on increasing code coverage of a personal project.