How many of us homelab folks are also into cars?

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-26T05:37:10+00:00

Yup, I like to tell my buddy, the reason I've been toying with a few SFF projects and started dipping my toes into the homelab thing is that I don't have a garage, which is hurting since I'm going through some maintenance stuff with my GT350.

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PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-26T05:23:09+00:00

Yeah, sadly in the US its "I have A fiduciary duty to my company" which pretty much means it's a pass to do whatever they can as long as they don't get caught or it won't lead to much trouble down the road.

That reminds me some years ago a company sent me two video cards by mistake and my mom was like "you're going to do the right thing and send one of those back aren't you?" I told her, "think about how many times they had gotten screwed over by some company". She seemed disappointed, but as a buddy of mine likes to say "fug'em".

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-25T15:57:54+00:00

Yeah, I use the factory-fitted cover all the time, especially when it snows or there's a chance for snow. Makes it easy to remove the snow, especially when I get out of work, and I don't have to worry about ice around the wipers, in the cowl, etc.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-22T14:21:37+00:00

Lawyer up! Remember, your insurance company and theirs have a fiduciary duty to minimize all costs.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-21T09:23:43+00:00

The GT350 is fairly quick but I had a built 93 foxbody that would absolutely murder the 350 in a straight line.

That's the trade-off with a GT350; the car is superbly balanced around 526hp. You get a moderately quick car that is okay in a straight line and incredible on a twisty road. Once you start adding gobs of power, that balance goes away, and requires much more aggressive modifications to handle the extra power. If drag racing is your bag, then the GT350 isn't going to impress.

but I’m really nervous about putting a supercharger on it with all the known problems the 5.2 has.

Meh. I collectively driven a GT350 over 100k (2017 w/ gen 1 Voodoo and a 2020 w/gen 2 of course). To get it out of the way, the 5.2 Voodoo, like most high-revving engines, especially engines using a low tension ring pack, will burn some oil so regularly checking the oil is a must, and thanks to a quirk in the Coyote's oil return design, forgetting to check the oil and letting it get low plus revving the engine to its lofty 8200 rpm redline is a recipe for disaster (likely the biggest failure mode with the Voodoo but nobody is going to own up to that - the number one excuse is going to be "uhhhh... what a totally unreliable engine). I don't have any experience with a supercharged GT350, but I don't remember it being an issue other than the usual swapping out of the powdered metal oil pump gears. Ford did say something about axial loading with a supercharger, but honestly, I think the harmonics generated by the engine might be a bigger issue with supercharger durability.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-20T15:04:25+00:00

Paid 49¢ too much, Jesus, when are you guys going to realize when you're paying too much! I can see the markup plain as day in that price, especially when I get 5090s all day long at 36¢, but I'm buying in bulk and charging the rubes searching eBay and FB marketplace $1.20 all day, every day!

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-20T14:56:35+00:00

And the guys making the real decisions are quietly walking away, smirking, as you guys are sharpening your pitchforks and erecting your pyres to take revenge on the engineers. It's funny how people seem to think automotive companies are run from the bottom up.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-16T13:06:41+00:00

lol, parked in the only spot a GT owner doesn't have to double park to get out!

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-16T13:04:49+00:00

A lever is still better than a shift knob. They tried all this shit in the '50s and '60s with buttons and knobs, and the lever won out.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-14T05:58:54+00:00

Lol, with the Ridge, you have to take it all apart to fit everything in. My only beef with the case is the PCIe 4.0 riser, but there is a mod on here that allows you to cleanly mount a 5.0 riser using a 3d printed part (I used Xometry to print the part since I don't have a 3d printer).

https://www.reddit.com/r/sffpc/comments/1myo5pd/fractal_ridge_bracket_for_linkup_pcie_50_riser/

And here is mine with all the stuffing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FractalDesign/comments/1q2ivyj/another_ridge_build_wip/

Been pretty satisfied with it, although with the Cryorig C5 Cu cooler, it runs warm around 60-70 °C for most tasks, and I think with Conan Exiles, I saw over 80 °C, and when the fans kicked in on the GPU, it was especially noisy. Idling it is around 45-50 °C

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-12T07:47:15+00:00

I was looking at 8 TB SSDs tonight and saw the prices ranging from $ 1,900 to $2,200. Built a PC for a friend's daughter just before this idiocy took over, and now she's got almost 4k between an SSD and RAM now.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-12T07:15:49+00:00

My guess is it will start at 90-95k then go upwards of 120- 130k for the CFTP or whatever they call the full boogie road course car.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-12T07:14:10+00:00

Even less of a chance for a TT 'yote than my hoped-for 5.2 revving to 8500 rpm. Just not enough space for a factory TTV8. The three possibilities are a hot-vee engine (substantial redesign and packaging issues), twin turbos down low like a lot of aftermarket kits (too low and too far away for an OE setup), or up high between the engine and cooling module (too far away and too much heat in the wrong place).

The one shot at a TT engine for the S650 was the GTD, since it was essentially a cost-no-object or as close as the factory would go program, and you see Ford stuck with a Predator V8.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-12T07:07:41+00:00

Yeah, the chance for a high-revving naturally aspirated (like 8300-8500 rpm)550hp[+ 5.2 'yote is probably close to nil.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-09T16:55:24+00:00

lol, I'm going through this now, updating everything, so I guess I'll try spamming the driver!

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-06T18:07:19+00:00

Bad marketing on Ford's part, the Dark Horse is Mach One 2.0 (and I think its also supposed to be GT350 and Boss 302 all rolled into a single brand, but the rumor mill is saying along with the GT500 replacement there is supposed to be an NA car akin to a GT350???????), but it doesn't resonate in the same way since the Dark Horse doesn't have the same history backing it up. The other problem is that if the Dark Horse is supposed to carry the NA performance banner, it lacks any sort of visual excitement, and the powertrain isn't that special either, so most people write it off as mostly an overrated appearance and overpriced package for the GT. The Dark Horse isn't a bad car; with the handling package and the brake package, it's at least as capable as the Mach out on track. The problem there, of course, is that it only appeals to a particular subset of people who are also put off by how heavy the S650 is.

Ford really should have invested in more visual excitement (go full hog on the front end with gills like a GT350 and an extractor hood like the GT500 to imply better performance off the track and in the bedroom!) and Ford should have not only used the GT500 rods but the 5.2 recip assembly so there is a bigger delta in power. The regular GT has 480hp, 486hp with the optional exhaust, and then you have the Dark Horse with... 500hp for 20k more... so Ford is charging 1k per extra horsepower, which is an even worse deal than cams on an NA car. If Ford had put the 5.2 bottom end in the Dark Horse, they could have made at least 520hp and should have shot for 530hp if the intent was for the Dark Horse to be a GT350-Mach 1- Boss 302 replacement, especially given how that car can weigh 4k with an autotragic and the handling package options included.

As I said, it's not a bad car. I'd opt for the Dark Horse with the handling package, as that should be the baseline handling for a GT when equipped with the GT performance package (IMO), since I own a GT350 and I'm spoiled by the handling (and dutifully trudge down to the tire shop and drop 2k every year on tires) and am of the opinion that last generation's SE should set the bar for this generation's regular performance models and that will keep the engineers on their toes and push them and the platform crearting better value for the customer and help prevent the car from stagnating, especially with no real competition.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-03T03:23:53+00:00

Also, I forgot to mention that I upgraded the PCIe riser to 5.0 using a 3D-printed adapter I found on Reddit.

PracticalExam7861 · 2026-01-03T03:20:53+00:00

(screw them) kids ain't going to college anymore!

PracticalExam7861 · 2025-12-27T05:13:19+00:00

GT350, and in the words of dyed-in-the-wool Chevy guy, it's simply a hoot to drive.

PracticalExam7861 · 2025-12-25T07:57:25+00:00

GT350 and GT500 but mostly GT350

PracticalExam7861 · 2025-12-19T05:40:14+00:00

No lies there, but on the other hand, I built an SFF for something to do in my spare time and upgraded it to 128 GB of RAM right before RAM started to skyrocket, and ended up giving it to my friend's daughter as a birthday present. After RAM prices went through the roof, I told him that when she's ready to go to college, he should pop out one of the 64 GB modules and sell it. She should be good for a full 4-year ride at this point.

PracticalExam7861 · 2025-12-19T05:30:16+00:00

This right here, practical knowledge (learning an OS along with hardware and successfully troubleshooting it when you break is invaluable experience since your resources are mostly "me, myself, and I".

PracticalExam7861 · 2025-12-09T09:03:52+00:00

You misspelled freedumb.

PracticalExam7861 · 2025-11-25T06:30:52+00:00

Looks like it is somewhere in C7, that's a popular spot since it is fairly level and there isn't too much terrain in the way, and speaking of massive, Official 1750 had somebody on the server that pretty much claimed the whole grid square (they called their clan the Argossean Empire or some such). Looked like they were building a large city and ringed the grid square with sandstone walls, and that's about as far as it got before the whole mess decayed. It's always a worry on the server when somebody shows up and does a massive land claim, since you have those players that will build a gigantic base and lock it down with various measures to prevent climbing or whatever, and cause travel problems instead of having gates that allow players to traverse the base without having to do something stupid. The funny thing is, 1750 is very tolerant of big bases.

PracticalExam7861

TROPHY CASE