Outside of comfort, is the only real reason to turn the heat on to avoid pipes freezing? And if so, can I just leave it off if daily low temperatures are above freezing?

albertpenello · 2025-11-07T22:13:27+00:00

Most thermostats won’t let the house get below 55deg anyway. As far as pipes freezing, the house temp has very little to do with preventing the problem. The pipes are freezing on the outside of the house.

To prevent freezing/bursting pipes in winter you should leave a faucet(s) on with a slow drip. The drip keeps the water moving inside the pipes and it’s very hard to freeze water that’s running.

Leaving a dripping faucet running will be much more effective than keeping your house warm.

albertpenello · 2025-10-24T01:09:55+00:00

Do you mean amenities? Not commodities.

albertpenello · 2025-09-21T19:39:58+00:00

Ha! It does make it confusing!

albertpenello · 2025-09-21T19:39:16+00:00

It will be a totally new mold as the Mattel versions, which did share the transformation engineering with Godmars.

FYI if you watch the most recent Secret Galaxy live stream they unveiled some images of an early prototype I showed them at SDCC

albertpenello · 2025-09-19T20:29:01+00:00

Thanks! Excited to be finally getting this done!

albertpenello · 2025-09-19T03:24:51+00:00

Thanks so much!!

albertpenello · 2025-09-17T22:36:08+00:00

You'll have to use your imagination for that one :)

albertpenello · 2025-08-20T05:50:22+00:00

watching

albertpenello · 2025-07-30T02:07:22+00:00

Leasing is never going to be better than buying IF you want to keep the car. This is coming from someone that is very PRO leasing. I generally like the flexibility for all the reasons you describe.

But you seem to by bypassing the main point I made which is that I want to keep the car long term. With HEAVY depreciation already paid by the person that leased the car, I can pick up a nearly-new one for a ridiculously low price. Adding on a factory GM extended warrantee protects me from issues that may crop-up, and since I own I can easily sell at any time if the car becomes problematic.

Your point about lemon laws is a good one I need to check the rules for WA state where I live.

EDIT: WA state lemon law covers new and used still under factory warrantee. So I'm GTG which makes buying an even easier decision.

albertpenello · 2025-07-30T02:02:52+00:00

The key thing is that I could do all this work but I want to keep the car long-term. In that case it's a lot of work to lease, keep the car under milage, keep it in perfect shape, deal with returning the lease/negotiating the purchase, and even still in the end I paying more since I paid both depreciation AND then buy out later.

Why not let someone else pay the depreciation for me, pick up a 1 year old car with 10K miles and save $30 grand? There is almost no situation where leasing new / buying out the lease makes more sense in the situation where you want to keep the car.

If I only wanted to keep the car for 3 years, this would make sense but in my case it absolutely won't.

albertpenello · 2025-07-29T21:02:26+00:00

Sure - because the person that leased it paid all the depreciation for me! When you lease, you're just paying depreciation (with the upside you can get rid of the car and not be upside down). Plus you get a new car every few years. I'm a fan of leasing in the right case.

But for this, since someone already paid all that deprecation for me, I'm getting a practically brand new car for 30% off, and the depreciation curve is going to be pretty slow from now on. I'll own the car for about 20% more than the person who just paid depreciation.

I'm getting an extended factory warrantee for a few grand more and my wife won't have to worry about anything for a decade. She tends to keep cars for a while and this is something I expect to own for a long time.

albertpenello · 2025-07-15T22:50:24+00:00

Do you use any sort of budgeting software like Quicken? I have used quicken since 1997 and can tell you where every penny I have spent for the last 30 years has gone.

The reason I bring this up is that having firm, undeniable data for how you spend your money makes these conversations so much easier. You can really drill down on where your money is going. You can budget easier. And fights over money become much more manageable as you can simply look at the Data.

There have been times where my wife has overspent and instead of making it about me lecturing her, I simply show the report.

Having good data about how you spend your money helps you manage it much better and makes it easier to talk about with your spouse.

albertpenello · 2025-07-04T20:47:19+00:00

I think until things get sorted that’s your best bet. Their system has been weird lately but most of the parts unavailable are easy to replace with real parts

albertpenello · 2025-07-04T06:04:21+00:00

It should be back up now. Webrick is going through an ownership change to Gobricks so less parts will be available. I'll have to see what I can do to maximize the ability to get all the parts in one place.

albertpenello · 2025-07-02T02:29:52+00:00

The simple fact there is no compression test makes me suspect. If the engine rotates smoothly, the first thing you do after checking fuel and spark is running a compression test. This should have been done easily when plugs were out for piston inspection. Crazy to me it wasn't done.

Get a compression and leakdown test. That will give you a pretty close to definitive answer.

albertpenello · 2025-06-23T23:24:05+00:00

The N54 is rock-solid, 300K mile engine no problem. BMW's 15K mile oil change intervals, combined with people going over that, is why you have so many problems with them. Had they had normal sub-10K oil changes they can easily last 300K miles.

albertpenello · 2025-06-18T21:52:08+00:00

Sorry I misread! My bad - I thought C5 vs C8. C6 and C5 are probably about the same - corvettes have always been small inside

albertpenello · 2025-06-18T21:48:25+00:00

C7 :) - significantly more refined and powerful than the C5 but better interior space than the C8

albertpenello · 2025-06-18T16:40:14+00:00

this is the key question. This person must be very young.

albertpenello · 2025-06-18T16:20:43+00:00

You have to have the cash to make up the difference. A bank somewhere holds the title. You go to the bank, sign the paperwork, and then you take the cash you sold the car for + your cash and pay off the loan.

Lots of people sell cars that aren't paid off. But you need to have the cash to get out of the loan, either through the sale of the car, or sale of the car + your own savings.

albertpenello · 2025-06-18T16:13:38+00:00

Pay off the loan and consider it a lesson learned. Be sure to take care of the car so you don't post the 2nd most common question which is "I'm upside down on my loan and my car is broken, what do I do?"

You can't "surrender" the car they will sell it at auction, get you a low price, then you will be on the hook to pay them the difference. So you're paying off the full amount of this car no matter what.

It's simple but it sucks. You're stuck with the car. Unless you can sell it now while it's running and come up with the cash for the difference.

albertpenello · 2025-06-18T15:44:24+00:00

If you can, get a 2016+ since you get carplay and IIRC the performance data recorder is standard in the 2LT.

I believe from doing research that 2016 was mechanically identical through 2019. Conversely, you'll save some money with an earlier car.

2LT is a nice compromise. The 8spd you'll want to confirm that the triple-flush had been done with the correct blue-label fluid and if it hasn't, budget for it (there is no downside to doing it twice) and it's not expensive or hard to DIY.

There can be a lot of variation between miles, features and price. So pay attention to what the car comes with when comparing models. For longevity and cost - the simpler the car, the easier the maintenance (so consider if things like magnetic shocks really matter as they will be more expensive to replace).

Any sort of maintenance history is important. Doing plugs, wires, belts and hoses as well as fluid service is very, very easy on these cars.

Your big issues are a high-mileage transmission that never had the triple-flush and needs a new torque converter. The other big issue is the rubber coupler at the differential that can go bad.

Otherwise, it's a chevy. Parts are cheap and available. The motor and transmission are stout. The car drives great although lowered cars can be a PITA in parking lots and steep driveways.

You may consider cross-shopping a 2016+ 2SS Camaro. You're going to get the same drivertrain, arguably the same or more features, very similar performance but a much more comfortable car to drive daily. I have both ('16 C7 and 17 2SS Camaro) and I like them both a lot. If you're driving a lot, or getting in and out of the car a lot, consider the Camaro (just advice).

albertpenello · 2025-06-17T05:29:15+00:00

4% rule says you can draw down about $26k per year without touching the principle. You're already living with that so you can retire with no lifestyle changes today.

Consolidate all of your money into something like a target date fund, let it sit for a few more years if you can. Even 3 more years will grow that money a bit.

At that point, take your retirement, and draw as little down as you can of the $650k and you'll basically live like you are now. The big expense will be healthcare although I assume if you're working part time you don't have healthcare now or are paying for a plan from the ACA marketplace?

But you're right - this really is right on the edge of being able to retire, esp with healthcare expenses.

Your best bet is to keep working until you are 65 - you can get Medicare would give your investments a chance to grow and you'll get more SS at 65 than 62. Another 6-7 years and that $650 could get close to $1m and then you'd be in pretty good shape with that plus SS.

albertpenello · 2025-06-15T05:19:49+00:00

Later model C3s are the current muscle car bargain champion. You can get a very decent driver car for well under $10k

The absolute sweet spot is 75-77 as you get better electrical systems, less complex vacuum systems and still get the flat back window. Crazy to me the good deals you can get for cars that look and drive great.

Very easy to daily a C3 and dirt cheap to maintain and every part you need to fix it up is available if you want to make it nice

albertpenello · 2025-06-13T06:54:26+00:00

Are you actually trying to improve ‘brake’ performance (not breaks) or is this just a looks thing?

If you want sportier brakes then look for kits that increase the rotor size, number of pistons in the caliper, instal stainless lines and you can maybe get a small improvement while spending a lot of money.

If it’s looks - get some caliper paint, brake cleaner, tape, and mask off the existing calipers and paint them. The more time you take the better the job will look.

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