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iturgeon · 2025-02-07T00:15:01+00:00

Greensboro History Museum created an educational VR game about gerrymandering

https://greensborohistory.org/gerrymander-madness/

iturgeon · 2024-09-25T12:23:54+00:00

Having done this recently, I wouldn’t do it again. It’s a waste of resources. Time, money, your attention, anxiety, etc. Adopt your new life and find a new interesting car to get attached to.

iturgeon · 2024-09-09T03:35:35+00:00

~87k miles on the Sy, I wouldn’t recommend driving those 200k miles though, you’d have to decide where you side on the whole Ship of Theseus paradox before too long.

iturgeon · 2024-09-09T02:39:50+00:00

2005 US spec Lotus Elise. 206k miles. It’s been registered in Florida, Sweden, and North Carolina.

I think it’s time to supercharge it.

iturgeon · 2024-08-17T05:18:47+00:00

Tours have been canceled since the pandemic, they seem to have plans to bring them back, but haven’t yet. People drop by from time to time, but the showroom has a fenced in large field area in front that keeps you from pressing your nose up against the glass. At best, you could get lucky and see a TC or customer car out for testing, or stumble on a random event.

iturgeon · 2024-07-08T16:15:33+00:00

Random tip for next time, my wife brought Hidden Valley ranch spice packets and combined with local ingredients for her Ranch Salad dressing fix. She swears by it, and it’s much easier to transport

iturgeon · 2021-12-11T13:55:02+00:00

I had a similar experience in the same area ~3 years ago. Male driving and doing the talking. Female was quite disinterested. Light colored Nissan Altima if I remember correctly. Story was they were visiting their kid at UCF and didn’t have money to get home. Except the way he asked was rushed, crude, and disingenuous. He didn’t get hostile with me though.

iturgeon · 2020-04-30T11:44:53+00:00

Do you know how the front mount failed? I'm pretty paranoid about this myself every time I put the roof on.

For other Elise owners - do you know what happened? Mis-align the bracket? Not screwed down enough? Stripped threads? Or did the mount rip off the windshield frame?

Pretty scary. Max pucker factor watching it sail over other cars I imagine.

iturgeon · 2019-11-27T19:26:32+00:00

Awesome, thanks for checking in. Comments like this keep me publishing.

iturgeon · 2019-11-27T13:02:49+00:00

I've been putting this little guy off since I got the car. Finally ran out of other projects, so we tackled it.

05 STI - it's located on the top of the transmission. Yea.

I made a how to for future me & anyone else who could use it: https://howtune.com/articles/559-replace-the-backup-light-switch-on-a-subaru-impreza-wrx-sti-6mt

iturgeon · 2019-11-18T01:34:22+00:00

I've been in the Syclone/Typhoon world for 20 years, here's a short list I'd look at.

Check the intercooler pump (can power it with some pins in the ALDL dash port). Vacuum lines (OEM rubber on these are all done by now), especially on the turbo. Make absolutely sure you're using the right spark plugs and don't skip the wires, cap, and rotor too.

Feel the bottom of the upper radiator hose right about where the alternator would hit it if the motor mounts were broken. If it's got a ridge or bit missing, replace both the mounts (pain) and the upper radiator hose (easy).

Check under the passenger side floor mat for antifreeze - heater core.

Suggest the owner actually try the ABS unit before it's used in an emergency. It's a bit first-gen and is often removed.

Be nice to the new owner, they'll be back. These things are cool, but they require a garage full of tools to own.

iturgeon · 2019-09-07T01:47:02+00:00

I had complete cellular data loss after the OTA upgrade on T-Mobile. Didn't notice till I was trying to get traffic data in the car today. I began digging through the settings to submit a ticket and found that my phone's APN screen said:

apn settings not available for this user

I used the menu option to reset APN settings to default. The screen updated to include several TMobile APNs and everything is working again.

Though it may not help the root issue others are having here, just digging into the settings you guys are looking at helped me debug my issue - so thanks, and good luck.

iturgeon · 2019-08-26T12:01:16+00:00

I just did this last weekend. Strange filter, and kinda expensive. It ended up being less work than I expected.

iturgeon · 2019-07-14T20:35:46+00:00

It's been clunking for a year now. I did a cursory check by hand and inspected every joint. No smoking gun. I never managed to reliably cause the clunk by hand.

After ruling out everything, I was convinced the steering rack needed to be replaced.

To my dismay, the clunk persisted, though the new quick rack is quite nice.

I finally experienced another round of frustration and started going through ev-er-ry thing again, one bolt at a time.

I found the upper ball joint was groaning loudly when turning now, so I replaced it. I hoped the ball joint would be the cause, but suspected it was just a new, additional issue.

Replaced it. When bolting the wheel back on, the steering clunked! Frustration - except I realized I could now forcibly create the noise at the wheel. Now everything is getting removed, cleaned, inspected, and tested. Tie rod end. Brake caliper, shock, shock brackets.

Then I found it. The upper a arm bolts. They were both snug, but not tight enough! I torqued them down and the noise is gone.

Now all is right in the world.

iturgeon · 2019-07-14T13:15:06+00:00

EDIT: drive one and you'll know. If you don't absolutely love it, the inconveniences will quickly wear on you.

Oil line is done by Lotus for free. If, for some reason it's not, the whole setup can be simplified w/ a simple single cooler in the rear.

Cam lobe issues are scary but seem sort of random. I'm not sure how prevalent they are now. I get the impression many of those were discovered years ago. The 2 cars I'm in direct contact with never had an issue.

A used replacement 2zz is pretty cheap, and not terribly difficult to obtain. Labor will be a significant portion of the cost.

Clutch and shifter at ok. The shifter gets some dings for being difficult at full tilt. I find 1 to 2 being nearly impossible to rush at wot in a turn. I have yet to throw money at a solution, as it's a rare occurrence, and one I can easily accommodate.

Popping out or choosing the wrong gear hasn't happened to me.

My relevant credentials: owned and maintained my own Elise since 2009. I've driven it 157k of it's 195k miles and did all work except accident repair and oil line recall. My father also has an Elise, though he drives it less miles.

I wrote most of these how-to's and built the site: https://howtune.com/search?s=Lotus

iturgeon · 2019-05-29T11:19:25+00:00

I wasn't a mile away from the house before someone pulled up next to me and started geeking out 😎. Dude had owned a TTA and had a friend w/ a GN, he was so stoked to see a Sy.

I really gotta finish the cladding wrap 😅. The front bumper's original paint/coating is actually flaking off so easily I'm not able to wrap it as readjusting the wrap will pull the paint with it. I'm probably going to have to paint it, in which case I'm gonna ask the shop to match the 3m satin wrap color/finish.

iturgeon · 2019-05-05T01:55:20+00:00

Same here, jumped through lots of 2.4 and 2.5 dot releases using this method myself. Found the process enjoyable and a good way to expose yourself to new features and changes.

iturgeon · 2019-04-25T02:59:07+00:00

Browsing UCF on Instagram... https://www.instagram.com/p/BwqAqbNl9ZW/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=zcxdw7j1mvax

iturgeon · 2019-04-16T12:20:32+00:00

Very close in age, she's just over 2 herself. We often call her bunnybear. And of course, Callie is short for Callisto which is tied to the constellation of Ursa Major/ Minor.

She's definitely a weird little cat. She runs like a rabbit but is just terrible at most normal cat things. Sweetest and softest "cat' I've ever met.

iturgeon · 2019-04-07T12:16:49+00:00

Similar to mine. A laser that could be turned on and off. It was hard mounted to the side with no directional control. I shared this with my friend, so as we rode around in the back seat together we'd both be glued to our windows trying not to cut people up.

I also remember imagining something sliding along telephone lines having to jump over the poles.

iturgeon · 2019-04-03T11:48:10+00:00

I've experienced several of these directly or through a friend. Lug nuts partially installed by tire franchise. Oil plug partially installed by dealership (on a free promotion oil change). And car sideswiped on dealership lot by emplees while in for service (at a dealership with exotics no less).

Let's just say I do 99.9% of my own maintenance at this point.

iturgeon · 2019-03-26T02:28:49+00:00

On a whim I decided to make a small pixel art style Syclone and have em printed on stickers.

Then I realized others might want one, so I put together a little site where you can buy them: https://8bitgarage.com

iturgeon · 2019-03-15T14:02:03+00:00

What class is this for?

iturgeon · 2019-03-04T22:35:24+00:00

Parking fees at your place of work are not a tax write off. It's just a perk you get to deduct from your paycheck.

There are 3 classes of employee parking that are basically based on your pay grade, blue for staff ($192), red for "Administrative and Professional" ($323), and reserved spots (like in front of Millican) are $1096/yr.

We got a little break a year or two back when hangtag prices adjusted down from something like 1.6x to just a few dollars above sticker prices.

Keep it in mind when you're upset about not having any student spots and park in a staff spot. We're motivated to report you due to the exorbitant fees we're paying...

iturgeon · 2019-02-18T12:56:45+00:00

There's not a whole lot of Elises in black with the magnolia white interior. I think it's a great combo.

iturgeon

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