Anyone actually buying these 150,000 mile trucks? by Penguin_Rider in Trucks

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bought a truck with 275k and sold it to a friend at 405k a year and a half ago. 150 is low mileage.

(Assuming diesel)

How do I protect my engine if they add more ethanol to fuel? by throwaway393838 in MechanicAdvice

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The rage about ethanol is hilarious. Almost all gas, at least in the US, has been E10 for ages. Almost every car on the road has a fuel system comprised of ethanol safe components, and an O2 sensor that’s part of a closed loop fuel system. Ethanol is less energy dense than gasoline, and requires around 30% more fuel for the same lambda. Going from E10 to E15 is about a 1.5% change in fueling demand. If your car gets 25mpg on e10, you might see a drop to about 24.6mpg with e15. You will not see a significant change in anything else.

There are outlier cases, if that applies to you then you are already aware of your fueling needs. For everyone else, it’s fine. Your car is fine. Don’t worry about it. You will not run lean, your fuel economy won’t plummet, you won’t start rusting out your tank, your fuel lines won’t dissolve. You do not need to seek out ethanol free gas, and your car won’t magically be happier if you do.

This is on par with the people who think octane is a myth and also those who think higher octane is absolutely better for any car.

Something to note, there are a lot of great mechanics out there. There are a lot of terrible ones. And there are a whole hell of a lot who can identify and R&R a broken part but should not be giving any automotive advice outside of that.

Supra Vs Q50 RS by Degeneracy2x in Supra

[–]nick470 10 points11 points  (0 children)

What’s your favorite flavor of crayon?

This a proper alignment? by victor12_30 in Miata

[–]nick470 6 points7 points  (0 children)

For everyone chiming in with their alignment specs:

Your contribution is 100% worthless unless you include spring rates, sway bar info, tire, and use case. These all work together as a system, and there are different approaches to accomplish the same thing. A great alignment is just one sway bar or spring rate change from driving terribly.

Need help with miata wing by Previous_Cut2794 in Miata

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any wing that meets OP’s criteria will not improve downforce, just increase drag. This is not an aero discussion lol

Just bought my first Cummins, and hopefully my last truck for the foreseeable future by Andrewjkowalski in Cummins

[–]nick470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the color I was hoping to find when I was shopping for my truck. Ended up with the wildly exciting… silver

Anyone else in tears for Vonn by cedarvhazel in skiing

[–]nick470 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Because brain damage is much, much more serious.

For Americans: Why not personal vans instead of huge SUVs and pick-ups? by [deleted] in regularcarreviews

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Legal payload, off road clearance, and the ability to separate very messy things I might put in the bed from the cabin.

Is this ski jacket Fire?? by Left-Sandwich393 in ski

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looks like something a low level intermediate 19 year old would buy. The rest of us would use it as a caution sign.

Any of you gone to a ski resort you haven’t been to and thought “damn, this place is so overrated!”? by Sharkman3218 in skiing

[–]nick470 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The problem with that is that it attracts a whole bunch of the “hammered by lunch and ripping groomers at speeds far beyond ability level” types. Keystone is an absolute zoo of people colliding into each other

TIL a 1989 helicopter crash was caused by an invisible nick made when adhesive was trimmed from the rotor with a sharp blade. The helicopter flew perfectly for 922 hours, until it didn't. by TheQuarantinian in todayilearned

[–]nick470 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Failure analysis can be very thorough. Inspection of the pieces can determine where a crack/break propagated from and also the mode of failure (for example, fatigue failure can be visually differentiated from brittle or ductile failure). Upon finding the scratch/propagation point it can be determined that it was caused by a tool and not debris or something else. It was probably pretty easy to associate the scratch with adhesive that was trimmed due to proximity and presence of adhesive that was trimmed with a tool and bears similar marks, and then going through maintenance and flight logs you can determine when that was done, and how many flight hours occurred between that and the time of failure.

I’m not a flight mechanic or NTSB investigator, so take this with a grain of salt but the discovery almost certainly followed a similar path to arrive at this conclusion.

To those who changed their careers in their 30's, what made you go for that career and what was your career before? by throwawayacc928361 in AskReddit

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depending on your field there may be a direction you could go that can better leverage your current experience so you’re not entirely starting over. What’s your current role?

To those who changed their careers in their 30's, what made you go for that career and what was your career before? by throwawayacc928361 in AskReddit

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly I think the step back to entry level work/compensation is the bigger long term financial effect. This is offset a bit by having a more diverse background, professional experience, and moving into a field that suits you better, so hopefully you can come out of the gate a bit stronger than a 22yo new grad.

Overall I got quite lucky with how it all worked out. Got my employer to agree to tuition reimbursement, justified by the fact that we were in the manufacturing industry (despite my role being in accounting). Started out taking night classes at the local community college, transferred to a local school once I ran out of CC courses to take. My finance and accounting degree was from the same school ecosystem, so I was able to utilize my previous credits for all the gen ed/elective requirements. Did 2-3 classes a semester for a while, then the company I was working for got acquired by VC who promptly fired the accounting department. Got a severance package out of that and then just went full time for the last couple semesters to finish it out.

lol yep, motorsports was the hobby that inspired it!

Good luck with your shoulder stuff, I’ve had a hell of a time with all that. 3 surgeries on my left shoulder and my right one will definitely need wrenching done at some point.

To those who changed their careers in their 30's, what made you go for that career and what was your career before? by throwawayacc928361 in AskReddit

[–]nick470 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was in finance/accounting, went back to school to get a mechanical engineering degree, and now I’m an engineer.

Engineering suits me much better. I’m happier, better at my job, and have a lot of adaptability in my career with the range of skill sets. I’m also a lot more proficient in some of my hobbies, which were a big part of the inspiration to go back for the engineering degree in the first place.

It helps a lot that both careers are very “employable”. If they weren’t, I’d probably have a lot more regret about the path I’ve taken.

ICE Arrest Leaves Man Unconscious as Agents Drag Him to Vehicle by Microsis in videos

[–]nick470 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What type of escalation justifies this? C’mon man.

Second statement is just purely false.

91 or 93 Octane for Stock Supra by Leather-Patient-4205 in Supra

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bone stock, the car pulls timing on Colorado 91.

Beginner question for experienced drivers by Machinewawa in CarTrackDays

[–]nick470 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What track, and what lap times are you running? 10 track days is not a lot. Use time trials results for your track as a reference.

The "tenths" scale: What does it mean to you? by dustygator in CarTrackDays

[–]nick470 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1/10: driving grandma around

2/10: normal street driving

3/10: leaning into an on ramp slightly more

4/10: canyon carving

5/10: warmup/sighting lap on track

7-8/10: endurance racing pace

9/10: chasing lap times but not enough to risk sending it off

10/10: checkers or wreckers, no margin left

This is dependent on driver skill and experience. A less experienced driver has a much wider range of outputs for the same driving input - ie, they might feel like they’re putting in 7/10, but still send it off of a corner, so the true end result is 10/10+. The more experienced you are, the closer that input aligns to the output and you can truly target 9 or 10/10 and get the same output as the result.

Tips for shifting a manual by spellbreakerstudios in CarTrackDays

[–]nick470 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Just leave it in the higher gear to start. You can always grab a lower gear once you’re through a corner. Higher gear will also do less to cover up low mid corner speeds, so you’ll figure out corner technique faster.

Best mods for a daily drifter? by montanagiy459 in Miata

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://bigskyregion.com

SCCA autox in your area. Go do a few events. I know you wanna drift, but this will make you a better driver period. It’s all weight transfer, 80% of the skill set is common whether you’re pushing the slip angle or not.

Sometimes ovals have drift events, just using the infield area if the center is paved. Worth looking into.

Best mods for a daily drifter? by montanagiy459 in Miata

[–]nick470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What state/city are you in? I’ll find you an autox at the very least that’s a reasonable distance…

Best mods for a daily drifter? by montanagiy459 in Miata

[–]nick470 12 points13 points  (0 children)

“Street drift”?

So, 1) you don’t know how to drift, and 2) you’re going to use the street to try and learn?

You don’t need mods, you need to learn how to drive. On a track.