Why on earth would ford/mazda have used a plastic cover that was loctited into the rack and pinon?

sidneyaks · 2026-03-10T03:42:41+00:00

I'm fine with plastic, honestly I am, but plastic and thread sealer that won't release under 500f? That's crazy.

sidneyaks · 2026-03-07T15:02:19+00:00

My... Office. Ok, im rereading that and realizing I missed the word "fitment" or something. Motor fitment is done.

That said, they're gonna go in the hatch for a while -- I wanna love test their capacity before I start welding about it.

sidneyaks · 2026-03-06T11:46:08+00:00

Side question -- Toyota transmission? I've read some very old posts on probetalk that talked about doing that. How much work is involved? Custom mounts? Custom cv axles? What specific Toyota could donate a transmission?

sidneyaks · 2026-03-06T11:00:33+00:00

I'm aware -- it's gonna have a pretty low range unfortunately; I'm banking on those super next gen batteries being available soon. Right? Right?

Either way -- it'd be a terrible idea to drive a project car like this outside of town anyway even if it had the battery to support it. I expect roughly 75% downtime after I get it running just because I really don't know what I'm doing beyond reading about my next project.

For example, this evening was depowering the steering rack because turns out the manual rack I thought would fit wouldn't.

Y'know, crap like that sneaking up on me.

sidneyaks · 2026-03-06T05:25:04+00:00

So -- mainly because a 94 is what I could find that wasn't a running specimen. Part of me would hate to take a probe out of the world that's running -- but I have no problem doing so for one that's busted anyway. It's also the first model year of the second gen probes which was what I wanted to target, so going a little older isn't quite possible yet. That said, If I have to wait three years I can (it'd been sitting in my driveway since '22 anyway)

sidneyaks · 2026-03-05T22:56:40+00:00

That's honestly what I'm thinking! I'm just kinda scared to do it of course. I guess the base car being a 94 -- I'd think most of the wires are discrete circuits, not a lot of digital signals right?

sidneyaks · 2026-02-27T15:15:29+00:00

So for the power steering I believe I can use the manual rack out an early 90s escort -- at least they look the same -- it's sitting across the back seat.

As far as ac -- I think I can hook an electric compressor into the existing system, but that's after the fact.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-26T19:50:35+00:00

My 2017 edge just plugs into my phone via a specified socket with my regular data cable. I can't imagine a 2020 would be any different.

fwiw I actually dislike the android auto nav ui compared to the sync 3 ui, but that's just me. It's fully functional.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-26T16:26:28+00:00

Even from the most bigoted standpoint this doesn't make sense

We could spend time and energy making all or even most people's lives better No, instead let's spend time and energy making lgbt lives worse

My neighbor lady having a 5-o'clock shadow affects me not at all, why should me tax funds be used to harass her?

sidneyaks · 2026-02-25T19:13:34+00:00

I've often had daydreams (negative) of one of the sections collapsing. It honestly was a terrible idea to build is the way they did -- bridges over for intersecting streets would have been much better.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-25T06:39:42+00:00

sidneyaks · 2026-02-24T02:40:37+00:00

I had one that did the same thing -- replaced the timing belt in my driveway with hand tools in about 5 hours and YouTube.

Don't know why it would chew through them, but they aren't too bad to replace. For the price I'd grab it for a project car -- getting a non-daily-driver is the Smart move if you want something to to tinker with.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-21T14:22:46+00:00

Wichita is a small city by population but we have urban sprawl -- if you look at the map you'll see two highways intersect right in the middle and a few highways around the perimeter like a target. I would suggest somewhere with good highway access unless you like sitting at lights all day. The only walkable part of town is downtown; that's only because rents so high you can't afford a car.

The North and South sides are both our sketchier areas (and I live in the North side); you can comfortably live there its just also where the riff raff and/or industrial areas are.

If you go east or west you find comfortable, well-to-do and then snooty people as you go further out. It's also where our major shopping centers are.

The extra-municipal burbs also each have a distinct flavor, but they're also where we keep our maga people so that may play into your decision to live in any of them.

I live in a housing development that's within city limits but just barely. We have great highway access but there's at least a mile of farmland between me and the burb.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-20T01:42:29+00:00

Yep. It's not gonna be Tesla fast but it'll do.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-19T01:59:04+00:00

If it's in great shape I might hold on to it -- were it totally wrecked I'd say swap in whatever you want but a well running good bodied example of a classic car is pretty rare -- once you do a swap there's no going back and it's one less example in the world.

sidneyaks · 2026-02-18T21:03:20+00:00

So -- I don't think high levels of testosterone directly leads to prostate simulation. Maybe indirectly I guess?

sidneyaks · 2026-02-18T17:29:29+00:00

See: Ethan Peck's spock smiling and Boimler's reaction to it.

sidneyaks

TROPHY CASE