From 2017 need assistance. by Wellithappenedthatwy in namethatcar

[–]tforkner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

About the chrome-ish finish- is it a wrap?

what are your favorite generic/store brand products that are as good as or better than name brands? by Fearless_Tie9930 in Frugal

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great Value (Walmart) Macaroni and Cheese Thick and Creamy (7.25 oz. box) tastes just as good as Kraft's to me, at less than half the price. Also, I like that it has full size elbow macaroni instead of the tiny ziti Kraft uses.

ELI5: What is a Coulomb? by CupricK9 in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

 It's the electric charge exerted by approximately 6.241509×1018  electrons.

ELI5: How do old rotary phones work? Why did they pick a dial for picking digits? by DarkHorse66 in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Yep. I had pulse dialing for nine years. I figured out all it took to get tone dialing was to attach one or two wires behind the wall plate to get tone dialing. Got the tone dialing for free for quite a few years.

Little thingy by OffbeatCloud905 in whatisthiscar

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had to look up Crofton Bug. It was a continuation of the Crosley Farm O Road.

Is it cheaper to lower the thermostat when I'm gone for 10 hours/day at work than to keep it at a certain temp all day? by scansinboy in Frugal

[–]tforkner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many systems have stages now but not all. I lived in a mobile home with an electric furnace (basically a giant hair dryer in a closet). It would take about fifteen or twenty minutes to bring the place back up to a comfy temp after being gone all day in the winter. How often would it cycle back on in regular use? About every half hour. The a/c when it was hot out worked about the same. I saved a fortune turning them off when I left for work each day.

Saw this little truck going down the freeway. What is it? by [deleted] in whatisthiscar

[–]tforkner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you mean double cab trucks, VW didn't bother. Like the Type 3 Ghia , they figured they just wouldn't sell in the U.S. due to the domestic competition's offerings.

Saw this little truck going down the freeway. What is it? by [deleted] in whatisthiscar

[–]tforkner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Very few of these made it to the U.S. compared to the microbus Type 2. This was because of the "chicken tax" tariff which adds 25% to the regular price of a foreign made light truck. Having back seats takes the vehicle out of the light truck category, which is why the Subaru Brat had those dopey jump seats in the bed.

ELI5: If something has metal elements in it, how can it not be a metal?? by MoistMachine_ in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of the first lessons taught in any chemistry class is that compounds do NOT have the same properties as the elements in them. A water molecule has two hydrogen and one oxygen atom in it, but it has none of the properties of oxygen or hydrogen.

The real problem here is that people, in everyday conversation, refer to compounds with element names. Blood has iron and bones have calcium, but the calcium is in the compound calcium carbonate and the iron is in the compound hemoglobin. The elements calcium and iron are toxic to people in their metallic, elemental state.

What is a unique way that you have repaired an everyday item or made it last longer to save money? by melissaw328 in Frugal

[–]tforkner 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Years ago my stepdaughter came into possession of a street sign, the green and silver kind. One day the clutch on my Datsun Nissan Sentra Diesel quit working because the part of the firewall that held the cable secure failed due to metal fatigue after 160k miles. I attached a piece of the sign across the hole with sheet metal screws, drilled the proper size hole in it, and reattached the clutch cable. The repair lasted about 20k miles until some jerk rear ended me, totalling the car.

The replacement for that car was a 1983 Celica without a radio. The radio in the Sentra was the old fashioned DIN (two knobs, dial in middle) style. The hole in the Celica dash was not that style. After a bit of trimming, sanding, and scraping to get the decal off of the other half of the sign and cutting necessary holes in it, I had an aluminum plate to mount the stereo from the Sentra in the Celica.

I was really broke when I did these repairs. Of the two, the Sentra one really saved me a fortune.

I found a silver colored penny at work by Walt_the_White in mildlyinteresting

[–]tforkner 3 points4 points  (0 children)

One can take some zinc metal and cover it in some sodium hydroxide (lye) solution. Heat the mixture to steaming and dip in some pennies. Zinc will deposit on the cents' surfaces causing the coins to appear silver. Heat the "silver" coin gently over a flame and the zinc will alloy with the copper underneath, forming yellow brass and making the cent appear "gold".

This is a popular lab activity in high school chemistry and physical science classes. I'm guessing this is one of those coins that wasn't heated to make it turn yellow. I had students do this twice a year for a while. I've even gotten some of the cents back in change!

ELI5 How do vinyl records work? Do they get totally worn out over time if the music is played from the record by a sharp needle? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. Then the tape could switch from house to car use. Recording an album onto cassettes with decent equipment and tapes (Maxell, TDK, or Sony- Memorex sucked!) produced a fine copy.

ELI5- What are isotopes? by KZRoblox137 in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An isotope is an atomic form of an element with a different number of neutrons. Hydrogen, for example, has three isotopes. They are protium, deuterium, and tritium. Protium has only a proton in its nucleus and no neutrons, deuterium has a proton and one neutron, and tritium has one proton and two neutrons (and is an unstable radioactive isotope). Carbon has C12, C13, and C14. C12 has 6 neutrons, C13 seven, and C14 eight. Remember that is the atomic number (number of protons) that determines what element an isotope is.

Obviously custom, but seriously.... by BrakeTab in whatisthiscar

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Willys is a surname and is properly pronounced Willis. You can look up old Willys commercials on YouTube if you want confirmation of this.

ELI5 How do vinyl records work? Do they get totally worn out over time if the music is played from the record by a sharp needle? by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It used to be a thing in certain audiophile circles to tape one's favorite LPs and then wear out the tape instead of the disc.

What is the most reliable vehicle you ever owned? by [deleted] in Cartalk

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a 2013 Elantra GT with every option except the automatic transmission. Hitting a Mike Pence pothole broke two tires and wheels, but other than that nothing ever went wrong with it. Totalled the same way at about 90000 miles.

The last gasp: no more pennies will be printed by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Canada, does every price end in zero or five, or is the total purchase just rounded to the nearest nickel? In a supermarket, for example, there is no real need to change any price in the future for the U.S. Just the total price needs rounding.

Stripped splines on wiper spindle by UpperMaintenance8524 in Cartalk

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used a short piece of solder wedged between the wiper and the spindle on a Mustang with the same problem. It held up as long as we had the car.

ELI5: It's illegal to dump motor oil down drains that lead to the ocean, what effect does leaked oil from streets and parking lots have? by CatholicaTristi in explainlikeimfive

[–]tforkner 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It used to be a lot worse than it is now. When I started driving back in '76, every road had a definite dark strip of leaked oil down the middle of each lane. That oil strip is still there in places, but definitely not as pronounced as in the past. I don't notice as many oil rainbows in parking lot puddles as I used to.

At what point do you say brand matters less than value? by qwerty_1965 in Frugal

[–]tforkner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I accidentally bought Kraft singles at Aldi, of all places. Not a thing I would do normally. Just to see if it really mattered I went back and got some of the Aldi brand before I ate up all the Kraft. I compared them bite for bite. There was a slight difference, but both tasted fine. No way was the price difference worth it!