When I worked at an audio salon back in the 1970's, I brought home a couple of top line record changers, to decide what I wanted to purchase.
NOTE: all were fitted with a Shure V15 Type II improved cartridge.
The BIC 810........ it didn't reside long at my house, it sucked.
The Zero 100........it also didn't thrill me, seemed kind of cheap.
The Dual 1229......the one I kept and prized for years.
This will be a long one... Took my Tesla S out early one Saturday 2 miles away to take care of my friends' cats. Got out and got a message "Voltage too low, car shutting down". Of course the car is recently off warranty. I called Tesla to tow it to the service center. They couldn't arrive until late that evening so I did some diagnostics and came to the conclusion that it was either the 12v battery or it's charging circuit. Tow arrived late and he diagnosed it with the same conclusion. He tried to charge the 12v without success. Then he found that there was no way to hook onto the rear of the car (I pulled in head first into the driveway) and was told by Tesla that he needed wheel skates to hook up. Since he didn't have them, he left me with his business card, told me to call tomorrow, and didn't charge me. The next day I hooked up a trickle charger and came back a few hours later. The battery went from 25% to only 50% and was putting out only a few volts. Decided to order a battery, managed to boot it long enough to put it in tow-mode and roll it downhill to the end of the driveway. The next day my friends came home and asked me to roll it off the driveway a few feet to get it out of the way. So I charged it again, got it into tow mode, rolled it the few feet, but then the car died and wouldn't boot so I could put it out of tow mode. We put some bricks to chock the wheels and charged it for a half-hour before it would boot and I could turn off tow-mode. The weather was going to get bad the same day the battery would arrive (5 days later) so I started prepping it the day before. What were Tesla engineers thinking of? To get the old battery out under the hood you needed to:
Unclip and remove the rear apron.
Disengage 2 hoses from the air duct panel.
Unclip and remove the air duct panel.
Unclip and remove the 3 front aprons.
Remove the frunk liner.
Unbolt and remove the frunk (one end of the battery strap is under the frunk).
Unstrap the battery.
I was just putting the last piece into the trunk when the car booted and was up without any warning messages! I decided to drive it home and garage it. Testing showed that the battery was putting out 13.8v and passed all the tests. Huh? My guess was that there was an internal short that I somehow broke free when I unstrapped the battery. I still replaced it.
A week later I got a software update. Later I went out to the car to find that the driver's side headlight was on. Nothing I tried fixed it including a complete shut-down and boot-up. I did a factory reset as a last resort without success but now my homelink icon was missing and the left blinker didn't "click". Frustrated, I made another appt. with Tesla service. An hour later my wife told me that the headlight was now off. Yup, plus the homelink icon was there and the blinker worked. The only remaining problem is that the car thinks it's on the West Coast while sitting in my East Coast garage. Googling seems to indicate that this sometimes happens after a factory reset and will correct itself after driving a bit. This weekend will tell me if that's right.
I'm convinced that my Tesla is possessed and playing games with me.
Just reading the story gives stress. It looks like you have a smart phone on wheels. It makes one long for a mechanical car with manual shift that just needs a bit of fuel and a battery to start. Or a push.
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In terms of car work, Im trying to get my 1986 toyota tercel 4wd wagon running again. For giggles I added a turbo to the wheezy 1.5L engine that made 62hp to see what would happen. Learning quickly that if you want it to last, you need to know exactly what youre doing and how to fix the problems before it blows a hole in the block >.<
In terms of audio, I have two things that need to get fixed, but the likelihood of me getting around to either anytime soon is slim.
First is a post style radio from my '82 honda prelude. The ouput section works as the speakers pop when you turn it on, and crackle when you mess with the controls. But no audio from AM/FM/Tape are making it through. My guess is theres something wrong with the input section.
Second is my Sylvania Quad Amp RQ-3747. Needs a total overhaul. It "works", but its weak and the front channels hum real bad. I have all the service manuals and TSB's for it, but....i need help starting. Like, where do i start, what do i look for, how do i determine what updates need to be done, etc....I had the same issue with my Nivico 5003. Asked around online and got no help I ended up having it recapped and most of the transistors replaced by a local guy who used to do hifi repair. Must say, for what it is, that Nivico is a phenominal amp compared the Sylvania in its current state.
In terms of audio, I have two things that need to get fixed, but the likelihood of me getting around to either anytime soon is slim.
First is a post style radio from my '82 honda prelude. The ouput section works as the speakers pop when you turn it on, and crackle when you mess with the controls. But no audio from AM/FM/Tape are making it through. My guess is theres something wrong with the input section.
Second is my Sylvania Quad Amp RQ-3747. Needs a total overhaul. It "works", but its weak and the front channels hum real bad. I have all the service manuals and TSB's for it, but....i need help starting. Like, where do i start, what do i look for, how do i determine what updates need to be done, etc....I had the same issue with my Nivico 5003. Asked around online and got no help
I ended up having it recapped and most of the transistors replaced by a local guy who used to do hifi repair. Must say, for what it is, that Nivico is a phenominal amp compared the Sylvania in its current state.Super Lube does an excellent job when working with plastic gears and glides. Just used it recently to repair an RCA MTT 130 turntable with an LP drawer (like a CD player) for my son. The belt went bad and the stylus was ready for replacement. He says it's sounding and working better than new now.
Good to know. I've started using Lucas instead but I rarely need grease in the house.
Apparently, they put Super Lube into a needle:
BTW: What is your name if you care to share? WOT also means wide open throttle
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Cars used to be a lot simpler to work on. I once rebuilt a transmission on my own. It is a long story, but imagine the specification mistake on the number of quarts the transmission held. I ended up lying in a lake of transmission fluid after it overflowed my catch basin. Then I somehow missed backing out one flow screw so my test run shifted directly from first to reverse. I had to start from scratch again to find it.
This is the best light grease I’ve ever used, found it when I started doing my own suspension work on my hare scramble/enduro bikes Slickoleum.com
Good to know. I've started using Lucas instead but I rarely need grease in the house.
Apparently, they put Super Lube into a needle:
BTW: What is your name if you care to share? WOT also means wide open throttle
Matt.
But I've been called many other names too...
What I like about Super Lube (synthetic) is that it doesn't attract dust, stays where you put it, yet never hardens like petroleum type greases.
And on anything rubbing, or sliding, gears, it's just awesome.
Almost 30 years ago, I used it on my older VCR mechanism, and a turntable mech, and it's still slippery as all heck, and clean.
So it was a permanent tool on my workbench.
I've serviced hundreds of record changers etc and all still performing like new.
Car latches too.
I've even used it on my desk chairs that creaked every time I leaned back.
And on anything rubbing, or sliding, gears, it's just awesome.
Almost 30 years ago, I used it on my older VCR mechanism, and a turntable mech, and it's still slippery as all heck, and clean.
So it was a permanent tool on my workbench.
I've serviced hundreds of record changers etc and all still performing like new.
Car latches too.
I've even used it on my desk chairs that creaked every time I leaned back.
Lets go back a little older, to my first car, a 1949 Plymouth, AKA The Tank. Like all teenage kids, I blew up the engine.....several times and trashed a couple of clutches. I changed the head gasket in my engine on the side of the road with a crescent wrench, a pair of vise grips and a 4 way lug wrench.
Can't do that today....because the flathead went extinct long ago. They were last seen in lawnmowers. The old flattie would spin to 5200 rpm floored with the clutch down, no problem despite the "3600 RPM maximum" statement in the owners manual......letting the unpressurized radiator run dry on a 40 mile trip, with the pedal on the floor killed the gasket.
When I got The Tank in 1970 the top speed was about 75 MPH valve float limited. I took it to the drag strip and got a time slip with a blistering 22.something at just over 60 MPH. After several "rebuilds" including a custom cam personally ground by Harvey Crane, I squeezed the car into mid 16's at 80 something MPH. Top speed was in the 95 MPH range.
The guy that was the subject of this book taught me how to make a blow proof engine "Tubelab style." I rebuilt it for the last time in 1972 in his shop in west Miami. It never broke again.
https://www.amazon.com/Wildman-Fast-Funny-Times-Peyton/dp/0615245668
I still drove The Tank occasionally for nearly 30 years. I remember being in that car in 1985 when the space shuttle exploded. I was sitting in the parking lot at the Motorola plant watching the launch through the windshield. That car always ran best on a cold day and it was about 30 degrees F that morning. That's just one of those non volatile memories, like the JFK assassination.
Sometime in the 90's I traded The Tank for an old Scott 272 integrated amplifier and matching tuner. That amp kicked the Carver / Phase Linear stuff out of my stereo rack and restarted my vacuum tube DIY efforts. All my DIY audio stuff from the early 70's to the mid 90's was solid state. I worked at Motorola. Silicon was free, just fill out the sample request form and check the "home project" box.
How many kids keep their first car for 25+ years? Now car #2 through #???, some didn't live long.
So what did I last repair......a stinkin engine! We have lost power 5 times this year for over 8 hours with several more short duration outages. We got lucky with IDA passing over us, and only dealt with minor flooding. I decided that I needed to start fixing my dead generators (2 out of 3 are dead). The big one just quit running two outages ago with fuel running out of the air cleaner. Amazon had a replacement carburetor for $16 so I got one and installed it yesterday. Today I took the dead carb apart to find it's plastic float full of gas.....don't float too well that way. Cheap alcohol based gas from Kroger did it in.
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Well, I finally finished up doing some servicing needed on my 1980 Panasonic boombox.
It needed a few caps to improve the FM, and a little re-alignment.
Plus some switches needed flushing out.
Working on "similar" schematics was a bear, since this model had slightly different boards.
Sounds nice now.
It needed a few caps to improve the FM, and a little re-alignment.
Plus some switches needed flushing out.
Working on "similar" schematics was a bear, since this model had slightly different boards.
Sounds nice now.
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Acknowledging I'm in the minority here with the "foreign" cars... finished rebuilding this Lotus Twin Cam engine in my 1969 Lotus Elan along with the gearbox and driveshaft two weeks ago, followed by fiberglass repair of the driver's side sill joint to the floor which was poorly repaired by the previous professional.
Motor got some added power with a ported head and higher lift cams, forged pistons, along with a lighter steel flywheel. Putting in the break-in miles now.
Motor got some added power with a ported head and higher lift cams, forged pistons, along with a lighter steel flywheel. Putting in the break-in miles now.
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The guy that traded me a Scott tube amp for my old Plymouth had a Europa in his barn along with a dozen other cars and a lot of junk. My guess is it was a 1972 model. It was partially buried in junk. The stereo was on top of the junk on the Lotus. I'm sure that it's completely buried by now.
Foreign car repair?
I had a bizarre fault with my Elva Courier last month. The throttle was stuck on idle and would not go any further. I had no tools with me, so using my fingers, I increased the two idle screws high enough so when I put the car in gear it would move. It wasn't very fast, but I managed to get home shifting up to third gear. By the time I got home at a stately 15mph, I had quite a parade of angry motorists behind me.
The throttle actuator for the SU carburetors was fouling on the headers so a little filing of the actuator and that was fixed, but now the throttle would stick OPEN. That's no fun. That turned out to be a fault in the linkage attached to the accelerator pedal. Rebuilding the pedal assembly fixed that problem. I added another throttle return spring just to make sure. Now I have super smooth throttle with a good stiff feel to it.
I had a bizarre fault with my Elva Courier last month. The throttle was stuck on idle and would not go any further. I had no tools with me, so using my fingers, I increased the two idle screws high enough so when I put the car in gear it would move. It wasn't very fast, but I managed to get home shifting up to third gear. By the time I got home at a stately 15mph, I had quite a parade of angry motorists behind me.
The throttle actuator for the SU carburetors was fouling on the headers so a little filing of the actuator and that was fixed, but now the throttle would stick OPEN. That's no fun. That turned out to be a fault in the linkage attached to the accelerator pedal. Rebuilding the pedal assembly fixed that problem. I added another throttle return spring just to make sure. Now I have super smooth throttle with a good stiff feel to it.