A new episode in the Victory By Design documentary series on historic racing marques, Grand Prix Greats, hit a chord with me when I saw Alain De Cadenet give an overview of 1950′s Grand Prix cars.
De Cadenet described the slow development of Grand Prix cars in the 50′s. Parked in a line, the 1952, 1953 World Championship winning Ferrari 500, 1956 World Championship winning Ferrari Lancia D50, 1957 World Championship winning Maserati 250F and the 1958 World Championship winning Vanwall. The common element to all these race cars? A De Dion rear axle and transaxle gear box.
What’s on my 1979 Alfetta Sprint Veloce? A De Dion rear axle and transaxle gear box – twenty-five year old trickle down Grand Prix technology sitting in my backyard.
Jake von Slatt created a Steampunk Monitor to go with his shiny brass keyboard. This looks a lot more interesting than the Dell 1907FP flat panel monitor he started out with.
I can ride my bike to Castroville, “The Artichoke Center of the World.” The artichoke is the Official Vegetable of Monterey County.
Why can’t I find good, fresh artichokes in the store (Albertson’s and Nob Hill), even during the peak March to May season? I thought the petals were supposed to be tight and the artichoke heavy – like the ones I lucked on in this photo. They’ve been in the refrigerator for a few days – which explains the brown tips, but I rarely see them like this.
Anyway, artichokes, for me, are only an excuse to eat mayonnaise. But not like Oleg Zhornitskiy.
I have been under the Alfa the past couple of days, swearing.
The new brake booster was leaking air near the pedal so I had to take it out again and put in another one. Since the clutch master cylinder and brake master cylinder are both mounted on the “pedal box,” I have to bleed the brakes again. Whoopee.
Now I have it up on six jack stands to replace the flex discs in the driveshaft, the clutch (whose release bearing is grinding), a worn rear engine mount, upper radiator hose, rear brake discs, coolant change and an oil change while I’m at it.
After dropping this exhaust system from headers, I pulled the driveshaft out and removed the rear engine mount. The rear engine mount is held in a cast “bell housing” by friction. To remove it, I used a propane torch to heat up the surrounding metal while I pounded it out with a BFH and BF screwdriver.
Unfortunately, the BFH, PB Blaster and the propane torch didn’t work on the the rear brake discs. This Alfetta has a De Dion rear suspension, a transaxle and in-board mounted brake discs. My next attempt at removing the hex bolts holding the brake discs will be a 6 point hex wrench with a 2 ft length of 1″ pipe for additional leverage. From what I’ve read, people also cut the heads of the bolts, which reduces the stress on the threads, making them easy to remove. I have something to look forward to.
When I ride my bike, I only have one earphone in my ear, so I can hear the SUVs with drivers on the phone that are going to kill me. I rarely listen to my iPod in stereo. I listen mostly to podcasts, so I don’t need stereo. At the dentist the other day, where they offer you an iPod and a nitrous oxide/oxygen cocktail, I discovered my iPod was only working in one channel.
My malfunctioning mono iPod had just passed the one year warranty date but I didn’t imagine that Apple would fix it for me anyway. I started taking the it apart, thinking there was some loose solder joint that I could heat up. I found the heaphone jack held in by two small screws. After removing them, flexing the cable restored the other channel, but I couldn’t see where the break in the circuit was. I had to replace the whole headphone jack – hold switch assembly.
I found one on eBay for $16.29 from a vendor named mayvillage. They sent the part very quickly and I had my iPod was working again. You can see printed on one of the flex cables, the Taiwanese Electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, better known as Foxconn (OTC: HNHPF) – one of the large manufacturers for Apple and other US computer companies.
UPDATE July 8, 2011: After four years, the headphone jack on my iPod failed again. A quick eBay search for iPod 5G headphone jack turned up a replacement part that is even less expensive than it was four years ago. When you buy one, make sure you are buying a new part. It took me about 15 minutes to put in the assembly. If this post isn’t detailed enough for you, iFixit has the best Apple product repair instructions I’ve seen.
About.me
Gastropoda
leapingmonkeys
The Onion
Toolmonger
