Today I Learned (TIL)

TIL there are Pennsylvania Bigfoot, and they live near me. E36 M3 I might be starting another YouTube channel

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

My new favorite Top Fuel factoid:

A top fueler has a 300" wheelbase and on launch by the time the rear tires get to where the front tire WERE it's going 100 mph.  Nucking futs!!

You have just blown my mind.

TIL that the Rotrex supercharger traction fluid special sauce is $125 a liter!

NickD said:

TIL that the Rotrex supercharger traction fluid special sauce is $125 a liter!

When I bought my supercharged MR2 from a guy, he told me he sent out the expensive special Toyota supercharger oil to an analysis place and they said it was just Honda power steering fluid.

RossD said:

NickD said:

TIL that the Rotrex supercharger traction fluid special sauce is $125 a liter!

When I bought my supercharged MR2 from a guy, he told me he sent out the expensive special Toyota supercharger oil to an analysis place and they said it was just Honda power steering fluid.

Yeah, but a 4AGZE supercharger doesn't have a planetary drive with rubber roller bearings turning 100,000rpm. 

Went to reverse GIS a photo of my old S40 to see where I'd posted it before, so that I could find a companion image.

...

TIL that painting the 40 year old unfinished drywall of my garage ceiling isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds.

But I do have to say that it makes the ceiling look higher and makes a ton of difference in the lighting, so it's worth the pain.

TIL that I've gotten comfortable enough welding that I can actually talk to someone while doing it. 

TIL that even though I'm old and cynical and hard, I can feel just horrible for 15 dead in a junior hockey team bus crash.  

Humbolt Broncos.  Just berkeleying awful.

TIL getting ready for surgery is as bad as getting ready to go on a trip, but the trip wouldn't last as long as the healing process.

TIL that yes, it does suck to be welding with flux core while underneath the item you are welding.

TIL that it doesn’t hurt to ask.

My connection flight from Phoenix to Burbank last Friday at 8:30 PM was one of the 1,800 flights that got cancelled due to bad weather.

The best American Airlines could do for me was a 7:30 AM flight the next day to Fresno with a three-hour layover followed by a flight down to Los Angeles. Since the cancellation was due to bad weather, no hotel or ground transportation from Los Angeles to Burbank was offered.

I called AVIS to see how much a one-way rental from Phoenix to Burbank would be expecting it to be several hundred. As it turned out, AVIS was thrilled to have somebody save them the trouble of moving one of their cars out of Arizona as summer is their off season so they need to reduce their inventory.

Bottom line, I got the pick of the litter which was a sweet 370Z for 8 bucks!!! (OK, technically 24 bucks when you include all the tax and junk)

I was rolling at 10:30 PM and I hit my door in Ventura at 4:30 AM.

I would have only had ~6 ½ hours in a hotel room before having to fight my way back to the gate and I wouldn’t have been home until ~3:30 PM so honestly, driving through the night represented the lowest complexity & hassle, highest control & probability of success solution and I got to familiarize myself with a modern Z car.

TIL that Avis will rent a 370Z.

Also TIL that I have to drive an NA Miata with a V8 that idles like a popcorn popper, for work reasons. 

In reply to RX Reven' :

Gives a whole new meaning to fly and drive.  

TIL that if you go on a 2000 mile road trip in 38 hours the card company will lock your card right before the last fill up an hour from home. 

In reply to Stampie :

You made it further than I got in 2014.  I was 600 miles in to an 800 mile trip when I discovered, in a rainy gas station just outside of Des Moines, that buying gasoline repeatedly on a straight line along I-80 constituted "suspicious activity".

Well, hell, better over-aggressive than lackadaisical, I suppose.

In reply to Knurled. :

I think it helped that we were getting 450ish miles per tank. The annoying thing was they wanted to go over each charge and not accept my if it was a gas station between here and Ohio it was me. 

TIL about the existence of the Volvo 480. The US never got the 480 but some of the earlier models are 25 years old now.

Just look at this thing:

WANT!!!

Detailing a riding mower after being in a dirty shed all winter can be really satisfying. But armor-alling the seat is a bad idea if you have to mow sideways on a hill.

TIL the ASC Turbo Grand Prix was a thing. I can't decide if I want one or to copy one with a 3400. Early 90s front drive turbo couch definitely does something for me though.

TIL I learned I must be old. Had tyres mounted on the rims for my trailer. Kids at the tyrestore thought the rims were for an older civic. When I said MG Midget, they wondered what an MG was.

Today I learned about countersteering  a motorcycle.  Not a rider but if I do become one I learned something from the youtubes for once. 

In reply to nutherjrfan :

Holy E36 M3. I hope that dude survived that. That was hard to watch.

Today I learned that those fancy pants aluminum TIG welders ( you know the pure weld porn types ) often use metronomes when welding to help the timing for perfect looking beads.

I had no idea. It also makes a ton of sense

stanger_missle said:

TIL about the existence of the Volvo 480. The US never got the 480 but some of the earlier models are 25 years old now.

Just look at this thing:

 

 

WANT!!!

I remember reading about those in Autoweek back when they were new. They said that they would be coming here, and I was excited, even though I didn't have any money.