What have you done this weekend...?

Glad to hear the boat performed well. Bummer about the block... will that take her out of contention for the rest of the season, or will they be able to get her back in the water?

 

They have another motor in the works (you always do in racing), but they'll miss the last race of the season. This will give them a winter to sort out handling issues and get the new motor well tuned and ready for an undefeated 2013 season.

 

PAR,

Where can we see something about your red boat?

 

I have a few stills of the boat and a video during trials, some I posted on a previous page in this thread (posts 1333, 1343 & 1346). As usual, I'm at the "pleasure" of the builder and get what I get. The designer is the last person on the call list come launch day, unless something goes wrong, where we then move to the top of the list. Come next season, I'm sure I'll get a quite a few more, unless she turns out to be a dog, at which point I'll probably just get irate phone calls. As far as lines or drawings, they'll remain unpublished for obvious reasons, at least until the local competition catches up.

 

So do you think competitors will start lining up outside your door if she has a successful season next year?

 

I used to be in the car biz-I needed to know these things and that engine hasn't been manufactured by Rover since 2004.

There is a company that builds them in very limited amounts,for repair purposes.

 

My understanding the death of MG Rover stopped the production of this V8 in 2005 when BMW sold Land Rover to Ford. Land Rover still wanted this engine in production and subcontracts MCT for a limited run and replacement parts.

Who knows how long they'll continue this, but they've made quite a few and aftermarket parts currently are plentiful, so I suspect they'll be around for a couple of decades yet, before parts get too difficult and costly to find.

 

BMW sold Range Rover to Ford in ~2000 and sold MGRover to some other group who lost hundreds of millions (and split up MG Rover itself)and recreated MINI etc etc

If you want a mix up,look into the VW vs BMW and Rolls Royce/Bentley deal.
VW got screwed on the RR deal-but Bentley was the better catch anyways-they've made good money and AFAIK BMW has lost heaps of money on RR.

Another interesting tale is the Porsche vs VW and the two battling families.
Porsche tried to buy VW but that blew up in their faces and are now owned by VW.

Whats even more interesting is that there are several vehicles with which one can pretty much build 99% of a brand new version in steel- '57 Chevy and early 50's Chev trucks as well as Model T or A.
And it wouldn't surprise me if ALL the parts are now built- I haven't paid much attention for a few years,I'm into other cars.

One can build a brand new- in steel- '34 Ford for years now. Every part is repro'd.

 

Thee are several cars you can buy complete bodies and drive trains for. Most of the GM muscle cars, a few Fords and several replicas.

My interest in the 215 Buick is simply power verses weight, plus the foot print. I have a few transplant ideas I'd like to complete before I go. They are small cars with small engine compartments and the power to weight ratio is easily exploited with this engine. As I previously mentioned, toss a 300 HP engine in a small package that originally came with 90 HP, yet maintain the same weight and vehicle balance as the original. Yep, that's the way you have fun and if well engineered, you can pull down 30 MPG, all the while smoking guys with their 5.0 Mustangs.

 

What have I done this weekend? Well, I dug 280 feet of trenching for a lawn sprinkler system today, thinking my older son and my nephew would be available tomorrow to help me assemble it, hook it up, test it, bury it and adjust the sprinklers.

My mistake...they're both going to be busy elsewhere, and I doubt I can finish the job single-handed -- especially considering the sore muscles and stiffness I'll be dealing with.

Oh well, the wife says they're predicting rain this coming week anyway. So I guess the yard will survive until I get home again....

 

If you simply change your "models", of what a lawn is supposed to look like, you could avoid all this pain and suffering. I was once like you and though it should look like a well kept golf course fairway, but now think the forest floor approach, is a better model to emulate, which saves me a bunch of effort too.

 

I took the same route, but you have to keep the weeds down if you want to avoid chiggers.

We went boating and boat does better with the re-built motor mount. Now to get the right motor angle. That should improve speed even more.

 

Finally installed the electricity in my bathroom. After 4 years of darkness I can now take a shower AND see what I am doing. Saves me from flushing shower cream from my hairs, or scrubbing teeth with hair removal paste....

Took the kids out to the swimming pool. The big one (3 yrs) who used to be afraid of water now had a great time. On the way back he was talking about a boat. He is going in the right direction!

 

So, basically the rumors were right and you couldn't find your *** while in the shower?

 

That's pretty much what the yard looks like right now. But we're thinking about renting the front half of the place out, since we don't spend much time there. And some potential renters may have visions of being able to find their children or pets without keeping GPS collars on them....