OT - What are you doing right now?

alaskanassasin

Having a cold one on the porch 

TEXASBGE2018

SonVolt said:

Man I love taking Adderall when I can get it. Closest thing to a Coke buzz that I've found... there was a huge black market for it back in college during finals. I could literally sit for hours and hours and study for days straight and retain everything. It's a miracle drug even if it's essentially Meth. 

Man I know you are joking but come on dude. My son may legit need to use that stuff to function normally. That is the kinda stuff I get worried about with him being medicated.

Killit_and_Grillit

Jeremiah said:

Eating leftover hamburger helper. Eff me. 

Doesn’t hamburger helper age like fine wine?

DoubleEgger

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Jeremiah said:

Eating leftover hamburger helper. Eff me. 

Doesn’t hamburger helper age like box wine?

FTFY 

Jeremiah

DoubleEgger said:

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Jeremiah said:

Eating leftover hamburger helper. Eff me. 

Doesn’t hamburger helper age like box wine?

FTFY 

Actually had a glass of wine with it. 

johnnyp

Jeremiah said:

DoubleEgger said:

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Jeremiah said:

Eating leftover hamburger helper. Eff me. 

Doesn’t hamburger helper age like box wine?

FTFY 

Actually had a glass of wine with it. 

Haven’t had Hamburger Helper in many moons.  Loved it when I was a kid.  

nolaegghead

There's nothing wrong with Hamburger Helper.  Pasta, sauce, burger, MSG, artificial flavors...plenty of delicious salt ....mmmm.... mmmmm..... yum... oh... god...this heaven....is....FLAVORTOWN!!!

SonVolt

dharley said:

SonVolt said:

Looking through pics of last weekend's Rib cook w/baked beans. Did the APL method... never added a **** ton of honey to the wrapping foil before, but they came out amazing. 







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_RyNo8kxyg

I love the APL style. That book is legit. Your cook looks beyond amazing. Have you ever made the garlic?

Not yet. I just got his 2 books - Serious Q and Charred and Scruffed. Some of his ideas sound amazing and some them have me going wtf? I'm gonna ease into and see how they turn out. So far so good. Not sure rubbing the bone of a T-Bone with a raw clove of garlic really does much for example. Lotta fuss. Having fun tho. 

jeffwit

Jeremiah said:

Eating leftover hamburger helper. Eff me. 

I’m having leftover Papa John’s. I feel your pain. 

DMW

TEXASBGE2018 said:

SonVolt said:

Man I love taking Adderall when I can get it. Closest thing to a Coke buzz that I've found... there was a huge black market for it back in college during finals. I could literally sit for hours and hours and study for days straight and retain everything. It's a miracle drug even if it's essentially Meth. 

Man I know you are joking but come on dude. My son may legit need to use that stuff to function normally. That is the kinda stuff I get worried about with him being medicated.

I was on Adderall XR for a good number of years. When I left the last job I had that had lots of structure, I was able to wean myself away from it. My current job is flexible enough that I can task switch when I see a squirrel if needed. There are times I can't, and just being aware of the the symptoms helps get by without meds.

This is very commonly passed down to children. In hindsight, I can see symptoms in my mom. My son has meds, but it has the side effect of appetite loss, so he doesn't like to be on the meds when not needed. The nice thing about Adderall is you don't need to build up the meds in your system for them to work. So he'll take it on days he has standardized testing, etc.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, awareness is key. I was diagnosed as an adult, I wish I had known in high school and college.

NC_Egghead

nolaegghead said:

What I'm doing right now is reading every tech bulletin on Pelican Parts they have on removing my transmission and replacing the clutch.  Doesn't look too hard.  My brother is buying the parts for me (he manages a Mercedes shop in San Antonio and gets parts cheap). 

Now I got sucked into the IMS bearing thing....my car is right in the transition period of engines that succumb to the bearing failure and the ones that are good.  Since I'll have the tranny out, great time to be proactive, but is it necessary? 

I’ve done a ton of research on this lately. I don’t own a Porsche but would consider one as an upgrade (?) to my M3. There’s a ton of info, as I’m sure you’ve discovered, on the interwebs and Pelican parts has done a really good job documenting the repair procedures, all the way down to how to jack the car up. There’s also some good stuff on rennlist.com where guys have documented their service of the IMS bearing, the AOS, etc. If it were me, I would definitely go with the bearing and tools from LN Engineering. Looks like they’ve got it figured out. Also in my research I was surprised to learn that 50k is normal for a Porsche clutch unless it’s all highway driving. Good luck with your service. I’ll leave you with this:

nolaegghead

NC_Egghead said:

nolaegghead said:

What I'm doing right now is reading every tech bulletin on Pelican Parts they have on removing my transmission and replacing the clutch.  Doesn't look too hard.  My brother is buying the parts for me (he manages a Mercedes shop in San Antonio and gets parts cheap). 

Now I got sucked into the IMS bearing thing....my car is right in the transition period of engines that succumb to the bearing failure and the ones that are good.  Since I'll have the tranny out, great time to be proactive, but is it necessary? 

I’ve done a ton of research on this lately. I don’t own a Porsche but would consider one as an upgrade (?) to my M3. There’s a ton of info, as I’m sure you’ve discovered, on the interwebs and Pelican parts has done a really good job documenting the repair procedures, all the way down to how to jack the car up. There’s also some good stuff on rennlist.com where guys have documented their service of the IMS bearing, the AOS, etc. If it were me, I would definitely go with the bearing and tools from LN Engineering. Looks like they’ve got it figured out. Also in my research I was surprised to learn that 50k is normal for a Porsche clutch unless it’s all highway driving. Good luck with your service. I’ll leave you with this:

I wanted an M3 forever, but ended up with the 987. 

As is often the case on this forum of great people, a helpful forum member @frazzdaddy reached out to me.  He's a manager at a Mercedes dealership and his buddy is one at Porsche.  So I gave him my VIN which he passed on to Porsche to check if I need to replace the IMS, and the answer was no.  So I have some peace of mind, and that job is a PITA (have to lock the cams down, loosen up the tensioners, etc).

And he checked prices for the clutch kit and DM flywheel as well as my brother.  My brother's Worldpac was 4 bucks cheaper than rockauto.com, but rockauto.com was about 90 bucks cheaper on the flywheel.

So I'm ordering that stuff tonight, if I get everything in time I can hopefully get the clutch in this weekend.  Or at least get it apart and ready to install when it gets here.

I replaced the AOS when it failed about 8K miles ago.  Tough to get to the hose clamps, I read up on it and bought this kit HERE which was invaluable.  I suppose it's easy with the transmission out.

NC_Egghead

That’s good news! They say that if you have a model year near when they upgraded the engineering on the IMS, it’s hit or miss if you need it done or not. Is yours the 3 chain or the 5 chain? May want to look at the chain guides/tensioner too. From what I’ve seen, the AOS is much easier to access with the trans out but if you just did it 8k ago, prob not worth messing with. 

DuckDogDr

@Hook_emHornsfan_74 hoping for a speedy recovery. Had that surgery myself in 2013..mine was a microdiskectomy though 

nolaegghead

NC_Egghead said:

That’s good news! They say that if you have a model year near when they upgraded the engineering on the IMS, it’s hit or miss if you need it done or not. Is yours the 3 chain or the 5 chain? May want to look at the chain guides/tensioner too. From what I’ve seen, the AOS is much easier to access with the trans out but if you just did it 8k ago, prob not worth messing with. 

So this is interesting.  Porsche put out a technical bulletin on my dual mass flywheel.  They say it is good for 2 clutch changes or 100k miles unless there is scoring or warpage.  I think I'm going to buy the flywheel because I'll have it if I need it and I know I'll need it with the next clutch.

My brother thinks this is totally nuts, but it came directly from Porsche, and I trust their engineering department over a Mercedes mechanic, even if he is a master.  (no offense to any Merc mechanics here!).

It's on Pelican Parts, and I've read it a few other places.  Huge money saver - the flywheel is even more expensive than the clutch kit, which is expensive enough.

alaskanassasin

Pardon my ignorance but can you have the flywheel turned?

nolaegghead

alaskanassasin said:

Pardon my ignorance but can you have the flywheel turned?

Dual mass flywheels can't be turned.  Usually they need to be replaced because the elastomers and/or springs start to fail.  You can polish off any glaze with a 3M pad and die grinder, however.

alaskanassasin

Again I may be out of line here but Rockauto?  Isn't that like putting walmart parts into your Porsche? Do they sell oem?  The only reason I ask is because I changed 3 autozone etc. U joints in my dodge before buying a oem at 3 times the price but now its done. 

nolaegghead

alaskanassasin said:

Again I may be out of line here but Rockauto?  Isn't that like putting walmart parts into your Porsche? Do they sell oem?  The only reason I ask is because I changed 3 autozone etc. U joints in my dodge before buying a oem at 3 times the price but now its done. 

Rock auto sells most OEM.   They carry multitudes of different manufacturer's parts, so you have a wide range of price and quality.

Porsche OEM is pretty good.  Not always the best, and never the best price/performance ratio.  *Edit - sometimes you have no choice

I did my brakes about 5K miles ago and I bought pads that cost more than the OEM (I think). 

In general you will do fine if you avoid the cheapest parts and stick with name brand, or look for "OM supplier" which means they are an OEM for the brand of car, but not necessarily for that particular part.

Autozone is the generally the worst place to buy parts.  Terrible prices on oil.  Cheapest oil prices I've found is actually at Walmart.  My Porsche oil at autozone is $38 for 5 quarts.  It is normally $28 at walmart (and Amazon).  Rollback at walmart the other day, it was $22.  I bought all they had (25 quarts).

alaskanassasin

Cool I will check Rockauto out. 

NC_Egghead

nolaegghead said:

NC_Egghead said:

That’s good news! They say that if you have a model year near when they upgraded the engineering on the IMS, it’s hit or miss if you need it done or not. Is yours the 3 chain or the 5 chain? May want to look at the chain guides/tensioner too. From what I’ve seen, the AOS is much easier to access with the trans out but if you just did it 8k ago, prob not worth messing with. 

So this is interesting.  Porsche put out a technical bulletin on my dual mass flywheel.  They say it is good for 2 clutch changes or 100k miles unless there is scoring or warpage.  I think I'm going to buy the flywheel because I'll have it if I need it and I know I'll need it with the next clutch.

My brother thinks this is totally nuts, but it came directly from Porsche, and I trust their engineering department over a Mercedes mechanic, even if he is a master.  (no offense to any Merc mechanics here!).

It's on Pelican Parts, and I've read it a few other places.  Huge money saver - the flywheel is even more expensive than the clutch kit, which is expensive enough.

Yeah, those DM flywheels are special. The BMW folks swap them out with a non-DM or a lightweight flywheel. The LW flywheel will give you better times at the track but the car takes some getting used to in normal traffic. Acts like it won’t idle properly. Takes some getting used to. Pelican may have some info on it for your model but it sounds like you’ve got a good plan. 

alaskanassasin

My trucks and tractors get Rotella, usually I can catch it on sale for 59.99 per 5 gal

nolaegghead

NC_Egghead said:

nolaegghead said:

NC_Egghead said:

That’s good news! They say that if you have a model year near when they upgraded the engineering on the IMS, it’s hit or miss if you need it done or not. Is yours the 3 chain or the 5 chain? May want to look at the chain guides/tensioner too. From what I’ve seen, the AOS is much easier to access with the trans out but if you just did it 8k ago, prob not worth messing with. 

So this is interesting.  Porsche put out a technical bulletin on my dual mass flywheel.  They say it is good for 2 clutch changes or 100k miles unless there is scoring or warpage.  I think I'm going to buy the flywheel because I'll have it if I need it and I know I'll need it with the next clutch.

My brother thinks this is totally nuts, but it came directly from Porsche, and I trust their engineering department over a Mercedes mechanic, even if he is a master.  (no offense to any Merc mechanics here!).

It's on Pelican Parts, and I've read it a few other places.  Huge money saver - the flywheel is even more expensive than the clutch kit, which is expensive enough.

Yeah, those DM flywheels are special. The BMW folks swap them out with a non-DM or a lightweight flywheel. The LW flywheel will give you better times at the track but the car takes some getting used to in normal traffic. Acts like it won’t idle properly. Takes some getting used to. Pelican may have some info on it for your model but it sounds like you’ve got a good plan. 

Yeah, I considered it, but the rpms drop quick and it kinda forces you to shift really fast, plus lots of vibrations when you're coming out of a stop in first.

Pelican has stage 1-5 clutch systems.  They're mostly for racing.  I've raced a miata and E30 with racing clutches and there's no sexy slow take off.  They're designed to take heat and you're pretty much jamming the gas to the floor whenever you take off anyway.

YukonRon

I am taking the brakes, lines and rotors off my 97 Ford expedition this week and replacing them.

21 years of off the highway play has finally taken its toll. Crossed a lot of streams, drove on beaches and snowy, salty roads.

Cruising home the other day from the lab, I hit a freaking pallet that fell off the back of a truck, in front of me, which cut my brakeline.

I was lucky.

Got it home backed it into the driveway, and yeah, its split.

So, while under the vehicle, inspecting for any other damage, which there was none, I noticed the rear wheel cylinder was about to go. 

I decided to rebuild the entire braking system.

I have children that love to drive that old truck, and I do not wish to risk their safety, nor anybody else, for that matter.

Started disassembly this evening, got most of the parts, will have the rest on Friday.

nolaegghead

NC_Egghead said:

nolaegghead said:

NC_Egghead said:

That’s good news! They say that if you have a model year near when they upgraded the engineering on the IMS, it’s hit or miss if you need it done or not. Is yours the 3 chain or the 5 chain? May want to look at the chain guides/tensioner too. From what I’ve seen, the AOS is much easier to access with the trans out but if you just did it 8k ago, prob not worth messing with. 

So this is interesting.  Porsche put out a technical bulletin on my dual mass flywheel.  They say it is good for 2 clutch changes or 100k miles unless there is scoring or warpage.  I think I'm going to buy the flywheel because I'll have it if I need it and I know I'll need it with the next clutch.

My brother thinks this is totally nuts, but it came directly from Porsche, and I trust their engineering department over a Mercedes mechanic, even if he is a master.  (no offense to any Merc mechanics here!).

It's on Pelican Parts, and I've read it a few other places.  Huge money saver - the flywheel is even more expensive than the clutch kit, which is expensive enough.

Yeah, those DM flywheels are special. The BMW folks swap them out with a non-DM or a lightweight flywheel. The LW flywheel will give you better times at the track but the car takes some getting used to in normal traffic. Acts like it won’t idle properly. Takes some getting used to. Pelican may have some info on it for your model but it sounds like you’ve got a good plan. 

Yeah, I can see the idle problems.  Major reason (among others like a clutch friction surface and starter gear) for the flywheel is additional rotational mass to buffer out the micro acceleration and deceleration of the engine when the pistons reciprocate.  This is exactly like the "wow and flutter" specifications on a turntable.  The electric motor "steps" through rotation and the most common solution is to add mass to the platter.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

Eoin

@nolaegghead can't you get a normal weight single mass flywheel. I know it's supposed to make the take up easier and fewer vibrations, but all cars managed without this 'technology' in the past. Seems like an unnecessary complication unless you have a rattling 4 pot diesel.

nolaegghead

Eoin said:

@nolaegghead can't you get a normal weight single mass flywheel. I know it's supposed to make the take up easier and fewer vibrations, but all cars managed without this 'technology' in the past. Seems like an unnecessary complication unless you have a rattling 4 pot diesel.

Any single mass that I've seen are even more expensive, presumably because they are performance.   I ordered the clutch kit only and a spare AOS for the hell of it.  

Looks like parts will get here on Tues, so I'll not be able to finish until the next weekend and I can get the flywheel ordered and delivered by then.  

NC_Egghead

nolaegghead said:

NC_Egghead said:

nolaegghead said:

NC_Egghead said:

That’s good news! They say that if you have a model year near when they upgraded the engineering on the IMS, it’s hit or miss if you need it done or not. Is yours the 3 chain or the 5 chain? May want to look at the chain guides/tensioner too. From what I’ve seen, the AOS is much easier to access with the trans out but if you just did it 8k ago, prob not worth messing with. 

So this is interesting.  Porsche put out a technical bulletin on my dual mass flywheel.  They say it is good for 2 clutch changes or 100k miles unless there is scoring or warpage.  I think I'm going to buy the flywheel because I'll have it if I need it and I know I'll need it with the next clutch.

My brother thinks this is totally nuts, but it came directly from Porsche, and I trust their engineering department over a Mercedes mechanic, even if he is a master.  (no offense to any Merc mechanics here!).

It's on Pelican Parts, and I've read it a few other places.  Huge money saver - the flywheel is even more expensive than the clutch kit, which is expensive enough.

Yeah, those DM flywheels are special. The BMW folks swap them out with a non-DM or a lightweight flywheel. The LW flywheel will give you better times at the track but the car takes some getting used to in normal traffic. Acts like it won’t idle properly. Takes some getting used to. Pelican may have some info on it for your model but it sounds like you’ve got a good plan. 

Yeah, I can see the idle problems.  Major reason (among others like a clutch friction surface and starter gear) for the flywheel is additional rotational mass to buffer out the micro acceleration and deceleration of the engine when the pistons reciprocate.  This is exactly like the "wow and flutter" specifications on a turntable.  The electric motor "steps" through rotation and the most common solution is to add mass to the platter.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

I haven’t heard the “wow and flutter” term in a long time! That’s  actually a great analogy. Some engines have a harmonic balancer in the other side of the drive shaft, belt driven to aid in absorbing vibrations. 

My M3 was sporting a check engine light this am so I scanned it and it’s throwing p0128, which is a temp sensor issue. Evidently if the DME doesn’t detect the engine is warming up in a timely manner, it throws this code. It thinks the thermo is stuck open. It’s not a difficult fix but I’ve also been putting off servicing the cooling system (water pump, hoses, thermo, sensors, etc.) I cleared the code and maybe it will stay away long enough for me to get through state inspection in a couple months before I tear into it. 

Sea2Ski

In Denali Alaska for the last 5 days. 

I thought the Grand Canyon was big and Yellowstone was pretty. Denali is in its own separate league. 



We took the long, long ride though the park to the “end of the road” with a naturalist. Incredible.
Along the way we saw 4 of the “big 5”:  Dall’s sheep, 8 bears, several moose and 2 herds of caribou, one of about 100 animals and one of about 80. No go on the wolves, but with 6,000,000 acres + to roam, is is unlikely to see one of the 80’ish thought to be in the park. 


Epic moments of the day were:
1)finding 2 bears feeding on a fresh caribou kill and their faces and upper body still all bloody from the kill Naturalist said we may have missed it by an hour or two by the bears body language. 
2) Mama bear with 2 cubs and the cubs sliding down snow as if they were sledding - lust like on a nature show. 
3) walking around a corner and seeing a bull moose belly deep in water in a lake eating. 
Those pictures were taken with another camera. 

Runner up was a bear headed toward a caribou on a snow patch and we though there was going to be an “event” but nothing happened.  He ended up just laying in the snow to keep cool.  Watched for 30 mins, but nothing happened. 

The_Stache

nolaegghead said:

NC_Egghead said:

What I'm doing right now is reading every tech bulletin on Pelican Parts they have on removing my transmission and replacing the clutch.  Doesn't look too hard.  My brother is buying the parts for me (he manages a Mercedes shop in San Antonio and gets parts cheap). 

Now I got sucked into the IMS bearing thing....my car is right in the transition period of engines that succumb to the bearing failure and the ones that are good.  Since I'll have the tranny out, great time to be proactive, but is it necessary? 

I wanted an M3 forever, but ended up with the 987. 

As is often the case on this forum of great people, a helpful forum member @frazzdaddy reached out to me.  He's a manager at a Mercedes dealership and his buddy is one at Porsche.  So I gave him my VIN which he passed on to Porsche to check if I need to replace the IMS, and the answer was no.  So I have some peace of mind, and that job is a PITA (have to lock the cams down, loosen up the tensioners, etc).

And he checked prices for the clutch kit and DM flywheel as well as my brother.  My brother's Worldpac was 4 bucks cheaper than rockauto.com, but rockauto.com was about 90 bucks cheaper on the flywheel.

So I'm ordering that stuff tonight, if I get everything in time I can hopefully get the clutch in this weekend.  Or at least get it apart and ready to install when it gets here.

I replaced the AOS when it failed about 8K miles ago.  Tough to get to the hose clamps, I read up on it and bought this kit HERE which was invaluable.  I suppose it's easy with the transmission out.

Carey, unless your car is 2009 or later, the IMS can fail!  Porsche never admitted it was a possible failure part but in 2009 and later the engines were redesigned with a "new" fully lubricated IMS.  Porsche will never tell you that your IMS needs to be replaced because they refuse to admit it as a problem!

I'll take the rest of this off line.