Black Betty

I take I70 to I81 everyday to and from work, I remember at least 3 storms from last winter that I drove into work. Granted I think I missed the largest storm from last year (February?) I was up in VT for cold testing....and then we were flying down mountain roads in a 80,000 lb tractor. No snow tires or chains there either.

I always forget which it is. Then the same argument plays in my head " It's the R version of the T5.... must be T5-R"

All this talk about winter tires. Last year wasn't even that bad, I drove to work everyday on BF T/A advantage tires (all season). Drove the T5-R 30 miles in the snow-mageden of 2012 on Eagle GT's. can you read?

Last night I found a bar serving "Rare Beers" they had a few anniversary ales from stone and other brewers. But most were normal IPA's. I hadn't had a good beer in a long while, and I had a few (lot) too many. oh man, wasn't sure I was going to hold it together on the train this morning.

I think that's what Jon was referencing. Both your situation and the Jalop article point to shady dealer practices.

Fixed. I had the same thing happen on my Miata. They also promised they could replace the Timing belt there. Luckily I got that portion in writing. But then they refused to do the service and cut me a check for half of what the dealer wanted. Come to think of it I should write a google review.

bread expands, wood shrinks. I don't see the issue with the subway lawsuit. I do see the issue with the lowes lawsuit.

Wow that's surprising to me. I never understood the need to have a pure bred dog. All the ones friends have had, have had lots of medical issues. Not surprisingly these issues are well documented to the breed. And all the mutts I've known have lived longer, healthier lives. Friends family has a cat that's older than me (24). A few years ago he was in liver failure and the family held a good bye party because he was so close to death. Yet he recovered and is still kicking hard.

requirements are convertible, manual, under $10K, preferably green in color. The mini copper vert looks like butt. Options Z3 Z4 -maybe, not many near this price point NB or NC miata S2K 350Z I've shown here the E36/46 verts and she'd rather have a Z. I plan to find a few options in the list above and have her test drive them, with the Z's being last, if she drives them first she's likely to buy one without considering the others. Thanks for all the input guys, I'm not so weary of the BMW's anymore, but I think this topic might be a bit dead at this point. Of course there are the F body GM cars, and mustangs but those were never in the consideration because she doesn't like them. She likes to drive but she has a different perspective on the experience than we all do, more so a Sunday cruiser on the back roads than someone trying to fly around corners as fast as she can.

She specifically requested nothing modified, and honestly that's the perfect decision too. My mom doesn't need or want a swapped E30 or E36. As far as the Z4M, thats way outside of the $10K budget. Z3M might be more manageable, but Miata is so simple, and easy. I also thought about 350Z verts, and S2K's which are do-able as well. Oh an Demois my mom's not quite the typical woman; her honeymoon was 2 weeks camping along the Appalachians, I've personally seen her go over the handle bars MTB riding and come up smiling, and she's a martial arts instructor with a 2nd degree black belt. She's not afraid of a little wind messing up her hair. Finally some decent advice. She's got a Prius for everyday (which surprisingly she's bored of). So Mike (?) do you think the Z's are nearly the same ease to work on as the P80's?

The answer is always Miata, I had an NB2, emerald green, LS package (LSD, 6 Speed, Leather, Bose). She loved that car. She'd sneak off with it in the mornings when I was still sleeping off booze. http://imgur.com/QFGMzio I'll work on convincing her more, plus the NB2's are much cheaper than the Z3's

Question for our BMW expert: Mom wants a Z3 or early Z4. What to look for? I've read about the rear sub frame on the Z3 and heard BMW's have notoriously weak cooling systems. Anything else? I'd really like to push her into a Miata (NB or NC), possibly into an S2000. She wants a convertible max $10K. I'd rather she went Japanese so I'm not constantly fixing the damn thing, but she's always like the BMW Z's

I thought the same thing, I was worried when I learned on my first day that I would never be able to turn a wrench here (union). But in all honesty I enjoy what I do now. I still get to be a gear head, and work with what I love, but I'd say I moved a few levels above mechanic/machining work. He/She should look to see if there might be a field/job type he would enjoy more, maybe a field engineer for literally any industry. If he's able to find something he'd be happy doing, then he can develop other hobbies to balance his need to work hands on all the time.

I'm an ME, recent grad (2012). I've only had 1 job so far, but I can offer some of my friends experiences as well. First me: I'm working for Volvo Trucks/Mack Trucks/..... (volvo has bought a lot of trucking companies). My job is very hands on, even though I work with a Union who operates my testing, I still sit in an engine test cell 50% of my time. The other 50% I may be at my desk looking over data, or even in a truck gathering data. Now we have component engineers who spend 95% of their day at a desk or in a meeting, so it really depends on the job. People seem to think desk jobs aren't fun, but I actually enjoyed CAD and FMEA so I wouldn't mind their job either. Most of my friends I knew from FSAE, and as such most ended up in the automotive field. 1 double majored in ME/AeroE, and took a junior position with Infinity's F1 team, 1 is working for Pratt & Miller, a few others are working for a company that designs washer nozzle systems for cars, another is working for a tuning shop (designing go fast parts). They all spend a good amount of time reviewing data, tests, designs at their desk, but they all have a lot of opportunity in the field too. If you're designing parts, you're going to have to meet with suppliers, manufactures ect, and see the design through to production. ME is really what you make of it. Like Timo said, it's such a broad field. And unless you do something in undergrad to distinguish yourself from the thousands of other grads, its your own fault when your dream company doesn't find you appealing. You should get involved with some sort of engineering club, professor research ect, that you enjoy; which then gathers interest from employers. Otherwise you're just going to send out 100 resumes and probably not like the offers. Also these clubs have sponsors for a reason: to get first picks of the graduates. TL/DR, if you don't want a deskjob, do something in undergrad/ after undergrad to attract non desk jobs. This, be proactive and you can pretty much chose your job, choosing your salary is a bit harder.

These are kind of close, not exact. They've been for sale for a long while now. Like maybe 6 months or more.

Hmm, this was literally the first ride after repair (~20-25 miles). Maybe the set screws on the rear derailleur moved around? I'll probably ride again Friday (with a spare hanger), and keep a better eye on the adjustment.

I think it's stiff links. I discovered 2 or so that are stiffer than others.

So what would cause a derailleur hanger to break, besides an impact? I broke one last weekend and thought I must have just hit something on my ride. This weekend I made sure both the derailleurs were lined up and not over shifting. Towards the end of my ride I noticed the rear kept skipping up and down gears without actually commanding the change. Then 5 minutes later the hanger broke again. I'm pretty confused because today was a pretty easy ride and I don't remember hitting anything at all.

no idea. Barter still places a value on certain items over others. This is more of a dream than anything. Our society is so built up upon the value of certain goods/services it would be impossible to change. In the meantime though how do you combat the reducing job pool? you can tell the fry cook to learn electronics so he can fix the robots that replace him, but the principle remains that the job pool is getting smaller due to automation. And I'm as guilty as anyone else of using the automation services. My first job was a cashier at a grocery store (@ $8/hr in 2006) and I prefer the self checkouts. I can't remember the last time I set foot in an actual bank either.

Pretty much impossible to tell from pictures/video. It's all about the deceleration of certain body parts. Head/ chest legs ect. All you could tell is whether the occupant structure is penetrated.

I don't really like the argument that "X job only gets $yy so then you can't flip burgers for $15" This is the same argument kids use to justify why they need the latest XBox. I think the problem really lies in that wages in general have not kept up with inflation/ profits. There's a large gap growing between the classes. I don't believe Fire fighters, EMT's should get paid less than Fast Food workers. I think both of their salaries are F'd. The problem lies in that labor now is cheap, and this is a free market, you can want more $$ but when Jim is willing to take minimum wage then you loose a job. So I think 2 things need to be solved. 1) the salary gap that has grown. and 2) unemployment. Problem is we as a society keep moving towards eliminating jobs (for profit). Automatic self checkouts, ATM's, ect and we keep pushing forward without looking at the human consequences. Those of you that know me, know I work in Trucking and the self driving car really scares me, it will eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. Trucking has been a huge employer of veterans as well. If I can go way out with my views; These problems will only cease to exist when we stop being a cash-based value society and start measuring by another stick.

I'd really like to see the older model Volvo's (P80 and 240) put through the same tests that current car's are put through. I'm not sure the 15+ year old Volvo's would stand up so well. Not saying they would crumble but I bet they score about average now-a-days. Still better than a 15+ year old anything else.

quick family bike ride while my brother was in town. Trails were pretty good except for one that was muddy as all hell.

Went 26 with mom and dad this past Saturday. Didn't have a good time as I stopped every 5 miles or so for them to catch up. But I'd estimate just under 2hrs total. First long ride for me this year. I rode on my mountain bike since that's all I had. Damn my ass hurts though.

I can feel the down votes coming, but I used Advanced Auto Axles even in the Black T5-R. I found out the hard way that there are lots of imperfections in the metal (ie they break at the strip) but when you have multiple P80's it's nice to buy lifetime axles once and keep getting new ones when a boot tears. AA only caries the thinner auto ones though (even if you try multiple manual models) so there's that.