What did you do today?

[Willy]

Yup I often thought that Corvettes would make the perfect winter beater. Between frame, suspension and body not a heck of a lot of iron there to rust.

On a more serious note I hear they are doing a total revamp on what has become a very refined platform. Apparently 2020 wile usher in a mid-engined Corvette.

[fixerdave]

The thing about being one of those organized clean-freak types is that I never have to look for anything. I always know where everything is. Two seconds spent putting something in its right place saves 2 minutes looking for it later.

If I put everything away before what I was working on was back together then it would take far longer to finish. Might never get it back together. It's just the way I was taught to work. As a kid, if I picked up a tool and didn't put it back down where I found it, say by putting it back where it belonged, then I'd get yelled at. As a kid, it always amazed me how my father, a professional mechanic, would tear something apart and put it back together in what seemed like chaos. None of today's: take pictures as you pull it apart, online manuals, and stuff. Just apart and back together. Now, I do that. I learned how he did it.

Near every tool used to take something apart will need to be used to put it back together. A pile of speciality tools shows an order of operations. The parts pile is sequential as well. How the parts and tools are distributed on the work surface, be it bench or floor, tells a story. That story is "it goes back together this way." Mess up that story and I have to spend a lot more time figuring out how something fits back together.

It actually works quite well, until project A gets bumped by B, then C, and D, and so on. When I have to start rooting through piles to get to something for another project... not good.

That said, I do have 2 drawers in the custom cabinet my 3in1 sits on. The top one has all the tools for the machine: chuck keys, hex keys, wrenches, etc.. I use the chuck key and then toss it back in that drawer. Very, very rarely said key will end up on my bench... which I consider a mistake. You'd know why if you saw my bench... see the ABC note above. This time, yeah, the key didn't go in the drawer. No idea where it went. It's somewhere, probably.

So, yes, I do some of that "organised" thing, in specific cases... but it didn't save me this time. Probably why it's doubly annoying.

David...

[ezduzit]

If I put everything away before what I was working on was back together then it would take far longer to finish...

Come on!

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Yup I often thought that Corvettes would make the perfect winter beater. Between frame, suspension and body not a heck of a lot of iron there to rust.

On a more serious note I hear they are doing a total revamp on what has become a very refined platform. Apparently 2020 wile usher in a mid-engined Corvette.

I'm waiting to see if/what the new Viper will be like. I think the current rumors are maybe 2020

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Yup I often thought that Corvettes would make the perfect winter beater. Between frame, suspension and body not a heck of a lot of iron there to rust.

On a more serious note I hear they are doing a total revamp on what has become a very refined platform. Apparently 2020 wile usher in a mid-engined Corvette.

One trend I don't personally like is the move to smaller displacement with supercharging vs. larger displacement with naturally aspirated. The small block aluminum 427 is such an amazing engine with so much low end torque. Check out the 0 to 170+ MPH in one gear

[Willy]

Check out the 0 to 170+ MPH in one gear

Sacrilege I know, but it's almost worthy of a trailer hitch!

[fixerdave]

Come on!

Yes, clean up that pile and reassembly goes from reading a story to figuring out a puzzle. Takes way longer, for me. Just the way I work. Starting from clean is almost as hard as putting something back together that someone else took apart.

As I've said, it all breaks down when piles get buried under new piles... stories on stories. But, for fixing stuff, taking it apart and putting it back together, it's generally effective and efficient. Besides that, as I'm getting old... that's just the way it's going to be. I expect I'll be yelling at my kid when he starts moving my tools around. Well, to be honest, I'd be happy if he even tolerated being in the shop, so I'd probably just deal with it.

Anyway... next shop day is more cleaning. The bikes will have to wait until I find my chuck key. Don't absolutely need it, but it's a matter of principle

David...

[Cenedd]

How the parts and tools are distributed on the work surface, be it bench or floor, tells a story. That story is "it goes back together this way." Mess up that story and I have to spend a lot more time figuring out how something fits back together.

If you'll humour me, I'll take that to the extreme for you
I had a laptop apart on my desk which used to be in my spare bedroom. Unlike some, all the screws were different lengths and not marked on the case. So I'd laid the all out on the desk in the same pattern they came out in, ready for putting it back together. Brilliant theory with just one minor flaw...my mother-in-law came to stay and slept in that room. Next day I was greeted by a nice, neat line of screws all arranged in height order. Took me ages to work out by trial and error.

Workshop wise, I try to have a place for everything - forced to by space limitations - but I'm not very good at putting stuff back in it immediately. It's more a case of tidying after each project/job.

[MrFluffy]

I have in the past got a piece of cardboard and stuck the screws in at each location corresponding roughly to the original. But this was for a motorcycle engine side case so m6 and larger scale but same principle. I'd have been on youtube looking for a assembly/disassembly video for that laptop afterwards if that happened to me.

For the drill chuck key, I always got annoyed at tethered keys getting tangled or the tether getting in the way somehow. Now I have some larger magnets stuck to the side of the column out the way of swarf, and stick the key back on it between use. Its always there when I need it, its always the same place, but the tether doesn't hamper its use.

Today I was laser cutting some custom electronics enclosures on my 40w ebay chinese laser cutter that is useless and doesn't work and cut a motorcycle footrest hanger out of ply to test the CAD model before committing it to metal (which turned out to be the right decision, I've made several tweaks as a result of actually assembling it and trying it on the bike) but I've decided not to waste my time taking photo's of the results.

[vpt]

Aluminum frames are da'bomb

Thats so 2000's

Fibers are the thing now.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Thats so 2000's

Fibers are the thing now.

Z06 is actually too light as it is. Even with the close to 50/50 weight distro, the rear end still needs more weight. Very little traction with cold tiers. With cold tires they always break loose in 2nd gear at around 4K. Once they get hot they will then hold throughout 2nd but never when cold.

And it's not 2000's, it's 80,000's, and Fibers is more like 400,000's

[J Tiers]

Aluminum has a crummy fatigue response.... go over the limit and it breaks like a twig.

Steel is heavy and rusts, but it also does not break like that.

This is assuming that the vehicle has been "value engineered" with the minimum thickness of material in each place.... so that metal fatigue is a possible issue.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Aluminum has a crummy fatigue response.... go over the limit and it breaks like a twig.

Steel is heavy and rusts, but it also does not break like that.

This is assuming that the vehicle has been "value engineered" with the minimum thickness of material in each place.... so that metal fatigue is a possible issue.

WOW!!!

[vpt]

Z06 is actually too light as it is. Even with the close to 50/50 weight distro, the rear end still needs more weight. Very little traction with cold tiers. With cold tires they always break loose in 2nd gear at around 4K. Once they get hot they will then hold throughout 2nd but never when cold.

And it's not 2000's, it's 80,000's, and Fibers is more like 400,000's

Thats why they put the engine in back.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Thats why they put the engine in back.

Yup, the corvette has been putting the transmission in the back since the C5 to help give a closer 50/50 weight distro. But, you still need plenty of weight up front to prevent understeer so 50/50 is where you want to be.

EDIT: I forgot the weight further back actually helps prevent understeer so nevermind!!

My gokart with a 750cc 4-cyl engine used to have almost zero-steering under hard acceleration as the front wheels were so lightly loaded and the live axle only wants to really push the car straight. Was a very unnerving experience when you accelerate too hard while turning as the kart would stop steering and go straight

This has terrible psycho understeer when really accelerating due to the live axle and weight distro