If you're a man of a certain age, like I am, you might remember Mickey Thompson's Indy Racer, the Harvey Aluminum Special from the early 60s. It impressed me at the time, because of its unique look, a wide and flat oval cross section and small 12 inch wheels with low profile tires. It resembled a roller skate of sorts and it picked up the nickname of the roller skate car. I … [Read more...]
Makerspace Is Just Newspeak for Workshop
The other day I saw this article about building makerspaces in schools and the photo showed what seemed to me to be a nice workshop, similar to what schools had when I grew up. Of course, now these spaces have things like 3D printers, not a tool we had years back, but the saws and drill presses are pretty standard fare. It made me wonder if there was any real purpose for using … [Read more...]
When the Factory Gets it Wrong and You Have to Fix it
After clearing out all of this new workspace in the garage, I was looking for a worthy first project so I thought I'd start by changing the spark plugs on my F150. If you're thinking plug changes are easy, you have to know this is a 2004 Ford F150 with a Triton V8 engine. So what, you might ask? Well, back in the early 2000s, they designed the Triton V8 with a somewhat unique … [Read more...]
Reclaiming Garage Space and Contemplating Life
It happens slowly, after all it's just a walk behind lawn mower, but it takes a really long time to mow the lawn that way and who wants to mow for hours, so a lawn tractor makes sense, right? And what about those snow tires for the wife's car? You have to put them somewhere when the roads are clear. Of course when the snow gets deep you need a snow blower and if you park it … [Read more...]
A New Direction for The Kneeslider
It's been a while since I posted and I thought it was time to say a few words about what's going on. Briefly, it's a change of direction. I've spent so much time on my computer over the last 14 years with The Kneeslider and so little time in the garage that the need to make a change became overpowering. The last post I wrote, about fixing things, was a tiny hint of where I'm … [Read more...]
Motorcycle Powered Full Body Go Karts are Ghraydon Wallick’s Newest Project
Ghraydon Wallick is at it again. If the name isn’t familiar, you might remember a couple of articles on The Kneeslider in 2010 about a leaning dual sidecar rig he built in his workshop in Thailand. Using limited resources he constructed a mechanism for sidecars, he designed and built, to be attached on both sides of a motorcycle and then to lean with it in the turns. Pretty … [Read more...]