keeping the wingnuts from disappearing... good idea!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=27873369468966971&set=pcb.2366131914204348

Mythbusters tested a Taurus out to see what the effect of dimples would be on gas mileage... and it was about 10% fuel mpg improvement. From 26 to 29.6 mpg

Adam had so much more life/enthusiasm than Jamie. 

I think it's to be expected from someone that chooses to look like this

Greg found a cool innovation of re-using stuff in his grand fathers garage

He graduated high school in 1957, 

 bought his own farm the same year, 

proceeded to erect a barn behind house there. 

 In 1959 he built a work shop. 

In 1960 he bought a sears air compressor it has date on it, and is still in use.

And he made this hose reel!

It has a pipe union in it with a leather washer with grease on it to seal air. 

Greg says in his post that he was born in 1971, and has no idea how many times his grandfather, Greg himself, and his 2 sons, and countless neighbors pulled this hose out 

His grandfather passed away in 1999 but this thing lives on. 

The hub that the hose is rolled up on is a 4 legged John Deere logo, 5 gallon oil can.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1294444273957513/permalink/27026081263700461

superb innovative idea - use guitar electric cord plug to run your airline through the frame!

https://www.reddit.com/r/guitars/comments/ifptdo/made_a_custom_trem_arm_for_a_strat_so_its_not_in/#lightbox

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10164614886257472&set=pcb.10164614886617472

Here's a good innovative way to make better battery terminal clamps... bicycle seat post clamps.

interesting door latch release, nice and elegant

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/495/

all it takes to learn something new, is step outside your normal life. Here's what some 4x4 trucks used when overcoming the problem of extra long rear axle travel... a sliding two piece drive shaft

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1176529144645766&set=a.555860870045933

interesting innovation, using flip down steps instead of a ladder

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/542/

brakemen needed an out of the weather place to hang out, a place more comfortable than a step or ladder rung. Because there was no room in the cab, on the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company train tenders, they installed 32 Chevy coupes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8p1ilti-i4g at minute 26

http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/shlco/Wrecks.html

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?

fbid=10227460148042628&set=gm.3644541675813744&idorvanity=1613284028939529

http://www.trainweb.org/highdesertrails/shlco/SHLCO5.html

interesting onnovation, a tire cleaning patch of chainmail

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/605/

Perth Australia has a innovative speed bump mechanism around Curtin University campus... Actibump, a gutter that adjusts to the speeding car's velocity, and drops out

 

drive.com.au/caradvice/internet-erupts-over-australias-secret-speed-bumps/

https://www.ipwea.org/blogs/intouch/2018/04/16/these-smart-speed-bumps-only-punish-speeding-drive

https://www.curtin.edu.au/news/media-release/australian-first-active-speed-bumps-put-brakes-speeding-motorists/

lol... this is innovative

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4174736429453620&set=gm.1219095029547867&idorvanity=500847528039291

Coolest thing I've seen today. Tell me why the billions of tires filling canyons, dumps, fields, alleys, etc can't be easily, quickly, and cheaply cut into freeway noise barriers for every city, airport, etc?

These walls are built from shredded tires mixed into rubber-rich panels that soak up traffic noise and keep thousands of tires out of landfills

https://x.com/cooltechtipz/status/1993505499321713041

I've posted about tires getting pulled out of rivers, lakes, reservoirs, streams etc... 

I've posted about tires being dumped off bridges into canyons, farms, and country roads where it's called Fly Tipping

And there are so many examples of guys getting paid to take tires away - just make them disappear, that we don't hear about. Imagine how much better the system would be if the tires everyone dumps in alleys, etc were worth 10 bucks apiece - like all the copper that the meth freaks steal, and got cleaned out of city alleyways, to get turned in for the refund, just like cans, bottles, etc. 

I'm pretty sure that's why so many states put that 5 or 10 cent refund, or CRV, on the garbage we toss - so that the homeless who go trash can to dumpster, all day long, through city alleys and parks, and bring everything that they can make make money from to the recycle drops. 

At least, they do here in San Diego. Guys come up from Tijuana with trucks, and load up washers, fridges, heaters, AC units, and mattresses. Everything they can get money for when they get it back into TiJuana.

I like that they used old military truck wheels to unload this half track

for the video https://www.facebook.com/reel/1812604559388168

it's not cheating if there isn't a specific rule against it...

In 1942, Frank Szymanski switched from making cars on an assembly line to assembling B17 bombers for Boeing. He then realized that Boeing did not have a clue how to build wings for B17 quickly, perfectly, efficiently... so he showed them how to reduce the time from 20 hours to 2.

his ability to see the obvious, that management was oblivious to because they do paperwork, not stepping onto the assembly line and earning some calluses, brought the production of B17s from 14 planes a month to over 362.

And Boeing was weeks away from losing the contract, because their production was too slow

What was the initial problem Boeing wasn't clued into? Heat expansion. 

Hot rivets on one end of the wing would cause just enough thermal expansion that rivet holes on the other end of the wing wouldn't line up. 

So, he demonstrated that starting the installation around the main structure points, with the workers spread out, reduced thermal expansion, placing hot rivets at various distant points, where the metal was cool, spread the heat out, reduced the amount in any one area, and the rivet holes didn't get shifted elsewhere on the wing. 

If you want to listen to 40 minutes, plus commercials, etc that never seem to answer the question, until 70 percent of the way through the video, doesn't even start to address the issue until 14 minutes into the video after wasting your time with history, flashbacks, etc... then here it is, and as always, increase the play speed from 1.0 to 1.25 because video makers are deliberately slowing down the speed to waste your time for stats to earn more from You Tube

a 68 Road Runner that is destined for Pikes Peak... how do I know? I talked to the owner/driver/pilot/awesome guy, and he's got one hell of a story - and a cooler job. He's on the Pikes Peak tech crew at the start of the race!

Richard and his buddy Ben, both grew up with a 68 383 4 speed Road Runner... how unreal is that? But their dads also both died when these guys were young. Tragic, and just unreal coincidence. Now they have partnered on this Road Runner to race on Pikes Peak next year, June 21, 2026

Ben's father passed away in 2023 three days before he was set to race for the first time at Pikes Peak. 

The first car he built with his dad was a 68 Road Runner and when Richard asked him if he could drive any car in Pikes Peak race, what would be? 

Ben responded "a road runner " 

Since Richard's father also had a Road Runner, things got really interesting. Richard lost his father in the Oklahoma City bombing and had been holding on to his dad’s car ever since. And both of their dad's cars were 68 383 4 speed cars!

That day the idea was born to build it for Pikes Peak. With some amazing help, the Road Runner was built in only 94 days to make SEMA. 

The team at Apex Auto Works absolutely crushed the build.

hear the story in a podcast at https://www.inwheeltimepodcast.com/restoring-a-roadrunner-a-fathers-legacy/

Richard's hoping to get Isky to sign that decal, it's been on the car forever... I hope he takes the window off the car and finds Isky and gets it autographed! 

I'm loving the wing, and how it attaches! When you figure that adding a wing is going to damage the original body, or the trunk lid, and try to figure out a way to get one on a classic Mopar without damaging anything? Brilliant

Starting with a Nascar chassis, removing 208 pounds of lead ballast in the frame, dropping the body of his dad's 68 Road Runner over that race car chassis, and getting the result that Plymouth was trying for in 1968 - a car ready for racing on the Nascar / Grand National tracks

https://www.facebook.com/ApexAutoWorks/

https://apexautoworkstx.com/our-work

https://www.instagram.com/wrenchrally/

https://www.facebook.com/ben.ryan.35175633/

a Celica GT with an interesting plastic nose cone for aerodynamic improvement

the 644th Ordnance Depot salvaged everything needed to make a “winter-proof” enclosure, a plastic top, windshield wipers, a spotlight and a windshield defroster.

I swear, a book of the ingenuity of the WW2 soldiers would sell really good... 

https://www.ewillys.com/2016/07/31/1945-photo-of-the-winter-proof-top-on-ebay

an extensive and terrific list of all the cheating methods and devices in racing, some are pure genius, some are incredibly imaginative innovations. I posted just my favorites, the rest are at the link

https://www.facebook.com/groups/808547945893612/posts/24926999833621753/

My favorites are:

cars that picked up the start clock signal and released the cars from the stage start with zero drivers reaction times, but the FIA had a hunch they were doing it so just before the actual start signal, they broadcasted a fake one that got all of the cheaters to jump the start at the 1999 European grand prix

Skip the first 45 seconds

titanium hubs sprayed with metallic paint so the magnet would stick.

traction control chip in the MSD box.

frame rail and fire extinguisher filled with nitrous

Pro stock would run weak oil rings and loose guides so they consumed oil. Then used Used Top Fuel Oil contaminated with Nitro Methane

Alan Johnson Top Fuel car using huge amount of connection wiring from ignition control unit changing the rev limiter ceiling

Ryan Newman engineered a carburetor that didn't go against NASCAR rules but was ultimately banned because it had lower CFM to optimize fuel mileage with only a 2 HP loss. Hence gaining 7 extra laps on a tank of fuel

Gary Nelson’s pumps inside the gas dump cans to speed up the fueling time, had mercury switches so when can was upside down it turned on

SCCA late 50's into the 60's cars with tail light cut out switches to suck competitor's deeper into the corners, causing them to spin

Jim Hall’s Chaparral had a switch mated to the accelerator, which activated when the throttle pedal was deactivated. The tail lights came on before the brake pedal was ever touched, giving the impression that the brakes were applied before the brake pedal was depressed. The following car would therefore brake before the Chaparral.

Penske’s TransAm Camaros and Javelins with two gallon filler necks on the fuel tanks, because the rulebook only specified the size of the tank

Smokey's extra tall front bumper that effectively was an air dam

Stirling moss actually synchronized his watch with that of the starter. Other drivers watched for the flag to drop, Stirling was watching the second hand on his watch.

the Lancia rally team manager paid for a bunch of salt spread on roads overnight, then next morning Lancia were the only team on proper tarmac tires, everyone else expected snow on the roads.

SCCA spec racer w/ spec chassis and suspension. An accident 'repair' led to a narrowed chassis that added negative camber. Took a while for inspectors to catch it.

Knaus/Johnson getting caught drilling 1/128” holes in valve stems so the tires could be filled to the “hot” psi and as the tire heats up it bleeds off excess pressure to maintain optimum pressure.

Penske used 25kg, 55lb mufflers, to move the weight lower in the can in Australian touring cars.