What is wrong with this $800 2002 Civic with 250,000 miles? Is it a melted crank position sensor?

[Xist]

I doubt that anyone noticed, but I just video chatted with an old friend for almost an hour and a half. I was trying to respond to messages while we chatted, but I didn't get very far.

I asked a WhatsApp woman if she did anything fun this weekend.
"Yes."
That is what I get for asking boring and superficial questions!
Useless answers...

Originally Posted by JSH

I would rather use a solo cup than poke holes.

I used to put my metal drip tray in the street, put an empty oil jug on that, and then the funnel.

I wish that I could rig something so the drip pan drips into the funnel without me holding it forever.

I don't like the idea of burning used motor oil outside, the concept of burning it inside is right out!

Softball?! Oh good! I might run into my previous ex when she has a softball bat!

Originally Posted by JSH

True - so are you willing to get out of the house and meet some real people?

Making my browser refresh another Ecomodder page every minute has kept me logged in, but my attachments keep expiring. For the third time!

Originally Posted by JSH

Also - for your $400 lenses. Next time maybe give Zenni Optical a try:
https://www.zennioptical.com/?gclid=...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

I just bought new prescription safety glasses (frames and lenses) for $100. Regular glasses are even less.

I did a search for "best site for buying glasses," but I never looked at any of the results.

I am going to try to be more careful with these lenses so I don't need to replace them until they cost $800?

I bought these frames from 39dollarglasses.com on 05-19-2011 to replace the largest bendable titanium frames they had, which I bought on 06-04-2010.

I wore a larger pair in Afghanistan, but apparently lost them as soon as I had a newer pair.

Apparently I lost whatever I was wearing before I deployed, too!

I may have bought glasses that are too small. I wish these were bigger when I am in the sun, under my car, etc.

I was about to grab my face shield when I was taking apart the 2002 Civic!

I started putting them in the free case Walmart gave me, but it is so flimsy that I think I will look for something sturdier at Dollar Tree.

Seriously.

I also need to keep a microfiber cloth in my case, but I am pretty sure that most of the damage came from working on projects, although I needed a new prescription regardless.

One of my add-ons found me some coupons that got me super-thin lenses, transitions, a case, shipping, and "Flex" frames for $172.46, plus I have a $8.12 credit from buying one or more pairs 11-12 years ago.

I just wish I had that first pair!

They have a 20% military discount--there are other discounts, too.

Curiously, they don't request a copy of my DD214 or offer other options that I have seen. Either you need to give your military e-mail address, which you cannot access after you separate, or you show your USAA proof of insurance.

So, they offer current military and USAA member discounts.

When they process that it should be down to $154.20.

The bottom of their "Flex" frames page says "Flex titanium frame glasses. I just don't understand why they don't mention titanium anywhere else.

People always tell me they still make them, they just aren't as good.

Why would I buy inferior frames when I can just reuse mine?!

Walmart charges $10.

I was thinking that I would buy a cheap pair for working on projects and couldn't remember the name Zenni, so thank you for that.

Their website annoys me. It is distracting and I needed to search for bendable titanium and select "Men" three times.

I needed to go to my car to enter my prescription to see prices and I quickly memorized it.

I haven't known my prescription for 35 years, but now I do!

I don't see pupillary distance on my prescription and their stupid detector didn't work. I swear they have wage slaves laughing at people holding cards against their face, looking silly, and getting frustrated.

Is it too much to ask for large buttons when you tell people to remove their glasses for a picture?!

I finally got a measurement--to the half millimeter, but most sites only accept full millimeters.

The 3 coupon-detecting add-ons popped up about 10 times as often as they should have.

Zenni would charge $199 with the best coupon.

They show a military discount, but said that it didn't apply, and didn't say why.

Long story short, I looked at 10 lists and tried to find bendable titanium frames with 1.67 index transitions lenses and everyone was worse than Zenni.

Lest anyone claim I didn't try a specific site, here are the details:

Warby Parker, Target Optical, and American best don't have titanium frames.
EyeBuyDirect charged $226.17 with coupons.
GlassesUSA wanted $261.60.
Firmoo didn't offer 1.67 index lenses.
Yes Glasses wasn't competitive.

[Xist]

I forgot that the eye exam was $73 and then I paid for replacement lenses, which were $320.

It cost more than twice as much to reuse my frames!

How come frames made from a special titanium alloy cost a fraction as much as small pieces of bent polycarbonate?

I don't think that it makes sense to buy a cheap pair of glasses to protect these.

It just makes sense to shop around first.

It was frustrating to spend hours searching for the best price, but I could have saved $156!

By the way, I finally vacuumed the engine block, although I still need to get in there with compressed air.

I am going to set up my shop fan to blow what my compressor brings up.

My plastic razor cleaned up grime, but not on the mating surface.

There still seems to be a bit of residue there.

[freebeard]

Watch a Professor of Rock episode and use the discount code he offers for Zenni eyewear.

https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorofRock

[Xist]

I clicked on his 5 most popular videos and he linked Zenni 3 times and promoted it twice during his videos, but I did not see a coupon code.

I need to watch some of his videos later! They look interesting!

Thanks for mentioning him!

[freebeard]

"If you ever rewound cassettes with a pencil, you like [his] videos."

[freebeard]

Since this is the most current Xist thread I'll drop this here.

Temple Grandin on Visual Thinking and Animal Behavior

Maybe this will relate to your work in therapy?

My introduction to Internet included reading Temple Grandin's [self-posted] teenage diary.

[Xist]

I set up the frame for my portable garage so I can get the stuff out of the shed and the greenhouse.

Of course, Mom threw a tantrum.

I need my jack and stands to move Chorizo, but they are under this car, so I needed to find my razors, finish scraping the engine block, and reassemble the car enough to drop the jack and get it off the stands, so I needed to figure out where I left off:

Originally Posted by Xist

• They're marked with an up this one is not that i can see but looking at the configuration on the engine block there really is only one way for this to go on and i believe it to be just like this.
• Spray a little WD-40 around the tops of the pistons and the piston rings to help lubricate things on first startup.
• Reinstall the dowel pins in the front and drop the new head gasket over it.
• Thread the studs through the intake manifold and install the intake gasket.
• Ensure no lines or wires have gotten in the way of the cylinder head.
• Line up the studs and carefully lower the cylinder head back in place.reinstall the cylinder head bolts now.
• These are all nice and clean so i don't feel the need to clean them.release a drop of regular motor oil in each cylinder bolt hole, a little bit where the washer goes, and a little to the bolt threads.
• Torque the head bolts down to 14-pound feet according to the diagram.
• Tighten them down to 36-pound feet in order and then 49-pound feet in order.
• Notice how those middle ones got looser i always go back and redo it after for this very reason.
• Now to 36 and now for the final torque of 49 foot-pounds [music].
• Installation is reverse of removal, but the torque spec for the intake manifold is 17 ft-lbs, 23 ft-lbs on the exhaust manifold, and 7.2 ft-lbs on the valve cover--follow the diagram.
• I'm going to put it somewhere between 15 and 20 foot-pounds and that's just a guess on my part.
• When you reinstall the timing belt make sure that both the crank and cam pulleys are in time before you commit to that and that auto tensioner works.
• Carefully slide the axle into the transmission, tapping on the outside with a rubber mallet if it doesn’t go in all of the way.
• Turn your hub until the splines line up with the axle and wiggle the hub until a couple threads stick through; installation is reverse of removal.
• Dent the axle nut with a hammer and screwdriver.
• Tighten the caliper bolts to 25 ft-lbs lugnuts to 80 ft-lbs, and the axle nut to 134 ft-lbs.
• Ensure the radiator and oil pan are closed; fill the engine with oil and the radiator with coolant.
• If necessary, clean your battery terminals, consider applying multi-purpose grease to the terminals.
• Bleed the air out of the cooling system and drive it around for a while.
• You might see smoke coming off the engine for a little bit, but if it lasts past a day or 50-100 miles of driving then look into it further, but you definitely want to go around and check for any leaks or any issues after doing this amount of work to an engine.

I can totally find the dowel pins easily, right?

Right?!

[freebeard]

My XFi was vandalized last November, I'd been hot-wiring it since, since the ignition switch was borked.

My son gave me an entire steering column for Christmas. I failed to extract the two snap-off antitheft bolts (the extractor just spun in the hole).

Saturday I took it to a mechanic and handed them a $100 bill. Now it starts with a different key and the turn signal self-cancels.

[Xist]

How hard is it to rekey an ignition?

Do you have the nicest Metro in the neighborhood?

[freebeard]

The person had run a self-tapping screw into the keyway and snapped the head off.

I removed the switch housing and handed it to a mechanic who handed it of to someone else and left for Omaha. New-to-me column, switch and key.

There are two other same make, year model and color in town. So I painted the wheels red. I also detailed the B-pillar in black. Some other Metros have that, but not the XFi. Nothing like Cd, though.