Madness Shop Manual

The new design for the website is NEARLY finished!  It should be finished by the end of next week.

I hate to keep everyone waiting, but I promise it’ll be worth it.  In the meantime, take a look at this sweet thing!

And yes, there’s a carbon fiber car next to the crx, too.

Holy carbon fiber, Batman!

I’ve relocated to the new house in San Leandro, and finally got the 240z in my garage.  I’ve gutted it, removed the gas tank, rear light panel, and am in the process of removing the engine and wiring to replace both.  I’m trying to decide what brake lights to end up using, or just fabricate a new light panel for the Z, but I’ve been strongly considering the Mach 1 Mustang style tail lights, similar to those pictured.

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Happy Independence Day!  Calicab wrote this great howto on fabricating a gauge cluster in a DIN slot.  Enjoy!

(edited by Mad Scientist)

I did this on a 1991 CRX but this writeup applies to any vehicle with a standard DIN slot.
these are cyberdyne volts and air/fuel ratio gauges

Shopping List:

a large piece of plexiglass( you will make mistakes)
a scoring tool
tape measure
sharpie marker
flat black paint
gauges
and drill and hole saw

this is plexi

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I’ve created a new category of article: the Monthly Specials. Starting in August, I’ll be spending a week of each month on a particular topic and covering a different aspect of it each day of the week (with Wednesday off for errands). The first week of each month will get special treatment. If there are any questions or suggestions about Monthly Specials, feel free to email me.

I’ve been busy with a whole slew of things this month, but my computer’s keyboard is getting pretty dusty. These are just my excuses for not updating the page this month, but I feel the need to let everyone know what’s been going on.  Many of you aren’t interested in this particular post, so feel free to just cruise on past and skip it.  Good articles are coming up soon.

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Romance: A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful.

(according to Answers)

It’s hard to deny that hand wrenches possess a romantic quality. As convenient as fancy ratchet wrench sets and air wrenches are, old hand tools keep die-hard car lovers coming back to them time and time again.

A hand wrench is like a samurai katana: there is a bond between the two, and each gives the other definition and meaning. There is a personal level of interaction with whatever machine being worked on when using hand tools. Instead of just getting the job done and having a working product at the end, you are investing time and loving care in what you do. You’re forced to take your time and think through each movement, every turn, every bolt that is torqued down. The result is a sentimental bond between mechanic and machine.

Also, hand tools are the most universal of all tools. They are the most likely tool to fit into any given nook or cranny, and the least likely to break (assuming decent quality manufacturing). If one should break, most sets come with a lifetime warranty, as well. Hand tools should be the foundation of any set of tools, regardless of how large or minimalistic that tool set is. If you don’t have a set already, find a full Metric and SAE set with an outstanding warranty and establish an organization system right away. That way if one of your tools goes missing you can start searching for it immediately and have some idea as to who had it last or where you might have left it. Fishing around your garage garbage can for a tool that was lost ’some time in the past 8 months’ is no fun at all. Trust me on that one.

Photo courtesy of flattop341 under the Creative Commons 2.0 license.