Clone of Paul's Fix All

Cleaning up around the house isn't just for homeowners. Renters can take pride in their home too.
A few simple chores on a weekend or in spare time after work can yield significant results helping a house to feel more like home, even if it's a temporary home.
First talk to the landlord to see what, if anything, he or she will let you do.
Chances are they'll be more than happy to get free labor out of you, especially once you're established as a good worker.
Split costs with the landlord or manager wherever possible or work for free in exchange for materials if you can.
Other costs such as sprucing up the yard with annuals are probably best born by you as the renter. Perennial plants should be cleared with the owner or manager and costs shared appropriately.
Also, if the landlord has his or her own equipment, should it be needed, it's wise to ask for it.
A bag of grass seed and fertilizer can go a long way to livening up the yard just spread it by hand or spreader if available and keep it wet. Don't spread it before a heavy rain and check the forecasts.
Pressure washing front steps and walkways will rid concrete, bricks and mortar of stains caused from the winter's rains and runoff. Use high pressure and a wide, 40-60 degree tip and use caution not to send chunks flying off. Keep the tip moving and hold it six inches or so away and systematically work manageably-sized areas.
Again using that pressure washer, only this time with a 90 degree tip and lower pressure, clean the siding and windows. Start from the bottom up to prevent stains even though it seems counterintuitive. Again use caution not to blow through windows or rip paint off the house. Start at a comfortable distance about a foot or so and wet the surface. Then get more aggressive with it when you find the rhythm.
If nothing else a broom, rag and some cleanser can do wonders.
Use the broom to catch spider webs and dust windowsills. Glass cleaner and a rag will have those windows spotless easily. I prefer an aerosol can of foaming cleaner, but anything will work.
Use some degreaser and a hose to wash out window screens.
After these measures a house is more than just a building. It shows you take pride in your home. Plus you'll have some meditative time to yourself. It's good for the soul.

Posted by Paul at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cleaning filters

I was just talking to a fellow coworker today who was suggesting I clean my motorcycle's air cleaner more often than every four years or so.
I, being a minimalist, disagreed.
However, if you own a rechargeable, cleanable or reusable filter - or dirty paper one, here's what you need to know. Then you can decide if you want to deal with it or postpone it as I do.

First off, how do you know when it needs cleaning?
Check your manual or read the directions on your air cleaner if you still have it.
No? It's cool, intervals are usually 12,000 miles or so, depending on conditions.
Did you still have that same air cleaner during the summer of 2008? It's probably time, that smoky dusty air is real bad on filter.
Secondly, check you mileage every tank. Barring all other changes like tire size, recent shop work, etc, a continual drop in mileage is great indicator your filter may be clogged up.

Now for the actual labor.
Find your filter.It's under the hood. Pop it and look up front on either side of the engine bay. It's usually on the front corners near the back of your headlights unless you've got an old school rig with a carburetor or throttle body fuel injection (TBI.) In this case, it'll probably under that short cylindrical tin top in the middle of the engine bay.
If can't find it, tough luck, you can stop here or reply to me and I'll figure it out for you.
Most newer cars house the air filter in black plastic box with a hose or pipe leading to the throttle body, where your lead foot connects to when you press the go pedal.
It might open without tools. If not, it's usually a simple hand-tool procedure.
Remember righty tighty, left loosey.
Open the box, pull out the element, usually paper, but sometimes, cloth if it's reusable.
If it's paper inspect it for excessive dirt.
Triage.
What's excess? How should I know. Use your judgment. Check your mileage, and the price of a new one to see if you can milk it a while longer.
If you're cheap like me shake it out or beat it on the fence and slap it back in.
If you're so inclined to replace it, congratulations, you've got to put in back in anyways and drive to the parts store and buy a new one, now you can ask the guy or girl at the counter for their opinion of your filthy filter (cheap skate.) They might try to sell you on a high performance one that'll make you're car beat a Ferrari in a 0-60 contest. They might tell you it's cheaper in the long run. Do the math it might be worth it, but don't go for it unless the price is right.
I suggest sticking with the original style, unless you like tinkering. The money you might save will probably be chewed up in time spent cleaning it.
A filter isn't really going to make a dramatic effect on performance, regardless of what the kid at the counter says his compact does now with a performance brand.
Again, if you're as cheap as I am, you'll ask for the cheapest one, then ask for a deal on it.
Wash it.
So if you've got a reusable one, wash it, but wait until you know you're not going to have to drive it for a few hours because after you clean it you're going to oil it and let it dry, right?
Use the manufacturer's recommended cleaner and oil and read the instructions carefully. It took me six years to finally read that K&N actually okays laundry detergent on their filters, I'd always gone stingy on the K&N brand cleaner to save it (cheapo.)
Knock off the big chunks, or use a soft brush to rid it of the bigger messes then rinse it good with tap water
Now in the laundry room sink (when you're wife isn't looking) wash the heck out of that thing with the detergent of your choice or availability. Rinse and repeat.
Shake the excess water off and air dry.
DON'T blow compressed air through it.
Dry? Good now spray the oil on there like the company wants you too.
The instructions are probably more poorly written than these, but follow them.
Too little and you'll let dirt into the motor - not good.
Too much and you can foul up computer controls in you're car also not good.
But we're not building a grand piano so spray some oil on it and call it good.
Scared to over or under do it? Buy a paper filter and don't listen to the kid with a fart muffler and a cold-air-kit-powered compact at the parts store.

Posted by Paul at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spring has officially been here for a month now and many of us have started spring cleaning.
Here starts a session of how to cleaning processes for around the home, office and transportation.
Stay tuned...

Posted by Paul at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To further illustrate my previous point on how to straighten out serpentine roads, lets look at go-cart racing.
Go-cart racing is great fun, however expensive.
For $20 for 10 minutes, this is a sparing hobby, at least on a journalist salary.
Saturday I visited Heart Attack Racing at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds I clocked a personal best of 26.9 seconds around the track.
Being my first time on the course, and about a second and half behind the track record I consider myself lucky.
Racing against a good friend and our wives, whom we passed carefully, we slid around corners and pinned the throttle on the exit racing into the apex with shrieking tires and barking exhausts.
Joined by a stranger on our second heat, we welcomed him to the track as our wives, less enthused than us, sat the heat out.
I lapped the guy on the third to last lap after which he harpooned me on the entry to a hairpin ending the track's fastest section, probably around the 35 mph mark.
The stranger was black-flagged for dangerous contact.
After our all-too short time expired, the stranger accused myself, my good friend and the very friendly and courteous owner of having faster cars.
The owner told the man all the cars were the same.
Incredulous, the stranger insisted my car had to be faster because he couldn't catch me.
The owner told him again all the cars were 9-horse carts with the same set up. He said he could set lap records on any one of his carts. The difference was that the fastest drivers break before the turn, accelerate through it and take shorter lines.
Before racing, the owner sat us down showed us a map of the course, with the tightest lines explaining the slick, dusty sections against the walls that eat up time, more on that in a sec. Several times he stressed the fact that fastest times are churned when a driver breaks before the turn and accelerates through it, especially with a go-cart that has no front brakes and drives the rear tires with equal power, or with "posi-traction" as he put it.
Breaking mid-turn will cause the rear end to lose traction and cause a driver to spin and crash into the wall. Less dramatically, it causes a driver to get to the throttle later than his competitors.
When all the carts are so close in performance, the slightest advantage amounts to enough to win when stretched out across 10 minutes.
The sooner a driver can stab the throttle and leave it there when exiting a turn, the faster he'll get to the next one where the drag race begins again.
A certain amount of slippage is acceptable, and probably preferable to race drivers who learn to steer a car with the rear tires as much as with the front which the steering wheel is connected to.
Braking and throttle inputs in concert with correct steering input yields tighter turns and closer lines.
Taking a corner as close as possible to the apex, or center of the turn is the fastest line because it is also the shortest.
A little slip allows the motor to rev up without bogging down, but too much tire spin sucks time out of a lap.
So to wrap it up, staying on the throttle hard until the last possible second, braking before the turn and getting to the throttle the soonest without being afraid of a little sliding is the fastest way to get around the track.
Most motorcyclists know this routine from carving up canyons.
Another thing bikers know is that dust and debris collects on the sides of roads and on the centerline, where cars warm tires don't pick it up or send it off the road.
Knowing what keeps racecar drivers safe at crazy speeds can certainly keep everyday motorists safe at posted speed limits around town.
But remember your car is not a go-cart.

Posted by Paul at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Too many times I've seen avoidable accidents on the twisty turns in and around town.
Almost every time, police at the scene say speed is a factor in the crash.
Other times alcohol or other drugs, usually prescriptions, are involved.
Recently two accidents on Clark Road south of town had me thinking about what can be done to help prevent these things from happening and sending people to the hospital.
Not drinking and driving is an obvious measure.
Police routinely say the single best thing to avoid crashing is slowing down.
The next best action is usually said, again by police, to follow further behind other vehicles giving more time to stop if needed.
The two crashes on Clark Monday and Tuesday in nearly identical areas of the slick road, were both said to be caused by unsafe speed.
Police say they feel safe saying the causes were unsafe speed, because if they'd been traveling at a safe speed they'd not be in the accident in the first place.
After that, they usually say the driver hit their brakes while already in the turn causing the car to lose control.
Slowing down prior to the turn and letting the car's momentum carry through the turn is the safer way to negotiate a turn.
Trying to slow down a car mid-turn can upset the car's handling dynamics causing the car to spin.
New technologies brake individual wheels and judge when and how to apply the brakes for you using steering input, anti-lock brake and speed sensors. These traction control devices can also interrupt throttle input.
However, following what race car drivers and emergency vehicle operators do, braking before the turn and accelerating through it is probably better.
Also, obeying posted speed limits and taking heed to the yellow posted limits in the turns will help.

Posted by Paul at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In automotive school the first thing they teach you is you need gas in the tank to start an engine.
That's also the first thing I forgot.
Recently I spent a whole week diagnosing dead-end, phantom problems on my old Grand Prix only to find I was out of gas.
I was entirely embarrassed and wondered if I should bury this blunder so deep as to never see the light of day.
Instead I dragged my deflated confidence in the house demoralized and immediately told my wife.
The good news was that I found other minor problems that would've surfaced soon and also found the missing distributor mechanical advance springs I thought I lost - more on that later.
It all started with an oil change - yeah laugh it up.
After topping it off with oil, I pulled the hot wire to the MSD ignition box as I've done many times before to crank up the motor to build oil pressure before firing it up.
When I tried to fire it up, it backfired real bad, then wouldn't even pop.
I was convinced I blew the ignition module.
So my apologies to the MSD tech line for wasting their time. Also, I give my thanks to the incredibly knowledgeable staff there.
All I had to do was siphon a gallon of gas into the tank from my motorcycle to get it to fire.
Go figure.
I'm going back to basics.

Posted by Paul at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a minute since I last wrote, at least for this blog. It seems producing a paper, taking photos and shooting the occasional video have chewed up more time than expected and bled off resources from this endeavor.
Also, a major system change stifled my ability to post when did have time.
Besides a testing entry, it's been a year.
However, I'm back in action, at least for now.

Posted by Paul at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)