Calzone
Gear Whore #1
MFM,
I have also considered what you are saying.
The forensics suggest that it has only 61K miles on it. The engine needs a valve job because of use of unleaded gas eroded the valve seats. The rear main oil seal is leaking, and this likely oil soaked the clutch.
Disc brakes, new tires and I have a functional truck. Will spend about $1.5K on replacing the rotted out bed with an upgraded one made of oak.
Not a lot of money, practical, and basically a OEM truck that is 56 years old that has not been modded.
Because it is in barn find condition, keep it as a rat-rod. Only add cast iron headers, an exhaust, HEI, and an intake manifold and carb. Pretty much mild mods to add reliability and efficiently.
At my rate of usage this truck could be a daily driver, but it will get used as a second vehicle, and could stay in this form for decades. “Stage 2” crazy truck mode might never-ever happen and might be just a daydream. Who knows the future, but I like to think ahead.
The cast iron headers and exhaust could be recycled to a 250 that is high powered.
I do think owning and driving an old vintage truck is mighty cool by itself. Keeping it near OEM brags about being a barn find, and not for a lot of money it conveys mucho style and besides is practical.
Maybe there will be a day to go crazy, but pretty much I speculate that would be way-way in the future.
Understand I have a stage one plan, and then a plan “B.”
If I am right about the history that the truck was ordered as a “camper” and was used for hunting, fishing, or camping it would explain the factory ordered auxiliary helper springs, the California Highway mirrors, the HD clutch, the step rear bumper, and the lack of the Panoramic rear window (has a very retro small rear window).
I believe the truck has only 61K on the original motor and at my rate of driving/cruising it could take decades to hit 100K on the odometer. No rebuild is required except the head. Know that the C-10 was last registered and on the road in 2007 (New Jersey). Pretty much it sat for 15 years off road.
How cool is that?
Cal “The Gas-Guzzler.”
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Near record high temperatures expected today for the NYC Marathon. Also late afternoon rain expected so it will be also humid.
Evil conditions for this event.
The amount of leaves on the trees suggest an extended fall. My Japanese Red Maple that is about 100 years old made no poly noses this year. Some really odd things are happening.
Monday our mini-split system will be up and running after 11 months of waiting for a compressor delivery. Could of used the AC during the heat waves, but now let’s see how long I can use the mini-split to save money on heating until it gets seriously cold.
My HVAC guy says using the mini split year round makes them last the longest. Mechanically they are robust, and generally it is the electronics that crap out. I can see using my oil burner as a booster to add comfort to the first floor where we will reside during the day. The heat rise is likely enough for the upstairs warmth.
So I have to find a cost effective way of utilizing two separate heating systems in a balanced and efficient manner. Anyways a cool experiment.
Cal
Evil conditions for this event.
The amount of leaves on the trees suggest an extended fall. My Japanese Red Maple that is about 100 years old made no poly noses this year. Some really odd things are happening.
Monday our mini-split system will be up and running after 11 months of waiting for a compressor delivery. Could of used the AC during the heat waves, but now let’s see how long I can use the mini-split to save money on heating until it gets seriously cold.
My HVAC guy says using the mini split year round makes them last the longest. Mechanically they are robust, and generally it is the electronics that crap out. I can see using my oil burner as a booster to add comfort to the first floor where we will reside during the day. The heat rise is likely enough for the upstairs warmth.
So I have to find a cost effective way of utilizing two separate heating systems in a balanced and efficient manner. Anyways a cool experiment.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
MFM,
The 250 makes 165 HP stock. I would expect HEI, headers and a intake/carb to approach 200 HP. Pretty much enough.
With keeping the three on a tree tranny basically the truck is a cruiser…
Cal
The 250 makes 165 HP stock. I would expect HEI, headers and a intake/carb to approach 200 HP. Pretty much enough.
With keeping the three on a tree tranny basically the truck is a cruiser…
Cal
ptpdprinter
Veteran
So I have been giving your vehicle storage issue considerable thought. When you bought your baby Victorian with its two car garage, you didn't own any vehicles. Now you have a car and a truck. There goes the space in your garage to engage in your other pursuits. You previously mentioned the possibility of expanding your two car garage into a three car garage to gain extra space, but your last post suggested to me an alternate solution.
Consider going out in the country and finding an old barn, disassembling it, hauling it back to your place, and reassembling it in your back yard (or back back yard). Then you could store your old barn find truck in an old barn. How cool would that be? That would free up one of your existing garage bays for conversion into a proper office for Maggie with heating and air conditioning rather than relegating her to a shed. You could also line one wall of her new office with cedar closets for clothes storage which would free up the second bedroom back at the manor house. You could then convert the second bedroom into a child's playroom for when you are called on to perform daycare services, or a guest room, or a library. If you had enough wood left over from putting in the cedar closets, you could even build a sauna.
Of course, the barn would have all the room you need for a darkroom, photography studio, digital printing area, guitar studio, bicycle repair shop, and antique truck restoration and hotrodding center, and still leave room for new interests to come. To pay for it you could lease out the barn roof for advertising. Around here signs for See Rock City on barn roofs are popular. For New York, is Saratoga Springs still a thing? Of course, there may be zoning and property tax issues you would have to work through, but where there's a will, there's a way. Like I always say, go big or go home. It's just something to think about.
Consider going out in the country and finding an old barn, disassembling it, hauling it back to your place, and reassembling it in your back yard (or back back yard). Then you could store your old barn find truck in an old barn. How cool would that be? That would free up one of your existing garage bays for conversion into a proper office for Maggie with heating and air conditioning rather than relegating her to a shed. You could also line one wall of her new office with cedar closets for clothes storage which would free up the second bedroom back at the manor house. You could then convert the second bedroom into a child's playroom for when you are called on to perform daycare services, or a guest room, or a library. If you had enough wood left over from putting in the cedar closets, you could even build a sauna.
Of course, the barn would have all the room you need for a darkroom, photography studio, digital printing area, guitar studio, bicycle repair shop, and antique truck restoration and hotrodding center, and still leave room for new interests to come. To pay for it you could lease out the barn roof for advertising. Around here signs for See Rock City on barn roofs are popular. For New York, is Saratoga Springs still a thing? Of course, there may be zoning and property tax issues you would have to work through, but where there's a will, there's a way. Like I always say, go big or go home. It's just something to think about.
Contarama
Well-known
I can see it now...Cals Barn...where we mess with vintage trucks, bicycles, and guitars. Sounds like the ultimate man cave to me.
ptpdprinter
Veteran
I completely forgot about a performance art venue. Duh.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
The back-backyard is not that big, only 40x100. In fact it is a second building lot that came with the house. Realize that Peekskill is a city and is only 4 square miles. My 40x100 translates into a big backyard for Peekskill. Then there is the view and privacy…
I think I have to be practical. Originally my thoughts were along MFM’s for the C10. It still would be a mighty cool truck, then Snarky Joe comes along with a fantastic idea an E-10, But then my friend Austin lets me know that electric cars only reduce pollution and are green on the back end, and that at best the numbers are funny numbers that are kinda very forward thinking and way optimistic.
So I kinda learned a lot, and also learned a lot from my friends because of their help.
So in the end the exercise and the daydreaming was only fun and not reality. My original plan of kinda keeping the C10 a rat-rod that is only a little resto-mod or tweaked not only is practical but kinda rare. Not many original OEM trucks out there. Still would be a mighty cool truck.
In a ways a bit like my house, no open architecture like on HGTV, just an old house that thankfully has not been opened up or modded that can be kept original. BTW old houses enjoy low taxes.
I want to keep the back-backyard with lawns and open with the view. Today we had a flurry of birds in our garden because we still have flowers. It really was beautiful to see them enjoying our garden. Open space now is really important to me.
Since I printed big in a 650 square foot luxury Madhattan apartment in the bedroom that became submarine like with the clutter of a fashion blogger’s clothes, shoes, and bags, I’m sure I’ll figure out a way to do something with the space I have.
BTW there is an expression, “No one ever got rich by paying taxes.” I’m being very careful not to create a liability. A shed if under a certain size is not taxed as long as it is not on a concrete slab. Enlarging the garage will increase my taxes. I have to deal with constraints.
Anyways who knows, there may be a time when an E-10 is cost feasible and practical. Also at some point the original motor will need replacement so a new crazy motor might happen.
I’m already living the dream. I love my old house and my old truck. The Audi A4 is a nice car, but it could be replaced. The C-10 unlikely.
I only own 4 bikes, and they don’t take up much space.
In my dinning room is a Victorian antique china closet that would be a great showcase for my cameras with glass doors, mirrored rear wall and 4 shelves. We intend on connecting the tower room to the front bedroom so basically what my friend John calls “The Camera Museum” will actually be on display. “Don’t tell Maggie,” but I could move the floor standing printer I call the “Jersey Barrier” upstairs into what I call the “baby-room” the smallest bedroom. The baby-room is destined to become a wardrobe closet, so basically it would be like when we lived in Madhattan again.
Our house is a craftsman style, so “Maggie” wants me to do some built ins, and she knows I am eying that china closet. Darkroom in the basement, in fact I have the entire basement, but it has low ceilings. Oh-well…
Anyways there is “Woman-Factor” that is the real constraint. I can see her wanting the tower room as her dressing room and me getting the baby room, although I’m sure to get some of her clothes and shoes in my space.
Things will evolve over time I figure, and I’m enjoying the process. Tomorrow the Mini-split becomes operational after an 11 month wait. Then Tuesday a contractor will come by to look into hanging a door and installing side lights that could be delivered any week now that we custom ordered at the end of June.
Our little Baby-Victorian is looking mighty cute.
Cal
Out to Lunch
Ventor
Putin and all, what you really need is a nuclear blast bunker underneath the baby Victorian. You know, just in case, thinking ahead. With minimal effort, you'd be able to extend it for the gas-guzzling truck and the Audi. How crazy is that?!
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
California does not get any water from Canada. The Colorado river watershed extends into Wyoming, but that's as far north as it gets. The Columbia watershed begins in Canada but most of it comes from Montana and Utah.
The southwest is experiencing a condition of such drought that they are going to shut down the major hydroelectric power plants along the Colorado because they won't have enough water to operate the turbines. Next year is the estimated time when this will happen. Three million people will begin to not have electricity after just one plant stops.
As for what we demand of electricity right now and what is forecast by manufacturers and governments, it's simply not sustainable. We will rapidly hit a point where the ability to move around creates even greater gap between poverty and wealth. Those who can afford it will be able to unburden their psyche of direct usage of hydrocarbons and allow people living elsewhere to deal with that pollution. Those who can't afford it will ride a bike, or just be relegated to some sort of local labor force doing who knows what, probably perishing though. I live in a city where most houses can't run a hair dryer and a microwave at the same time. There is no way this city (the 6th largest in the US) can handle it now, nor within 10 years. We have regular large-scale outages due to overloading (summer AC use) and physical accident related incidents (downed tree branches or the garden-variety impaired driver/car chased by the police who runs into a pole with a transformer on it.) Public transit needs to be incentivized, along with use of bicycles. People in the cities and the burbs don't need POVs. I have two of them and I don't need either. The average commute in US cities is less than six miles, which is an easy half an hour on a bicycle. My commute from my house to my job is 11.3 miles depending upon the route I take. I'll be getting on my bicycle in a few minutes to make that commute.
The US simply lives beyond its means in every way. It has done so for too long and it's now starting to feel it.
Phil Forrest
The southwest is experiencing a condition of such drought that they are going to shut down the major hydroelectric power plants along the Colorado because they won't have enough water to operate the turbines. Next year is the estimated time when this will happen. Three million people will begin to not have electricity after just one plant stops.
As for what we demand of electricity right now and what is forecast by manufacturers and governments, it's simply not sustainable. We will rapidly hit a point where the ability to move around creates even greater gap between poverty and wealth. Those who can afford it will be able to unburden their psyche of direct usage of hydrocarbons and allow people living elsewhere to deal with that pollution. Those who can't afford it will ride a bike, or just be relegated to some sort of local labor force doing who knows what, probably perishing though. I live in a city where most houses can't run a hair dryer and a microwave at the same time. There is no way this city (the 6th largest in the US) can handle it now, nor within 10 years. We have regular large-scale outages due to overloading (summer AC use) and physical accident related incidents (downed tree branches or the garden-variety impaired driver/car chased by the police who runs into a pole with a transformer on it.) Public transit needs to be incentivized, along with use of bicycles. People in the cities and the burbs don't need POVs. I have two of them and I don't need either. The average commute in US cities is less than six miles, which is an easy half an hour on a bicycle. My commute from my house to my job is 11.3 miles depending upon the route I take. I'll be getting on my bicycle in a few minutes to make that commute.
The US simply lives beyond its means in every way. It has done so for too long and it's now starting to feel it.
Phil Forrest
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Phil,
You are correct: California gets no water from Canada. I had gotten bad information from a Canadian from Vancouver.
Canada has water as an abundant resource, and has a lot of what they call “Water Wealth.”
Things get political really fast and there is even talk of war.
There is a lot going on here, and there is a “Boundry Waters Treaty of 1909.”
I certainly agree with you that we are in and have entered “The Age of Shortages.”
Have you read about how the Chicago River reverses flow and the problem with sewage?
My small house has a 200 amp service and even my garage has 100 amp service, and I am finding that in a ways I’m building a bunker of sorts.
Drought conditions were not so far away just north and west of West Point.
Took 11 months to get a two zone mini-split compressor, and it will finally get installed today.
My situation is that I’m advantaged, but know that I am hyper aware of the mess that surrounds us.
Already Con Ed sent out warning notices of high prices.
Also know that the timeline is fast where it will get really bad: within a decade.
I’m bunkering down…
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
My HVAC guy is here. Happy-happy.
Con Ed says Westchester residents should expect 27% higher electric bills and 32% higher gas heating bills.
All kinds of payment programs and suggested use of off peak times to attempt to lower costs.
This is New York and not California.
Demand outstrips supply, shortages, and higher prices.
Cal
Con Ed says Westchester residents should expect 27% higher electric bills and 32% higher gas heating bills.
All kinds of payment programs and suggested use of off peak times to attempt to lower costs.
This is New York and not California.
Demand outstrips supply, shortages, and higher prices.
Cal
ptpdprinter
Veteran
We all sort of choose the level of property taxes we can live with. For example, you could have bought a smaller and less expensive baby Victorian, and reduced your property tax burden. Of course, you would have needed a lot more sheds in the backyard. You sort of have to balance "No one ever got rich by paying taxes." with "No one ever got rich by buying a lot of sheds." Most everything in life is a balancing act.
Austintatious
Well-known
Calzone,
How about something completely different that you and your readers may find interesting. On Election Day no less !
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...A13n7Vl?cvid=504123c2b7034109a6fd58bf90e435fa
How about something completely different that you and your readers may find interesting. On Election Day no less !
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...A13n7Vl?cvid=504123c2b7034109a6fd58bf90e435fa
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Austin,
Thanks for sharing this.
I was in the dark and uninformed of this event.
I’ll mention it to “Maggie.”
Our new mini split is awesome.
As usual I get inspired by some of my friends and they are often helpful. Jack H-Vac loves my old house, and before he did H-Vac full time he was a house builder. He too loves that the house has not been destroyed by reno’s and mods and pretty much is as was in 1912. He also admired our new kitchen and its many details.
I showed him our upstairs and the attic because we want to do a mini-split for the second floor. This one would have a single air handler that would reside in the attic and duct the heating and cooling to the rooms. Jack also taught me some stuff about construction and H-Vac.
When he saw our attic he became illuminated and said it would be a really great room. He suggested adding stairs as access through the “baby-room” but that is not so easy because of roofline. I mentioned this and then he suggested a spiral staircase.
The attic is large enough to be a pretty good sound room and also has plumbing right below in the bathroom so a possible darkroom that would be clean and have a high cathedral ceiling has me thinking. Adding a mini-split would likely limit insulation to R30 though, but heat and AC would be rather grand. As far as taxes go it is still an attic Devil Christian says and its use would be “storage” and not living space, so with some blatant lying pretty much I can get my way.
On the fence with having a sink in the attic, but pretty much a pretty comfortable and large studio space. There are many different roof lines, and Jack said that it would be cost prohibited to build today. The biggest section though has a cathedral ceiling and Jack says to use very short knee walls of perhaps 2 feet to keep the space big.
The unit we had installed was a 2 ton 2 zone, and the upstairs would likely be a 3 ton for the heat load.
Also Jack liked my premium attic stairs that had hydraulic instead of spring loading as well as the wider width.
Anyways makes more sense to keep the garage a garage.
Everyone should know that I might be the only home owner that uses their garage to park their cars in their garage in Peekskill.
Cal
Saganich
Established
"...those who can't afford it will ride a bike, or just be relegated to some sort of local labor force... "
you mean forced local labor....or prison.
you mean forced local labor....or prison.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Chris,
I don’t want to come across as entitled, I knew poverty and it is a form of constant punishment.
I don’t disagree with you. It is difficult, very difficult to escape poverty and disadvantage. Not everyone can do it.
If you believe in democracy you encourage a level playing field, but that is not the real world where some have so many advantages and others few chances…
Also I walked, biked and took a bus in the suburbs because I could not afford a car. This lifestyle I know and knew early in life.
When “Maggie” gave a TED Talk I was in the audience for a presentation given by the President of SRAM a bike component builder. They provided bikes to people in undeveloped countries. It was a game changer because people saved time, life was easier, and things happened like girls could go to school. Medical care spread. It created businesses.
Anyways, it emphasized how transportation to us is an entitlement that we kinda take for granted.
In a free society there should not be a divide of advantaged and disadvantage and so much disparity. We face a moral dilemma…
I talk about retirement here, meanwhile it is suggested that 2/3rds of Americans are not financially secure enough to retire. Sadly many can’t save, and many live beyond their means, others are just irresponsible.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
I kinda give up on posting on this site after three tries. Mucho wonky and a waste of time.
Posts will be short before I get cut.
I love my mini-split. Quiet and adds comfort. Doing a field trial of sorts and figuring out the best way to utilize it.
Had a new GC stop by to get other projects started. Some fresh ideas.
Cal
Posts will be short before I get cut.
I love my mini-split. Quiet and adds comfort. Doing a field trial of sorts and figuring out the best way to utilize it.
Had a new GC stop by to get other projects started. Some fresh ideas.
Cal
ptpdprinter
Veteran
Unless it is just a sentence or two, I write my posts in WordPad and then copy them over so I don't lose them if the RFF connection times out, which its has been doing more and more over the past 6-8 months. I don't think the Head Bartender wants to spend any more time and money on the forum and is just going to let it die.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
The Mitsubishi Mini Split is a 2 ton unit, two zone, or 24,000 BTU, and it does well on the first floor. Temperatures are stable and gentle. Somehow the smoothness equals a comfort of sorts.
The upstairs has a temperature gradient that is consistently cooler most of the time until perhaps around 2:00 PM when solar gain tips the upstairs into being about 2 degrees warmer.
A certain amount of adjustment happens during the day to compensate for outside temperatures, but currently I’m heating the entire house with the Mini Splits. The oil furnace has the thermostat turned down to 60, but the furnace still provides tankless hot water. The cool thing here is that not using the heat feature of the furnace does not create a maintenance issue.
The temperatures have gone into the low thirties at night, and sometime in the night between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM I turn up the Mini Splits.
The GC yesterday mentioned how the refrigerant is highly reactive and corrosive. This is why it is best to keep the compressor running. Also I learned that the compressor, the part that is outside mounted off a wall, is mucho durable, and generally it is the “air-handler” part that is the interior that craps out. Almost always it is the electronics that give up. Mechanically they are durable.
The effect of heat rising works to an extent, but then it does not work, or I have not figured out how to yet.
Seems like the next step is get another heat pump (dual zone mini split) and use it to heat the two bedrooms. Because of the additional heat load Jack H-Vac suggests a 3 ton or 36,000 BTU unit, but this is likely overkill as if we wanted to heat or cool the entire second floor and attic.
Our house is considered a 4 bedroom, but really it is a 2-bedroom with an office space (tower room), and a walk-in closet (baby-room with two windows).
Moral of the story is another mini split system for the second floor. Kinda modular.
Cal
The upstairs has a temperature gradient that is consistently cooler most of the time until perhaps around 2:00 PM when solar gain tips the upstairs into being about 2 degrees warmer.
A certain amount of adjustment happens during the day to compensate for outside temperatures, but currently I’m heating the entire house with the Mini Splits. The oil furnace has the thermostat turned down to 60, but the furnace still provides tankless hot water. The cool thing here is that not using the heat feature of the furnace does not create a maintenance issue.
The temperatures have gone into the low thirties at night, and sometime in the night between 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM I turn up the Mini Splits.
The GC yesterday mentioned how the refrigerant is highly reactive and corrosive. This is why it is best to keep the compressor running. Also I learned that the compressor, the part that is outside mounted off a wall, is mucho durable, and generally it is the “air-handler” part that is the interior that craps out. Almost always it is the electronics that give up. Mechanically they are durable.
The effect of heat rising works to an extent, but then it does not work, or I have not figured out how to yet.
Seems like the next step is get another heat pump (dual zone mini split) and use it to heat the two bedrooms. Because of the additional heat load Jack H-Vac suggests a 3 ton or 36,000 BTU unit, but this is likely overkill as if we wanted to heat or cool the entire second floor and attic.
Our house is considered a 4 bedroom, but really it is a 2-bedroom with an office space (tower room), and a walk-in closet (baby-room with two windows).
Moral of the story is another mini split system for the second floor. Kinda modular.
Cal
Nokton48
Veteran
Morning Cal,
Sounds like good one and done upgrades. I'm thinking about some of those too. Speaking of upgrades, latest project. You can handhold this and carry it around on your bikes. Your Leicas could be made to fit. I bought this camera from Adorama for seventy bucks. They said it's a basket case but it's EX+++ Lensboard is worth 70 bucks.
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr
Initial test of Makiflex Digital Back! Auto Makiflex [NODE="1"]Home[/NODE] 150mm f5.6 chrome Schneider Symmar Auto Iris Plaubel Makiflex lens mount. Key Day F11 Easily hand holdable, great way to test all my lenses. Much fun ahead. If I want I can switch to film in 30 seconds, although the camera needs totally reset in that case. But so versatile.
Sounds like good one and done upgrades. I'm thinking about some of those too. Speaking of upgrades, latest project. You can handhold this and carry it around on your bikes. Your Leicas could be made to fit. I bought this camera from Adorama for seventy bucks. They said it's a basket case but it's EX+++ Lensboard is worth 70 bucks.
SONY DSC by Nokton48, on FlickrSONY DSC by Nokton48, on FlickrSONY DSC by Nokton48, on FlickrInitial test of Makiflex Digital Back! Auto Makiflex [NODE="1"]Home[/NODE] 150mm f5.6 chrome Schneider Symmar Auto Iris Plaubel Makiflex lens mount. Key Day F11 Easily hand holdable, great way to test all my lenses. Much fun ahead. If I want I can switch to film in 30 seconds, although the camera needs totally reset in that case. But so versatile.