NYC Journal

Calzone said:
David,

Bone density should be considered as you age, even in men.

Vitamin D is a good idea.

Also strength training helps maintain bones.

I have a female primary care physician who does these blood tests that monitor vitamin levels in my blood. With a 1000 IU of vitamin D daily I was still in the low range of normal, and know that I eat a lot of dairy products also.

Now I take a multivitamin on top of the Vitamin D that effectively doubles the dose.

I was surprised that I measured low-normal when not only I added a supplement but also with all the dairy I eat.

At my 40th year reunion I saw all these guys that were once much taller than me, are now kinda my height or shorter. These were rather big Irish and Italian friends, but they all shrank in stature. I wondered why and did some research, and it seems alcohol and binge drinking inhibits intake of vitamin D.

Pretty much the alcohol abuse I saw that my friends never grew out of speed up the aging process.

Know that I am one of those Asians who can’t break down alcohol because of lack of an M-zine, so I don’t drink. A girl asked me if I was in the right reunion because I looked much younger than all my peers.

I did not shrink, but my friends sped up the aging process.

My gal “Maggie” has the same PCP (Primary Care Physician) and she was told to take vitamin D every day because as we age we do not metabolize it as efficiently as we age.

Cal
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thanks for the reminder...I was taking Vitamin D for a while and I just sort of stopped when I ran out once. Sounds like I should add it back to my regimen. And I agree, even a moderate amount of strength training really helps.
 
The deer are certainly a problem at night on poorly-lit roads. In other news: spring has sprung. This week my security cameras caught a mother bear and three cubs playing in any back yard in Ulster County. Maybe I'll find out how strong my trash shed really is.
 
Two monster sized dumpsters are now parked in the dead end by my neighbor’s house.

Before Terry moved out he told me they were both hoarders and that he was going to leave a lot of stuff behind. The house might be only a thousand square feet so it still might be relatively full.

Dumpsters that are parked on the street in this city require a permit, but I won’t be dropping a dime. When I had demo work my dumpster was parked in my driveway, but it was half the size of theses full sized monsters.

What comes out of the house is good for entertainment value. 26 years of hoarding. Both Karen and Terry were hoarders. Let’s see how this plays out…

Today I blew up a kid’s pool for the grandson using my lungs. The pool is in the shape of a shark’s jaws so that in effect there is a canopy to shield the kid from the sun. I call him “Sharkey” because he is an aggressive eater, and now he has a pool That in effect a shark tank.

This kid is mighty white with fair skin and strawberry blond hair with blue eyes. I also call him “Red” and “Strawberry.”

Cal
 
Was fun brushing up on my log hopping skills. My timing and technic were rusty, but came right back. Had to scale things back to a 7 inch diameter log 4 feet long. Although heavy the log can roll underneath you if technic and timing are not good.

Then I graduated to a 10 inch log four feet long, and to make things harder I slowed down to a crawl my approach so my moves were more forceful to lift the wheels. Using fast twitch muscles worked up a sweat.

Next will be double log jumps where I can close the space between the logs to make things harder.

All this is in my dead end.

Cal
 
My 1980 Checker Limo had a wheelbase of 129 inches and was built upon a GM truck X-frame.

The 267 cubic inch V-8 in the Checker was only 120 HP but was a low RPM engine designed and built for torque. It pulled like a MoFo. The tranny was a Turbo 400 3-speed automatic.

I figure the I-6 292 cubic inch engine will be built out as a torque monster for pulling. Three on a tree will actually be fun, especially because in 1966 the tranny had a syncro’ed first gear.

The wheelbase of the longbed Fleetside is 127 inches just shy of the Limo’s wheelbase length. Close enough.

The 1966 specs say the stock height should be 71.3 inches, but in fact it presently measures only 68.5 inches. Pretty much the truck lays 2.8 inches lower with 255/60/15’s (26.9”) on the front and 215/75/15 (27.7”) on the rear (reversed). Pretty much the bigger tires on the rear add almost 3/4’ers of an inch to the rear’s height.

If I go with a 215/70R15 on the front (26.9”) and a 255/60R15 (27”) I will have an additional almost 3/4 of an inch drop on the rear. I now figure most of the say is in the rear. If the set of spare springs are for a 2 inch drop pretty much this is all I would need. 15 inch wheels are old school and retro and the 215/70R15 and 255/60R15 are BFG T/A radial sizes.

Not cheating out, but pretty much saving money, and avoiding wheel alignment problems like bump steer and not having enough camber that would require shortened upper control arms.

The truck would sit I figure an inch or two taller than my old Checker Limo, but that’s O.K. Because it is a truck.

Cal

Cal
 
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Seems like a formula: How can you own a Victorian style house and not have an elaborate garden?

A clean up crew came to fill the two dumpsters. About a dozen people are working to empty the abandoned house. The house inside must be a moldy mess because there is a smell now in the dead end from the dumpsters. The two dumpsters are almost filled already. I was told by this woman that the dumpsters will be gone Monday.

Let’s see.

One of the workers, a woman complimented me on our garden. Our house was unwanted and unloved even though it was a housing shortage, but now it is so cute.

The only treasure I saw worth having was a cast iron bed frame that was of the Art Deco era. One of the workers is taking it home.

Here’s another formula: A two car garage promotes having two vehicles, and because I’m now a self proclaimed hill-billy of course one of those vehicles has to be a truck.

Kinda interesting how I’m trying to replicate my Checker Limo in the Chevy C-10.

In the morning I grabbed my chainsaw and garden wagon to salvage a dead tree that was knocked down already. Was not too big, but free clean fill is good for me. I also recovered about a cubic yard of mulch from my neighbor’s property.

In a Chinese tradition I am single handedly building a “Great Cliff” in my back-backyard. Somehow I have terraced a hillside in not too long a time. Like the Great Wall it is impressive.

Yesterday’s log jumping and fast twitch workout I can feel today. A somewhat intense workout for muscles that have gone unused. There are two muscle types: one for speed and strength; and the other for stamina. The trials practice are a bit violent and kinda like jumping.

Cal
 
Been busy daydreaming and doing research on truck suspensions: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Then I stumbled into a thread that was started by this guy Rob who started building stuff for trucks. His company is called “No Limit.”

I would later learn his story, and the idea of his business of building chassis, suspensions, and brakes started when he was driving a 1952 Ford pickup truck in California. He was late for a chemistry exam and tried to make a light by speeding up, had to stop anyway, and soon learned that he was doing 70 MPH and had no brakes.

The emergency brake was not hooked up, no cable, so he down shifted into 3rd and then a universal joint failed and the driveshaft was flailing around, then he went off-road to not endanger the public. That is when he thought of building performance brakes and suspensions.

He was an electronic engineer in a defense company for a while, as a kid he raced circle track on a motorcycle, and eventually got back into trucks.

What makes Rob very interesting is he uses a 1955 Ford pickup to do auto cross racing and has become a Champion where he beats 1968 and 1969 Camaro’s using a pickup truck that is really dialed in. Pretty much has beaten a former Auto Cross Champion who raced a first generation Camaro.

The thread I stumbled into is like a tutorial on racing suspension. Pretty much frame building and design, and advice from someone who is very generous in teaching.

Got about half way through a 53 page thread, but now I have to find it again.

Another feature on the No Limit website is a JT Truck which is where they buy a 1972 C-10 for $2K and build it out for under $10K into something kinda nice and hot using a lot of sweat equity. This is more along the line of what I want to do.

Cal
 
C,

For the interior just a restoration. I learned from Danny the previous owner that the Hot Rod Hotel near me has a restoration shop. I would update the instrument panel, and of course analog gauges. Danny bought a 67 Chevele with a big block and 4 speed that is not an SS.

The No Limit Rear Trailing Arm Suspension can be bundled with their Wide Ride Independent Front Suspension. With Wilwood disc brakes (6 piston front, 4 piston rear) the setup approaches $10K.

This suspension is adjustable height that is a coil over shock system. More money than what I originally wanted to spend, but it still leaves the option of going E-10 with a Chevy electric crate motor, or my 292 I-6.

The adjustability allows me to go either way with the engine/motor. I like that this setup is engineered fully, it approaches a truck that could be utilized for Auto Cross for fun, but is not costly like a custom racing frame.

Cars are so costly today that building one is almost cost feasible over buying a new one.

This got expensive rather fast. Good thing the body is good to go except for the need for a new bed. For an E-10 the batteries go in and mount the the bed. My gas tank is already relocated under the bed and I would move the battery there also.

The lowering also has another price: the load capacity will go from 1,000 pounds (half ton) to only 500 pounds. I figure when I fill the Audi A4 with bags of mulch, topsoil, or manure that it can be about 500 pounds.

So the idea here is build me a new vehicle and recycle an old vehicle. This will be a pretty big project. “Don’t tell Maggie.”

Cal
 
Phil,

That’s kinda funny. My C-10 will likely only carry 60 more pounds, and it is a truck.

When I met a Cargo Bike Champion at the Tour De Bronx, he was a tall lean black man from the Car-RIB-B-N. Just imagine a guy with my narrow shoulders but over 6’ 2”. Very lean yet muscular.

The Championship involved delivering payloads in the city of Philly. One delivery was 300 pounds. Even small hills I imagine are a killer. I was envious of this guy’s level of strength and fitness.

Cal
 
Living a dream, and “crazy is good.”

The coil over suspension allows so much flexibility that I could just install a rebuilt 292 I-6 as a stepping stone to perhaps even a LS conversion if more power from a V-8 is wanted, but I likely would have to upgrade the tranny. The 3-on-a-tree is only good for 300 HP and 350 foot pounds.

Then again I could just go with a SBC. My old Jeep had the ZZ3 crate motor: 350 HP; 400 Foot Pounds; with a car. This would require a beefy tranny.

Or I could spend money on a new head for the 292, intake, exhaust, and a cam to get another 70 HP over the stock 170 HP. 3-on-a-tree would stay.

The E-10 would lighten the truck by a few hundred pounds, but I prefer to stay away from electronics that would require a CPU like on an electric motor or LS conversion.

It is just nice to know that if I spend a lot of money on the chassis by going high end on the suspension that I would have mucho flexibility in the future to do lots of stuff and not be boxed into a motor/engine.

Cal
 
Dead links.

First one was of a 1955 silver Ford 100 doing an Auto Cross lap.

Second video was a short interview of Rob the owner of No Limit with his 1969 race C-10. Around it is some Mylar foil panel insulation that you would use to insulate perhaps a garage door. He explains that the idea is to retain heat to keep the oil, engine and gears hot to add longevity and to prevent breakage.

Seems that in Auto Cross No Limit trucks are always in the top 5. In fact one year Rob actually won against vintage muscle cars (first gen Camaro’s) driving a truck.

Country Cal
 
My friend Craig, the tree surgeon, called this morning. He dropped by to prune my white pines, and teach me how to maintain them, no charge.

Craig has a 1976 Chevy Silverado that was his dad’s. It features a towing package and is either 3/4 or one ton. Chevy 350 with a three speed plus granny gear, likely a SM465.

Craig also has a Yamaha 750 bike that he rode cross country. He left it with a college friend, and then hitch hike to Alaska to work in the forest service in some National Forest.

How cool is that.

Evidently every Wednesday after Memorial Day is some car meetup swap meet in Blue Mountain. Hmmm. Seems like something to go and shoot.

I also wonder if anyone is interested in going to Carlyle Pennsylvania to that big swap meet. I never went. How hill-billy is that?

There is a company called Vintage Air where I can get an air conditioning system for the truck. I’m going to look into this.

Cal E-Ha
 
Cal, if you ever want to see some incredible bike history, and possibly a chance to own some of it, head up to Copake Auction house in Copake on the Massachusetts state line about halfway up to Albany. You may want to put all the bank and credit cards in the freezer at home and only carry an allowance of cash. It is insane, but something that is an amazing sight to see.

Regarding carrying a lot of weight on a cargo bike, it’s all about balance. Every weekend I load up the “schlepper” (what we call the cargo bike) with 6 cat litter containers filled with water. Each container holds 4 gallons; at 8lbs/gallon thats 192lbs of water. I’ve learned that the hardest part is if the containers aren’t absolutely full, the water will shift and it is a bear to steer 200lbs that is moving on its own, so I fill them all the way to the top to minimize any sloshing and weight shifting. Rolling with 200lbs is actually quite easy once the bike is moving, Im confident I could do 300lbs without much more effort. Let the bike carry the weight, I say, all I need to do is use physics to help balance the load. What I’m saying is you already have that level of fitness, it’s just a matter of getting used to the bike and handling.
 
Phil,

8 pounds a gallon for water: 7 pounds a gallon for gasoline. Learned this back at Grumman from an engineer.

I understand what you are saying, and perhaps what you say explains how lanky this champ was. It takes a lot of energy/calories to do the work. Never thought of that.

The amount of energy stored in all that weight would scare me on a downhill, but speed and heavy wheels act like gyros I presume. Still a runaway situation because of momentum.

My friend Tim had a friend who was crossing an intersection got hit by a big guy going fast on a bike. Threw him 20 feet, broke his jaw, missing teeth, and brain bleeding. Momentum is a lot of stored energy. Not so different than getting hit by a car.

Also in the Boy Scouts I learned about keeping a full canteen.

Cal
 
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