I miss a sub I followed on reddit, Frank Lloyd Wrong

That coulda worked. If only it didn’t sound like an Ace Combat antagonist country. Osea, Usea, Yuktobonia, Belka, Aurelia, Usonia, see?

Unitedestadian has long been the term used to describe USA citizens by the Spanish-speaking population of the Americas. Not their fault the country picked a length intro title and a vague region as their country name. Imagine if the UK was the UKE, United Kingdom of Europe, and called themselves Europeans by default. The other 90% would be pissed and make their own names, no?

I don’t have any stat points left to git gud :( automotive has fallen from beloved hobby to strictly necessity

Small screws, unsure c-clip nuts, plastic/plastic panels that flex away, mystery grime, and too many screws. I’d have no qualms if the nuts were rigid in the body and used machine threads.

I did at least eventually have an epiphany and realize that it’s not a 5.5mm hex on my strictly-metric Fords, but rather a 7/32in or some bullshit.

You make good points. Truthfully, I only got back into doing it myself within the last 2 years. I haven’t done any vehicle more than twice. Somehow I always think I’m too good for the gloves and today will be the day I do it cleanly - only to use the same value in paper towels. Unfortunately, I know at least 3 filters are bottom-mount vertical. They have oil sitting in the galleys above it and spill more as they wobble off. I’ll have to check the drain plug sizes and see. I’m sure there’s repeat sizes, all being metric. I do use brake clean for the final spray since I’m not aware of any other nogrinse degreasers (also haven’t looked)

I do kind of enjoy my 300cc motorcycle. The drain plug is on the kickstand side (good with the lean) and the filter is a cartridge type that lives high on the block and on the not-kickstand side. Basically all the drip is from playing operation with the cartridge on the way out. And it only takes 1.4qt.

My driveway is uphill to the garage. I point up hill, use ramps, chock the rear tires, and only slide in from the front.

But I do hate doing oil changes. Oil gets everywhere on the tools, everywhere on my hand when I get the filter, everywhere on the ground when it splashes, and everywhere on the outside of the containers. Then it lightly oils everything between my garage on the disposal site. But, once I stopped getting $45 employee pricing on dealership synth blend changes and started getting $120+ normie pricing, I got fed up. I liked having a professional, trusted mechanic have eyes under a lifted car rather than my casual eyes laying under ramps, but shit, prices are absurd. Hello Kirkland oil.

I also hate splash shields. They’re mildly infuriating. I got the harbor freight Maddox oil filter socket set and now can generally avoid removing splash shields on my fleet

When I worked as dealership valet without my own road experience, I always made sure to read the shift knob if I didn’t know the car. So there’s hope. But not everyone I worked with gave a shit

It’s usually hard/impossible to pull a 6-speed shift on a 5-speed and go 5>R. I acknowledge there’s improvements over time, but, what I know from my sample is: no synchro on reverse, so it’d take much more force to engage. I know my miata has a lockout plate so you must go N>R as it blocks 5>R, and still requiring a massive yank to get the transmission to agree to spool up the dogs to a negative 20,000rpm.

Were you double clutching on an upshift?

I had the opportunity to swing by Pikes after business in Pueblo and a flight from Denver. What an awesome place. My rental jeep hybrid did me no favors in the “cool racing sounds” department so I had to imagine them all. I didn’t set any records though, because I stopped every mile for another picture. It was a special feeling when the trees dropped away and it becomes strictly sand and rocks up top. Regen braking was a neat trick for the downhill though, adding something like 14 miles of EV range. It was more entertaining to believe the thunder cloud I was descending through was actually charging it in some BTTF/steampunk/darwinian method though.

I have to go back and saunter through RMNP though. Everyone says the park is much better all around, but I certainly don’t regret Pikes as a one-and-done visit without detours or decisions. Who knows, maybe I’ll just stay next time. CO has impacted me more than CA

Anyone else having Teams just disappear without notice? It happens across my office

Definitely a relevant pic

Is this a reference to something I missed? Or is it a generalization of American Christians?

The part where you effectively quoted Trump? Is that where you’re not sure if it’s satire?

The year was 1992. Chevy Astro vans were decked out as Explorers for kid-hauling duty. The more car-like minivan hadn’t quite hit it’s prime and the crossover/SUV craze hadn’t taken foot in suburbs. I could see this monster making some sales. I mean, the Pontiac Trans Sport/Chevy Lumina Van made some sales and could be stylistic cousins

I have a hitch in my gas sedan and a 4x8ft trailer. That’d be my alternative if I sold both my regular cab Rangers for a Slate and needed to go more than 150 miles. Being American, the average car-owning American household has slightly more than 1 car for every driver. If your household has only one car, then no, the Slate might not worth it for the occasional long trip. If you do the lifetime math, renting a larger gas pickup will typically be cheaper than the ammortized cost of a larger EV pickup or gas for an ICE pickup.

I’m just saying, I constantly see car people act like they don’t have multiple cars, like the constantly drive their dream vacation of 8 hours in a car per day, like their bed is constantly full, like the typical pickup truck outing is with 4 people, 20 sheets of plywood, and a 7000lb trailer instead of one guy hauling his laptop to work, and like they’d always need to charge at a station instead of overnight at home.

I’ll agree on not getting one for the other point you made, though. Fuck Bezos

I drive 150 miles in a day about once a month when I drive the nicer gas car for pleasure. My commute is 40 miles round trip in shitty 1990s cars that I wouldn’t want to drive any further, probably akin to the QoL in this truck. My weekly travel total averages 200 miles.

If you actually write down your habits, the majority of people are much less affected by the short range than they think. If you’re hauling 2000lbs of gravel 400 miles a day, this is not, and is not supposed to be, the truck for you

Just gotta have reading hormones. Everything smells better that way

It’s typically this and not the particular tech in the headlight. And when it’s not “plug n play” (pnp) bulbs, it’s bad aim because every factory aims them with an empty tank and owners are clueless headlights can be aimed. That A8 had pretty good lights for the time. Sure, the lights do tend to be more intense when you’re in the beam on a hill, curve, etc), and the bluer color isn’t great for human night vision, but that’s a tradeoff for the increased speeds we travel at now.

The further development of matrix LED lights by the Germans is a great development, really only feasible with LEDs. They turn off individual segments to give a near-high beam experience but specifically without blinding other drivers.

But blaming it all on LEDs is like blaming gas engines for loud exhaust. There’s supposed to be a system in place that makes it tolerable for everyone around.

I hear this every time I scroll past it in my library. I finished it about 4 hours after my bedtime one night and the ending felt uncomfortable