Gnubbs Blog

Just a quick post.  Things have been very hectic in the old gnubbs household of late.  School, work, Stephanie getting a new job, family coming to visit.  That would be hectic on it’s own.  It is complicated a bit though.  When Stephanie was teaching english in Japan, she befriended one of her students.  Fast forward 5 or so years, and her student is now studying English Lit at Todai University in Tokyo.

Stephanie has kept in touch with her this entire time, and about a month ago she asked if she could come and stay with us for a bit during one of her breaks from school.  So, tonight Stephanie and I are picking her up from the airport and she is crashing in our spare room for about the next month.  It should be entertaining.  Unfortunately she is only 20, so we can’t show her the bumping club scene in Boulder and Denver.  Oh.  Wait.  I guess since that doesn’t exist her age won’t be a problem.

On another note, this saturday I had the 2nd worst beer I have ever had.  JT and I were at the Hi Dive in Denver seeing Tim Barry play some of his solo stuff.  The show was good.  Since I wasn’t driving home, I decided that I should get a good drunk on.  All was going well until the end of the night when they ran out of PBR.  That left the choices of Hamms or Schlitz at $2 a can.  We choose Schlitz.  That stuff is truly terrible.  It was so bad I didn’t like it and I was already drunk.  So, I would not recommend Schlitz as an alternative when PBR runs out.

gnubbs

(The worst beer you ask…  Old Chub “Scottish Ale” from Osker Blues in Lyons, CO.  That stuff is so bad it is hard to even explain.  And it is expensive too.  Like $7 for a 6 pack.  Doesn’t make any sense.)

These are some photos from my recent trip to Peterson Automotive Collection. I would love to hear your opinions either in the comments or in Flickr. These were all shot with my on-camera flash. I never, never, never shoot with a flash. I was a bit surprised that these came off so well.

The above photos are of the same body panel on a Ford GT40 Mark III and a Ford GT from 40 years. These photos will be printed and framed next to each other.

Why can’t my dash look like the dash from a Dusenberg?

Hood ornaments used to be so much more than they are today. Yes, that is a devil thumbing his nose at you. From an old ford Track Speedster. Awesome.

Sorry that this post lacks pictures, but they wouldn’t be very exciting anyways…

This weekend I had some car work to do. My brakes had been making a quiet grinding sound, and generally feeling kinda sketchy lately. I will definitely take a sluggish car over one that doesn’t feel like stopping any day. So, I jumped to some conclusions. I took a stab that it was probably my front brake pads getting worn beyond belief. Considering how I drive, and the ratio of front/rear stopping power, this seemed resonable.

So, if I am replacing my front brake pads and bleeding my brake lines, I might as well put on stainless steel brake lines while I am at it. If I am already going to have the brake lines off the calipers, hell, I might as well paint those while I am at it. (I am guessing you are starting to see where this is going…)

So, Friday I go to Flatirons Tuning and buy some Hawk HPS front brake pads, Goodridge SS Brake Lines, and ATE Super Blue brake fluid to the tune of about $200. I get up bright and early Saturday, jack up the car and pop off the wheels. I immediately see what the grinding was. My rear rotors are in truely terrible shape. All nasty and corroded. I pull off my rear brakes and check the pad wear — right at service limits. Crap.

I head back to Flatirons and get some Hawk HPS rear brake pads ($70). Next I go to the auto parts store to get my front and rear rotors turned. The rotor guy takes one look at my rear rotors, and says that he can’t turn them. He will have to take off a ton to get through the corrosion, and there is just not enough rotor left for that. Luckily they have replacement rotors in stock so I have him grab me some. Also, after looking over my front rotors, he says they are in great shape and don’t even need to be turned — unwarped, and no grooves. So, I get the rotors and some caliper paint and walk out of there another $100 poorer.

I head home and finish taking apart my brakes. I disconnect the brake lines from the calipers, remove them and their brackets, and head up to the apartment. There I spend way too much time cleaning them, masking off the sections I don’t want to paint, and painting them black. After drying overnight, they look pretty good — or at least better than the standard corroding aluminum that they come in.

Sunday morning, I head back out to the car and JT comes over to give me a hand. Start reinstalling everything, and discover that Flatirons gave me the wrong front pads. Crap. Now this sucks because they are closed on Sundays. We reinstall the old front pads, and the new everything else. Bleed the brakes, take it for a test drive, and all is well.

Monday at lunch, I head back to Flatirons and get the right brake pads. Monday evening, I swap those in and also adjust the parking brakes. Now, all is well. After letting the pads bed in for a couple of days, I will let you know how they work. I will say that the SS lines and fresh fluid makes the brakes feel way, way better. A very hard, easy to modulate peddle. Very nice.