Richard Cranium

I remember them. But I haven't seen any in years.

I can't say as I know much about ford motors, but I have played a bit with GM. If the ford oiling system is similar then you may run into problems around the oil pump. With the GM pumps you could angle the pickup up and make the pan more shallow, but eventually the pan will have to have enough depth for the pump itself. I would be concerned making the pan wide/long and flat. That could cause an oiling problem under hard cornering without baffles. I know you said a dry sump is proving difficult and expensive, but it also sounds like your best option.

At the very least a phone call, but I like this idea best. Besides, if the parents hear it from the mouth of their own kid then that absolves you of any guilty feelings at telling the parent.

Sorry to hear your dad has parkinsons. That may become a factor using ANY computer system. How bad are his hand tremors? You might take them down to micro center and let them see, feel and play with some samples and see if you can rule out a few of the choices based on their feedback. I've been an anti-apple guy since they dumped my AppleII product line way back when. But I used a loaner iPad through school for a couple months and I thought it was a terrific product. I don't think you can really go wrong with a 16gig iPad 2. The folks I've talked to that have used both say the second generation is worth the price increase over first gen iPads.

Yeah, I deal with kids all day. I'm giving the dad the benefit of the doubt because he knows the history of the situation. She sounds like he has quite a few chores, but nothing unreasonable, unhealthy or unsafe. She may have earned those chores with previous behavior. I've got a buddy trying to get control of a 14 year old daughter who is completely bug nuts rebellious. Her decisions are going to get her killed, this guy may be in a similar situation. Oh, and I'm an IT guy, and I pay for my own software.

Performance Powder Coat

Not a bad thought. I bought mine on Ebay, but you can get a socket that should help. It's a standard spark plug socket, but it's been cut so it's not a deep well socket any more and the square drive has been drilled out. You can slip it over the plug and the plug will extend through the back of the socket. Then put a wrench/gear wrench on the flats and back the plug out.

Have you checked with Brady and the guys up at Pickups Plus? They carry weathertech, and might cut you a little discount.

Yep, they are risking their notary license if they notarize something without witnessing the signatures. Good luck.

Points for different, but that's about all. Has the look of a lambo, but the proportional look completely wrong. Interesting experiment, but I think he's stuck with something that most people wouldn't touch, me included.

The shaft has stock U-joints, They were fine when I pulled the shaft last summer to swap in an inland empire shaft. It's been sitting in the corner of my garage since, so I have no reason to believe they aren't still fine. The only reason I swapped was I assumed I would trash a stock drive shaft with the new setup and the eventual shot of nitrous. I've not had work done there, but I've heard good things about Columbus Joint and Clutch I think is their name. Scott and other guys can probably give better input than me. If the Opti is truly an OEM piece, then I guess I would start looking elsewhere. I'm not a fan of hanging parts, but the only other pieces in the puzzle then are the coil and the ICM. The ICM is the more expensive of the two at around $100. You can get them from a dealer, and I just checked summit and they carry them. The coil is only around $30 and is easy to swap. PCM Opti Wires Plugs ICM Coil I think that is the whole ignition system. Might be worth it to start pulling parts, cleaning them off and giving them a good visual inspection and look for damaged connectors, split wires, etc... Just an idea. The Opti will suck because the water pump has to come off. A really good resource for these cars is a website a guy by the handle of shoebox put together. shbox.com has about everything you could ever want to know about LT1 F-body cars.

I normally make it out to the cars n coffee meets, but have yet to make it to Home Depot or up to Docs. I'll fix that this summer.

Cool, I assumed I could do something like that, but I had hoped there would be some simple way to take a complete snapshot full backup of the phone. My students and I were talking about backups and disaster recovery one morning and one of the guys asked me about phones and tablets. I had never really thought about it until then, but since a lot of business people are moving their computing platforms toward mobile devices I hoped there would be some simple solution for their IT department to make periodic backups. BTW, the I do have an SD card installed in my photon. I assume they don't package one with it because of price. For that matter I'm glad they didn't because they would have put a 2gig or something else small in there. I had an 8gig from my old phone so I used it. The slot is not accessible from the outside though and the back panel is a pain to get off. Thanks for the information.

I don't have a car that will accept a double din head unit, otherwise I would jump on this. Good luck.

Dude is an epic fail. Put the jack in the right place and it'll work fine. How long has it been since we jacked up cars by the rear bumper? 1980? If you can't get the spare out, screw it, throw the flat in the bed of your pickup and run it to the gas station to air it up. And the shit about working in the sun on an 80 degree day? Man up, you're swapping a tire, not swapping a motor. Get it over and be done with it.

Yeah, I'm thinking more about the application data that is being stored locally. For instance I use an app called acar to keep track of my vehicle records. The information is only stored locally and if I were to loose or replace my phone I would loose those records. I know I can probably copy them off the phone using a docking cradle or cord. I was thinking though with the way the industry is moving to mobile devices that there would be a good way to do a complete backup, not just a sync. Since the phone is only 16 gigs and I'm not even using all of that storing a copy of it on my PC is no big deal, and it would be so much easier to just do a full backup and be done with it than pick and choose individual pieces parts.

I know enough about rear ends that I don't screw around inside them. Wait, are we talking cars here? To me, if there is play in the pinion I'm taking mine to a shop who knows what the hell they are doing. The consequences of getting the setup wrong vs. my chances of doing the job right aren't good. If it's not the pinion and it's not tires, then I would say drive shaft. If you want I have an aluminum drive shaft available. We can try swapping it onto your car and if it fixes the problem I'll sell it to you for what I paid for it. I still say it would be worth it to get a quick balance done on the tires just to make sure. I'm not sure what my schedule is going to be like for the rest of the month. I'm trying to get my Education Administration internship done right now for my masters degree. I have to turn in my portfolio at the end of March, so I'm trying to get it done this month so I can turn it in early. If I turn it in early and there is a problem I have time to fix it before the final submission deadline. I'm with you on not throwing expensive parts at a problem looking for a solution. If you can get access to a scan tool that's great. Otherwise the system is pretty simple. Opti, wires, coil, ICM. You mentioned the Opti was brand new. Where did you get it, and what brand is it. These cars are notorious for shitting out aftermarket Optis. My camaro is on it's second MSD opti, and like I said I'm about to junk the cap and rotor we put on the impala for OEM.

Just working this through in my head. The easiest thing to start with for the vibration is tires. Might be worth getting them balanced to rule that out as a possible culprit. Also the LT1 cars came with steel drive shafts and GM had problems with balance on them. The solution was to replace them all with aluminum drive shafts. As for the miss, I've learned never to trust an Opti, even if it's new. I'm not saying it's your problem, but just because it's new doesn't mean it can't be the problem. I'm working on a miss with my LT1 Impala SS and the next step is to replace the cap and rotor again with an OEM version instead of the MSD version I bought last time. If you want to try and ignition module and coil at some point we could probably work something out on a weekend when the weather warms up a bit.

Damn, very tempting.

Does anyone recommend an app to make a full backup of an android phone to a desktop PC without rooting the phone? Ideally I'd like to get in the habit of making weekly full backups in the event I need to replace the phone I can restore all the data stored in it. I have a Motorola Photon if it matters. Looks like the version is 2.3.4

Sucked. The Superbowl isn't about football any more.

Welcome, and +1 for what Jones said about the programmer. I've never heard much good about any of the handhelds. There are several very good tuners in the area and they can wring much more out of your motor than any handheld will.

That is a good mod list, I'm not a fan of the Edelbrock manifold or the LT4 heads. You can have the stock manifold ported and powdercoated for less than the edelbrock. If you want heads I would hit up Lloyd Elliot before I would do LT4s. Just my $.02 you didn't ask for.

Nice intro, welcome.

I don't know if they still sell them or not, but I kegworks.com used to carry them. Then again I would have to see pics of the wife (preferably in the clothes she would wear while on the pole) to make a truly educated and accurate recommendation.