Standup Zone Forum
General => Random => Topic started by: PonoBill on September 13, 2017, 07:41:17 AM
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A guy hit the mirror on my F350 a week ago. The mirror is a breakaway, and it worked, so damage to the housing was just a plastic shroud that poppoed loose--a few minutes of study and I was able to pop it back. But the glass was broken. The guy stopped and left a note, said to get in touch and he'd pay. So I checked on the cost to replace or repair: $1780. You can't just buy the replacement glass from Ford, even though it just pops out of the housing on a plastic backing plate. Of course it's a very trick mirror. Electrically adjusts, extends for towing, folds in when parking is tight, and it's heated, all at the push of a button.
But I know these slick electric mirrors are available for a fraction of the cost online from manufacturers who either duplicate them or are the OEM, so I looked for one. Nothing past 2016 yet. But I did find a replacement mirror glass, with a heating element for 60 bucks.
A few minutes work getting the glass off the plastic backing and I'm back in biz. Yes, I could have let the guy pay for a $1700 mirror, but where's the fun in that. I'd rather make a little effort to reward his honest actions. And besides, I owe a little karmic debt for things like that. Good opportunity for payback.
At the same time I found a good source for replacement mirrors for the new (very old--1978 GMC) RV I just bought to build a surfmobile with. I'm going to put 2016 F350 mirrors on it. Seriously trick mirrors for about $300 for both. I'm gutting the RV today. The fun starts now.
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What?.....you needed another project?.... :)
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So the mirror folds when parked... ??? How did this happen?
So Bill are you going to start a new "surfmobile project" thread, or are we going to have to know the mirror back story to follow along? Pictures, we want them. Imagine you're the love child of SuptheCreek and Wardog. ;D
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I have a lust for a really well-built GMC RV...did you see the one that was converted to Duramax?....crazy....but I like it...
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Duramax wouldn't be bad, this one has a 455 with fuel injection, but it's about 7MPH. My F350 truck is 18.5. So yeah, diesel, but no, not gonna do it.
Yes, a new project, and it's going to be a doozy, but it has great bones to start with. The guy who owned it since 2004 was an engineer on the Mars Rover project. He just turned 90 and had a stroke, so continuing to use it was out of the question. Cool guy, we had fun talking. He had a lot of really good stuff done to it, like disk brakes on the rear bogie wheels with torque plates and separate air springs to keep the rear wheel from getting light and flat-spotting. They did a very nice interior, which given my history with things like this, is mostly gonna go. The engine is freshly rebuilt--5K miles on it, and it's got a great custom paint job with perforated mesh over the windows that continue the paint scheme. Very slick.
I don't like big RV's, this is like an enlarged van. Amazing that no one has built anything like this since 1978, by comparison, most of today's bulbous monsters look absurd to me.
I'm going to document everything I do to it. Probably mostly on my old blog xtreme geezer blog (xgeez.com). Seems to fit.
Continuing the theme of the airstream conversion I did (Diane decided the interior should look like Nero Wolfe's office on the A&E series), we named it Fritz, and it's going to look something like Fritz Brenner's kitchen--Nero Wolfe's butler.
Admin will be delighted to hear that I've decided to replace the gas oven and cooktop with an induction one. I was dismissive of the one he and Chan put in their new house, but gas burners in a small space make for uncomfortable cooking. So I'm eating some crow. Nicely sauteed of course.
(http://www.ponostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/01.JPG)
(http://www.ponostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/01e.JPG)
(http://www.ponostyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/03.JPG)
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Looks good already, perhaps some new carpet but it has night light cabinets, useful windows, and a pretty sporty paint scheme.
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Too heavy, too crowded. People go crazy for storage in RVs. I don't want to carry everything I own. Needs good board racks of course, and I'm building a powerwall for it. It has a nice, relatively new Onan 6kw genset and two 2000W inverters that can be synced, but just a couple of mega-heavy golf cart batteries for storage. I'm going to build a 12v 400AH LiFePO4 battery for it. I just need to find the best place for it. Easier to decide once some of that interior is stripped out.
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So the mirror folds when parked... ??? How did this happen?
Ford didn't make them auto-fold when you park, you have to remember to do it. You'd think they could just look at a tesla and steal a few ideas, but no. I'll have to add that myself.
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Sweet motorhome. I always liked that Airstream / GMC style. When I was a kid we had a Cortez motorhome that was a total cruiser. Flat 6, front wheel drive and built like a tank.
On an OEM note, I had an older ford escape. The hatchback power lock failed. There was no manual operation to unlock it. I took the hatch apart, found the part # which was for the whole locking mechanism and $450.! It was just the solenoid that was bad, drilled out the rivets and looked up the solenoid part #. Bought it from Sears online, for $14. Reinstalled it with some Tech screws, and soldered the leads. Too easy.
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I love doing stuff like that. At some point I'm tempted to fire up the mill, and I usually back off and buy something, but it's good to know how.
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Nice RV - we love road trips, currently have a Toy hauler. 8) this past summer we hit the road for a 3 weeks, we almost went into Oregeon. 8)
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Sweet! Sue and I are talking about doing a cross country trip after we retire...maybe I'll just have you do the driving....... ;)
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Reminds me about the time I fixed my Daisy 880 air rifle with rubber o rings from the plumbing department at Sears. I was about 13, what an eye opener...
Your RV looks pretty good as is, looking forward to seeing your mods as always PB.
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Sweet! Sue and I are talking about doing a cross country trip after we retire...maybe I'll just have you do the driving....... ;)
It will be available for loan. You know I hate low utility stuff.
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What a find. That thing looks fantastic.
An induction cooktop is a great idea for space saving in an RV. Because the cook surface never gets hot itself, you can use any unused cooktop area as counter space/prep space right next to an active pan. Chef stays cool as well :).
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What a find. That thing looks fantastic.
An induction cooktop is a great idea for space saving in an RV. Because the cook surface never gets hot itself, you can use any unused cooktop area as counter space/prep space right next to an active pan. Chef stays cool as well :).
I knew you'd like that.
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I think you can charge your new iPhoneXXX on it as well.
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What a find. That thing looks fantastic.
An induction cooktop is a great idea for space saving in an RV. Because the cook surface never gets hot itself, you can use any unused cooktop area as counter space/prep space right next to an active pan. Chef stays cool as well :).
I knew you'd like that.
I was looking into these induction systems a while ago. In a way they are like foil boarding vs. riding a solid Hawaiian surfboard from the 1920's. I didn't realize you could get them for ~ $40. Attached is a high-end one for $60.
In a modern world this has to re-arrange how our kitchens are designed.
Reminds me of when I went into the Sony store circa 1998 and asked about the "Component" mp3 player. They pointed me to a little pen that had 28 MB of memory and could hold 10 songs. I said "No I want a component MP3 player that can store 100 songs." I vaguely remember the guy saying 'That's what your CD player is for.'
Within a year I bought the Nomad Jukebox with 6 GB of memory and life was good. Long live the Nomad.
Induction cooker on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Crawford-Kitchen-Induction-Portable-Countertop/dp/B0747TC6D7/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1505406254&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=induction%2Bcooktop&th=1
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Yup, induction is very much like Electric Cars vs Internal Combustion in term of efficiency.
A good induction cooktop can be ~ 90% efficient with most of the energy going to heating the pan. Gas is the worst at 40-50% with a lot of energy wasted on heating the air, the cooktop itself, and often my hand :). With induction nothing ever burns to the cooktop because the cooktop never gets warm. You can set an ice cube 2 inches from a pot boiling water and it won't melt. Magnets!
Wattage determines speed. One of the cool things about induction is how insanely fast it is. On a 5000 Watt high end unit you can boil enough water for pasta for the family in under 2 minutes. It is 3-4 times faster than a great gas cooktop and will make you laugh to yourself. It is kind of like flooring that Tesla for the first time, but much gayer. A 2000 watt Induction will still be faster than gas, but only by a skosh.
The low temps are so low and so consistent that you will never need a double boiler.
Come to think of it I now think that Bill is coming out of retirement and opening a food cart with this "RV". A few mods and "Full of Crepes" will be showing up at a surf break near you.
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" It is kind of like flooring that Tesla for the first time, but much gayer. "
Toooo funny!
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Come to think of it I now think that Bill is coming out of retirement and opening a food cart with this "RV". A few mods and "Full of Crepes" will be showing up at a surf break near you.
I'll take three, with lingonberries please...
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Come to think of it I now think that Bill is coming out of retirement and opening a food cart with this "RV". A few mods and "Full of Crepes" will be showing up at a surf break near you.
I'll take three, with lingonberries please...
I'm going to order three with shrimp and clams even if they're not on the menu, just to see if I get criticized for making shellfish demands.