Right to repair

From things I have read it seems that some of the onboard computers are getting to be about like the 'black boxes' on airplanes. There was some talk of letting the police download the data in accidents to see what the speed of the car was and other things.

It's been that way for at least the last ten years.

pedal is SUPPOSED to be every time he come up to a light or stop sign. Don't ask how I know about this - 30 years of primarily driving stick. "

He makes another mistake but I am not going to tell him how to drive. He puts it is neutral at stoplights and then jas it into first when it is time to take off.

I don't know about you but I have found that usually the throwout bearing is cheaper and easier to replace than the first gear synchronizers.

source code. "

I have a few versions of it kicking around here and have tried them. Too many things to learn how to do on it for now.

Though I might be forced as my old XP and Vista (yuk) will eventually quit. If you see me buying a new version of Windows please shoot me, I mean it.

I have never paid for Windows except in a preloaded machine, and won't and I have no shame about it. Every EULA says I am buying nothing so I'll give them exactly what it is worth. Nothing.

If I live too long, Linux will be inevitable. I might have to take up some hobbies involving very fast cars, lighter than air hydrogen aircraft and the like. (I know how to make hydrogen)

since about 1970. In the past, it was because stick shifts got better gas mileage, and were cheaper. I even converted one old vehicle from automatic to manual (because the junk yard wanted less for the manual than a rebuild would have cost me for the automatic). Today, it's purely psychological and maybe a little macho. "

For better or worse you have discarded a few facts. We are a car family, or were until people started dying off. There is one automatic transmission t hat will outperform a stick in a certain weight class - the THM400.

They do funny things with the torque convertor that makes it take off from the hole at about 5:1. You simply can't put a gearset in a stick that big. I think a bunch of high end luxury cars still use the THM400, rolls maybe o r whatever ?

When you put a bigger gearset into a stick it is more prone to failure, whi ch is quite catastophic I mean really don't even try to rebuild it. The val ve body in the THM400 is a veritable analog computer running on hydraulics and it really does know better when to shift than you do. The beauty of the THM400 is that the gearset only gets it down to (IIRC) 2.73:1, the torque convertor takes up the rest. Then it smoothly settles to the 2.73:1 and soo n thereafter shifts into second. Note that it does not shift out of first, first is still engaged but on a one way clutch. that makes for a smoother s hift and actually if you have to tromp on it a smoother downshift as well.

When theey went to front wheel drive trannies got to be a pain. No more one e way clutch in most of them which means if the cable is not set right you get a big clunk as you coast down to a red light. If you are concerned with mileage you know exactly why I mean, you could never feel the old trannies shift like that.

What's worse, if some stupid little solennoid ggoes bad in these new electr onically controlled trannnies it throws a code, even though it is only mayb e passing gear or whatever, and then you can't get plates. And for some rea son, unless he was lied to bigtime, I know someone who had a Ford with a Tr iton V8 that when three solenoids went bad in the tranny it mimiced the sym ptoms of jumped cam timing. I still think he was lied to but why would his mechanic go and have some valves replaced in the interference engine and do the timing irons instead of just replacing three solenoids ?

And now cars run Windows ? They gotta be kidding.

I want a 1967 Chevy. I liked my 1970 Toronado, but really it was trouble wa iting to happen. First of all it was too fast. It could be beat but not in traffic. Plus every part cost a fortune, even the muffler was $300. (evacua tor system) Too much, I need to get from point A to point B, and just as im portant back to point A. That means I do not need ridiculously priced parts on the car that have to be ordered from bumfuckt Sweden somewhere.

Hell, give me a model T and a propane heater.

shift. (It had 200 or so miles on it--it had got caught up in the Takata airbag mess, so the dealer couldn't sell it for ages.) Got a nice discount too--it wound up being the price of my daughter's Kia econobox. :) "

Well first of all you just disconnect those air bags and watch where you ar e going. I bet you still can in a 2012, but you may have to put a resistor in there or something to simulate a load.

One thing that probably helped your negotiations on that car was that peopl e today don't really go for stick shifts. They have to play farmville, text and talk on the phone whilst keeping an eye on their chipped dog and watch ing insidd their house to see if anyone is stealing their plasma TV. Also t hey have to update their facebook every three minutes or their dear friends (who would kill them in an alley usually) don't think they're dead. Or som ething.

200 cid engine, 3 speed manual transmission (of course), and zero options. It was truly an economy car. "

I had a couple of Pintos. both stick. In fact that was when I started playi ng around with valve timing and learned quite a bit. then later Porsche or someone came out with variable valve timing. Whoever Ford bought for a whi le...

There are models that have not only vaariable valve timing but also direct cylinder fuel ijection. these are high end models and unfortunately with th ose you are stuck with their electronics, if you can call it that.

But I did notice things. Turn the camone way offf and you can slip your foo t o ff the clutch in third and it peels tires and does not stall. however i n NO GEAR wil it do over 45 MPH. Go the other way and you have to feather t he clutch in, even in first gear, as if you were taking off in third. But p ast a certain RPM the thing would take off like a bat out of hell. So obvio usly making it variable is a good idea and I tried to work out some sort of mechanical arrangement to do so but I had no machines, not even a bandsaw, and I never could weld. So much for that.

My desktop at work once ran for about 480 days before a power failure rebooted it. Typically, my desktops run about 100 - 180 days before there is some need to reboot them. Have you ever had a crash on your Windows system? I have had a few, when there were hardware failures, but they are REALLY rare. I have a web server here that just hums along, even though it is constantly attacked by various hackers. They haven't been able to get in to do anything bad in ages.

Jon

If your Iphone, Samsung, etc... is regularly plugged in and out of the tower's jack, I don't see why your 2007 version (or better) of Windows would ever crash. I've heard that the new Windows 10 has made big changes, especially on the graphics and PC gaming side.

Hah, mee too. But around here in the winter they use a lot of salt... and I guess that just brings the ground closer... (I'm happy if I get 200k.) I buy little commuter cars, and just can't find many with a stick... so my last two cars have been auto. I down shift going down my hill, but that's about it. George H.