AK260

So you know when you become a dad, God gives you special gifts for your children to enjoy? You know, things like your jokes or dancing? This is me since I became a dad, as far as they are concerned, I even have the footwear .... I dare you to watch and not laugh out loud!!

Did a tranny oil change. I read a lot of posts about people with squeezy bottles and pumps etc to get the oil in but I just made one of these ... And did this .... Thought I’d share in case it’s helpful to anyone else. Strangely with MT90 the ‘box feels less slick and smooth. I will likely try swepco 201 next on recommendation of a highly esteemed Z club member who is a Z God! The later ‘77 European box has the Porsche style steel synchros so GL5 is reportedly not going to be an issue. Will run it a few miles and evaluate later though, at least it gives the MT90 a chance to give the ‘box a good flushing!

Thank you sir! It hadn’t felt real until that happened. Difficult to appreciate the dangers when you are doing your bit by sitting at home - and then someone you know / knew goes through it and it hits home!!

Just lost a relative to the virus and a friend of mine working on the frontline now has it with the classic fever, nausea and loss of sense of taste / smell!!! Be very careful of your health people!!

+1 for this reasoning. I also once found that happen when the boot and connector were not fully pushed home and it was arcing onto the cap/collecting moisture causing corrosion and resistance.

So grandad, what did you do while the COVID Virus was spreading around the world? Well my boy, I did my bit and two bucket washed the Z and gave it a quick polish.

To add to the body of knowledge

Meanwhile in the UK ....

Just to keep you abreast of this side of the pond: two of my dental surgeon friends have been drafted for duty on the front line. I did ask what will they do with COVID patients’ teeth and they said they are going through a fast track cross training and their anaesthesia skills are required. Teeth are not being worked on and in the case of emergency tooth issue it is unclear what you can do and when you can be seen. But it will probably be at 2:30 - sorry, couldn’t resist a quick dad joke there! But it is a little worrying how seriously this thing is spreading. A part of an exhibition centre where they typically have Yachts on display (The Excel Centre) is being turned into an emergency hospital to cope with the expected volumes!! 100 beds by Sunday, ramping up 4000. Stay safe people and respect any guidelines on social distancing and isolation. [emoji15]

Forgive me if this is in anyway considered political - it’s not meant that way. I just can’t stop laughing no matter who said it .... https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-i-have-done-more-for-christianity-than-jesus Feel free to moderate if it breaks the rules!!

Difficult these days to speak about anything without referring to the people in charge / politicians. Especially when they perform below expectation of their position, they attract opinions. If Trump or Boris haven’t performed or lied or mislead, then that is just stating the facts I guess and part of the discussion. Much like the boobs thread, which I don’t look at, with forums it’s as much a case of if you don’t like the topic, save yourself from it by passing over and reading another thread. The thing I most like about this thread is hearing differing views from members in varying countries and learning more about who they are and what they think beyond “what do I do with this car problem”. I like the fact that some views challenge mine and make me see / think of it from another angle - how ever much I may disagree with them. I do find that email posted above particularly gobsmacking in the current climate; to try to turn the virus / world affecting issue to your political advantage. But it is symptomatic of how broken politics, elected officials and their parties are - not just in the US but everywhere else too.

Think about the diagrams above - small voltage drops at standing mean large differences in charge state. I had an Exide battery die on me in a year. Also I’ve found that when cranking, if the volts drop below 10 the battery is weak. How old is your starter solenoid? Good to clean up the solenoid anyway if you have time on your hands - they carry HUGE currents and can get spark related carbonisation - much like the light switch stalk.

Scary stuff !!

Oh no, **it just got real ...

Forgive me if this is in some way chilly powder added to the current discourse - can we truly blame China for this? With all the best will in the world and all the containment, it would have gotten out one way or another. Infected people had no symptoms for 14 days. At the beginning of it all it would probably have been self diagnosed as a bad flu - “take some meds and carry on” would have been my mentality. Sure they tried to conceal it at first but even before that, flights would have carried the virus around the world well before any formal recognition of it. Unless it can be proven that China “manufactured” this virus (which of course is one theory) how can we blame China? The 2008 financial crisis was started by greedy American bankers but it became a world issue. Can we really blame America? Everyone got the greedy bug all over the world. Did the US ever formally apologise for starting it all off? Would it have been fair to ask for that, given it would have gotten off around the world by itself anyway? Patient zero for HIV is considered to have been in Africa. But can we blame Africa for it’s origin or spread? It’s just not that simple - unless of course it was biological weapons gone wrong and it can be proven. What I find most surprising is that beyond blame, beyond partisan politics, beyond opportunities for profiteering, beyond borders - governments / big pharma haven’t been able to come together and pool resources for the greater good of humanity. How easy has it been to have strong coalitions for wars or find funding for them at the drop of a hat? Why is it so hard for governments to come together and jointly fund the research, offer up their greatest minds, encourage big pharma to work together for the benefit of humanity? If someone finds a vaccine, can we see them offering it up to all for free (or a nominal price) for the good of mankind or would they patent it, sit in a Dr Evil style lair and hold a gun the world’s head for one Billion, Gazillion dollars? As harsh as this is, it’s a wake up call for humanity and our way of life that needs serious naval gazing. Wealth before health, profits before environment, accelerating extremes of wealth and poverty. How nice has the air been of late? Do we really need this ever advancing level of consumption? Is the current system so perfect that it must be saved, or does it need to evolve? Sorry for the rant. Feeling a little philosophical this evening after day two of home schooling. Sitting here wondering about their future and the world they are growing up in. Thankfully both students are still breathing, although “Mr AK” the teacher did a lot of deep breathing all day!! ;)

Well chaps, on the back of this announcement I rushed to the petrol station and filled the Z incase a lack of fuel ensues and I can’t do my Z work in the coming weeks!! I have my priorities you know! Coronavirus: Strict new curbs on life in UK announced by PM https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52012432

Ps. Forget the Zombie apocalyptic views of empty super markets and the hospital videos - just wait until broadband services / WiFi / 4G go down!!!!!! People will really turn at that point! On the upside of all of this, not a single contrail in the sky and the air in our local town (which is already in the countryside) is soooooo much cleaner due to lack of school runs and car traffic. Clearly this isn’t sustainable but it does show how desperately we need to lose the ICE for daily use - even if the pollution is just as bad and more localised.

Our local hairdressers are shut!! I guess we’ll soon all be Rastas or have shaved heads to avoid looking like one of those parent hair cut pics! And yes, in the 80s I had the parent bowl hair cut [emoji849][emoji1787]

We did a study of this on my MBA - interestingly, history shows that the cultures mentioned - in general - excel at “incremental innovation” as a result and cultures like US / UK etc achieve “radical innovation”. Look at pharma innovations alone. The Japanese in the 50s started to take the British on their turf with “pop pops” 25cc motorbike. The Brita scoffed at them down their noses as they were in the “dirty end” of the market and it didn’t matter. Then they moved onto 50cc and so on until the Brits had lost their lunch and had their arses handed to them. In my personal experience in strategy / transformational consulting, when a Japanese CEO talks about strategy they are talking about 25 or more years. When their European counterparts do, it’s 5-10. When you get to the US it becomes 3ish years! ;) I do course caveat that with IN GENERAL. There are of course exceptions but “in general” where “the nail that pops up is always hammered down” is prevalent in the culture, incremental innovation results. Lecture over, so here’s a photo of the local pharmacy where surgical spirit, pain killers, sanitary products and nappies are all but gone ...

The people of my town have clearly prioritised

Gosh! That is quite shocking and clearly foreknowledge. Time and again we see this but no one in those positions of power is held to account - unless they are scape goats and it suits the narrative. Financial Services sector workers would be castrated, fired instantly and shot at dawn for dealing even in their private pensions without prior declaration and approvals. It’s good to see elected officials with conflicts of interest having to live up to such high standards !!! As for Trump, he is, if nothing else, consistent! ;) And I agree with the comments above - they are “theories”. Somehow breaking out alternatives to the official narrative has been stigmatised historically with the words conspiracy theory. If someone in the year 2000 told you that the government was listening to your calls and reading your emails you would have laughed in their face and called them a conspiracy theorist foil hat wearing nut job.