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What do you do to infuse the aluminum? Just...rub it on?

I would like to rub some on our aluminum tripods as an effort to get some budget approved for carbon fibre upgrades.

"See! I told ya! That damn aluminum! You can't trust it!!"

Dr_Strangelove (whew!) wrote: ↑Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:44 pm What do you do to infuse the aluminum? Just...rub it on?

I would like to rub some on our aluminum tripods as an effort to get some budget approved for carbon fibre upgrades.

"See! I told ya! That damn aluminum! You can't trust it!!"

Just need to get it on the raw aluminum and it does the hard work for you:

Heh. I was gonna be responsible and move that post to a more suitable thread - but I failed.



The hardest part - if any of it was difficult - was keeping the gallium warm enough to infuse into the aluminum - it kept refreezing before the fun stuff started happening.

Once I added a cup of warm water below the plate the whole mess was on, the gallium melted and went to town. It definitely prefers areas that are scratched up - the anodizing on the iPad case would have been tough to get through. Once you see an oxide layer floating/flowing on the aluminum (it really looks like it's melting), you're in business.

The gallium/aluminum alloy is about has hard to break as a saltine cracker. I've seen it a thousand times on YouTube, but crumbling "aluminum" up is cool in a destructive-13-year-old-at-heart way.

I (yes you read that right. Me!) vacuumed it! Mostly to clean the rear shelf, but I also took care of the major leaves, rocks, and vent foam so it looks sorta respectable. I also sucked some large chunks of yet-to-be ejected vent foam out of the side vents.

PSA: if your car lives an unprotected life then your rear shelf carpet either is or is turning into a plasticized dust that just continues to look like faded carpet until you touch it...

It was finally nice enough over the weekend to wake Brunhilde from her slumber. Bump started it once, but I probably didn't need to. Still running like a top. Now, what to do with the c240 wagon? It needs a brake booster and I am totally not into doing that, so here it comes Craigslist.

What is your bump-start procedure Ocean? Are there hills tall enough in NJ to get it rolling?

Dr_Strangelove (whew!) wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:09 pm What is your bump-start procedure Ocean? Are there hills tall enough in NJ to get it rolling?

Ha ha! I meant I cranked without catching for a second or two trying to get the oil to flow around. As I said, probably worthless. My driveway is at a 45 degree angle if I ever need to running start it. Pain in the damn neck most days. I have to chock this car in my driveway.

And I live on a pretty big mountain (for New Jersey). From the fancy pants street I walk the dog on, you can see practically to Pennsylvania. In the morning I have to drive through a fogbank on 280 to get to the floor. Maybe its why I'm lightheaded so often. Lack of oxygen.

Today, nothing. But yesterday I took my 996 to Willow Springs Raceway and did a few hot laps to see how she would do. This was an open track day, so no "racing". It was just so fun to open her up and let her do what she does best. Cornering, braking, accelerating, downshifting, all without a sweat. All systems were go!!

Had some fun chasing down M3's and a few others. Man, it was a lot of fun. Then I drove home with a stupid grin on my face. I highly recommend doing this asap.

Heh. I left the section of HVAC duct out that connects the leftmost dash vent to the blower when I swapped out the damn key switch last time.

Now, most of the foam blows directly into the driver-side footwell where I can most efficiently ignore it. It's like the world's least fun rave every time I fire up the AC.

#luxury

gnat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 11:42 am I (yes you read that right. Me!) vacuumed it! Mostly to clean the rear shelf, but I also took care of the major leaves, rocks, and vent foam so it looks sorta respectable. I also sucked some large chunks of yet-to-be ejected vent foam out of the side vents.

PSA: if your car lives an unprotected life then your rear shelf carpet either is or is turning into a plasticized dust that just continues to look like faded carpet until you touch it...

The way the Corvette AC fails is even more spectacular...the AC controller is vacuum-actuated, and all of the vacuum connectors leak as they age. The upper dash on my Corvette is currently "supplemented" by a foot-long piece of 1" PVC I jammed down the AC duct to force the blend door open.

AND it blows foam.

5chn3ll wrote: ↑Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:18 am Heh. I left the section of HVAC duct out that connects the leftmost dash vent to the blower when I swapped out the damn key switch last time.

Now, most of the foam blows directly into the driver-side footwell where I can most efficiently ignore it. It's like the world's least fun rave every time I fire up the AC.

Wife took it out for a longer drive and said that now there is a rattle when the AC is on. I think the vents didn't appreciate being vacuumed.

The way the Corvette AC fails is even more spectacular...the AC controller is vacuum-actuated, and all of the vacuum connectors leak as they age. The upper dash on my Corvette is currently "supplemented" by a foot-long piece of 1" PVC I jammed down the AC duct to force the blend door open.

Yeah my old Ford Escape had a system like that. I forget what exactly it did when it lost vacuum, but I remember thinking it was the dumbest way possible.

Since I had a Core Solo Mac Mini installed in there I meant to build a micro control with vacuum pumps so I could make it have automatic climate control. I never got around to it though.