Lamborghini Veneno - I just don't get it

I can appreciate the history and craftsmanship Lamborghini is known for.  This car however, I just don't get it.  $4.5 million?  Wow!  The styling?  It looks like something a ricer puked up.  It's as if they wanted to throw every hideous bit of ricer styling into this gem.  It sounds nice, I will give it that, but it's damn ugly!

Camaro Update: 3-29-2014

Dug into my transmission neck deep today, making some good progress.

Camaro Update: 3-26-2014

Continuing work on the engine, I installed my 1150 Dominator and air cleaner.  The air cleaner will be coming back off, but for now, it helps clear up work space on the bench.  I recently got a couple of new bushings for the rear case of my trans, and got the new bushing installed without issues.  So, I have an extra bearing...which isn't necessarily a bad thing.  With the case bearing installed, I can start reassembling the guts, starting from the bottom.  While trans progress has been lacking, I think a couple of solid days on it will accomplish a lot.

1150 cfm is one monster of a carb!



One of the coolest looking carbs out there.



Air cleaner with open element lid installed.



Crank pulley isntalled.



Wiring FINALLY covered up in the trunk.  I still need to do the interior and engine bay.



Fuel pump wiring in the trunk covered.

Camaro Update: 3-25-2014

Slowly but surely, my Camaro is coming together. While much of what I accomplished this day could have been finished once the engine was in the car, I started knocking off some of the easier stuff on the list, if for no other reason, to assure me that I was making progress.

Cleaned water pump, ready to install.



With the oil pressure gauge hooked up, she was ready to prime.  This time, I chose Mobil synthetic 15w-50.



Here you can see the water pump installed.  With the engine primed, I dropped in the distributor.  It may come back out during engine installation, but for now, it's in place.







With the valve covers removed, it was time to install the longer rocker arm nuts and stud girdle.



Extended nuts, to allow the installation of the stud girdle.



AFR stud girdle installed, to help keep everything stable for those 7,200 rpm shifts.











AFR valve covers installed.

We're in the money! We're in the money!

I didn't start this blog with any crazy dreams of becoming a blogosphere billionaire. But at some point shortly after I started it up, I reckoned I'd throw a few Google ads on the page, mostly out of curiosity about how the whole blog/ad revenue thing worked.  It turns out that the first thing I learned was that Google doesn't pay out anything until you reach $100.

For the first few months the totals piled up in numbers that were shocking to me, given the low traffic at a friends-and-family sort of blog devoted to beagle haiku, my own fantasy sports teams, and random photos of stuff.  Then the revenues dried up and the totals increased by mere pennies a month.  I reckoned that either a few friends and family members had tired of clicking on ads, or that Google had changed their payment algorithm to more accurately reflect the very limited desirability of the advertising demographic drawn by hound-based poetry.

Either way, my dream of making literally dozens of dollars a year while blogging from the comfort of my own home had come to a screeching halt.

Oh, I'd check in every few months to see if I'd come any closer to the magic $100 mark, but more to satisfy my abstract curiosity than my pecuniary interest.  I'd crossed the $99 mark a while ago, so I'd begun to wonder whether I could ever cross the magic $100 mark or if this was instead the Zeno's Paradox of the digital economy.

And then, lo and behold, what should I see in my e-mail inbox today?

-----

From: billing-noreply@google.com 
Time: Today at 12:51 AM

Please note that we've recently issued a payment to you for your Google AdSense earnings on Mar 25, 2014. Your payment has been sent and should be arriving shortly. For more information, please log into your account and visit your Payment summary page. You may also be able to find a reference number there to track or pick up your payment. 


Sincerely,
The Google Billing Team

-----

I'm gobsmacked!

I'd like to thank Katie the Beagle, Melanie Monagon's Drag-Racing Gremlin, and everybody in between. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with this windfall (I'm open to suggestions!) but I'll be sure you let my vast and profitable Patio Boat audience know what you bought me.

Now get out there and click on some ads. Let's get that next hundred dollars here by 2020 AD!

DWTS Season 18: Elena Grinenko

I knew Elena Grinenko was going to be a great guest since she had been a pro on the show during Seasons 3 and 4 plus she had worked with Charlie White and Meryl Davis. However, she was really good when it came to her constructive criticism and insight. She made me think more about what the pros go through in the rehearsal studio and where the show has evolved in terms of breaking rules and choreography.

Here is the link to her new studio: LA Ballroom Studio which opens officially next Monday, March 31.

I was super frustrated at the treatment Henry Byalikov and Diana Nyad received this week since they just deserved better. I don't care that it was week one and they were the first to go. Every contestant should have the same opportunity to dance and receive their proper scores. There were so many other controversies this week that we touched upon, but this one irked me the most.

If you missed the show, you can watch it below.

Let me know which controversy bugged you the most this week. Hit me up in the comments below.

2014 Motor City Hot Rod & Racing Expo

I attended the 1st annual Motor City Hot Rod & Racing Expo yesterday.  It was a small show, but enough to keep my interest for a good 3-4 hours.  I hope that the show is something that will grow over the years, and turn into a national draw.  For $10, I will undoubtedly give it a visit in the coming years.

One of the cooler cars on display.  Looks like a blast to drive!

Camaro Update: 3-21-2014

I finished up installed the pads/u-bolts along with my South Side Machine lift bars, which I suppose would now be considered "vintage."  I only recently learned that the Jegster bars are an exact knock-off, and possibly the reason South Side Machine went out of business, but that's only per internet rumor.  We will see how they hold up to 700 hp, and whether it's going to shock the tires too much.  If so, I'm thinking an upgrade to Cal-trac bars and new leaf springs may be necessary next year.  These sticky Mickey Thompsons will put them to the test.

Installed and ready to go.

Wheels and tires installed.

Camaro Update: 3-19-2014

I have compiled most all the parts I need, and now it's just a matter of getting them all where they need to go.  Currently, the inside of the car is serving as parts storage.  The list of to-do's has shrunk by about 10, but is still around 55 items long.  Thankfully, a good chunk will disappear shortly after the engine is installed.  For now, I'm knocking off as many small items as I can.

Thermostat and housing installed.

I took a break to install some more recently acquired posters from Autorama.

Gas tank straps stripped and ready for paint.  They have since been painted with an aluminum finish to match the galvanized gas tank.

I decided to finally switch to a synthetic oil, 15W-50 Mobil.  Almost as thick as the 20W-50 Castrol I previously ran, but with all the benefits of a synthetic.

The new, big block chevy mounts, installed and ready to hold an engine.

New leaf spring pads installed, along with new u-bolts.

My most recent order, consisting of gauge pods, plug wires, plug wire heat sleeves, and roll bar padding.

 

2 extra quart deep pan by B&M.

Camaro Update: 3-17-2014

I started on my TH400 trans about a week ago.  After driving out a few bearings, I realized I needed some new drivers, as I didn't have one that fit the rear case bearing.  Unfortunately, a few kits later, still leaves me without the correct driver.  That said, I think it's time to improvise and come up with something that works.

I plan on making some serious progress over the next few weeks on the trans, though completion by month's end is now looking like a real stretch.  I've recently got a 34 element sprag, spiral lock, 2 extra quart deep B&M pan, and found out I already have a Transgo shift kit installed.

New parts laid out.

The rear case bearing.  Once removed, the new bearing started in at an angle, and became distorted.  Thus, I ordered up 2 new bearings, so I have an extra in case the next one doesn't go in smoothly.

My second bench, to be used for assembly.

The first sub-assembly, all apart, and ready to go back together.

Go away, Winter, and take your beard with you!

As some of you know, I grew a wee little beard this winter to help fend off the cold. Today, I went to the barbershop:

Before

After

Now all I have to do is convince the weather to match my newly shorn state. Darn it, Winter, the calendar says that it's now Spring. It's time for you to go!

Roadkill: Episode 26

Only Roadkill could make a $500 Datsun so damn cool!

Detroit AutoRama: The Leftovers - Cycles, Exotics, and Oddities

Congratulations, intrepid reader! You've made it to the final post in the Patio Boat's epic AutoRama photo series. To be honest, I didn't set out to pen a saga, but even though I was only at the AutoRama for a few hours, I saw lots and lots of cool stuff that I reckoned was worth sharing.

This final post is a bit of a mish-mash of other stuff I saw that caught my eye. Let's start off with a couple of custom cycles:

There were at least a dozen of these custom-painted motorcycles lined up. The detail on some of them was truly astonishing.  Really, any one of them would be worth of a photoblog post of its own.

It's hard to read because it's black lettering on this matte black Lamborghini, but this Lamborghini comes to us from the Motor City Gumball Rally.

This 1971 DeTomaso Pantera comes to us from the brothers Mike and Jim Ring, the Ringbrothers, of Spring Green, Wisconsin. It was entered in the "Exotic Sports" class. Of course, almost everything looked exotic around here.

If there was an "Exotic Tractor" category, this 1938 Minneapolis Moline UDLX Comfortractor belonging to Diane Flis-Schneider of Lapeer, Michigan, would've been a shoe-in because it was one of one in that category.

Another exotic sports car, this practically new Fisker is already eligible to join us at the Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti, since brief-lived electric-car manufacturer Fisker has already folded. The car itself was a great-looking automobile. I especially like the solar panels on the roof, which recharge the batteries while you're parked during the day.

Pictures don't do justice to the size of this mammoth 1937 Hudson Terraplane owned by C.J. Kumar of Stouffville, Ontario. The body was lengthened four feet and widened eighteen inches to fit on a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel chassis. This means really re-shaping every panel and increasing the size of all the trim accordingly. For example, the original Terraplane front grille was stretched nine inches and widened sixteen inches to fit. The fit and finish was great and it all worked together, but the end result seemed more like an elephant than a Terraplane.

I mean that in the very best way.

Finally, we come to the question, "What was the craziest thing you saw at AutoRama." Well, honestly, I don't know, but I do know that the short list includes this 1939 Chevy Master Deluxe owned by Tom Carrigan of Vermontville, Michigan. Why? Because he shoved a turbosupercharged V12 Allison V-1710 aircraft engine under the hood, that's why!

How big is a 1,710 cubic-inch (28.0 liters) engine? That's almost as much displacement as four big-block Corvette engines! The Allison V-1710 produces around 1,500 hp at takeoff and was the primary engine for the twin-engined P-38 Lightning fighter of World War II fame.

That's crazy!

Which, in all fairness is the point of an awful lot of the cars at AutoRama. I had a great time looking at them all and want to thank all the designers, mechanics, and owners who put them together and brought them there. It was a great way to spend a snowy Saturday night in Detroit, and I look forward to seeing at least a few of these same cars out and about on the roads of Michigan this summer.

Detroit AutoRama: Rat Rods

The AutoRama Extreme display in Cobo Hall's basement was way fun. There was a great vibe down here. It was a notably younger crowd than the top-flight builds upstairs. Everybody seemed to be having a great time hanging out and looking at each others cars. Rat rods have a few different connotations for folks. On the one hand, they give off a real old-school vibe of hot rods built the way they used to be built once upon a time. Old cast-off car frames with a big engine and no apologies. On the other hand, sometimes "rat rod" seems to come in as an excuse for "badly built car."

In any case, cool is in the eye of the beholder. All I know is that some of these cars I saw in the AutoRama Extreme display in the basement were way cool.

And frankly, this batch look as if they're hanging out on a street corner smoking a cigarette.

Let's visit a few of my favorites, and you can decide how you feel about 'em yourself.  First up, this 1947 Austin Sheerline "125".  Shame on me for not getting the name of the owner, but it was one of my favorite cars in the entire show:

I could re-type the info, but the writing on the window says it all.  My favorite part? "It is finished!"

No need for costly re-chroming here!

Next up, alas, yet again another case in which I didn't get the owner's name, but I guarantee that whoever he is, he put as much work into this Chevy pickup as any of the shinier trucks on the main floor:

Sometimes builders will talk about stitching together a car. I've never seen the term applied so literally.

The detail on the inside of the cab was equally impressive. This truck drew a real crowd and not a single one failed to point out the arm rest.

Kevin Gill of Ooltewah, Tennessee, brought this 1929 Ford Roadster to the show. They don't get any more old-school than this.....

... unless, of course you're talking about this 1929 Ford Roadster owned by Steve Sabotka of St. Clair, Michigan. The Mexican blanket on the seat is what really pulls this decor scheme together.

Here's another great rat-rod pickup, a 1952 Dodge Pickup owned by Glen Vierheilig of Clinton Township.

There were quite a few old pickups in the rat-rod section. You might think this is just the predictable meeting of the current rat-rod and classic pickup trends, but pickups really do seem to make an ideal platform for rat-rodding.  I suspect its a combination of rugged looks suiting the rat-rod aesthetic and the capacity of a strong pickup frame to handle a wide variety of engines and suspensions.

Rat rods often feature a ton of detail. I love the diamond-plate steel flames cut out around the radiator of the 1961 REO rod.

I've got to be honest. Sometimes the details don't always come together smoothly.  Of course, that might've been the idea for this 1947 Chevy pickup owned by Robert Pope.

Another great old-school build: 1937 Fiat owned by Gerry Scarborough of Clarkston, Michigan. I love the old winged motometer on the radiator.

By the time I reached the back corner of AutoRama's basement, my only disappointment was that I hadn't seen a single MG in the entire show.  I mean, I get it. Detroit is the Motor City and American Iron rules the day.  But it still would've been nice to see one relative of my the FUN MG during its long winter slumber.

And then, in the farthest corner of the basement....

It's a 1957 MGA with a 283 V8 shoved in the engine bay. This barn find didn't look as if it had moved under its own power in quite some time. The sign on it said it was owned by "Singlefinger" (yeah, beats me, too) and was apparently built by two unknown boys from Marysville, Michigan.  I have no idea if the owner is planning to do anything with it, but if they go for the full rat-rod treatment, I picked up the ideal replacement for this logo at the Speedcult custom steel images booth:

Now all I've gotta do is build a rat rod around it!

Tomorrow? The Patio Boat Blog's final batch of photos from the 2014 Detroit AutoRama: The Leftovers - Cycles, Exotics, and Oddities.