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Topics - mowinmachine

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1
Coffee Shop / Its been a long time... wow is it quite here.
« on: August 20, 2015, 05:41:42 pm »
Not many of you will remember me. I hung out here for 5-6 years, raced mowers for 5 or so years then gave it up. I haven't been back on this site in a few years. What in the heck happened? There's nobody here. Sort of like a ghost town. Oh well, hope everyone is having and has had a good time racing since I was last here. See ya'll later.

2
 I know that some of you guys on here just absolutely live and breathe mower racing 24/7. I can appreciate that and wish I too had that same level of enthusiasm.

 But I'd say for a good part of this year I've started to lose some of that enthusiasm. I think a lot of it has to do with the drive back and forth to the track. 3 hours each way. I've done this now since around 2006, so 6 years so far. Its a nice drive but after doing it XXX number of times it grows really old. As busy as I am during the week, the idea of taking it easy at the house sounds pretty nice. But on the Friday before a race it comes down to a decision: Do I want to spend 6 hours of Saturday in the car for 1 hour or so of racing? By the time I get home the day is basically over and I am usually just worn-out from the drive. One day of the weekend over and done with with most of it stuck in the truck.

 I know.... if I were reallllyyyy into the sport then I'd simply grit and bear it and do it regardless cause it'd be in my blood or whatnot. This is something I've done for a long time and while I'm not thinking of giving it up I am starting to have some thoughts about easing up for awhile.

 Sorry for the long story...

3
 I've been doing mower racing for about 6 years now. Its a lot of fun for me. But as there is no mower racing anywhere near where I live, I drive around 3 hours each way to participate each race we have at the home track. That's 6 hours in the truck for about 2 hours of racing. Its tiresome. So basically its early morning when I leave and its night time when I get home. Its not that drive itself is that bad, but I've been doing this for years now.

 There's seriously starting to be a part of me trying to decide if I really want to do that anymore. I've only gone to a few races this year. Honestly I enjoy hanging out with the people I've got to know in our group more than the racing. So its not a decision I'd take lightly. But this is the first year I've started to really question all that driving. It also seems a shame that the mower comes home and sits in the garage until the next race. I don't live in the sticks nor have a yard big enough to test it out in. So the only time the mower sees dirt is on race day. Good luck if it doesn't break down because I have no means to test anything.

   By the end of the week I am plain wore-out and ready to take it easy. As in stay local, have a few beers, mess around in the shop and whatnot. I also just bought a house so that gives me a lot to do these days.

 I really don't want to give up the sport. Not only do I have a ton of time invested in the mower, but I feel that I've started to get the hang of it and its become pretty enjoyable to take er' for a spin out on the track. I just wish it was closer. Its not the sport, the people, or anything else. Its the drive. Just seeing what some of you all thought.

4
Coffee Shop / Andy Griffith passed away.
« on: July 03, 2012, 11:34:17 am »
 I'm not usually one to comment about the ongoings of celebrities. But this one for me is different. Growing up in the South the Andy Griffith show was always on. Didn't matter if we had seen all of the episodes a zillion times. It was just something that was always there. Sort of a comforting thing to come home and eat dinner and see one of the episodes like the one with Aunt Bee and the kerosene pickles. Heck. Around us they had the show on 2 and sometimes even 3 times a day. I still like watching it and was actually watching it last night because I got a netflix account. But having "Grown up" with the show, his passing is sort of like the passing of an era.

 I think that was maybe the best shows made. RIP Andy.

5
Coffee Shop / Anyone use a dust mask while racing?
« on: May 30, 2012, 12:39:23 pm »
 Last weekend we had one of our big races- our annual memorial day event. As usual for this time of year, it was dry and hot. Our track always dries out after about 5 laps and before you know it you're driving in a dust storm. Anyway, every time I go racing I'm usually coughing up dirt for a day or so afterwards and it makes my sinuses go nuts. I can't imagine its all that bad for you but it can't be great either. So I'm thinking of wearing some sort of face mask or something to cut down on the dust. Anyone else do this and if so, what do you use?

6
Today when I pulled up Heymow I instead got a page instead that shows an ad that says something about "Parallel Desktops" followed by a message: "Server Default Page".
Also- some of the tools in the site appear to be broken/ missing images, etc...

7
Chassis / My handy new invention: " The Exhaust Skid Plate"
« on: March 20, 2012, 11:35:16 am »
I guess it isn't really an invention, but maybe some of you have the same issues I did with my exhaust, which is only 2-3" off the ground. We race in a lot of different environments and on different tracks, sometimes tracks that are pretty rough with rocks. After 2 years the exhaust on mine got really beat up from running over rocks, pot holes, and other stuff. I cracked it a few times last year at a local speedway.
 
So... I got a piece of flat steel stock, bent the front end up to fit the curve of the pipe and welded it on, making a sort of sled. So that way the ski and not the pipe will take the beating. Anyway, its not the prettiest thing but we'll see how it works


8
Coffee Shop / We aught to write country country songs about mower racing.
« on: February 21, 2012, 11:52:28 am »
I don't know why I thought about this, but I've been thinking that its ashame that there aren't any country songs about mower racing. I happen to be a big fan of old school country when a lot of the songs were about women, beer, juke boxes, and truck stops. Anyway, I got a few ideas but figured I'd let some of you all go first and see if we can stick something together.

9
Other Interesting Builds / What I've been doing all winter.
« on: February 03, 2012, 02:20:34 pm »
 My "other" hobby is restoring old radios from the 20's-40's. This involves replacing all the capacitors, some of the resistors, somtimes rebuilding power supplies, re-wiring and other electronic refurbishment. I did a lot of them this winter. Here's some of them after restoration:

1: 1940 GE HJ-1005. Big sucker. sounds great too.


2: 1939 Crossley


3: 1938 RCA T-80


4: 1935 McMicheal. British. Real oddball. I got a transformer to power it since its a 220 volt set


5: 1948 Emerson. "Midget" radio. tiny radio fits in the palm of your hand


6: 1938-39 Sachenwerk. German set.


7: 1937 Zenith 12-S-266. I didn't restore it, but bought it restored. This thing is amazing. It has a motorized dial and has "shutters" that open and close for the different bands.



 The cool thing is that many have RCA jacks in the rear and I can actually plug in my iPhone and listen to MP3's.

10
Coffee Shop / Since we're talking about oil, what's your favorite beer?
« on: December 12, 2011, 04:03:23 pm »
 The oil debate made me wonder about beer because its probably a similar thing anyway. So anyway, what's everyone's favorite beer? I actually make almost all of our beer myself so I don't buy a lot. But if I were to pick something made commercially, well as far as "normal" beer I do like Fat Tire. As far as fancy beer goes I like This stuff made out here in Cali called "Pranqster". Also like just about any Belgian triple abbey ale. Oh what the heck. I like a lot of beer out there in general. Even PBR on occasion when its 100 degrees.

11
Coffee Shop / A reminder about safety...
« on: December 12, 2011, 11:43:52 am »
 I realize that this is probably redundant. But to me its worth 'refreshing' the subject from time to time. Yesterday I was out chopping firewood. My maul glanced off the side of the log I was working on and a piece of wood flew off with such force it totally destroyed one of my wife's large flower pots across the yard. When I was in middle school one of the kids in our class was partially blinded in one eye when a piece of wood hit him in the face when he was chopping wood. Ever since then I've worn goggles when I chop wood because I'm reminded of him.

 While there's no such thing as making anything totally safe, there's a few things we can all do to minimize the risk. Here's a few and others can add their own to the list.

 1: Wear eye protection. If you're cutting, grinding, hammering, or anything else that could cause things to fly, wear goggles. No- glasses aren't good enough.

2: If you are painting, grinding, sanding, using whatever airborne chemicals, or welding, keep a good fan going and wear a respirator. Those crappy paper masks are only good for very light duty things like sanding wood. Get a GOOD respirator that has canisters and is specifically designed to protect you from the types of chemicals and particulates you're being exposed to. They come with manuals listing what they work for. You'd be amazed at how much less crap will come out of your nose at the end of the day.

3: Wear protective gloves. If you're working with things like cleaners, solvents, gas, oil, and whatever else, well your skin is porous and thus if you get those things on your bare skin, its going right into your bloodstream. Some chemicals we use are potentially carcinogenic so you don't want these in your body, especially if you use them repeatedly. Get a box of rubber work gloves. As an added bonus you won't have to spend forever scrubbing your hands either.

4: Wear hearing protection. I should know because I used to never do this and now my wife has to basically yell at me whenever she's across the room to get my attention. If you're using things like grinders, air wrenches, chop saws, chain saws, or anything else like that- get a good set of ear muffs or some of those squishy foam plugs. If anything- do it for your relatives and save them from being aggravated when you have to constantly ask them to "say that again?"

5: Be careful about keeping oil-soaked rags around. As you all know putting oily rags in a pile can cause a spontaneous combustion hazard. If you keep a lot of rags like that around, get an approved container for them.

6: Clean up spills and grease. Sounds stupid but slipping and falling from a slippery floor is no fun ( ask me how I know this). So if you spill something... clean it up and avoid embarrassing or hurting yourself. Secondly, try to avoid spilling stuff like this out in the yard or driveway. Its of course not that great for the lawn or anything else for that matter.

 Anyway... that's what I could recall for now...
 Be safe out there.

12
 This has probably been asked a bazillion times. Anyway, I raced all year with a "mild" modified 14.5 OHV Briggs I built last winter. As of this writing its current configuration is that its got an ARC rod, ARC billet crank, ARC flywheel, ported and polished intake and exhaust, rings ground to around .06, stock carb with adjustable main jet.

 I don't actually turn the engine over that fast. Probably something like 4,500 on average. The mower's overall performance has been decent but I would like to get some better torque response. I've heard that a performance cam would help with this but there's also been some debate about it in that if you're not turning the engine that fast then the benefits are more minimal. This is an easy mod and not horribly costly. But would it be worth it anyway? Just curious.

13
Coffee Shop / totally unrelated car problem question.
« on: September 02, 2011, 10:32:03 am »
 I figure since I know a lot of you on here I trust your opinions. So here goes. I have a 96' Toyota Tacoma 4-banger. Anyway, on the way to work today it suddenly got a whole heck of a lot louder- like there was no muffler. When I got to the office parking lot I looked under there to see what was up. 5 years ago the catalytic converter was replaced. Its bolted into the exhaust. Anyway, the cat on this is cylindrically shaped and tapers at the ends. Where it tapers in the very back where it connects to the pipe has totally rusted out and cracked. Its just where it meets up with the connector. The folks who stuck it in there tig welded it in there and where they welded is where its rusted through. Anyway, My question is will it be ok for me to drive it home? The break is at the end of the cat. I'm wondering if I could cause damage to the cat. On this truck they aren't at all cheap. I plan on dropping it out and repairing it.

 Thanks!

14
Coffee Shop / totally, totally unrelated wiring question.
« on: June 22, 2011, 10:41:36 pm »
 The other day I went to a yard sale and there was a nice commercial fan. I bought it for $2. Only one of the 3 speeds worked but so what- I figured I could use it in the shop. Anyway, after 2 hours the fan shorted out. Its got a cheap-o plastic switch which I believe was what caused the issue. My plan is to just wire it up to a single throw switch so it will run on high. Only problem is that there are 4 wires coming out of the motor: white, black, red, and blue. According to the diagram black is high speed, white is common, red is medium, and blue is low. I wired up black and white. Nothing. So either there's some sort of fused link or I've incorrectly wired it. Question is since white is common, could I connect either the red or blue wire to the white wire? The motor has independent windngs for each speed so I'm guessing that the high speed is fried.

 Sorry this sounds stupid but I figured some of you geniuses would possibly know.

15
Tires / Where do you get gaskets for split wheels?
« on: June 21, 2011, 10:05:28 pm »
I swear I've looked for an hour for a site that sells these. Anyone got any pointers?

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