cordless drills

My old Makita cordless drill just died. Well actually, its still running. But the chuck is failing and one of the two batteries is completely dead. The other battery is getting weak. This thing is indispensable in my garage for everything from polishing components to the usual hole drilling.

After a bunch of research I just ordered a Bosch 36618-02.

I also considered the Panasonic EY6432GQKW (approximately $200). This is maybe best rated of the "prosumer grade" (my terminology) drills. But the NiMH battery, while probably stronger than the Lithium Ion batteries of the competitors just looked too bulky to me. But its supposed to be a great drill and my old Makita with NiMH batteries was great... at any rate I skipped it.

Makita BDF452HW is the other competitor (approx $185), but it had some bad reviews of the chuck and batteries. And in person looked cheap to me. It didn't look like a worthy successor to my old Makita.

So I'm trying the Bosch above. At $155, I could get a third battery for another $50, and still be in the price range I'm willing to spend. So my main concern, battery life, seemed to be best addressed with this unit as I'm pretty sure three batteries would do better than the two of the competitive units above.

Thats my summary, FWIW.
After I get it I intend to polish my truck headlights to remove the fogging. That should be a good test, and I'll report back on how it works out.

Motogiro d'Italia 2011

Well, Club Terni has announced the 2011 Motogiro!
Motoclub Terni Motogiro
Of course there are two of these now; DreamEngine2 runs an event too.
A short history...
Club Terni started running the revival event back around 1989. In 2001 Ducati spun off an organisation called DreamEngine to run the event with Club Terni. Ducati was interested in the marketing benefits. In those days DreamEngine ran the hotels and tourist stuff, and Club Terni ran the competition and road stuff. DreamEngine did bring a Ducati bias to the event, and that certainly brought many Ducati fans. That lasted through 2007 and then Club Terni and Dream Engine split ways. Around this time Ducati stopped making a big sponsorship of the event as well. And then DreamEngine disolved and DreamEngine2 was formed. Now there are two Motogiro events held in Italy. At this point it appears that the Club Terni event is the FMI (the Italina Motorcycle Federation, like our AMA) certified event. I've never been to the Club Terni event, but have heard good reports. And it sounds like people had a great time at the DreamEngine event too. Although I haven't personally been able to compare the two, I suspect the DreamEngine2 event is still a bit more Ducat and tourist focused and the Motoclub Terni event might be a bit more Italian (less English spoken and more Italian riders). But that is just my guess.
DreamEngine makes a big deal about the name Motogiro and you can see some noise about related Italian lawsuits on their website. But it appears that that trademark is for the "trapezoidal logo with motogiro printed inside it" and that Terni is being allowed to continue to use the actual word Motogiro as well. Which seems sensible, as this is a generic term in Italian, roughly translated "motorcycle tour" in english. Regardless of the lawsuits, its great there are two events now. But I hope the market can really support both.
I'd really like to go and try the Motoclub Terni event, as I remember those organizers fondly...

Every step is a battle... more

Interesting that I just posted about that line "Every step is a battle". So I'm working on the motorcycle hauler, my 2003 Nissan Frontier. I ordered new Yokohama Geolander tires, Bilstein shocks, and Hawk brake pads from Tire Rack about $700. Brought them all the big O tires. The Brake pads were the wrong ones, and I needed new rotors. So I bought new rotors and pads from Big O, and returned the Hawk pads to the Tire Rack. All good. Big O charged me another $700. Oof. Today I spent some time bedding the pads in. Interesting process documented here. It all seemed to be going ok and I took a break (pun intended) while I had a unrelated appointment. Then I was driving home when... a horrible squeal came from the front of the car. I was immediately very concerned, assuming maybe a caliper had fallen off or a pad slipped loose or who knows what? I pulled over and then carefully tried to move the truck and the sound came back. I got out and inspected things, and they all looked ok. So I tried again, same problem... and then I tried turning off the air conditioner... and the sound stopped. Maybe a pulley or the compressor seized? Well I was still a bit spooked as this all happened right after changing the tires, shocks and brakes! So I drove carefully to my mechanic, and on the last mile tried the AC again... so squeal... but no cold air either. Hmm. Well an hour later and my mechanic called, the compressor has failed and it necessary to replace the drier at the same time.  Another $700.  I'm beginning to remember why I thought renting a truck when I really needed it was cheaper than owning...

GTV rattle update

Well, after poking around with the rattle (described a couple posts back) that I attributed to my throttle linkage. I brought the car to my experts at APC. The car needed some other servicing, and its alot easier for them to get under the car, as I don't have a lift. Ends up it was a good choice. The exhaust was cracked, and that was causing some extra vibration. My throttle linkage was probably shaking with the extra vibration caused by the cracked exhaust. But the rattle is gone now, thank goodness. This throttle linkage has been a lot of work... you can see my earlier story from when I replaced the bell crank and heim joints on the throttle linkage here.
Also, they found some of the front suspension linkages had been loosening and they tightened that up. And of course I let then do the oil change and we put in a fresh battery. The car seems to be running great now. Definitely quieter, a little smoother and just a dream. So I should be all set for the late summer and fall events.
And I saved myself some real frustration chasing the rattle myself. I hadn't even considered a cracked exhaust as a possible factor. Sometimes its best to enlist professional help!

Every step is a battle

Is it just me? So many seemingly simple projects seem to become a battle to achieve success. Like I ordered new tires, shocks and brake pads for the truck. And then found they shipped me the wrong break pads. And I got a new GPS... and found the SW is way out of date and it seems Garmin has made the update process as tortuous as possible. Even when the project is completely under my control, it seems it can mushroom out of control and the simple project can become hard. In fact is seems like the easy projects are the ones that become a problem... the hard ones just stay hard. I mean, I expect replacing the seal on the master brake cylinder of the Alfa to be a messy and hard job. But I don't expect to have trouble fitting bullet connectors to the regulator on the mondial to be a problem. Or to get the wrong brake pads when I order a set for a modern truck. Or the map update on a new GPS to be a maze of forms, registrations downloads and installations. Oh well. As I often say: Every step is a battle. (Lets just hope it resolves as a pleasant process and a success.)

Rattle and Oils

Had the GTV out today, and its running great. But it does have one issue, there is a vibration/rattle. Something makes this irritating vibrating rattle sound when I take my foot off the throttle at about 4000RPM. I've been chasing this for a while. I isolated the hand throttle's cable with a rubber grommet and I tweaked the whole throttle linkage carefully to make sure there is no play. Now I'm thinking maybe its coming from something else... might have to in list some help finding this. Its a pain because it only happens when I'm rolling, but maybe I can find someone to look under the dash as I'm driving? Anyway, I picked up some oil for the car, Castrol Syntec 20W-50 "for Classic Cars". Has more zinc, which is supposedly important. Frightening how expensive oil is these days. I remember the old cans of oil being under $1 / quart...

Vintage Hauler Servicing - sigh

Sadly, the pickup truck needs some servicing. Well, it's only sad because it uses up funds that would be more happily spent on the vintage machinery! But it needs new tires, shocks and brakes, just ordered it all from the Tire Rack. Installation to be scheduled.
I use the truck for runs to the desert with my dirt bike, and to haul the various vintage bikes to events. And for the errands a truck always seems so useful for. And it's a handy loaner vehicle when we have house guests. Its just a little 2003 Nissan Frontier King Cab XE with 2 wheel drive and the small 4 cylinder engine. Actually, its surprisingly fun to drive... somehow slow badly handling vehicles can be strangely fun. But it does spend much of its time parked while I ride/drive the more interesting vehicles!

Ordered:
Yokohama Geolander ATS tires, Bilstein HD shocks, Hawk LTS brake pads.