The Guvna Blog. Redux.

[Lonestar245]

You got me thinking, which is a dangerous thing. Anyway, this thinking is about how websites seem to be withering and social media is becoming so dominant.

The WWW is really just "too much" these days. It's easy to get lost. Having been involved in numerous hobbies pre-WWW, then working to get some of the various hobbies and interests online, then watching social media suck the life out of what sometimes had become great websites, it's just mind-boggling. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this mess. I fear that social media will continue its march toward dominance. However, it seems best for short communications that build camaraderie and dispense timely info.

One suggestion I have is to save complicated "how to" info for websites and drive interested parties to it using social media. Things like "I did a trans conversion using xxx in my '72 TR6. Here are a few photos of how it went. If you want detailed info, I posted it here: www.whatever" and/or the video is on youtube here: [email protected]" Blogs may be more suited to social media, but again, one could link to a website where it also resides. Especially if it's a long one with multiple subjects.

People using Social Media seem to have short attention spans, and are often quickly distracted by other "shiny objects". The use of SM seems to be altering our behavior toward more instant gratification. I find I am only coming to a website like this to find technical info. I want to drill down to it quickly and find the solution. It's not like picking up a magazine and leafing through the pages anymore. There are too many pages. TMI. It's a sad fact. I admit I have been sucked in by SM.

My 2 cents

[wemattson]

I've never been a big fan of social media and after watching the documentary "Social Dilemma", I'm glad I avoided it. The downside is that everybody I know communicates with SM and I run the risk of missing out.

[L.O. Guvna]

Note. This blog is being moved. I’ll update here this week, but planning on posting this in several places. Thanks.


Post election. Even this is new. Or feels like it. The world dealing with so much impact that we gravitate to comfort. I know I do. Our US Thanksgiving, and the December holidays. 2020 is the year of survival.

Whats new.
I was a guest on an industry zoom broadcast this past week, and in preparing for it, I planned on being outside, in a chair, in front of the school car. The premise was about the industry, status, strategies, outlook….etc. And the car would have been the reminder of survival. I had to move inside, and use a regular backdrop, and I will use this reminder in work of how the tr6 and classics cars are more than just old metal and design. The school car has rust, it runs, it needs service, but even if she gets parked in the woods near the ocean, it would last longer than me.

I’m still having start switch issues – although I thought I had fixed that with shielding bare wires. Those shorts probably killed the internals of the switch, and anyone with higher amp alternators need to heed Lou’s warning here about secondary wiring from the alternator to the battery. Good insurance, I remember reading from him. Otherwise, a cleaned up 6, now with replaced glove box, vacuumed interior, fresh gas. I did notice some oil on top of my valve cover – I have those Thumb screw covers from Goodparts, and my o rings are failing – simple replacement from home depot plumbing, I suppose.


Wishbone Classics
The Dallas Triumph TR6 Facebook group
Throwback


WBC
Kai and Wishbone Classics have been a big part of 6pack for years. As a paid member, you have access to the magazine online. You get magazines delivered with your membership, but unless you have been a member for years, you don’t have old issues. And its here that I like to remind members, paid or otherwise, many of your answers to some of the common forum questions can be answered. Tire sizing, rotations, and how to mimic the redline. Bulb upgrades, by Lou – one of my favorites. And the pinnacle, in my opinion, the 3 part series from Kai on our engine blueprinting. This series is now…10 years old or older. But literally, what is recipie was then on block pistons, crank, head, intake, exhaust, valves….. You could take this recipe to a local builder, I imagine, and have them recreate a Kai performance motor. Probably why he doesn’t share this stuff anymore, and why should he. A shop that finds a few horsepower each year. Modifying the crank a few years ago, reducing the mass by 7 pounds or so, making it a better crank. Mikuni work on fuel delivery. Cams. And knowing what I know about headers, a simple change in bend or size change here, or there, affects backpressure, and thus impacts torque, powerband, and so on. Stuff for other people than me to really understand.

I’ve lost touch with Kai, and looked them up this week, found a PA number, 215 exchange, and wondered why they moved from Syracuse to Pennsylvania. Left him a voice mail, and no response yet. Some have had issues catching up with him, and lets all hope he surfaces someday soon. Wishbone is part of the R&D fabric that keep this mark alive.

Dallas Triumph TR6 in facebook.
Funny what you forget. I mentioned on 6pack a few years ago, to establish a 6pack chapter in Dallas. I knew there were plenty of tr6s in Dallas, and we needed a 6 only focus. I create a facebook group, we throw a few things around, including a possible get together, and nothing really got off the ground. Until last weekend. 2 members of that group step up, we gather at a brewery on a nice Saturday afternoon, and share insights. Now, the group is active, and somewhat a junior version of 6pack. Found myself giving back – stuff I learned along the way, at 6pack, from Dave at TRF, from Ted at TSI, Richard at Goodparts, Ed Barnard, the Red River Triumph Club, and literally, on and on.

So now, we are planning a second meeting, adding a few cars, and still planning on having a formal chapter in Dallas. Finally. 2020 is more than just a train wreck.


Throwback. Rear speakers
I’ve pushed more buttons lately. About to do it again. With rear speakers. Mounted in the back panel, bottom corners, with the speaker magnet pushed back under the corners of the fuel tank. The metal triangles cut in a circle with a jigsaw or handsaw. Speakers mounted thru the fiber and vinyl panel.

I’ve mentioned this…dare I say, upgrade…on this site. That didn’t go well. I was certain I could convince and console anyone afraid of this mod. The more I tried, the more head pats I got. That’s ok at this point. But I will use this moment to share how I got to that change for my 2 tr6s.

Teenager, with a sports car, with decent knowledge of home and car audio, I somehow realized that rear speakers could fit in the back panel of this mark. To this day, I haven’t seen anyone else with it. In my 72 car, in the mid 70s, I took a Christmas present alpine stereo, and fitted it in the upright console, complete with tennis ball under it to help support it. Speaker wires under the carpet and tunnel area, and with the rear panel removed, friend Richard and I, with a portable jigsaw, cut the pattern out of my rear triangles. We used as much metal as we could for 3 mounting holes, leaving the 4^th only mounted to the fiber panel. I had new, Pioneer 4 way 6 inch speakers, and after some contortion, got the screws and bolts attached, tightened, and rear panel replace. We even shot the raw cut metal with primer to protect the metal.

That was the 72 car. And after driving the school car with no audio for the first 3 or 4 years, I wanted a radio in it. So, I dusted off my brain, and did that to the school car. A lot of that memory came back in this process. This time, rear blaupunkt speakers, but up front this time, a new old stock Kraco 8 track player, complete with equalizer. The Kraco is gone now, replaced with a JVC unit with BT and rear USB. This isn’t a segment to encourage anyone to repeat this process, but I have seen many bulky efforts to get good audio in this mark, and I will say, that regardless of the warnings, my car still runs, is safe, and hasn’t fallen into on itself with this minor sheet metal change.

And let me finish with this. 8 track. As bad as that format was, you cannot imagine the interest your car gets with a working 8 track. Literally overshadows the car. I became an 8 track repair guy – not the machine, but the 8 track itself. 8 track deterioration. The foam behind the tape used to push the tape against the head, crumbles. So, replacing that with new foam. And with any 8 track bought from a used books store, needs its metal tape replaced. The metal tape was used to join this long loop of audio tape on the spool, but the metal tape glue gives out. So, a gentle pulling of the tape before use, will cycle the audio tape out until that metal area is, cut with scissors, and retaped with HVAC tape – same small rectangle shape. The metal tells the 8 track to change channels. In case you’re wondering, I have a lot of 8 tracks now.


The mark is a great diplomat. You help people around you with this car. You bring inspiration. You are a steward, a diplomat, and you are helping others, even if you just own this mark.

Remember to start the car with it out of gear and foot off the clutch. Smile when you drive, and take a kid driving.

cheers
G

[L.O. Guvna]

Last entry here in prospective. all future ramblings will be here. Cheers

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/511516-the-guvna-blog#post537511

[L.O. Guvna]

updated blog - just reminding everyone that its moved.

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/511516-the-guvna-blog?p=538135#post538135

[L.O. Guvna]

This week's blog. Have a great weekend, stewards

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/542681-the-guvna-blog-ignition-boot-tuck-detroit-and-other-6s

[L.O. Guvna]

Good morning, stewards. Happy Motoring.

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/543081-the-guvna-blog-rear-brakes-tonneau-bleeding-and-the-legend-of-tucker-vail

[poolboy]

'stewards" ?...I hate to tell you this, Chris but I for one am not a 'steward'...I actually own my TR6.
I take care of it and maintain it along with most of my processions for selfish reasons...not for such noble reasons or obligations..
I guess I just don't like being labeled

[baws]

I wanna be buried in mine....

[L.O. Guvna]

Ken brings me to how to identify us - and owner fits. You say selfish, but Ken. Cmon. Look around you. You may feel selfish, but I don't think anyone else here sees you this way. I don't. TR6 owner.

cheers.

this weeks blog. I'll fiddle with the commentary for next week.

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/543311-the-guvna-blog-lights-big-gauges-purpose-and-the-airport-curve

[poolboy]

I think you missed my point....I didn't mean that I thought I was a selfish person....
To be more TRiumph specific about the selfishness aspect, I maintain my TR6 not for posterity or for 'preserving the marque' but for my own selfish reasons...the enjoyment I get from driving it.

[frostr6]

I think I get the point, and it's similar for me. There are folks who fix up cars and resell them, at least partially to save them from the scrap heap and keep them on the road. I respect that, but I primarily work on my Triumph for my own enjoyment (both the wrenching and driving parts). When I fix or change something (other than safety items) it's usually because that's how I want it done, and often to make future work on it easier for myself. If the car is worth anything when I'm done with it that'll be a nice bonus, but not the primary motivation for what I do with it now.

[L.O. Guvna]

thanks Ken - frost. I thought i had stepped on a toe. I get it - that we all care for it, in a personal way. Doesn't require a label. cheers.

[L.O. Guvna]

good morning.

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/543493-the-guvna-blog-gearbox-tanks-fuels-and-sweet-16

[L.O. Guvna]

https://forums.6-pack.org/blogs/the-l-o-guvna-blog/543713-the-guvna-blog-diffworld-bowl-bolts-kids-and-old-school-rebuild