project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[2flags]

And I suppose the broker turned round and said, 'sorry we cocked it up, but there's nothing we, or you, can do.' And they are right, there is nothing you can do. If you did rebuild, would it have to be a brick structure to withstand tornados, or would that also be a forlorn hope?

[somewhatfoolish]

It's a tough job designing things to be hurricane- or tornado-proof without them just being bunkers and costing unrealistic amounts. $50k+ seems ridiculous though, delivering and erecting a portal frame of something about the same size would be maybe £20k in the UK, I'd imagine it could be done for less in the US.

[PhilA]

Yeah, a barn can be a barn (which is in essence what this was). 

If a tornado hits there's not much that you can do if it is more than an F0 really.

That's what this was. It lifted the roof off which is why the structure then collapsed in.

Tornadoes are weird though. The roof joists, seasoned 50+ year old oak 4x10 beams laying on the floor splintered and snapped like toothpicks, and in amongst that carnage an unbroken fluorescent tube.

South of here a house was leveled by one, the only thing standing was half of one wall and the chinmey stack- sitting on the mantle piece were the 52 playing cards the inhabitants put there the night before they evacuated...

[hairnet]

has phil got a santa hat?

has the car?

will d and d have turkey po boys?

[PhilA]

15 hours ago, hairnet said:

has phil got a santa hat?

has the car?

will d and d have turkey po boys?

No

Yes

No, they're closed until the new year

[hairnet]

next stacklight for mrs @PhilA 

   

 

[DSdriver]

What about digging a swimming pool sized hole in the ground, with a ramp down to it, and a flat roof over it?

[captain_70s]

I reckon in Louisiana that'd stay as a swimming pool regardless of if you wanted it to or not...

[DSdriver]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

I reckon in Louisiana that'd stay as a swimming pool regardless of if you wanted it to or not...

Same as where I live then, our house isn't called Spring Cottage because of the season. 🙃 

[PhilA]

Southeast Louisiana, here yeah. 

(For scale, "home" to the O of New Orleans is about 36 miles in a straight line) 

The entirety of the land on that map rarely exceeds 5 feet above sea level, the mean average being closer to 2.

The lighter green of the map represents wetter ground. This whole area is runoff from the Mississippi (the squiggle that goes from Laplace on the image, through New Orleans, Belle Chasse) and the tributaries that spur off (I live on one, it follows the line of highway 1, mostly- that's the nomenclature also. A "bayou" is a tributary of the main river within the delta).

The Mississippi makes a lot of rivers look like someone just pissed on the ground and called it a waterway. At 2340 miles long, it carries a lot of water from up north, with annual peak flow in spring as the snow melts and wants somewhere to go. 

So yeah, around here digging down isn't an option. Heck, even the graves are above ground because you can't dig down...

[PhilA]

Chilly morning here just on freezing. 

Cloud machine, engage. Went get coffee.

Heater still works well athough I think the thermostat isn't fully sealing any more because it only got up to about 160F on the gauge. I didn't fit the regulation cardboard in front of the radiator. 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Fuel gauge appears to be working now after a two week soak with solvents in the tank. 

Cold again. Took a few minutes for all cylinders to join the party this morning.

[PhilA]

Unusually chilly today. 

Not sure what all this on the ground is. 

[loserone]

Post inauguration celebratory cocaine 

[hairnet]

special surprise to take mind off mrs phil has bought another veehickle

[PhilA]

Yeah, no more cars right now. I need to get some of these working.

It's still snowing.

[hairnet]

6 inch deep?

i know they said it would be cold in dc but didnt know you were gonna get it too

[hairnet]

is the truck awd lol

[PhilA]

No, truck is 2wd. Infiniti is AWD. Currently under curfew, nobody's going anywhere. Too many people decided to go out in the snow and wrecked. 

Government said "y'all can't drive, stay home"

[hairnet]

what did la and ms do to upset the clouds ffs

apparently its gonna head for FL too

[PhilA]

Old cars are terrible. Carburetors need to be taken off and replaced by fuel injection to be reliable in the cold 

 

[loserone]

8 hours ago, PhilA said:

No, truck is 2wd. Infiniti is AWD. Currently under curfew, nobody's going anywhere. Too many people decided to go out in the snow and wrecked. 

Government said "y'all can't drive, stay home"

Amazeballs.  Land of the free! 

 

Don't disagree with staying home mind.

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

10 hours ago, PhilA said:

Yeah, no more cars right now. I need to get some of these working.

It's still snowing.

That's not snow.

It's Trump's dandruff. 🙃

 

 

Seriously, stay safe PhilA and family.

[Westbay]

Don't worry @PhilA, Trump's probably got an Executive Order in the pile on his desk to fix that !  🤣

[LightBulbFun]

9 hours ago, PhilA said:

Old cars are terrible. Carburetors need to be taken off and replaced by fuel injection to be reliable in the cold 

 

Awesome! I like how at the front it sounds like an old diesel locamotive ticking over "chug-chug-chug"   interesting how long it takes for the oil pressure light to go out, would it take longer or shorter to build oil when its cold like this? in that of course the oil will be thicker, so im wondering will it build pressure quicker because its thicker, or slower because its thicker/slower to move around?

also I love how bright it looks "sorry I crashed my car, I lost oil pressure..." "...yeah light came on and it blinded me off the road"  (I mean you certainly wont miss it if it does unfortunately come on when your driving where sometimes with dim warning lights you end up going "Oh crap how long has that been on for!" )

also shame about the lockin, I was hoping for some silly icy carpark sideways action, I do believe @hairnet asked for doughnuts previously

[PhilA]

Yup, that was the first try, only thing not on camera was a couple pumps on the throttle before turning it over. 

Oil warning light intentionally made bright, it's down by my knee so it needs to be a good attention getter, even in sunshine. The switch has been a bit slow lately but 20W/50 in -3°c is a bit thick to say the least. There's a lot of big galleries to fill up in this engine. It tends to drain down overnight. It starts up evenly but begins to hunt quite rapidly as it warms up- the rear of the engine getting warm before the front so the rear cylinders begin to miss as the mixture remains too rich. There's a few springs and things that are meant to prevent that from happening too much but ultimately it needs a little tap on the throttle periodically to reset the idle stop and in turn that removes some spring tension on the choke also. It's got a couple noisy lifters also which need adjusting, but overall it does pretty well. 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

4 hours ago, loserone said:

Amazeballs.  Land of the free! 

 

Don't disagree with staying home mind.

That happened after the second car had to be fished out of the river.

"Y'all can't drive. Everybody gets to stay home"

[loserone]

Just now, PhilA said:

That happened after the second car had to be fished out of the river.

Sounds like freedom to me, the freedom to drown yourself and your family through your own stupidity 😂

[hairnet]

yall cant drive isnt an instruction - sounds like fact

will it be gone by sunday - they were saying so - whether thatll happen - although to temp will go up they said

[PhilA]

2 hours ago, loserone said:

Sounds like freedom to me, the freedom to drown yourself and your family through your own stupidity 😂

Pulling the rescue team into 3°c muddy water full of angry tooth filled creatures, deemed a waste of manpower.