Journal Entries
Twenty Commandments
Posted Oct 30, 2000
There has been a lot of disagreement lately over whether or not to post the Ten Commandments in courtrooms and classrooms. One of the main points of opponents is that four of the ten are very religious in nature while only six have to do with general rules of behavior. Since people rarely agree on religion it could be considered tactless for a government official to exhort their beliefs over the beliefs of the people they serve. That is not what I am worried about; I am worried why people are not raising such a fuss about the rest of the commandments.
Each of the Ten Commandments is listed in the bible, and in the order most people list them in. The problem lies in the fact there are quite a few more commandments than ten, and the bible never calls out these ten as being different or separate from the rest. Sure, there is a heading marked "The Ten Commandments" in some bibles, but the publishers added that. I have read through most of the rest of the commandments, and I have a few I think need to be examined and a few I think need to be added.
For years I have heard how punishment was laid out in the Old Testament. "An eye for an eye..." and it was explained to me that if one man injured another he was to be injured in the same way. Then I read the commandments. Exodus 21:18-19 "When men quarrel and one hits another with a stone or with a spade or fist and the man is not killed but takes to his bed; if he recovers so as to walk about with a stick, then the one who struck him has no liability, except that he shall pay for loss of time and shall see that he is cured." This does not sound like what I was taught, it sounds like worker's compensation. The part about "eye for eye" comes later. Exodus 21:22-25 "When, in the course of a brawl, a man knocks against a pregnant woman so that she has a miscarriage but suffers no further hurt, then the offender must pay whatever fine the woman's husband demands after assessment. Wherever hurt is done you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound." And spleen for spleen I would guess. This has interesting implications for the Pro-Life crowd who claim the bible speaks for the rights of the unborn. Unfortunately they do not get the same protection under God's covenant that is given a grown man. Exodus 21:12 "Whoever strikes another man and kills him shall be put to death."
I have always wanted a servant to wait at my beck and call, and according to Exodus21:2 that is not a problem. "When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall be your slave for six years, but in the seventh year he shall go free and pay nothing." If our congressmen are so anxious to base our law on the bible, why did they repeal slavery?
There is even a version of the "Make My Day" law! Exodus 22:4, "If a burglar is caught in the act and is fatally injured, it is not murder; but if he breaks in after sunrise and is fatally injured, then it is murder." So what if I shoot him off my property, but it is still nighttime?
There are a few commandments I would rather leave off. I remember my father spanking me as a child. I thought it was unfair and gave him a swat. This earned me another spanking, which compared to Exodus 21:15 is getting off light. "Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death."
There are several that I believe speak directly to our politicians. Exodus 23:1 spells it out well. "You shall not spread a baseless rumor. You shall not make common cause with a wicked man by giving malicious evidence." Think of how many politicians and talking heads would catch heat for this!
How many politicians change their ideals to get votes? Exodus 23:2-3; "You shall not be led into wrongdoing by the majority, nor, when you give evidence in a lawsuit, shall you side with the majority to pervert justice; nor shall you favor the poor man in his suit."
Exodus 23:9; "You shall not oppress the alien, for you know how it feels to be an alien, you were aliens yourselves in Egypt." I guess too many generations have passed; our politicians are trying to prevent people from crossing our borders and trying to deny them any rights if they do make it here.
Exodus 23:6-7 has a direct relation to today's justice system, "You shall not deprive the poor man of justice in his suit. Avoid all lies, and do not cause the death of the innocent and guiltless; for I the LORD will never acquit the guilty." How many indigents do we have sitting on death row? How many rich people?
Exodus 23:8 is the hardest hit to politicians, "You shall not accept a bribe, for bribery makes the discerning man blind and the just man give a crooked answer." No more PAC money, or soft money, or free trips if you want to say you're siding with God.
My favorite commandment is Exodus 20:26. "You must not mount up to my altar by steps, in case your private parts be exposed on it." In addition to the humorous situation called out in this verse it is poetic that the higher a person tries to put himself over his fellow men, the more you see of his bad side.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Oct 30, 2000
Scalded Cat!
Posted Oct 17, 2000
I finally gave in and bought a new timing light last week. Friday I had a chance to work on the RX-7 and got after it. I found the timing was advanced by about 50*. I didn't know it would run with that much timing. Resetting the timing to stock fixed everything. The car now runs like a scalded cat! Shifting at 7000 rpm is a rush, and the engine has no trouble getting there. I'm going to have to get a stopwatch out and see what kind of 0-60 times I'm getting. I'm thinking it's in the 7-8 second range.
Now I'm saving up money for an electric fan, a header, a Paul Yaw modified Nikki carb, an MSD/2nd gen ignition upgrade, and the last few tidbits to get my '82 radiator and oil cooler installed. I'm having so much fun with my RX-7 I just gotta say, "what Camaro?"
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Oct 17, 2000
The RX-7
Posted Oct 6, 2000
I got the RX-7 running again about 3 weeks ago, just in time for the Camaro to die. I've been driving the RX-7 ever since and the Camaro has been lounging in my friend RJ's yard. He's driven it twice when his wife needed his car (if anybody has a good, cheap car in the Oklahoma City area, RJ needs one). The last time he drove it he didn't think he was going to make it home. The transmission is as close to dead as it can get and still run. The engine has to be revved to over 3000 rpm and held for several seconds for the transmission to build enough pressure to shift into gear. Of course the engine is shot to the point it really doesn't like being revved at all.
The RX-7 isn't running as good as it should. There's a ticking/rattling worrisome noise coming from the engine when I engage the clutch or when I load it heavily. I either left a piece out and there's some endplay in the eccentric shaft (not good) or it's knocking (not good). Tomorrow I get to tear into it and see what I can find. The engine is also not producing any power over 5000 rpm, and surges at low rpm. I did re-install the '85 intake after finding out the '79 intake doesn't properly cover one of the ports. Too much modification to try and put it on right now, so I left it off.
I'm collecting information for putting the Cad motor in the Camaro. There's not a whole lot of information on this swap, most of what I'm doing is just getting ideas and studying up on rebuilding a TH400 transmission for it. I'm seriously thinking of purchasing a Currie Ford-style 9" rear-end to put under it. No c-clip axle retainers to worry about, plenty of strength, limited-slip, oh-yeah!
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Oct 6, 2000
Availible Time vs. Money vs. Needed Repairs
Posted Sep 14, 2000
It's been interesting lately. The Camaro keeps fouling the #8 plug. Every time I let it idle for a minute and step on the gas bluish smoke pours out the right tailpipe. The evidence all points to my rings wearing out. The driver's side door is getting harder and harder to open and I haven't been able to get it to a body shop to get the upper hinge replaced (I fixed the lower hinge myself). The transmission's using a quart of fluid a week. My fuel economy is pretty bad with the engine constantly misfiring. I've been too busy to get the RX-7 finished and now the Camaro is putting a time limit on me. If I don't get the 7 running soon I could be out of transportation.
On the plus side the RX-7 is pretty close. I'm having some trouble with the '79 intake, so I'm just going to swap back to the '83 for now. The engine refuses to start without the car being push-started, but I think this is due to a lack of compression. I'm going to do the ATF treatment on it (see www.mazspeed.com for more info) in the hope that'll fix it. The motor was running great when I pulled it out of the '85, so I'm pretty confident that will set things straight.
After I get the RX-7 running it will be decision time for the Camaro. Am I going to drop the 500inch Cad motor in and keep it, or just put a decent running small-block in and sell it? Before I get too deep in it I'll have to find a garage, which means I'll need to buy a house. I've been putting that off too long; my apartment lease is up next month and I'm not going to sign another with them.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Sep 14, 2000
Even Tailpipes Can Make A Difference
Posted Jul 17, 2000
As promised, here is the short story I posted on Mazspeed.com's Ultra Garage (Look under Racing: Miscellaneous).
About ten days ago I realized I was running out of time to get my Camaro inspected. I knew at the time I had an exhaust leak over the right rear tire and that it wouldn't pass inspection. I took the Camaro to Fantasy Muffler in Spencer, OK (great guys, they do good work for a great price and they don't mind you watching them work).
I originally planned to just get the hole patched, but looking at it the guy told me, "It's rusted through, I'll have to put in a whole new tailpipe."
I agreed and after a minute of deliberation I told him to replace both tailpipes and put new tips on them. He then pointed out that he was nervous torching off the exhaust with my gas tank seeping, but he said he'd be careful and do it anyways (Camaros suck).
The exhaust on my Camaro was a patchwork of factory manifolds (with air injection!), cats, blown out glasspacks, and 2" tubing. The old tailpipes were 1 3/4" tubing welded onto the glasspacks. They included a 90 degree bend towards the wheels in each tube where they passed over the axle. The hole was after the bend on the right tailpipe.
The guy who bent the new pipes said that was the old way of doing it "The Z-28s came that way." He bent the new 2" pipes with a smoother angle instead of the 90 degree bend.
When all was said and done I drove the car to work. The first thing I noticed was the noise level. My Camaro was loud before, and the new noise level broke all previous records. When I romped on it there was a cacophony of blatting and roaring, kinda like a pack of lions being put in a 10x10 room with a herd of sheep.
Secondly I noticed POWER! My Camaro has a 305 with a nice cam (I have no clue of the specs, but the idle has a noticeable lope). It's running a very well-tuned electronic quadrajet on a stock intake. There's no hi-po parts other than the camshaft as far as I know and it has highway gears in the rear-end. Until now it always felt like it was running out of breath about the time it got to an RPM where it could overcome the gears. The tailpipes cured that. Completely. I floored it to get on the highway on my way home from work that night and the car launched like never before. I used to joke about having "All the sound, fury, and gas milage of a V-8 with all the power of a V-6!" No more. Two measly tailpipes were holding it all back. Everything I knew about exhaust back-pressure and the effects on torque, horsepower, and gas mileage has been thrown into the wind as my fuel consumption has also dropped by a quarter.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 17, 2000
Flyboy
Researcher U85702
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."