In my excursions on Craigslist searching for interesting and comical ads, sometimes I stumble across something which grabs hold of my check book and won’t let go no matter how much my sensible side pleads.  I recently had one of these experiences when I found two separate ads for 1977 Toyota Celica GT Liftbacks nearby. These RA29 Celicas were the last models of the first generation before the ugly 1978-1981 redesign.  From some angles they strongly resemble classical 60’s American muscle cars, most notably the Fastback Mustang.  Rather than being powered by small block V8s, however, the first generation Celicas bore various incarnations of the venerable 4 cylinder Toyota R engine, the 1977 model receiving the 20R.

1977 Celica GT Liftback Ad on Craigslist

One of the Celicas being advertised was in (barely) running condition, albeit with poor cosmetics, a leaky cooling system, and carburetion issues.  However, the seller was willing to part with it for almost nothing.  The second was in much better cosmetic shape, but did not run due to a half-completed swap of a 22R-TE motor (a somewhat rare turbocharged variant of Toyota’s fuel-injected 22R-E).  After some negotiating, I bought both of them for pretty reasonable prices.

Ryan securing the rustier of the two Celicas

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I actually spotted this and saved it some time ago and have been remiss in posting it.  So you’re all grown up, you have a family, you’re surrounded by wee little ones who bear an uncanny resemblance to you.  Yet you yearn for the days of yore when your reckless tendencies made any vehicle under your control instantly hazardous to life and limb.  How do you reconcile?

T-T-T-TURBOVAN

At least, that’s the back story I prefer to believe in…  Otherwise this is pretty stupid.

As most people probably have at some point in their lives, I had to reassemble one of my motorcycles’ steering stem.  This requires a particular torquing/tightening procedure for seating the bearings which must be followed to avoid improper steering tension and long term damage to the steering stem components.  Unfortunately it also requires a special tool for turning the very non-standard steering stem nuts.  The service manual helpfully identifies the tool part numbers.

Steering stem tightening procedure from the SV1000 service manual

Not so helpfully, the tools mentioned cost about $140 + shipping from the cheapest supplier.  Finding this preposterous, I went to the local Suzuki dealer in hopes of borrowing the tool for a day.  Oddly, they couldn’t find the exact tool to fit the nuts and suggested I might use a spanner wrench instead (um… no).  So it was time to get creative.

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I’ve always had a fascination with retro technology, a passion which influenced the design of my 50s-sci-fi-esque tube theremin.  Recently the battery in my five or six year old watch died, which got me thinking about buying a new wristwatch (keeping the old one for rough conditions, of course).  When I happened upon a series of automatic skeleton watches, I was hooked at first sight.  Automatic watches use a fully mechanical movement (springs and gears and such, à la grandaddy’s pocket watch) with the addition of an asymmetrically weighted mechanism which helps keep the mainspring wound by turning as you move the watch.  In “skeleton” incarnations, much of the inner workings of the automatic movement are visible through the front and back watch face, meaning you can literally see what makes the watch tick.  The effect is quite stunning, and unfortunately still pictures don’t quite do it justice, but here’s one anyway:

Conveniently, the mainspring is clearly visible from the front.

Sure it will require occasional manual winding, and it’s horrendously inaccurate by modern standards (accurate to a few seconds per day at best), but the sheer Steampunk awesome-factor is nearly sufficient to impel me to buy a Victorian suit and a top hat as period-appropriate accoutrements.  Just watching the balance wheel oscillate and the lever escapement rock to and fro could entertain me for hours.

Today myself and a co-worker decided to go on a ride in the mountains around Hanging Rock Park.  What resulted was six full hours of engine-flogging curve-eating wrist-damaging twisty goodness.  Trip report follows after the map of our route.

Mountain twisties near Hanging Rock Park, NC.

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