I had a pretty funky Renault 17 and a few other oldtimers from the 60s/70s up until.. maybe 6 years ago? Those bastards stole all my valuable moneys! 🤣
Right now I'm pretty much into older HiFi gear, specifically everything related to compact cassettes.

One of my major passions is horror movies. I have quite a collection on DVD and Blu-ray, and there are weeks where I'll watch 2-3 movies a night every night. Normally, I watch a movie every 2-3 days, though. The exception is Halloween every year, where I watch horror movies for 12 hours straight. 😀

I like jogging and boxing, and between those and lifting weights, I exercise nearly every day of the week. Even so, I could stand to lose some weight... I like drinking alcohol and eating my wife's cooking a bit too much!

I love camping, but we don't get many opportunities to go since the weather here is either way too hot or way too cold for much of the year—there's really only a sweet spot of a few months. There's nothing better, though, then sitting around a campfire with family and friends enjoying some beers and campfire-cooked food, chatting and enjoying the sounds of nature. My goal is to bring less and less stuff each time, and would love to get to the point where we just bring a tent, water, sleeping bags, small first aid kit, and tools to gather/cut kindling and wood.

I used to be into RC flying... but regulations and new laws kinda ruined that hobby for me, so I focus on computers only now, occassionally also photography.

I am into all forms of motorsport with 4 wheels including Formula E but mostly because of the technology and not so much because of tiring burning etc... Heck, Top Gear proved even grannies can do donuts so there is not a great deal of skill there....

I am currently rebuilding a '72 Triumph Spitfire and since it was missing a motor and transmission I going to make it electric. Mostly because the rules here for classic cars and emissions are getting tougher and I think if you are going EV, why not with some style?

I find it fun figuring out things like how to convert the heating to electric etc. and I am also working on replacing most things with LEDs etc...

I am big into science fiction. Mostly movies though and my out and out downright favorite TV show is "The Prisoner"....

I am also into video editing. I was making movies long before youtube but that has taken a bit of a backseat to the car resto...

Carrera wrote on 2021-04-02, 10:50:

I am into all forms of motorsport with 4 wheels including Formula E but mostly because of the technology and not so much because […]
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I am into all forms of motorsport with 4 wheels including Formula E but mostly because of the technology and not so much because of tiring burning etc... Heck, Top Gear proved even grannies can do donuts so there is not a great deal of skill there....

I am currently rebuilding a '72 Triumph Spitfire and since it was missing a motor and transmission I going to make it electric. Mostly because the rules here for classic cars and emissions are getting tougher and I think if you are going EV, why not with some style?

I find it fun figuring out things like how to convert the heating to electric etc. and I am also working on replacing most things with LEDs etc...

I am big into science fiction. Mostly movies though and my out and out downright favorite TV show is "The Prisoner"....

I am also into video editing. I was making movies long before youtube but that has taken a bit of a backseat to the car resto...

what about a heat pump for your ev conversion?

Yeah, I still have my v8 s10 and I’m kinda sitting on it to maybe do a EV conversion but I think It probably makes more sense to sell as it is to someone and just keep buying new EVs 🤣

A ssr conversion would be amazing though.

It’s sad heat pump tech hasn’t caught on in the ev world.

But if you are looking for a easy heater grab a few 120v ceramic ptc heaters from good will and put them into a new housing. Three or Four of them in series should be about what you are looking for as far as 400v systems go. If you need more heat, another row in parallel as the ptc heater is self regulating decreasing the series to two probably won’t work for more heat with out a lot more flow.

Before the pandemic, I was into indoor karting amateur championships since 2010. My best finish was a 3rd place overall, in one tournament back in 2013. I was leading the championship with just one race win thanks to my consistency, but in the final race my kart broke. I saved a 3rd place in standings because I had set a point for the fastest lap before it broke.

Had great wins, races, comeback drives from behind, and moments as well as terrible ones. Still waiting for the pandemic to end and be able to return to racing. Some friends already have returned, but I do find it very irresponsible at this moment so I’d rather wait until it’s safe.

I also follow football - I am a FC Barcelona supporter because it’s a family thing, and also a Vasco da Gama fan. Both teams are playing s**t nothing at the moment but oh well, football is made of momentum so they will be back to their winning ways soon.

Merged threads.

My post in this thread is here: Re: Other hobbies?

I had a 1967 Camaro as my lifelong project. A 400 SBC that I built in the front room of the place I used to live by the Sacramento River. I'd done work on the suspension, converted it to disc brakes, traded the four speed for a five speed, and it looked like 2019 was going to be the year I really got moving on it, and installed some of the thousands of dollars worth of parts I had in boxes. Then the Camp fire happened.

I also used to love to ride motorcycles. Here's my Suzuki Bandit and my Honda CBR1000RR.

Now I live in my cousin's spare room, and I'm planning on buying a C5 Z06 Corvette, and finding a less expensive state than California to live in. I need to find a place where the weather isn't too bad (I'm sure it won't be as nice as here) and where there's a race track within reasonable driving distance. For many years my goal was to get my Camaro set up so that I could take it to track days at Thunderhill Raceway, but obviously that's never going to happen.

I'm also into cycling, though I haven't been doing too much of that lately. I did pick up a pretty decent bicycle, so I have that going for me.

The move away from Paradise was the easiest one I've ever made. When it comes to "Decluttering", Marie Kondo is an amateur when compared to a town destroying fire. But I've accumulated a fair amount of computer bits since then - I enjoy it, and it's a relatively inexpensive way to take my mind off my troubles. I do look forward to again living in a place where I can have a pet cat or two, I really miss mine.

Oof that's a hard fate. Did the burned shell / body parts of the Camaro at least carry some value for others or was it a complete loss/written off?

I don't want to sound rude but as a European it was always a mystery to me why people in California can live with that level of relaxation over there. It seems there is a hazardous event every year - either a super dry summer or the camp fire of the century. Not even counting in the dangers of the long overdue earthquake that's supposed to happen every moment...

blurks wrote on 2021-04-03, 13:57:

Oof that's a hard fate. Did the burned shell / body parts of the Camaro at least carry some value for others or was it a complete loss/written off?

I don't want to sound rude but as a European it was always a mystery to me why people in California can live with that level of relaxation over there. It seems there is a hazardous event every year - either a super dry summer or the camp fire of the century. Not even counting in the dangers of the long overdue earthquake that's supposed to happen every moment...

I gave what was left of my Camaro to a former co-worker who was also a car guy and who had fixed up a few different first generation Camaros. I had no resources for moving or storing anything, so I told him that it was his to haul off and do with as he saw fit. To me it was like the corpse of a loved one. I'd had it since 1987, and had made many sacrifices over the years to keep it going (I even dropped out of college because of it in 1991).

The duplex I was renting was built in 1948, and was located in central Paradise. I knew that the outlying areas of Paradise were pretty risky, but prior to the fire I had actually joked that "All of Paradise would have to burn down for my place to be at risk!" Even members of the Paradise town council didn't think that the whole town burning down was a realistic scenario. And I moved there because it was what I could afford.

The good old days.

Man, seeing this just breaks my heart. Good luck to you and all the best.

Sphere478 wrote on 2021-04-02, 12:28:

what about a heat pump for your ev conversion?
...

But if you are looking for a easy heater grab a few 120v ceramic ptc heaters from good will and put them into a new housing. Three or Four of them in series should be about what you are looking for as far as 400v systems go. If you need more heat, another row in parallel as the ptc heater is self regulating decreasing the series to two probably won’t work for more heat with out a lot more flow.

I am looking into that and the ceramic heaters as well. I had the idea that I could route some heat from the battery mgmt system as it gets warmish as well. It isn't enough to actually defrost but free heat is always welcome...

Carrera wrote on 2021-04-07, 07:19:

Sphere478 wrote on 2021-04-02, 12:28:

what about a heat pump for your ev conversion?
...

But if you are looking for a easy heater grab a few 120v ceramic ptc heaters from good will and put them into a new housing. Three or Four of them in series should be about what you are looking for as far as 400v systems go. If you need more heat, another row in parallel as the ptc heater is self regulating decreasing the series to two probably won’t work for more heat with out a lot more flow.

I am looking into that and the ceramic heaters as well. I had the idea that I could route some heat from the battery mgmt system as it gets warmish as well. It isn't enough to actually defrost but free heat is always welcome...

the heat pump will be over 3 times more heat per watt than the ceramic or the balancing resistors. the balancing resistor heat will basically be useless btw too little watts.

I have yet to find a heat pump small enough so if someone finds one I am all ears!

Repo Man11 my sincere condolences to you from a fellow biker from a much colder place. It also breaks my heart, what has happened to you. Just started riding this week. It was just too cold before. And we got that damn snow in the winter.

Riding and maintaining my motorcycles will always be my main hobby.