On Elsa (or On The Millennium Falcon, if you ask my son ;) ) & Driving

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.”

This month I’ll be passing the two-and-a-half year mark of owning my 1986 BMW E30.  She has affectionately been named Elsa, given her German heritage.  However, my son refers to her as the Millennium Falcon.  Why , you might ask?  He’s a major Star Wars fan and one day he proudly informed me that I was the Han Solo to his Luke Skywalker (his mom was called Darth Vader – which I had NOTHING to do with, BTW!  I swear! LOL) 

We’ve passed some milestones along the way:

-          250K, 300K, 325K, 350K, 375K, & 400,000 km coming soon!

I looked back at my four month review post... a lot has happened and I’ve definitely transitioned to pretty much a full enthusiast/gear head.

For me this car is not just a car – I consider it an extension of me.  Without this vehicle, I wouldn’t have a life or job.  She is a tool, an instrument and a testament to good engineering and worksmanship.  She’ll be 30 on September 6 – born in the Munich plant in roll over month for cars for the next model year, hence why she’s an ’86 model.  I have found it very rewarding to spend time under her hood and body working away.  It has helped enhance the experience, even with times of frustration.

Other than having my rear calipers replaced last year, since the initial work on the car to get it certified, Elsa has been under my loving care, with the help of her former owner, and my best friend – Alex.

Since that first post, I have performed the following services, sometimes with help.

-          Oil Changes – switched to synthetic a few months in, now doing them about every 12-15K km.

-          Valve Clearance checks every 30,000 km (Have done this five times, and no need for adjustments yet)

-          Bi-annual tire swaps

-          Replacing Spark plugs (Have done this 3 times)

-          Timing belt, water pump, crank seal at 265,000 km with help from Alex

-          Front wheel bearings

-          Brake servicing

-          All rear bushings – Subframe, trailing arm, drop links and rear strut bearings.  At the same time, replaced rear inner brake lines, and 3 differential seals (the output seals and the input seal) – again couldn’t have done all this without Alex’s help – you’re the best bro!

-          Removed rusted out resonator and had Alex weld in a replacement elbow

-          The second timing  belt under my ownership –a job I completed solo.

-          Removed steering rack to replace the lower steering linkage

In the last 2.5 years, my expenses have roughly been as follows:

10% was cost of the car
Almost 60%  of my expenses has been fuel – I drive A LOT. ;)
34% has been servicing, repairs and expenses. This figure includes regular maintenance, repairs, insurance, and licensing fees.  When I worked it out against a car payment on a new car I found that even with an almost 30 year old BMW, I’m still winning by at least $100 a month.

But what about the driving experience, you ask?  Amazing!  If you have never driven a rear wheel drive car as a daily, it’s great.  Totally different feel, and I’d argue a better one.  Even for being close to 30, this car drives like a dream.  Elsa is omfortable to sit in for a long haul, very well mannered on the highway or street, very predictable handling (even in our Canadian winters with the help of a little extra weight in the trunk).  I do believe that having this car the last three winters has really improved my driving skills – it’s very different from the FWD VWs I had been used to.

Although Elsa isn’t a major power house (her M20 engine only puts out 121 HP @ 4250 RPM), she’s got some good low end torque (170 Ft/lbs @ 3250 RPM), which makes her fun for city driving.  Pop her into third when merging on the highway and that straight six delivers power pretty quickly.  And within speed limits, she also pretty fuel efficient – my 2.5 year average is 7.7 L/100 KM, which translates to just under 37 MPG UK (about 30.5 MPG US)

It is also nice to drive a car without all kinds of bells and whistles – no ABS, traction control, etc – meaning, there is less stuff to potentially break/fail.  Even the windows and sunroof are manual, and not even A/C to worry about.  Back then, you could order up a very basic BMW.

My personal feeling is that many drivers have become dependent on the technology in their cars – here’s the fact – you may have all this technical wizardry, but don’t forget that despite this, your car’s contact with the road is the four tires.  If those or your driving skills are lacking, there is no technology that can save you. 

 Once the tires have lost their grip, all bets are off.  The take away is that you need to really know your daily vehicle and know what the limits are.  I see far too many people on a wintery day travelling far too fast for the conditions, yet people blame the weather.  We live in a country where we can have snow and ice up to 6 months a year in many areas – blaming the weather is not an excuse.  DRIVE TO THE CONDITIONS.  If you’re driving through a blizzard, doing 120 km/h may not be the wisest thing to do.

The following review really captures a lot about the E30:

Another amazing thing is conversations she starts.  I've had around two dozen people offer to buy her - I even had a police officer pull me over one day outside Beaverton - because he was scoping my car!  Even more people have started conversations, especially former/current owners and BMW/car enthusiasts. I'm often complimented that she looks to be in pretty good shape (which she is... except for a wired up muffler LOL).

What does the future hold for Elsa?  Well, I plan on keeping her on the road as long as possible.  I’m hopefully eyeing a possible engine swap, either for a younger M20 Eta or something newer – this will depend on my fortunes in the next couple of years. Stay tuned for more on Elsa!

Thoughts on Sterling

***NOTE - I do not in any way agree with what Sterling said/did.  Want that CRYSTAL clear.

Somethings I came across and heard yesterday - a bit of devil's advocate if you will.

1. Shaq posted a pic on Instagram (now removed) mocking a disabled fan's selfie. Isn't this discrimination too? Why is Shaq getting a by this?  Granted, not racism, but still discrimination and in poor taste.

2. From what I understood, the recording of Sterling could likely be illegal - interesting to see if the woman gets charged with anything.

3. I doubt this was Sterling's first time uttering such things, but I heard an interesting observance yesterday on the radio. It's likely people around him, including players and other employees of Sterling in the Clippers organization, knew he had racist views.  But until yesterday they were quite happy to take a paycheque from him (and still are, since he still owns the franchise).

4. Although the NBS made a big stand on this, basically Sterling is being nailed for a thoughtcrime and this becoming a problem in society - people being nailed to the maximum for a thought/belief. Even Mark Cuban noted that this could be the start of a slippery slope.  Who's next? Also related, Sterling got pretty much no due process.  The commissioner confirmed it was him, and basically acted unilaterally.

5. It'll be interesting to see the inevitable legal battle if the NBA presses Sterling to sell, since private property rights are held pretty highly in the USA especially. Can the NBA really act in the way the commissioner is hoping?  I don't think the legalities are as cut and dry as they think.

6. Although they fined him the maximum allowed, honestly, $3 million is peanuts to this guy.  The team alone is estimated to be worth $575 million, and Sterling has a personal worth of $1.9 Billion. He probably made more than that during the press conference ousting him. Plus if he does have to sell and get the estimated value, he'll have made nearly 50 times what he invested into it (bought for $12 million in '80-81).

The Rise of Facial Scanning Surveillance

Read this today: Facial scanning surveillance becoming a reality in the U.S., new documents reveal

So, readers, having read that, are any of you even remotely concerned?  I know I am.

What scares me is that the definition of "bad guy" could get very slippery. In a way it already is.

I think the following from Skyfall is a very accurate quote:

"I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on a map. They're not nations, they're individuals. And look around you. Who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No! Our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque! It's in the shadows."

You could get detained because you "look like" someone. And if its false, will the authorities apologize, and what if such a detention affects your life/career?  What then? 

Yet we are almost blindly accepting these things.  That's even scarier. All this is being done in the name of "security", but ask yourself, what are we potentially giving up? I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

Somalia and the Monitoring of BMI in Toronto Schools

Canadian Woman abducted and abused in Somalia freed.

I saw comments about her being a do-gooder. I didn't get a do-gooder vibe from this. She's a journalist and was hoping to try to make a name for herself. From the article, she obviously knew she was going into a dangerous situation and it was bad luck they were the ones who got abducted (the article referred to two NG people they were actually after). Somalia is a total basketcase country, and her treatment doesn't surprise me. What this also shows is that most countries don't give a damn what is happening there, because this stuff happens and it seems that backroom deals are the norm. Honestly, Canada and Australia should have gotten together and sent commandos for them. The only deals these scumbags should get is a bullet. At some point, the kidnappers would realize that doing this will not be worth getting shot for.

Toronto Schools to do study on BMI in schools 

Since when did monitoring weight become the school's job? What's next? What the kids are taking in their lunches? Could be the start of a slippery slope of prying into other aspects of student's lives.

Zimmerman Not Guilty - Good Call!

What did I tell you last year?  If the state of Florida pursued the 2nd degree murder charge, they were going to lose. Surprise, surprise!

I predicted this verdict from day one. Go read the definition of 2nd degree murder in Florida - the prosecution didn't come close to proving it. Hell, in some ways they made the case for Zimmerman's aquittal. They played so much of his interview footage, he didn't even have to take the stand. The additional bonus for the defense was that those statements couldn't be cross-examined.

I'm not saying (nor ever said) what happened was right, but there is blame to be put on both men. Unfortunately, Martin payed with his life. But he wasn't the innocent faced kid portrayed initially either. He had some history with drugs and violence.  Not to mention the media spin on this whole case?  Remember that famous hoodie pic - total media bias. That picture was years old, and Martin looked considerably different. Plus he outsized Zimmerman and was in better physical shape. Photos of Zimmerman that were used were older and made him look more sinister.  The media bias in this case was appalling.

I'm glad the jury saw past the media circus and delivered the right verdict based on the evidence & law... not emotion.

From the comments I've read in the last twelve hours, I'm glad that some of the people commenting aren't lawyers or judges.  It's scary how ignorant of the law and the process people are.  You want someone to blame for the verdict, go to the prosecution lawyers.  They couldn't make a case.  This entire trial was politically and racially motivated. Fortunately, the jury was able to see through that sideshow and deliver a proper verdict.

Jason Collins Comes Out - Big Deal! NOT!

Call me weird or whatever, but I couldn't get the big deal they made about it on the news - it was the leading thing in the pre-CTV national news ads the other night.  So, are we supposed to be impressed?  He likes guys, big whoop. Move on.   I like women, no one is giving two craps about that!

Why am I supposed to care about his sexuality and why is it big news?  As long he's not diddling kids, raping anyone or committing bestiality, WHO CARES!?

Certainly not leading news by any stretch.  I hate how "celebrities" have become leading news items.  Remember the whole Tiger Woods saga? That dominated newscasts for at least a couple of weeks when it happened.  Sports star cheats on his wife multiple times, gets caught.  Or any story about Justin Bieber and his antics lately (or the antics of any star... Lindsay Lohan, And this is important for me to know because...?  I doubt anyone can seriously answer that question.  Says a lot about our society and values that we've allowed "celebrities" to take up so much media spotlight.

Lake St. John Flood 2013 - Picture Update

Hi everyone!

About an hour ago I paid a visit to the control dam on the St. John Creek , just west of the Black River at Switch Road.  As you'll see from the pics below, the water from the Black River side of the dam is flowing right over.  At this point, there is still a 3-4 foot drop from the high side to the St. John Creek side, so there is still room for the water to rise in Lake St. John.  However, we have yet to hit the levels seen in the 2008 flood.

The control dam at 16:40 today.

The view from Casa Miitel slightly later