I had been eying this Lego Vespa kit ever since @Brickman posted about it here.

I’ve always loved motorbikes and the classic Vespa, like the Honda SuperCub or a turbo ‘Busa, is symbolic of the access and freedom a motorcycle affords. This Lego kit is another beautiful example that is fun to build, looks great on the shelf and stands as a lovely avatar to a philosophy, much like the Fiat 500 kit they did before.

I had to have this kit and at the end of May, after walking by it on several store visits, I caved.

Kiddo and I built it over a couple sessions on the living room floor (rite of passage for a child with Legos), ushering the dogs away and trying to assure their errant fluff doesn’t get stuck in the bricks.

It’s really a wonderful kit! It is meant to be in the office but has instead remained on display in the living room as all members of the family seem to enjoy it equally.

Now I’ve been 2WheelNegative since 2015 when kiddo was born and we went into the collective ‘hunker down and parent’ mode. It was an irrational shift and eight months in I was ready to ride again though the bike was gone and other priorities and distractions had filtered in to displace the thought. This kit as separate from riding as possible stirred some emotions and even got my kiddo asking questions about motorbikes.

It started out so innocently as a Lego kit but then shifted to ‘what is on FB marketplace for cheap?’ — which led to this happening:

A week later, for three-times the cost of the lil’ Lego set, I procured a full-sized Vespa Lego set. This Vespa is a 2006 LX50, 4-stroke and it has been parked in a lady’s back yard for two years, as a play-thing for her grandkids. It doesn’t run, it is filthy, and safe to assume EVERYTHING is broken, but it has a legitimate title!

We set about doing a half-baked clean of it, but given the scope and scale of this project, it’ll be parked until some other tasks are completed. — namely organizing my chaotic garage, installing some very unique seats in a certain Mustang and doing a LOT to the wife's Jeep to make it adventure-friendly.

I should have been happy with this shift, we went from no motorbikes to a very nice toy one and a terrible real one; yet FB marketplace struck again. Another week later I found a post by a quirky Italian man selling a 2007 Vespa GTS250ie, running and driving fine but with cosmetic woes due to ‘falling off a trailer during unloading’. I showed my wife as a bit of a laugh and then she asked ‘When will you go look at it?’ Determination displaced dismissive and I reached out to the seller. He was available and so I asked my boss to give me a ride over, he laughed when I explained what for, but grabbed his keys as excited to be party to a bad decision as he might be to make one himself.

It looked great in person, save the dent and chonk of plastic missing…

This is the ‘hot’ Vespa, 250cc, watercooled engine, 22bhp… a whole different beast from the potential 3bhp aircooled thing the LX50 is. Rode well, was quick and smooth and he was willing to work on the price given the damage, but on e again this one had a clear title and that is very important in FL… many I saw were annoyingly without title and can’t legally be used here.

Wife loves it, it rekindled her love of commuting to work on her old Aprilia SR50 Rallye or the many times she stole my Triumph, naughty girl. She’s now looking to get her MSF sorted so thar she can ride care free on all bikes big and small. — and kiddo… well, we may have created a monster…

For a total investment of $1,800, I have three ‘Vespas’ in very different states of existence

Thank you so much to our resident sage of The Scoot, @Shop-Teacher as he offered insights, guidance and reassurance as I ventured down this absolutely nutty path.

Last week I posted up about my hesitance to pay to much for seats from across the world.

https://opposite-lock.com/topic/57962/impulse-buy-guidance/7?_=1665422202300

Said seats were a pair of near-immaculate Recaro SR4’s, with a run of about 500 specially made for Japanese Tuning firm ‘Trial’ in Purple Avus fabric with Purple Monza fabric centers.

I am astonished that the care and shipping pace of the sellers from Bankok, Thailand, and DHL. Shipped on the 5th and delivered to my door on the 10th.

Why the hell does UPS and FedEx even exist when DHL is so incredible? Seriously, 100$ for a big, awkward box that was handled mostly with care.

There was one tiny ‘rub through’ where cardboard transferred to the fabric, but thankful for no real damage.

Once all the packing materials were pulled away, the real impact of these and their color screams forward. Remains to be seen how they will feel once installed, but they look fantastic, even better than I thought they would.

Still need to order a bunch of parts before setting off to do the seat swap. I want to add Killamat or Dynamat/Dynaliner for sound and thermal improvements, install the new carpet from the donor Mach1, finish the shifter trim for the manual assembly, delete the stock Mach460 audio setup and pre-wire for new speakers and headunit. Also need to get the seat rails from Wedge Brackets. Going non-powered with sliders. Should end up with about 40lbs saved once done and no more annoying power seat to fuss with.

At the end of June I ordered a Subaru WRX STI after months of failed attempts to procure one ‘in stock’ from one of the many (24 of them) dealers on my region.

It’d of been nice of the local dealers to not have dismissed my interest and request for a new order from Subaru, as it cost them a sale and forced me to drive 600mi round-trip to a much better dealership. I am sad said dealer isn’t closer for any future needs as they seem great all around.

Subaru offers updates via their MySubaru website, but it proved only a rough estimate, as the car went from being ‘prepared to ship to your dealer’ on Sept. 1st to delivered on Sept. 3rd. A switch trip from Gunma, Japan, or the Richmond, CA port of entry to North Florida.

“I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.” -Moby Dick

Yesterday was the big day. My brother and I drove up in his 2021 Mitsubishi Mirage; which was a delightful, honest car that did the trip with ease and remained comfortable for most of the non-stop five hour drive. It is slow and the CVT is well, a CVT, but they don’t deserve the hate they get. It is a great fit for anyone that is not an enthusiast and just wants a good, simple car. He averaged nearly 50mpg on the way up (but that dropped to 40mpg on the return as I motivated him to drive a bit quicker on the way back home).

After hours of driving, a detour for an accident on I-10, and two subsequent goofs on my part that took us almost to the Florida-Georgia stateline, we were back on track and in Tallahassee. I was pretty lax about taking pics on the way up, so have a giant bull and knock-off Batmobile husk to represent Tallahassee.

Still plenty of time to get my new car and give Governor Ron DeSantis the metaphorical ‘finger’ on the way out of town, for making Florida a greater laughing stock to the nation than it already was.

Hark! A dealer ahoy!

My white, ahem blue whale in sight!

I requested they NOT wash the car as I have a detailer that will sort it back home and pleasantly the sales guy protected it from the normal process and looky-loos until I could arrive.

There was some conjecture regarding payment that took time to assuage. Mostly because I forgot to get a bank certified check for the downpayment, but it was not-so-quickly sorted and aside from that frustration, this may have been the smoothest, easiest, and fastest dealership transaction to which I’ve ever been a party.

The ancient texts. Why is the ‘owners manual’ kit so much like an old Bell phonebook!?

Yep, seems everything is there.

Finally inside.

Six miles? The bloody scoundrels sold me a USED car!

Cherry blossom? Check.

Absurd rear wing? Check.

Time to fuel up and head home.

One last stop and a candid pic of the new addition.

Home safe with 300ish miles on the clock now. Loving it so far; more updates to come as I get better acquainted with Stitch the STI.

… I know I do.

A 20 year old car as you remember:

A 20 year old car in reality:

@Taylor-Martin came down to Orlando for a visit this week. We ate delicious ramen at this crazy Dragonball-themed restaurant…

…then went karting at K1 Speed, where I found out he is a dirty, DIRTY, liar! He claimed to be a casual, but this heathen went on course and immediately ran K1 Challenge Series pace. He consistently beat me, and I’m so mad about it! Not really, it was a riot; only way I’ll be mad is if Taylor doesn’t keep karting or doesn’t get into AutoX, as I firmly believe he has some real talent there.

Reference image since we both failed to take any pictures…

Track:

Evidence of my defeat:

Afterward I let him drive the Mach1, because who doesn’t want to drive a 20 year old Ford with questionable modifications? Once done taking a few years off his knee joint with the mechanical clutch, we noticed a ticking sound on the driver-side of the engine, which was obviously Taylor’s fault. Naa, best I can tell it is just a slight exhaust leak on the manifold and has been slowly progressing for some time. I have new headers to install eventually, so that’ll be addressed then. Again, old Ford, 144k miles… things are bound to make funny noises from time to time.

I look forward to Taylor’s next visit, or maybe my lazy ass will road trip up north one of these days, wouldn’t mind seeing Fargo in person.

From the bottom of my wine glass I find myself needing to come clean about something Oppo.

I’ve been slack and not updated anyone (outside of Discord) on the fact that since February 10th, my on-going project Mustang Mach1 ( Making a Faster Horse ) has completed metamorphosis…

…Metamorphosis from its crusty, slushy automatic origins, to a not-so-beautiful butterfly that offers only row you own gears, five of them in fact courtesy of a Tremec TR3650 manual gearbox.

It makes noises and drives to boot!

I solemnly swear to make amens to the OPPOverse and write a nauseatingly nerdy and lengthly account of the process and how it feels on the other side of what felt like eternity with this project.

Yikes! My annual reminder not to catch old, it is terminal.

A conversation I recently shared on Discord:
that I had with the 20-something neighbor next-door…

She said “Thank you Mr.Duck.” to helping with her garage door.

I responded with “oh just call me (insert first name here), I’m not old enough to be ‘Mr.Duck’ yet.”

“Oh? How old are you?”

“38.”

“Only 38?!”

(Screams internally)

Here are some random pictures that don’t really warrant their own post.

The bike I maybe, kinda want:

Who wore it better?

Ouch

My daughter, the Ornery Duckling, has some interesting name associations for vehicles. She's learned a lot of names from my wife and I, and through her exposure to our vehicles. This doesn't mean she prattles off, "Oh that's a 2003 Ford Mustang with the Mach1 package, because of X, Y, and Z", no it is far better than that...

For instance. We owned a 2005 Chevy Tahoe Z71 for most of her existence, this was the official 'Family Truckster' and where she spent most of her mobile time, including a cross-country drive. Due to the Tahoe, she has associated the Chevrolet 'bowtie' to mean 'Tahoe' -- in concert to the 'Hoe, I had a 2016 Mazda Miata Club and her linguistic association to a car with no top is 'Miata'.

Below are some examples of this in practice, note that she is often EXCITED to announce any car she identifies.

"Tahoe Miata!!!"

"Mustang Miata!!!"

This came from my 2007 Mazda RX-8 and the prominent Mazda logos she saw daily. If a large vehicle, crossover, or SUV is seen, it is defined as a 'Chonky' version.

"Chonky RX-8!"

"Chonky Subaru"

We've owned a few Fiats and she's always liked them. She knows the Abarth badges and gruff exhaust mean it has more going on, so those are 'spicy'.

"Fiat."

"Spicy Fiat!!!"

...an outlier is that when a car is really small, even if it isn't a convertible, she also likes to call them Miatas. Like so:

"Ooo, Subaru Miata"

Just for @Just-Jeepin , this is not a 'Jeep Wrangler', but a 'Wrangler Jeep'.

I’ve been smitten by the Subaru WRX/STI for a long time, going back to the GD-series of 2003-2007. I never bought-in, though I’ve test driven and considered many over the years. However, as impractical and uneconomical cars like my 2016 Miata, 2003 Mustang, and 2008 RX-8 increasingly hindered my comfort with anything involving the family, I did the most-sensible thing I could; I bought an impractical and uneconomical sedan.

Meet STItch, Our New Family Truckster

It’s been almost two months since I drove nearly to Georgia to pick it up with my brother, and I’m officially past the Subaru recommended “1,000 mile break-in”.

While I didn’t baby it during this time, I didn’t abuse it either and felt a post-break-in oil change was in order.

Subsequent changes will take place at 5,000mi and every 5,000mi afterward. The oil change itself was easy, though it is clear the EJ25 was not intended to live this long in Subaru’s minds. The rest of their engines in this chassis have top-mount oil filters, only the STI still has a bottom mount filter. While the underbody aero has an opening for the oil drain plug, the filter is sealed off, requiring removal of the entire forward under tray.

Most under-trays remove with ease and this one is much the same, save for the fact it goes up into the wheel wells and requires hunting for four additional clips behind the wheels to remove. I’m jealous of the FA/FB engine cars and the top-mount filters, but Subaru kept this car overall very easy to service, even with this ‘inconvenience’

Poof!

The oil was already ‘well used’ in appearance and smell, though It only holds a mere 4.5qts in the stock system, which is a small thermal mass for a modern turbocharged engine. Thankfully the EJ-family has been around for decades and is hardly modern.

Another detail for the uninitiated like myself; Subaru of America sources US made oil filters from FRAM (blue), while Japan and factory fit is Toyko Roki (black) filters made in Japan. Amazon and eBay are riddled with fake Japanese filters, so I’ll just stick to the US ones from the dealer.

Requisite blood sacrifice made to the new vehicle. This is the way.

Installation was in reverse, fill from the top and check fluids after.

So how is it now that I’ve had some time and miles with STItchy? I’m really happy with it.

It is not a beautiful car, but it is purposeful and I appreciate the styling and design choices made, especially in the shadow of the new model.

Interior is a healthy mix of durable, simple and higher-end finishes where it really matters.

There are a few touches of Piano Black Gloss plastic, but they are away from common touch points and should stay relatively clean. Seats are comforting in their firm grip of the torso. The steering, pedals, and shifter are all just the right amount of mechanical in feel and effort.

The powertrain isn’t as labor intensive to drive as the outgoing RX-8, making stop light take offs a more relaxed affair. The surge in mid-range power and aggressive gearing, makes the 6,700rpm redline arrives well ahead of expectations, leaving me in want of another 1,000rpm. Power is pleasant and plentiful as stock. While many may baulk at the modest 310bhp, it is delivered without a litany of electronic nannies beyond traction and stability control, resulting in a punchy and lively experience, all rough-edges left in-tact.

Suspension, driveline and brakes are all well sorted as stock, with little to complain about. It is astonishing how flat and confident the car is without being bouncy or jarring. All despite the relatively large 19” wheels and low profile Advan tires.

Fuel demands are decidedly premium ‘Super Essence’, and it is thirsty, with 21mpg average being generous at best. The age of the EJ shines brightest here…

I don’t want to dive too deep here as I am writing a full review which will echo and elaborate on the above and more. I doubt I will be sharing any secrets though; this car after all has been around a long time, across several generations, yet barely changed through to this final year.

I still mentally struggle to reconcile it is a 40k$ car, but inflation is a bitch, and when I look at my alternatives, I could have either drastically compromised my wants and saved several thousands of dollars, or went significantly upmarket by many, many more thousands for the next applicable vehicle. The few used options I considered were so absurdly priced it wasn’t worth a second glance, and sadly, a return to ‘normal’ for the market and society is unlikely to change that much for those particular vehicles.

It works for every practical reason I wanted and needed it to, comfort concerns were assuaged from my other cars, and it is still a lot of fun to drive. The fuel economy and initial cost were acceptable compromises to meeting the other target so well.

We bought this little Peg Perego FIAT 500 toy in 2016, when the local FIAT dealer was closing down. It was on display in the dealer, along with many other neat art and objects in honor of the brand.

(We owned a 2015 500 Sport at the time and I spent a lot of time at the dealer, surprisingly not because of concerns with the car.)

It ran once before the battery and charger both fucked off on us. It then promptly sat for years, partially due to misappropriation of funds and as my wife reminds me often, laziness).

Today, after a disagreement over the proportion of laziness that hindered progress on the little car and completion of work functions, I went with kiddo and tried to make it motor. As a proof of concept I wired in a Milwaukee M12 battery and off she went. It looked like an improvised explosive device, but all the same it gave life to a little car that hadn’t moved under its own power in YEARS!

I now have an M18 battery adapter on order and will order a battery or may tool + battery of a deal presents itself… and kiddo will get some added boost to her perambulator.

Once she completed an extensive test drive, complete with burnouts, we dissembled the shady battery and she gave the lil’ car a wash in prep of rides to come.

I love that the little details of the underhood include the euro-only Tein-Air 2cyl engine.

I feel like an ass. Kiddo was elated to motor in this thing and COULD HAVE been doing so for at least two years had I not been a bit suck. Lesson learned, don’t doddle, don’t hesitate, just do.

Kiddo did a killer job cleaning it up though…

@MrSnrub were there any pictures or content to he found? All I saw were walls of AppleTV, Disney and iPhone15 advertisements.

I spent years being anti-union until I started reading more history on the mining and petroleum industries of early America, now I am very pro-union but with the same skepticism toward the individual leadership within a given union, because people (can) suck anywhere if given the power to do so.

I’ve seen a lot of common sense requests coming out. The pay ask is a bit wild on the face of it — but — given how expensive everything is, myself being above the requested pay and still finding it challenging to consider a modest change in home ownership due to over all home prices, interest rates and general cost of living considerations; their pay ask is not out of line with how terrible the economy is weighed against the present working class (enginerds and other office tier folks included).

Tesla folks can’t be factored here. We can feel bad for them and the fact they are royally screwed, but the reality is they had a chance to unionize, still do, and don’t. One person wanting better for themselves does not need to he tied to someone else unrelated doing worse than them presently. That is a cop out that the execs at GM/Ford/Viagra all want people to focus on to take heat off the fact their CEO’s made 20+ million a god damn year, while doing stock buy backs and performing swaths of layoffs across the board.

Elon gives no fucks about anything other than his fat bank account and the next Hollywood disaster he is going to make a baby-momma. Fuck him, unionize and demand a fair wage and reasonable work conditions. He will either suck it up or move manufacturing to China and blame the hard done by workers for being selfish and greedy. If the latter happens, which is totally possible, it’ll suck at first but other opportunities will present. Might even see GM or Toyota buying back the Nummi plant now that it is EV prod ready.

Whomever mentioned, was it @dogisbadob ? ,the top total compensation (CEO) not being allowed to be 50x the lowest paid employee. That is a brilliant mechanism of fairness that assures outlandish executive pay is restricted (as long as stock options, bonuses, asset rewards like housing, vehicles, etc all count toward it) and that if the assholes at the top want more money themselves, they have to give more to the bottom-end too, ideally rising the tide for everyone in the middle. Some balance needs to be placed to assure a void doesn’t develop in the middle roles either. I also really like the emphasis on limiting the amount of temp or part time workers, limiting how long they can have a position be held by a temp role and with a hysteresis between temp role usage to assure they don’t fire a temp and hire another to reset the clock. — if someone works for them for 6mo as a temp, convert them to an employee and backdate the hire date.

@Just-Jeepin l

@Rusty-Vandura it is both!

@MUSASHI66 I was told there’d be no math on this forum.

“Combine the engine sizes, cylinder counts, and horsepower.

Divide final HP number by number of liters.”

I think we need a formula, Imm not following the word problem. So are we only taking HP and dividing by litres? — where are we meant to use the cylinder counts or is that just extra data unrelated to the inquiry?

Let’s see how badly I can bodge this.

2021 Subaru WRX STI
2.5L - 4CYL - 320BHP

2003 Ford Mustang Mach1
4.6L - 8CYL - 320BHP

1993 Jeep Cherokee Sport
4.0L - 6CYL - 190BHP

2007 Vespa GTS250ie
0.25L - 1CYL - 23BHP

Formula, maybe?

(HPa + HPb + HPc + HPd)/(Da + Db + Dc + Dd) = X

Key:
HP = Horsepower
D = Displacement
C = Cylinders

My total HP = 853BHP
My total D = 11.25L
My total C = 19
My X = 75.82…

EDIT: My resulting motor is an abomination. LOL

11.25L, 19cyl with a turbo to make 853HP. Makes sense that it is mostly composed of Ford and Subaru parts.

@TheJWT Mazdarati bro!

Maybe? I just got my flu shot today and there was no discussion about it, so maybe Florida is a bit behind the times? (Surprise!)

@MidEngine said in Holy shit LOL. Starlink:

Starlink is terrified of the FCC, and I'm glad I held them accountable.

That is hilarious and I do hope they get so overwhelmed with FCC reports at some point that one is missed and they genuinely get investigated. There are huge concerns over carrier privacy at large but most answer for it simply by not implementing any method of sniffing traffic, making their networks transport only routing for customers, as they bloody-well should be. Some of the larger ones start to inspect for location or packet type, in order to enforce DMCA law... a motivation only for content resellers masquerading around as internet service providers (Xfinity/NBC-Universal, of which Charter/Spectrum is uncomfortably close to at a business level). Starlink has been noted for questionable data handling, though most of those concerns seem to be high-level and international, of which the US likely gives less-than zero fucks to investigate.

I'm glad they fixed it, even if at great frustration to you.

Are there not any in-ground communication options in your area? From my experience of working in the industry and once having to suffer a market with no other options than wireless -- I'd gladly take two-wire DSL over any terrestrial or satellite-based wireless solutions advertising higher potential speeds.

@davesaddiction DOT and NHTSA are both a laugh -- neither really has the best interest of consumers/citizens at heart. They are a mechanism of enforcing blind/ignorant action or lobbied agendas.

Before I get too Oppolitical I'll concede a healthy skepticism to other people having other people's best interest at heart and that it is best to be informed and make wise choices from that collected knowledge. Whatever regulation we are forced to endure is just that, endured only so much as required. At least in the US they tried to protect the (majority) gasoline users from themselves with the larger diesel pump nozzles.

@flatisflat said in Would you like the green needle or the black needle?:

@SilentbutnotreallyDeadly said in Would you like the green needle or the black needle?:

Diesel is a black nozzle. And E10 is a green nozzle.

If you head to the States, prepare yourself by reversing this in your head (kinda like you did today, but on purpose).

So just know that, subliminally, you brainfarted into an American today.

They have to do the same for electrical wiring since AUS/NZ use that sensible and 'trained' black for ground and red is for power -- where as we love white/black for line power and green/bare-copper for ground.

As an American, I did not realize it until many years later but we are bloody backwards. On the good side of the diesel pickle, I think our pumps are size keyed to assure a gas user cannot install a diesel pump handle into their car -- the reverse like happened here can still occur, but I think they end up fitting funny which 'may' offer a hint it is the wrong pump.