DIY Techno-hacksOld hard drive platters make wonderfully good drinks coasters - they look dead smart and expensive and you've stopped people reading your old data into the bargain.
Have you taped all your remotes together, peep-show-style? Have you wired your doorbell to the toilet? What enterprising DIY have you done with technology?
Extra points for using sellotape rather than solder.
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chthonic, Thu 20 Aug 2009, 12:30)
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"This one time I hooked the lawnmower to my Nintendo, and now I get the high score every time!"I'll have plenty of stories this week.
I used to drive a 1977 Toyota Corolla. It was a rust heap when I bought it, and the New York weather and the salt they put on the roads had done it no favors during the time I owned it.
One night I hit a deer with it- a story in itself- and the deer's head buckled the hood and cracked the radiator, and her body smashed in the passenger side door. Wearing gloves the next day I managed to straighten the door out enough to open it again and even got the hood to lay reasonably flat- but the radiator was another matter altogether. I had to replace it.
The auto parts store wanted $120 for a new one, which at the time was far outside of what I could afford. There was, however, a guy in town who had a number of old Corollas that he kept as parts cars to keep one of them running. He agreed to let me have a radiator for $20, if I took it out myself.
It turned out that the one I took it from had the fan mounted on the engine, where mine had an electric fan. I managed to get the fan mounted on the new radiator, but the sensor had nowhere to go.
I ran a wire inside the car and hooked it to a light switch that I attached to the dashboard. If the temperature gauge went up I switched it on.
It was still that way when I sold it...
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The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Thu 20 Aug 2009, 17:43,
3 replies)
Hi TRLI've just been told that my ancient Toyota Carina (forerunner of the Corolla, in the UK, anyway) has failed its MOT (certificate of road-worthiness). It would cost around £500 to get it through, and as I only paid £450 for it three years ago...
Just passed 233,000 miles and now only good for the junk-yard. Still, I'm going to keep driving it until the tax runs out - waste not, want not, that's what I say.
All the best,
Che
(, Fri 21 Aug 2009, 14:59, closed)
Failed it's MOT?Then it's not roadworthy and you're breaking the law by driving it.
(, Tue 25 Aug 2009, 13:43, closed)
Sold itSome maniac gave you money for a car that you described as a rust bucket
before you hit a deer or doe? with it
Incredible
Still those Corolla engines go for ever, maybe he had a techno hack of his own planned.
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notsosecretagentman, Mon 24 Aug 2009, 15:17,
closed)
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