JLP Services Inc (Jennifer) about me thread..

[jlpservicesinc]

Well, I was talking with a fellow smith on FB and he came and read the this thread..  He then said paraphrasing " That one would have to live to 100 in order to be good as a smith, so why try it at an older age"..  the Gentleman does some very interesting work and is very skilled in his own right but only started a short time line ago.. 

So, I went threw and read the whole thread again..     I always have the best intentions of trying to show the best part of smithing and my journey..  Yes, it was a struggle not only personally but the starting point I came from was pretty low on the overall skills thing..  

Well, anyhow.  As my usual writing awesomeness (JOKE)..    Which again I am always hopeful comes threw..   And does not..   I have many demons so to speak.. Of which they are my own.. 

I do confess I am certainly still jaded but it's different and there is no way to explain it.. It's something I don't understand and maybe never will in this lifetime..  So I just deal with it the best I can.. 

So, really I should not write anything really because it never really carries my full meaning..   I don't know why.. 

So, I will just say this..  

Smithing to me, has been one of the most amazing journeys and adventures one could ever hope for.. Not only did I practice my butt off, and not only did I achieve a small amount of proficiency, but learned so much about so many different facets of history from a hardware view..   I often wish and anvil or a hinge or a thumblatch could talk.. 

I could teach everything I learned in smithing to someone in only a few months.. It would take them a lifetime to master it all.  But they would have a great skill set in that time frame. 

I was told any journey is an 80 year one...  40 years in and 40 years out..  The meaning of this is, there are a yin and yang type of demand on any skill  set..    Some would call it the jouney to mastery.. 

Anyhow.  There it is.. 

[jlpservicesinc]

This aspect could could be titled the road to redemption. 

I start with:   Anything I spend time doing is worth doing right. 

With being burnt out I closed the door to the shop and literally walked  away..  

Without the the ability to see the item as finished in my mind it was over.. I couldn't make anything even if I wanted to.. 

So, I turned my attention away from smithing and towards high performance parts for SAAB automobiles as I was a Wannabe Rally driver.   

I started down a road here that lead me to sound waves,  turbo systems and such Actually got to talk to quite a few famous people over the phone, Corky Bell and another guy famous for porting and polishing heads..    Was another blast of a time learned many things which apply to smithing and designs..  Anyhow, just another part of the journey. 

At this point.  I was done smithing and about 2008 or 9  I was making parts for sale to other people looking for some go fast bolt on parts. Also leverage for a Group buy on some LSD's plate type from a company in the UK..  full limited slip with ramps so one could adjust the amount of lockup.. For a SAAB front wheel drive 99/900.  The group buy turned in about 14 units. 

My rally drivng started to get pretty intense and was getting in the realm of speed that in a crash it would have been over.. My thoughts of speed were like 80mph as a magic number.. Eventually I was in the 100 and 115mph range.. Icy, slippery, snowy, muddy..  Really pretty bad terrain.  Once I went over the 80mph barrier I started to see that the limits or grip on insanity (chuckle, chuckle) were finite..    I really didn't enjoy going that fast because of the risk factor.. Well for myself once over that magic number of 80..  it was kinda a weird thing that now it seemed like there was no limit and noticed that 100 and 115 came easy after the 80mph..  Practice I guess. 

what few also realize is the distance you cover at 80 and at 100mph are 2 totally different facets.. a 20mile per hour difference from 0mph to 20 doesn't seem like much..  But when you get in the 100mph and over on a back dirt road with only enough room for you and the car..   I have taken a few guys for rides that were all excited.. LOL..  they were like, yeah, lets do this..  LOL..   Oh, ok..  You ready... YUP>> LOL..     One guy got out of the car and threw up all over the place.. We were in the car for about 10minutes..   

Nother guy said,  it should not be legal to go that fast on anything but a paved race track..   Never had a crash or accident or anything..  LOL not even a flat tire..   Lots of blown gear boxes though..   I started to play with engine vacuum to increase piston ring sealing and all sort of really cool stuff.  My original car was 180hp from the factory and with just bolt on parts and unmodified fuel management, I was getting near the 350-375 mark..   The car would peel rubber on dry pavement with posi in 5th gear at 75mph. 

I know, I know it sounds like I'm bragging..   In fact it's one of the things about this thread that is kind disappointing..    Everything I do, I strive for the best I can be.. A goal or push.. Once I get there.. I kinda get bored..   It doesn't mean there isn't more or that the possibility is greater..  it's just I've reached that point of my expectations and its enough. 

[CtG]

Nice. Crankcase vacuum can help with ring sealing, but I never played with it long enough to see the long term. Not not there is a long term in racing, but still. Funny how getting married, having kids young, and being sole earner in this day and age kind of delayed the hobby curve. 

I never got much into Saab or Volvo personally, but I played a little bit with VW and Toyota. Buddy has a hybrid 20/22R in his 79 Pickup. It's a fun ride, glad he took some of my advice on the build. 

[jlpservicesinc]

CtG.  
In 5 years of working on the same engine I ended up with piston scoring..  I started to pull about 25" of vacuum as a test time and it was high enough that it would pull the oil mist out of the engine crank case..    the car was super fast for about 2 days..  Then that was it..  It still drove but no power..   that was an expensive learning curve..  I then settled on about 15-17 and never had a problem again.   Some people estimated the car in the 400HP+ realm but I never dyno'd it so go with lower numbers..  

Saab Engines were ideal because they were built heavy and were designed from the factory for Turbo use..   I love SAAB...  SAAB being front wheel drive Volvo rear. but also just kinda neat cars.. 

I own an Audi A4 Quattro and was going to originally pull the AWD from and install it in my Car I named Rosie..  Rosie is number 49 in the last year of the SPG import.. I got xxxx from all the people on the groups when I mentioned installing the awd..    I was going thru a transmission about every 6-8 months as the power was just to much..  Blew 4th gear twice .  It was 1000.00 in bearings and parts  and then pulling shafts and gear from other boxes..  Never blew a gear box out Rallying. but.. 

Was a bunch of fun while it lasted and I learned a bunch of engine efficiency as a key to power..    I designed an intercooler that was dual pass and would break up laminar flow..  Most people hate and despise dual pass because of the PSI drop..  Few realize just how much heat soak happens in the stratified layers in an intercooler..  

 When I quite I was into designing intake systems with full independent runners.. Kinda neat too. 

the bottom photo is an Oil catch can designed to scavenge oil from the intake air..  it was designed to cool off the vapor and catch water and used a centrafuge design. 

I would get about 1/4Gallon of water every 3-4 days..  and just a little oil in the bottom..  It had internal baffles as well. 

[CtG]

So no coalescing element, or that in addition to the centrifugal separator? Interesting! My home-brew breather systems for TDI's were ugly, but they caught the oil mist and vapor fairly well. Definitely slowed the process of intake runner fouling (soot from EGR + oil vapor) 

I figured too high might be damaging, I was never able to test for a sweet spot though. I figured you might reach a point where you start pulling the rings in hard enough to strip the surface film- wouldn't take long last that point. 

Most lay-people don't understand just how relatively inefficient the average internal combustion engine is. Every bit you can pick up makes such a big difference... thermally reflective ceramics in the right places, ultra-low-friction coatings in the right places, managing a balance of skirt height for stability and drag, what oil package..  heck, even balancing your valve train so your valves stay closed when you want but don't eat up excessive energy with poor geometry or excessive spring pressure.... 

Heck, it sounds like you have more practical experience than me- and then some!!

 

Some of Toyota's 80's-early 00's engines were built crazy stout and take well to modifications. The same goes for some of the early VW TDI's to make it stateside. 

 

I thought I remembered a picture of your guage cluster from some thread and thinking it looked suspiciously Mk4-ish haha 

[arkie]

Jennifer...your next project....a turbo-charged anvil.....HA!!

Enjoying your life story, BTW.  Very varied.

[Jasent]

One of my favorite cars I ever owned was a 76’ Toyota celica with a 22r from a 4x4 sr5.  Thing was built by someone who knew their stuff.  Red line was 9000 and it’d do 60 in 2nd gear.   Tires.... what tires. Thing would smoke the tires taking off in 2nd and smoke rolled in every gear.  Only racing I did was local drags but it did very well.  Sure miss that car

[CtG]

9000 is a xxxx of a redline for a 22R. Doable, but it takes some work. 

My buddy's is only good to 6500, but it pulls hard from 2600 on. Twin double barrel sidedrafts give it an extra bit of tonal character as well. I think they're 40mm choke Dellorto? Can't remember off-hand. Has pretty decent street manners as well.

[Jasent]

I never did take it to red but 8500 was often.  Treated that poor car like a 2 stroke.  Young and dumb

 

drove it for a year or so and traded it for an 83’ trans am that was built pretty good.  First week I had it I must have floated the valves a dozen times trying to get it to run like that celica did

[jlpservicesinc]

CtG, SAABs are really clean vs VW or AUDI.  More water than anything esle.. Little watery oil but usually it was a bunch of water..  What I found was the can was alum and is in the photo.. The intake was on the outside with a baffle of steel with holes in it so the air would spin an hit the baffle..  I worked well.. 

the first Prototype was made out of a small Chrome moly compressed air cylinder..  Same basic design.. that thing would pull water out crazy like..  It needed to be drained every few days.. 

So, for that that do not now An oil catch can us used to scavenge any oil out of the PVC system before it gets put back into the engine intake.. Basically a fancy oil and water filter.. 

The PCV valve for a turbo charged care is different because there is no intake vacuum when on boost so the crank case can actually go positive instead of negative pressure or vacuum. 

This leads to really bad oil leaks and such..   

On a SAAB engine they use a calibrated inducer hose and fitting so the Crank case as the boost is created uses this boost intake (inducer) to add vacuum to  the upstream side of the turbo which also adds vacuum to the crank case..  Pretty much all turbo systems work the same unless someone runs to atmosphere.. Which is not good.. 

The key to most of these types  of separators is to spin the air and then cool it so things coalesce in the container.. Then the air is fed back into just before the turbo..   

So a turbo is basically a huge air sucker..  The problem is anything that bypasses and hits the turbine will ruin it..  Back when I started on SAABs The guy I worked for talked to me about setting up a water injection system and this water injection system worked with a windsheild motor and fluid and it sprayed the water directly into the turbine..   It's great if you have a bunch of turbines.. Basically what happen was the erosion of the fluid was so bad the turbine wheel was destroyed. with a slit running the diameter as the stuff sprayed in.. 

Injection of water increases the flash point of the gas (cheap octane boost) which allows for more advance or boost or both. 

Here is a run while I try to shift.. It's kinda cool.. It's on my personal old channel. 

I built a racing motor for one of my cars that the redline was 8500 rpms   I had tach it to 10K a time or 2.. Still have the motor.. Was a SAAB V4 motor.. (Was a ford industrial motor). 1700CC.  10.3 forged pistons,  ported and polished heads, etc, etc.  that one was pricey to build.. 




 

 

[CtG]

Only time I saw a SAAB V4 was in a Sonnet. Was in the scrap yard. I did always enjoy my dad's V4 Magna. Boy did that thing run for a stock bike. 

 

A lot of factory CCV systems will have the vent pre-turbo. Over the life of the turbo, the compressor tends to suffer. As stated, the droplets can cause slow erosion to the tips. 

 

These days most things I work on have redlines closer to 2200 haha

[jlpservicesinc]

I am a huge 2 stroke saab fan.. I had a 61 GT850 and a 66 Monte Carlo 850..   They were a blast to tool around it..   Of late I have had thoughts of putting a 13b or 20B Wankel in the AUDI as a performace boost..   

I"m more about handling then drag racing..  Not a fan of the straight away.. But throw a corner at me.. Giddy up. 

[Jasent]

I loved the acceleration the most.  First 5 sec of the drag was the best.  Always enjoyed to rally races    Wish I could have done some though.  Growing up in the country we did many 100 mph runs on some crazy mountain roads.  How we survived is beyond me.  I’ve had a few fun cars but where I live they just aren’t practical.  If you don’t have a 4wheel drive you got a seasonal rig.  So most of our rigs are jacked up 4x4’s with low gears.  We get about 3 months of snow, 4 months of mud and 5 months of dust. 

[jlpservicesinc]

Yup, I hear yeah..  I just like accellartion on purpose Before, during and after the corner..   I got nothing again draggers..  

It was a bunch of fun while it lasted..   The Audi is AWD and it's a neat system where it can be more front wheel drive or rear wheel drive depending on terrain and tire slip..  Fit in with my driving style of petal to the metal and left foot braking.. 

One of the best cars I have ever driven in snow or mud..  Only problem is once it get to deep.. Far better than either of my 4X4 trucks..  Crazy good really. 

Cars now have traction control and such.. completely changes the whole ball of works.. You give the car gas and it feels like someone has the ebrake on. but at least it still vs vs slipping tires.  

I haven't had to rock a car nor have I ever been stuck in the Audi. 

[Jasent]

Those audi’s Are great. Friend had one.  Can’t believe what that thing went through,  But 2’ of snow or 2’ mud and things change.   

[CtG]

My old 84 Tercel 4wd Wagon was that way. Only time I had to rock it was when I got high-centered on an ice boulder while drift bashing. Oops! Oh how I loved that old girl. 62hp and 74 ft/lbs but I played with timing (ignition and valve) as well as porting and livened her up some. MAYBE 75hp haha... had more tickets in that thing... I still remember doing hill-runs in the mountains around home, burying the 85mph speedo then watching the tach, getting home and calculating speed from gear and final ratio and tire size haha... I had those solid front rotors glowing more than a few times. I don't advocate my youthful shenanigans by any means... but that old girl took it like a champ. Falling asleep behind the wheel and going unconcious high-speed off-roading did her in.... miss that old stinker. 

[JHCC]

42 minutes ago, CtG said:

My old 84 Tercel 4wd Wagon.... miss that old stinker. 

I learned to drive (cars, anyway; I first learned drive on an old International tractor) in one of those. Great cars. 

[CtG]

I had at one point an 83, 84, 86, and 88. And an old 81 "Corolla-Tercel". 

 

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

I learned to drive in a '48 Studebaker, my first car was a '36 Chevy tudor, wish I still had that one. 

[Chris C]

1950 Studebaker for me, IFC.  Starter button on the floor.  What a hoot!  Dad had owned a paint and body shop in his younger years, so he took all the chrome off the body, leaded everything, put a beautiful paint job on it, had all new interior naugahyde installed and it was my Mother's car.  I learned how to drive in that car..........and took my girlfriend on our first "alone" car date on my 16th B-day.  Oh, those were surely shinin' times, shinin' times.

[jlpservicesinc]

CtG is that a current car?    I kinda stopped looking at cars as anything other than transport.. I drive between 100 and 200miles a day so I check fluids and I'm off. 

Some of the little nice things about more modern cars is the fact they can be chipped for more performance..   The, Audi was at the end of my crazy car days.. I started to build parts for it, but just stopped..  I do have a 6speed transmission in a B5 1.8T and 4:10 finals to get a little more to the ground vs 3:89.. Preferring nimble over larger displacement. But overall its fast enough to get me on and off the highway.  thought of a SAAB 2.0 transplant also, but never bothered. 

Jasent, yup deep snow can be a problem but I haven't found any here yet that I have gotten stuck in..  I even run wider tires but do run snowys with studds.   the Generation before mine used a lever on the console to lock posi in..

the early 4x4 cars are cool.  the toyotas the Early subarus with the pneumatic suspension little sports car thing..   I always thought one of the Early Honda box cars would be fun.. Wasn't much bigger than a Mini.. 

[CtG]

Those pictures are about 15 years old haha

 

Current car is a... well, "my" car is a Mk4 Jetta ALH TDI that is thoroughly disassembled. Wife's is a '17 Hyundai Sonata. 

I thought about doing the whole shebang on the TDI, but that's more money and more time for something I won't drive much (service truck gets to come home with me) 

[ThomasPowers]

And here I went out and bought another 4 cylinder truck last week: 2004 Toyota Tacoma, 5 speed, 92000 miles.  My current one, also a 4 cylinder, but a Nissan Frontier, was nudging 180000 m and out mechanic told us, it wasn't worth the cost of fixing it up anymore and only drive it around town. 

My new one pretty plain which I LIKE---crank windows, both doors keyed entry; but it does have working AC and cruise control---I suspect it will get me out to Quad-State fairly soon.

Paid cash---it was cheap and I expect the only way I lucked onto it was the older fellow had his cell phone on direct to voice mail and so never noticed that there was a stack of folks wanting it.  (It spend 6 years in the garage in it's "youth" as the owner worked overseas.  Meticulous maintenance---I have a 2" stack of all the stuff done over the years.

Funny though it seems I have been flipping between automatic and standard trucks over the last couple of decades.  My wife likes stick shift too.

[jlpservicesinc]

VW and Audi's are expensive to build.. 

one other really cool factor is the 900 Turbo I would get 30miles per gallon if driving like a sane person..  and low 20's when I was aping it out..

the styling in the mid 80's to mid 90's was some of my favorites.. 

the Audi Group B cars were putting out 592HP out of a 5cylinder 2.2L when all said in done..  Kinda cool.. 

 

 

Thomas I like a stick..  

My honey bought one of the new Subaru's with eagle eyes and it is very cool..  Cruise control is automatic.. very cool. 

I'm waiting till they come out with a self driving car before i'm willing to put out big money..  

[ThomasPowers]

With luck this may well be my last truck.  Sometime I am going to have to stop this "load up the forge" foolishness and just work from my overly equipped smithy...