WonderBart

If your into electronics then check out these 3 sites I found on the net. First one is called Gadget Gangster. It's for people who like electronic's as a hobby and want to share and explore new kits. Click Here for the link. Second one is called Electronic Goldmine. This is an online store for electronics components and accessories and some other unique items. Click Here for the link. Third one is called Hobby Engineering. This site is also an online store for electronics projects and kits. Click Here for the Link. Finding great sites is sometimes hard so check these out and let me know if you know any other sites that are great for electronics or robotics. ... Read More

It's a sad day today as it's an end to an era as my big blue crayfish SuperTank died today. I got him 1 year ago on August 6th, 2008. He was a lighter color of blue when I got him and over the past year he has gotten darker and darker. He was also the most active crayfish out of all the ones that I had and was always climbing my plants to entertain himself. Here is the last picture of SuperTank, RIP Big Blue. ... Read More

The temperatures in the Lower Mainland have been in the mid 30's for the past 2 weeks and it's causing the water in fish tanks to heat up. So today I decided to change the water in both my tanks and pour in some cold water to even out the temperatures to 78-80 degrees. I know the temperature will still climb up over time, but at least there will be more oxygen in the water for the fish now.  Some of my fish are getting bigger every month as are my turtles in my 125 Gallon tank. My crayfish SuperTank is still kicking well and cruising around my 29 Gallon tank regularly, he hasn't molted for a while but I think he should in the next few months. My baby angel fish is now the size of a loonie and growing nicely. ... Read More

I haven't posted on my blog about RC Cars or Trucks for a bit so I thought I would link to this forum i just accidently surfed to which has a nitro buggy that was converted to a brushless electric motor system with 2 LiPo battery packs.  Click Here for the link. ... Read More

I haven't had much time to do any work on my 1993 Honda Civic for a while now but I still drive it daily and every time I get behind the wheel I get excited. It's not the excitement of a new car or 500 horsepower but instead it's the fact it works great and I did all the work myself. The turbo is still coming just on hold for now, but once that gets installed in her she will have a new ROAR to expel from her tail pipe. There is a special bond between some people and their car not just as a physical item but as a form of freedom and total control. When I drive my Honda Civic I know every sound, every creek, every reaction that she gives to me when I propel her through the roadways. It's almost like were connected as soon as the engine starts, we become one entity and each one knows what they expect of the other. This might sound a bit weird for some but hey I don't really care because when I drive down the road I know exactly what my Honda Civic is capable of to keep ... Read More

I was surfing around today and accidentally discovered this new Electronics blog that's new on the block so I thought I would help the person running it out and link to him right away as he already has some great information and images posted. The Blog is called Volts and Bytes and I like it already with the schematics and images that are visible. The link is www.voltsandbytes.com so check it out if your into electronics or circuit building as he has some great information on there already and maybe down the road will have lots more great info. ... Read More

Not much new to report on the hobby side. My baby angel fish is getting bigger as are the two convicts in the 29 gallon tank. I did a water change in the 29 gallon tank yesterday so that should be good for a while.  Now I just need to get some time to do the turtle filters and i'll be good for a while. I also sold my Team Losi Mini LST RC truck as I don't really play with it as much anymore and might as well free up some cash that I can use for more important things right now. ... Read More

It's been a while since I cleaned my K&N Filter Charger so today I decided to do it. In the process I took some pictures for a Do it Yourself article. 6 Easy steps to take your dirty K&N Filter and make it clean again! Step 1 - Unloosen the mounting bracket so you can pull the filter element of the intake tube Step 2 - Spray the filter element with K&N cleaning solution and let is soak for 10 minutes Step 3 - Rinse the filter under a faucet from the inside out. This will get the dirt and gunk of the filter Step 4 - Once the filter is clean shake it off and let it sit in the sun till it's dry. Do not use compressed air to dry it off because it could damage the filter elements Step 5 - Spray the filter with the K&N Filter oil and make sure the oil has penetrated all the dry spots Step 6 - Mount the K&N Filter Charger back on your Honda Civic and your ready to go ... Read More

As you all may have noticed my posts about my turbo build have stopped and not much new has been posted for a while. The bad news is that the troubled economy has finally hit my wallet and right now I have to concentrate on this before any other major work is done on my engine. I will try to do my best to post some minor things I do to my car or engine but nothing major till get some things straightened out.  1993 Honda Civic Blog is here to stay just might be a bit quiet for a while. ... Read More

Use only genuine Honda Oil Filters !! Use 5W-30 non-synthetic motor oil ONLY !! Do Not operate the engine over 3,500 RPM during the first 200 miles of driving. You may increase the engine speed by 500 RPM for each successive 200 mile increment of break-in. Replace the Honda Oil Filter after the first 200 miles of operation. Change the oil and filter after 1000-1200 miles of operation. You may use synthetic, or a quality non-synthetic oil. Click Here for an article on The Proper Method To Break in Your New Engine ... Read More

Well the 45 gallon tank is officially down and out, I cleaned the tank and all accessories including the filter on the weekend and it's now ready for Craigslist. The Angel fish from the 45 gallon tank was put into the 29 gallon, her lips aren't getting any better so will see how she does in the next few days and weeks as far as eating is concerned. All the remaining fish that were in the 45 gallon got also transferred into the 29 gallon tank. I was told by my brother that the tetra's that I gave him are already use to his feeding times and techniques and he is quit happy with them. ... Read More

After 2 days of medication it didn't seem like the Fungus Cure was doing anything for my angel fish so I went on google and did some more research. I found out that it's actually a virus that causes this problem which is called Lip Fibroma. The only way to get rid of Lip Fibroma is to actually cut off the growth from the angels lips but I will not do this as I wouldn't wanna hurt it more. As long as the fish is still eating it is ok. This is more susceptical to happen to female angel fish that are under lots of stress, but it's not contagious. There is no cure right now so I will leave her as is. ... Read More

I've been contemplating the downsizing of my fish stock for a while now by taking down my 45 Gallon tank. The reason for this is I need to move things around in my room and I no longer have the space for a 3rd tank. Having the turtle tank and the 29 gallon tank should be sufficient enough for me now. In the future I can always buy another tank and get more fish if I want to. The experience of keeping my fish, crayfish and turtles in the last 2 years has been awesome and will be invaluable information for any future fish tank setups. I have learned what filters are the best, how to deal with Ich disease, the water cycle, PH levels and more. For now I am still going forward with my turtle tank and my 29 gallon crayfish tank till things change. So after making the decision to take down the 45 Gallon tank the opportunities for new homes for some of my fish appeared quit rapidly. My brother Paul picked up my tetras, guppies and one large pleco, my friend Tracey picked up my 4 barbs and my smaller convict cichlid and I also have ... Read More

I added my first half treatment of the Fungus Cure today and it turned my tank green, but this was needed to see if I can reduce the size of the Angel fish's swollen lips. It says on the bottle that it's suppose to make your tank green for a few days but just cause I like to be safer then sorry so I only added 50% of the treatment and will see what happens. I also cleaned my filter and pulled out the charcoal like it states on the Fungus cure and will add it back after 48 hours to make the water go back to clean color. Will keep you posted what happens ... Read More

I have not posted any articles here for a while as I've been busy with other projects and blogs but since I have some new pictures I thought I would post them up. My large angelfish in the 45 gallon tank has had large swollen lips for a few weeks now so I did some research and found out she has some kind of fungus growth on her lips. So today at lunch I went to Big Al's Aquarium Store and picked up some API Fungus Cure and will try it on the weekend and let you know how it works. As you can see in the picture above, her lips are quit large and swollen. This is the API Fungus Cure I will try this on the weekend and see if my Angelfish lips get smaller. Today I also bought these calcium blocks for my two turtles as they add calcium into their diets to build a healthy strong shell. This is a picture of one of my new Firemouth Cichlids that I bought about a month ago, they are pretty tough fish and always chase my other fish around. My Chinese algae eater and this Firemouth always have standoff's. ... Read More

If you have got surging, bouncy or an erratic engine idle read on. If you have a really nasty idle issue and tried the usual tuneup and it doesn't seem to work then Click Here for a writeup on Honda-Tech.com on how to fix this issue. ... Read More

I've already put my D16Z6 block together and spec'd the bearings but if you need more info on this, here is a link to D-Series forum post that explains it a little more. Click Here for the link. ... Read More

Part 2 of building the bottom end was more interesting as it was starting to look, more like an engine. The reason I inserted the pistons in first is because you can't secure the crank shaft from falling out without the main caps bolted on if the engine is right side up. And while the main cap girdle is bolted on it's really hard to bolt up the rods caps. I made sure all the bearing surfaces were clean before I added on the bearings to the rods and block. I used the red assembly lube to lubricate all the bearings including the thrust washers. It really helps to get some grease on the thrust washers as it will make them stick to the block easier so they don't fall off while inserting the crankshaft. I also put a bit of grease on the crankshaft where the thrust washers sit so this is lubricated till the first startup. Once everything was ready I inserted the crankshaft into the block and put on the rod caps. I used ARP Molly lube for the threads and under the head of the bolts for the rods to get the proper torque feel. I ... Read More

Last weekend I had some more time to work on the engine so I started by pulling off the masking tape from the block and cleaned up any tape residue from the paint job. After that I washed the block with some soap and hot water, and then  quickly dried it off with compressed air. I then used a paint stir stick rapped with Bounty paper towels to clean the inside of the cylinders while I sprayed some WD-40 on the cylinder walls. I did this till the paper towels did not show anymore dirt from the cylinder. As you can see in the image above the engine block looks great after some fresh paint. I dried the inside of the cylinder walls with paper towels and sprayed WD-40 to lubricate the cylinder and to clean out any left over dirt, dust and minor surface rust After the block was clean I disassembled the pistons from the rods and washed everything thoroughly with hot water and soap. After everything was clean I assembled the pistons back together with assembly lube and put on the piston rings. When putting in the piston C-Clip's make sure your using the proper C-Clip pliers ... Read More

Getting the rings to the proper spec was actually easier then I thought, all I did was oil up the cylinder walls, inserted 1 ring at a time and pushed it down 1" with the piston head, then I used a feeler gauge to check the clearance. If the gap was too small I took the ring out and filed it down on the special ring filer tool I borrowed of a friend. I was very careful not to file down too much at a time so I had to do this a few times per ring. I separated the rings into the 4 cylinders and made sure not to mix them up. I used .018" gap  for the top ring and .019" gap for the 2nd ring, I left the oil rings are left as they were because they did not need any filing. Here is a great link for info about setting the ring gap by Theoldone In the picture to the left you can see me using a piston to push down the piston ring currently being gapped. In the picture to the right you can see me checking the gap using a feeler gauge. In the picture ... Read More