The day after I returned from SteamCon in Seattle I got into the car to go to the day job and discovered that my battery light was on in my 2007 Toyota Yaris.  Being an old Volkswagen man I resisted the urge to get out and hammer on the the alternator with a monkey wrench.  Instead I turned everything off and then listened carefully to the engine RPM as I turned on the rear window defroster.  When I pressed the defrost button the engines revs did indeed drop about 100 and the engine lugged for a moment until the ECU gave it a bit more gas to smooth out the idle.  Good. This exercise told me that the alternator was charging the battery and that the problem was with the warning light itself. I could safely drive the car for the rest of the week and figure things out at my leisure.

This morning I started working the problem . . .

If you follow me on Twitter you know that I had a near death encounter with a flying chunk of steel last week .

This is how I spent my Saturday.

. . .

When I was a boy I vividly recall encountering, for the first time,  a 1978 Camaro Z28 in a parking lot on my way home from school.  I was stunned! I thought: "OMG! This is F%$king Vader's car!"  While I now value very different things, I still have a soft spot for that particular GM marque.

So when I got an email with the subject "SteampunkKamaro" I though "oh god, what now?"  But this is actually pretty awesome!  John 'Jazz' Vernon does computer renderings of hot rod projects for people getting ready to drop a lot of dough into an old car, with his help you get to see what your project will look like when it's complete.

John writes:

Jake,

Your website is the greatest! I'm a freelance designer, mostly known for my vehicles and vehicle graphics. I have a website www.rodvisions.com for those who are building, restoring, repainting their vehicle project and want to see what the end result will look like in rendering form..

I came across your website and was inspired to offer my 2 cents worth for you and your website visitors.. the SteampunkKamaro.

Enjoy!

John 'Jazz' Vernon

Click through for a bigger image . . .

Rage drove me to it.  Our 2001 Toyota Sienna failed it's Massachusetts emissions test this year, the problem was with the evaporative emissions control system  (code #P0446) so I dropped it at the dealer to be fixed. 

You see, several years ago I decided I had  enough frustration working on cars and decided to focus on more fun pursuits. 

Several things have happened since then.  #1 - I have a much better shop and more capable tools.  No rusted nut or bolt can resist the hot wrench (mechanic's slang for an oxy/acetylene cutting torch) !  and #2 - I've become a radical Makepunk. 

. . .

Hi Everyone, sorry I missed the last two Jay Leno Wednesday posts! I was in Hawaii on holiday and with Meredith at Burning Man things have been kind of quiet. Well I'm back and so is Jay and his 1906 Stanley.

For our next instalment of Jay Leno Wednesday here at the Steampunk Workshop we have Jay stepping us through the start-up procedure for a 1909 Stanley and then giving us a ride.  Well worth the watch if only for the part where Jay burns all of the hair off his forearms!  He handles the explosion like a true mad scientist!

So I got vanity plates for my kit car that read STMPNK but when I did a search on that term I just got unkind and disemvowled Boingboing comments so I acquired the domain stmpnk.com and I've been dropping crumbs around the net like this to boost its position on the page.

When it comes to late night comedy I'm more Letterman than Leno. But when it comes to things mechanical Jay Leno is a total mench and exemplifies true Steampunk spirit. 

Here he is talking about a Czech Tatra, a streamlined, rear-engined, air-cooled V-8 powered car from 1938 which would look completely at home in any Dieselpunk feature film!

Lots of progress!  She's on the road, registered, inspected, and passed, including emissions which is pretty cool considering that she's basically a 1972 VW Beetle that was re-titled in Ohio as a 1985 "assembled vehicle."  A close read of the Massachusetts auto emissions law would seem to indicate that a kit car of this type should be tested under the make, model, and year that the chassis was manufactured.  However, the test station can only test to the make, model, and year the vehicle is registered. 

Since this vehicle was titled as a 1985 in Ohio that's the only thing that our RMV would let me register it as.  They told me I'd have to go to Ohio's DMV to get it changed - but under Ohio's rules, it's correct!  Classic Catch-22.  Read on to see what I did.

Oh yes! and I got Mass plates STMPNK no less!

Work on the Steampunk car continues.  Here I remove the rotted seats and mildewed interior. Rebuild and rewire the dash as well as replace the VW tail lights with reproduction Model A lamps.