My Two-Year Oppo-versary!

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro) 07/24/2017 at 17:00 • Filed to: oppo-versary, oppoversary, year-in-review, ama, ask me anything, discussion

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Time flies when you’re having fun...

And what fun this past year has been! I stepped outside my comfort zone jumping into some new (to me) projects, including a motorcycle, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and even a FWD automatic transmission.

Five years ago, after finding a wealth of information online, I summoned up enough courage to rebuild my Thunderbird’s 4R70W transmission. It went so well, that when a neighbor asked if I’d be willing to take on a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! out of a Town & Caravan, I accepted (after doing some research to make sure I wasn’t getting in over my head).

This time, I decided to take you guys along for the ride, cataloging my progress on Kinja with more pics than I’ve ever taken for a single project. Truth is, I’m no expert on automatic transmissions. In fact, I’d probably have gotten lost if not for the pics I took and the way I had the parts laid out on the table. Just goes to show that if you’re meticulous enough, you can do it!

Also new to me was the world of motorcycles. I’m no biker, but my father’s old !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! piqued my curiosity, and I wanted to see if I could get it running after 30 years.

And run it finally did! But not without you guys’ help. I learned some great new tricks that I’m sure will come in handy in the future.

I also started a weekly roundup of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! posts. I’ve found myself totally hooked on that subreddit, which accumulates dozens of new posts every day. If you don’t want to sort through hundreds of posts every week, stop on by one of my roundups where I share some of my top favorites.

I also teamed up with MontegoMan to organize a Metro Detroit area !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which went very well! I am told that this is not actually the first one after all, so if for any reason either of us are unable to set up the next one, please feel free to pick up where we left off. Our meetup at a park is proof that it doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive.

Also, I finally got around to sharing some !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I don’t know if I’ll be putting together any compilations or anything, but you can bet I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled out there!

So, AMA, I guess. I’ll see you guys around Oppo, and here’s to another year!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 17:01

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Glad to have you. I think I’ve been on OPPO around 7 years now.

Also glad we were able to pull off OPPO meet!

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 17:32

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Glad to have you!

XJDano > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 17:34

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I don’t think I can look up my Oppo anniversary. They reset the format and oldest one is July 4, 2012.

It just reminds me how I’d like to get out in the garage and be productive. I may get a chance later this week as my wife is going to TX for my sister’s bachelorette party. Although I still have the kids I can put a movie on for them.  

Urambo Tauro > XJDano 07/24/2017 at 17:57

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I tried to look it up last year, but apparently Kinja lost all my old notifications. I can only see about 3 months back, so there’s no finding the authorship invite. I did, however, manage to track down the club openings post where I asked to join in, and that was on June 18 (2015). But I didn’t “consummate” the occasion by making an actual post until July, so the true anniversary date is kinda debatable...

ttyymmnn > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 17:58

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XJDano > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 18:04

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I’d say it was yesterday. Close enough

https://kinja.com/urambotauro?startTime=1454199300428

Urambo Tauro > XJDano 07/24/2017 at 18:13

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Yup. (I postponed this post because I prefer not to make more than one post per day, and yesterday was JRitS day.)

facw > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 19:01

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See, I can see an oppo authorship invite anytime I want thanks to kinja!

10 months ago now, how time flies! (neither Accept nor Decline does anything)

Urambo Tauro > facw 07/24/2017 at 19:21

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Weird, I just checked my notification log, and it only goes back to April of this year. But instead of going back exactly 3 months, or exactly 90 days, it goes back to April 12, which seems really random.

facw > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 19:33

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Mine goes back to 10/17/2014, so who knows. Kinja!

jimz > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 20:54

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I like the JRitS stuff, because so much of it reminds me of when I was a wrench. so many people driving a mile on a completely flat tire and wouldn’t accept that I couldn’t fix a tire with the sidewall ripped into shreds. Or the old guy who tried washing his (paper) air filter element in the tire leak tank and expecting us to put it back in. Or the person who had those old Uniroyal Royal Seal tires and somehow ran them low enough where the soft sealing compound overheated, melted, ran down and congealed in a big ball inside the tire. Then tried to accuse me of not knowing what I was doing because I couldn’t get it to balance. Then there were the people who would say “oh, by the way I tried a can of Fix-a-Flat” after I had broken the bead on their tire and received a faceful of ammonia and latex.

the absolute ( absolute ) worst, though, was one early Sunday morning between high school and college. since it was Sunday, I was just doing pump jockey duty and LOFs. ‘bout 8:30 or so this older woman drives up and asks me to check her tires. I do that (it was one of the things we did gratis) and after I tell her her tires are fine, she looks up at me with lips trembling and tearily says “I just lost my son.” She then shows me some photos of him and says how he was into medieval re-enactments (LARPing before LARPing was a thing) and that he died because he was polishing his mail and plate armor on a wheel, something snagged and caught him in the neck. And I had no idea what to do or say. here’s me, some dumbass 18-year-old kid, and this nice person I’ve never met pouring her heart out to me about her loss.

I don’t remember exactly what I said other than “I’m sorry.” I guess she just needed someone to talk to. I never saw her again, so I hope I helped.

Urambo Tauro > jimz 07/24/2017 at 21:13

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Wow.

jimz > Urambo Tauro 07/24/2017 at 21:21

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I can’t tell you the exact date, but I can tell you the year and the address.