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- Hacker News
- a decent long form article with pictures, a story, well written, and something of interest. I will read this fully later as it will require some time. Good work!by jaffa2
- Wonderful project. But alarm bells went off in my head when I saw the picture of the helper, wearing gloves, holding a part to be drilled while the author held the drill centimeters away from the helper's gloved hands. I hope that was just for illustration purposes.
pic: https://images-stag.jazelc.com/uploads/theautopian-m2en/Scre...
by bushwart - The things about that picture giving me hives are 1. drill not perpendicular to the work 2. bearing cups are unsupported so the downpressure is spreading them 3. when the bit punches through it's going to mar the table. They noted glittery bits on the first oil change, might be prudent to run an oil analysis and see what's up.by 27183
- Those kids (the autopian team) specialize in generating engagement doing things that are pretty unsafe...
Another example would be the dude who used a chainsaw on some lead acid batteries, for reasons.
https://www.theautopian.com/how-i-used-a-chainsaw-to-remove-...
That dude's also an owner of the company, so maybe giving himself lead poisoning for clicks is worth it?
by cduzz - It doesn't set off alarm bells in my head. That bearing material is very soft and easy to drill. clamping it is not simple as it's easy to deform. I would have done the same and went nice and slow starting with a center drill and moving to a standard jobbers afterward.by MisterTea
- I can see the appeal, not having to deal with much rust or bolts breaking (the 2 things which cause the most trouble for me in working on vehicles). 800 miles across the desert is some way to run it in though!by thomasjb
- Is it truly a 2026 car though, if it does not come with an ungodly amount of attention beep nagware that cannot be permanently disabled?by usrusr
- Is it really a 2026 car if it was made in 2026? (New cars in 2026 are manufactured and sold as 2027)
- There's a Wheeler Dealers episode where Edd China takes care of a WWII Jeep.by dominicrose
- I love that showby Cthulhu_
- Just like they eventually added to WWII Jeeps, it needs a huge anti-decapitation pole on the front (maybe a really cool (and huge) hood ornament?).
- This kind of story makes you realize what a true marvel the modern production line is - so many moving parts that have to line up just right each time to be able to produce vehicles as fast as we do.by bombcar
- I love the Autopian, glad they're on the HN front page. David Tracy's Jeep antics have kept me up at night worrying for at least 10 years now.by Shalomboy
- Embarassed to say I didn't realize that Tracy had a new gig over at Autopian. Really pleased this article made it here because now I can see what he's been up to! This is a great place to start.
- I wish he shared what it cost him overall. I can already see from some of the numbers and some guesswork that it must not be a flattering sum, but I still want to see it!by RugnirViking
- Howdy! This is Matt from The Autopian. I talked to David about this and we'll have it for you soon. We've been doing the math and it's kinda hilarious. Obviously, we were proving a point with this video but it's not... the most efficient way to do this.by hardibro
- "o my god I lob a yeep"
Super article. Something to actually read, great photos. "How I Got Myself In This Predicament" is just the sort of subheading I like to read.
by dofm - The important point is "from as much ebay parts as possible" because I suspect there are still "jeep in a crate" boxes where all you have to do is remove the Cosmolene (this is undoubtedly not all you have to do btw)by ggm
- Reminds me of stories where someone parks a pristine <some-car> and goes away for some reason, never to return. Then decades go by before the "barn find" is rediscovered.by m463
- On a slightly newer time scale there are always firearm collectors searching for something impossible to acquire now, but which might have been acquired at some point in the past and squirreled away in its factory original box in the cosmoline. Like somebody who might have purchased an imported Egyptian Maadi AKM (locally made AK47 variant) in 1982, then never unpacked it for whatever reason.
People collect these things just because, almost like pokemon cards, another example would be the rarity of finding a specific year of East German Makarov in pristine/factory new condition.
by walrus01 - You can build a Citroën 2CV from scratch with entirely new parts - almost - because someone somewhere makes what you need.
About the only mechanical component you can't buy is the gearbox "bucket", presumably because nobody ever breaks those. You can actually get various gearbox upgrades for them which is worth it if you daily one, because the mainshaft nut can slacken off and get you jammed in gear.
- There's a long running treasure hunt for some still-crated Spitfires that were supposedly shipped to Burma at the exact end of the war and then buried when no longer required.
The amount of equipment left over from WW2 was staggering.
by pjc50 - That's an insane amount of work. An amazing adventure and a saint of a wife!
I'm wondering if there'll be any follow up:
Thats a lot of metal in the engine oil. Whats the source? is there a fix? or is it just 'breaking in' a new motor?
Did he ever solve the overheating problems?
Did he ever finish the headlights and other small items?
and now what does he do with all the duplicate/spare parts?
I've done a couple extremely high stress road trips, so I fully empathize with him passing out every time he had to pull over. What a fun read; I love these ultra-long-form articles.
by fusslo - From what I've seen of break-in oil, this books typical. Especially as what he did on that trip is everything you should not do to a freshly built engine.by robbak