Tesla is a company that makes electric cars. Their cars can get software updates remotely, and the show is talking about how that software might be connected or coordinated.
PETG filament is the plastic “string” used by many 3D printers to make parts. It’s chosen because it can be printed fairly easily and tends to be more durable than some other plastics.
The rear bumper is the part at the back of the car that helps protect it in low-speed crashes. The show is pointing out that printing one might cost far less than buying one.
A clone car is a car made to look like a more expensive or rare one. Usually it’s built using other parts or a different base car, not the original design.
A “nine-inch rear” is a type of rear axle used in many hot rods. It’s popular because it can handle a lot of power and has lots of upgrade parts available.
A van conversion is when someone modifies a regular van to turn it into something like a camper. It can include things like special windows and a raised roof so it looks and works more like a travel van.
A fiberglass topper is an aftermarket roof-mounted shell (often camper-style) made from fiberglass. It changes the van’s silhouette and interior space, and the segment describes a style that looks like a locomotive or speedboat because of its shape and windows.
Concept
vanner
“Vanner” is slang for someone in the van-camping/community scene, often tied to specific styles of vans and meetups. The speaker uses it as identity shorthand to describe the culture around these vehicles.
An O2 (oxygen) sensor measures exhaust oxygen content so the engine control system can adjust fuel delivery. The segment notes that O2 sensors should “oscillate” between high and low readings; if they don’t, it can indicate a stuck sensor or related issue.
This sensor tells the car how hot or cold the air is outside. If it’s wrong, the car may add too much or too little fuel and act weird, especially when starting.
OBD1 refers to early On-Board Diagnostics systems used on older vehicles. The speaker mentions using OBD1 “books”/information to interpret what the car is doing—like whether a sensor is stuck or readings should oscillate.
They’re talking about a type of repair manual brand. The speaker doesn’t like it because it may not give the exact details you need for every engine/part setup.
Bore size is the width of the engine’s cylinders. It matters because it affects how big the engine is and is important when rebuilding or checking specs.
Valve lash is a small gap inside the engine that has to be set correctly. If it’s too tight or too loose, the engine can run poorly or wear out faster.
A distributor is an ignition component used on many older engines to route high voltage to the spark plugs. The “big caps” refers to the external distributor cap design, which is a common service item (cap/rotor) on many GM-era setups.
Air suspension is a suspension system that uses air bags instead of regular springs. It can raise or lower the car, and it usually needs the right manual to troubleshoot.
A factory manual is the official repair guide made by the car maker. It’s usually very detailed and includes exact specs, but it can be written for people who already know how to work on cars.
A Pontiac Trans Am is a classic American muscle car. The speaker is saying they had one around 1989, and they’re talking about books/manuals for that era.
The segment shifts to a discussion of spiderwebs/spider silk strength, using it as an analogy for material performance. Spider silk is often cited because it combines high tensile strength with flexibility, which is why it’s compared to engineering materials.
MPA (megapascals) is a unit of pressure/stress used in material science. It’s commonly used to quantify tensile strength and other mechanical properties in engineering contexts.
Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is the maximum stress a material can handle while being stretched before it breaks. In the transcript, it’s used to compare spider silk to carbon steel on a strength-per-weight basis.
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Emily EP40: I mean, I haven't been grocery shopping in like three weeks, but Yeah.
Emily EP40: Everybody that is, um, subscribed to our newsletter. Thank you. There are people out there subscribed to it and hey, I don't spam people, which means a KAI never send a newsletter, but there's gonna be one in the future.
I need to be getting on the keys, doing a little tap dancing, putting some ideas out in the world. And, you know, we have some of the stuff that we read about and we do all this research and there's a little more to talk about with every episode. So, yeah. Hopefully I don't make a liar outta myself.
Rose EP40: get the Nielsen ratings.
Rose EP40: I've been talking about this, I'm the source. I, I'm, I'm the horse's mouth.
Rose EP40: you know, like sort of like the glowing suitcase and repo man.
We will use Tesla. 'cause I know that they do all of the updates and like, everything like that. And I believe they can talk to each other. Maybe they don't. I don't know. It's for up for debate. But say there's somebody that works there that puts it in the code. They're a, they're a, a code writer. What are those people called?
Emily EP40: This is where we get the news wrong.
Rose EP40: All you have to do. And not saying this works, but in some instances when people do this, it does work. Like this guy wrote a book and said it was the sequel to Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance.
Rose EP40: will, I, I hope somebody will write me in and say, you know, actually I love that.
Rose EP40: I didn't, 'cause I'd already seen this photo.
Rose EP40: it would be cubic. So four feet by four feet. Four feet wide. Four feet long.
Rose EP40: is a remote control lawnmower. It's painted red tank treads, says FT 800 in Windows aerial on top in a sticker.
I mean the, the semi-truck Emily EP40: Was it all of the Rose EP40: I would die. You didn't, write year ending?
Rose EP40: Like when, like when Ryan Chevlin wrote in and said the answer to the question that nobody asked.
what, he makes the, the sort of like, doesn't he make the bug?
Emily EP40: Yeah. I don't, know Porsche, uh,
Emily EP40: okay. Maybe
Rose EP40: And then it says lake, who had no prior 3D printing experience is constructing the car entirely from PETG filament by digitally scanning.
Rose EP40: This is an interesting fact though At the top of this key details, a single rear bumper, which costs nearly 19,000 Austral. Cost only 165 Australian to print material.
Emily EP40: do. Do you think it would be like, instead of selling the actual kit, what they sell is, uh,
Emily EP40: Yeah, that's really cool. Like what's the difference between this and like a clone because he is using a lesser model, which is usually a clone car is made out of a lesser model. Not to be confused with a clown car.
Rose EP40: Uh, like I, one of the early hot rod shops I worked for, the, owner had got his fiberglass experience with his dad and his grandpa making fiberglass MG bodies, but they had widened fenders, so they would fit on a Volkswagen pan and it was like for his grandfather's Shriner group.
Rose EP40: he made, he made Michael leave.
Rose EP40: So for me that they hold a special place. 'cause like that was a really nice body. And it was on, um, you know, it had a, I forget who built the chassis, but it was a height super saver front end, and it had a nine inch rear.
Rose EP40: Like, would you be like, I'm done, like, or would that bother you?
Emily EP40: We all know what you meant.
Rose EP40: I just like, we saw some giant truck the other day and I was like, if, if I'm like, how, if you knew that person, would you just be like, man, when you get some money, or are you gonna get a big truck?
it would, there would be no false pretense. It would be like, I would already know, first of all,
Rose EP40: Because in my mind I'm thinking of like, cutaway interior, it's not finished. And then you're like, yeah, I did notice the square tube all over the,
Rose EP40: piping it in? Uh hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Say there's all these like, like giant vibrating motors or something around the car, around the not too giant though, because they gotta be between the skin and the interior. And say that they shake the car enough to where it seems like the car.
Because they're absolute pieces of shit.
Rose EP40: it, and then watch the Dr. Saggy ass droopy drawers. The back end is always fucking dragging. Because you, you've loaded it up like grandpa's fishing van, time and time again, taking it down to the fucking lake, you know, and the spare tire covers just one more fucking bit of weight past the rear axle.
Rose EP40: But we're talking 20 years later and then I'm just like, I've, they just look like fucking trash on the street. I'm not saying I haven't seen some good ones, but you know what, when they're good is when somebody takes all the fucking stripes off of them and then they like repaint their van and then you're like, oh, that's a cool, solid color painted van with a bunch of windows in it. And you're like, oh, it must be a conversion.
Rose EP40: I love, we loved it as kids. We thought this was the coolest thing ever. We were watching TV in a car. Now you like, just like carry a TV around in your pocket all the time and you're like, whoa, what else?
Well, this fiberglass top looks like that and some people know Doogie from Canada. He has a a seventies van and he put a fiberglass topper like that on it where it's like short and then kicks up, I think. I think he's got that and it's got two windows in the front and so it kinda looks like a locomotive or it kinda looks like a speedboat, like the front and then the windshield,
Rose EP40: no conversions start in the seventies. I mean, hop cap is a good conversion. Uh, uh, Gehring is another good conversion. I mean, HOP cap's the big one. And then, uh, gosh, what's the one that, um, that, uh, Patrick did as a feature in the magazine for issue 14?
And that could be like StarCraft or Choocho Customs or Hop Cap. Uh, you know, again, like what, why am I blanking on the one that Patrick did in the magazine? Let me look at that really quick. Okay. Because that's one of the really good ones. Okay. It'll probably hit me like right as I find it too. That's usually how it goes.
'cause you could be doing like handicap van conversions. Mm-hmm. Or you could be doing work van conversions. I mean that's what like RV Van Life fans, like those are conversions.
Rose EP40: No, that's a good, that's a good question. But no, I mean, we made, we tried to make like a vintage one for some of these classic conversions and so like, that's when we started to make, like, I tried to make like the zeitgeist award, which is, you know, zeitgeist stands for like, you know, has the essence of an era.
Emily EP40: Oh, I, well I think she put Barbie stuff in it, but it still had all the original conversion stuff. I'm pretty sure. I don't think it was.
Rose EP40: Um, but I think that, yeah, I'm entitled to my views and my experiences Rose EP40: It's, you know, if you ain't a vanner, you ain't shit. If you ain't bluegrass, you ain't shit. If you ain't bluegrass, you ain't broke. That's kind of the breakdown. That's the, that's the evolutionary cycle. We used to be better than this, but, uh, everybody, you know, here we're,
Emily EP40: Okay.
Rose EP40: stuck bolt hotline. The next time that you're stuck and you're becoming an existential mechanic and you just don't know if it'll ever work again, you can ask your friends at the Stuck Yeah. Bolt
Rose EP40: Stand on the key for longer than normal, and eventually it starts if you have an OB one car So, you know, is it, is it adding, is it pulling? Like what it think it's the wrong outside air temperature? Is it, is the O2 sensor stuck? And like they, you know, they should oscillate between a high and low reading.
Rose EP40: which is possible.
But anyway, you like with those OBD one books, you can have a table and it will tell you things that happened and like what it Rose EP40: like he's like talking about this pull for the, the drum that's like very specific tool and people are like, did you try hitting it with a hammer? And he's like, oh my god, of course. Uh, what, how did we get to hear, you know, like, kind of thing. So we were laughing about that anyway, but I was like, I went into a thrift store and sure enough there was a,
Rose EP40: Which is a very Portland thing to do. Yeah.
Rose EP40: And so I was, I was telling Joe, 'cause I haven't even introduced what I'm, what, what I'm, that I'm doing a bit here, that I was gonna strong man over the internet.
Rose EP40: keep going Well, you know, sorry Joe. Joe won't be on. He
Emily EP40: Oh, okay. I had no idea. No, I didn't know.
Rose EP40: uh, go to the library in Woodstock or on Woodstock, and I said, I want to get a card. And I said, I did a long time ago, and they searched for me. I wasn't there, and they said, no big deal. Took me to a computer, set me up. They said, fill this out, come back. They gimme a card. And then they explained it all to me. And because I thought that there would be fees and perhaps like late fees. Or any kind of fees because when I was a kid, we had rented some wrestling videos from the library and didn't return
Rose EP40: the guy at the library said, there's no late fees. It's just get it back when you can unless somebody else reserves it. And then you're gonna get and, and reads my choice and says an email that says, hi, uh, your book is due back soon.
Okay. And I have my selections. I'm gonna grab them here. He, uh, he looked it up. He said, I'll take you over to the automotive books. And he is like, there's not very many. And what Melissa had explained to me was like, you can just request them and they'll bring them over from like a warehouse and bring them to your library.
Rose EP40: what your community has to offer you. And let me tell you about the books I came away with. Okay. First one, the life of the automobile. Okay. This looks like a pretty, um. Kind of a, um, it's got the Chrysler airflow nose, I think on the front of it. Um, it looks a little stuffy. Um, and I flipped through it and wow, who was in there?
Rose EP40: Um. You know, uh,
We were gonna build the control arms and I have meant to look in a suspension book. I have. Well, there's a whole suspension section in here, and this is gonna be our recipe for
Rose EP40: you know what, I flipped through it and I read a little section of his story about. Uh, he said that when iPhones came out, I don't, I don't know what generation he is describing, but he said that they were $250 and that you, you could get them at the Apple store for two 50 a piece, but that some people were an iPhone deserts, so you could sell 'em online for an inflated price.
I think the spindle book is really, is gonna be really helpful.
Emily EP40: yeah, factory manual. I got my Corvette one for $19, but my TransAm one was like $135.
Rose EP40: had two, two of 'em. Like I said, I'm blanking on what the other one is right now. Uh, it doesn't even matter. What's it called? Oh, fuck. I had it, I, I wanted to say climber, but that's one of the books, you know, Chilton's Climber Hanes. Um, I, I will say that I don't like Hanes manuals.
Emily EP40: Yeah.
It's not that there's a pattern, you know, there's a pattern for a certain size cam and you know, sort of stock engine. Um, but there's valve lash info for things that aren't hydraulic and there's, there's all kinds of info. Um, and there's bore sizes and there's oil gap, uh, numbers and tables, you know, to see what your crank should be.
Rose EP40: we got a bunch of stuff from there. They, they had a, they had a GM distributor, like the big caps that I like. They had a poster of servicing those, but they wouldn't come off it.
I guess my go-to is I like know a book. I'll go grab, or I like knowing that I have a book on the topic. If we need to like, I think like create some ideas or bounce some ideas and be like, let's take a look at the air suspension, uh, handbook or whatever. Yeah. That book is phenomenal. So like, I kind of believe in having a library.
Um, also the factory manuals sometimes can be like inside baseball. They're not, like you said, like the Chiltons and the Hanes, and those, I think tell you a little bit more of what you have to do physically to do something. Whereas the factory manuals assume that you're a mechanic.
Emily EP40: helpful.
Well, I know you're going, this is your, um, this is your, Rose EP40: thing They're just like, they're like, they're stamped plates, basically, but it's spiral bound. So it's a book. Uh, and that was found like very recently, but it is thought to be, I think 2,700
Emily EP40: Yeah. Wow. That's still up.
Rose EP40: yeah. You can lose pieces of information places if you don't get into the folder you don't know and then one day you do and you're like, well, now it's fucking corrupted.
Rose EP40: have imagined that I needed this, but Tony Pashley, we connected, that's gonna help our car out.
Rose EP40: but I want the image flat is what I, without distortion.
Emily EP40: society, Rose EP40: So that is a big, I mean, I'm not gonna, I can't discredit that. Sometimes it's really fun to watch people do like, like watch a break video.
Um, but there actually is some really good practical advice in And that's what I kind of wanted to do with these. Like, I just wanna be like, here's three things I found immediately upon opening these books that Yeah. Reminded me why it's good to get books. And I think it's really good to read. Like,
va. Yeah. Um, it's a really rad book though, because it, it's from either, I think it was, I think it's from 1988 or 87, which I was like, great. My Trans Am was in 89. But for a beginner it was, it's like a college book or a high school book, whatever.
sure. Uh, I've got some factory Ford manuals for the mid Ford that I'm like missing some of the collection and that pisses me off. And I bought some of those at Hershey and some of it I think I left behind because I could only carry so
Wow. How do you think they get those spiderwebs?
Rose EP40: Um, yeah. I mean, I think these generalizations that I do
numbers. Spider silk has an ultimate tensile strength of approximately 1500 MPA compared to about 500 MPA for typical carbon steel, making it significantly stronger per unit of weight. Whoa.
Rose EP40: I was going down 99 1 day, and there were like people having to fly fishing, like practicing in the park there at the, Emily EP40: You know what?
About this episode
Rose and Emily bounce between tech trivia, hot-rod culture, and practical wrenching. They debate how updates and code might “talk” between Tesla systems, then pivot to a quirky remote-control lawnmower concept built from PETG via 3D scanning/printing. The conversation turns to classic van conversions—what looks cool vs. what turns into droopy, trashy “fishing van” vibes—and the nostalgia cycle of vanners. They also swap library/handbook finds, praising factory manuals and how to use them for real troubleshooting.
