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Randolph Duke

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Everything posted by Randolph Duke

  1. Meyer or Art Briles. They are pretty much interchangeable. Either of them would probably produce on the field and ensure the Texas Longhorn brand had a strong identity.
  2. Two plays later and Ole Miss with the interception. I then switch to the aggy game to see the pirate’s defense roll over and take it 51 yds up the ass. Pure comedy. UPDATE: two plays later, the old miss qb throws yet another pick.
  3. Watching Arky/ Kiffin on SECN. The SEC is a hot mess this year. Bama could lose tonight and even if aggy goes undefeated the rest of the way, Bama has the tiebreaker over them, so......
  4. 12 play drive for 40 yards, then punt. Stunning.
  5. This is some quality coaching. CBS, the SEC network, is showing women’s soccer right now.
  6. It’s tough to yell at the kid when his penalty only came in third. Three flags on one play. That’s quality coaching, folks.
  7. “Big boy” football is rather crappy. “Almost the NFL” and “a juggernaut schedule no team could play each week without D2 cupcakes sprinkled in” has changed over the years.
  8. Update? Hell, I want to know if he has sold the movie rights yet. Imagine the casting possibilities.
  9. I'm very reluctantly realizing the first thing I need to do is go back to the basics and get the truck tuned properly, then build/ rebuild from there. As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to learn something about tuning software. Tuning software and the associated sensor, etc looks to be about $600, +$100 per vehicle (after the first). Some functionality (clearing engine codes, capturing engine performance details) can be applied to all OBDII vehicles. For the sake of this project, I'm just going to count the $100 vehicle license fee to the overall cost of getting the truck into good repair. This guy seems to be a good place to learn the basics of tuning a vehicle. (Yes, there are a number of adjustments the factory makes in the name of either safety or increased "user-friendliness" that can be dialed out that will increase both performance and fuel mileage.)
  10. Nothing associated with the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets can be described as "classy." It is a sad commentary on the people of Texas that while others around the world have institutions that prepare individuals for careers in military service, Texans promote the buffoonery that exemplifies the aggy corps. it serves no legitimate purpose other than to perpetuate low ambitions, racism, and ignorance. The sad little children who participate in that come out damaged, poorly educated, and lacking many of the positive attributes of adulthood while personifying many of the negatives. The only positive that comes to mind that that so few of them actually serve in the U.S. military, degrading our military and wasting taxpayer resources. If aggys actually had any commitment to concepts of "honor," "leadership," or "service," through their behavior they would set an example for others to follow. Instead, they promote racism, create barriers to women and minorities who truly want to serve their nation, lie to themselves and others, and are an embarrassment to the people of Texas. The aggy corps should be treated as every other fraternity or sorority on campus. The ROTC detachment on the aggy campus should completely separate itself from the redneck costume party and start developing the potential of those who want to pursue careers in the military. "Pathetic," yes. "Classy," no. The people of Texas deserve better than Texas A&M.
  11. To prove that masks don’t help minimize the dispersal of orally expelled bodily fluids, ask redneck idiots to spit through their masks while wearing them. If they can’t do it at first, tell them to just keep trying.
  12. But it’s ok if we don’t treat your gravesite as sacred grass? You ok with that? That’s all we want to know. Die how you choose. Covid, alcoholism, whatever. Drop dead on your own terms. But we can picnic, urinate, or do whatever on your grave, right? I’m asking for a friend.
  13. No fan of any sport anywhere on the planet has ever walked into an opposing stadium and disavowed their loyalty to their team because they were so overwhelmed by the experience. Period. To believe otherwise self-identifies as a redneck idiot. Period.
  14. If one were obese, wouldn’t they be in the wide part of the population? I’m asking for an aggy friend.
  15. I’m guessing we are ok walking on the grass covering your grave. We good on that? Please respond quickly.
  16. It's a hoax. Trust me, the aggys already have all this figured out. The kid who spread it to all the players deserves a statue on campus (assuming he is white) for helping promote herd immunity. Guns! 'Merca! Herd Immunity! Whoop!
  17. "I just got back from College Station. THREE of my children attend undergrad at TAMU. Even with the limited crowd, it was a great game day atmosphere. So many cool traditions. A&M fits right in with the SEC. A few thoughts: They have incredibly gracious fans. I’ve been to Athens, Tuscaloosa, Knoxville, Tallahassee, and Auburn. If I am wearing Gator gear to an opposing venue, I have thick skin. I expect some good natured razzing and some harassing. I got NONE of that, even sitting in the student section, even in defeat. Instead, I got several “I’m glad you’re here. I hope you have a great time” and “beat the rest of the SEC up for us”. It was actually stunning how polite they were. The stadium as a whole was legitimately at 1/3 capacity or less. Very strange and my first in person game with the reduced capacity. It may have looked like more on TV but it was not. The student section (which was behind the bench) was more crowded, but every other row and with some spacing between groups. So prob 40-50% capacity on the east side. The west side and end zones, esp upper portions, were much less densely populated. That said, it was INCREDIBLY LOUD, esp at the moments that mattered towards the end. I had to plug my ears a few times. I know, I’m getting old. But it was loud. And nothing artificial piped in from what I could tell. The students are more engaged than any opposing fans I’ve ever seen. They don’t sit, even during time outs. They only sit if there is a player down on the field. It was over 90 degrees and sunny, so it was tiring. And they incessantly do “yells”...all game long. Weird cheers if you aren’t an Aggie. But it’s fun. And they impacted the game, IMO. They DID enforce mask wearing, at least where we were. My 8 year old daughter had hers off at one point and a staff member walked up 20 rows and politely told me she had to wear it. As a physician, I was impressed by that. The Corps of Cadets are classy. We entered the stadium as a parade marched in with their horses, toting their cannon on a horse drawn cart. Someone prayed over the PA system before the game. I thought it was awesome. Only in Texas. I hate to lose any game. But I can tell you A&M needed this win. They are long suffering, eternally optimistic (but not arrogant) fans. My son told me that Jimbo probably saved his job with that win. While I don’t care much fo Jimbo, I will say I was happy for the fans. It was fun to watch their joy and see their hope that they can compete with the best. And, of course, I got to see my kids. All in all, eight of my kids got to accompany me to the game, which was really special. Even though it was not meant to be a substitute for my annual trek to the Swamp (that I will miss this year), it was a really great trip." https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/3146546
  18. Get used to doing things you don’t like to do. Or paying someone else to allow you to avoid those jobs. Find a good local hardware store. They will have far less employee turnover than big box stores, do you can refer to them for help on projects, or get a quick referral to help you. Take pictures on your phone to help explain your projects. On any project, identify the steps or the work you can do. Farm out the rest. I needed a new water heater. I was fine with the specs on the old one, so I made a lateral purchase, moved in in place next to the old, drained the old, and paid $50/hr for the guy to come by and make the connection. It took him 10 mins and he made a quick $50. Painting the house, I do the the easier stuff and hired a guy to help me finish the job. In other words, be your own grunt and your own trainee. The savings add up quickly. I have a guy coming in next week to help me with some Sheetrock work (modifying built-ins). When he gets there, I will have materials on site for him and will learn from him. An extra $50 to spend an hour criticizing my work and teaching me tips is worth it to both of us. I may never want to do Sheetrock again, but at least I will know what to look for and what questions to ask next time I farm the work out.
  19. Your help has been awesome. Thanks. Im thinking of doing the headers because they are cheap and eventually I will redo the full exhaust, so why not go ahead and do them with the idea of finishing the exhaust once the emissions requirements expire. If the muffler dies earlier l’m thinking upgrade to a 3” cat-back, nothing bigger. If I learn that money would be wasted, I’m ok staying with stock. Slowly but surely I’m learning my way through this project.
  20. I'm going to stick with the stock intake manifold. From what I have gathered, the tall tubes on the stock truck intake help with low end torque. I don't know much, but I know low end torque is what I am not wanting to mess with. The exhaust is about to get upgraded to a set of shorty headers, but nothing else until the emissions requirements expire in about three years. I only want to modify the exhaust one time if I can. That, and the idea behind this project is to have a really strong vehicle at a low cost per month. I'm going to do the engine and trans, so waiting on the exhaust until the cats can be taken off makes sense for me. I've had the original window sticker since I bough the truck a few years ago, but I finally managed to obtain all the service records from mile 1. Full documentation of all work done. I also confirmed with the dealer that there are no outstanding recalls, or PCM/BCM software updates.
  21. I have to understand the transmission a bit better before I start changing anything. I have a two/haul switch, so I can set alternate shift points that are easy to turn on and off. First I need to get the engine settings tuned to where I want them.
  22. When I was zipping around, trying to put numbers to my driving habits, I wasn't pushing the engine over 3,000 rpm, which on the dyno chart I was looking at, about 180hp. Obviously, I'm not pushing the engine to its limits as it is. I want to comfortably drive around town as speeds up to 45, to have some extra kick when getting on the freeway, and better gas mileage at cruising speed. I don't really use it to tow anything, I have no real need to go over 100 mph. I just want to optimize the vehicle for my driving style and my occasional desire to be kicked back in my seat a little when jumping on the freeway. No high altitude, mostly flatland (Texas) driving. I doubt the engine has ever been over 4,000rpm in its life, and I don't see it over 4k much ever in the future. The wish list seems tame. I just want it looked at by someone who actually knows how to tune a GM 5.3 LM7 with a P01 ECM.
  23. The project is progressing. I'm wondering about how tuning might factor into the project. For some time, I have been wondering why our phones and computers need software updates, but not our car ECMs. Well, I found the following that helps any GM car owner check software upgrades that are needed but may not have been applied to your vehicle: Most of the progress I have made on the project has involved defining my wants, needs and expectations for the output of the engine. First, drove to a "proper place" (for me, a feeder street) and from a dead stop, dropped it down into 1st, and romped on it, when I hit what I thought was an aggressive push of the engine, I shifted into 2nd and noted the RPMs. Same for 2nd to 3rd. Winding it out in 3rd had me flying on the freeway, so the 3/4 shift point can be thought out later. With the RPM info, I googled the dyno chart on the engine and found out how many HP I was drawing from the engine at what I thought was the aggressive end of my driving style. Well, it turns out that number ain't that high. I was flying around at about 3k rpm which is about 200 HP. About as much as a Miata puts out. So, if the engine is capable of 285HP stock, I need to some more research to learn how tuning might affect the rebuild decisions. Clearly I want power in the lower end of the power band, and I'm willing to give up top end (the engine has never been over 4k in its life). I also want gas mileage for between 2k and 2.5k in 4th gear (70-90 mph with no load). Upgraded the transmission cooler core to 20,000 (from stock), planning the transmission rebuild to a 4L65E. On to the tune. Any thoughts/ comments/ suggestions would be appreciated.
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