Steve’s Hacking Blog

I’ve been really busy as of late, and I’m glad my new host doesnt suck out loud like my old host did. I’m quite happy with my new host, however at the time of writing I am also building a server of my own, and it needs now only a good business-class internet connection. They cost a fortune, but thats fine. I need a place to house my professional projects. I’ve cofounded a web design company called StrokeWorks Media in Montreal, and though our website is not up yet (because we are so busy designing other peoples’ sites), a development environment that doesnt require constant FTPing would be nice. I have a LOT of flash, PHP, and SQL to write and debug! biancajacob.com goes live in a few weeks! We already have thousands of people waiting patiently. Back when I was a full-time gas clerk, I never thought I’d become a successful businessman who has so many people depending on him. Its a little scary actually..

In other news, my CB7 is still in good health. She burned an O2 sensor, and the battery is losing its strength (thanks for the shitty yet expensive battery, canadian tire) but the car loves the cold air of winter. Too bad I cant work in the cold or I’d start with the concept build already. I’ve been driving a larger and younger Ford vehicle to ‘be nice’ to my 22-year-old honda (who hates ice and snow), but the 8-year-old Ford Freestyle has its share of problems too. For example, I hate the CVT. Its so temperamental, it makes me consider swapping in an auto tranny from a Ford 500 (same engine and chassis.. should be easy?) At least the Accord has never just stopped working for no reason, on the highway, in the middle of nowhere, only to work perfectly fine upon bringing it to the dealer. Anyone want to trade a ford SUV for a pair of old hondas?

My side project, SteveThunder.com has launched also. We had to pause generating content due to my partner-in-crime going back home for a while, but it will resume with some stupid shit pretty soon.

Stay classy, Internet.

This is going to be a huge project that will likely take the better part of a year to complete.

Target

The goal of my project is a lightweight sedan with lots of power, with a fully featured computerized integration system that monitors every part of the vehicle and provides warnings and information on a configurable screen. Combined with an 8 speaker sound system (including 15″ subs) and custom alarm system while keeping the vehicle looking as close to stock as possible (anti-RICE factor). My dream is to do for a couple thousand dollars what car manufacturers with a team of engineers charge several thousand dollars extra for. I’ve spent the last 2 years keeping this car on the road (the winters are particularly hard on such an old car) and have learned an awful lot about this chassis. Now I am comfortable thinking I will be able to do this.

Why the CB7

This vehicle was once named the most reliable car of all time. It was also once named the most stolen car in the US. The reason I chose this model is for the reliability, ease of modification, and the awesome F22 engine (lots of torque and HP potential for such a small car), as well as the simplicity of the mechanics. This car is now 21 years old, and has survived my ‘my car can handle it’ driving style.

How will it work?

First things first, I will strip the whole car down to the frame. After bringing the frame to perfect condition, I will begin rebuilding it from the ground up, making sure every part is perfect. Once at the engine it will be time to swap in an H22 head and a turbocharger, to truly unlock the potential of the F22 block. Then the electrical system. Short of designing my own ECU, I’ve already blueprinted a custom cluster which includes moveable and sizeable digital gauges and a notification system for things like bulb failures, specs out of range, proximity alarm, and tire pressure, among other things. Once completed, the car will look like your every day old car from the outside, but will be loaded with futuristic features inside. None of them will interfere with actual driving (ABS, TCS, etc) but all will give the driver more information about whats going on in and around his or her car.

What other neat features are you exploring?

I am likely going to employ a battery relocation, a wire tuck, and an RGB lighting system (interior floor mood lights) that will change color based on factors such as how hard I’m pushing the gas, and whether or not my music is insanely loud. An automatic reversing camera is a nice feature, but I’m considering adding cameras to every corner for really tricky parking, and a drive camera that will always record in case of an accident. For security, a range of sensors will be added and will collectively monitor the vehicle at all times. I will remove all handles and locks and opt for a wireless-only entry (with a hidden override in case of electrical failure) as well as wireless window control. A locking peg will be installed into the driveway, and the car will latch and lock onto it, to prevent itself being dragged away by a more determined thief.

Wont that be overkill/ghetto/ricer?

Rice means Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancement. If you work on the engine more than the body, its not ricing, its tuning. If its the other way around (like all those fancy civics you see) its ricing (all looks and sounds with no performance boost). The aim of my car will be to look as ‘normal’ as possible, because the looks on peoples faces when they cant keep up to a hum-drum looking 21 year old honda is priceless. As for overkill, many of these features are being prototyped in my car now, so it wont be too much work. I’d hate to think, though, that after all this someone will just steal the car. Thats my #1 worry.

Many thanks to CB7tuner.com for providing all the info I will ever need.

After a vicious 4-month downtime and struggling and struggling to get my files from my host (who sucks) I FINALLY got my site back, and moved to a shiny new server, which costs WAY more than the old one. Here’s how it went down:

My site was stored on Box14 of 110MB.COM. Box 14 is actually owned by a company called BurstNet. They had a massive failure of some sort, and the server went down. 110MB provided no notice, support, or answers to questions for a couple of months. They got the server back up, but left the login and SQL system offline for ANOTHER couple of months. As of yesterday, it was running to a point where I could quickly extract my files and tell them right where to stick their servers. I will never, EVER, recommend 110MB to ANYONE.

Now lets see if I cant get my google ratings and adsense values back…

What’s that? You want to know what’s new? Well.. lots of things. My life has changed DRASTICALLY since my last post. But most of that is classified for now. All you need to know is that there will be a lot of action around here in the near future.

Back when I was unemployed, I had plenty of fucking time for my various projects. But now I’m that pushing an unholy 95 hours per week, I barely have time to enjoy a drive in the car I built, let alone hack the shit out of everything I touch. Well, my miltary career is likely drawing to a close soon due to back problems, so that should help out a little. In the meantime I will be adding a few sections to my little homepage. A section for my awesome car (remember, just because it’s almost as old as I am doesnt mean I didnt make it as awesome as possible) and perhaps another for my home (which is laced with security cameras, servers, and other electronic examples of pure technological genius)

Still have a spam problem (at this moment, 4850 incoming comments) and still have a host problem (had to refresh a few times to get here). Anyway, its time for George T and the D’s and some Alexander Keith’s.

So I was just internetting along, when suddenly my browsing got extremely slow. Normally this is caused by torrents, but this was not the case. I tried to get into the config page, but no go. I reboot the router, and it works for maybe another 20 seconds before the same thing happens. I unplug the WAN (hidden traffic maybe?) and try again. Same stupid shit. At this point I notice the thing is unusually warm. I open it up (while still running) and press my fat finger onto the CPU. It burned my finger pretty bad, but I guess cooled the CPU momentarily because the page I was waiting for suddenly loaded. Sudden overheating problem.. interesting.

I have done a factory reset, and underclocked the CPU as far as I could, and the CPU still overheats out of control in a matter of seconds after being powered up. This is a WRT54G v6 (Serial CDFD1*******)

In the meantime I replaced it with my (STILL FUCKING RUNNING) franken-router, my WRT54GS v2 that I picked apart, added 2 serial port to, a battery bay, heatsinks etc.

Just thought I’d share that.