5/18/2022 0 Comments Twelfth Week TerrorsFINALLY WE ARE AT THE LAST WEEK! This week is going to be a very, VERY busy week for me. Next week our genius our presentation for our website is due and I have barely started it. This is partially due to procrastinating but also that my car still isn't done. BUT! My car should be done tomorrow and work well so I will be able to get my website done then.
Last week the plan was to change the color of the lights (which I learned how to do) and the week before that was polishing the car (which I obviously can't do right now). Both of those weeks to me were very essential, basically just to make my car look nicer. Which I will get done tomorrow or Friday. This week I really want the idea to be something super fun, not necessarily learning much but just fun. So, what are you gonna do Nathan? That is a wonderful question. With me focusing on doing something fun, I think that I can pretty much just drive the car. Behind the scenes me and my dad have been putting a lot of effort with the mechanics into making it work. With paying a bunch of money for it and learning how to fix the different issues with it along the way. So what my plan was, just drive the dang car. While this may sound stupid, I haven't had my car available and working for a long, long while. So just driving it is going to be amazing, so that is what I am gonna do. I am going to drive the living daylights out of that thing. Ill put some pictures of what I am doing on here. Like a picture of me getting a milkshake in the car or something. But I am just going to have a stress-free, enjoyable week with it. Now this does leave the question, how are you going to get the idea done? While my goal was twelve things done by the end of this project, that isn't going to happen. It is looking like I will get ten done instead. So, instead of having to figure out two completely different things, why not just accept I won't finish and do something stress-free and fun!
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5/11/2022 0 Comments Eleventh Week EnlightenmentWell, this is the second to last week of genius hour. It really went by super quick for some odd reason. I guess that is just how time works. But, as you can see by scrolling down a little bit, I am 2 weeks behind on videos and pictures. The stupid mechanic that we go to decided that he didn't want to fix my car this week so I have to wait a little bit. The video for polishing/waxing my car SHOULD be tonight so that will be done. My plan for this weekend is to do this weeks video and take pictures of checking tire pressure, that may or may not be on my car. This week is the second to last week, I am very quickly running out of ideas. But I think that I can manage 2 more designs. This weekend I am very busy so the idea might be a lot more simple than the rest. My original plan for the last 2 week was to wash the car but I had to do that a bit earlier. This weekend I will make a good bit of progress on the final presentation so that will take up a ton of time. My idea for this weekend is going to be learning how to change the color of the lights in my car. When we got my car, the interior had these cool under-glow lights that were originally purple (I think). Since then, my dad changed them to red but I have zero clue how. This is kind of a quick, last minute idea that I am going to use. But next week I plan on going out with a BANG! I am going to have something fun planned. So my car is still being worked on but that didn't stop me from figuring it out anyways! This was a pretty easy thing to figure out so I will just explain it on here like I did some of the other weeks. So here is how you do it: -Before you even try changing the lights you need to locate what you are going to use to do it. The buttons that you will have to press are going to be to the left of the steering wheel, right under the headlight controls. We will be using the buttons labeled Setup and Reset. -The first thing that you will want to do is find the setup button and click the button 3 times until the screen on you gauge says "gauge color". -The gauge color menu is the start of all the different color setting, if you continue to click the Setup button it will show different light setting that you can change. -After you get to the light setting that you would like to change you have to click the Reset button. This scrolls through the different options of colors. You click this button until you find the color your looking for. -After that you just hover over that screen until it goes back to the normal screen that you had it set to. And then your done! 5/4/2022 0 Comments Tenth Week TimeFor this week I am really struggling on what exactly to do. My car is STILL being worked on so I am going to have to film the video of me polishing my car later this week or next week. I will let you know what week I upload the video for it. This week my biggest problem is not having my car. The mechanic that we went to really wanted to save us money, so he took apart the whole engine and replaced a few things that weren't quite right. The main issue we kept running into was the computer, we think that it is dead and keeps sending a bad signal to the car. Causing it to not turn on completely. But we have ordered the part and it should be in pretty soon. Once we get it, we plan on bringing it to the mechanic and having him install the part. After we get the car back I will polish and wash it, since it definitely will need it. My idea for the video is to just have a few videos of me polishing and vacuuming the car with a voice over explaining what I am doing. This week I plan on learning how to check tire pressure of a car. It will most likely not be my car but one of my parents cars. There is a place at sheets that allows you to check the pressure and fill it up with air for free so I think I will do that. I will most likely not have a video, just cause it is a little bit awkward to have a video in public. I will probably take a few pictures of me doing it with an explanation.
4/27/2022 0 Comments Ninth Week Nights![]() Finally we are almost done with genius hour. The tenth week is almost over baby! This project feels like it has been a very good success in the end. I am a bit worried about what I am going to do for my presentation however, we'll get to that when we get to it. My goal was to at least get 10 different ideas for this project, if I do something for both of these next 2 weeks then I will get it done BUT the lack of quick ideas is very prevalent right now. Last week the lawn mower idea was extremely good! I sill haven't had the chance to make the video for last week yet since my dad isn't available for this week. Right now he is in California and was my main source of how to do maintenance on a lawn mower. But, that was last week, this week is different. My plan for this week is to FINALLY get my car back and actually do a video on it. I still haven't completely figured out the idea but I think it is going to be something relating to cleaning the car. Since it is definitely going to need a very deep clean. I may do polishing the car, might do vacuuming the interior, maybe both. You should see a video with an explanation later this week/weekend. When polishing the car there is only a few basic steps: 1. Rinse off the car completely before doing anything (any temp. water works fine) 2. Take whatever polishing solutions you are using and fill it up in a bucket/something that contains water 3. Use equal parts polishing mix and water in the bucket 4. Get a rag/sponge that can hold water pretty well and soak it in the bucket for a few seconds 5. Bring the rag to the car and go over the car evenly distributing the polishing mix 5a. MAKE SURE YOU DO CIRCULAR MOTIONS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE PAINT 6. 4/26/2022 1 Comment Eighth Week Entertainment![]() So... this update is coming in very late but that´s okay! Last week was a very rough one mental health wise, I wasn't doing to well in math and it was really affecting my motivation for school. That must have translated to this class because my motivation to even do the simple assignments was way down. But I took my mental health weekend I guess and now I am good! So, my idea for last week was going to be sort of a joke but it was also going to be a serious thing. One of my choirs that I have to do every week is mowing my front and back yard. So, last week while I was mowing it started to sputter. It needed a bit more oil. But this had me thinking, what is something that I will use the rest of my life? And then it clicked, I can do the basic lawn-mower necessities! While this isn´t really relating to cars it is something mechanical that is a necessity. So I plan on making a video of this and posting it to here! 4/6/2022 6 Comments Stupid Seventh![]() This seventh week is going to be a very fun one. I am still finalizing the ideas for this week but I think that I am going to do something a little bit more fun. My cars bass is already pretty freaking good but I wish it was just a bit shakier. My plan is to get a sub that I can put in the trunk. In high school, my dad was a pretty big car guy. One of the things that he did to make a little bit of money in high school was making subs for people. He would pretty much just make a sub box that fits where ever the person wanted it. After that he just installs the sub into the sub box and hooks it up to the car. I have asked him about this a few times, he says that he is ¨a little bit rusty¨. So he may not be my only source this weekend. There will most likely be a video explaining what I did and how I installed the sub. So, I have a few excuses on why there isn't a video. 1) My car wasn't available 2) I had plans pretty much all week 3) Subs are crazy expensive My initial plan was to go to an Auto-parts (or some type of car shop) and buy the cheapest sub available. Since I don't really have much money to spend on this project. But since I do not have my license I was relying on other people to take me. This seemed to be a challenge during spring break. So I wasn't able to go to any car parts stores, what next? Aha, the luxury of one day shipping on Amazon. This also seemed to not be very frugal. Not only did most of the subs that I found on amazon not have 1 day shipping, they were also over $150. This made me just quit, it was spring break and I wanted to relax a bit so I got lazy. I probably could have made one with my dad but that also didn't seem likely. As a pastor, Easter is a very busy time for him. Seems spring break couldn't have come at a worse time! As you know, I have planned to not get 2 things done in the project and finish with around 10 ideas. But right now I am missing three ideas. I will get 2 ideas done in one of the following weeks don´t you worry! 3/30/2022 0 Comments Sexy Sixth![]() After this week we will officially be over half way done with Genius Hour! For some reason I feel like I am falling way behind but I am doing what I expected. If I keep on pace with what I have done so far I will get around 10 ideas done in the 12 weeks. While I wish that I could get 12 done I just don´t think that it will be possible. One I don´t think I will have enough idea, and two the lack of ideas. Last week I learned how to check oil level, this week I would like to learn how to change the oil out. But, this week I will not be able to physically learn how to do it. Sadly there was a death in my family and I need to fly out to Connecticut for a funeral. What I plan on doing is explaining how you would go about changing the oil, if I have time there might be a video but more than likely there won´t be. This weekend I wasn't able to produce a video explaining how to do this. Even if I was able to make a video I feel like it would just be way, way to long to do. After researching the process a little bit more I realized it takes way longer than expected, I mean I could have done a time lapse or something but I don´t think that would do it justice. So, with that said here is an explanation on how to do it: There are tools you will need - ratchet/socket set, engine flush additive, new oil & oil pan (obviously), oil filter, and a clean rag In the explanation he is using a flushing product from Amsoil. Most oil flusher products will work just fine depending on your type of car and engine. The first step to flushing the cars oil is to elevate it, whether that is through a jack or using ramps, both work. If you jacking it up, all you need to do is open the hood and poor the product in, if you drove it onto ramps then you need to turn the car off, let it cool for a bit, and then poor the product in. After you have poured the product, the next step is allowing it to work its wonders, so you need to start the car and let it run for a couple of minutes. (10-15 usually) Once it is all flushed just fill it up with oil like you would do normally. Then (scary part) you need to go under the car and find the drain plug. Unscrew the plug and let all of the oil fall into the oil pan. After its all gone you need to tighten the screw back in. Then just check the oil level, make sure its all good, and your done! (Updated on April 6th, 2022) 3/23/2022 3 Comments Farming Fifth![]() The past 4 weeks have been a real struggle for me, with sports starting I have been very busy but I have still managed to get it done. Those weeks where a bit rushed so the ideas weren't as creative as they could have been. BUT this week is going to be very different. This week I believe I am going to get my car back from the mechanic. He is taking a long time for some reason. The idea that I have had and talked about since the start of this project was learning how to check my oil level and refill it to the correct amount. This idea has been one of my main goals for the whole project. Since the goal of this project is to learn basic car NECESSITIES, I really want to learn this. While learning how to change a tail light and windshield wiper is very good information to have, it isn't really a necessity. Most likely I will use those two things in the future BUT I would like to start doing ideas that I KNOW I will be using in the future. This is going to start with how to check oil and refill it. There will be a video later in the week explaining it. 3/16/2022 2 Comments Frustrating FourthRight now I am on pace to get around 10 ideas which is what I assumed I would get. Coming up with ideas is still easier but I can slowly feel it getting harder and harder.
This week my plan is to get my car back from the mechanic around this weekend. If that is what happens I will learn the best way to clean my car and the wheels/rims. This is an important part of any car. If that does happen there will not be a video this week just an explanation in this page. As you can see I wasn't able to get my car back this weekend so this weekend was a big research weekend. While I could have used another car I didn't feel it was the best idea, considering this project is fixing up my car. To answer the question that I was asked, no I will not be waxing it. Just a simple wash and clean. The first video I found was amazing at showing me what to do. So the first step I took was just searching up "How to clean a mustang" on google. This seemed to work pretty well. - The first step is to give the car a rinse. This allows for the dirt on the car to get loosened up. - Next step is to add a spray to the wheel and rims of the car. Spraying whatever cleaning substance you are using directly onto the surface of the wheel. - Then use a brush that can fit in between the different parts of the rims. Making sure to scrub down the entire wheel. - Lastly, hose down the wheel with somewhat warm water and your done! 3/13/2022 1 Comment Third Week Thirst![]() While I know that my last two blog posts haven't been efficient enough I plan on this one being so. For the first week of this project, or the first thing I was going to learn, I was going to do how to change a trucks windshield wipers. When I started trying to do it I couldn't figure out a proper way to do the action. At first my dad thought that he was going to be able to do this but after about 5 minutes it seemed that the didn't know what he was doing. The next step in trying to get this idea done was to watch a few YouTube videos explaining it. We got really close but none of the videos showed us how to do the exact windshield wipers that we had. Last week as you know we decided to do a tail light as the one thing I was learning and we ended up figuring that out. The whole blog post and video looks a bit rushed (it partially was). I planned on doing that idea anyways but I had to use it a bit earlier than expected. But this week after going to eat with my dad we had to go to Auto Parts to get another thing for the project. While we were there we decided to ask one of the workers if they knew how to remove the windshield wipers and he did. I plan on making a video of me removing the windshield wiper and putting it here. |
AuthorMy name is Nathan Crotts. I play golf for Davie County High School and am really excited to learn more about my car. |