What are your other hobbies / interests

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What kind of silver are you buying @arrmadave? Coins, bars, mines? :D

I've always been a fan of the silver eagles and try to buy one each year.

Oh man my dad got me started on Eagles when I was about 5, 43 now so you can imagine how many I have. I love anything silver! Bars, rounds, it doesn't matter. My wife loads me up at Christmas time. LAst year she found a 10oz bar and some random 1oz coins. She did good
 
I see now! Here's my old man in his 70 Roadrunner 383, 4speed, air grabber, ground up resto. He sold it around 1998 I think. I was too bad and dangerous so he only let me drive it but only when he was riding nav. My younger brother got to take it to highschool though. It worked and he picked up lots of trim because of the hotrod.
I remember asking him to race when we were next to a 5.0 Mustang because I thought they were fast. He said, "They are fast, son. But they're also not a threat." And so he wouldn't ever race it on the street when I was present.

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That thing is gorgeous, my father had a 69.. I always liked the taillights on the 69 roach runners... childhood was great! My father would tell my brother and I to jump in and we would go out in front of the house and burnout up the road.. rippin that hurst 1st through 3rd, I'll never forget how much fun we had sliding back and forth across the huge vinyl back seat as he was going sideways.. it was great! Kind of a tradition to burnout in front of the house now on the 4th of july... he instilled the car passion in us and it made me who I am today... let me see if I can add a link to youtube of a 4th of july burnout in my maro...
 
@Jimbobjr nice setup there!
McIntosh is no slouch!
Thanks, all my gear is pretty old and it changes a lot as I buy and sell. The Mac system is here to stay. Guys either love it or hate it. Never considered myself a Mac guy and thought their gear was for looks. I bought the amp ata consignment shop and it was so good I bought period correct preamp and tuner. Amp is MC7200 stable to 1 ohm.
 
I'm salivating! What can you do with wild game such as venison and hog?

I don't want to sound like an ass but I can do all of it. lol. It's pretty much what I do. I work on a farm / hunting lodge / sporting clays property and I'm the chef. First photo is pretty simple but it's a whisky venison sausage I formulated. I don't buy any pre-mixed seasonings or anything like that (most processors do and I'm not a processor.) Everything is scaled by weight rather than volume so any of my formulas will work whether it's 3.258 pounds or 75 pounds. I prefer small batch, custom or unique classic european style meats.
If you like to make sausage, I'll share any of my recipes and techniques no prob. I only do it for fun because it doesn't pay off for the work it requires like doing dinners and day to day stuff. The third photo is a venison and whole hog andouille that cold smoked (under 90º) 4 hours + 4 hours + leave it rest a day + 4 hours. Then sous vide to 150º til perfectly cooked through. Second and fourth photo is stuff in my cold smoker made of cypress wood.


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edit: Here on the plate, the darkest dry cured meat is two venison loins (backstraps) that were glued together with transglutaminase, jammed in a beef bung, hung at 50º F and 70% relative humidity til it lost 30% weight. Then I pulled the casing off and shaved thin. It's never cooked, no smoke, but safe to eat due to salt and nitrates ( .25%) in the cure. Also included juniper and can't remember what else...would have to check notes...but basically cured like beef bresaola. When we use meat glue, it pretty much comes out looking like a whole fat loin rather than two being lengthwise glued together. Pretty neat stuff and can work on most proteins including fish. Totally harmless enzyme.

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I thought it would be interesting to see what other things you guys are into. We have a good community here of people that I would consider friends...
We are certainly scattered all over the world, with various backgrounds, and experiences.
This sparked the though what hobbies are you interested in?

Allot of my hobbies involve building/making/modifying things, but this thread does not have to be about that.

I will start.... for me it is anything that goes fast. I feel in love with cars around the age of 4. As soon as I could I got a job and started saving for my first car, which was a 1991 MR2 Turbo. My history with cars is pretty vast around 26 vehicles so far, so I wont bore you with all of them. Some highlights are an 1987 Buick t-Type (like the Grand National). I had 3 different Nissan 240sx when I was into drifting about 10-15 years ago. More recently I got into track day driving (HPDE High Performance Driving Event). I built a 2001 MR2 Spyder (called the MR-S in other countries), which I swapped in a Honda K20 motor and 6-speed with LSD. Imagine 2100 lbs mid-engine rear wheel drive and 200whp with a 9,500 rpm redline. It was a hoot!

Now days I drive a 4Runner SUV because it is comfortable, safe, and fits my family! I have my eyes on a few cars like the GTR, and new Mid-engine Corvette.

(95 Nissan 240sx with 97' front end. The year was approximately 2003-2004)
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87' T-Type prepping for paint job in the garage (2001 ish?)
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2001 MR2 with Honda K20 swap
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TIG welded header/turbo manifold by your truly. CNC collector was pretty cool
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Other than cars I dabbled in ATVs almost my whole life. Had a Yamaha YZ125 dirt bike, and 2 very fast Yamaha Banshees. The first banshee I put in a GSXR 600 motor and the second had a 750cc GSXR motor. (142 hp)
Video walk around of the 750cc here.

I really enjoy making things myself and fabrication in general. On this project I made a Stainless gas tank, fiberglass plenum, an aluminum intake pipe, and under tail exhaust, plus the tube frame chassis all in the garage ;)


At one point I also had a Suzuki SV-1000 S, which was lots of fun. After getting hit 2x by teen drivers I sold the bike (wont get back on 2 wheels unless its off-road.
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I dabble on occasion with wood working. I have few projects to show for it, but at one point I wanted to make a speaker where you could see everything inside. This was birch I believe with a 7" driver in the base, bamboo cone mid range and silk dome tweeter. Front face is Lexan and everything fit together with groves cut via a router. My wife has plans for me to make a dinner table and some other things...
In general I really like a nice audio system for watching movies. Watching movies is another "hobby of mine". SiFi movies like the recent Avengers series are my movie type of choice.

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Other than that it is RC cars, fishing, soccer, and basketball with the kids.
What about you? What are you into?

-Liberty

Dude! You're like me, but with slower vehicles (jokes).

I grew up into Australian muscle (like American muscle cars, but smaller and usually slower). I got my first Subaru in my mid 20's then eventually went a bit crazy and built an 11 second (just) Subaru RS Liberty (called Legacy in most parts of the world) for a daily driver. I got rid of that and went through more V8's and 4WD's. Currently I have a NM35 Nissan Stagea (for those that don't know, it's an AWD Skyline station wagon) and a couple Kawasaki ZZR1100's. I've had one of them up to 290km (180mph), but keep running out of road. I reckon she's good for 300km! I've only ever been hit by an angry Land Rover driver that was shouting at me when he swerved into me on purpose. I never got too much into offroad on the bikes, but did get out camping on fire trails and the like on an old KLR 650 for a while though.

Don't know much about the Spiders, but a mate had a W20 running a 3S-GTE with a big Garrett, big intercooler and a Power Command with a touch over 200kw at the wheels. It was a weapon!

Also into fishing, not so much the sports though.

I'm also very into American BBQ (or as you American's probably call it "BBQ"). The competition scene is fairly new here, but growing fast. I've been cooking it for over 5 years, and judging for a few, but this is my first year competing. Only twice so far, and every time something has gone wrong, but in 2 comps we've managed top 10 in chicken, pork ribs and brisket. If we can manage a consistent cook, we've actually got a good change of taking home some silverware.
I’m lucky enough to have one of my passions as my job! I own and run a sportfishing charter so basically chase the dream fish for clients and myself. Just had my new boat nominated for nz “boat over 8mt” boat of the year but was beaten by the first ever overseas entrant Grady White. Writing this post has actually helped me realise I’m still passionate about it which I thought I’d lost thanks to my bike accident.
Cheers Arrma fam you got no idea what this has just resparked!

Damn bro, that's awesome. I love my fishing, I spent a season as a fly fishing guide in Tassie. The wife and I are hoping to get across the ditch over summer to visit family. I'll def be in touch if/when we get over, I can't spend all the time chucking fluff in streams.
 
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I didn’t grow up riding fast bikes. I had a few Honda mopeds (50cc). So when a buddy of mine bought a couple of crotch rockets asked if I wanted to ride with him one day, I said sure. We were just cruising down the highway. I was wondering why all the cars were going so slow that day. Looked at the speedo....

We were doing 120mph! ????

Why did it feel like 60? ??‍♂️
 
I didn’t grow up riding fast bikes. I had a few Honda mopeds (50cc). So when a buddy of mine bought a couple of crotch rockets asked if I wanted to ride with him one day, I said sure. We were just cruising down the highway. I was wondering why all the cars were going so slow that day. Looked at the speedo....

We were doing 120mph! ????

Why did it feel like 60? ??‍♂️
Yeah people just don't realize how fast they really are. You don't really feel the speed till about 140mph. There is a significant change in aero drag around that speed. My very first time on the drag strip (zero experience doing drag) I ran an 11.2 @122 mph in the quarter mile. I am sure with a good rider that would be a mid 10 second pass.

-Liberty
 
Yeah people just don't realize how fast they really are. You don't really feel the speed till about 140mph. There is a significant change in aero drag around that speed. My very first time on the drag strip (zero experience doing drag) I ran an 11.2 @122 mph in the quarter mile. I am sure with a good rider that would be a mid 10 second pass.

-Liberty
I should also mention the reason that was my only day on a motorcycle. A little later in the day we were taking a ride on a twisty residential road beside a river and a car in front of me slammed on their brakes just around a blind corner forcing me to get on the brakes hard, bike slid out from under me, landing me hard on my right shoulder on the pavement, busted my collarbone and trashed the right side of the bike. Cost me $2000 to fix up his bike and I still have issues with my shoulder. Been almost 20 years ago too.
 
I should also mention the reason that was my only day on a motorcycle. A little later in the day we were taking a ride on a twisty residential road beside a river and a car in front of me slammed on their brakes just around a blind corner forcing me to get on the brakes hard, bike slid out from under me, landing me hard on my right shoulder on the pavement, busted my collarbone and trashed the right side of the bike. Cost me $2000 to fix up his bike and I still have issues with my shoulder. Been almost 20 years ago too.
Ouch! Glad you came out of that situation alive!
My 2 motorcycle accidents were not that scary, but I deal with neck and back pain daily.
Bikes are very fun, but I couldn't imagine living with more issues than I already have :ROFLMAO:
 
I didn’t grow up riding fast bikes. I had a few Honda mopeds (50cc). So when a buddy of mine bought a couple of crotch rockets asked if I wanted to ride with him one day, I said sure. We were just cruising down the highway. I was wondering why all the cars were going so slow that day. Looked at the speedo....

We were doing 120mph! ????

Why did it feel like 60? ??‍♂️

As Liberty said, you don't notice it until you're really moving on a sports bike. All bikes have a sweet spot where they just want to sit. If I stop paying attention on the highway or back roads my old Zed will sit on 180km (110mph). A mate recently went from an Honda VFR which was similar to a Hayabusa. Not he sits on 205km without realising.

Glad you came out reasonably okay. Cagers have no idea - I was living in a place that had amazing roads and scenery and was popular with tourists. They will just stop their car in the middle of the road on a blind corner over a crest to look at the view or an animal and such. I know a few bikers that have hit them at speed. One had his wife on the back, she went over the top and slid down the road, he hit the car and spent over a month in hospital :(
 
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I've had so many interests and hobbies over the years but won't bore everyone with that. I have always been a speed freak, was born into it. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, quads, are my surviving pasions. RC too, currently have 12 rigs

I lost everything I ever owned in a hurricane in 2005. 2 -1969 Camaros, 2 Silverados, all my motorcycles, jet skis, my home and marbles from my childhood. I've since learned everything can be taked from you in an instant, so now keep possessions simple.

I since replaced a hotrod, a couple motorcycles and quads and currently looking for another Raptor 700. Lost all pictures of family and toys from the storm and wish I could have posted some pics of our toys. We had Vettes, Mustangs, 68 Roadrunner, 69 Z 28, 71 Nova, 240 Z, many racecars, and many cool C 10 Silverados thru the years. I can go on forever.
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At 34 years old i had my share of hobbies over the years.. But only 2 of them survived over those..

I loved to go fishin for small little fish in my early teens.. Just sittin there.. At a little stream.. Watchin that bobber to go under..
But then.. My fishing friend moved away :(

So at 15yo after havin worked the whole summer for it.. I bought my Carson CR-4 nitro touring car.. Used it for about 3 years..

And then i met a couple of new fishin friends at 18yo.. And the fishin moved up to the predator fish we have here.. But mainly Nothern Pike..

That hobby spun out of control.. Multiple new rods and reels each year.. Loads and loads of Lures..
And then we started yearly roadtrips towards Sweden.. But the rental boats there were just not it..
And so i bought myself a aluminium fishing boat to take on those trips.. And offcourse, i also use it when at home.. Electrics, more electrics, better electrics.. You fishin guys know how that goes..

But as for that boat.. I wanted to go bigger and faster.. So i sold it to one of the guys.. And bought myself a Tracker SuperGuide V-16

And then.. I became a dad.. And since than, the fishing got less..

So i thought.. What hobby is out there that i can have fun with, without bein out whole days..

So here we are..
 
Nice to see a lot of other people here into the "1:1 Scale" cars as well as RC.

*one* of my other hobbies is my 1985 Toyota Celica Supra. My avatar is the car on the dyno at the "Supras in Vegas" event I used to go to when I lived in SoCal.

And I'm seriously into Amateur Radio, which I've been doing since grade school. Got my Novice license in 1964 when I was 12, and it led me into a very rewarding career in Electronics.

And then there's shooting sports, photography, astronomy, US Navy and Air Force history, goofing off with the dog, and all manner of Other Stuff an old retired guys does.

And now I'm back into RC cars, after a 20+ year absence. I mainly ran Kyosho nitro models (Stinger, Vanning, and Burns) for off-road, and AE stuff like my RC-500 for on-road.
 
Nice to see a lot of other people here into the "1:1 Scale" cars as well as RC.

*one* of my other hobbies is my 1985 Toyota Celica Supra. My avatar is the car on the dyno at the "Supras in Vegas" event I used to go to when I lived in SoCal.
I love the body lines of those Celica Supra's. I think they are under appreciated in the market. Are you still running the 5m motor? What sort of power does it make?
 
Yes, it's pretty much a stock 5M-GE. Back in SoCal, the Smog Nazis make it extremely difficult to modify your car. The only thing I've done is to install an 'air intake pipe' to replace all the convoluted plastic bits and ducts that carry the intake air from the Air Flow Meter to the Throttle Body.
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The "Timing Cover #3" over the cam sprockets is off the car because I'm detailing it. I just finished up stripping, painting, and lettering the cam covers because after 30+ years, the paint comes off. And I have the strut tower brace off the car for access to the other bits.

This winter I'm going to replace the cam belt, tensioner, alternator, starter, fuel injectors, and fuel filter. A lot of that stuff is under the air box for the intake manifold, so all that has to come off to get at it.

She made 143 rwhp on the dyno in Vegas with the OEM intake plumbing. A good friend of mine has an almost identical car with about the same mileage on it, and his made 155 rwhp. The only difference was he had the air intake pipe, and other people who've done this also pick up 10~12 rwhp after installing the pipe. I'm planning on getting rid of the engine-driven clutch fan and going to electric to try and get a few more HP/FT-LBS to make up for the difference in air density between Long Beach, CA (sea level) and Fort Collins, CO (5100' ASL). I can feel the difference the 5000' altitude increase caused, and I'd like to try and get some of that back by cutting parasitic losses as much as I can. Already running synthetic engine oil, trans lube (Red Line) and differential lube (also Red Line) to help cut driveline losses.
 
Yes, it's pretty much a stock 5M-GE. Back in SoCal, the Smog Nazis make it extremely difficult to modify your car. The only thing I've done is to install an 'air intake pipe' to replace all the convoluted plastic bits and ducts that carry the intake air from the Air Flow Meter to the Throttle Body.
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The "Timing Cover #3" over the cam sprockets is off the car because I'm detailing it. I just finished up stripping, painting, and lettering the cam covers because after 30+ years, the paint comes off. And I have the strut tower brace off the car for access to the other bits.

This winter I'm going to replace the cam belt, tensioner, alternator, starter, fuel injectors, and fuel filter. A lot of that stuff is under the air box for the intake manifold, so all that has to come off to get at it.

She made 143 rwhp on the dyno in Vegas with the OEM intake plumbing. A good friend of mine has an almost identical car with about the same mileage on it, and his made 155 rwhp. The only difference was he had the air intake pipe, and other people who've done this also pick up 10~12 rwhp after installing the pipe. I'm planning on getting rid of the engine-driven clutch fan and going to electric to try and get a few more HP/FT-LBS to make up for the difference in air density between Long Beach, CA (sea level) and Fort Collins, CO (5100' ASL). I can feel the difference the 5000' altitude increase caused, and I'd like to try and get some of that back by cutting parasitic losses as much as I can. Already running synthetic engine oil, trans lube (Red Line) and differential lube (also Red Line) to help cut driveline losses.
Looks great! Very respectable numbers for Toyota GE series n/a motors. Getting that fan off the belt system will help the power and responsiveness of the motor a significant amount. I had done this same thing on an Nissan 240sx and felt so much better afterwards. Some friends removed their P.S. and had similar results, but I love my power steering lol.
 
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