Special Thanks

So, now that I'm done with everything, except the product presentation, I'd like to give a special thanks to my close friend, Yareli Castro because with out her my senior presentation wouldn't be possible. The reason I say this is because I was in jeopardy of getting kicked out of iPoly because I didn't have mentorship or a mentor. She talked to her uncle and hooked me up with a mentor and mentorship. So thank you Yareli. I owe you a lot. 

I'm done!

So, today I had my 2 hour presentation and successfully met speaking time and overall presentation time. I guess I'm graduating now! 

Ceramic Engines?

So, apparently they're thinking of making engines out of ceramic now because they would be able to operate at higher temperatures which would lead to better efficiency, less pollutants, and better fuel economy. The only problem is that the sensors integrated into the engine wouldn't be able to withstand such high temperatures of heat, so scientists are figuring out a way to make it so that the sensors can withstand that type of heat. You can read more about it here.

The Mayor didn't want to work with us...

Today I went back to the shop for a couple hours to kill some time and I found out the mayor didn't want us to fix his car because it was too expensive and he didn't think the car was worth it. I agree with him, though. His Lexus was in really bad condition and needed a lot of work done. The downside of this is that we won't be working on the mayor's car but the upside of this is that my mentor and I won't have to fix the cylinder heads, which means we won't have to work on the car for 20 hours! Whoo!

Kügel Motor Video

So I found this really cool video explaining how the Spherical engine mentioned in my last post works. It goes step by step on how it works and give details of what is really going on in the engine.

Kugel is German for "ball"

So, I found this really cool engine 2 weeks ago. I read about it in a couple of articles (that I couldn't count as an article for RC because they weren't over 750 words) and I found it really interesting. I'm still a little confused on the whole mechanics of it all but I'm going to start searching up more articles about it and get a better understanding. So, the engine was designed by Dr. H üttlin and his team and was displayed at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011. He named it the kugelmotor because kugel is German for ball and the engine itself if a spherical engine. My understanding of it, so far, is that the engine's spherical design gives you the milage of a hybrid engine and runs on almost any fuel. Like I said, I still don't fully understand the mechanics of it. I just thought it was a really cool concept for an engine.

Here are a variety of pictures of the Hüttlin Spherical Engine 

Its not everyday you get to work with the mayor!

So, I pretty important person came into the shop last Saturday. Mayor of Baldwin Park Mr. Manuel Lozano. We're not actually working with him, but we are working on his car. His car is a 1994 Lexus LS400 and it's in pretty bad shape because, according to him, it's been sitting in his garage for about a year. So far, it needs a new timing belt, a new battery, and work has to be done on the cylinder heads which sucks because the amount of work for the cylinder heads is at least 20 hours worth of work.

Well, here are some pictures of Mr. Mayor's car

This is his car's engine

And this is his car on the lift.

And again. 

And again. 

It's Only 11:30

So, we had a really funny experience today. The story goes like this: I get to the shop and help Carlos and Victor open up because Jorge was home sick. We have a cup of coffee and a sweet bread for a light breakfast, then get to work. Somewhere throughout the day, Carlos asks Victor if he's hungry and wants lunch. Victor looks up at the clock hanging on the wall and says, "It's only 11:30, wait for it it to be later." So we keep working. Some time goes by and Carlos tells Victor, "I'm really hungry, should we get lunch?" and Victor looks up at the clock again and responds, "It's only 11:30, can't you wait?" So we get to work again and a couple hours go by until Carlos tells Victor that we should get lunch. Victor looks up at the clock again and realizes that it's still 11:30 then Carlos checks his phone and it turns out that it was actually about to be 2:30, one hour from closing. Apparently the clock had run out of batteries and had gotten stuck on 11:30. Poor Carlos, no wonder he was hungry.

Mentorship Should Be Fun...

So, today was my first weekend of mentorship and I really learned a lot and got to spend a lot of time getting to know my three mentors. One thing I'm sure to never forget is this. My mentor and I were doing an oil change for a car and, in a really serious voice, my mentor tells me, "It can get dangerous working with cars, so incase you ever need it, the fire extinguisher is right over there." and points to this. I look over and all three of my mentors bust out laughing. These guys think they're funny, so it should be a good year. (It turns out they actually have a fire extinguisher at every door, so there's five in total.)

Finally Got Mentorship!

So, after going almost a full semester without a place to do mentorship, I finally found a place that was willing to take me and it was all thanks to my good friend, Yareli Castro. Check out her blog here! My mentor's name is Jorge Ramos. He is the owner of Daniel's Auto Center in La Puente. I also met Victor Mendoza and Carlos Ortega, who were also willing to be my mentors and help me with anything I needed. They seem really outgoing and funny as well welcoming. I think I might have fun this semester.