Taking Parts sans Database
by jayce on July 2, 2010
in Database, Electrical
At the suggestion of Ali, I decided to not bother pretending I’m going to build a nifty database and track all this, but to just start taking parts.
Yesterday I went to drive the Buick and the battery was nearly dead (I blame a defective solar charger that I just started using). I got out the charger and while I was waiting for it, I thought I’d pull the battery from the Civic — after all, it’s doing it no good to be slowly discharging and I can probably use it for something else … like jump-starting the Buick. Alas, it didn’t have enough juice, but I think it helped a little in conjunction with the charger.
Now I have a car battery. I’m working on converting a gas scooter to electric, so I may use that battery to test the electronics. I got the corrosion cleaned off of it and set it to charging last night. This morning it was done, and seemingly holding a charge. I’m sure it’s not like-new, but it holds a bit of energy.
Researching Wordpress Plugins
It doesn’t appear to be all that hard to build a WordPress plugin. As best I can tell, it’s just a matter of setting up some hook functions to initialize, update, and make changes. I probably will utilize the WordPress Post Meta methods for the tagging and naming of parts, one way or another, but add my own tables for additional information.
A Different Kind of Non-Start
Yes, of course, like a billion blogs, this one has a bunch of old stuff. I have two notes that I’ll post in succession.
First is that I just went out to move Sassy so I could get better access to her passenger side. Alas, the engine turns over but won’t stay running. I assumed oil fouling at first because there has been a slow drain into the cylinders, but several minutes of weak operation led to no operation at all. More or less … I guess she’ll still start, but continue to fail over and over.
I did manage to get the parking brakes to un-seize with the aid of another car — at least for long enough that I could move her back and forth in the driveway to get away from that passenger side a little bit.
More Database Stuff
I know this is supposed to be a blog about taking apart a car, but so far it’s been more about building a website. C’est la vie. Here’s more of the same.
I got to thinking about that whole “use the WordPress term/tag tables” thing I was talking about and am now considering expanding the idea: what if I write the database access as a WordPress plug-in? Then I can use the WordPress Dashboard to enter data, and the whole thing will be more tightly integrated with WordPress. I think it’s a win-win. Plus, I get to explore building a proper plug-in in addition to brushing up [er ... relearning] MySQL.
The Basics of Database Building
I’ve long been wrestling with what I want the ReSassy database to do. So far it’s congealed into the following goals:
- I want to track each piece of Sassy.
- I want to be able to summarize data from anywhere on a hierarchy of sub-assemblies.
- I want to be able to summarize data from a dynamic list of characteristics (“parts made of plastic”, “parts that were recycled”, “after-market parts” etc.)
- I want to track all the parts by weight and compare to the total actual weight and the 2094 pound curb weight. I want to be able to enter weight in whatever unit is convenient.
- I want to track financial exchanges for each part: either how much it was sold for, or how much it cost me to get rid of it.
- I want to note where a part will likely end up at the end of its useful lifetime, and to rank its utility during that lifetime and its value or destructiveness after that lifetime.
The Low Hanging Fruit
In taking Sassy apart, I’m going to start with the “low hanging fruit”. I’m sure I can sell the OEM alloy wheels on eBay. The VTEC-E engine might be a popular thing too, but I’ll need to figure out how to ship an engine. Likewise with the transmission … a nice bolt-on for someone toying with an electric vehicle conversion, for instance (plus I have the original clutch in the garage). The control computer will probably fetch a good price too.
The 15-Year Anniversary Kick-Off
So 15 years ago today, I took ownership of a 1994 Honda Civic VX from John Holtz Honda in Rochester, NY. She was named “Sassy” just a few years ago, and this year I decided to start this project where I’ll be taking her apart and selling, reusing, repurposing, recycling, or (as a last resort) throwing away each piece. Check out the About the Project page and Sassy’s History for more details.
In the coming weeks I’ll be developing a database to track where the parts go and then it’s time to start unbolting!