Fluid Film by William

Perhaps you’ve heard me mention using Fluid Film sometime? Maybe not as much on here yet, but some of the forums I visit I am always plugging Fluid Film. So you might ask as to why I am promoting  this product now. It’s simple really, this stuff is awesome. We do not usually promote any products here on Midnight Mods with a whole article, just tid bits here in there about the vendors or products we use. Lets start with a little product info first before I divulge further.

Fluid Film is a natural based lubricant made from lanolin. It’s solvent free, and eco friendly. While I’m not pushing green technology here, this really means that it is safe to use anywhere. (I’m not sure if you want to use it around food.) Lanolin comes from Sheep. It’s a natural moisturizer and lubricant. For me working with sheep, if you have caught on to that by now, I really enjoy this product. My hard work, essentially, goes to making this product. I sheer off the wool, and then when the wool is processed, the lanolin is washed out of the wool at the Woolen Mill. What is done with it after that, I am not sure, but this stuff is just as slippery as the stuff on the sheep.

I’m not sure what is all in this besides lanolin, but whatever they did, it works. This product is great on metals, it sticks and doesn’t easily wash off. It is highly water resistant as well. It’s even safe on paint and synthetic rubbers. There really are lots of uses for this product besides lubrication as well. I use it to seal my shoes so my feet do not get wet. Underbody coating on your vehicle. There is a web site out there dedicated to the creative uses of this product. http://fluid-film.ning.com/

I could probably go on for a while about this product, but let’s get down to why this article is on our sight. It was noticed that I mentioned Fluid Film quite often on a forum and tried to get other members to use it. I was contacted by a site sponsor rep for Fluid Film. A week later I got a box in the mail.

A decent sized box at that. I was so excited I blacked out the addresses and took pictures. Comedy, even in donations. Dano on Ford-Trucks was kind enough to send me this package with some goodies for the help I had been giving him on the sight promoting Fluid Film. Lets open it up and take a look.

Sneaky. The goodies are hidden under some paper. I didn’t let this stop me!

Inside I found a hat and a shirt. Let me tell you, this is probably the nicest promotional hat that I have ever got. Sorry newegg, this thing is sweet. Even the clasp in the back has fluid film logo stamped into the metal. I’m sorry to report that it is not made here in the US like Fluid Film, which is made out in California. Lets check out the rest of the shirt.

 

The shirt comes with a sleeve tag as well as some rocking graphics on the back. Can’t wait to wear this sheering to start some conversations.

Here is the full lot of goodies. I got a bunch of stickers and the big decals were totally unexpected!

Brett also received a sample can of Fluid Film, and a T-Shirt as well.

Thanks for the Hook Up Dano! We really love donations over here at Midnight Mods.

 

If your looking to try out some fluid film, send me an email and I’ll get you setup with Dano. I do sell small lots of the 12oz Aerosol cans as well. Fluid Film also comes in 1 gallon and 5 gallon containers as well. Any questions regarding Fluid Film, feel free to comment, any questions regarding ordering the product, please send me an email.

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Using Spade Terminals Safely by William

There are a few different ways to create a break in a wire to make easy access to things. Spade terminals are one of them, and there is also a barrel style, which are a bit stronger. I did not have any of the barrel ones, but here is a the “safe” way to install spade terminals into a connection as a line break, instead of a terminal lead. I do this on the terminals also, but mostly cause it looks professional, and keeps accidents from happening. These are just crimp on style connectors. I cut the length of shrink tubing and fit over the end. I leave a hair over the end of the terminal, sometimes it shrinks in towards the wire, and you are trying to cover any exposed metal areas. You can always trim later if it does not line up with the end, but I generally leave it unless it effects the ability for me to plug it in. Using a heat gun, or a sufficient heat source you shrink the tubing onto the wire creating this ‘sealed’ end. Less chance of corrosion on the terminal as well. If you have never worked with shrink tubing before, you should practice shrinking a few pieces on wires and such. If you are using a heat gun, it is very easy, if you are using a lighter or a torch, do not put the flame on the tubing. The tubing will deform and not shrink properly. You want to hold the flame away and turn the part over the heat from the flame. If you are using a torch like I did, it functions like a heat gun, but there is a huge flame. I just turn on the torch and rotate the part in the heat of the torch. Also, be sure to be careful of your hands around a flame, and the fact the wire could catch on fire if you are working with older wire. Some older wire’s coatings will ignite under flame.

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Steering Wheel Swap/Mod by William

I like the steering wheel from my 95 F150 better then the one from my new 94. The 250’s and 350’s didn’t come with SRS steering wheels, only the F150’s did. I grew quite attached to the better buttons and sleeker design of the SRS steering wheel, and decided to pull it from the old clunker and put it into the new F250 Power Stroke Diesel.

First we have to take the air bag unit off, which is just 4 10mm nuts on the back of the wheel. You can see it’s pretty bright in the cab, I made it convertible 15 mins before these photo’s.  Gotta love a convertible truck. (So, just a reminder to those out there who want to pull an SRS steering wheel out of a good truck with a battery. Take out the battery!) Anyways. Pull the 4 nuts off, and the unit comes out.

Unhook the air bag, and unscrew the center bolt that holds it all together. Then throw on the steering wheel puller and pull that suka off!

It didn’t know what was coming. The 95 has a newer style setup for the controls, which is what proved to soon be the problem. There is a ribbon cable inside which powers the controls, 3 wires, and the airbag, 2 wires. The older steering wheel on my new truck is a different setup. I did not know this till today however.  Lets get to work on that old crappy looking thing.

Here is the ugly thing. It’s boring and the buttons don’t work very well. I do like the steering wheel cover. Which is going on the old one. I used a white stick, a special tool from my aunt for doing trim and other things. The uses are endless, oh back on track. So there is a clip on the bottom center, pop it open there and pull strait out.

There is just a 3 prong connector in the old style, with a rotor/prong sorta deal. I’m not sure on the technical name for this, but it’s 3 spring driven pins that touch on the wheel on the left, and make the connection. Yes, I know I didn’t show you how to pull this one off, they are almost identical in removal. Anyways, we have more important fish to fry, cause nothing matches except the spline for the wheel!

I pulled the ring from the back of the old wheel. It was held in by 3 T25 screws. You can see it fits in the back of the new wheel just fine, but there is a problem.

The screws don’t line up. I know some Engineer at Ford was sitting there when he did this and said, “this Bill guy in the future is going to have a web sight and show everyone how to fix this issue.” Well, he is right. Cause, I is a Zip Tie Master! They should have certifications for this stuff.

Open your drawer of Zip Ties, and throw on some Billy Idol. I have a whole drawer on the box devoted to these wonders. No, the Billy Idol isn’t mandatory, but it helps.

It looked like I needed some leeway and a direction change, so I threw on some starters on the rotor, and then inserted it into the back of the wheel and proceeded to connect it to the most solid structures I could. Unfortunately one was plastic, but It will do. The extensions allowed me to put less stress in certain area’s on the ring. I’d love to explain it, but it seems to only work in my head. Which is true for a lot of things.

Alright, It’s on there. Cut the flaps and put it in! 26-33 ft lbs says the label. I had to use an extension, so I set it to 33, then torque it in. I disengaged the wheel lock and it spun beautifully! Now for our next issue.

We have 2 connectors, they are both 3 prongs, and they are both female. In the electronics connector world same sex marriage doesn’t work. We need to make this 2some a 4some with some male connectors. No, I didn’t make a bad joke. Plugging connectors together is Marrying them.  I only had one from the old wheel, and I dug around on the old column and found the same connector as well.

I checked how the wires worked out and just had to match the colors, thankfully! Twist em up and solder away. I talked about good soldering before, and this is an opportunity to show some more on it.

See how the solder holds on to the tip of my 5 dollar iron? You don’t need an expensive one, just need to take care of the one you have. The solder must be able to hold onto the tip to transfer heat, cause the solder is the medium. Wires are always a pain to solder, but these turned out good! There is not to much solder on the connection and they are firm and strong.

I’m a bit to poor for Heat Shrink Tubing, so here is how to properly tape wires with tape. You cut the length you need, and you roll it on. It’s opposite of what you would normally think. To just start the tape and wrap it around. That works if your doing a long distance, or a really large wire. But for small wires, pull some out just longer then your bare area, like above, cut, and then use it sideways. There is no excess or bad taping this way. They look much better when done. Then I threw on a zip tie for a quick finish. To keep zip ties from being sharp, use a knife to cut the tail off, not a pair of side cutters. The knife will cut it flush with the connector if you do it right and it will be safe and not scratch you or other things.

Plug the connector in, and wait for the rain. Yea, it started pouring right when I got in the truck to plug it in. I did not take it for a test drive, but the horn works. The way it is setup inside, if the horn works. I’m quite sure the rest of it will work. There is only 3 wires. and the horn connects to 2 of the 3 components in the wheel. Then reinstall the air bag system, which we didn’t plug in, cause there is no where too, and because we don’t need it anyways, and your done! Don’t let a simple problem get in your way if the systems are similar. Try and make them work with what you have instead of giving up.

I should re-warn anyone trying to use this article as a How-To is probably not a good idea. This is a listing of what I did to my things, not an article on how to swap your steering wheel. Notice it is listed as a Modification in the title. I took the SRS steering wheel from a junked truck. We will not be responsible for you deploying your air bag due to your own incompetence.

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No Slip Adventures 1 by William

Time for a new upgrade in the truck. People put things on my dash all the time and they slide off in a turn. You would think they would learn, but they just keep doing it. So, lets fix them. I’m going to try and come up with a few more uses for this material I bought, so stay tuned for more No Slip Adventures.

Grip it, or whatever. I chose this at Harbor Freight, cause it was cheep, and it was really thick!!!!!! I’m not much for this type, cause of the holes, but I figured it would work better in the truck. It was 6.50, which is a bit high, but this product really impresses me.

 

 

Here is our culprit, the dash. Just a smoothish plastic surface. The turtle is the old system for turning the black truck. If it slides out of the center, then I’m turning to fast, or hard. Well, with the new truck, that system doesn’t work. Even as much as I like putting everyone’s junk that is on my dash on the floor I decided to be nice and fix the situation.

Wow, I must have got into this project, lets fast forward past the whole cutting process (which I forgot to take pictures of.)

You can see the tools I used for this project in the picture. Scissors, a knife, and some scotch tape, because I did not have any two sided tape.

Luckily the roll was as wide as the part on the right, so I just had to cut out a small section. I found out the pattern on the mesh was not square with the length, but I made it work. I set the piece in place, and used the knife to try and get a general shape, cutting it, but not to hard so I didn’t damage the dash. The scissors cleaned it up after that.

 

I took a strip of tape the width of the .. well, I guess you could say length, but whatever. and then rolled it to make some double sided sticky tape.

I stuck it in place, and it is currently holding. I did this 3 times on the long piece, and only 2 times in the center. Double sided tape would work much better in this situation, and the dash is textured enough that the tape is easily removable and replaceable or what not. The material used is washable by hand, so if something was to spill on it, this is cleanable! Well, I hope this gives you some idea’s for your own vehicles. this material is holding up great for the last 4 days. The turtle is sort of stuck to it. So it is definitely some good material.

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Dell Inspiron 6000 Password Reset by Brett

I was given a laptop this weekend by a coworker who had forgotten their password. Usually resetting a CMOS / BIOS password would be an easy task to complete. With most computers you just move a jumper, flip a dip switch, or in some cases, it’s as easy as pushing a button. Laptops are a bit more complicated. Sure, some still have jumpers, but most do not. If your lucky, you’ll have a removable CMOS/RTC battery so you can just pull that and your computer will ‘forget’ the password (along with all of your BIOS settings store in the CMOS!) Dell (and to be fair a number of other manufacturers) takes this a step further on some models of laptops. Since laptops are a big target for theft and passwords are in place to prevent unwanted people, say a thief, from getting to the data, Dell (and others) have come up with a number of different methods over the years to make this task difficult as a deterrent (and as another ‘feature’ to sell the laptop). The problem is, when a legitimate user gets locked out of their own computer, it can be frustrating (not to mention in some cases, expensive!)

The laptop in question was one of those special situations. When turned on, it would bring you to a white / grey screen prompting for a password. The password is actually stored on a special NVRAM chip along with some other information about the laptop (Service Tag, Owner Info, Asset Name, etc.) While there are tools supposedly to find out the ‘master’ password via the service tag, I was not able to get those to work. There are plenty of people online that claim for $50 they can give you the answer, but I don’t like going that route for a number of reasons. I gathered bits of information from all over the internet and formulated a plan.

First, I had to get to the chip. This involved stripping the laptop down to the system board, but leaving key components connected since I would need to have the laptop running for parts of the procedure.

Next, I had to selectively disable the eighth leg on this chip to fool the computer into thinking it was brand new and reprogram it. The choice method for this was to carefully wick the solder from the leg and then thread VERY thin wire behind the leg. Next, with gentle pressure on the wire, I tapped the iron to the leg to break the remaining bond and like a dog to a fire hydrant, the leg lifted off the board.

Next, I tried to turn the laptop on to see if there was a change. This sent me into a bit of a panic, since the laptop refused to even turn on now. The way I saw it, I had either broke something or this was a normal reaction to having that leg off. I decided to test my hypothesis by reattaching the leg. After doing so, the laptop turned on and I was once again greeted by the password screen.

Okay, so- normal operation. This means that without the chip, you can’t turn the laptop on, but with the chip, you can turn it on but have to enter a password. Thankfully, us humans are still smarter than computers, even if just. Here is where we lie to the computer a bit. It won’t turn on unless that chip is in place, so what I did is use a dental pick (another tool that should be in your collection) to bridge the connection and allow the computer to turn on. Shortly after the screen initialized, I removed the pick so when the computer went to read it, nothing. This caused it to enter a special ‘Manufacturing Mode’ where the computer redetects and sets up the hardware, including our chip. The first time around it started in Level [FF], which I am assuming is the flash mode where it reset the chip. Every reboot after that and it’s just Level [01].

The results so far are pretty promising, so I soldered the leg back down. After that, I was able to exit manufacturing mode.

Success! A normal boot from the hard drive. Only one issue remained. Remember I told you about the extra info stored on the chip? Well, the service tag was on there. It’d be nice to put that back for a number of reasons, mainly because without it, I don’t think you can set another password. Dell provides a utility to change the values stored on the chip called ASSET_A209.COM. To use it, I needed to make a bootable USB drive (Good instructions for that here). After the flash drive was ready I copied over the asset software and proceeded to boot from the drive. Then it was just a matter of running the program with the /s switch followed by your service tag number (ASSET_A209 /s ABCD123)

It’s worth mentioning that the service tag can only be programmed once, so get it right the first time or else the whole process will have to be repeated. I know a certain coworker that is going to be happy on Monday (also, you owe me a lunch or two :-)

2010-01-20 Update:

Midnight Mods reader Tommy Chooi has reported that you should be able to reset the password by calling dell and verifying ownership of the laptop. After verification, they will generate a password for you based on your service tag. Thanks Tommy!

2010-02-20 Update:

Reader Dave says “Found shorting out pins 3 and 6 while turning it on did the trick (a bit easier than disconnecting pin 8).” – Thanks Dave!

Let us know what worked for you!

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