Design-Your-Own Computer Case Kits

lord black writes "I was walking the aisles of the local Fry's and discovered a nifty computer-case-erector-set-thingy. Made by Aero Cool, the Lubic kit is basically a bunch of aluminum rails, acrylic panels (for mounting hardware to), and misc. screws to connect it all, for constructing a unique computer case. They have a gallery of example cases. BTW, Aero Cool also makes neat CPU coolers."

Comments

Re:What's a good car?

[jlanthripp]

Good cars (and trucks):

• Pre-1972 General Motors passenger cars, especially the A-body B-O-P's (Buick Skylark/GS/GSX, Oldsmobile F-85/Cutlass/4-4-2, Pontiac Lemans/GTO)
• 1976-1984 Honda Civic (manual transmission only)
• 1964-1967 Chevrolet pickup trucks
• 1992-1996 Ford full-size pickup truck
• 1988-2004 Honda Prelude (manual transmission only)
• 1991-1995 Nissan Sentra
• 1983-1986 General Motors J-body cars (Cavalier, Sunbird, J2000, etc. - manual transmission only)
• All pre-1971 Chrysler vehicles equipped with 426 Hemi engines and 727 Torqueflite or manual transmission
• 1976-1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88 and 98 Regency
• Almost all Toyotas and Hondas made after 1988, with few exceptions

Extraordinarily bad cars:

• 1973-1986 General Motors passenger cars (except 1983-1986 J-body cars with manual transmission)
• All Isuzus, Mazdas and Mitsubishis I've come into contact with
• All pre-1978 Toyota passenger cars with automatic transmissions
• All Geo Metros
• All Chrysler vehicles with 3.0L V-6 engines (those engines are made by Mitsubishi - apparently a cheesecake in Sally Struthers' fridge has a longer lifespan than those engines)
• Pretty much all General Motors and Ford front-wheel-drive passenger cars with automatic transmissions (though I hear the US carmakers have finally learned how to make FWD cars with automatics in the last few years)
• Chevrolet S-10 (includes the Blazers and pickup trucks, as well as the GMC S-15 series)
• Pre-1997 Ford Ranger pickups and midsized SUV's (Bronpco II, Explorer)

All the vehicles in those lists that I haven't personally owned are listed based on ratings at auto-related websites and the experiences of people I've known - in each case the anecdotal evidence was in line with the automotive website review.

I currently own 2 vehicles:

• 1991 Nissan Sentra S Coupe, 1.6L I-4 engine, automatic transmission, air conditioning, factory AM/FM/Cassette stereo, rear windshield defroster. 253,000 miles on original engine and transmission, still drives quite well, uses about 1 quart of oil between changes. All the buttons still work, with one exception: the vent fan operates at all settings except the highest.
• 1996 Ford F-150 Longbed Standard Cab, 4.9L I-6 engine, automatic with overdrive, cruise control, air conditioning, ABS, dual fuel tanks, towing/camper package, aftermarket Sony AM/FM/CD stereo with Rockford Fosgate door speakers. 189,000 miles on original engine and transmission, still runs/drives like new, uses about 1/2 quart of oil between changes. All the buttons still work. Last week I hauled 2480 pounds (about 1-1/4 tons) of gravel home from the quarry, on steep hills and very twisty roads. 2480 pounds of gravel made the truck weigh about 1400 pounds more than its GVWR, but it drove/accelerated/pulled hills/stopped just fine, though I did drive cautiously on the way home.

I've also owned, in the past:

• 1966 Oldsmobile F-85 Deluxe 2-door hardtop (Almost no one knows WTF an F-85 is - basically, in 1966, the Olds "Cutlass" was an F-85 with the Cutlass trim package). My first car, outran Mustang GT's and Camaro Z-28's from 0-50, survived years of abuse at the hands of a teenage driver, and the odometer read almost 300,000 miles when an idiot in a Saab ran a stop sign at 60-65mph and totalled my Olds for me.
• 1978 Chevrolet Camaro. Total crap. Slurped fuel like a dragster, and its performance left me wondering if I should get out and push. I spent more time working on it than driving it.
• 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier. Great little car - cheap to buy, cheap to maintain, cheap on gas, ran like a top till I sold it.
• 1982 Buick Regal. Another crapmobile. Died of oil pump failure at 132,000 miles.
• 1989 Geo Metro (hey, I was delivering pizzas at the time!). Burned valve at 112,000 miles, repair estimate was more than the car's value.
• 1988 Honda Prelude. Contender f