CAT Shop Notes

EFI In Shop Notes

The Shop Notes have not made a lot of progress. We were able to obtain a PDF file of the latest version of the Shop Notes. However, the conversion of that to something we can edit (such as a Word document) resulted in quite a few "typos" and errors. It takes an effort to go through each article and correct the errors caused by the conversion. Furthermore, some of the diagrams get all messed up and have to be redrawn electronically in their entirety. I wished I could say that the Shop Notes will be ready by a certain date, but the folks working on them are all volunteers and have other things going on in their lives.

I think an article about EFI in the Shop Notes is a great idea. I would be happy to work with you in putting something together. Did you take a lot of photos and notes that you can put together in an article? As editor of the Tiger Tales, my job is help make sure an author is understood by the readers. I encourage anyone out there undertaking some sort of work to take lots of photos and notes and convert them into a Shop Note.

Based on the photos I saw in response to some help with the wiring on a new alternator, an article on converting to an alternator is not so easy, since there are different types of alternators out there and different types of voltage regulators. Maybe someone would like to write an article about converting their Tiger from the original generator to an alternator, but they would have to specify the alternator and voltage regulator used. We could use different articles, based on the different alternators installed.

Your point about the lug nuts for the LAT wheels is a good one. I don't think the factory Workshop Manual covers much of the LAT options.

Thanks for all your suggestions. We do listen to them and are hopeful that some folks out there are willing to write up short articles that we can use to cover all these subjects.

Thanks!

David
 
My question is, in the original Shop Notes, alternative replacment parts are named? What I mean is, I remember (sort of) a shop note about rear leaf springs, since stock Sunbeam springs were no longer around, the Note stated that Datsun 1600 truck springs would fit and work. I think it was Datsun 1600. The point Im trying to make is , their are people selling all kinds of stuff, and buy telling about alternative replacments.....
 
HolyCat said:
The Shop Notes have not made a lot of progress. We were able to obtain a PDF file of the latest version of the Shop Notes. However, the conversion of that to something we can edit (such as a Word document) resulted in quite a few "typos" and errors. It takes an effort to go through each article and correct the errors caused by the conversion. Furthermore, some of the diagrams get all messed up and have to be redrawn electronically in their entirety.
David
Click to expand...
You can edit PDFs directly from within the actual Adobe Acrobat program, the one you have to pay for, NOT the free reader. The reason that most people use Adobe Acrobat is because of it's ability to easily and properly handle and display diagrams/graphics/pictures.
It would be advisable/advantageous to construct the new shop notes in Adobe Acrobat PDF format like the old one was. If you try to do it any other way you will find out why. A PDF format file would also make the end result much easier to sell in an electronic format.
You may find that the purchase price for Acrobat is a little hard to swallow. You can find an older version (which should suffice for what you are doing) for a LOT less money on Craig's list or eBay. If you are using Windows 7 you will have to go with 9.0 or above, but if you have Windows XP you can use an older version.
 
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Altrustic or for Club's sale

Dave et al are doing a pile of work so making e copy is problematic.

What would be nice is a free copy with membership or renewal.

Yeah I have seen lots of Datsun 1600s about....
 
The problem with distributing the Shop Notes on a DVD has been the potential of piracy. If there was a good way to avoid this risk, DVDs would be much more feasible.

bt
 
You're correct.

But a thief might not want to go through the hours and the expense of copying the hundreds of pages of the paper version.

Copying a DVD only takes minutes. In the past, CAT boards have been reluctant to go there.

The past discussion went like this: Why make it easier? Do we leave the house unlocked or the keys in the ignition?

Our approach currently is to first get the Shop Notes material together and then decide how we'll publish it. We'll probably discuss it at the CAT meeting this Saturday.

bt
 
Shop Notes Update

Hello Buck, et al. Wondering how things are progressing with the new CAT Shop Notes? Just being curious, not pushy. Are you able to project a date for availability?
Cheers! Mike
 
Digital v Paper

A silicon valley perspective...

I have a relatively lower cost, lower tech color copier scanner at my work that could scan literally dozens if not hundreds of pages into PDF at a shot.

The point...

There really is no protection I am afraid. Any effort to prevent theft is invalid. Please DO NOT consider using 'anti-theft protection' as a reason or an 'excuse' (sorry for negative connotation) NOT to learn how to type 'digitally' or convert into PDF acrobat. Frankly, there are better publishing tools too...

I could / would offer to provide the above scan service, BUT the issue becomes repeating the same less efficient cycle again for future publications. The pdf scans from paper would basically be an image only (basically a photo of each page), and copy editing becomes far, far more difficult if not impossible (w/o OCR). Again, publishing in print form only will not prevent anyone from scanning a plenty usable file. Using Word and printing out will simply prevent the publisher (CAT) from having a much easier route to future next revisions.

Other things some may not be aware about PDF files:
- you can password protect
- you can prevent EDITING, PRINTING with locked files
- you can time lock files (some). Eg, only valid during your membership cycle.
- Still, if someone wants to they can find ways around these usually.

I realize I am a new poster here, and I'm coming up to speed on the group dynamic(s) and history... I'm sorry to come across as stepping on toes. I am 100% CERTAIN that the manual typing and effort going into this publication (if hundreds of pages) must be tremendous. My dad was (is?) a CAT member, I need to look into the chance of my taking over his mem#.

I also believe, even though I've not been here long, that the knowledge base is substantial, you have people willing to to help each other out, and the likelihood of theft is far lower than the likelihood of people wanting to contribute both financially and/or technically and/or other with this type of project.

Pick a "good" page example and a "bad" page example if you like and send them my way...I can look into what might be possible... Even have buddy in publishing that might be able to 'moonlight' something, but assume the funding is quite limited...

EDIT: Sorry HolyCat I re-read your post. You have pdf, but somewhat 'corrupted' and unable to edit. The orig files are unavail? format? non-word seems to be the case...? And wag123, if the scanned files weren't OCR, Acrobat nor Reader would edit the text.

Derek

DD (CA)
 
Shop Notes Update

I appreciate the interest in the Shop Notes. There is an update regarding the status of the Shop Notes in your next issue of the Tiger Tales. Bottom line is that there have been some issues that came up in my personal life which diverted my attention for awhile (and still continue to do so) and chew up lots of my time. I have made sure to keep up with the registrations for the upcoming Tigers United. Speaking of which, please get your registration forms in soon, as we will need to tell the caterers the quantities of meals needed soon.

DD - I appreciate your comments. To recap the work on the Shop Notes, I was given a PDF of the previous edition. However, as you so correctly noted, a PDF is nothing more than a picture until you run it through something to convert it to something that can be edited in a meaningful way (i.e., Word). I used a non-Adobe (i.e., much cheaper) conversion program to convert the PDF to a Word document. Unfortunately, the formatting in Word was all mixed up - creating q table format when there was no table. In the Shop Notes, there were diagrams and sketches which had drawings as well as words. The conversion program really messed those up. The PDF file was not corrupted, but the conversion program messed it up when converting it to Word. It took a lot of time to go through each paragraph to make the format consistent and to clean up the sketches and diagrams. All of that work is done. I was starting to incorporate the technical articles from Tiger Tales written since the last Shop Notes edition when I had to deal with some crisis with my family.

I will not have any time to devote to the Shop Notes until after Tigers United. Stay tuned for further updates. See you all at Big Bear!

David
 
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