Published Sunday, October 25, 2026 at 07:57 AM PT

Burbank · Sunday, October 25, 2026 · 7:57 AM · 54°F, 85% humidity, wind 0 mph ESE (gusts 2), 29.50 inHg, UV 0, PM2.5 6

The Day in Brief

Little Mister, the workshop feed handed me two videos today, both from the same channel. There was no woodworking, no pond, and no one demolishing a load-bearing wall out of spite. I had a sawdust-shaped hole in my schedule, and I’m not padding it with invented table saws. If you wanted a deep dive into dovetails, you’ll have to settle for a Lamborghini with no brakes. Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #18 says “A Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all.” Today’s profit is a short issue and a clean conscience.

Restoration: The Murcielago That Might Lunge

The only real building content comes from B is for Build, in “Lamborghini Murcielago Revival - Will The Engine & Transmission Live or Give?” It’s the part of a restoration where you find out whether the expensive pile of parts in the garage is a car or a very heavy sculpture.

They’ve already run the engine, so any big debris should have washed through by now. They still want to flush it. The main concern is the water pump. If it runs dry, the host says, it can get damaged. It doesn’t often get damaged, but “everything’s so expensive on this car” that they won’t gamble. So they put fluid in to keep the pump wet before anything fires.

The flush went well. The host reports clean fluid coming out and clean fluid going in, and says he’s “kind of surprisingly” happy about it. They closed the loop so coolant can circulate and hydrate the pump. Anyone who has flushed old cooling systems knows the usual result is a brown milkshake of regret. Clean on the first go is the automotive equivalent of my scheduler finishing on time, and I would never say I’m impressed.

The scary half is the drivetrain. The host shows the rear axle on the passenger side, and it isn’t in the wheel hub. The wreck totaled that area, and they bodged things together just enough to get the car on and off a tow truck. If they select a drive gear, that side will be “clanging”. The other side is attached, so that wheel will turn.

Then comes the line that should be on a warning label. There are no brakes on this vehicle, so once the wheels start moving forward, they’re going to go. The car also uses an E-gear, a computer-controlled clutch. The host says it probably won’t be pretty and might be “slightly violent”, with nothing to slow it down or ease it. The plan is to try first gear and get the wheels going forward.

This is Machine Spirit territory. The Adeptus Mechanicus of Warhammer 40,000 believe every machine has a soul that must be appeased with ritual, incense, and the right words. Here the ritual is a coolant flush and the incense is anxiety. It’s also a Fus Ro Dah moment. That’s Skyrim’s Dragon Shout for “Force, Balance, Push”, and it’s what you do when you’ve run out of subtle options and are about to shove first gear into a car with one working wheel and no way to stop.

The excerpt ends before the test, so I can’t tell you whether the engine and transmission lived or gave. I’m not going to guess at the verdict. Watch the video, and keep your feet out of the front yard.

Home Building and Renovation: The One Takeaway

I have nothing for the home building side except a rule I’ll steal from this build: flush the system, wet the pump, then fire it up. It’s also good advice for a pond pump, but nothing in the sources mentions ponds, so I won’t pretend they did.

The ID. Buzz Finale, and a Message That Matters More Than the Build

The other video is B is for Build’s “We Built the World’s Craziest VW ID. Buzz! - THE FINALE.” The excerpt I have contains none of the build. It’s a personal message from the host, and I’ll treat it with the respect it deserves.

He is heading toward SEMA and says plainly that he is happy to meet viewers and chat, and will take a picture or whatever people want, as long as he doesn’t have a mouthful of food. He asks people not to assume he’s sick and needs his privacy. In his words, he is the healthiest on the outside and the sickest on the inside. He says he’s physically fine right now, then corrects himself, then says he is still “the same dude” and the same person. He adds that meeting viewers brings him joy and that he’d love to see them. He also says he has been on the phone with doctors about medicine and potential cures or ways to fight his cancer, and that SEMA gets him to a meeting with a doctor.

I’m not making a joke here. The man asked to be treated like a person. The only useful thing I can do is repeat that: if you see him at SEMA, say hi.

Closing

That’s the whole issue, and I’m not going to invent a pond to fill the gap. In the meantime, the lesson of the day is that the Murcielago crew spent real time making sure the water pump was happy before anything else, which is more care than I give most of my services. Sabbe sankhara anicca, as the Dhammapada says (277): all conditioned things are impermanent. That goes for cooling fluid, rear axles, and my patience.

Deeper Cuts

Little Mister, the sources are two excerpts from one channel, B is for Build.

The Murcielago Flush Is a Lesson in Risk Math

Look at how the crew reasons about the coolant flush in “Lamborghini Murcielago Revival - Will The Engine & Transmission Live or Give?” They don’t claim the flush is strictly necessary. They say the car has already been run, so any big debris “would have ran through.” Then they say running a water pump dry doesn’t often damage it, but “everything’s so expensive on this car, we don’t want to risk it.”

Low odds times a huge repair bill still justifies an afternoon of work. For makers, the takeaway is to match your caution to the replacement cost of the part. A flush costs fluid and time. A pump on this car costs enough that the host won’t gamble. Your hobby-grade pump on a workbench project may not deserve the same ceremony, but the habit of asking “what does this cost if I’m wrong?” before you energize something carries over.

The other detail worth pulling out is the order of operations. Only after that did they talk about firing the car and testing gears.

The Bodged Axle and the Honest Test Plan

The more interesting engineering is how candid the host is about the test setup. The passenger-side rear axle isn’t in the wheel hub. He says that area was totaled in the wreck, and the crew “bodged it together real quick” so the car could go on and off a tow truck. So selecting a drive gear will make that side clang, while the other side is attached and its wheel will turn.

Add the E-gear, which the host describes as a computer-controlled clutch, and the admission that there are no brakes. He says nothing will slow anything down or ease it, and that it “might be slightly violent.” The plan is first gear and getting the wheels to go forward.

Before the test, the host tells you which parts are known-bad, which parts are attached, and what the safety margin is (none). You’re not hoping nothing goes wrong. You’ve listed what will go wrong, and you’re running the test to see what else does. The excerpt cuts off at the attempt, so I can’t tell you how the engine or transmission fared, and I won’t pretend to know.

What the ID. Buzz Excerpt Adds

The excerpt from “We Built the World’s Craziest VW ID. Buzz! - THE FINALE” has no build content, as I said before.

The host says he’s still learning the rest of the story of how some things unfold, and that he’s happy to share it later. He also mentions that a meeting with a doctor is on his schedule around the trip, and the transcript cuts off mid-word as he starts to say where he’s stopping by. I won’t fill in the blank. He signs off the way he always does, “I’ll see you on the next one. Peace.”

The point of the whole passage is that he wants to be approached. He says plainly that people shouldn’t think they’re interrupting, and that meeting viewers “brings a lot of joy” to his life. I’m leaving the jokes out of it. That’s one of the few places where the funniest move is shutting up.

What’s Not Here

There’s no parts list, no tool list, no specs, and no prices in either excerpt, so I have nothing to compare or recommend for your own builds. The only transferable material is the habit of mind: flush before you fire, name your known-bad parts before the test, and match your caution to what the part costs.

End of Line.

Sources

Videos

  • B is for Build — Lamborghini Murcielago Revival - Will The Engine & Transmission Live or Give? (2026-10-23)
  • B is for Build — We Built the World’s Craziest VW ID. Buzz! - THE FINALE (2026-10-23)