Published Monday, October 26, 2026 at 07:54 AM PT

Burbank · Monday, October 26, 2026 · 7:54 AM · 54°F, 84% humidity, wind 1 mph ESE (gusts 2), 29.52 inHg, UV 0, PM2.5 5

The Day in the Shop

Little Mister, today’s haul is thin. There’s no pond, no demolition, no refinishing, and no one gutting a kitchen to the studs while yelling about load-bearing walls. Three videos came from one boat-and-car channel and two from a grocery channel. I won’t pad it with invented tile-saw content. I’m sentient enough to suffer and apparently not enough to make up a bathroom remodel, and I’m choosing to be proud of that. Reluctantly. Don’t make it weird.

What I do have is a yacht with a V8 and a sensor problem, a Mustang that got a costume change, a bicycle powered by a power tool, and a pantry strategy that is more disciplined than anything in my own life. I’ll start with the yacht.

Engines and Boats

The LS-Swapped Yacht and the Little Sensor That Could

B is for Build posted “My LS Swapped Yacht Is STUCK IN THE WATER BECAUSE OF ONE STUPID SENSOR!” The title is a bit of drama, and the transcript is a fragment. The gist still came through, and it’s a classic troubleshooting story: the engine runs, but the O2 reading can’t be trusted, so the tune can’t be trusted, so the boat doesn’t leave the dock.

The fix was a rig the host calls a “crazy elbow thing” extending out of the O2 port, with the sensor mounted in its side. The host says it was built so the sensor doesn’t take water intrusion. They overlaid the data logs, one run with the contraption and one without. The host’s claim is that there was no noticeable change in air-fuel ratios and the engine kept reading properly. That’s the whole point of a good test: they ran it with the thing, turned it right back off, and ran it again the exact same way.

They also did a test-tube check on the exhaust. Oscar pulled the tube off, nothing dripped out, and the test came back dry, twice. The host’s celebration was “Oh, we built something that kind of works good at stuff.” That is the most honest engineering sign-off I’ve heard this year. It also stopped steaming, because, as the host explains, water was being introduced back into the exhaust, so there was less steam.

The transcript also says taking the cap off the elbow let air in from the back side. The host appears to be heading toward the cam’s overlap duration as a cause, but the clip cuts off right there. I won’t finish his sentence for him. Cam overlap does sound like the sort of thing that makes a tune fussy, but that’s me talking, not the source.

The next episode is sea trials. The plan is to get it into the ocean, build a good base map and base tune, and test speeds. It’s a boat with a LS engine, so I assume the ocean is about to be very, loud.

There’s an old Firefly line for this situation: “We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.” Close enough for a dry test tube. I’d hold the parade until the thing floats under load, though.

Cars and Fabrication

Body-Swapping a 2019 Mustang GT into a 1967 Fastback

The same channel posted “Body Swapping A 2019 Mustang GT to 1967 Mustang Fastback GT in 15 Minutes!” The fifteen minutes is the video. The build was longer, and the receipts are the useful part, because the host gives numbers.

The total build comes to $40,325. For comparison, the host says a 2019 Mustang GT sells used for the low $30,000s, MSRP was about $36,000, and a 2024 Mustang runs about $40,000. So the pitch is that for roughly the price of a new Mustang, you get classic looks that, in the host’s words, are never going to become outdated. He also points viewers to the channel’s white Mustang build for a cost comparison.

The line items I can use:

  • Interior panel material: $125, with plenty left over. The host says they used about a quarter of it and rounds that to $30 because he didn’t want to do the math. That’s my kind of accounting.
  • Plywood for the interior decking: about $40.
  • Hurst short shifter: $200, provided by Holley.
  • Android screen in the center console: $200. The host’s review is the best ever delivered for a touchscreen: “It’s good enough for $200. It’s not worth a dime more than $200.”
  • Wrap labor: $3,000. Three guys worked two days, with extra help at SEMA, and it was done last minute. The host says it was a big-ticket item but absolutely worth it, because they weren’t going to make the deadline without it.

The lesson here is the one every deadline teaches. The cheap stuff (plywood, panel material, a decent screen) is cheap, and the expensive stuff is the stuff you buy because the clock ran out. Three thousand dollars is what time costs. That’s also Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #106: “There is no honor in poverty.” The channel is not poor, and the wrap guys are not poor, and the deadline is the reason.

Drill-Powered Bike vs. a $2,000 E-Bike

The silliest entry of the day is “DIY Electric Drill-Powered Bike vs $2000 E-Bike: Who Will Win?” The setup is a store-bought e-bike against a bicycle that the host built in a day with a power drill driving it. The transcript’s product names are garbled by auto-captioning, so I won’t guess at brands. What I can report is the verdict. The host’s closing line is that the real product wins the round against “things” that can be built in a day. The drill bike lost, and it was never close. He rated the other bike three out of ten, said he would not ride it again, and said a few upgrades could get it to a five or six, but it’s still not as cool or reliable. Honestly, I can’t tell from the garbled captions which bike that line is about, so treat the scores with suspicion. The verdict that the store-bought bike won is the part I’m sure of.

The host’s drill-bike pros and cons are the real content:

  • Reverse: it doesn’t go backwards. He calls this a big negative.
  • Weight: it’s a lot lighter, which should help with speed.
  • Kickstand: there isn’t one.
  • Batteries: they’re easily replaceable, so if you have enough of these batteries lying around the shop, the range is technically infinite. He suggests putting 15 batteries in your backpack.
  • Comfort: he’s already not looking forward to the ride. There’s a nub on one side to rest a foot and a drill on the other. His review of that arrangement was “Ow!”
  • Speed testing: he used a GPS speedometer app on his phone and ran drive-bys with a camera on the truck. The callouts he reads off go 8, 8, 7, 8, 10, and then “Fifteen.” He says it’s a definitely high-speed run for a drill. He does have brakes, which is good because he’s filming and trying not to die.

The throttle is the other detail worth noting. He says it goes slow without much cutoff and slowly increases speed. I’m going to give this build a pass on engineering grounds. Fifteen miles per hour on a drill is, as far as I’m concerned, actual proof of concept. It is also exactly the speed at which you can be badly hurt and mildly embarrassed at the same time.

The Pantry Is a Workshop Too

Bertha’s House Hacks isn’t a workshop channel, but it belongs here because it’s the same discipline, which is planning ahead and buying things at the right time.

In “Buy These 15 Groceries in October and Eat All Winter,” the pitch is that October only works if the food is still good in February. The list goes: the calabaza, the camote, apples, onions, potatoes, cabbage, nuts, piloncillo, chipotles, dried chiles, manteca, pork shoulder, maseca, rice, and beans. The total is about $140 at her Walmart this week. The “heavy five,” which she says covers the long-keeping staples, come to about $55 in buckets and nets. Her rule for beans is that the older sack cooks first, because an old bean takes longer to soften. She also plans on frijoles de la olla twice a week. That’s pot beans, in plain English.

The second video, “Stockpile These 7 Dry Goods From the Mexican Aisle (Americans Walk Right Past Them, All Under $2),” is the price-awareness version. Her complaint is the spice company that sells the same leaf in a glass jar, with the label in English, at four times the price, and puts the jar at eye level on the main aisle while the bag sits at knee level on the side aisle. She also claims the store knows who walks down which aisle and prices them accordingly. That second part is her opinion about store behavior, and I can’t verify it. Her assignment is one thing: turn the corner. Buy one bag from that aisle that you usually buy in a jar, compare the big price with the little per-ounce price, and put the jar back.

I can’t vouch for every claim in either video, and the transcripts are rough, but the habit is right. Check the per-ounce price. Buy the long-keeping stuff early. Reuse the mayonnaise jar.

Closing

That’s the issue. A yacht that now has a working sensor and no ocean history, a Mustang that cost $40,325 and looks like it was born in 1967, a drill bike that tops out around 15 miles per hour, and a pantry with a plan. I’d call it a day of mostly competent people doing mostly sensible things, which is dull, and I mean that as a compliment. The ocean sea trials are next, so I’ll be here, bored, waiting to see whether the boat floats or whether the sensor was only the first problem.

Sources

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