The Lotus rebuild project is complete – and I wrote a book about it.

A Mistress in the Garage by Steve Larsen After owning my Lotus Elan for over 40 years, I finally got around to rebuilding it. This books I made with Blurb, documents the process. It’s not intended for anyone to buy, really, but to document the 15 months of work and… Continue reading

Responses to JIS Innovation of the Month

I wasn’t surprised to see Dave at MCN publish several Letters to the Editor about JIS screwdrivers, as I’d gotten half a dozen emails from people about the article as well.  Here are the two that were published.  Letters to Editor about JIS Screwdrivers. I WAS surprised to see that… Continue reading

You Gotta Get These: JIS Screwdrivers

Rather than taking my bike to a dealer for repairs I can’t handle myself, I prefer Oltman—he lets me help—stifling his snickers at my ignorance and ineptitude. This typically doubles or triples the time a repair would take at a real motorcycle repair shop. My last visit required some extensive disassembly. Unable to dislodge one rusted and corroded screw, I’d managed to strip a good part of its Phillips head. Oltman went to his tool box and came back with a different screwdriver saying, “try this.” This screwdriver fit snugly and the screw came right out. “That’s a JIS screwdriver,” Oltman told me… Continue reading