Drive Shaft Pole Vault. Somewhat similar to the Rear Axle myth from the Expolosive Decompression, Frog Giggin’, Rear Axle episode, but with a twist – can a failing drive shaft cause your car to pole vault? The first challenge is, of course, to make the drive shaft fail on cue. So after a bit of investigation, the boys think they have that one down (they don’t, but we’ll get back to that). While Adam and Jamie rig a car up for remote control, the build team digs a rather large hole in the concrete where the failed drive shaft will end up.
Unfortunately, getting the drive shaft to fail, and getting the drive shaft to fail on cue are two entirely different things. So after a day of trial and error, they come with a rather ingenious solution – use a bolt that, when the car goes in reverse, just unscrews the whole thing. It works, but unfortunately the whole assembly just pops out of the hole. So after slowing things down, they manage to hit the hole, and the car does vault. About 12 inches. Not too good. Busted.
If you’re a stickler, it did “vault”. But only in a flea circus would it have actually cleared anything, and the front wheels never appeared to leave the ground. Tory‘s bike jump over a wagon did a bit better, and he nearly busted his head open (that was fun to watch, but I’m glad he’s okay).
Exploding Port-a-Potty. In another revisit of sorts, this one from the Exploding Toilet myth of the Ice Bullet, Exploding Toilet, Who Gets Wetter episode, we look not at a toilet, but at a port-a-potty. Apparently this myth has to do with someone in West Virigina who had a whole lot of methane, lit a cigarette and blew the whole thing to bits. Adam, who is called upon for most bodily fluid contributions, does his duty, and it’s determined that most humans can’t generate much in the way of methane.
So after obtaining a tank full of the stuff, they try again. And they can catch Buster on fire, but not much more than that. Finally inspiration strikes and the firefighters on the scene stick a lit flare in there while the gas is pumping and that does the trick. Once there is enough gas inside, it explodes. So they do it again, just for fun. Busted. You can make it happen, but it’s not likely to happen in real circumstances.
