November 11th, 2008 drummingpariah
I had disappeared for awhile, and there’s quite a lot to update on.
I’ve sold Project Anger, and handed it off to a guy who is just barely getting into cars now. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but has a few good mentors.
Darth Z (260z with a 351ci Ford Winsor v8 ready to swap into it) has been sold, along with its donor car. It is destined to receive a build 383ci Chevy v8.
CRX 2.0
CRX2.0 has gained some paint, knuckles, big brakes, and suspension. It is still engineless because the wiring harness is pretty much ruined. I need new ECU connectors off any obd0 Honda. Anybody have spares? I need at least one foot of wire on each ECU pin. Let me know if you have one available, or have a donor car, or anything of the sort that you can ship to me.
I’ve picked up a not-project as well. It’s a 1976 Toyota Celica fastback. It’s bone freakin’ stock, and has a few little quirks to work out before I trust it completely. It was a whole $500, and drove home on its own four wheels. These little quirks will most likely be the subject of discussion this month.
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August 19th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
The torque wrench is one of the most universally useful hand tools available to the home mechanic. These magical little tools take the guesswork out of the amount of twist you’re putting on bolts, greatly reducing the risk of shearing the heads off of them. You can also rest assured that high-torque bolts and lugs are more likely to be close to specifications. Without a torque wrench, 40ft/lbs feels very similar to 80ft/lbs, but can be the difference between a wheel falling off while you’re on the freeway and having an uneventful cruise.
Mechanical torque wrenches come in two flavors:
Beam Style torque wrenches use a beam of spring steel that is bent by the force you put on it. These are accurate enough for most backyard repair and part replacement jobs, and are inexpensive enough that it won’t break your budget. For a first torque wrench, I highly suggest a Beam-StyleTorque Wrench.
Click Style (pictured) torque wrenches use a clutch-style mechanism. These are generally more accurate than beam torque wrenches, but are more expensive because of their complexity. The SK Micrometer Torque Wrench is one of the best feeling torque wrenches I’ve had the privilege of handling.
Photo courtesy of exfordy.
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August 12th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Establish Starting Point
As with any project, the first thing you should do is establish your goals. This is going to require a bit of math, but we’re going to determine the ideal target crank hp gain for your vehicle. A good rule of thumb is that every 10hp you make with a gas engine requires a pound of air per minute delievered into the intake manifold. For example, to transform a 100peak horsepower (php) naturally aspirated engine into a 200php turbo engine, you’re going to need a turbocharger capable of flowing 20lbs of air per minute at a realistic boost pressure. You’ll need to compute the basic engine airflow rate in CFM as follows:
Airflow=(cubic inches displacement * rpm * 0.5 * volumetric efficiency(V.E))/1728
The *0.5 is there because a four-stroke engine only breathe every other revolution, while 1728 converts cubic inches to cubic feet per minute
If you were to insert 83 percent for V.E for a typical 2.0L Honda engine’s 122CID * 7000 * 0.5 * .83/1728=247 CFM
At 83 degrees ambient temperature at sea level 247CFM converts to pounds/minute follows: lbs/min=CFM * .07
Therefore 247CFM * .07 = 17.29 lbs of air per minute.
Using this rule of thumb this 2.0l engine should produce approximately 173 NA HP. Now let’s see what we could do with that number using a compressor. Read the rest of this entry »
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July 4th, 2008 calicab
Happy Independence Day! Calicab wrote this great howto on fabricating a gauge cluster in a DIN slot. Enjoy!
(edited by Mad Scientist)
I did this on a 1991 CRX but this writeup applies to any vehicle with a standard DIN slot.
these are cyberdyne volts and air/fuel ratio gauges
Shopping List:
a large piece of plexiglass( you will make mistakes):)
a scoring tool
tape measure
sharpie marker
flat black paint
gauges
and drill and hole saw
this is plexi
Read the rest of this entry »
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June 6th, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Romance: A mysterious or fascinating quality or appeal, as of something adventurous, heroic, or strangely beautiful.
(according to Answers)
It’s hard to deny that hand wrenches possess a romantic quality. As convenient as fancy ratchet wrench sets and air wrenches are, old hand tools keep die-hard car lovers coming back to them time and time again.
A hand wrench is like a samurai katana: there is a bond between the two, and each gives the other definition and meaning. There is a personal level of interaction with whatever machine being worked on when using hand tools. Instead of just getting the job done and having a working product at the end, you are investing time and loving care in what you do. You’re forced to take your time and think through each movement, every turn, every bolt that is torqued down. The result is a sentimental bond between mechanic and machine.
Also, hand tools are the most universal of all tools. They are the most likely tool to fit into any given nook or cranny, and the least likely to break (assuming decent quality manufacturing). If one should break, most sets come with a lifetime warranty, as well. Hand tools should be the foundation of any set of tools, regardless of how large or minimalistic that tool set is. If you don’t have a set already, find a full Metric and SAE set
with an outstanding warranty and establish an organization system right away. That way if one of your tools goes missing you can start searching for it immediately and have some idea as to who had it last or where you might have left it. Fishing around your garage garbage can for a tool that was lost ’some time in the past 8 months’ is no fun at all. Trust me on that one.
Photo courtesy of flattop341 under the Creative Commons 2.0 license.
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June 3rd, 2008 the Mad Scientist
Hybrids get a lot of press.
They’re touted as being incredibly fuel-efficient, getting between 30-45mpg in some cases. Wow. What most of these green fanatics don’t realize is that they’re hurting the environment more than the creepy hippie in his VW bus.
It takes roughly 50,000 miles of fuel savings to recover the cost of manufacturing for the average hybrid car, and that number comes closer to 80,000 for hybrid SUVs (they require more materials to manufacture and weigh more, decreasing fuel economy). That’s a huge carbon debt to pay off, especially if the car ends up in an accident or has mechanical failure resulting in its salvage. Older cars have already paid their carbon debts, so we should do everything we can to maximize their life after the debt is paid off. Every time a new car is purchased, an old (often working) car is crushed. Read the rest of this entry »
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