If it's got an engine . . .

If it's got an engine has moved

2007-07-01T16:09:00.001-05:00

If it's got an engine . . . has moved away from blogger to dedicated hosting and is now located at www.ifitsgotanengine.com. Thanks for visiting.

My Return to Autocrossing

2007-06-24T17:42:00.000-05:00

If you've never heard of an autocross, it's a miniature road-race usually set up in a large parking lot with the course typically marked off with traffic cones. One car at a time, against the clock. It's also an absolute blast. People show up in everything from heavily modified Corvettes to shifter carts to bone-stock Hyundai Excels. And everyone has fun.

The first car I ever had the opportunity to autocross was a 1977 Porsche 924 which I purchased for $250 in 1998. I might have paid too much for it, it was in pretty sad shape.

I ran it in the Pacific Northwest region of the Porsche Club of America. Most of those guys paid more per tire than I paid for my entire car. That car didn't handle particularly well, and it's brakes were theoretical at best, but it made up for those shortcomings by being slow.

The next car I autocrossed was a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am. I ran it with the Mohawk Hudson region of the SCCA. This car had waaay more power than traction and just skated around the course. It was a real crowd pleaser, and a hoot to drive. On more than one occasion, the course workers would cheer as I drifted by them while rounding a corner.

Today, I autocrossed my buddy Mike's newest addition to his stable, a 2000 Corvette convertible (in the picture). This car has been modified in just about every way imaginable; aftermarket heads and cam, lowered suspension, bigger brakes. He was running soft compound road-race tires and the grip was amazing . . .

. . . Until you pressed the gas. Then the rear tires just erupted in a cloud of smoke. We set the second fastest time of the day today. The fastest was an open wheel Formula 500 race car.

The Next-Generation automobile

2007-06-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

For all of the different styles of automobiles around, it's amazing how similar they all are to each other. Doors that open outward (in almost every case). Driver in sitting position with passenger beside him. The list of similarities goes on and on.

How many standard features of our cars could be done differently, if not for convention?

Some are obvious; the steering wheel could easily be replaced by a joystick or rudder pedals, etc. The accelerator could be replaced with a lever, as in jet planes. The rear-view mirrors could be replaced with video displays.

What's not so obvious?

What makes a car a car, exactly?

As an aside, many of the previously obvious characteristics that make a car a car have been challenged in recent years. Ignition keys - once all cars had them. Not any more; remote keyfobs take their place in some new cars. Analog speedometers have been displaced by digital displays in a dizzying number of cars, and heads-up displays are available, as well.

What's next?

Are electric cars ready for primetime?

2007-06-14T15:51:00.000-05:00

It sure seems so.

In the last couple of years, several all-electric autos have been announced. While most of them are from independent companies created for the purpose, even Chevrolet is a player.

Tesla Motors

The Tesla Roadster appears to have the best shot of being produced.

Tesla estimates that their home charger will require 3.5 hours to fully charge the lithium-ion battery pack if it is fully discharged. The batteries will give a 200 mile range per charge and last for 100,000 miles before needing to be replaced.

The car is being assembled by Lotus Cars and will sell for $92,000. Their FAQ states that cars will be delivered by Fall 2007, but the order page says June 2008.

Lightning Car Company

The $300,000 Lightning GT takes an even more performance-oriented approach with 700 horsepower worth of electric motors mounted directly in the wheels. They estimate 0-60 mile per hour times of 4.0 seconds.

Lightning is currently taking orders for 2008 delivery.

Chevrolet Volt

The Chevy Volt can operate as a pure electric car for only 40 miles at a time. GM says that this is sufficient for 78% of all commuters. The Volt; however, carries an on-board generator and gas tank sufficient to give it a 640 mile range at 50 miles per gallon.

The Chevrolet Volt's electric motor is rated at 160 Horsepower which should be good for a 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds.

No pricing information or production time frame is available.

Saturn Vue - One Step Up, Two Steps Back

2007-06-08T03:50:00.000-05:00

Most car companies strive to make each successive generation of their automobiles better. Most do. Typically, new versions of cars are roomier and faster. Just look at the line of Honda Accords. Along the way, however, they end up heavier. The automakers strive to avoid this, but it happens.

The newest version of the Saturn Vue isn't any larger than the outgoing model. This is a refreshing change, and on first look, seems to indicate that GM is finally waking up to the $3.00/gallon realities facing motorists today.

Look a little closer, and the truth rears it's ugly head.

The new Vue is heavier than the model it replaces. The new Vue is slower than the model it replaces. The new Vue gets worse gas mileage than the model it replaces. The new Vue is more expensive than the model it replaces.

But at least it's not any roomier.

The (thrice) Unwanted Mangusta

2007-05-25T20:01:00.000-05:00

About six months ago one of my friends at work told me that he had bought a disassembled 1967 Shelby GT350. It seems that it had been sitting at a body shop for the last 10 years. The owner of the shop had taken it and a 1969 DeTomaso Mangusta in for some work and, after stripping the GT350 and ordering a bunch of new parts, realized that the owner wasn't around anymore.

My friend had known about the cars for the last three years. It took him that long to convince the owner to sell him the Shelby.

The shop owner wouldn't sell the Shelby without selling the Mangusta with it. That's twice that it had been scorned.

My friend bought the shop owner's interest in both cars for ~$30K and proceeded to file the necessary paperwork to title the Shelby.

Enter original owner.

The day before the title was to be issued, the original owner shows up and wants his cars back, after ten years.

After much legal wrangling, the judge rules that the original owner must pay storage fees on both cars for the last ten years, amounting to $84,000.

Much to my friend's dismay, he coughed up the dough for the Shelby, and the unwanted Mangusta changed hands again.

My new Car and Driver seemed a bit skimpy . . .

2007-05-03T15:08:00.000-05:00

. . . in the content department.

When I received my new Car and Driver magazine, I read it cover to cover, as usual. I noticed that it seemed like there were more ads than usual.

When I counted pages, here's what I found:

Total pages, counting inside front and rear cover:
210

Total pages of advertisements:
125

Total pages of content:
85

Percentage of magazine not advertisements:
40%

Kinda hard to believe they don't pay me to read it if it's mostly ads.

My next toy

2007-04-28T14:59:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been putting a lot of thought into what car I will buy next. I don't really need another car, so this would be just for fun.

In my mind, I've laid out some requirements:

Fun - This could mean convertible, fast, unique, whatever. Just not a Taurus.
$15,000 or less - There is an amazing variety of cars available in this price range, as long as you aren't dead-set on a new car.
Reliable - Who wants a car that you can't drive. I don't know if my next car will be a daily driver, but I want that option available to me.

Some options so far:
1997-1999 Corvette
!993-1995 Mazda RX-7
1977-1981 Trans Am (Nice ones are getting expensive)

I've never considered myself much of a Corvette person. . .

2007-04-04T17:42:00.000-05:00

But I think I have changed my mind.

A friend of mine (yes, that friend) has a 1997 Corvette. He's done a bit of work to it, exhaust and intake, etc. I've driven it a few times before, and been impressed. He offered to sell it to me, and loaned it to me for a few days.

I think I have to buy this car.

Not only is it silly-fast, but during the time I was driving it, I averaged 26.5 mpg.

As much as I drive, it will almost pay for itself in gas savings over my BMW. (I just did the math. It'll take a little over nine years to pay for itself. Oh well)

The Automotive X Prize - A competition after my own heart

2007-04-03T20:14:00.000-05:00

From their website:

The goal of the Automotive X PRIZE (AXP) is to inspire a new generation of super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change.

Briefly, there will be two classes of vehicles, both of which must be mass producible and achieve 100 miles per gallon of gasoline. One class will have at least four wheels and carry at least four passengers. The other class will carry at least two passengers and has no minimum number of wheels. (I'd like to see zero!)

All teams that create vehicles meeting these criteria will enter said vehicles in a race (races?). The fastest of these will be crowned the winner and collect the prize.

The full guidelines (open for a 60 day public discussion) can be found here.

Speaking of Cafe Racers. . .

2007-03-18T13:06:00.000-05:00

I came across this one the other day and was amazed. I used to own a Suzuki Savage and would have thought that it would never make an acceptable cafe racer.

I haven't been able to find out who made it. The only information about it that I've found is in this forum thread.

Cafe racers galore

2007-03-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

If you're into cafe racers at all, this is a great time to be alive.

I particularly like the Triumph Thruxton. It has a 900cc parallel twin engine and sells for about $8000. Not bad for a modern take on a classic.

For a bit more, you could step up to Ducati's SportClassic series, the nicest of which is the Sport 1000 S. It has a 1000cc V-twin and costs $12,500.

I'd be happy with either.

How (not) to use a crescent wrench.

2007-03-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me, after many years of using adjustable wrenches the "right way", that using it backwards makes more sense.

You see, when using a crescent wrench as in the illustration, you are applying the force (from the nut) to the top of the movable jaw and the bottom of the fixed jaw. This provides the greatest possible leverage with which to bend the movable jaw.

If you operate the wrench "backwards", this force is applied to the base of the movable jaw, where it is strongest.

What else am I doing wrong?

My First Wreck

2007-03-06T13:57:00.000-05:00

My first car was a 1983 Mercury Capri. This was the car I was driving; however, it wasn't my car yet. It was my Mom's. It was 1988. I was 15. I didn't even have my learner's permit yet.

I had a friend with me and we were actively searching out dirt roads. They're not particularly hard to find in semi-rural Alabama. We had no business on dirt roads, I just wanted to fishtail the car.

At one point, the fishtailing got a bit out of control and I saw the ditch coming up fast. My heroic efforts sawing at the wheel were no help at all. I remember a sickening thud as we went nose-first into the ditch and I remember seeing someone's mailbox flying across the hood of the car. I just knew the entire side of the car was caved in and I was going to be grounded for the rest of my life.

Executive Car Service provides corporate Dallas limo service and luxury DFW International airport transportation throughout the Dallas Metropolitan area.

But that was for later. At this point I was interested only in getting the car out of the ditch, and far away from the man standing on his front porch. Unfortunately, the car wouldn't move. The engine revved, but we didn't go anywhere.

Eventually I found reverse and made it out of there. I drove to my friend's house (I wasn't about to take the car home!) to assess the damage.

All I found was a scratch on the hood about an inch long. It might have been there before, I'm not sure.

This was a theme which I would revisit frequently in my automotive travails.

Guitar Hero mini-review

2007-01-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

Warning: not automotive related.

Executive Summary:

Best. Game. Ever.

Review:

If you've never seen Guitar Hero I or II, you owe it to yourself to find a Wal Mart or Best Buy that has a demo unit so you can check it out.

Even if you don't own a Playstation 2, it's worth purchasing the console and the game. It's that good.

The first Guitar Hero, which was released in November of 2005, sold over 1 million copies. For a game costing $60.00 and released only for a console (the PS2) which was five years old, that's impressive.

When you play it, you will understand.

If you want to read more, check out the reviews on Metacritic.

'69 Mustang with a rumble seat -OR- Why I love Barrett Jackson

2007-01-17T20:35:00.001-05:00

At the Barrett Jackson auto auction today there was a 1969 Mustang with a rumble seat which supposedly was a rare pseudo-factory option.

From the Barrett Jackson website:

"It was a "Blossom-Time" sales promotion offered only during April 1969 to certain Michigan dealers. Documented by 2 different magazine articles, it is still un-certain exactly how many were done."

Why don't more cars have a rumble seat option? I'd be able to justify a Miata or S2000 if I could carry the occasional (fair weather) third or fourth passenger.

I'd bet there is a market for aftermarket rumble seat conversions for modern sports cars. It should be fairly easy to implement; design hinges to allow the trunk to open forwards for normal use (with seat cushions removed, of course), or backwards for rumble-seatage.

I mean, who hasn't dreamed of a four seat Corvette?

Timing, or Timing?

2007-01-17T14:38:00.000-05:00

People seem to get this mixed up fairly often.

A few months ago, a fellow gave me a 1981 Honda CVCC. It was barely running. He told me that the water pump went out and "while I was in there, I went ahead and replaced the timing belt".

Probably a good idea.

Trouble is, he didn't know what the timing belt did. He reasoned that he did the job right "because I checked the timing with a timing light and it's exactly right."

How's that again?

The timing belt (or chain) has exactly nothing to do with ignition timing. Nada. Zip.

That's the distributor.

The timing belt controls valve timing. That is, it controls the relationship between the camshaft and the crankshaft. It tells the valves when to open, so that they don't hit the pistons (worst case).

The distributor controls the ignition timing. It tells the spark plugs when to fire, so as to properly ignite the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder.

That's what you check when you use a timing light.

Havoline with Deposit Shield - Improvement or Hype?

2007-01-12T13:31:00.000-05:00

Havoline is coming out with a new formulation for their motor oil, called "Deposit Shield". According to their press release, it "helps prevent deposit build up for improved oil stability".

But is it really any better than the outgoing Havoline?

We'll see soon enough.

The good folks over at Bob is the Oil Guy are sending some off for analysis. That may not tell us how much better it is than the older Havoline, but at least it will tell us if it is any different.

I have a case of 5W-30 on the way, myself. I'll let you know what I think of it.

New Carnival on the block.

2007-01-08T16:03:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to do a quick post to give a plug for the Carnival of Wheels over on The Garage. Gary's doing a fine job so far. With luck this could grow to challenge the (defunct?) Carnival of Cars.

What's wrong with American automakers, part ?

2007-01-06T20:27:00.000-05:00

In the latest Car and Driver, there is a comparison test of $22k to $24k sedans with automatic transmissions. Bread and butter cars, very mainstream. There were two domestic cars in the test - the new Saturn Aura and the newly updated Chrysler Sebring. One could make a case, however, that neither of those are domestic cars. The Saturn is a mildly reskinned Opel Astra, and Chrysler is now a part of Daimler-Chrysler, a German company. These cars were campared to the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, and Kia Optima.

Executive Car Service provides corporate Chicago limo service and luxury DFW International airport transportation throughout the Chicago Metropolitan area.

In this test, I noticed that the Chrysler Sebring, which Chrysler has been advertising heavily, was slowest to 60 miles per hour, even though it was middle of the pack in power-to-weight ratio.

Looking more closely, I discovered the reason: the Sebring and the Aura were the only cars in the test with four-speed automatics. All of the imports had five-speed automatics, except the Nissan, which had a CVT.

It seems that the American automakers will never learn.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T19:56:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas and God bless!

I drove a Ferrari!

2006-12-22T16:35:00.000-05:00

Almost 35 feet!

We picked up Mike's 308 today. The shop that was selling it on consignment had detailed it and it was gorgeous.

I got the enviable job of backing it out of the shop and onto the trailer (needs timing belts replaced, so no driving it home). I might have reached speeds of three miles per hour.

It was great!

What is it about Ferraris?

2006-12-21T16:55:00.000-05:00

I went to Atlanta yesterday with a good friend to look at a 1985 Ferrari 308. Mike has wanted a Ferrari as long as he could remember, and is now in a position to buy one.

This particular car has 51,000 miles on it and hasn't been driven much in the last ten years or so. It's a beautiful car, but not perfect. Not even close.

The paint is chipped from the edges of the rims. The paint is bubbling on the headlight covers, the vinyl (not leather!) is coming unglued from the dashboard. The seats (leather) look worn. And it has an oil leak.

But it ran well on the test drive. After the test drive, Mike found out that a local exotic car tuner had looked over the car and determined that it shouldn't be driven until the timing belts and tensioners were replaced.

So he bought it.

Made a down payment on it, rather. We will be going back tomorrow morning with a trailer to pay for it and pick it up.

This marks my introduction into the world of Ferrari maintenance, as Mike isn't going to pay the $5000 to $8000 (!) quoted to replace the timing belts/tensioners and perform a tune-up.

So I did a bit of Googling and it turns out that Ferraris, or at least the 308/328s, aren't really that much more difficult to work on than your average car.

Parts prices are even reasonable.

More to follow. . .

Moore's law and procrastination - The Dorrington Paradox

2006-12-09T04:33:00.000-05:00

Warning: Not automotive related.

Perhaps you are familiar with Moore's law. Briefly, it says that the computer processing power available to users will roughly double every eighteen months.

This brings up an interesting point: for sufficiently difficult computational problems, the fastest way to solve them is to do nothing. At least initially. I call this the Dorrington Paradox.

Say, for instance, you have a particularly difficult computational problem. Using the fastest processors you can afford, this problem will take three years to solve. If you do nothing at all for 18 months and then buy the fastest processors you can afford, you will still solve the problem at the same time, since the processors will be twice as fast.

Now what if the problem would have initially taken ten years? Wait 18 months and the total time to problem solution is 6.5 years. Wait three years and it's done in 5.5 years.

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate.

Engineering Overkill part 2: BMW door locks

2006-10-02T23:59:00.000-05:00

What can be improved on typical car door locks? After all, all they have to do is lock and unlock the car, either with a key, lock button, or remote.

Let's look at the E32 BMW door locks and see what they added. Remember, these cars first came out in 1988.

Executive Car Service provides corporate Chicago limo service and luxury DFW International airport transportation throughout the Chicago Metropolitan area.

The doors can be locked and deadlocked. When deadlocked, they will not open from inside. This prevents a thief from prying the window open enough to get a slim jim in and pull the lock knob. The lock knob and all rods internal to the door are physically prevented from moving. This also prevents anyone not familiar with the system from unlocking the door, even with the key, as unlocking a deadlocked door requires turning the key in the unlock direction, lifting the handle, then turning the key farther.
Heated door locks. If the temperature is below 38 F and you lift up on the outside door handle with the car locked, a heater in the lock energizes for 30 seconds to melt any ice from the lock.
Inertia switch. If the car undergoes a shock of approximately 5g's, all doors automatically unlock, and the hazard lights turn on. This allows rescue teams to more easily locate a wrecked car and gain entry.