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365 Days of A: One man's quest to drive a Ford Model A for entire year {Autoblog}
Mar 19th 2011 7:49AM Why make up a clutch disk? Why fabricate anything for that matter... I researched this a few years ago exploring the possibility of making a superlight (i.e. LoCost like) runabout using the G10 engine.
It's the same bellhousing and flywheel as a Suzuki G13, which means all you need to do is find a donor RWD Tracker or Samurai and harvest the transmission and driveshaft. Ok, so in this app you'd need to fabricate a driveshaft and a shifter, but in a car as light as a model A, adding ~20HP over stock and having an engine that can rev an extra 3000rpm over the stock one, AND upgrading to five forward speeds... ought to be fun.
And if you want to be more unique, you could run three little exhaust pipes out three little mufflers. ROFL, could even do one out each rear corner and one out the center, wouldn't that be an aural trip at low idle! Putt-putt-putt...
Chicago 2011: No power upgrade for the Hyundai Genesis Coupe "for a little while" {Autoblog}
Feb 11th 2011 8:47AM It'd never happen, but this would be an interesting twist for the Genesis coupe.
take the 2.0T/274hp architecture and stretch it to 2.5L to start out... if HP goes linearly then there's 340hp.
Now the hat trick: Add two cylinders to make a new 3.8L straight six. If again HP goes up on a linear curve, you have a 3.8L I-6 with a gorgeous engine note and... wow. 502 Horsepower. Which actually says a bit on how amped-up the 2.0T engine is, but to have a 'mid sized' coupe with a tremendously powerful straight six and decent handling would be stellar.
It'd be the reincarnation of the 280Z mixed in with a decent dose of Jaguar's good old days, with better handling, reliability, and fuel economy. Sweet.
Ford introduces airbags with enhanced crash protection, debuting on 2012 Focus [w/video] {Autoblog}
Sep 16th 2010 8:01AM Whips the snot out of being force-fed the steering wheel though. Picking foam out of your teeth is awful, picking your teeth out of the foam is worse.
REPORT: Tata pondering Nano launch for U.S. market {Autoblog}
Mar 25th 2009 2:25PM Philip,
Exactly. I remember when I started college, I was still living in a little town that was halfway between two bigger cities. Work was a good 30 minute drive away on roads where 50mph would get you a decent ticket. I started out driving what I could afford... a hand me down Lincoln (which was reliable but I could barely afford to do anything other than go to work and come home, thanks to 6-8mpg) to a $2K 1984 Tbird that got a regular 23mpg, but also taught me how to do a 15 minute water pump change, since it went through FIVE of them. Eventually I ended up in a $1K '91 dodge shadow that was someone's work car, a painter, and had been sitting with the windows open... I stripped everything out but the seats and drove that for a couple years, and am shocked I'm not deaf (you couldn't hold a conversation on the highway, even with the windows up, and the exhaust was in perfect shape).
If back in 1996 I had a shot at co-financing $4K and getting something like this, that I knew was going to be frugal and if not decently reliable then at least SIMPLE (I also got to learn quite a bit about what an EEC-IV does when the sensors misread, but not out of range enough to identify themselves) I'd have jumped on it in a heartbeat.
The world would have missed out on a system administrator that knows engines and control systems inside and out, but I'd have had a hell of a lot easier time with the college years. I'd have missed on dumping the entire transmission's worth of Mercon all over another evil employer's parking lot, having to change a broken belt on the shadow in the parking lot in my good work clothes, learning how to limp the shadow home from a long trip with a blown head gasket, stopping every 10 minutes to bleed the gasses out of the radiator, finding a dealership that was open on a saturday in the middle of nowhere Wisconson, willing to reattach the Tbird's power steering pump to it's mount, the day I figured out that the shadow had stuck one half of both rear slave cylinder pistons in their bores and forced the other halves out of the bore, figuring out that a "stuck" temp sensor on the EEC-IV will cause the car not to start when hot (flooding, car thought it was -20F when it was 80 degrees), learning that Chrysler 2.2 engines have a bad habit of rotten bushings tilting the alternator enough to throw belts... I'd have been peacefully tootling along in my tiny runabout instead, knowing that most days I'll make it to work or class without too much worry.
I'm still somewhat leery about having a car with no warranty, especially now that I live in a somewhat urban neighborhood and haven't the huge yard and garage space (and no neighbors to complain about a mess) to work on anything big anymore.
REPORT: Tata pondering Nano launch for U.S. market {Autoblog}
Mar 25th 2009 12:05PM This will be a slam-dunk for the rural areas of the country. Little cities with scores of interconnecting state highways with speed limits of at most 55mph, where work can be 30 or more miles away, every day.... to be able to drop $4K on a car with a WARRANTY that gets 40 or 50mpg sounds like a no-brainer to this pragmatist.
Engadget Giveaway: win a Cowon S9 PMP! {Engadget}
Jan 27th 2009 9:17AM Sign me and snuffalapagus right the heck up.
Seriously, been looking at hi-cap media players since the 80Gb iPods were introduced and I've finally started saving my pennies for one of the S9 models.
Announcer killed at Wisconsin monster truck show {Autoblog}
Jan 26th 2009 1:46PM Ok Stan.
We should also put an end to operas and live concerts. They serve no purpose since people can get exactly the same thing from a DVD or MP3.
There's also no purpose for having a car that can do 160mph. All cars are now speed limited to 90mph and may not hit 60mph from a dead stop any faster than 8 seconds.
You pull a "no purpose" argument and you're dreading on very very dangerous ground, Mr. Stalin.
Black Friday Giveaways (part 6): Zune 120 and premium earbuds {Engadget}
Nov 28th 2008 7:27PM Please?
Black Friday Giveaways (part 4): Archos 5 and DVR Station {Engadget}
Nov 28th 2008 7:26PM Oh, I'd *love* to get my hands on one of these.
Heavy metal wine--a health risk? {Slashfood}
Nov 4th 2008 9:52AM I don't think the metal levels will be so high in american, or perhaps as well australian wines.
See, WWI and WWII weren't fought in our vinyards...
