Home » Posts tagged 'Cars'
Tag Archives: Cars
One More Day
Cheers Indeed Comrades!
Wouldn’t it be lovely
I’m off on a drive to visit my brother shortly and it seems apt that I should come across this article in Gizmag this morning about the new Caterham 620R, which produces a modest 301hp. As the saying goes, too much power is NEVER enough something I shall be pondering on my drive.
Replacing the Superlight R500 as top of the line, the 620 R continues the Seven’s emphasis on light weight, accessibility, and minimalism, but pours in more horsepower and torque than any Seven has a had to handle before.
The 620 R has a new gunmetal chassis with carbon-fiber wings, roll bar, an air-flow optimized nose cone and a race-developed cooling package. The supercharged, two-liter Ford Duratec pushes 310 bhp (231 kW) through a six-speed sequential gearbox with flat-shift to give the 545 kg (1,201 lb) vehicle 219 lbs/ft (30 Nm) of torque. Top speed is 155 mph (249 km/h) with acceleration pegging 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.79 seconds.
This car would certainly be very high on my shopping list if I were to win the lotto however in the absence of such good fortune I am going to enjoy my own creation and its rather modest 95KW
Cheers Comrades
Final Countdown
A “white kinght” , but not as we know it
Is there any other song to sum up the leadership stoush between Brother Number One and the Red Queen? as Kevin is due to fly out to China today its now or never so I tend towards it being never . I have been away form home down in the big smoke of Brisbane , which has made me even more thankful for my personal rural circumstance . I even rode on a bus for the first time in years and the experience certainly confirmed my loathing of public transport. It was expensive ,the ride was rough , the seats like rocks and I detested the necessity of waiting to travel at the mercy of the timetable. I have to go to the same place today and I am going to pay for the exorbitant parking cost rather than repeat the horrid experience again.
Cheers Comrades
Extractors fitting update
Beauty in stainless steel
Regular petrol head readers may recall me posting about my anticipation of the arrival of a set of stainless steel headers from the USA well they arrived about a week ago and it has taken me a while to find the time and good weather to fit them to the car. Well I had a window of opportunity on Monday and I was able to fit them but firstly I had to cut them just beyond the final merge and my collection of “come in handy goodies ” had a nicely made slip joint of the right size which then had to welded to the cut down connector piece that runs between the original manifold and my 2 ½ inch external exhaust. With a bit of eye-balling , cutting and tack welding while the car was propped on one side (on ramps , I’m very safety conscious) I then took it right off the car and welded the connection gas tight and I then had to rush to reassemble the car before it was time to pick up my children form the bus stop. I made it with only a few minutes to spare.
its amazing what a bit of heat does to a shiny header
Of course the headers have not stayed the same shiny silver colour because as soon as the engine was started they first turned a straw brown and then a slightly blueish/purplsih tone its all good though as there does seem to be a distinctly different feel to the engine when it is asked the question. While I don’t really rate my “seat of the pants” dyno for specific accuracy the engine does rev out more smoothly and with more vigour so I think that the headers have made a worthwhile difference. They promise 10% power increase which would take my engine’s 86KW to 94.6KW which probably won’t make much difference in the real world but as they say too much power is never enough so I will take whatever gains the headers give as a bonus.
There are many problems inherent in the stock manifold. Firstly it is bad practice to pair cylinders 1&2 and 3&4 (1&4 and 2&3 is the ideal). Secondly it is restrictive in the amount of air it can flow and finally it weighs a motza.
As for the all important exhaust note there is a distinct difference to the stock manifold but it is not at all excessively noisy the sound is deeper and more meaty without being anti-social. However I doubt that they will improve my fuel consumption because the car now just sounds SOOOOOO nice when I give it some welly that I just want to give it more welly all the time just to hear that glorious noise*.
Cheers Comrades
*I have some video to share the new note but I have been having some difficulty in uploading this to you-tube
A most apt photo op and the fun at Chez Hall
There are times when a photo has a rather different message to the one intended by its publisher take this image published on Julia Gillard’s twitter account:
To my mind this picture is a strong reminder that it is unlikely that there will be another Labor PM before these school children are old enough to vote its also worth noting that Gillard has once again changed her Twitter avatar, finally I can’t help thinking that being seen with chooks is politically silly because it brings this creative animation to mind.
I know its not much but I have been trying to commit a neatness around here and doing a few little jobs like replacing the TV antenna which has been most fruitful as we now get all of the free to air channels which means that I will be able to watch so much more crap should I choose to do so, hmm I think I will pass on most of that. None the less my son is delighted to be able to watch ABC 3. Of course I can’t do much at a time but I approach it like eating an elephant, one bite at a time!
Another thing that has been taking up some of my time is tinkering with my car I have recently fixed a transmission leak caused by loose bolts on the Oil pan , I have also ordered a lovely set of stainless steel headers, which are not as you might expect custom made they are in fact intended for a FWD Sentra which uses the same family of engine as the Pulsar that I got my donor motor from. The will work because I already have my exhaust running under the engine to exit on the driver’s side so I expect to be able to get away with just modifying the intermediate pipe that currently connects to the stock cast iron manifold should only take an hour so to change these over, They promise a 10% increase in performance but I will be happy if they just sound nice. I was going to wait until my brother had paid me for a ride on mower I am selling him but Once I saw the Aussie dollar in decline against the Green-back I felt compelled to buy sooner rather than later. You guessed it I’m buying from the USA and its amazing how cheap the headers are, a measly $105 USD plus $125USD for shipping, The cheapest Aussie made system is $240 plus shipping($35) and that is for mild steel with a crappy painted finish. Is it any wonder that Australian manufacturing can’t compete?
Cheers Comrades
Pretty things from Honda
click for source
I have long been a fan of Honda’s motorcycles and their scooters, in fact when I first began blogging I chose the Screen name of Niceperson because I used to ride a small capacity Honda motorcycle and they used to say in their advertising “You meet the nicest people on a Honda”. Anyway I like the new machines from Honda and think that when it comes to urban commuting a small scooter is a better option than a bus pass and the way that the fares climb ever higher….
Cheers Comrades
This could be a very sweet ride
One of my personal passions is automotive design and long time readers will remember that I have been rather critical of the current design paradigm of heavy machines made of iron and steel because two things are the enemy of efficiency, one is mass and the other is aerodynamic drag. Find below a couple pictures and a quote form an article from Gizmag about a new design that is both light weight and has a really low drag coefficient number.
The new VLC also sports improved driver visibility, a roomier interior with easier entry and egress, a chassis made from aluminium sheet metal (as opposed to tubular steel) and larger wheels that result in more travel for the in-wheel suspension set-up.This in-wheel suspension, which is clearly visible in the VLC rolling chassis now on display at The Henry Ford, is one of the key components of the design. As well as improving aerodynamics, it improves handling, reduces mass and the complexity of the vehicle as a whole.
“We believe we can replace the twist beam suspension, even in existing cars … but it will take time,” says Edison2’s Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Kuttner.
No specific time frame has been given for the roll-out of the VLC consumer model, but the company believes its architecture “has a promising future in domestic and international markets” that includes “applications in suspension and vehicle segments far beyond Edison2’s current designs.”
“This car opens up the possibility for a whole new type of car…in a much more responsible, sustainable way to the future,” adds Kuttner.
click for source
OK this prototype is electric 🙄 but imagine this car with a good performance engine from motorcycle, something like the Hayabusa power plant. It would be the perfect combination of light weight and good power, now that would be an eco-car that I could love, so too could other people who don’t see cars in an utterly utilitarian light.
Cheers Comrades
Mohamad Elomar needs anger management or a one way ticket to Mecca
Found this missive in my in-box this morning from a rather het up Mohamad Elomar, frankly I think it is a very good reason to continue to critique a faith that sprouts this sort of belligerent triumphal-ism. The email of course begs the question of how tolerant do we have to be of the intolerant in a multi-faith and multicultural society?
Cheers Comrades
Iain Hall's SANDPIT 