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I think most humans can say whether something is a tree or a box of rusty car parts fairly easily.

Well, you might think so. But it's not always as easy as all that.

People have been building their own cars for decades and decades. Go get yourself a Jegs catalog. How about a Year One Catalog too. Go buy a kitcar magazine. Get yourself a welder. Kids these days. is everyone a moron now?

Afraid of laws or insurance? Buy a cheap donor car from the junkyard and strip it to the frame.

Some of us actually like the new-fangled safety systems such as airbags. As far as I know, there is no DIY airbag system.

However, the guy below was able to retrofit ABS breaks into a '69 Camero... But it sounds like he had to do a lot of research and find equivalent parts that matched what was on the donor vehicle.

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/c...

Or in the sense of adding a spoiler and neon running lights to a beat up Honda Civic "might be really cool"?

To this or this 1999 Civic SI? Sure.

Running BFG street tires, Eibach coil-over suspension and 17 psi of boost, we ran over 211 mph at Area 52. ... Though the engine has produced as much as 728 hp at 29 psi of boost, the boost was run at only 13-14 psi for the record runs.

Reportedly, there are (obviously, not completely stock, but many street-legal) Civics out there with 500-1000+ HP.

You must be lucky then
Most operate like this http://www.hotrod.com/techarti...
Very old cars had elaborate systems with pushrods and ball joints, but as the joints wear out you get excess play and as the engine moves on its rubber mounts that movement can lead to jerky throttle movement too.

Yeah, still not right. I'm sure Ford had the same discussions internally about Chevy at some point.

Patents and Patent Infringement are not about protecting / stealing ideas, they are about protecting / stealing the particular method of an idea. The rest IMHO is justifiable hogwash built to create "outs" for companies to sue one another. Patent law shouldn't be applicable to what colors are used, what shape things are. It's evident that the products differ it's also evident that they are the SAME product.

http://image.automobilemag.com/f/24741059+w750+st0/0909_04_z+chevy_camaro_vs_ford_mustang+engines.jpg
http://blogs.cars.com/putc_special_reports/images/2010v6so/Lead.jpg
http://image.hotrod.com/f/featuredvehicles/hrdp_1012_2010_chevrolet_camaro_vs_2010_ford_saleen_mustang/31149805+pheader_460x1000/hrdp_1012_01_o+2010_chevrolet_camaro_vs_2010_ford_saleen_mustang+front_view.jpg

From across the room can you tell the difference?

The first car I drove was my mother's Geo Metro Lsi (1 liter 3 banger, 5 speed manual, was the convertible, and had AC) and that stupid thing would get well over 50mpg (I think it was close to 56mpg) and was new enough that it would mostly meet current safety and emissions standards. Now these are actual numbers not the magic numbers printer on the window from the EPA which are useful for comparison between vehicles but worthless otherwise. Now granted this wasn't a 3,000+ pound car but was substantially larger (much larger cross sectional area) and heavier (probably 4x) than your motorcycle. I think it would be quite possible to achieve better numbers than even that Metro I drove got and still meet modern safety and emissions requirements given that you could run a higher compression ratio (that get took 87 octane gas), use diesel instead, have variable valves, better 3 way cats better aerodynamics (this was a convertible after all), use synthetic lubricants, go over to an electric water pump (racers to this), use a 6 speed manual, use better tires, use aluminum body panels, have a dry sump configuration for oil, etc. Here we haven't even gotten to more exotic solutions like reducing the reciprocating mass of the engine, using exotic composites for body panels, using different combustion cycles, using exotic surface treatments for internal moving parts to decrease internal friction and wear, try a different passenger layouts. There are other options but to believe that automotive design has done all it can in regards to engine efficiency, internal friction, reciprocating mass, drag, rolling resistance, and vehicle weight is just fooling your self. The problem is that to go much beyond what we have now requires lots of money on a one off level or still a substantial amount on the industrial level. Would you be willing to pay $25k-$30k for some cheap econo box instead of $12k now. We could realistically have a 4 passenger car capable of around 100 mpg if we wanted to pay for it.

Most of these vehicles are amazing and at the same time kind of weird, outlandish and not very usefull.

Like this? And this? And this?

Let's face it, racing cars and practical cars are two different things.

squirt it out the back at high pressure to make the car go. Though that would be mighty funny

I couldn't agree more.

No, that would be a single camshaft in there. "Pushrod" V8's only have one. Right at the top center of the block, driven by a timing chain. That single cam moves everything for both sets of heads.

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com/tech/0608htp_ comp_cams_camshaft_installation/photo_39.html
http://www.hotrod.com/howto/43063_cheap_engine_bui ldup/photo_22.html

Can I put this stuff on my car

Yes kind of: http://www.engelhard.com/Lang1/xDocID7A06011F50F14 EBB84D7DD0CD39BAB99/xDocTable_News/Tab_Overview/Te chnologyClassID0/MarketID0/TechnologyID0/Applicati onID0/ProductID0/up1/SubSiteID0

Instead of CARB trying to steal/criminalize classic cars and sell the valuable energy credits to Oil companies and other polluters.

http://www.hotrod.com/projectbuild/42840/

http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg17n3-johnst on.html

They could have a program where they replace anyone's radiator for free with one with the abve coating - Some newer cars are so low emission already that with these radiators they would become NEVs - Negative Emission Vehicles.

I wonder how many billions that kind of program would have cost - sorry forgot we don't have any to spare for important long term issues because we need it all to line the pockets of the cronies.

I could almost take you up on that. ;) The power tour (home page here) is going St. Louis to Davenport on June 9. The most logical route, IMHO, would be to come up I55, then cut across 155 to I74. That'd take us through your back yard, it seems. My wife and I will be touring in what's very likely the only flat black '71 Chevelle with flat white doors. If you're into cars at all, you might wanna take a lawn chair out to the nearest interstate overpass (or head over to the cruise night in Davenport) - there should be a couple thousand muscle cars and newer hotrod-type cars driving by - we'll probably be in the area sometime early in the afternoon, given that the tour normally departs sometime around 8AM... Even if you don't see us, it might be fun to watch the pretty and/or old cars. ;)

• The hemispherical combustion chambers create better thermal and volumetric
  efficiency. Thus, the engine can create more power without increasing
  compression, which would entail a higher octane fuel.
  
• Valves are placed directly across from each other, as opposed to
  side-by-side, to allow better intake and exhaust gas flow.
  
• The spark plugs are better positioned to provide maximum ignition
  combustion in the chambers.