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Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies
In general, I steer myself and others away from the "for Dummies" book series since I believe a lot of material at this level can be found on the internet for free. HOWTOs and tutorials abound for using and modifying most consumer products. In this case, the time saved from filtering online discussion is well worth it. The book is well organized, with separate sections devoted to handling, power, braking, engine management, safety, and cosmetics. There are 26 chapters spread across 360 pages. As you can see, chapters are short and can be tackled easily during lunch or a short taxi ride to retrieve your broken car.
Slashdot readers may be surprised to learn that there is no discussion of entertainment electronics such as stereos or car-mounted computers. This should not be confused with engine management units (ECU). ECUs are discussed at length. Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies main focus is making your car go, stop and turn. Sections were added for safety and cosmetics, but performance is by far the emphasis.
The book does not actually explain how to do any specific modifications whatsoever. Instead it serves as a guidebook to learn what options are out there and compare one upgrade path to another. For example, there is a great explanation of the differences between a turbocharger and a supercharger, but you're not going to get an analysis of the mods required to support your brand new 10.5cm hotside. Instead there are careful treatments of the pros and cons associated with almost any upgrade car car enthusiast may be considering. The coverage of jargon and rating systems used for various products is especially useful. Whenever a new subject or car component is mentioned, the author goes over regulating and standardizing bodies (the DOT, EPA, and SAE) as well as explains how parts, pieces, and fluids are rated. While this is useful when thinking about a new project, it isn't the information someone would want to rely on once they begin such an undertaking itself. The author clearly states, "this book is not intended to be an instruction manual."
The author gets high marks for addressing safety -- both the driver's and the vehicle's -- before any modification. The emphasis on maintaining legal and effective safety devices on a tuner car is something you are not likely to get during an argument about which upgrade path is optimal, nor is it obvious that many safety 'upgrades' -- 4-point harnesses, flashy roll-bars -- actually decrease driver safety when used on the street. In addition the author consistently gives warning when introducing a mod that could put added stress on a vehicle.
If you are a professional mechanic, this book is not for you. You already know most of the contents. Mechanics would be better served by product literature and shop manuals. If you are thinking about modifying your car, but don't have any idea where to start, this is probably a good place. Just be sure to read the first chapter. Car modding quickly becomes expensive, and jumping in without knowing the attached costs (which this book addresses) can be a financial nightmare.
You can purchase Car Hacks & Mods from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
A wealth of information is available, but the data is surrounded by noise. For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk.
:)
Instead of reading other websites or books, he should have done a AskSlashdot
In my opinion (a WRX), it's best to leave any mods/upgrades to the experts. If you have the money to spend on mods, you should have the money to pay for the experts' time. Cars, in most cases, are the second most expensive asset a person's going to get (after a supercomputer), so I would rather put it in good hand, and just enjoy the outcome, not the journey of car mods.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
I like this book a lot but it does have a number of typos. Overall though, worth the money.
Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies
Oh yeah. This is gonna go well.
Do I need to install a really big fan on my car to mod it?
Does the book cover proper application of Type R decals?
Shades of Grayden
For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk.
Sounds like just about every discussion board I've ever read.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
I'd like the Speed racer kit please.
http://nomoneydownnews.com/
And I thought it only happend on /.
See what I've been reading.
Ha: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6 55091
PepperHacks - Hacking the Pepper Pad
And this differs from Slashdot, how? ;-)
Driving an unmodified car and proud of it. Can't stand "overtuned" cars.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
Hmmm, you went to forums for people who are fans of something, and they all liked it!
why, color me surprised.
And you say there were people who were unifirmed, but still gave an opinion! jeez, what is the world coming to.
I think we are all very fortunate that slashdot doesn't have those things.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Does this book cover installing a liquid cooling system into my car? to make it.. uhm... cooler?
Why o why does slashdot keep referring to modding a car as a "car hack". You are not hacking anything and people have been modifying cars for ages, long before personal computers were around. Please slashdot overlords remember that just because you can modify a piece of hardware does not mean that you are "hacking" it.
the only way i could be a dummie is if i actually tried to improve my old saturn's performance.....leaving it run is the only way i can asure myself of my intelligence....
xao
http://TheHillforum.hopto.org
"For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk."
;-)
And the difference between this and slashdot is exactly what?
I hope that this book explains the usefulness of putting giant spoilers on front wheel drive cars to all idiots who continue to do so. I also hope that it explains the difference between a real exhaust system, and a fart pipe. Kids these days are really, really, really stupid, it seems (either that, or I'm getting old).
I don't respond to AC's.
Is there a discussion of common car annoyances such as fart pipes, chain-link license plate frames, spoilers on family sedans, ill-fitting aftermarket plastic body kits, and drivers of any type of Pontiac?
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
I have a 2005 Dodge Magnum RT, so a lot of the ricer-type "upgrades" don't apply to my car. I need a balance of old-school stuff (bigger exhaust, cold air induction) with new-school stuff (reprogrammed PCM). Unfortunately, a lot of the upgrades for the Hemi engine in the Dodge Ram pickups don't work with the Hemi engine in my Magnum.
So my question is, does this book cater to the pocket racer crowd or will I find any good information for my 347 cid hot rod station wagon?
IMHO, the majority of modded cars you see on the road are driven in a significantly more aggressive manner than unmodded ones. This seems to outweigh a slight improvement or reduction in safety by such mods. That said, perhaps learning about safety from a "for dummies" book is even more important in these cases?
For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk.
I have nightmares about an unmodded slashdot...
DON'T PANIC
For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk. ... b/c this is where all of the misinformed speculators hang out.
VWVortex.com has some great discussion forums, although the main model-specific forums, especially the Golf/Jetta forums, are mostly full of "what rims should I get?" and suchlike, which is a shame because I keep finding that requests for actual help are buried under such junk. It's quite frustrating to check back a while after a request to find two pages of rim polls burying your post past the 1-3 pages most people bother to read. Some people resort to adding a photo to their post to get the camera icon next to their thread so people will open it even if the photo is unrelated to the help request.
... which has probably already been tried, with no success.
... although the sad fact still is that fewer people traffic those forums so you'll have to wait longer than you should for a real answer.
Then there are the large number of people who, frustrated by this and by the search function that seems to be totally incapable of actually finding anything, post a nice query that obviously took some time to set up, only to be greeted by people who post "Use the search" or screenshots of the forum software toolbar with huge arrows pointing to the search function
So, I recommend the forums, but use the more-specific forums for your problem
i am a soviet space shuttle
the book's gotta say something about painting parts yellow to make your car go faster..
?SYNTAX ERROR IN LINE 42
more like Ricermobile hacks & mods for ricers.
Yes i know its trolling and flaimbait, but i speak my mind.
"A Dummys Guide to Ricing" instead of an O'Rielly "Car Computing"
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Sometimes it is hacking.
www.diy-efi.org is a great source of information on GM vehicles. The guys there have reverse engineered many GM ecms and distribute their work for free.
Right now I'm working on a GPL'd bin editor, and once that's done I'll be working on a PROM burner that works in Linux.
Oh, I should add a link to www.moates.net as well, since he makes lots of cool stuff like PROM emulators and USB programmers. Craig's gonna kill me...
A car modification guidebook for the stylistically-impaired
"If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
But will it tell us /.'ers how to hardwire OGG support in the ECU while power sliding through the corner and hitting thw NAWZZZZZ button at the same time? Oh and will it run Linux?
...but the cop wasn't impressed by my technical expertise when he gave me a ticket.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
I recently bought a high-performance automobile that has a reputation for its tuning potential
you just got a new Minivan??? sweet!
unfortunantly, the original title "Ricing for Dummies" was rejected, as there is already a dummies book on the finer points of uncle bens boil-a-bag.
This particular model was reported in Car and Driver as having some problems with warranty support problems from the manufacturer. Specifically owners are reporting that after participating in race situations, they were refused warranty support when Nissan allegedly surfed the internet and made notes about the owners from websites. Caveat Emptor.
? section_id =29&article_id=8422
Here is the article:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp
Now be honest... you bought a Civic didn't you?
You create your own reality - Leave mine to me.
So, since I doubt this would get an overall success rating from /. in an Ask Slashdot forum, and since it's more on topic talking about a book of Car Hacks .....
How many people dream of modifying a 60's model Mercedes sedan? I mean, don't you just drool at the thought of fiberglass bumper covers? Trick rims on lower suspension? Maybe some AMG disc break conversion info? 6.3L V8 swap. Oh yeah baby!
Bring it on, let's get some ideas!!!!!
"Genius may shine aloof and alone, like a star, but goodness is social, and it takes two men and God to make a Brother."
Really! ... Well then you have certainly come to the right place.
"For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk."
Dude, you just described the entire Internet. Get on a *moderated* mailing list if you want a decent signal to noise ratio.
There are 01 kinds of cars in the world. The General Lee, and everything else.
I want to make some bumper stickers for the ricers - after all, we should help these people feel "special"
THE BIGGER THE PIPE, THE SMALLER THE PENIS
HIGH WING, LOW IQ
TYPE-Retarded!
Oh, the fun I could have in your average mall parking lot....
www.eFax.com are spammers
Offroaders! We mod too.
Jeep Enthusiasts!
You create your own reality - Leave mine to me.
Unfortunately, there's no source for after-market parts or chips that can do this, which makes me sad.
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
...but rather in the trip. For many people, modifying their car is a chance to show off their mechanical skills. I relate these people to those who can take a crappy computer and make it run like a scalded cat. Then, of course, there's those people who just want a faster, more stable ride. These are the people who buy a new Alienware system for the latest games. And then there's the ricers. These are the people with the large spoiler on a(normally Honda) front-wheel drive car. These people are kinda like a person that would buy a Lian Li and put a P2-300 in it, and then claim that it could best the Earth Simulator. Oh, and... For reference... Yes, at one time, I had a Celery 300A (OC'd to something or another) running in my Cooler Master ATC-710. Almost forgot... There's also the hot-rod guys, who would be perfectly happy building their computer from a lump of silicon :)
I am a Slashdot geek or WRX newbie ?
A wealth of information is available, but the data is surrounded by noise. For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk.
Amazing how much that sounds like slashdot.
Ok, I've moded my PCs and alot of other equipment. But I'm a little leary of moding something I travel 70mph down the freeway in. If I forget to secure the clips on my water block it doesn't cause a 20 car pile up on the 405.
You've got the Civic DX too eh?
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Actual content:
... Standards and Practices !
If you are having steering troubles with your older US auto, 66 - 72 the sweet years, listen up.
Over 120 mph you will experience wandering with a convential front end setup. The secret is NO toe-in. All the old time NASCAR racers ran thios way.
It's a bit squirrly under 'bout 80 mph but all else being good it'll improve your high speed handling a lot.
PenGun
Do What Now ???
http://www.overboost.com
Car modding is definitely not cheap though...
Oh, and greasel.com
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
Wow, didn't see this one coming on Slashdot.
...
About a year ago I delt with David at length while he was working for WORKS, a tuning shop in San Francisco. We were discussing the details of the power, handling, etc. modifications that they would be making to my Mitsubishi Evolution (the car they in which they specialize). For the entire time I delt with David (before he left WORKS to pursue other things, like the book) I was consistantly impressed by his comprehensive knoweledge of both the technical and legal aspects of vehical modifications (especially impressive in good ole California thanks to strict emission standards).
His expertise and professionalism have resulted in him gaining much respect within the Evolution community, and although I have not yet had a chance to review his book, if it's anything like the conversations I've had with him, you'll be amazed by just how far car tuning has come.
Before talking with him, I didn't think it was safely possible to take a $32000 car, $7k of tuning, and end up just a hair short of a supercar*. Amazing.
Hope the book sells well.
-S
* by which I mean a 2.0L 340hp 4WD beast that sprints from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds, skidpad tests to 1g, and through the twisties can out perform anything short of a 911 Turbo
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
Like we really need more rice grinders that sound like a pack of flies mating.
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk.
.01 to .1 seconds in a 1/4 mile let alone from one stop sign to the third telephone poll.
The whole reason for test and tune day at the track.
That grouping can be catorigized into two types of people. Those that actually race and those that do not. People have many different goals when it comes to building a car: looks, straight line speed, handling, and durability and almost always some mixture of each. With that, you get different opinions on what works and what does not.
There is some gray area.. Examples.. Some people remove the cooling water supply from the throttle body on cars so equiped. Some think it heats up the incoming air to much and others think it is required to cool the throttle body. Another one. At a 1/4 or 1/8 mile track, many people are pushing their cars to the line and apply ice to the intake, others run it to the line and have the car at normal operating temperature. For some, the colder denser air seems to be an advantage, for others, having the temperatures in the normal range puts the cars computer in a closed loop and running at its peak as it is not compensating for lower temperatures (retarded timing, incease in idle, higher or lower fuel/air ratio etc...) Each of these examples are really effected by what else the person has on the car and some are opinions. The actual indicator of advantage is the clocks time.
My point..
The people that actually race the car and can compare before and after times are the only ones that really know the true effect of a modification. 10 degrees advanced timing or 15 degrees? You will only know the true difference between the two on a track with a timer. Optimum tire pressure for your tire and suspension setup? Who the hell really knows without repeated timed laps.
People that NEVER go to an actual track or an event are not the ones you want to blindly take advice from, those are probably the same people that put a new muffler on the car and swear they can actually feel the difference. I doubt anyone in the world can actually feel the difference between a real world difference of
The time clock should be treated the same as running a doom3 timed demo after changing your memory timings. Does it just feel faster or do you have something indicated to back it up? That can seperate FUD from speculation.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
It's modded informative!!!
I'd rather be sailing...
What engineer decided a 1/4" depression would be suitable to hold a cup? Especially in an off-road vehicle, they're useless.
One solution
Not all hacks are hard
R(k)
If you want something done right, often you have to do it yourself. Finding a good tuner shop is TOUGH.
:)
And in some cases, you might have a car where you'll need to do all the research and fabrication yourself. Some cars have impressive performance potential, but for various reasons were ignored by the aftermarket.
Plus in some cases, the challenge is to produce a sleeper car that no one expects to be fast.
http://www.turbovan.net/ and http://www.thedodgegarage.com/ are good examples of people who REALLY know their stuff modifying cars you would never expect to be fast.
Once I have the space for a beater car (with my current car being the project car) or a project car (keeping my current one stock), I do plan on having some fun. I'm an electrical engineer, and I'm fascinated with projects such as the Megasquirt and Megasquirt-AVR. I also consider myself quite competent with my garage tools.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
A larger fan
Methinks you should leave the modding to the experts...
Where's the obligatory Gentoo && Ricers comment?
http://www.funroll-loops.org/
do() || do_not();
For every topic of interest, there are many forums. Some have high s/n ratio, some low. You just gotta know how to find the good ones.
Unfortunately for the submitter, it seems like the more "reputation for its tuning potential" a car has, the lower the s/n ratio of all the forums.
Go quattro!
Man, I've been a computer geek all my life. Recently I've started playing around with cars (got a couple non-turbo 3000GTs and a VR-4 coming next week). It's a tremendous amount of fun... As with the computer groups, there are a bunch of newbie folks and those in it just for the image... but for every ten of those there seems to be one or two knowledgeable folks.
I'm the first to admit that I know very little about modern cars. Just as with computers, however, there are things that seem to make sense but can be bad for your cars. I'm still in the fix it stage -- trying to put a car back to complete stock condition. It's almost like restoring an old Atari ST or Amiga to full functionality. E.g., the other day it took me a couple hours to change the front fog lights. The bolts had frozen up and grime had covered one of the screw holes so it wasn't immediately obvious how to remove them. After lots of cleaning I got them off, changed the bulbs, and got the housings repainted. The second time around it was a fifteen minute job. So, like learning some weird bash shell construct or new awk script, it was satisfying.
How lucky are you?: you coincidentally performed maintenance just before you got severely Slashdotted. Most servers aren't that lucky.
www.teamnabr.com
Best automotive community available.
Best Signal:Noise by far.
I read tons of geek message boards (go figure), as well as car enthusiast sites. I tune my Celica, read all kinds of boards, and I'm a CS student. So, I get to see the differences of the sub-cultures first hand. I have gearhead friends, and computer geek friends.
They are ONE IN THE SAME - believe me. The faster the better, and whoever has the best & biggest toys win.
You may write code or be an admin to prove to the world how smart you are. The tuner guys drive fast to prove to the world how fast they are.
The only difference between these two groups of people, is that they use different machines in seperate ways to express individuality & creativity. Otherwise, tuning a car properly, or maintaining a nice sized network / program are exactly the same thing.
I'd like to smack whoever modded this Informative and Insightful, jeez. I guess ricers must be moderators on /. too.
Come on now. There are mods even a noob can do with high degree of success, cold air bypass being one. It's simple, inexpensive and will yield a few more horsepower quite easily. You learn by doing, the trick being not swimming out of your depth.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Disclaimer: I'm a race car engineer. I make race cars go faster. It's my day job.
If we work under the assumption that the wing in question actually produces signifigant downforce (not a trivial assumption, given the typical aluminum extrusion pretending to be a wing from most rice shops) the download generated by the wing will be borne by all 4 tires.
Depending on a number of parameters, the rears may carry a larger share of that download, but the net effect will be increased normal force on the front tires, which in turn increases grip.
Now if our boy was smart enough to use a real airfoil on his wing, he was probably smart enough to fit a front airdam and splitter, which means he probably has way more FRONT downforce than rear, and is probably using the wing to help balance out a high-speed oversteer condition. On production-based cars, building front downforce is much easier than building rear downforce.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
As bconway noted spoilers (plural) help with downforce in both turns and straigh aways. I'm always amused by the Honda or Toyota that has some moster wing on the back of it and no air dam in the front. Basically at high speeds the front of the car will start to lift off the ground depriving it of power, stearing, and control. These things can come in handy while driving. Of course this depends on the angle of the wing, design, placement, etc.
Thus when making aerodynamic modifications to a car it ought be done to the entire car i.e. dam, wing, ground effects, not just the rear. I have seen some well done ricers that look like they would suck down to the ground pretty well. I have also seen some as previously mentioned, that would be hilarious at 100 MPH provided no one was around to be the victim of a horific wreck.
A little bit of self promotion here. :)
Amongst my other racing-oriented duties, I maintain a web page full of links to books on Amazon that will teach you a LOT about race car engineeering
Yes, I make a little kickback from Amazon on this, but that helps to offset the bandwidth costs. It's main purpose is to educate.
See The Street Modified Engineering Resources page for more info. I've also got a smattering of techical articles on the team home page at Far North Racing
Have fun!
DGWant to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Does the book mention anything about speed holes and how they make the car go faster?
(hint: Simpsons)
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
"the second most expensive asset a person's going to get (after a supercomputer),"
I'm guessing you're not married.
1) The car's transmission is not exactly one of the most solid-built car components in the world. I know someone who had a GTI, traded it in for an Evo, had multiple transmission problems, sold the Evo back to the dealer, and got his GTI back. Another friend of mine has a Lancer Ralliart, which is the non-turbo, front wheel drive version with the same transmission, and he went in for his second transmission rebuild earlier this week after buying the car in June.
2) Be careful with modding the Evo. There were stories in both Car and Driver and Motor Trend about Evo owners having their warranty violated because of modding and/or evidence of racing.
No TiVo and no caffeine make me something something...
the best place to start might be the local car club. The folks in the club can direct you to race tracks that have a fairly large VW contingent. Go to these tracks and talk to people - drivers and builders - in the pits (but don't be a nuisance).
Years ago I was fortunate enough to find a VW shop run by a) a close-to-retirement gentleman who had everything and knew everything and b) his assistant who drag-raced VWs professionally (i.e. for money). Through them I bought an engine w/ the following specs:
1835cc (stock is 1585cc, also called a 1600)
044 heads, 40mm intake and 25mm exhaust [stainless] valves with high-RPM valve springs
an Engle 120 cam, 294 degrees duration and .435" lift
a pair of Weber 48IDA carburetors, velocity stacks only - no air filters (I was young+stupid but it seemed like a good idea at the time)
:-) - is that a book might help in certain areas, but the real in-depth knowledge usually comes from people who are already doing what you want to do. These folks can help you be sure the whole will be better than the sum of the parts, or at least that the individual parts will work together satisfactorily.
The carbs, heads, and cam worked together to make rather a lot of midrange to top end power. I ran a 16.65 quarter mile but had trouble getting first and second gear to hook up. (The tires were 195/50-15 street radials.)
Anyway, the point - besides a bit of bragging about my old car
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
After all, there is always the DMCA hanging around the neck of potential car modder... And BTW, any open source tuning software yet? I don't want to pay $200 for Superchips when it is basically just down/uploading vehicles' firmware settings.
Now, with a front wheel drive car, you've got enough weight over the front axle from the engine and gearbox (perhaps up to 250kg, or even more). In my car, a 1988 Citroen CX, 80% of the car's weight is supported by the front axle. You can take a rear wheel off and drive the car about on three wheels (which means that a blowout at speed on a rear wheel takes skill to even *notice*, never mind control). The fastest model of that car, the 2.5 GTi Turbo 2 can be taken up to around 400bhp. The nutters that do that (I know one, I've been in his car, and it's the first time I've ever been scared in a car since I got my old Volvo into a four-wheel drift on a freshly-chipped road about a week after I passed my driving test) stick with the tiny little foamy rubber spoiler thing on the back (GTi spoilers have groovy vents in the middle), and don't seem to have any handling problems.
Adding a large rear spoiler to a front-wheel drive car will just slow it down. You've got more drag ('cos you stuck a big flappy thing into the airflow), and higher rolling friction on an undriven axle. Of course, if the spoiler helps unstick the airflow from the back of the car and *reduce* drag from the Coanda effect, without increasing form drag too much, then you have a net gain.
I have a sports car, and am wary to do any performance upgrades for the simple reason that if the car was meant to be tuned like that, I would trust the carmaker in Germany to do have done those mods when designing the car. Basically, the car is designed that way for a reason.
Now, there are upgrades that can be done, but most of the upgrades that try to get more horsepower out of a stock car end up wearing out the engine very quickly. Engine blocks, cylinders, pistons, and heads are designed to accept a certain amount of stress. Putting "more power!" into it can do more harm than good.
I'm definitely of the school that believes a stock, well-designed and respected sports car is much more desirable than any suped-up ricer you'll find.
It's funny when ricers try to race me in my 911. I feel sorry for them, really.
--- witty signature
Wife bought a new car (Toyota Corolla). Dealer only gave her one key and promised her another one. She dropped the car for service (minor, non-key things) and picked it up. The labor charges on the bill (for internal billing purposes) were something like a hundred bucks for programming the key and remote. It seems this car has keys with RFID chips in them, to cut down on the chances of the car being stolen.
We are in the practice of socking away one of the original keys and making a duplicate for daily use, but that's from the days when one could stroll into any hardware store and get a key cut for a couple of dollars.
Does anyone have any recommendation on a way to replicate "smart" keys that costs less than the exorbitant cost of getting one made and "programmed" by the dealer? (All of a sudden, my 15-year-old VW is looking a lot better.)
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
That whole chapter should have been nothing more than a warning regarding the "Gay Batmobile Effect"...which can only be explained by example. In this case, the example is a kid who lived not far from my now-ex-girlfriend when I lived out in Philly.
Specifically, a Hydundai Tiburon. Metalflake purple, with ground effects. Gold rims. Big non-functional scoop on the hood. Type-R stickers everywhere. And two -- yes, two spoilers, stacked one on top of the other. Some sort of bad airbrush art on the hood. When I first saw the thing, my first words, were, "Jesus Christ! It's the Gay Batmobile!"
blog |
Man, I hope you're trolling...
>>Does the book cover proper application of Type R decals?
Somehow this critical chapter was left out... editors these days! (sigh)
Addendum.
Chapter 31: "Sticker-charging" your Rice Rocket
Subtitled: If you can't go fast, make up for it by looking silly.
To increase the co-efficient of drag, add weight, reduce ETs and gain street cred with your peeps consider plastering your POS ragged-out pathetic bomb of an economy car with stickers. More is better, especially on four-door models. Our testing has found that stickers containing deliberate misspellings or pictographic words in an Asian lauguage you cannot speak are of particular, uh, "value."
(End of chapter)
My car's been modded to +5 Funny.
If you put your car into a "Kwik-fit" type place for an oil change (£15 oil change offers are pretty common in tyre and exhaust centres round here) then that is all they will do - change the oil. No oil filter (or a cheap shitty one if you're lucky), and the cheapest, crappiest oil they can get away with. Now, I use fairly expensive oil (about a tenner a gallon), and real, genuine, Citroen-approved Purflux filters, which costs me about £15-£20 (I don't know exactly, because I usually wait until I need about £100-worth of stuff for various jobs and buy the lot all at once). It takes about 30 minutes of actual work to change the oil (I take the oil and filter off, let it drain for an hour or so while I clean the car, then refit the plug and filter and fill up again). Half an hour and twenty quid, and I know the job's done *right*. Same thing with the hydraulic system - every 10,000 miles (should be 30,000 but the oil was very gunky when I got the car), out goes the shitty old stuff and in goes a gallon of fresh, green LHM. Next time I'm going to bleed the brakes and steering block, because I didn't do that last time, so it'll take about an afternoon, but once again I'll know it's done properly.
There's something very satisfying about knowing you can fix very nearly any problem that crops up with your car...
"I recently bought a high-performance automobile...", and then later on references Evo and Lancer web sites! Holy cow, batman, this site must be dominated by college kids more than I realized. Sorry, I'm not that old, but when I saw "high-performance", I was thinking, cool, someone got a Vette or Viper or 911 Turbo or something! With SUV's seemingly commonly having 300+ hp these days, I guess when I think "high-performance" I think of 400 hp as the bar nowadays (with the braking and handling and styling to go with it). Oh well, "scaled-down" high-performance is probably safer -- one is less likely to kill themself in a Subaru.
Attention zealots and haters: 00100 00100
A modded WRX is amazing car to drive. I am now pushing about 40 more Horse power over the stock vehicle. Other things Mods are not only cosmetic or performance in the means of speed it's also menas all around handling or maybe sound systems the list goes on.
These sites offer a wealth of reviews and installation practices to help people choose what they feel comfortable doing as much as what specialists to go to for what type of upgrade. Tires, yes they need to be rotated and changed, but putting some M2 or M3 Dunlop winter tires on are as much of a mod as putting 3/16 inch hose connector in the boost line to the pressure solnoid. Reprogramming the ECU does take expertise and yes the engine life will probably decrease, but when your pushing 200k for most vehicles with no problem I think a 10k to 50k of miles is not going to make much of difference. When refer to ECU programming I am speaking of the ART in it's self not the devices that do it those are made so just any one can use them for the most part with some basic knowledge.
Another aspect of "Mods" keep in mind efficiency. When I run my car between long distances I run my car in a economy mode give the WRX between 28 to 32 mpg which under my normal driving never happened.
I hope this bring another light on this topic from owner with no problems and have been running "modded" for over 10,000 miles.
It is illegal in the USA for a vehicle manufacturer to "void" your waranty for any reason. They do not have to honor the waranty for any new parts you install, but any stock parts MUST BE COVERED.
Just curious - how can 4-point harnesses and roll-bars decrease safety? I can understand how a "style bar" which is something that looks like a roll bar but without the true structural strength, can be dangerous, but not how harnesses and real roll bars.
This has been explained on Slashdot before. Of course, maybe "giant" spoilers are different from smaller spoilers- but spoilers (in general)do give aerodynamic advantages. That is why many manufacturers are putting (admittedly small, unobtrusive) spoilers on fron wheel drive cars. So today's kids rate one or two reallys, grandpa
oh you mean you bought the new hearse.
if you want more downforce in your deadbody wagon, add another casket. the weight above the rear wheels will also help you drive in the snow.
make sure that you get the windows tinted so that your (live) passengers wont feel as embarrased to be in it.
About a decade and a half ago a group of us were heavily involved in club racing at the local road course. There were many onlookers with no end of advice on how our cars weren't as suitable for racing as their (whatever), and that if they came out they'd keep up no problem. From time to time one of the onlookers would actually put in the time and effort to race-prep their cars, and then they'd find out that there was a reason why we spent a lot of evenings and weekends doing fabrication and dyno tests. Going fast is hard, and figuring out what works takes time and money.
Less is more.
IF you have a Galant/eclips in the '89-94 range go to www.thegalantcentre.net Or galantVR4.org
A LOT of info regarding these cars, as well as a very nice community.
Let me really emphasize something you just said: *A* modification.
Now all of the stuff you talked about was mainly for drag racing - which isn't really my bag. I am (was) more into road racing on tracks that are of the twisty variety. I had a 1988 BMW M3, the winningest touring car in history. It was born and bred to race. Produced in 1987 for that very purpose, it was a 2.3 liter naturally aspirated 4-cyl that put out just shy of 200 HP stock. They were modified to 2.5 liter and over 300 HP for racing.
Anyhoo, my point is that racers will make ONE AND ONLY ONE modification between testing. Otherwise, how do you know what caused the resulting effect? Another side of this is that HP ratings on parts, like mufflers/spark plugs/air filters/cold air blah blah, etc is all about max HP from stock. This is usually the best case, whereas a lot of claims are BS. My point though is that if you add 3 components that each claim to give you 10 HP, you are most certainly NOT adding 30 HP.
And if you add that huge wing, it may not have any effect on the dyno, but it will have an effect in the real world. The E30 M3 had a stock wing that provided measurable downforce (I can't remember the numbers right now), and there were the Evo3 wings that added more. They will hurt your times if you want to drag-race, and will hurt your top-end speed - but you'll stick to the track and will probably get faster lap times. Of course, that is if you can already do consistent lap times down to within a second or two. If you can't, keep practicing before making any mods. I have seen guys constantly mod their cars yet they can get spanked on the track by someone with 1/2 the HP because of one thing - seat time. I went out with one of my instructors who was driving his wife's BMW 530i wagon, with an automatic trans, and he was passing M3s. I was by no means that good, but in the intermediate group once with the Porsche club, I was passing 911s in my M3. That was cool, passing cars worth about 5x as much as mine, with 2x the HP.
Hey, you want to mod your car, knock yourself out. But if someone were to ask me what I thought was the way to go, I would say to buy a decent, inexpensive, track-ready (full roll-cage) car and really learn how to drive the snot out of it. It is fun as hell, you can learn a lot, and it is totally legal.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
I've only been to the track once myself but my first time out (last weekend) I saw at Pontiac Grand Prix GTP (~2002?) run low 10's. The car looked completely stock. After the guy ran, the tech inspection guys were flipping out saying they had to have a chat with him since he didn't disclose he had something hidden in the car. He must have had NOS or something in the cabin...
Say it with me
:P
"Nitrous"
again!
"Nitrous"
See? its not so hard, and besides you dont sound like a rice boy thats seen the Fast and Furious too many times.
I would like to see that GTP though, running tens in any FWD car is fucking hard, especially an overweight pig like that one, and that goes double if it actually looked stock.
I recently bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse which fits this description perfectly. It has a very strong iron block, factory turbo setup, and an all-wheel-drive model. The 1990-1999 Eclipse's are referred to as DSM's (Diamond Star Motors). Diamond Star Motors is(was) a partnership between Mitsubishi, Eagle (Chrysler), and Plymouth. The Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, and Plymouth Laser (90-94 only) are all the exact same car with very subtle external "branding differences." Many of these cars are available today for less than $5000, and up to 100hp can be added for as little as $1000. Sure beats modding a civic!
For more information the forums on dsmtuners.com and dsmtalk.com are an invaluable reference.
- Cary
--Fairfax Underground: Where Fairfax County comes out to play
Some fine specimins of what you describe.
SpyDock: Scientific Python in a Docker container
I got caught off my guard when my FWD Probe started throwing it's rear end around when I was going around a corner, but then I WAS going 60, and on a dirt road. It suprised me because I always thought it was 'impossible' to lose rear traction on a FWD, but I'm glad I learned the easy way.
Never give any object more potential energy than you want it to have.
No, actually I meant NOS - you know, the brand-name? That's right, say it with me: *fucktard* that's right, again: *fucktard*
:rolleyes:
There we go, now we can all get along again, your eliteness...
I had perfect driving record for the last couple years.
Since I joined one of the car mods forums, speeding tickets and court appearance for reckless driving.
Having powerful car you are constantly challenged on the road by others. It hard to resist not to race.
Now I'm selling that car. It's not worthy to have it and not able to use it except maybe closed tracks.
... you really work for NASA, don't you? Huh? Huh? Huh?
don't feel bad, I got suckered in by a goatse redirect link coupla weeks ago...
I've seen quite a few people get kicked off of tracks. Tracks/locations/events have safety rules for cars and drivers that can obtain certain times. An example is a requirement for a full roll cage on anything under 12 seconds or a helmet under 13, a drive shaft safety loop under 11 blah blah. If the techs were scrambling, and the car really looked stock, it may have been a case of non disclosure. Running mid 10's is not a fluke, the original inspection may not have been for such a time.
That specific car engine combo would require more then nitrous to get a time like that, or at the end of that run, the engine would be a glob of molten metal. Using a rough estimate HP calculator, it would take ~630 HP to get a 3700lb car and driver down the 1/4 mile in the mid 10's. Considering the 2002 GTP has 260HP stock, nitrous would have to make up that difference, although an effective "power adder" when used responsibly, it can not do miracles!
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
The fact that you say "tuning potential" tells me it's a four cylinder import that you're going to try and wring out some more horsepower from. Be advised that neon chassis lights and LED shift knobs do not reduce your ETs.
f
It's an old adage, but it remains true: there ain't no substitute for cubic inches.
Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Jap imports...at least, nothing that FOUR MORE CYLINDERS wouldn't cure.
http://www.riffraffs.net/mustang/1995MustangGT.gi
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
Hm...So you're saying that my 4cyclinder import should have two engines!? That sounds like something I saw at the chicago auto show last year.
From the class you're thinking, there a many other cars I would also consider to have tuning potential: Caddy CTS-V, Vipers, GTOs... d
...of air (at standard temperature and pressure).
The most critical thing is how many moles of oxygen your engine is ingesting.
It's a matter of personal preference whether you choose to let that air "leak" into a big engine at STP, or whether you choose to force them into a smaller engine at higher pressure.
Of course, the other option is to let the air "leak" into a small engine at STP, but run that engine at frightening speed to get more air through in less time...which is how Honda and BMW tend to get big power out of their hi-po engines. #include
I read a great interview once with a senior engineer at Saab, who was quizzed on "new" technology such as displacement-on-demand [1]. His reply was (excuse my misquoting and paraphrasing): "Saab has used displacement-on-demand for many years. We call it a turbocharger. Under light loads, we use a small engine. Under heavy loads, we force air into the engine at higher pressure, giving the same effect as using a much larger engine"
A small engine with a turbo is lighter than a big engine of the same power and torque. ET that :-P
tim
[1] Displacement-on-demand, where a big (6- or 8- cylinder engine) has fuel and spark cut off from cylinders at light loads - making it run as a small (usually 4-cylinder) engine - which has better fuel efficiency.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
My fav mod would be to rebuild the engine so that I could fill up the tank with my lawn hose, instead of at the gas station.
Everything else just does not qualify as real mod.
Not to say this car doesn't exist but....Uhhmmm, as a gear head myself I'm still gonna have to back up the 630hp statement. You'll need to have a semi trailer full of balls to pull off 10s in any Pontiac. Nevermind 260 ponies will motivate a GTP but you can't slap on 400hp and have anyone, let alone track tech with a mechanic background, not take one look ask 'what all is in that ride?'
To get that kind of power (yeah its possible, even on that motor) mandates a minimum 3.25 inch headers dumping into unobstructed straight pipes out the back, tuned cams, rods, pistons, heads, fuck the factory timing, NOS (brand name or not, anyway you say it its still the same gas, Nitrous Oxide, which merely tricks your O2 sensor into thinking its getting more oxygen and therefore more gas is rammed into your cylinders resulting in a bigger bang) don't forget atleast a 3 inch cold air intake (not a K&N package) a high output ignition box, BTW the factory tranny, axles, and diff are gonna get smoked into molten steel in 2 runs so they add to the already painfully obvious non stock status.
Anyone adding this much power to their ride would not ignore brakes, tires, wheels, and suspension so add more stand out parts. And anyone who has ever heard a 400+hp motor (even idling) would never mistake it for 260hp purring silently.
And by the way even if you had all this assembled in working order you would need to be sponsored or independently wealthy to completely rebuilt the whole package every 3-5 runs, a horribly conservative estimate given that anyone seriously racing this setup would be rebuilding nearly every run to get the best performance, amounting to more painfully obvious flags.
no man, seriously, i'm not telling bullshit. it was fucking unbelievable and a complete shock to everyone on the track. we see this guy warming up his front tires of his GTP and we kinda chuckle - hey, it looked totally stock! then he runs pretty quick and i ask my buddy "wtf did that guy just run?!!" "mid-10's!" *WTF?!!* i would NOT make something like this up!! :D i only saw him run that one time, tho. it was a champagne coloured one.
that is total crazyniess man, Althought I'm in disbelife, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. What you'll have to give me is that it wasn't legit track techs that missed this setup in the pre race inspection. Yeah I know those guys aren't totally thorough but they could not miss the mods needed to post those figures.
Easy joke
Got Pike?
Well maybe the /.'ers can find out who this guy is. there were people in the stands with video cameras so maybe a combined effort could get some info from one of the major car forums. The time this run went down was ~1pm on saturday Oct 23 at Cayuga raceway (Toronto International Speedway). let's get the machine rolling! :)
> evolutionm.net and nasioc.com
Ricers of the world, unite!
Must-not-watch TV!
Yes, I agree - if the kid picks up some tools and actually does something, that's to be applauded. Too many times tho the kid just picks up his keys and drives it down to the "tuning shop" and has them do it. I'm all for modifying your car - but the props only roll out for those that do it or at least help out.
There are quite a few 11 sec GTP's running around on clubgp.com but not too many in the 10s. I only know of one in the low 10's and it is the INTENSE Turbo GTP (www.intense-racing.com). It's white and looks pretty stock but dyno'd 535 HP to the wheels, ~670 at the crank. I'll see if I can find out who this is...
Actually, there's some pretty sound physics behind those wheelie bars on FWD drag cars.
The amount of rearward weight transfer is a function of CG height, wheelbase and longnitudnal acceleration amount - that's it.
The resultant pitch ANGLE that the sprung mass adopts as a result of the weight transfer is a function of weight transfer, pitch stiffness (driven primarily by spring rate) and jacking geometry (anti-squat) and you'd be suprised how many people confuse pitch angle with weight transfer.... anyway...
The amount of grip produced by a tire is a function of the normal load on it - more load, more grip - and when accelerating, weight is transfered rearward, reducing the grip on the fronts and increasing the grip on the rears. If you are a FWD, this is bad news, as the harder you accelerate, the more weight you lose from your drive weheels, the less grip you get.
You can change springs all day, and you can't change this fact. You CAN change the pitch angle, but not the weight transfer amount.
But by attaching wheelie bars, when the bars contact the ground the wheelbase lengthens - and a longer wheelbase actually REDUCES the amount of rearward weight transfer. Tada! Magic!
Where some cars were getting into trouble though is that the wheelie bars tend to be pretty close together, which give a narrow track width - the analogue of wheelbase, but in roll. The front tires, being low pressure slicks, are very soft in roll as well. So if something happened to induce a roll movement (like a steering input) there was very little force to oppose the roll, and the car would suddenly hook in a random direction. VERY directionally unstable. Much more exciting for the driver than is probably healthy.
DG
Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
Actually, if you (or anyone else) finds ANY footage from Cayuga on October 23, please post! I ran myself but my buddies were still figuring out how to work my digicam's video record function. :( Post 'em if ya got 'em! :D
Oh for sure. The people in my local club are great.
http://www.stlvw.org is our site.
i am a soviet space shuttle
Once you start getting into modifications and making sure that you are maintaining your car perfectly, it's nice to keep track of all of this information. I started a really simple site http://thecartracker.com/ where you can enter this information and look at other user information.
It is exciting to see this level of enthusiasm for the book. I had hoped that the Car Hacks and Mods book would reach an wider audience of technical-minded people, and it would appear that this has been the case. Please feel free to post questions and comments, and I will do my best to answer/address them. Thanks, David
www.carhacksandmods.com
Not going to waste my time making an account for this. You obviously know NOTHING about Grand Prixs. I have spoken to and personally know the owner of the Champange (actually, the correct colour is BRONZEMIST) Grand Prix. Its incredibly FAR from stock... meaning he is running a 454+ cubic inch engine on a rear wheel drive platform (stock is FRONT wheel drive, dude!). With the old motor it ran 10.2's, new engine is a touch quicker.
z jay158/d ragster_008.jpg
8 /d ragster_012.jpg
8 /d ragster_015.jpg
Here are a few links:
http://img45.photobucket.com/albums/v138/
http://img45.photobucket.com/albums/v138/zjay15
http://img45.photobucket.com/albums/v138/zjay15
Please note the Quebec plates on the car and the REAR wheels spinning up in the 2nd pic. Yes its street driven, but runs on race fuel only and is based in Quebec, Canada (though he does run up in Toronto on the drag strips there as well).
By the way, I am a member of the US and Ontario/Quebec Grand Prix club and at the Canadian club we have many 13 second GPs and a few 12 second GPs that are entirely street legal. One (of several) of our GPs is turbocharged (silvermist in colour)and can get high 12's for as long as the FWD tranny lives (which isn't long, let me tell you).
This guy is another case of internet BS. I just wanted to set things straight.