Go ahead...ask those car questions you were always afraid to ask...

[Surf Green]

If you had the manufacturing/fabricating means available, could you put a turbo on any engine? Say, a 22RE? And I mean a big turbo, like something off a tractor trailer.

Yes, you can.

But it wouldn't work.

You probably wouldn't get the flow through the exhaust to generate any boost, and even if you managed to get it spinning, it's you'd measure lag in months.

[Surf Green]

I was just reading somewhere (although I cant remember where) that on FWD racing cars (ie cars pushed to their limits) that rear spoilers increase the traction on the rear wheels (duh) which helps prevent oversteer caused by loss of traction from rear sway bars.

How exactly does this work? Wouldnt the two just cancel each other out to an extent, or is just that its designed to be proportional.

I'd say it has everything to do with speed.

At low speeds, a FWD car that's tuned to oversteer is great. At high speeds, it can get a bit sketchy.
Wing downforce: Not much at low speeds. More at high speeds.

Sounds perfect.

[A.Wilder]

What differentiates a poor fender roll from a good one other than cracked paint?

I need to have all four of mine rolled soon and want to be as anal as possible about it.

Both will crack your paint if you do it wrong. Most people use a heat gun to warm the paint up and make it more pliable for the rolling, but this is not 100% effective. If you are rolling fenders i would expect to need some touch-up or repair. IMO, the "right" way to do it would be sanding it down, rolling it, and painting/ blending the area for the best results and rust protection.

[josh_did_what]

I hadn't thought about it in that way, but here's my guess:
A large rear sway bar on a FWD car induces oversteer (or reduces understeer, depending on how you look at it). Either way, it helps bring the rear end around in corners. That's great for low-speed handling, and tight maneuvers. That may not be so great at higher speeds....so to reduce mid-corner lift of the inside rear wheel at speed, a little downforce might be the ticket. Best of both worlds: High speed stability, paired with low-speed maneuverability.

Survey says? Am I close?

I'd say it has everything to do with speed.

At low speeds, a FWD car that's tuned to oversteer is great. At high speeds, it can get a bit sketchy.
Wing downforce: Not much at low speeds. More at high speeds.

Sounds perfect.

Ahh thank you, I dont know why I couldnt wrap my head around that lol.

[Surf Green]

Ahh thank you, I dont know why I couldnt wrap my head around that lol.

LOLs... I didn't even read the response before mine. I just saw that Scion, and thought, "Move along... nothing to see here... "

[josh_did_what]

LOLs... I didn't even read the response before mine. I just saw that Scion, and thought, "Move along... nothing to see here... "

Lmao well in your defense , doesnt that wing reduce rear stability?

[bajaboyextra]

Why do some left hand drive 911 wipers hang left, others right?

[Surf Green]

Why do some left hand drive 911 wipers hang left, others right?

I had to zoom in to see if the car on the left was right hand drive.... but it's not. I would have thought that would be the reason.

[mobile363]

I had to zoom in to see if the car on the left was right hand drive.... but it's not. I would have thought that would be the reason.

Im sure it depends on the market its sold in. If you drive on right hand side of the road, it goes one way, left hand side of road it goes the other way.

Makes sense but i cant say for sure that is the reason

[Surf Green]

Looking at the picture again, the wiper pivots are symmetrical to either side of the car, and wipe 180 degrees...

edit: a little searching shows that changing the "park" position of the wipers from the stock location on the left, to the right, is fairly popular.

[bajaboyextra]

Looking at the picture again, the wiper pivots are symmetrical to either side of the car, and wipe 180 degrees...

edit: a little searching shows that changing the "park" position of the wipers from the stock location on the left, to the right, is fairly popular.

Thanks! I didn't know you could change the park setting. Having the wiper park in my field of vision on my '66 has bugged me since I got it in '80.

[monoaural]

Thanks! I didn't know you could change the park setting. Having the wiper park in my field of vision on my '66 has bugged me since I got it in '80.

Mk2 golf/gtis do it too, because stock it is parked up at an angle, looks way better level on the other side.

[Bullethead]

Why do some left hand drive 911 wipers hang left, others right?

All early 911 (1964-67) wiper arms are painted silver and park on the right, regardless of RHD or LHD. After August 1967 (beginning 1968 model year) Porsche painted them black and changed to park on the left for LHD and right for RHD.

[the flying grape!]

Does anyone know what causes the whine that I remember from classic GM automatic transmissions for RWD? The whine starts when the car begins moving from a stop, the whine increases in frequency until the transmission shifts gears, and then the whine goes away.

[Bias_Ply]

depending on what transmission, ususally it is because first gear would have straight-cut gears (stronger), and the higher gears would be helical-cut. (quieter)

[adrew]

Does anyone know what causes the whine that I remember from classic GM automatic transmissions for RWD? The whine starts when the car begins moving from a stop, the whine increases in frequency until the transmission shifts gears, and then the whine goes away.

Panther-platform Fords do it, too. (Crown Vic, Town Car, Grand Marquis).

I've always sort of wondered about it but never did any research. I found this thread:
http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...ow-speed-whine

It is the tranny gears. It's simply gear whine and nothing to be worried about. That whine is what makes the AOD gear pack to durable. The gears are relatively straiter than most, straiter cut gears whine more, but are stronger.

[MrMook]

What are these holes all about? Mostly seen on "tuner" cars, but I've seen it on some track cars as well.

[TheDarkEnergist]

What are these holes all about? Mostly seen on "tuner" cars, but I've seen it on some track cars as well.

That's a DIY(also W) rear "diffuser."

I'm using quotes because I don't think diffuser is the right term. But in theory it's supposed to let all the air that gets trapped in the concave of the rear bumper out, decreasing drag and increasing top speed.

[Shmi]

Why do MotoGP drivers in racing stick their knees out in the direction of the lean when cornering? Maybe other bikers do this too but I'm not sure. For balance? How does this work?

[weenerdog3443]

Well in events like MotoGP they are wearing kneepads and will occasionally use there knee off the ground. usully use to throw your weight around, balance, when in a turn.

[the brit]

Well in events like MotoGP they are wearing kneepads and will occasionally use there knee off the ground. usully use to throw your weight around, balance, when in a turn.

Yes, balance and can also be a minor breaking assist. You can shift your more than 1/2 your body off the bike to help corner, while leaving the bike more upright to have a larger tire contact patch on the track surface:



Doing it on the road is fun, but often pointless - staying tucked in, being smoother and more aerodynamic would be quicker overall if you're not going fast enough to need to corner that hard.


Some riders (Rossi especially) started to put their whole foot and leg out, which has been catching on a bit more. Is it not too widespread.




The real pros (i.e. not a road rider) can 'catch' a bike with their knee and elbow - if the bike starts to low-side, they can try to catch it and force the tires back down to grip using their bodies contact points to bring it back. This is what Marco Simoncelli may have been attempting to do during his fatal accident.

This is a extreme lowside save (not SIC's) :

[clutchrider]

Why do only minivans, SUVs, Trucks have their back glass tinted? I realize every state has tint laws but why do I not see sedans, coupes, hatchbacks come from the factory with tinted rear windows?

[Shmi]

Why do only minivans, SUVs, Trucks have their back glass tinted? I realize every state has tint laws but why do I not see sedans, coupes, hatchbacks come from the factory with tinted rear windows?

Not 100% sure but I think tint laws are less restrictive in general for SUVs, so manufacturers can sell them with tint stock, whereas sedans they are usually more restrictive.

[pinktshirt]

Springs, shock absorbers, dampers, coil-overs, wtf?!

someone please clarify the basic function of the essential suspension components please?

[MrMook]

Springs, shock absorbers, dampers, coil-overs, wtf?!

someone please clarify the basic function of the essential suspension components please?

Springs
Support the car, and absorb impacts.

Dampers
Shocks and struts are both dampers. They control how quickly the spring is allowed to compress and/or rebound during and after an impact. A damper is basically a piston in a sealed cylinder filled with fluid (gas, air, oil). As the piston moves up or down with the movement of the car, the gas is pushed through passages (valves) at certain rates to control how fast or slow the piston will move. Performance models have adjustable damping in one or both directions (compression and rebound).

Coilovers
technically a normal shock/spring setup could be called a "coil over", since the coiled spring does fit over the strut, but this term typically refers to height-adjustable shock/spring assemblies. The body of the strut is threaded to allow the lock ring to be spun up or down, changing spring height, and ultimately the cars ride height. Note the threaded body:



Cup Kit
Cup Kits are paired spring/strut packages, but they are essentially a strut and a spring. Most cup kits are sold to lower cars by an inch or two, and often contain shorter springs, and stiffer damper valving. The term refers to cup series racing, where cars have to run the same gear, so it's sold as a kit.

[P-Body]

Hypothetical no one has ever really explained to me, and I know a dealership won't give me a straight answer on:

I lease a vehicle for 4 years, sticker price is 30k. Regular old lease, at the end I have option to buy the car or give it back.

Residual is 15k.

As lease end approaches, do some homework and realize that the vehicle is worth 20k on the open market.

...

The question is - can/does this 5k difference in my favor be used if I want to negotiate pricing on another car to buy? I know if it was the inverse and the car was actually worth 10k, you would obviously walk away after the lease, but I'm asking more from the standpoint of a dealership - do they use stuff like this to try and keep you in another car?

[StormChaser]

You'd probably have to buy it and flip it. The dealer won't give you the difference.

[weenerdog3443]

I would go to the dealer you leased it from or any other dealer. depending on what bank did the lease and how the lease is built could go a couple different ways. I know at my work we work it just like a normal trade, if the value is great bonus for you if not tough luck. Now when we get say Honda lease's turned it aint a thing I can do with them but say hey go drop it off at the honda place

[efrie]

What kind of power gains will headers add to a 5.0L (302) with just an air intake?

I'm getting the grumble on in my truck here shortly.

Straight pipes from headers to Flowmaster 40's. Should be entertaining.

[Assle]

By headers I assume you mean standard shorty headers? If so, you're looking at 5-10hp in most cases. Long tubes will net ~20 over stock. Bear in mind the engine is a system so more can be gained when other mods are done to complement the headers.

Anything performance-wise done to either of your Powerstrokes? Got any pics?

[Bias_Ply]

why were some 2002 golfs called the "337" ???

it was a special edition GTI, 337 was the original order code for a GTI and this model had some special seats and wheels, I believe.

Most of it was then carried over to the GTI 20th anniversary (with different wheels) the next year.

[efrie]

By headers I assume you mean standard shorty headers? If so, you're looking at 5-10hp in most cases. Long tubes will net ~20 over stock. Bear in mind the engine is a system so more can be gained when other mods are done to complement the headers.

Anything performance-wise done to either of your Powerstrokes? Got any pics?

One of them has injectors + turbo + 4" exhaust + custom tune.

The other just has tune + 4" exhaust.

They both have built transmissions from Brian's Truck Shop (google it).

The 2000 model was tuned and built by BTS. The other one is an early 99 which means it has the smaller turbo, different oil setup, etc. It's the red one and just has tune and exhaust. The 350 has a tune from DP tuners, other truck has it's tune from Brian's Truck Shop, and the guy learned how to tune from DP tuners.

2000 F250 7.3L


1999 F350 7.3L

[SSLByron]

Not 100% sure but I think tint laws are less restrictive in general for SUVs, so manufacturers can sell them with tint stock, whereas sedans they are usually more restrictive.

It has to do with laws that govern tint used for cargo areas vs. passenger areas, and of course it all varies state-to-state. A lot of the laws went on the books long before SUVs were popular as people-haulers.

[Chiropractor JW]

The 337 had recaro seats, 6-speed manual, different springs, some body molding stuff, and a few other appearance items. 1500 were made for the U.S. When you factor in accidents, ricers ruining them with black wheels/mesh/airbags/etc, it's safe to assume that maybe half the original amount are left.

My question for the thread is:

What exactly is a "tune-up?"

[Lifelong Obsession]

My mother's 2004 Mercedes E320 4Matic went in for an alignment at Town Fair Tire. The guy said that he couldn't complete the alignment because the car needed two camber bolts. I asked him if he would replace the bolts if I ordered them online, but he said "sorry, we can't do that". Why is this, and do I have to bring the car to the dealer? Will an independent MB shop do this?