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August 31, 2005
American Weight Problem
America has a weight problem. Not only are our waists getting super-sized but our cars are getting bigger and heavier. Regular reader Bryce writes, “Does it seem weird to anybody else that compact "economy" cars now weigh one and a half tons? As an auto enthusiast who loves cars built by the credo of 'add lightness' I think high gas prices will be a good thing for reducing automobile weight in the next few years.” Bryce has a good point, the weight of a car has a negative impact on fuel economy. Now that gasoline prices in the United States are approaching the cost for fuel in Europe and Japan there is good chance that Americans will soon have the opportunity to buy the kind of smaller and lighter cars that are favored overseas.
Cars have been gaining weight over the years; today’s Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla weights 4-500 pounds more that comparable models from just a few years ago. The new Ford Mustang weighs in 300 pounds more than last year’s model and the Porsche 911 has ballooned from 2,700 lbs. 35 years ago to nearly 3,300 lbs. for today’s version.
There are many reasons why cars have been getting heavier over the years; government regulation, manufacturer greed and consumer preference are all equally guilty for cars porking up. Government Gnomes, Insurance Company Number Crunchers and Scaredy Cat Consumers have all conspired to put a premium on crash impact and roll over protection test results. Consequently, new cars are built sturdier than earlier models. But the increase in strength also means extra weight, as steel is the most cost-effective materiel to add to a car’s frame for strength.
The manufacturers have been adding content to automobiles and this adds weight. I can remember when only luxury cars came with Power Windows, Air Conditioning, and Cruise Control. Today we expect those features plus keyless entry, sunroofs, leather seats and monster stereos in entry level to mid-range models. All of these features add weight to each car. But more importantly, each feature also is a profit center for the manufacturers; the mark-up on a dozen extra features means a dozen extra sources of profit on each car sold. So in a manner of speaking automobiles are sold by the pound and the heavier the car, the greater the profit.
Finally, consumers must take some of the blame for heavier cars. We are demanding more standard features in even our entry-level vehicles and so the weight is added. And Americans are getting to be larger people in every dimension, it is easier for larger people to get in and out of larger cars. The wildly successful Chrysler PT Cruiser is nothing more than a Neon that has been made taller (and heavier) so that it is easier to get in and out of.
Weight is not all bad, strength and safety can not be easily dismissed. And the weight of extra structure is usually engineered to add rigidity to the structure of a vehicle, which in turn makes for a more stable ride down the road. And if a car’s structure is more rigid, it is less likely to have annoying squeaks and rattles.
My prediction is that consumers have become used to the quiet, comfort and safety of modern cars so manufacturers will not be removing content from their products in pursuit of some extra gas mileage. Instead look for gas/electric hybrids and diesel engine to more efficiently power heavy cars down our highways.
Posted by Scott at 8:12 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2005
Cut your losses short
There comes a time when a bad relationship must be broken off. A romance gone badly, a destructive co-dependency, or an evil influence are all reasons to cut your losses short. While this is painful in the short run, it is generally beneficial in the longer view of things to just Move On. It is not always easy to admit that you made a mistake getting into the relationship in the first place. The fear of admitting your errors keeps some people in those bad relationships for far too long. Hopefully a “way out” can be found in time to stop the emotional (or even worse physical) bleeding. Our relationship with a hobby car can turn ugly and it is important to recognize the danger signals before it is too late.
Blind love is the maybe the single greatest indicator of possible danger ahead in a hobby car relationship. If an automobile enthusiast is imprinted at an early age upon a particular make or model of automobile it will be nearly impossible for him or her to ever be objective about that object of their affection. A good example of this deadly trap is my friend E. He fell in love with Magnum PI’s Ferrari back in his elementary school years and he has been under the spell of the Prancing Horse ever since. Time passes; he is married with a young family, and has a small house with a large mortgage. Life was good for E, but he felt that there is something lacking, like a space that was not filled. That space turned out to be in his garage and he filled it with a good deal on a slightly used1995 Ferrari 348 Targa in Italian Red (what other color could a Ferrari be?). E was happy.
Well, E was happy until his cream puff turned into an inedible bulk. It turns out that the forty thousand miles on his used Ferrari were generated at a rental car in a holiday destination. “Rode hard and put up wet” does not begin to describe the usage this car received as an upscale rental hack. And the rental company did not waste a lot of money on using a Ferrari approved repair facility to keep the car running. As things went wrong on the car for E he discovered a series of low cost, quick fixes to keep the shiny car on the road for ham-fisted renters. E’s good deal has turned into a nearly continuous horror story of expensive fixes that are draining his pocket and his resolve. Hidden body damage, electrical faults and transaxle troubles combined with staggering part prices (spark plug wires at $150 for each of eight wires?) have added nearly 50% to his original purchase price. Of the four years he has owned the car, it has been able to navigate the street under its own power for less than half that time.
A more rational person would have drawn a line in the sand and terminated the costs much earlier in the process. Just get the car running reliably enough to sell it off as a “work in progress” to someone else to finish sort out this mess. But E is in love and determined to see this relationship to the very end.
I hope that E gets his Ferrari running again and that he can find happiness with that car for all times into the future. But I suspect that the love that E lavishes upon his Ferrari will be returned with ever increasing bills and very little driving time.
Posted by Scott at 8:25 AM | Comments (1)
August 29, 2005
Chevrolet Cobalt SS/SC
You have to give General Motors credit for trying. Losing market share faster than I am losing hair on my head, America’s largest automobile manufacturer is throwing out all the stops to win back the hearts and minds of the car buying public. Over the course of the last couple of years GM has introduced a variety of new models across the automobile spectrum to lure buyers back into the fold. In order to bind a buyer to a corporate identity for a lifetime of patronage, it is important to win the hearts of minds of the young, first time car buyer. Vital to this effort for GM is the Chevrolet Cobalt, an entry-level sedan that must compete and win against the Nissan Altima, the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic.
Image is everything and to polish the Cobalt’s image in the eye’s of the young, hip and trendy GM has created a sport version called the Cobalt SS/SC. Deciphering the appendage to the Cobalt’s name reveals that “SS” is Chevrolet’s traditional designation for Super Sport and that in this case “SC” stands for Super Charged. In deed, the Cobalt’s double overhead cam Ecotech inline four engine is assisted by a supercharger that raises engine output to 200 horsepower in a 3,000-pound package yielding a sprightly power to weigh ratio of 15:1. Check the option boxes carefully and your Cobalt SS/SC can also come equipped from the factory with gauges in an A-pillar mounted pod, Recaro sport seats, a rear wing and a Limited slip Differential. In other words, you can order up a Cobalt that will have the looks (if not most of the speed) to gain street cred amongst the Fast and Furious crowd that may not be old enough to buy a legal alcoholic beverage, but certainly old enough to sign a purchase contract with GM financing.
GM does not have to sell a lot of Cobalt’s dressed for street warfare to build a positive impression amongst the undergraduate tastemakers that influence their demographic peers. It is merely enough to offer the model for sale and make sure that the enthusiast magazines rave about the car’s out-of-the box abilities. The design of the marketing campaign for the Cobalt and its image leader the SS/SC is to sway the crowd that is now slavishly devoted to all things Honda Civic and its corporate brother the Acura Integra/RSX over to Chevrolet and the rest of the General Motors family of cars.
The Cobalt SS/SC my draw the buyers into the showrooms, but the less well-endowed models of the Cobalt will have to deliver on the promises made by the sport model at the top of the model line. The Cobalt SS/SC fully suited will tip the dealer’s sticker price to the neighborhood of twenty five thousand dollars, rarefied air for first time buyers. The Cobalt models that retail for less than twenty thousand dollars need to have the fit, finish and durability to stand in comparison to the Japanese manufacturers. Traditionally, this is part of the competition for buyers’ affinity that has caught GM short in the past.
But the real question for the At Home Mechanic is what is the potential for the mundane versions of the Cobalt to be transformed into a performance machine by the auto enthusiast. The hot rod SS/SC will give a good showing for itself amongst the burger stand scene, but will anyone salute the Cobalt without the stickers, stripes and wings that comes with the top end model? GM is doing its part by positioning the Cobalt’s Ecotech engine as the small block Chevy engine of the new millennium and they have encouraged aftermarket manufacturers to scale up production of the typical go fast goodies that will be needed to hop up the Cobalt.
Suspension parts should be entering the aftermarket pipeline quickly; the Cobalt shares its platform with its corporate spiritual cousins the Opal and Vauxhall so there will be reduced risk for aftermarket manufacturers who risk investing in the Cobalt’s potential as a target for home improvement.
The ultimate proof of performance for the Cobalt will come in about five years. By then the cost of a used Cobalt will reach the level that the enthusiastic-but-money-challenged will be shopping for a car to buy and improve. If today’s 12 year old can be convinced that a Cobalt is worthy of consideration by the time he has turned 17, then GM will have succeeded in turning the tide of consumer perception to their favor.
Posted by Scott at 8:09 AM | Comments (2)
August 28, 2005
Are you a Car Person?
Comedian Jeff Foxworthy gave up his career as a computer system analyst for IBM’s Atlanta office to make a new career out of observing the foibles of rural Americans. His comedy act largely revolves around examining the behavior patterns of “just plain folks” that indicate that, “You may be a Redneck.” In that vein I say that if you behave in certain, predictable manner, “You may be a Car Person.”
Do you know and care about the differences between an Audi and a Volkswagen? Are you willing to endure increased brake dust for less brake fade? Do you have an opinion on the outcome of Formula 1, NASCAR or the Indy Racing League? Can you detail the running changes in the first model of the original Mustang? If the answer is yes to any of those questions then there is a good chance you are a Car Person.
As a “car person” are you merely involved or are your committed? If you are unclear on the difference between involvement and commitment consider the analogy of the Bacon and Egg breakfast: The Chicken is involved with a bacon and egg breakfast, but that the Pig is committed to that breakfast.
Let me give you an example of a type of hobbyist who is committed to his leisure time pursuit. People who own and race sail boats long distances across oceans describe the experience of standing long watches at the wheel of their frightenly expensive sailboats in fierce storms as being like standing in an ice cold shower tearing up one hundred dollar bills all night long with no sleep. To a rational person this sounds like an illogical waste of time and money to achieve nothing more substantial that a handshake and a ten dollar trophy. But to the avid hobbyist, a person who is committed to the cause, there is no reflection upon doing what most rational people would find repellant.
The cost of being an automobile hobbyist can be measured in money but it is much more difficult to measure the emotional quotient. The money portion is easy enough to observe as it leaves your wallet in exchange for goods and services for your car. The emotional quotient is harder to measure but is just as clearly felt as the lightness in your wallet after you have paid dearly for some obscure part to complete your car hobby project. The warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from finally identifying and fixing the single sticky valve out of 16, finding the source of the oil stain on your garage floor, or getting the paint and chrome to gleam in the sun can not be measured by scientific observation but to a Car Person they are as real as any number or statistic.
So if rational and observable standards cannot be used to measure the pleasure you receive from the time spent with your hands covered in grease, driving with the throttle wide open (in a safe and controlled environment) or listening to the judges finding you car represent the finest achievement within it class of automobiles then you are a committed Car Person.
Posted by Scott at 2:39 PM | Comments (2)
August 27, 2005
A task worth of Sisyphus
In Greek mythology there is the legend of Sisyphus. As I recall, he made some sort of Olympian boo-boo and was sentenced by the chief god Zeus to an eternal punishment. I maybe be wrong about the “why’s” of the story but I am certain about the punishment.
Sisyphus was sentenced to hard labor… with a twist. His eternal punishment was to roll a giant bolder up a very steep mountain. Straining with all of his might, he had to use every ounce of strength in his body to the point that he nearly died. After endless toil, Sisyphus finally gets the giant bolder to the very peak of the steep mountain. For one brief moment he is allowed the satisfaction of achieving his goal. But the satisfaction is fleeting as the giant bolder slips away and rolls back to the very bottom of the steep mountain. So Sisyphus must begin again. And the process is repeated over and over for all time.
I am a bit like Sisyphus when it comes to working on my car. Do not get me wrong; working on my hobby car is a pleasure, a labor of love. But as soon as I finish one job successfully I allow myself a seeming fleeting moment of satisfaction before I plunge into my next project.
My most recently completed project was preparing my 1987 Honda CRX Si for its semiannual California smog inspection. Notoriously tough, a car cannot get its California registration for the coming year without passing the test. Not only does the exhaust have to blow cleanly, but also all the visible parts of the engine must be the original parts that came from the factory. If any of the visible engine parts have been replaced by non-factory parts, they must carry a California Air Resources Board (CARB) tag that proves that they have been tested and approved for use on a car operating in California. Something as benign as a tuned exhaust manifold MUST be approved by the CARB and carry a tag that identifies it as an approved part. If the tag is missing, the smog tech testing the car for emissions can instantly fail the car regardless of the exhaust’s cleanliness.
I have slightly modified my car’s engine over the years and not all of the parts I have used carry the all-important CARB tag. So I have put a lot of effort into restoring the stock factory pieces to the engine where I previously had high performance but non-approved parts. I take this job seriously because if the car does not pass and is barred from legal operation on California streets my entire investment into this car will have gone down the drain.
After much personal stress and strain I got my car into optimal tune for passing the sniffer test and I removed all of the non-CARB parts from the outside of the engine compartment so that even a detailed inspection would not find an offending part.
I watched and waited with bated breath as my hobby car was being tested for emissions. The smog tech’s grim face betrayed no emotion as the engine was put through it paces on California’s mandated dynamometer test. The tension was killing me; would the car pass the test or would if be failed and I would have to diagnose and fix whatever defect the testing had revealed? Only five or ten minutes had passed but it seemed like an eternity to me. Finally, the smog tech gave me a small grin and told me that the car had passed. Like Sisyphus, I had finished rolling my personal giant bolder to the top of the mountain and I reveled in the joy of accomplishment.
I drove the car home and immediately replaced the stock parts that I had used to pass the smog test with the high performance parts. Even though my car runs as clean, if not cleaner, with the high performance parts on the engine I needed to use the inefficient stock parts to pass the test. With the car configured and tuned for its full potential I took it for a victory lap of the neighborhood, savoring all the power and performance I had wrought from this car.
Ahhh, that feels good. But now it is time to start planning the next project. And so my personal giant bolder has rolled to the bottom of the steep mountain and I must begin the arduous task of rolling it back up to the top. Maybe this time I will allow myself a couple of days to enjoy my success before I start the process again.
Posted by Scott at 3:01 PM | Comments (1)
August 23, 2005
My Dream Car
General Chuck Yeager was once asked for his opinion of the best airplane of all time. The plainspoken aviation hero was clearly uncomfortable with the question because his loyalties were spread across a wide range of aircraft. Finally he told the interviewer, "Well I suppose it depends on whether you want to haul ass or haul manure." That is my feeling when asked about what I consider to be the "best car," it all depends upon what you need your car to do for you. There are cars I would own for personal transportation, and very different cars that I would own for fun. Business uses and terrain traveled are other considerations when shaping the opinion of what is the "best" car. But if you ask me what my Dream Car is, there is only one choice.
In 1960, dad brought home a new Ford Falcon. In early 1964 he bought a Ford Galaxy and in the middle of that same year the original Ford Mustang came to market. On the racetrack, Carroll Shelby was stuffing Ford V8's into small English roadsters and making the fancy European manufacturers look stupid. In that same era Ford had also decided to make a major effort on the Stock Car and Indy circuits and was reaping major rewards.
Henry Ford II (the old man's grandson and who was known around Dearborn as The Deuce) thought that buying the failing Ferrari factory would add some prestige to the company. He and old man Enzo got into some serious discussions about the sale of Ferrari to Ford and it looked like a "done deal." But Enzo balked at the thought of a Ford nameplate on any of his cars (you notice that the FIAT name never appears on today's Ferraris) and told The Deuce to go take a hike.
Not one to take an insult lightly, The Deuce told his underlings to beat Ferrari at their own game, regardless of the cost... and do it RIGHT NOW. Rather than start from scratch, the Ford racing guys out-sourced the car to England where Lola was operating a nice little cottage industry making racecars for customers. Ford dropped a 289 into the rear of a Lola coupe and renamed it the Ford GT 40.
The first Ford GT 40s were terrible and The Deuce was not amused. Shelby and his group of former rat racers was given the GT40 project and told to get it winning. They did and it did, culminating with the historic 1,2,3 finish at Le Mans in 1966. The rest is racing history.
I was ten years old when I got to watch the grainy satellite TV photos of the Ford GT 40's humiliating the Ferrari team with the staged crossing of the finish line in France. Today we take satellite video feeds from around the world for granted, but at that time it was a rare a memorable event when the hook-up was "coast to coast" or " live from across the Atlantic." The only other event of my childhood that was nearly as impressionable upon me was watching the first steps on the moon a couple of years later. Maybe it is a case of arrested development, but the Ford GT40 never has left my consciousness. I am nearly 50 years old but when you say "race car" the first image that comes to my mind is a MKII Ford GT40 in Gulf livery.
The modern automobile sedan has become homogenized to the point that it is difficult to tell one maker's product from another. Partially this is due to the fact that the rules of physics, packaging and aerodynamics apply equally to all cars. Partially it is due to caution about making a car that is "too different" for mass consumer appeal. Anxious to make their cars stand out without challenging the sensibilities of their customers, the major manufacturers looked backward to their legacy products to inspire the design new products. The Retro Look of the New Beetle, the New Thunderbird and the New Mustang came to market looking a whole lot like their old selves. Chrysler's PT Cruiser was loosely based upon a 1940's panel truck and the Chevrolet SSR is a modern interpretation of what a 1950's Studebaker pick-up truck would look like if it had its top cut off and a Corvette's running gear shoved underneath.
Nostalgia seemed to be working and so Ford ordered up a run of less than 2,000 modern Ford GTs to be built, not by Ford but out-sourced to Saleen, and powered by their newest truck engine. With a suggested retail price of $150,000, the limited run was an instant success and the secondary market for the cars has pushed "used" car prices to over 200 Grand. The new Ford GT (the rights to the name "GT40" have slipped from Ford's grip) is low and lean and sexy in all the ways that transports this fat, bald, old man back to his youth. Gazing upon the new car recalls the days when Ford Racing ran supreme. Cynicism and skepticism about all things American were impossible to imagine and the future was bright, safe and secure in a Wonder Bread sort of suburban ideal.
On the main street near my home there is a specialty car reseller, his showroom is filled with Ferraris, Lamborghini's, Aston Martins and Ruf Porsches. He does a good business, fulfilling the automotive dreams of successful business and entertainment executives that pass his shop on their way to Century City or the Fox movie studio. In his window, in a prime location, he has parked a new Ford GT40 that tempts me every morning has I walk past his shop on my daily exercise routine. It calls out to me; it cries for me to forgo my children's education, my retirement plans and my monthly mortgage payment. I could toss all of that aside so that I can make my childhood wish come true. This is indeed my Dream Car. The price tag says $225,000. I wonder if he would take $200,000 for it.
Posted by Scott at 8:42 AM | Comments (1)
August 19, 2005
I had a dream
I had the most disturbing dream last night. I am not one to put much credence in to dreams and I really do not pout any effort into trying to interpret them. But this dream was about my car, my tools and a garage. The dream was set at the garage of my boyhood home in suburban northern California of the 1960's. This garage was were my dad would work on his hobby cars. In those days I was his junior assistant, fetching tools and learning the basics of automotive engineering theory. I built my model kits there and I repaired and modified my bicycle in that old garage. For me, my Wonder Years were spent in that garage.
Back to the dream: My current hobby car, a 1987 Honda CRX Si, was parked just outside the entrance to the garage on the driveway. I was using some sort of rotary power tool, it was not clear in the dream if it was polishing and buffing motor or if it was a drill. I was using it to clean or cut a piece associated with the left front wheel of the car. In the dream, the power tool stops working, there is some sort of electrical short in the power cord or its plug. I touch the plug of the power tool with a screwdriver to fix the problem and the heat that is in the power plug of the tool is conducted into the screwdriver that I am holding.
The blade of the screwdriver heats up to the point that it begins to melt and pools of molten metal fall to the ground. I drop the screwdriver just before the heat of the melting blade cause the screwdriver's handle to melt.
At this point my hobby car, which is parked just a few feet away, suddenly drops every ounce of oil and gasoline contained in the oil pan and the gas tank. Before my disbelieving eyes this flammable combination flows up hill from under my car towards the spot on the ground where the molten screwdriver is laying. I watch in horror as the deadly liquid is about to be ignited. I know that my car, my garage and my tools will be consumed in an inevitable explosion of flames.
And then I woke up. I had to remind myself in my groggy, post sleep haze that my car is safely parked in my current garage. The car is not leaking any fluids and that my tools are not melting on the ground. The dream was so disturbing that I could not go back to sleep and instead I went to the kitchen and made myself a cup of coffee.
For you amateur shrinks who read this description of my dream I have a few other details about my conscious life to add to this story. I have had some love/hate issues with my hobby car recently. I have been under a lot of self-imposed stress to fix a string of minor but nagging and annoying problems with the car as I have been preparing it for its semiannual smog inspection. Just as I would find and fix one problem, another would appear. After much work and worry I had the car in condition to face the inspection. I sweated through the inspection procedure, sitting on pins and needles. It was a huge relief when the inspection tech gave me a big thumb up when the car passed.
As I write these words my car is running better right now than it has ever run before. Subconsciously I may have some issues about losing my hobby car after I have put so much time and attention into it. Losing the car would be devastating.
Hmmm ... the funny thing is that while I was working so hard on the car I had some moments of doubt about my relationship with my hobby car. I had dark thoughts about abandoning this project car if the trouble could not be resolved.
I invite all of my readers to express your interpretation of my dream and post them in the Comments section of this site. It would save me the consultation fee with a real psychologist and I could use the money on more car parts.
Posted by Scott at 1:17 PM | Comments (1)
August 18, 2005
A reader asks for an opinion
Regular reader Buck asked for my opinion on the new Mustang. I gave him my well reasoned argument that the new Mustang is all substance over style and that I could not endorse buying one. I feel that for the job of commuting or for racing, the new Mustang certainly looks good but fails to deliver either the performance or the connivance for either job.
Buck writes, "Thanks, Scott. I appreciate your in-depth review and honesty... The bottom line is that they built a beautiful commuter car, especially for a Southern Californian. I could buy a C6 or an AMG McLaren but how would that make more sense given my driving opportunities while commuting?"
Buck, you say that you want a commuter car for Southern California but there are far more fuel and space efficient commuter cars from which you could choose. But the key clue to your desires is your declaration that the new Mustang is "beautiful." While I will not deny that the lovely shape of the current Mustang does bring a nostalgic twang to my heart (I was an irrational fan of all things Ford in my childhood when the original Mustang was introduced)I find that the shape of the car is too large and non-aerodynamic in this fuel conscious age to be beautiful to my eyes. But to each his own, beauty lies in the beholder.
Buck, you speak of sense. Does it make any sense to buy a commuter car that gets less than 20 miles per gallon? Does it make sense to buy a car with a tiny and nearly inaccessible trunk? Does it make sense for you, a father for two, to buy a car that has a vestigial back seat? No, sense has nothing to do with your decision to buy or lease (I shutter at the thought of pissing your money away on leasing a 6 cylinder Mustang that will depreciate so rapidly) this car.
Lets face it. For the average American (and Buck you are very average with your two children and your suburban lifestyle) a car purchase is not about practical matters. It is all about emotion. Your emotional response to the shiny convertible on the dealer lot is all that Ford is counting on to sell you a car.
Ford and the other American manufacturers will not bother to engineer a decent car until Joe Average stops buying dumb, impractical automobiles. You see Buck, you are an "enabler." Just as the family of a drunk that refuses to confront him is allowing the destructive behavior to continue, consumers like you are holding the Detroit Three to a low standard. In effect by buying the Mustang you are declaring, "I really do not care how crappy this car is under the sheet metal, I will buy it because it will make me feel good about myself."
And by doing that, by encouraging Detroit to make lousy cars you are contributing to killing the American automobile industry. The Big Three have gotten fat and lazy selling style rather than delivering solid design engineering. And today with gas prices approaching $3 per gallon, Detroit does not have the products that Americans will need.
Sure there will be giant blinging SUV's, Corvettes, Vipers and the such to create show room traffic for American-made car dealers. But the rest of the product line is a hollow shell of crap.
So go ahead Buck, do as you wish. You may absolutely love your Mustang for its few virtues and its many flaws in my opinion. It appears to me that your interest in automobiles ends at the sheet metal.
Posted by Scott at 4:32 PM | Comments (2)
Old Cars... and what they mean to us
Call them Classic, call them Golden Oldies, or call them Old School we all get a warm and fuzzy feeling from cars that recall our youth. For the teenaged stunna crowd of today this may mean getting a chubby from a Subaru WRX STi. But for the rest of us it means the cars of our distant impressionable youth in the 50's, 60's or 70's.
This morning as I was making my daily three mile stroll around the local park I spotted a silver haired gentleman driving his immaculately restored 1954 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 convertible. My first impression was of the luster of the car's paint, the glint of the chrome and the obvious detail in the car's restoration.
My second impression was that this car, although lovingly restored to better than original condition was a handful to drive. The brakes are weak, the steering was vague and the clutch was heavy. Even the cheapest and most pedestrian modern automobile could be easier and more comfortable to drive.
But the most important feature of this car was the smile on face of the guy who was driving. Ear to ear. Without too much guessing it was obvious to see that this guy had lusted for this car in his youth. He may be a successful businessman, a loving father and husband, a pillar of the community. But just as Charles Foster Kane, the title character from the classic movie "Citizen Kane" had achieved wealth and power, a sled named "Rosebud," from his youth was the only materiel object to give him pleasure. From the look on this guy's face, he was driving his "Rosebud."
Objects of desire from our youth, in the case of most men arrested in adolescent development, is a car. Back then it was "neat-o," "cool," "groovy" or even "boss." They are icons and talismans of out long past salad days. Given the chance to have that car, whatever the car was for you, it gives us a second chance to be a kid again. As the advertising slogan goes, "It is never too late to have a happy childhood."
Today I am a 49-year-old car nut who is tapping into the memories of my youth by owning an old car that I wished I could have bought when it was new and I was young. My 1987 Honda CRX Si is faintly old enough to qualify as a "classic" car of a bygone era. I know this because it is one of the old Japanese cars that have been invited to participate in the "Japanese Classic Car Show" to be held on October 1st at Long Beach California's Queen Mary park. Admission to see the old cars is free to the public and to enter you car only costs $20 which will also reward you with a T-shirt for an early registration. Details can be found at www.japaneseclassiccarsshow.com
My car is far from a "show car." It is not detailed to perfection nor is it tricked out to the max; I am a firm believer in the axiom "Form Follows Function." But I am proud of my old car and the modifications I have made to it. If you go to the show, look for me. I will be one of the old guys with an ear to ear grin.
Posted by Scott at 4:15 PM | Comments (1)
August 15, 2005
Changing behavior patterns
At the risk of exercising poor taste let me ask a rhetorical question: Why are the hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda like the atomic bomb attack on Japan? Because the fuel sipping gasoline/electric hybrid cars and the massive destruction upon the civilian population of two cities serve as convenient excuses to ignore the accepted practice of the old wasteful ways and to accept radically different, yet intrinsically more sensible methodology. I know it is huge stretch of the imagination to see how some cars sold in America can be compared to the surrender of Japan, but I ask for your indulgence as I make my case.
The fighting in Europe had stopped by the summer of 1945 , but the war against Japan was still dragging on. The Imperial Japanese military forces had once commanded most of the Western Pacific, but by the middle of 1945 Japan's forces had retreated to the home islands. Surrender was not a culturally acceptable notion to the Japanese fighting forces, they were prepared to defend the Homeland to the last man. It was predicted that Allied Forces would suffer casualties in excess of a million men trying to seize the Home Islands. If the Japanese abided by their cultural notion of defending without possibility of surrender, Japanese civilian and military losses could be as much as ten times greater as the Allied losses. Right or wrong, the decision was made to drop two atomic bombs on largely civilian populations.
The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the convenient excuse for the Emperor of Japan break the culturally accepted practice to wastefully fight to the last man. The concept of surrender was radical; generations of Japanese were raised to regard anything less that total effort to the end as shameful. But the very real possibility that the lives of so many citizens of Japan would be wasted in a losing effort was real enough for the Emperor of Japan to act in a previously unthinkable manner.
In America we have enjoyed the luxury of vast quantities of inexpensive fossil fuels. And as such, the worldwide image of the American Car is a giant gas guzzling road monster. Nothing is more typical of America than a freeway jammed with these Goliath's carrying a single occupant. And suburban America is defined by a petite mother ferrying her tiny children to soccer practice in an SUV designed to ford streams while towing a howitzer. We Americans love our cars big, the bigger the better. Nothing shouts success to another American like owning a car large enough to launch and retrieve helicopters from the trunk lid.
Just as the Japanese were willing to fight to the last man regardless of the consequence, Americans were more concerned about the appearance of wealth to drive cars that are less than Earth Crushers. But just as the use of the atomic bomb gave the Japanese an excuse to ignore decades of conditioning to embrace a more rational and practical way to end the war, the hybrid cars from Toyota and Honda have given Americans a culturally acceptable excuse to abandon their giant cars for the small but efficient sedans.
The hybrid cars most commonly available at this time are compact four door sedans. Outwardly they are no different that the common Civics and Corollas that are sold as inexpensive, "entry level" vehicles to lower and middle class consumers. A trendy fashionista or an upwardly professional would never previously considered such a plain and mundane vehicle. Even though there is no rational reason for someone to drive 4,000 lbs. of Yank Tank while he makes his solo commute, until recently the typical car of choice for Americans is a car vastly overqualified for its primary usage.
Until. Until Americans were given a new compelling reason to drive a more rationally sized vehicle. The novelty factor of owning that mundane four door sedan that sports a tiny badge that identifies it as a hybrid is enough to get the Soccer Mom out of her Mini-Van, the Cowboy out of his Pick-up and the Lawyer out of his Lexus. Americans who previously could never consider driving a rational sized car are now clamoring to get into a car that was previously beneath their perceived station in life. In essence, just as the Japanese were given the excuse to surrender (a previously unimaginable option) with the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, Americans are given a socially acceptable reason to drive a compact car that they may never have previously considered.
All it takes is a compelling reason to buck the accepted cultural behavior.
Posted by Scott at 7:14 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2005
Stop me before I spend again
My name is Scott and I cannot stop spending money on my hobby car. I am weak and I have no control over my life. I am revealing myself to you in the hope that you can learn from my addiction and avoid my fate. If it is too late for you and you already have fallen under the spell of a hobby car I am here to offer support.
It started so innocently; I needed a hobby to occupy my free time. My fortieth birthday was a few years behind me, my career was well developed, the kids were long past diapers and the wife was reasonable happy (are they ever completely happy?) I had all the materiel and metaphysical possessions that any man could hope for, but still there was a lingering feeling that something was missing in my life. Some guys my age fill that empty feeling with a blonde bimbo twenty years too young, but it soon dawned on me that what I lacked was a creative outlet for my hands (and no other parts of my anatomy). A hobby car would give me something to tinker with in the garage, removed from the household hubbub but close enough to be within the family circle when needed.
I won my wife's support for a hobby car project by promising to keep the discretionary spending on the project to the barest minimum. After an extensive search I found a very used 1987 Honda Civic CRX Si offered at a reasonable price; the attraction being that the car was cute, well engineered. Most of important, the parts to repair and improve it would be easy to find at the local parts store.
The early days with the hobby car were cheap. A through inventory of what was broken or missing on the old car yielded a list of parts that barely dented a C-note. The hours spent with the car fixing and repairing was fun. Like a new drug in my system, a warm and fuzzy feeling of contentment embraced me and all was good with the world.
But soon the feeling wore off. At first I could not place what the problem was, but soon I came to realize that I was missing the satisfaction of working on the car. All the initial projects were finished, there was nothing to be done to the car. I needed that good feeling again. I found myself hanging out at the local car parts store looking for the next item to fix or improve and gladly spending the money necessary to satisfy my need. I soon exhausted that possibility, the local parts only had a limited selection of stuff to fit my car. I needed a new way to throw my money at my hobby car.
I turned to the Internet... that was a mistake. Not only could I find new parts on the web, but I also found that it was fun to order parts online. Money flowed like water as I mindlessly bought parts for my car. And I could track my purchases as they were shipped across the country to my home; it was like Christmas when the UPS man arrived with packages for me.
But the money spending got even worse when I started to race my car in local amateur events . At first I was happy just to participate, but after awhile I got tired of bringing up the rear of the field. It became an uncontrollable flow of money from my pocket to bring the car up to standard with the other competitors.
I have been racing for a few years now and I can not stop the money flow. Every time I think that I am done spending on the hobby car I either break something from racing or I find a new part that will make my car even faster.
I know it is an addiction, like a drug I need to keep the parts coming to keep my car obsession rolling. It is too late for me, but maybe you can save yourself. Just say, "No more car parts."
Posted by Scott at 1:18 PM | Comments (1)
August 13, 2005
What next can go wrong?
It is always something with an old car. You find and fix an engine oil leak and then your fuel injectors get clogged. You root out the problem with the fuel injectors and then a suspension bushing goes south. I swear; keeping an old car in running condition is like a full time job.
I suppose that I should not complain, I bought my hobby car for precisely this reason. I enjoy the time I spend in the garage tinkering with my old car. It would be pretty boring to have a car that was perfect all the time and there was no room for improvement. Actually I think it would be boring to have a hobby car that did not need any attention. I would not know, my car is a constant series of brush fires that seem to crop up.
Maybe I over state the case; my hobby car is a fairly well engineered 1987 Honda CRX . Not exactly at the cutting edge of technology in its day, it is now a fairly dated design by current standards. But the factory sent hundred of thousands of similar Civics and they have held up well over the years. The problem is that I am not content to just repair problems as they crop up; I want to "improve" the car to enhance power and performance. And once the car has been improved, I like to beat it like a rented mule around the local racetrack. Between my homegrown improvements and the stress I put on a car that is nearly 20 years old, it is inevitable that something will break.
This latest crop of problems is directly related to my last day of racing at Willow Springs Raceway . The centrifugal forces generated by high speed cornering forces the oil in the oil pan away from the oil pickup and can potentially starve the engine of oil when I am stressing it the most. So I installed a Moroso racing oil pan that has greater capacity and a set of windage trays in the pan to keep the oil from sloshing around. I installed the new pan exactly as instructed and it seemed to hold just fine. But an oil leak soon appeared so I had to get back under the car to tighten and seal the oil pan better than as specified in the installation instructions.
I blame the next problem on racing, although the real culprit is my own stupidity. I got so excited to be on the track that I failed to keep a close eye on my fuel gauge; on the drive home I nearly ran out of gas. Sucking up the very last drops of gas in the tank, all of the sediment and general gunk that normally sits at the bottom of an old gas tank soon found its way into my fuel injectors. Combine that gunk with the low pressure I run my fuel system on to keep the oversized fuel injectors from drowning the engine in fuel and I was getting a nasty engine hesitation . The cure for this is to pull out the oversized injectors (which I installed hoping that they were the path to power, but turned out to be a waste of time on an engine that remains naturally aspirated) and reinstall the original injectors. Draining the fuel system to clean out the junk in the fuel lines and restoring the fuel pressure to the stock 38psi solved that problem.
What I have not tackled yet is the left rear trailing arm bushing that is circling the drain as we speak. I replaced all of the other bushings on the car, but the rear trailing arm bushings on my Honda are a major pain in the butt to get to. Consequently they never got replaced which was not a problem when the car was only seeing street use. But the stress of racing soon exposed the weakness of the old bushings and there is a definite wiggle in the left rear wheel. I will need plenty of time to remove the entire rear suspension to get at these bushings and time is something that is in short supply right now.
But knowing that a major project awaits me is comforting in a way. I always know what I will be doing with my future free time.
Posted by Scott at 9:35 AM | Comments (1)
August 12, 2005
Be organized
A guy invites his neighbor the surgeon over for Thanksgiving Dinner. He makes a big show of carving the turkey to impress the doctor with his knife skills. When he was done, he asked his guest, "Well Doc, how did I do?" The physician inspects the well-carved turkey and then says to his host, "Anyone can take them apart. Let's see you put it back together."
That principle also applies to the At Home Mechanic, it is pretty easy to take a car apart but it can be a lot harder to put them back together. More specifically, putting a car back together so that it runs right is a challenge greater than merely stripping the pieces off. There are very few things in life more satisfying as hearing your engine roar to life with the first twist of the key after you have done a major repair or improvement. And the most gut twisting moment you can endure is turning that key and NOT hear that engine start.
I generally judge a project success upon the number of left over parts that remain after I finish the job. The ideal is to finish with no left over parts, however an extra washer or two with no apparent place to go is OK. A bolt that cannot be identified is worrisome but probably not fatal. But a few bolts and a gasket that did not get fitted deep inside the replaced part is enough to make a grown man cry.
Detailed notes are always a good idea before your tear something apart; I note the location of major components and the bits that hold them together. My dad is a big fan of old fashioned paper tags that look suspiciously like the toe tags used by the coroner's office to identify bodies in the morgue. He makes a notation of the tag and then ties it to the part he is removing.
In this age of digital cameras it pays to take a few pictures as the job progresses so you have a visual reference to getting the complicated projects back together.
I firmly believe in collecting the little bits (bolts, nuts, washers, etc.) that come off of a job in small plastic containers. Margarine tubs are particularly handy for this chore. And inexpensive disposable aluminum roasting pans make great collectors for all the slightly larger loose parts that a job may yield.
Finally, take your time. If your hobby car is not a daily driver and you are not depending upon this car to get you to work in the morning, there is not reason to hurry thought the either the dismantling or reconstruction process. Remember, this is supposed to be fun.
Posted by Scott at 8:38 AM | Comments (2)
August 11, 2005
The new Ford Mustang
Regular reader Buck asked for my opinion on the New Mustang . The word "Mustang" invokes so many thoughts and emotions that I am not sure I can be objective on the topic. After all, the original 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang ignited the fires of car devotion in me when I was eight years old. My family and I have owned five Mustangs (a '65 convertible, two '66's coupes, a '67 convertible and a '84 coupe) over the years and although I am a confirmed Honda fan today, I still have a soft spot in my heart (and probably my head) for all things Ford.
The Ford Mustang has always promised so much and delivered so very little. While the Mustang image is shaped by Shelby's hand-built racecars and the car's silhouette has been lent to various drag and road race versions, the street Mustang is style over substance. That is to say that the Mustang has always had pretty mundane underpinning covered by some sexy sheet metal that suggests speed and performance. In the great scope of performance cars, the stock Mustang of any era would rank somewhere near the rear of the field. Oh yes, it was and is possible to order a high horsepower Mustang from your local Ford dealer and that car may actually have some decent road manners on the twisities. But the overwhelming majority of Mustangs that roll off the dealer's lot are... dare I say it?... girl's cars. I know that is a sexist statement and I will rot in hell for all eternity for saying it. But the truth of the matter is that most Mustangs (about 75%) are automatic transmission-equipped, six cylinder commuter coupes that will never be driven with any kind of enthusiasm. Ford is counting on the image (and smoky burn outs at the local drive-in hamburger stand) of the V8 equipped Mustangs to carry the name plate's reputation.
The current version of the Mustang rides on the same platform as the S-type Jaguar and the soon to be extinct Thunderbird which is a huge improvement over the old Fox platform that been the basis of the Mustang for over twenty years. And the new car's styling is faithful to the image; the car looks like what we all expect a Mustang to look like. A long hood, a short rear deck, the fastback rood line, the various details in the front and rear end caps all scream MUSTANG from a mile away. The dash board features chrome rimmed bezels in a retro homage to days gone by. The rear seat is as cramped and unusable as any Mustang and the truck space is accessed through a mail slot.
The 200 horsepower V6 base engine powers the portly 3600 pound Mustang to a decent 18:1 power to weigh ratio which will make your Saturn's 24:1 power to weight ratio seem like a lead sled. The 300 horsepower V8 Mustang hustles the car's hulk to a snappy 12:1 power to weigh ratio which could lead the un-informed to believe that he is driving a performance car. When in fact he would discover at the first turn that the softly sprung Mustang is happiest in a straight line. Ford has wisely decided that comfort and quiet will be more prized to Mustang owners that being to squeeze another tenth of a second on the skid pad.
As such, Ford has given the new Mustang a solid rear axle which pleases the drag racing crowd who do not like to be challenged with technology newer that the anvil. The aerodynamic shape of the new Mustang has been compared to a brick. The fit and finish is adequate while the switch gear and interior panels are Ford Traditional: Cheap to the touch.
The Convertible Mustang is a huge seller, particularly to rental fleets in Florida and Hawaii where tourists enhance their tropical vacations with sunstroke and wind-blown hair. The new Mustang's platform receives extra bracing to compensate from loss of the hard roof, but the topless version is never going to make anyone forget German roadster rigidity.
For what is meant to be, a sporty commuter car/grocery getter, the new Mustang fills the bill admirably. And your neighbors will be impressed with its sharp styling. But do not challenge any C6 Corvettes to a race out to Dead Man's Curve, they will kick your butt.
Posted by Scott at 8:10 AM | Comments (1)
August 10, 2005
What to do?
I am on the horns of a dilemma. Of all the car related decisions that anyone could have to make, I should be happy that my problem is relatively minor. But that does not make the solution to the problem any clearer. I have to make a decision about modifying my hobby car, I want to make the car as light as possible. It involves removing a fairly large part of the car. But I also want to the car to look aesthetically pleasing once the job is done.
My hobby car is a 1987 Honda Civic CRX . Essentially a stripped down two-seat version of the ubiquitous Honda Civic, it is a cute little car with a peppy engine and a sporty suspension. By no means a "sports car" as it came from the factory, the car is a favorite of enthusiasts who recognize the basic platform’s potential for performance enhancement. Light with a slippery shape, just a little bit of tweaking can turn a common commuter car into a fairly aggressive road machine. The key is to minimize the car’s weight and increase the engine’s out put.
At this point I have made as many engine modifications as I feel comfortable doing. I have maximized the flow through the head, raised compression and reduced rotational weight and stayed within the letter of the California Motor Vehicle Code. From a stock 91 horsepower, my engine is making somewhere in the region of 130 hp now. I could swap in a larger engine or add a turbo charger, but for my purposes this engine and its output are fine.
With engine issues put to rest that leaves weight reduction as the path to performance improvement. My car left the factory at 2050 pounds and I have stripped it down to about 1850 lbs. This was achieved by removing as many non-essential items as I possibly could and replacing some parts with lighter replacements. This leaves me with a lean, mean road machine with very few concessions for creature comfort.
Stripped for battle and the power up to maximum potential I have changed the power to weight ratio from the stock 22.5:1 to a much more appealing 14.1:1. A staggering difference when you think about it and I should be happy with the good improvement.
But good is never enough. I want MORE. Or in this case LESS. Less weight. And this is where my problem lies. The last non-essential part of the car that could be removed is the sunroof and its motor, tracks and controls. All together I can remove another 40 pounds from my car by 86-ing the sunroof.
Simple enough, the sunroof mechanism on my car is attached by 10 12mm bolts that are exposed by removing the headliner. The removal process only takes about 30 minutes… and that includes stopping for a soda in the middle of the process. The tricky part is filling the resulting hole in the roof of the car.
I could just lay a piece of sheet metal across the roof and rivet it down. Effective but hardly aesthetically pleasing to my eye; the result would look like my car has a boo-boo covered by a makeshift bandage. There is a guy in Utah who sells a sunroof "plug" to fill the gap. But the kit is very expensive ($300+) for a sheet of carbon fiber and some L-brackets that the home hobbyist has to drill and screw together. Heck, I could fabricate something similar out of sheet aluminum and hardware store parts. But I have been trolling the Honda enthusiast’s web sites and there are guys who promise that they will be able to create a fiberglass product that will fit flush in the hole and not leave any rivets in view. Oh yeah, and these are the same type of guys who will sell you a bridge in Brooklyn, some Florida swamp land and a miracle carburetor that gets 100 miles per gallon.
So what to do? Dole out the big bucks for the Utah kit? Fabricate my own clone for the kit using a sheet of aluminum? Or wait for the Easter Bunny to deliver a product that no one has built yet? Or stop being greedy and live with the sunroof as it is? What do you suggest?
Posted by Scott at 9:15 AM | Comments (1)
August 8, 2005
Hobby Car Decisions
You are going to start working on your hobby car, but before you start answer one question: What do your want your car to be? Is it going to be a Show Car, a Racecar or a Daily Driver? A car can be one of those three definitions very well; it can have the qualities of two of those things fairly well. But it is nearly impossible for a car to be all three things at the same time.
A Show Car is not just a nicely cleaned up street car with maybe a bit of extra chrome. To be a contender on the Car Show circuit you need to completely rebuild, repaint and reengineer a car so that is only faintly resembles the original car. Everything you can see and many parts you cannot see are chromed and polished to a burnished gleam. Custom upholstery, mind numbing and ear splitting entertainment systems, hydraulic suspension systems, thousands of man-hours and untold piles of money are all incorporated into a Show Car. Even the slightest blemish can seriously degrade a car's chances to win a show trophy so a Show Car is towed in an enclosed trailer to prevent the chance of a stone chip.
A Race Car is stripped down for speed and has no creature comforts. Loud, stiff, cramped and unpleasant to ride in, a Racecar is meant to go fast at all expense. It has no creature comforts, like a heater or air conditioning, certainly no radio and tight seats that grip you in a tight embrace that discourages any kind of movement.
A Daily Driver can be clean and shiny, it can be pretty quick, but it surrenders all claims to the domain of Show Car and Race Car in a compromise of comfort and convenience. A Daily Driver does not need to have its engine, brakes and tires rigorously warmed up before performing to their best ability like a Racecar. A Daily Driver might get a wash every week and a wax once a year, but you do not need to be compulsive about it.
But a Hobby car is nearly always going to be a compromise of fulfilling more than one function, the trick is to find the right amount of balance. Imagine a triangle with Show Car at one corner, Racecar in another corner and Daily Driver in the third corner. Some where within that triangle is where your hobby car is going to fall. If you plan on racing this car and not use it for show or street very often, then your car would be closest to the Racecar corner. But if you plan on being able to drive this car on the street occasionally, then its mark would nudge a bit closer to Daily Driver within that triangle.
For me, I have a perfectly decent daily driver that is not my hobby car, so that part of the triangle is not important. And as much as I like my hobby car to look sharp, I am not overly concerned with a few flaws in the paint so the Show Car end of the triangle is not a consideration. But I do use my hobby car for amateur sporting events so my hobby car definitely leans toward Racecar territory.
But in all things in life there are compromises that we must make. I need to be able to drive this car on the street so it retains all of the street legal equipment and a full interior. I even have a CD player with four speakers.
The decision is up to you, the At Home Mechanic. Fast? Shiny? Comfortable? A combination of all three, but with an emphasis on any one in particular? That is the great thing about a hobby car, the choice is yours alone to make.
PS- A special shout out to Dave who is also a faithful reader. Thanks for the nice wishes about my back, it is much better today.
Scott
Posted by Scott at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)
August 6, 2005
Playing in Pain
Not that it physically hurts to pound out a story or two on the keyboard, but I am playing in pain for you today. Yesterday I was doing some research for this blog in the garage when I suffered an injury. In a sense, I "took one for the team." Normally the At Home Mechanic can expect to suffer a skinned knuckle or two in the course of a project. I like to think of the tiny scars on the back of my hands as battle decorations that demonstrate years of devotion to the cause. I will never get a job as a hand model, but that career path was never really an option for me. But yesterday was a new and troubling injury that may signal a change in the way I will work in the garage in the future.
I was bending deeply from the waist changing the fuel injectors in my 1987 Honda CRX Si when I felt and heard a "ping" in the lower left quadrant of my back followed by a sharp pain. Barely able to straighten up, I gingerly sat on a straight back chair that I keep in the garage. It took a few minutes for the pain to subside and my blurred vision to clear.
I left the car project uncompleted and closed up the garage for the day, that project will have to wait until I regain some mobility. I hobbled back into the house and went straight to the medicine cabinet. Normally an aspirin is the strongest medicine I take, but this pain called for more serious relief. Fortunately the governments of Canada and Great Britain can trust their citizens with something stronger than plain aspirin; they allow the sale of a compound of common pain reliever like Tylenol with a trace amount of Codeine. I keep a box or two on hand at all times specifically for this type of situation.
The rest of the day was spent horizontally, waiting for the knot in my back to unravel. I suspect that the problem is muscular rather than spinal and in time the injury will heal. By today I am more stiff than sore and I will take it easy for the next day or so. If there is no improvement in a week, then I will consult a physician. But I am not immobilized and the pain is subsiding.
Working on your car is a physical endeavor; you bend, twist, crawl and contort to get at the trouble spot. In the future I will have to be more careful to do some warm up stretches before tackling a car project. And I may have to call upon a helper for assistance for some projects. I had always suspected that there was a reason the wife and I decided to have children. Now I know why.
Posted by Scott at 2:56 PM | Comments (1)
August 5, 2005
Bless you Bryce
When you begin to blog, you hope that someone will read your work and find it enjoyable. When I began this blog, I made a few modest postings on Web forums that I have regularly contributed to. In the first week the blog got some traffic and a few nice comments. Friends and family generally will give you some forms of support and claim to read your stuff everyday. But you always hope that new readers will find your stuff in the clutter that is the onslaught of information that streams like a fire hose to Internet. I am proud to say that at least one reader has found my blog in the mire of the Web and responds to what I write on a regular basis. Bless you Bryce.
Bryce, you are a mystery to me. I do not know who you are, where you are from or what your taste in cars is. Not that I want to tailor my blog to an audience of one, but if there is a particular topic you would like to read about let me know and I will whip something up. And that goes for all the rest of you who claim to read my blog. I know you are out there.
I am not above writing vanity articles about you and your favorite car. Drop me a comment or write directly to Scott@Harris.net with the details of your automotive obsession and I guarantee that you will be profiled on this blog.
Writing a blog is fun and a challenge at the same time. I devote entire moments of my busy day thinking up topics for this use of bandwidth. I usually start with a phrase or sentence and try to develop an entire piece from that shred. This article came from the joy of discovering that Bryce had responded once again. If any of the others out there responds to this piece, I can squeeze another couple of stories out. I am not proud, toss a drowning man a lifeline and I will be eternally grateful.
I try to come up with an original entry everyday, the hope is that readers will enjoy their daily fix and encourage others to come join the fun. Maybe the readers would click on a few of the links on the right side of the page so that we generate a bit of revenue for the cause. Hope springs eternal.
Posted by Scott at 9:11 AM | Comments (4)
August 4, 2005
In praise of drum brakes
We all know that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. Even small children know that the Moon orbits the Earth. And everyone knows that disk brakes are much better than drum brakes. Common Sense, Conventional Wisdom, Accepted Practice are all names for the type of knowledge that we all collectively know. But every so often we learn that what we have always thought to be absolutely true is in fact completely wrong. At one time we thought that the Earth is flat, that traveling faster than 20 miles per hour will cause suffocation and that tomatoes are poisonous. And there are a few select instances when drum brakes are a better choice that disk brakes.
Drum and disk brakes differ in a variety of ways; generally speaking, disk brakes are lighter, dissipate heat better and resist fade better than drums. Once considered exotic technology that migrated from aircraft applications to racing cars in the 1940's. In the 1950's only exotic foreign cars were available with disk brakes although such classics as the Mercedes Gull Wing 300SL did not get factory disk brakes until the production was nearly ended in the early 1960's. Front disk brakes did not appear of US domestic cars until the mid 1960's as an extra cost option. By the early 1970's front disk brakes became the accepted norm and disk brakes on all four corners became the standard for most luxury and performance cars by the 1980's. But even to this day rear drum brakes are common on lower priced cars and trucks with four-wheel disk reserved for upscale and high performance cars.
Nearly all forms of race cars use four wheel disk brakes unless the organizing body decrees that production based race cars must use the same type of brakes that came from the factory. Amongst the car modification hobby, it is considered essential to replace rear drum brakes with much more stylish rear disk brakes. And consumers are willing to pay extra for the perceived advantage of four wheel disk brakes, and they will identify a car's performance potential by the presence of four-wheel disk brakes.
All the evidence seems to point to the undeniable fact that disk brakes are superior in every regard. Except when they are not.
Large cars need large brakes. And large brake drums are heavier and less efficient than large disk brakes so disk brakes still retain an advantage over drum brakes. But smaller cars can use smaller brakes and small drum brakes are actually lighter than small disk brakes. Strange as this may seem, the rear drum brakes and all the assemblage required to make them work are lighter than the total collection of parts needed to make rear disk brakes work on small Honda Civic-sized cars.
But the braking advantage of rear disks would negate the weight disadvantage, right? In actuality the rear brakes on the majority of street cars contribute very little to the car's stopping power. Most street cars have as much as 60% of their total weight over the front wheels and the forward momentum of a car in motion puts even more of the car's total weight over the front wheels. The rear wheels are relatively un-loaded during stopping and can not contribute much stopping power under the best of circumstances. That is why the rear brakes are the first to lock up during a panic stop. In street driving, rear drums are perfectly adequate for all driving conditions, and that is why manufacturers have no problem selling cars with rear drum brakes. It is only consumer demand that drives the sale of so many cars with rear disk brakes, the average driver will never notice the difference between rear disks or drums.
Before consumer demand began to dictate that manufacturers sell performance cars with four-wheel disk brakes it was common for sports cars to come with rear drum brakes. You might be shocked to know that the original Datsun 240Z came from the factory with rear drum brakes, albeit the drum brakes were aluminum rather than the usual cast iron. The aluminum drums were lighter and they dissipated heat almost as well as the disk brakes.
And the American Muscle Car crowd is very hesitant to adapt rear disk brakes to their drag racing cars. Not just because they seem to have a phobia of adapting current technology to their nostalgia-mobiles, but because drum brakes have no parasitic drag when released while disk brakes rub ever so slightly even when not engaged. For drag racers who only use their brakes once at the end of a long straight, the lack of total braking power that drums suffer is not a disadvantage.
The advantages of disk brakes over drum brakes are numerous. Disk brakes are the only choice for the hard working front brakes of any street car and rear disks can be an advantage in the rear for some cars. But it is not universal that rear disk brakes are always superior to rear drums.
Posted by Scott at 10:44 AM | Comments (2)
August 3, 2005
Time and its use
Scientists who subscribe to the Big Bang Theory tell us that the Universe is about 14 billion years old and that Planet Earth is about 5 billion years old. Humans, as we know them, have walked upright on the Earth for about 100,000 years and the North American continent has been inhabited for about 15,000 years.
That means that the average life expectancy of about 77 years for Americans is just a blink of the eye when compared in the context of the great scope of all existence. We are only given a finite amount of time in the course of a lifetime; when our term is over we are gone for a very long time. The way we spend our time as conscious beings is very important; it seems a shame to waste even a single moment.
The philosophy of time use is important to both the professional mechanic and the At Home Mechanic. For the professional mechanic, and the repair shops that employ them, time use is a component of what they charge the customer. Every repair facility charges the customer on the basis of the parts required for the job, plus the amount of time it will take to complete the job as broken down in 15-minute increments. A job as simple as replacing a burned out tail light will take less than 5 minutes, but the shop will charge the minimum labor charge of 15 minutes plus the cost of the part being replaced. If the shop is charging you $75 per hour for labor, that fifty-cent bulb cost you $18.75 in labor to replace at a professional service facility. If there is a Great Karmic Ledger of Time Use, the time a professional mechanic trades for a paycheck goes down under the general heading of Business.
But for the At Home Mechanic time spent in the garage working on a car goes down on the Great Karmic Ledger of Time Use under the general heading of Pleasure. I say "general heading of Pleasure" because there are subsets of time spent in the garage that also can be classified as Frustration, Confusion, Pain, and ultimately, Education. Yet the time spent in the garage that may not seem like Pleasure at first still falls under that general heading because the ultimate conclusion of time spent with your car usually ends with a pleasurable conclusion.
Pros work much faster than amateurs; they have the advantage of the just the right tools, the right parts and the right training to get any job done in time efficient manner. The At Home Mechanic may not have the right tools, he may have forgotten to get that tiny but essential part that is required to complete the job, and he is learning as he goes. If a job like changing a timing belt takes a pro two hours you can figure that it will take the At Home Mechanic at least twice that time... the first time he does that job. Even with the best set of instructions from a Factory Service Manual, the rookie mechanic will have a learning curve to overcome.
My feeling is that rushing through a repair job needlessly is wasting an opportunity to spend quality time with my car. Time spent working out the cause and the repair of an automotive problem is an intellectual challenge that must be savored. If you are making good progress on your project there is no reason to hurry. If you finish quickly, it only means that you will have to move on to a job on the never-ending Honey Do list.
Posted by Scott at 6:08 AM | Comments (0)
August 2, 2005
New Honda Engine
Honda has announced a new line of engines for the Civic for the upcoming model year. Based upon their successful K-series of engines, the new Civic engine will expand in displacement from 1.7 liters to 1.8 liters, gain an increase in horsepower and fuel efficiency, all while reducing engine parts by about 10%. Wow! What a break through in engine design. How did they do that? Maybe Honda did it by rediscovering an engine design from nearly 20 years ago.
We do not have any hard details at this time; Honda prefers to withhold the specific information until the new engines go on the market. But I have a pretty good idea how Honda increased engine efficiency while decreasing the number of parts required to put the engine together. And I expect that the Honda marketing folks are going to be challenged to make the public understand how less is more.
The current Honda K-series engines are a double overhead cam (DOHC) design with electronically controlled variable valve timing. An excellent design and one that appeals to consumers who desire the prestigious DOHC design; but there is room for improvement. The two cams per cylinder bank and the four valves per cylinder of the DOHC design allows great flow through the combustion chamber, particularly at high rpms. But the parasitic loss of having to spin two cams and open four valves costs the engine some efficiency, particularly at lower rpms where the typical street car operates.
Back in the early 1980's, Honda offered a D-Series Overhead Cam (SOHC) engine that had three valves per cylinder which was considered unusual for its time. The two intake valves gave great breathing characteristics and the single large exhaust valve created just enough backpressure to build great low end torque for stop and go driving. Engineers loved the engine, but the public greeted it with a yawn. It did not have the "sexy" DOHC design and was not easy for consumers to grasp its unusual design.
Honda eventually dropped the three valves per cylinder, SOHC engine design as the public voiced a desire for DOHC engines. Honda happily supplied the public with what they wanted and has sold hundred of thousands of DOHC engines around the world.
Recently Ford has introduced a successful series of SOHC, three valve engines that power the new Mustang amongst many other cars and trucks. The inherent efficiency of this design is too great to be ignored and I expect that more manufacturers will seriously consider bringing similar design to market.
And with this in mind, I expect that the new Honda Civic engine will also feature the SOHC, three valves per cylinder design. And those of us who always like the quirky design of the old Honda engine will be vindicated after all these years.
Posted by Scott at 7:33 AM | Comments (124)
August 1, 2005
Racing Tastes
Why do Americans prefer to go around in circles, except when they are going in a straight line? Why is it that the rest of the world prefers to wander aimlessly? And what does horse racing have to do with car racing? All these questions relate to the way Americans enjoy motor sports and how we are different in this country from the rest of the world.
America is the land of wide-open spaces, vast miles of prairie stretching beyond the horizon. As the country grew new highways were laid out in straight lines, unimpeded by mountain ranges. In the interest of efficiency, natural barriers like ravens or bodies of water were bridged or filled top keep the new roads as straight as possible. New cities were laid out in rectangular grids of straight boulevards. To Americans driving across the country or across town, roadways are mostly straight lines running off into the distance. Certainly, there are sections of winding twisty roads in America, but the vast majority of highways in the US are largely straight lines.
In Europe, roads were built along natural contours rather than across them. Highways are built upon ancient and traditional routes that meander across a landscape that is less than uniform. Although modern European and Asian roadways are world class and nearly as straight as American highways, the majority of driving is on winding roads that twist through the country side.
As we drive, so we race. Americans see mostly straight lines on their roads and so they prefer to race in straight lines. Racing illegally from stop light to stop light in the cities, it is not hard to understand how drag racing became a popular sport I the US. In Europe and Asia, crowded cities did not lend themselves to straight line racing in an urban setting so drag racing did not emerge as a popular choice. Instead, Europeans tended to race cars out in the countryside from town to town on public highways. The sport of rally racing has emerged in Europe and Asia as a popular choice because it more closely resembles the type of performance driving found in those countries.
To make a business of auto racing, it is necessary to enclose the grounds and charge admission. While purpose built race car tracks were rare in the early days of racing, there were plenty of horse racing tracks across the US laid out in an oval shape with a ready built grandstand. Nearly every county seat in the country has a fairground that lent itself to early auto racing in the US. From that tradition, it is not hard to understand why oval track racing like NASCAR has ascended in the US as the motor sport of choice.
Horse racing in Europe is very different from the US; over there a horse race is likely to be run on turf (grass) rather than plain dirt and include leaping over hedgerows which is not suitable to auto racing. As Europeans were used to driving on twisting highways, their purpose built auto racing tracks reflected this type of driving with seemingly random swings in direction from left and right plus elevation changes.
Racing is a reflection of the way in which the general population drives. If your reference as a driver is long straight roads, you are likely to be drawn to racing that mimics that type of driving. NASCAR's oval tracks are as close as possible to replicate the US driving experience within the confines of a racetrack. Formula 1's twisting tracks reflect the typical driving experience of Europeans and Asians and that is why it is so popular in those areas.
Posted by Scott at 9:29 AM | Comments (2)