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What are Strut Bars and Anti Sway Bars?
January 20th, 2007 by Shenron
A mounting strut bar (also known as strut tower bar or strut brace) is designed to bring together the two opposing strut towers as a single solid unit. It is one of the most common aftermarket upgrades on a modified car. The function of strut bars is to reduce the bending ability or flex that the two opposing strut towers experience during hard cornering.
Normally, the car’s strut towers normally flex when taking a turn – resulting body flex and traction lost. Strut tower bars are engineered to prevent or resist this flexing. They distribute and balance the pressure applied on one strut tower to both towers when the vehicle is taking a turn. This keeps the wheels in position and in desired position on the road and improves traction.
Strut bars are usually a must to any car upgrade or modification. It is recommended especially if the upgrade concerns a wider tire and wheel combination. It should be installed to minimize the chassis flex resulting from suspension upgrades such as sports strings, shocks, and shock absorbers. Strut bars help reinforce the sub frame and improve chassis firmness as well as make steering quicker and more responsive.
Strut bars install in minutes and look great and shiny. It is most recommended that during installation, strut bars should be placed as rigid as possible for optimum performance.
On the other hand, sway bars (or anti-sway bars, anti-roll bars or lower tie bars) greatly influence the handling ability of the vehicle on the lower end of suspension. It ties the lower suspension components together across the front or back and affects a car’s over steer and under steer. Sways bars keep the vehicle flat or stable in turns instead of leaning over to one side. They help distribute and balance the pressure from one side of the car to the other side during the turn, preventing it from leaning over to one side. The vehicle will still lean some, however, but not as much. Sway bars also provide better cornering especially at high speeds and works well in combination with strut tower bars.
When deciding to take a car upgrade involving strut bars and anti-sway bars, it should be kept in mind that these can also have adverse effects in off-road situations by leaving one tire completely off the ground.
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What is Spring Rate?
January 16th, 2007 by Shenron
Spring rate refers to the amount of force necessary to compress the spring. It is usually measured in pounds per inch or kilograms per centimeter.
An example is a linear spring rate of 300 pounds per inch. For every inch the spring is compressed, it exerts 300 pounds (lbs). A typically progressive non-linear spring rate is one that the force applied increases exponentially. For instance, the first inch exerts 300 pounds force, the second inch exerts an additional 350 pounds (for a total of 650 pounds), and the third inch exerts another 400 pounds (for a total of 1050 pounds). This contrasts with the linear spring exampled above, which if compressed to three inches, would render only a total amount of 900 pounds.
In automobiles, a system of strings, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels is called suspension. This system serves a dual purpose which contributes to the car’s handling and braking for active safety, driving pleasure, and keeping occupants comfortable from road noise, vibrations and bumps.
Spring rate refers to the stiffness of the spring that determines how soft or stiff a vehicle will ride. Vehicles which carry heavy loads like trucks are typically built with heavier and bigger springs. This compensates for the additional weight which could collapse the suspension to the bottom of its travel or stroke. Bigger and heavier springs are commonly used in high-performance applications where the suspension experiences heavy loading in the corners. Spring rate is frequently a bargain between drive comfort and better handling.
The spring rate of a coil spring may be calculated by a simple algebraic equation manually or programmatically, or it may be measured in a spring testing machine. Spring rate (K) is equal to wire diameter (d) to the fourth power times spring modulus 12.000.000 all divided by eight times the number of active wraps (N) times diameter of the coil (D) cubed.
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What are Performance Air Filters?
January 12th, 2007 by Shenron
Performance air filters in the market today are designed for many applications. They offer better performance and protection to automobile engines. They are built especially to become environmentally-safe using quality foam plasticol seals, high efficiency, filter media and superior, pleat design. The said automotive air filters are stronger, safer and seals better. Some even are designed to increase horsepower and acceleration while providing excellent filtration.
There are two major types of performance air filters used in automobiles: the cabin air filter, and the combustion air filter.
Typically a pleated-paper filter, the cabin air filter is placed in the outside-air intake for the vehicle’s passenger compartment. Some of these air filters are rectangular in shape and others are uniquely shaped and designed to fit the available space of the vehicles’ outside-air intakes. This filter is often overlooked and clogged, considering it is a recent automobile addition, and may significantly reduce airflow from the cabin vents, as well as introduce allergens into the cabin air stream if left unclean.
The combustion air filter, on the other hand, is rectangular in shape. It prevents coarse particulate matter from entering the engine’s cylinders, where it would cause mechanical deterioration and oil contamination.
The elements used for performance air filters include paper, foam, cotton, and oil bath. Pleated paper air filter elements are the common choice for automobile engine air cleaners because they are efficient, cost-effective, and easy to install.
An example of performance air filter is the air filter element with three inlets known as cone filters. These are designed and manufactured for a wide variety of applications and is suitable for almost all types of automobile, making it a type of universal filter. Another is the air filter element with 4.25 inlets which have specifications as follows: The outer and inner screens are made of tuff chrome plated steel. The base structure, the angering fastener, and the pipe clamp are made from stainless steel. The foam material is reticulated polyurethane. The proprietary foam processes to resist water and harmful chemicals. It has a low air resistance and high flow rate.
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What are Exhaust Systems?
January 10th, 2007 by Shenron
Exhaust systems transport burnt gases and residues from internal combustion engine through its exhaust pipes. The main purpose of exhaust systems is to reduce the pollutant constituents of the exhaust gas generated by combustion in the engine. The remaining exhaust gas is then discharged as quietly as possible at a convenient point of the vehicle. The engine power should be reduced as little as possible during the process.
A typical car exhaust system consists usually of three major components: the catalytic converter, the mufflers, and the exhaust pipes.
The catalytic converter is usually used to reduce air pollution. It serves as an exhaust gas cleaning device for spark ignition and diesel engines. It is attached as close as possible to the engine so that it can quickly reach its load temperature and therefore be effective in urban driving. It is integrated as supplementary equipment in place of the front muffler.
One or several mufflers are used depending on the size of the vehicle and the engine. The left and right cylinder banks are frequently run separately in V-engines – each being fitted with its own catalytic converter of muffler, and only brought together at the end of the vehicle in one large muffler.
The third and last components in the exhaust system are the exhaust pipes. They combine the exhaust-gas outlets in the cylinder head into one or more pipes, and connect the one or more catalytic converter and the mufflers to each other. The length, the cross-section of the pipes, and the junction type used altogether influence the vehicle’s performance characteristics and acoustic behavior. Vehicles with larger swept volumes are usually equipped with twin-pipe exhaustion systems. The pipes, the catalytic converter, and muffler are connected to the main body of the system by means of flanges.
The entire exhaust system is connected with the underbody of the vehicle via flexible suspension elements. The fitting points must be carefully selected to prevent vibration from being transmitted to the bodywork that will generate noise in compartment. The exhaust system noise at the tailpipe can also cause framework resonances.
Other related components of exhaust systems are: the manifold, which is an assembly engineered to collect the exhaust gas from the multiple cylinders and combine flows into one single pipe; the header back, which refers to the portion of the exhaust system from the outlet of the header to the final vent to open air; the turbo back, which refers to the portion of the exhaust system from the outlet of a turbocharger to the final vent to open air; the cat back, the portion of the exhaust system from the outlet of the catalytic converter to the final vent to open air; and the tip.
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What are Torsion Bars?
January 8th, 2007 by Shenron
Torsion bars, also known as torsion beam suspension or torsion spring suspension, are simply springs that compose the vehicles’ suspension systems. A torsion bar is piece of material which when distorted tries to return to its original position. One end of the long torsion bar is attached to the vehicle chassis. The opposite end, which is fastened to a pivot perpendicular to the bar, terminates in a lever that is attached to the axle of the suspension arm. The bar’s torsion resistance neutralizes vertical motions caused by the wheels as it rotates along its axis. The flexibility of a steel bar or tube, twisting lengthwise of torsion bar suspension provides spring action. The length, diameter and material of the torsion bar are the determinants of effective spring rate.
Torsion beam suspensions enable easy configurability of ride height. It is durable and small profile along with the width of the vehicle. Unlike leaf spring systems, torsion beam suspension provides longer travel and takes up less of the vehicle’s interior volume compared to coil springs. However, it cannot provide an increasing spring rate, forcing designers to bargain between handling and riding quality. Though progressive torsion bars are available in the market, these types have a tendency to crack where the diameter of bar changes – therefore losing durability.
Torsion bars were first incorporated on some vehicles to provide automatic leveling that respond to changes in road conditions. The early prototypes of Volkswagen Beetle, prior to World War II, incorporated tension bars to compensate its traverse mounting style. This system was applied to many war vehicles and was used extensively in European cars.
Torsion bars are installed both front and rear parts in the vehicle and interconnects them to improve riding quality.
Trucks and SUV’s from Ford, General Motors and Dodge currently use torsion bar suspensions to balance between lighter and heavier engine packages and allow adjustment of the ride height.
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