Recent Articles
- Home
- Ferrari California
- Tuning Shops
- Tire Changer
- How to change brake pads - DIY
- Piston - The Life of your Engine
- Ford
- Spoilers
- Fog Lights
- Alloy Wheels
- Pirelli Tires
- Tire Wheels
- Michelin Tires
- Personalized Car Plates
- Fiat
- Yokohama Tires
- The International World of Formula One Racing
- Remington Tires
- Vehicle Tires
- Car Tire Sales
- Lisbon Car Salon 2008
Archives
Saab Aero-X
August 28th, 2007 by Shenron
Gosh!
Can there be such beauties on this planet?? Even James bond couldn’t have one of these!!! It’s just out of this world. If you are checking this car out for the first time then prepare yourself for the ultimate. Its narrow look gives it the finish of a speed guzzler that is willing to wind the wind head on. After all a car has a unique personality displayed just right on its front just like a human.
Forget about the exterior get a load of the interior. It is the magnificence of digital technology combine with artistic excellence. There are just no words to describe the panel system that displays the numeric in digital format. Moreover the green light that is displayed from the panel display give you the feel as if you are seated in the aircraft. It’s a perfect Saab Grippen Canopy. This car was uniquely designed by a group of 16 aircraft engineers who through there dedication have certainly brought the Aero-X from the ancestry of jets. It’s too good to be true.
Tags: Saab
Related Posts:
The Balancing Act - Why you should balance your Engine
August 26th, 2007 by Shenron
An engine is a precise machine. Its performance and efficiency depends on the proper coordination of its internal components. If one these components break, then the engine is rendered helpless. It cannot function normally even with the slightest breakdown of one of those parts.
In racecar’s engine, where huge amount of power is generated, vibrations can beat up the engine internals. A balanced engine is necessary to avoid serious damage and power loss.
Even if engines were balanced when they came out of the factory, changing components may alter that balance. The original engine balance is normally affected with changes in pistons, rods and cranks. Though some replacement parts are lighter than the stock parts, the difference in weight whether lower or higher, still causes imbalance.
Benefits of engine balance include lowered stress value, and lesser vibrations. For the race driver, this is translated as better performance.
Crankshafts can be overbalanced. This is done mainly to minimize vibrations generated by high rev engines. High rev engines can cause severe vibrations that can crack other engine parts due to fatigue.
The objective of engine balance is to alter some components to make sure severe vibrations will only occur when engine is running lower or higher than the normal range of operation.
In engine balancing, it is crucial for the weight of pistons and connecting rods to match. They are physically weighed, but separately. However, most aftermarket performance parts are already weighted and matched.
Putting more weight or reducing weight on some areas of the crankshaft is how you can balance it. By adding metal slugs to drilled holes on counterweights of the crank will make it heavier without altering the size of the crank.
Ends of the crank’s counterweight are drilled to create holes that will reduce its weight. Another method to lessen the crank’s weight is by machining the ends of the counterweight, which will lessen the outer portion of the crank.
With the crankshaft, piston assembly, and rods balanced, the engine is now internally balanced. However, an engine can also be externally balanced. This procedure now involves the flywheel and harmonic damper. Both these components are attached to the crank while it is being balance on a machine. This time, the crank will not be touched in any way, but in order to get a balance, weights are added to either of the two components- flywheel or damper.
External balancing is not normally used in racing due to the fact that if anyone of the damper or flywheel needs replacement, the whole engine will have to be replaced.
Tags: Car Tuning
Related Posts:
Carburetor Tuning - Health is Wealth
August 25th, 2007 by Shenron
aka carburetor, carburetter, carburettor, carb or carby
There are three basic functions a carburetor must be able to perform. First, it should be able to supply fuel to the airstreams in tiny droplet forms. Second, it must take charge of how many revolutions per minute an engine should make. And third, it must be able to keep the ratio of air to fuel mixture consistent. All these functions are interdependent with each other.
In tuning a carburetor, the first thing to do is to set the correct idle speed. It is advisable to set the idle opening to minimal. There is no universal idle setting for engines. Depending on the camshaft profile, varied quantities of air are needed for idling.
Carburetor tuners usually drill holes on the butterfly valves in tuning idle speed. However, these holes are permanent so they will be a problem when you decide to use the carburetor in another engine. An alternative to this method is to place a jet on the middle of the base plate, which makes it easier to increase or decrease the amount of air. This process is referred to as idle air bypass, which is useful for big cams. The goal here is to get the engine idling at the highest possible speed, while the butterflies are closed.
Once you’ve got this done, then you can experiment with the idle screws to find the optimum idle speed. When you step on the gas and the engine does not choke, you have reached a consistent idle speed.
However, if you’re not confident with your adjustments, remember that a rich mixture is better than lean mixture. Lean mixture can cause damage to your engine, while rich mixture will only result to power loss.
To adjust air to fuel ratio, you basically have to modify the main jet. Larger jet orifice size means having more fuel in the ratio, while if jet is smaller fuel is less also.
Tuning a carburetor to get more air flowing in the main circuit should be done by carb experts or serious tuners only. Altering the air bleed will change the needs of the main jet. To get a lean mixture, you would need larger bleed. However, this can affect the function of the main circuit and change the fuel curve. This procedure is accomplished by drilling on stock carburetors, while air bleed can be replaced on race carburetors.
High-end carburetors allow booster replacements. In most cases, booster change also means changing the venturi because both should match. Both of these components are responsible in the pressure variations that bring fuel to the main circuit.
Again, to get a carburetor correctly tuned, have it done by carburetor tuners or professionals racers who are deeply technical and skilled in this area.
Tags: Car Tuning
Related Posts:
Aerodynamics and Racecars
August 17th, 2007 by Shenron
In simple terms, aerodynamics has something to do with the shape of an object affecting the flow of air to generate force. Basically, this is the reason why car or other forms of locomotion are formed and shaped as they are. Aside from aesthetic reasons, the contours of a car’s body are designed to promote better performance.
So this is why racecars are especially more elaborated and fluid in design than conventional cars. Each curve in its body has specific functions in relation to the flow of air as the car speeds up.
The flow of air surrounding a car can affect its performance. Shaping a car’s body so that the car can pass through the air with minimum amount of resistance, at the same time that air flow pushes the car unto the ground for stability, is the goal of racecar aerodynamics.
A stock car’s body creates lift once it encounters strong forces of flowing air. A typical example is when a high speeding trailer truck overtakes you on the highway, your car seems to be lifted up by the airflow created by the trailer that’s why it rocks on its sides.
With this in mind, engineers came up with accessories for stock cars to be attached to their bodies that will create a downforce when confronted with a rush of airflow. This is why body kits came into production. All the components included in the kit have something to contribute to aerodynamics.
Have you noticed that front bumpers that come with the body kits are extended way down to the ground with only few inches left? The purpose of this design is to prevent air from going down into the engine area and create resistance.
But this wasn’t enough to prevent air from going beneath the cars during high-speed runs. Side skirts and rear spoilers are added to the extended front bumper to complete an artificial vacuum setup to keep the car as close to the ground as possible. All these components were designed to keep air out from under the car’s chassis and improve handling.
There is just one issue regarding the body kits- the rear bumper. If the purpose of all three components: front bumper, side skirts, and spoiler, is to create a vacuum to get all the air out from beneath the car, then attaching an extended rear bumper will just trap the air under the car. The rear portion of the car should be high enough and not covered to such extent like the extended front bumpers.
Tags: Car Tuning
Related Posts:
Lean Mean Racing Machine
August 17th, 2007 by Shenron
As in any race, lightness is always an advantage. Choosing parts and components made of lightweight materials may be more expensive, but it can take some load off your car.
So how can you make your car lighter, yet run really fast? Putting on those aftermarket components could boost power, but they will certainly add to the weight of the car, too. Let’s look at some ways to reduce a car’s overall weight.
Changing the hood to fiberglass can take a lot of pounds off your car’s weight. Carbon fiber race hoods are even lighter. These hoods use pins to keep them in place and you have to take off the hood if you want to see the insides.
A fiberglass front bumper is lighter than stock bumpers. Getting a fiberglass bumper won’t be a problem since they are mostly in stock. And if you’re planning to get your car a body kit, bumper’s are already included.
If you want to take a bulk of weight off your car, use aluminum parts on your engine and exhaust system. Use aluminum cylinder heads, block, and even headers.
An aluminum radiator is more efficient than those small ones used in drag racings because of its full size and it lessens the weight of the car, too. Using aluminum water pumps can save you some weight also.
If you plan to have your car repainted, have all the old paints scraped off. This can make your car weigh less and can provide for a better painting result. And if you don’t mind stripping off your car’s undercoating, this can save you some weight, but it would be better to leave it as it is for protection.
Keep you car’s baggage compartment clean and organized. Take out some unnecessary things. Go for smaller accessories, which you think you really need to keep in your car.
If you can get hold of bolts, nut, brackets, and other installation necessities that are made of lightweight materials then do so. You will find that they cost a lot more than your ordinary bolts and nuts, but we’re talking about weight reduction here.
There are a lot more you can do to make your car lighter, and some of them will require you to sacrifice comfort for lightness. Like changing your power steering to a manual one, or taking off your sound system. I know that this is already a bit extreme if what you want is only a really cool powerful car with awesome interiors and great looks.
Tags: Car Tuning
Related Posts:
« Previous Entries
Tags
Tag Cloud
Car Resources
CTC Network
