Aircraft vs. Car

Too Small?

The World According to Jim’s Garage

While realtors are burying statues of Saint Joseph in the hope of making a house sell and the stock market and hedge funds are hanging on the hope that the Fed will drop the interest rate by a quarter of a point let’s look at how the world is changing under the influence of motor vehicles.

Green is the color most talked about these days and we don’t mean paint.  It is like an evangelistic fervor has swept across the car manufacturers like a pandemic.  Will it be hybrids?  How about all electric?  Will Ethanol replace the need for tortias?  How about bio diesel?  What happens when oil reaches (or exceeds) $100 a barrel?

The unions have settled with GM and Chrysler with Ford not far behind.  It appears that population growth and peoples ability to live beyond what the actuarial tables predicted a couple of decades ago (albeit with the help of the medical industrial complex) has forced them to adjust to the financial liability and the realities of their own business future and reduce if not eliminate pension and medical obligations that once were deemed as irrefutable as the U.S. Constitution.

In Japan Hummers are a big thing.  They spend more than $100,000 for the H1 civilian version of the military IED magnet.  The governor of California made them popular as a “my car is way bigger than yours” vehicle in the early 1990’s but lately with the reality of fuel costs and the new “green” image the governor must adopt, the sales of these vehicles have slacked of considerably in the U.S.   Not so in Japan.  With most streets barely able to handle motorcycle traffic attempting to navigate the beamy H1 is more than a challenge.  Most parking garages don’t have the headroom to park an H1 either.  Filling up the fuel tank of an H1 takes about $115 in Japan compared to about $90 in the U.S.  Owners have a yearly gas guzzler tax burden of $1000 on top of everything else.  GM no longer sells the H1 so H2 and H3 models are proliferating.  At least they are easier to park.

Hundai has been making quite an impression on these shores by vastly improving their product and warranty.  KIA, on the other hand is struggling.  This is something that concerns Hundai since they own 38% of KIA.  I always wondered if someone ever explained to KIA just what that means as a three letter acronym in American English.

The multi-national oil companies are now focusing on Asian nations as the traditional large consuming nations of European and the United States demand moderates.  India and China will be growth areas for the next few years.  At least until the “Green Technology” religion spreads over the world and it won’t be long in happening.  It will not take China long to wake up to the fact that petroleum as a commodity is limited and getting more expensive with every passing month. 

Back to Japan.  Toyota is bipolar in its leadership’s stated goal of cleaner and safer cars, while lobbying the government of Japan to build and expand the highway system so Toyota can sell more cars.  It seems that consumers are fed up with the congestion and are either opting for micro cars for urban travel or giving up on personal transportation all together.  Of course everyone is waiting for the availability of Nissan’s GT-R 500 hp super car.  Meanwhile GM is investing heavily in green technology for the China market.  China’s light vehicle sales are expected to grow from less than 6 million this year to about 11 million over the next seven years.  You won’t see that kind of growth in the U.S. market.

GM has been revamping its IT systems to cope with world wide manufacturing and fulfillment demands.  Eliminating waste in its design and manufacturing processes has been the goal of GM’s CIO and it looks like he has achieved that lofty goal by reducing the number of systems from 7000 to 2500.  GM no longer designs cars based on brand or geography.  Mid sized vehicles are all designed in Germany while they are manufactured in facilities across the globe.  Compact cars are designed in Korea and similarly manufactured and sold world wide.  As a result, GM design engineers move 150,000 data files across these global systems daily.

Did you know that horns on cars in India must be louder than those sold in the United States?  What does that tell you about the infrastructure and transportation systems in that country?

SAP, Inc. lost an executive to the green technology revolution.  Shai Agassi has a new view on electric cars and how to make them viable competitors with traditional petroleum fed transportation.  He looked at the battery and decided that it should no longer be viewed as part of the car.  He said that his company would buy and own the batteries and charge a monthly fee to recharge the batteries.  Much like fueling up with gasoline an electric car user would pull up with nearly depleted batteries and get a new set rather than waiting to have them recharged.  This perspective removes the cost of the battery from the purchase price resulting in a very cost attractive alternative.

What do I think about all this green technology evangelism?  I think that petroleum will continue to be a valuable commodity that, once it reaches $100 a barrel, will have severe impact on the world economy. 

I think diesel fuel is the ideal bridge to more efficient and “greener” technologies yet to come.  It immediately provides a 30% boost in fuel economy and can take advantage of biodiesel as it becomes more available.  Biodiesel has the advantages of reducing emission while providing enhanced lubrication properties.  It has a competitor called Renewable Diesel that is a derivative of animal fats and hydrocarbons.  While it can be transported via pipelines and shows improved ignition properties, it has somewhat higher emissions than biodiesel.

Hydrogen power is a dead end solution.  As a gas it is difficult to have a distribution infrastructure built at reasonable cost and presents problems in terms of containerization in vehicles.  Maybe fuel cells make it a little more practical, but I doubt it.

Ethanol is alcohol produced from corn in the U.S.  I am told that sugar cane would provide a better grade of ethanol, but since we decided that Cuba was our worst neighbor back in the 1960’s corn has taken over as this nation’s sweetener.  The problem with ethanol is that while it is a high-octane fuel with low emissions, it produces at least 30% less energy than gasoline per volume.  It is difficult to transport via pipelines and competes with a food crop.  Keep in mind that corn is used as feed grain, a source of high fructose corn syrup (Americas replacement for cane sugar), as well as basic food for humans.  Do you want to eat or drive?

Electric powered vehicles would be a way to provide fun and exciting transportation since the distribution infrastructure is already there. Electric motors provide maximum torque right from the get go and braking can be used to regenerate the electrical energy.  Battery technology is constantly improving, almost as quickly as computer technology does.  We just have to find something to make the neat power noises that gasoline engines do.  Maybe they can use wire wheels and we can clip baseball cards on to make zoomy noise.

Volvo P1800 – 2.6 million miles – photos

Thanks to Noel for these photos he took at a local Swedish Car Show.

Evolution MR Suspension Swap

A good friend of mine bought a 2006 Evolution after owning one of the sweetest 1998 Eclipse GSX cars ever.  He bought it new at the local Mitsubishi dealership just a few months ago.  Since Mitsubishi did not make a 2007 Evolution he picked an Evolution IX in a beautiful blue. 

While he certainly likes his performance he also likes some creature comforts so he did not opt for the MR version and instead picked up one with leather seats, sun roof, and subwoofer.  Since it was purchased he has carefully shopped eBay and picked up nice add-ons such as the Mitsubishi gauge cluster that comes on the MR and most recently an MR suspension.

The standard Evolution has a fantastic suspension that provides excellent cornering, but the MR version comes equipped with Bilstein shocks and springs (struts on the front) that not only provide enhanced handling, but also a far less jarring ride.

My friend loves his Evo, but had a bit of envy of my MR’s suspension and its more civilized ride.  He checked with Mitsubishi on what the parts counter would sell the MR springs and shocks for and it came in at about $2200. 

So when I saw a used MR suspension for sale on eBay I forwarded him an alert.  He was lucky and consummated the purchase for about $500.  Such a deal!

Yesterday we put his car up on the lift and went to work. 

First off we had to remove the subwoofer and all the trim from the trunk area.  I did that while he loosened the wheels.  Pulling up the spare tire cover revealed the bolts and single screw that held the subwoofer in place.  There was a connector to undo at the top of the subwoofer case and the assembly could be removed.  Next was all the grey cloth-like trim.  The pin clips that Mitsubishi uses work fine, but they are a royal pain to remove without losing the center pins that lock the clips in place.  You have to gently push the center pin in far enough to release the clip without pushing the pin all the way in and losing it as it finds its way into the crevices of the body folds.  I was lucky on some, but many were lost in the body work. 

Then we loosened the nuts on the top of each of the rear shocks and did the same for the front struts.  Up went the car on the lift and my friend pulled the wheels off while I rolled in under the rear with an air gun to remove the bolts securing the lower shock mounts.  I also had to unbolt the control arm from the rear hub so I could rotate it out of the way and pull the shock/spring assembly straight down after my friend removed the top nuts completely.

There is a small rubber ring that was taken off the top of the old assembly and moved to the new Bilstein assembly.  This provides insulation between the top of the shock assembly and the mounting point in the trunk.

It was then just a matter of my holding the assembly in place while my friend tightened the nuts from inside the trunk.  Once those were finger tight I could rotate the lower control arm back in position and bolt it back together along with the bottom of the shock.  With both sides in we tightened all the bolts and nuts we had taken off.

Then it was time to tackle the front strut assemblies.

With air tools it is quite easy.  I just undid the nuts on the two bolts that hold the lower part of the struts to the steering knuckle.  Then I wiggled the bolts out of their holes as my friend undid the three nuts holding the top of the strut in place.  There is plenty of room to take the assembly and move it out of the wheel well. 

My friend handed me the Bilstein assembly and then guided the unit from the top while I pushed from the bottom.  From the engine compartment he could guide and rotate the strut bearing assembly and its three studs into place.  I held it up while he put on the three nuts and tightened them up some.  Then I put the steering knuckle in place and inserted the two bolts. 

We would have to get the car aligned after all this, but I spent time moving the steering knuckle so that as much negative camber was pre-loaded as possible. 

All of this was repeated for the other side and then everything was tightened up. 

My friend mounted the wheels back on his car while I put the trunk liner and subwoofer back in.

We are fortunate to have an independent tire installer in our town that not only has the most modern and accurate alignment equipment, but he also has no problem with non-factory alignment settings.  It helps that he also drives road racing tracks with his own race car.

My friend drove his Evolution back to his house so it would be off the road until he had his alignment scheduled.  But just those few miles showed him that the car’s ride was vastly improved.

Bud Ekins

Another great stunt driver is gone.  Bud passed away October 6.

Anyone who has seen “The Great Escape” and “Bullitt” has seen the work of Bud Ekins.  He doubled for Steve McQueen often and was a good friend, receiving a large part of McQueen’s motorcycle collection when Steve passed away in 1980.

Bud founded the Baja 1000 race and held many records in the early 1960’s.  He competed in the World Motocross Grand Prix circuit in Europe in the 1950’s.  He was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

He taught many of the movie stars in and around Hollywood how to ride motorcycles.  You can see his work in movies like “Animal House” and the “Blues Brothers”.

Bud was one of the many amazing stunt people that get little recognition.  Check out www.imdb.com and look up all the movies he was involved in, often uncredited.

Fast Cars Driven by Fast Drivers

CRT | Amazing fast driver kills 31 cars in ONE lap!

What I really like about this is the driving…

Tango via YouTube

Tango EV Electric Sports Car

Here is a video of the Tango with a presentation on the attributes.

Green Cars – You can Tango with this one

 

The world is always in a state of change, but as car enthusiasts we often roll our eyes at the “green” cars that come out.  Sure we understand that oil won’t last forever, that emitting CO2 is a bad thing for everyone, but gee whiz, we sure enjoy our spirited driving.

GM had the EV1 that looked so promising and then became an anecdote. No one was allowed to purchase the car so when GM decided to call it quits they gathered them up and crushed most of them.  I just hope they didn’t delete all the engineering knowledge that had been gained.

There was the Honda Insight, and now the Toyota Prius is the darling of the tree huggers.  Every car company that can is finding a way to slap the hybrid label on some of their vehicles.  It is better than no one trying I suppose.

But there is someone REALLY trying.  Commuter Cars Corporation of Washington state has ten prototypes of their Tango distributed world wide.

It is reminiscent of the Messerschmitt post WWII two-passenger car in terms of layout.  It is a narrow 39 inches wide and 8′ 5″ long to allow it to park perpendicular to the curb.  It is all electric, but don’t feel that owners will have to sacrifice performance for going green.  The T600 will have 0-60 times of 4 seconds.  Sure it is narrow, but its center of gravity is not as high as it looks.  The majority of its weight is kept at the wheel line so stability is on par with most low slung sports cars.

Current battery technology keeps its range at about 80 miles, but a ten minute quick charge will provide 80% of a full change and therefore add another 50 miles of cruising.

As well as being stable it has a roll cage constructed that meets SCCA and NHRA regulations.

It has rack and pinion with Cadillac CTS collapsing steering column and Momo steering wheel.  The Sparco seats have four point seat belts.  The suspension is trailing arm rear and unequal length A-arms and coil-over Bilstein shocks on all four corners.  It uses Acura Integra front brakes and Scorpio rear brakes with integrated parking brakes.  Wilwood makes the master cylinder.

The T600 will have drive motors at all four wheels with 1000 lb./ft. of torque.  Hold on because this has a top speed of 150 mph.

The car is designed to have a practical life of 50 years through extensive use of stainless steel and recyclable materials.  The car is designed so that as components are updated on newer models the older versions can be swapped out of the existing cars easily.

Six Tangos have been sent to San Francisco, two to Washington, one to Idaho, and one to London.

Volvo P1800 – What do you do after 2.6 million miles?

 

I’ll be frank and let you know right from the start that I have little or no love for Volvos.  With perhaps a single exception (a sedan from the 60’s that Noel owned) I have found them to be needlessly heavy, abominable in terms of handling, and expensive to repair.  The last characteristic was welcome from a mechanics point of view.

None-the-less, Irv Gordon of Long Island, New York, has managed to put over 2.6 million miles on his 1966 Volvo P1800. 

Irv says that he spent three hours road testing it prior to purchasing it in 1966.  Maybe he had visions of Roger Moore driving it in the British TV series, “The Saint”.  He suggests that the goal should be to buy the best quality car you can afford and one that is comfortable since you will be spending a great deal of time in it to rack up millions of miles.

So what did Irv do in order to achieve that kind of mileage?  First and foremost he doesn’t eat or smoke in the car.  He keeps it clean inside and out, underside and top side.  He maintains it just as the owner’s manual dictates, placing his faith in the fact that the engineers who designed the car know best.

One thing this car did not see was a garage.  Irv doesn’t have one.  So for 41 odd years this car sat out exposed to all the elements of the northeast along with a good deal of salt air from the nearby ocean.

Irv says, “The car is driven daily summer and winter, through snow, ice, rain, etc. It has never failed to take me where I wanted to go and never broken down en-transit. I guess those engineers really knew what they were talking about regarding service schedules. After all, a machine is only as good as the service it gets.“

He does an oil change every 3000-3500 miles and uses a factory Volvo oil filter.  The points (remember what those are folks?) and spark plugs are replaced every 20-25,000 miles.  Filters and belts are replaced as necessary, and the mechanical fuel pump is changed out every million miles or so.  The carburetors have their bushing replaced at about 900,000 miles and that is about the same time the oil cooler is replaced with a new one.

Irve insisted on an engine rebuild at 680,000 miles, but that was the last time.  The transmission fluid is changed per the owner’s manual at 25,000 mile intervals with multi-weight gear oil.  The third gear synchro has been replaced as well as the transmission seals, but other than that, it has been trouble free.

Naturally the body has had to deal with being out in the elements for so many miles, but all he has had to replace are the rocker panels and some of the rear wheel arches many miles ago.  Of course there have been the dings and dent that parking lot provide, but all in all, the body has stood the test of time remarkably well.

As I’ve said before, tires are the most important part on your car and Irv has consistently used Bridgstone Potenzas for the past 36 years.  He finds them the most durable tire and able to deal with the variety of weather conditions daily driving in New York provides.

When the car past a million miles in 1987, Volvo gave him the keys to a new 780 Bertone Coupe.  He recently sold it to a friend in Holland.  It had 470,000 miles on it and “ran like new”.  Passing the 2 million mile mark Volvo gave him a new C70 coupe.

Here, in his own words, Irv sums up why he keeps his car:

Why trade in or get rid of a car that continues to provide safe, comfortable and dependable transportation, all with timeless good looks? I cannot see any reason to sell the car or trade it in for a newer model. Don’t get me wrong, I love my new Volvos and I love AC, power everything, a wonderful stereo and lots of power, but my 1800 has become more than a part of me. I am divorced from my ex-wife, but my car seems to still love me so how could I be so cruel? Most likely I will pass on while in that car. Perhaps I can be stuffed and put behind the wheel and the two of us can be together in some museum one of these days. The car has given me a new meaning to the word “retirement.” If I were to sell the car, I would not get invited to anything fun or anyplace interesting any longer. No one would want to see me. After all, the car does all the work and I just go along for the ride.