The Most Important Automotive Book You’ll Never Read

It hardly ever sees the light of day as it sits in the glove compartment.  There is not much glamour in its life with paper receipts and pens stuffed around its perimeter.  Not just taken for granted, it spends its lonely life largely ignored.

Even though tens of thousands of copies are printed up and distributed, it will never make a best sellers list.  The end of its days are likely to be spent in a recycling yard passed over by the scavengers interested in more tangible items such as valve covers and brake calipers.

Perhaps you flipped through its pages when you purchased your car and you enjoyed the fresh smell of the ink and paper that could not compete with the new car smell that wafted throughout the interior.  You might have found a page or two that held your attention for a minute or so, and then you popped it into the glove box intending to give it a good review after you had time to enjoy your first drive.

I cannot count the number of times people have asked me what kind of maintenance they should do to their car when the answer is sitting patiently in their glove compartment.  Those questions provide me the opportunity to find out how deeply buried their owners manual is.

Granted these texts are not always brimming with information that is valuable, nor are they organized with the typical car owner in mind.  Often it is a challenge to find common terms used in the index. 

Say you wanted to find out what the torque setting was for your lug nuts or bolts.  Should you look in the index under wheels?  Maybe it will be found under tightening torque?  Perhaps you will find it listed under capacities? 

The most common question that car owners have is what work is done under scheduled maintenance.  It might be listed under service intervals or car maintenance, but there is usually a very succinct matrix or table that list what should be changed, replaced, or inspected based upon the mileage of your vehicle.  There is even a definition of what “normal” service intervals are versus “severe service” mileage is.  You might be surprised to discover that the conditions that you drive under fit the definition of severe mileage.  Severe does not imply abuse either.  It just means that you need to be aware of the kinds of driving conditions and environmental conditions that will require more robust service than “normal” driving does.

Perhaps you frequently drive short trips, especially in cold weather; or are stuck in gridlock basking in air-conditioning while your cooling system and engine churn out heat.  Or you live on a gravel drive that sends clouds of dust churning out of your wheel well as it is inhaled through your air filter.  The manual can help you classify this.

There are several things that you should be familiar with as regards the car and feeding of your car.  If you ever need to have it towed you may find that your particular car has some restrictions.  All wheel drive (AWD) cars often can only be moved with a flatbed (or roll-back) truck.  Your manual can tell you for certain.

Maybe you want to change your own oil and filter.  Then check you manual for jacking points if you need to get the car up in the air.  You should also be able to find out just how much oil your engine takes, and what type of oil is recommended.  This can change depending upon the time of year as temperature will affect the viscosity of the oil recommended.

Does your car take a special power steering fluid?  Some can use automatic transmission fluid (ATF), but other makes will take a specific type of fluid.  The owner’s manual is where you can find out for sure.

Are you prepared to change a flat tire?  Do you know where the spare is stored in your car and how to get to it?  The owner’s manual will show you.

How about tire pressures?  Often this information is on a sticker in the door jamb, but not necessarily.  The owner’s manual will tell you.  It will also tell you what tire pressure the spare should be set to.

Do you know what to do if you ever need to hook up jumper cables because your battery has gone dead, or you wish to help someone else whose battery is dead?  Most batteries are under the hood, but not all.  Most manuals will tell you where to hook up the cables to ensure that everything is safe.

New cars now come with a host of electronic wizardry as well as new interfaces with old instrumentation.  One of the biggest challenges can be setting the clock when Daylight Savings Time comes into play.

The quality of writing, organization, and illustrations can vary tremendously. Some of them are less than 100 pages in length and others are over 600 and come with CD’s or DVD’s.  But they all have value and deserve a look by you, the car’s owner.  You might be surprised and discover something you never knew.

2008 Rally Schedule

For those of you outside of the United States the season starts Thursday in Monte Carlo and continues through Late November.  Sebstien Loeb will have all eyes on him as the expectation is that he will break Tommi Makenen’s record of four consecutive titles.  This will not be a given though as WRC competitors are some of the most agressive in racing.

US folks might want to drop south of the border and attend the Rally Mexico in Leon.  Check out http://www.rallymexico.com/ for information.

Monte Carlo	January 24-27
Sweden	February 8-10
Mexico	February 28 – March 2
Argentina	March 27-30
Jordan	April 24-27
Italy	May 16 – 18
Greece	May 29 – June 1
Turkey	June 13 – 15
Finland	July 31 – August 3
Germany	August 15 – 17
New Zealand	August 28 – 31
Spain	October 2 – 5
France	October 10 – 12
Japan	October 24 – 26
England	November 28 – 30

I know one reader of this forum will be anxiously awaiting the Argentina dates.

It is hard to judge what location offers the most exciting rally action, but certainly Finland is at the top of that list with drivers and locations.

If only the US television networks would provide meaningful coverage we might see a WRC event on these shores some day.

The US does have its own Rally America and it will be starting in Atlanta, MI on Friday.

Atlanta, MI	January 25 – 26
Salem, MS	February 22 – 23
Olympia, WA	April 19 – 20
Hillsboro, OR	May 16 – 18
Wellsboro, PA	June 7
Bethal, ME	July 11 – 12
Bemidji, MN	August 22 – 23
Steamboat Springs, CO	September 13 – 14
Houghton, MI	October 17 – 18

WRC 2007

Honda Civic Project

 

 This was an interesting car to tackle as it had a good deal of miles on the clock (144,000) and was used primarily as a commuter car and airport car.  What I mean by airport car is that the owner would pick this to be the one of his vehicles to leave in the long term parking lot at the airport when he would have to fly out for business.  He never had to worry that someone would ding a door or that its paint would be ruined by jet-A soot.

It was a reliable car that had been in the family since it was new and he wanted to be sure that all the required maintenance was done as well as some sprucing up.  So it arrived at Jim’s Garage.

First off I perused the service records.  Thankfully this owner kept all of them and they told of a time line where this car was well looked after.  Then I put them through a three-hole punch and into a binder so that they wouldn’t become glove compartment excelsior.

While this car had been regularly serviced there were a few items that needed to be done.  Certainly an oil change was in order and the customer supplied the Mobil 1 synthetic and I picked up a K&N oil filter.  The K&N is a higher priced filter but I find the 1″ nut they put on the bottom a guarantee that the filter won’t be stuck on by the time the next oil change comes around.

The spark plugs were pulled and they showed enough wear that they required more than re-gapping.  So a complete tune up was in order.  That meant new rotor, distributor cap, ignition wires, spark plugs, and fuel filter.  Oh yes, and a new PCV valve.

The owner also wanted the coolant refreshed.  Since the coolant hoses were original it was a good time to replace them all.  It is much easier to do that now than to wait for a hot July day when one bursts while you are trying to drive home in stop and go traffic.  I also put in a new thermostat and gasket.  I had checked the service records and the water pump had already been replaced along with the timing belt and drive belts.

At Jim’s Garage we use the Air Lift vacuum tool to fill the coolant system.  It pulls a 25-30 pound vacuum at the radiator’s filler neck and then the coolant is sucked into the void.  This does two things.  First, it lets you know that the system, its hoses, clamps, radiator, has no leaks because you wouldn’t be able to hold a vacuum unless that was true.  Second, it makes it far less likely that there will be any air pockets left in the system.  Now Honda provides a bleeder valve for that purpose, but with the Air Lift system there were never any air bubbles to bleed out.

We had talked the Civic owner into upgrading the 13 inch wheels and tires to something much better.  We found a nice wheel and tire combination on Tire Rack.  It was a 15″ Borbet Type B wheels and Bridgestone tires that would provide nice traction on summer days as well as excellent characteristics in the rain and light snow.  The price was reasonable as well and they would be delivered to the garage mounted on the wheels so all I would need to do was bolt them on.

As long as the wheels and tires were being improved it was a good time to look over the suspension front and rear.  Since the tires were going to have better grip it also meant that there would be more force on the suspension.  The ball joints and tie rod ends were visually checked for cracked and leaking boots that would signal a need for replacements.  The brakes were checked to see that there was plenty of pad life left.  The brake and clutch fluids were vacuumed out and replaced and then vacuumed bled. 

Since the new wheels would be a five spoke design it was a good time to clean up the brake calipers and drums and give them a coat of VHT caliper paint.  We found some black VHT paint that would give them a fresh clean look as they were viewed between the spokes.

It was decided that the front suspension would provide better feedback and handling if a strut tower brace and a lower suspension brace were added.  These don’t add much weight, but they do ensure that chassis flex is minimized and that provides better feedback to the driver.

The owner had asked if the ride could be improved so we took a look at the springs and struts that he had installed about three years prior.  The springs were Eibach, which we like and the struts were KYB AGX adjustable.  This is a perfectly good shock, but they were a little bit of overkill for a commuter car.  But we didn’t want to go back to a stock strut so we talked to the folks at http://www.shox.com/ and they recommended Koni Reds as a replacement.  They gave us a good price and had them to us in no time.

While we were interested in handling we didn’t want to ignore the rest of the car.  After all, you sit on the inside.  We looked over the interior and recommended that it would improve the atmosphere if we replaced the old carpet with a budget replacement of good quality.  So for about $200 we had new molded carpet to install.

That meant removing all the seats as well as the center console and then fitting the new carpet around the existing interior.  We used the original as a guide for cutting holes but made them much smaller to begin with since it is easier than trying to add carpet back to fill a hole.  Replacing carpet is a lot of work but even with a budget carpet the results are a nice smelling interior with a nice look under foot.

The owner had wondered about options for the steering wheel so we checked in with a local shop that specialized in Honda modifications.  They showed us many options but they meant that the airbag would be gone.  They also said that adapting the horn button was difficult in most cases.  So what to do?  The old wheel was showing wear and was kind of slippery now. 

We checked at a local car upholstery shop and they said that for about $100 they could install a Wheelskin.  This meant that the rim would be covered in leather which would provide a comfortable and secure grip with the suppleness of real leather.  We scheduled that for the next opening.

This car was a five speed yet the factory did not see the need for a tachometer.  We went on eBay and found an instrument cluster that fit and had the tachometer.  It is about a five minute job to unscrew the surround and pry it off of the dash.  Then the old instrument cluster unscrews and unplugs.  The new cluster uses the same plugs and mounts the same.  So in about fifteen minutes they owner had a tach along with a digital clock we also picked up.

The wiper arms had originally been black but over the years had worn to a dull metal finish.  The same for the metal on the outside of the door, just under the side windows.  We cleaned them up and gave them a fresh coat of semi-gloss black paint.  New wiper blades were also installed.

The customer had said that the rear hatch was giving some problems and sure enough, the hardware holding the gas struts to the glass had stripped and were just about useless.  The only option was to get those mounting pieces from the Honda dealer which meant they were no bargain.  The new struts were found on eBay for a better price than the local parts stores could offer.  All of this was put together and now the hatch stays up and the struts stay securely attached to the glass.

With all the fresh semi-gloss black trim items fixed up on the car the factory chrome Honda medallions looked out of place.  These were removed and sanded up so they could be painted semi-gloss black, too.

The car was given a good bath with a high quality car wash shampoo and then, after it was dried, it was given the clay bar treatment.  This prepared the paint for a good coat of high quality carnauba wax.  After all that the paint glistened.

The car needed just a little more edge to it so we added a nice black urethane lip to the front bumper cover.  It is amazing how much that changed the car’s personality.

The new wheels and tires came and were mounted and also provided a drastic improvement.  Now, instead of the tires hiding in the deep recesses of the wheel wells there was some meaningful rubber that went right out to the edge of the fenders.  It gave it a stable and confident look.  The Borbet wheels were a simple wide five spoke that really complemented the car’s personality.  The tires were Bridgestone Potenza G009 in 195/50-15 which were a big change from the 175/70-13 tires that were on the original wheels.

The owner asked if we could get them filled with nitrogen so after they were mounted on the car we went to the Nitro Fill dealership and had them filled.  The service writer and several others gathered around the car and admired the look. 

The next day we took the car over to our favorite alignment shop.  This is something that should be done every time you get a new set of tires.  That way you don’t introduce unnecessary wear into the life of the tire due to toe or camber being off.

With that we had transformed this commuter car into…a great commuter car.  We didn’t add so much bling that the owner would be concerned about leaving it in the local airport parking lot.  It would still be an economical commuter and the original paint, while shiny and clean, still had plenty of stone chips and minor door dings.  The point was not to make this a flashy show car.  Instead it is a gas sipping sleeper that the owner can jump into after a long flight home and have a fun ride back to his home.

What Has Happened to Racing?

 What has happened to automobile racing?  Like many professional sports it has become focused on the individual instead of the team.  The drivers have become personalities where it is almost more important for them to showboat than it is for them to drive.  In American football you had ball carriers that would dance in the end zone and spike the football to draw attention to their accomplishment.  Now you have drivers climb the chain link fence to wave at the crowd, or do summersaults off their cars, or do doughnuts on the track after a race. 

Maybe this is the result of the fact that most professional racing has become spec series racing.  How can you focus on a car’s marquee if they are virtually all the same?  NASCAR was once known as stock car racing.  For those of you unfamiliar with their origins, that means that the race cars used to be made from the same car you could buy off the showroom floor.  They started on dirt tracks and evolved to tarmac circle tracks so that the fans could get the best view possible.  It is important to remember that the early stock car drivers got their training eluding Federal revenue agents on winding back country roads in heavily modified cars that looked like plain Jane road cars.  What we would call “sleepers’ today.

In the early days the competitors brought all this to stock car racing.  They brought their talent for driving on the edge as well as their talent for finding creative ways to work around the rule book. 

Today all the NASCAR cars have the same tubular frame chassis and body work.  Only stickers and decals try to make them look like a Pontiac or Dodge.  Sure the engines are unique, sort of.  They are “brand” specific, but bear little or no resemblance to what you will find when you open the hood of a car in a dealership showroom.  Carburetors?  You would have a hard time finding a dealership mechanic that would know how to adjust or rebuild a carburetor.  You won’t find an ECU or fuel injection in the Car of Tomorrow that circles the NASCAR tracks today.

At one time the Indianapolis 500 was “the” racing event of the year. It was where drivers from all over the world would compete just to enter.  These were drivers from Formula One racing as well as American drivers.  The same went for the cars as you would find front engine roadsters competing with the new European mid-engined cars.  It was a magnet for technology change right from the beginning when a team decided that it would do without the extra weight of a mechanic sitting beside the driver an installed the first rear view mirror.

Today you look at the IRL (Indy Racing League) series and find that everyone uses the same car.  They use the same engine.  Teams don’t even own the engines.  They don’t get to touch them and tweak them.  That is the province of the Honda tech with the laptop. The tires are also provided from the same source.  Practice and race days you can watch as stacks of wheels and tires are mounted and distributed to the teams only to be gathered up and returned for analysis by the manufacturer after they have been used.  The analysis is done by the tire company, not the race team.  About all that the race team can do is make some chassis adjustments and wing adjustments.  Everything else is dictated by the rule books.

I remember when Indy cars all looked pretty different on race day.  Some teams would sport a set of aerodynamic devices that no one else had thought of before.  Sometimes these worked and sometimes they were a handicap that the drivers had to fight their way through.  You would find years of dramatic changes such as the introduction of turbine powered cars and all wheel drive.  There were Indy race cars that had six wheels and tires.  They even had diesel engines.  Superchargers and turbochargers were tried on four cylinder engines and V8’s.

The drivers were innovative as well.  You would find them in all kinds of racing.  The same driver that raced on weekend in a stock car could very well be found on a dirt track racing a midget and then be belting into and Indy race car a few days later.  These guys drove at Le Mans as well in Formula One.  Today drivers are seen as crossing the line if they move from IRL to NASCAR.  You don’t see them get in different kinds of race cars at all.  They are specialists.

So what changed all this creativity?  Why don’t we see this innovation today?   The reason I have been given is that all this innovation ended up turning the sport into a game where whoever had the most money would win.  Constant aerodynamic improvements required wind tunnel time and high paid engineering talent. New engine designs sucked up millions of development dollars.  Sponsorship was so vital that the days of cars painted in a country’s colors interrupted by only a circle with a number in it were gone.  Cars became brightly colored billboards selling every square inch for a price. 

Suddenly hospitality lounges became a necessity so that the sponsors could be entertained, not by their car roaring across the finish line, but by big screened TV’s and food and drinks served by smiling cuties in a private enclave where the drivers, now personalities, would laugh at their sponsors jokes and prepare for their next interview that would be conducted by an ex-model turned sports commentator.

So is this what we have to look forward to as the future of car racing unfolds?  Cookie cutter cars, and drivers that could part-time as fashion models?  I hope not.

I think there is hope for a racing environment where there is innovation and ingenuity as well as talented drivers that can strap themselves into just about anything and provide lively competition that race fans can enjoy more than the tailgate party in the parking lot.

How about a racing formula where competing teams are not constrained to participate in a spec series and yet, don’t have to prostitute themselves for enough sponsorship dollars to stay in the running?  Is that even possible?  I think so.

Just take a look at Grassroots Motorsports 200X Challenge for a model that could bring racing back to where it should be.  The concept is pretty simple.  Limit the amount of money a race team can spend in procuring and preparing their race car.  That’s it.  Basically no other limits.

The 2007 Challenge show just how creative and competitive this can become.  The budget is limited to $2007.  You can recoup up to half the budget by selling parts from their build and putting the funds back into the project.  They compete in autocross, drag racing, and are judged on how attractive and well engineered their entry is.

The Challenge isn’t about cars as much as it is about how resourceful and clever the build team can be.  Labor is free so the budget is primarily a parts budget.  If you want a good example of just how clever a build team can be then take a look at one of this year’s top entries. 

They found a Corvette C4 in Auto Trader selling for $2000 and talked the price down to $1400.  The Chevy V8 was given a boost by the addition of a pair of T25 turbo chargers.  These turbos are known by the DSM (Diamond Star Motors) crowd as the T-too small turbo that came on the second generation Eclipse GST and GSX.  They were just the right size to provide a five pound boost and more horsepower for the C4.  But that was just the start.

The name they gave their entry was the “Cheaperral”.  That is your hint.  In a brilliant move of creativity they obtained a used snowmobile engine for $182.50 that would provide the drive for and exhaust blower from an M1 Abrams tank purchased for $26.50.  Those items were installed in the passenger compartment and with some ducting they were able to generate 1000 pounds of downforce at all speeds.

While this was without question the most dramatic example of budget ingenuity, it was not unique.  All of the 2007 Challenge competitors found ways to stay within the budget and yet campaign some very impressive rides.

So why not expand this concept to the other forms of “big time” racing?  How about an IRL series that simply limits the budget allowed to be spent on car construction and development?  How about a NASCAR where real showroom obtainable cars can be raced?