Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies 373
| Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies | |
| author | David Vespremi's |
| pages | 384 |
| publisher | Wiley & Sons |
| rating | 9 |
| reviewer | Donour Sizemore |
| ISBN | 0764571427 |
| summary | Presents the big-picture view of car mods that have to do with making the car stop, go, turn, and keep the occupants safe. |
In general, I steer myself and others away from the "for Dummies" book series since I believe a lot of material at this level can be found on the internet for free. HOWTOs and tutorials abound for using and modifying most consumer products. In this case, the time saved from filtering online discussion is well worth it. The book is well organized, with separate sections devoted to handling, power, braking, engine management, safety, and cosmetics. There are 26 chapters spread across 360 pages. As you can see, chapters are short and can be tackled easily during lunch or a short taxi ride to retrieve your broken car.
Slashdot readers may be surprised to learn that there is no discussion of entertainment electronics such as stereos or car-mounted computers. This should not be confused with engine management units (ECU). ECUs are discussed at length. Car Hacks & Mods for Dummies main focus is making your car go, stop and turn. Sections were added for safety and cosmetics, but performance is by far the emphasis.
The book does not actually explain how to do any specific modifications whatsoever. Instead it serves as a guidebook to learn what options are out there and compare one upgrade path to another. For example, there is a great explanation of the differences between a turbocharger and a supercharger, but you're not going to get an analysis of the mods required to support your brand new 10.5cm hotside. Instead there are careful treatments of the pros and cons associated with almost any upgrade car car enthusiast may be considering. The coverage of jargon and rating systems used for various products is especially useful. Whenever a new subject or car component is mentioned, the author goes over regulating and standardizing bodies (the DOT, EPA, and SAE) as well as explains how parts, pieces, and fluids are rated. While this is useful when thinking about a new project, it isn't the information someone would want to rely on once they begin such an undertaking itself. The author clearly states, "this book is not intended to be an instruction manual."
The author gets high marks for addressing safety -- both the driver's and the vehicle's -- before any modification. The emphasis on maintaining legal and effective safety devices on a tuner car is something you are not likely to get during an argument about which upgrade path is optimal, nor is it obvious that many safety 'upgrades' -- 4-point harnesses, flashy roll-bars -- actually decrease driver safety when used on the street. In addition the author consistently gives warning when introducing a mod that could put added stress on a vehicle.
If you are a professional mechanic, this book is not for you. You already know most of the contents. Mechanics would be better served by product literature and shop manuals. If you are thinking about modifying your car, but don't have any idea where to start, this is probably a good place. Just be sure to read the first chapter. Car modding quickly becomes expensive, and jumping in without knowing the attached costs (which this book addresses) can be a financial nightmare.
You can purchase Car Hacks & Mods from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Spoliers! (Score:5, Interesting)
What about the non-ricer? (Score:5, Interesting)
So my question is, does this book cater to the pocket racer crowd or will I find any good information for my 347 cid hot rod station wagon?
Obligatory diy-efi.org link (Score:2, Interesting)
Right now I'm working on a GPL'd bin editor, and once that's done I'll be working on a PROM burner that works in Linux.
Oh, I should add a link to www.moates.net [moates.net] as well, since he makes lots of cool stuff like PROM emulators and USB programmers. Craig's gonna kill me...
Warranty (Score:1, Interesting)
Here is the article:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp
What about the... (Score:2, Interesting)
Jeep Enthusiasts! [4wd.com]
Fuel Efficiency (Score:2, Interesting)
Unfortunately, there's no source for after-market parts or chips that can do this, which makes me sad.
Re:Noises (Score:2, Interesting)
That's it, you are out of the hacker club! :)
There are different levels of mods.
Beginner - bolt on the exhaust and make vroom vroom noises. Do you really want to pay someone $70/hr to install this?
Intermediate - replacing engine components - camshaft heads; Bolting on superchargers. Almost everything in kit form. Requires an investment in tools (Sear Craftsman - not too bad)
Advanced - Fabrication! Welding in roll cages (maybe even bending them yourself). Welding up your own exhaust because no one makes it off the shelf and you can't afford custom ($3000). You find yourself asking what the hydraulic ratio of a particular brake master cylinder is. You know you are at this level where part of your long term plans is to repaint the car "when you are done". Lets just say tool costs have gone up a bit. $3000 for a TIG welder, $1000 in tube bender (including dies), about $1000 in saws, grinders, shapers, and real car hackers of course have the modified tools - example - a band saw that can cut pre-bent tubing perfectly along radiuses. Other clues are being on a first name basis with the sales and tech people at companies like OTC, Miller, and Kent Moore
There's an old hotrodder saying "Nothing beats cubic inches"... and the lesser known other half... "Except cubic dollars"
Natural fit (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm the first to admit that I know very little about modern cars. Just as with computers, however, there are things that seem to make sense but can be bad for your cars. I'm still in the fix it stage -- trying to put a car back to complete stock condition. It's almost like restoring an old Atari ST or Amiga to full functionality. E.g., the other day it took me a couple hours to change the front fog lights. The bolts had frozen up and grime had covered one of the screw holes so it wasn't immediately obvious how to remove them. After lots of cleaning I got them off, changed the bulbs, and got the housings repainted. The second time around it was a fifteen minute job. So, like learning some weird bash shell construct or new awk script, it was satisfying.
For air-cooled VWs... (overclocking a putt-putt) (Score:3, Interesting)
the best place to start might be the local car club. The folks in the club can direct you to race tracks that have a fairly large VW contingent. Go to these tracks and talk to people - drivers and builders - in the pits (but don't be a nuisance).
Years ago I was fortunate enough to find a VW shop run by a) a close-to-retirement gentleman who had everything and knew everything and b) his assistant who drag-raced VWs professionally (i.e. for money). Through them I bought an engine w/ the following specs:
1835cc (stock is 1585cc, also called a 1600)
044 heads, 40mm intake and 25mm exhaust [stainless] valves with high-RPM valve springs
an Engle 120 cam, 294 degrees duration and .435" lift
a pair of Weber 48IDA carburetors, velocity stacks only - no air filters (I was young+stupid but it seemed like a good idea at the time)
:-) - is that a book might help in certain areas, but the real in-depth knowledge usually comes from people who are already doing what you want to do. These folks can help you be sure the whole will be better than the sum of the parts, or at least that the individual parts will work together satisfactorily.
The carbs, heads, and cam worked together to make rather a lot of midrange to top end power. I ran a 16.65 quarter mile but had trouble getting first and second gear to hook up. (The tires were 195/50-15 street radials.)
Anyway, the point - besides a bit of bragging about my old car
DIY is good (Score:3, Interesting)
If you put your car into a "Kwik-fit" type place for an oil change (£15 oil change offers are pretty common in tyre and exhaust centres round here) then that is all they will do - change the oil. No oil filter (or a cheap shitty one if you're lucky), and the cheapest, crappiest oil they can get away with. Now, I use fairly expensive oil (about a tenner a gallon), and real, genuine, Citroen-approved Purflux filters, which costs me about £15-£20 (I don't know exactly, because I usually wait until I need about £100-worth of stuff for various jobs and buy the lot all at once). It takes about 30 minutes of actual work to change the oil (I take the oil and filter off, let it drain for an hour or so while I clean the car, then refit the plug and filter and fill up again). Half an hour and twenty quid, and I know the job's done *right*. Same thing with the hydraulic system - every 10,000 miles (should be 30,000 but the oil was very gunky when I got the car), out goes the shitty old stuff and in goes a gallon of fresh, green LHM. Next time I'm going to bleed the brakes and steering block, because I didn't do that last time, so it'll take about an afternoon, but once again I'll know it's done properly.
There's something very satisfying about knowing you can fix very nearly any problem that crops up with your car...
Re:Car annoyances (Score:3, Interesting)
And I thought it was Yamaha that designed the engine
Physics behind the FWD wheelie bars (Score:3, Interesting)
The amount of rearward weight transfer is a function of CG height, wheelbase and longnitudnal acceleration amount - that's it.
The resultant pitch ANGLE that the sprung mass adopts as a result of the weight transfer is a function of weight transfer, pitch stiffness (driven primarily by spring rate) and jacking geometry (anti-squat) and you'd be suprised how many people confuse pitch angle with weight transfer.... anyway...
The amount of grip produced by a tire is a function of the normal load on it - more load, more grip - and when accelerating, weight is transfered rearward, reducing the grip on the fronts and increasing the grip on the rears. If you are a FWD, this is bad news, as the harder you accelerate, the more weight you lose from your drive weheels, the less grip you get.
You can change springs all day, and you can't change this fact. You CAN change the pitch angle, but not the weight transfer amount.
But by attaching wheelie bars, when the bars contact the ground the wheelbase lengthens - and a longer wheelbase actually REDUCES the amount of rearward weight transfer. Tada! Magic!
Where some cars were getting into trouble though is that the wheelie bars tend to be pretty close together, which give a narrow track width - the analogue of wheelbase, but in roll. The front tires, being low pressure slicks, are very soft in roll as well. So if something happened to induce a roll movement (like a steering input) there was very little force to oppose the roll, and the car would suddenly hook in a random direction. VERY directionally unstable. Much more exciting for the driver than is probably healthy.
DG