A wealth of information is available, but the data is surrounded by noise. For every knowledgeable enthusiast, there are many more misinformed or incorrect speculators whose opinions usually spring from personal preference or a need to hear themselves talk.
Instead of reading other websites or books, he should have done a AskSlashdot:)
In my opinion (a WRX), it's best to leave any mods/upgrades to the experts. If you have the money to spend on mods, you should have the money to pay for the experts' time.
Possibly true if you're just looking for getting the most performance out of your money.. If you like "hacks", though, you might want to try out some mods to your car, just for the sake of trying it, and seeing what results you come up with. You'll be much prouder of your fast car, when you've made it fast by yourself, than if you just gave it the standart expert treatment. At least with old engines, there is still quite a lot you can do on your own, and you can experiment without immediatly killing your en
Well-maintained older cars actually produce less pollution than a lot of newer cars. Strange but true (hint - the stuff from catalytic converters is incredibly nasty, the stuff from non-cat is less nasty but there's more of it). Plus, they're easy to work on, parts are cheap, and you can always get good used expensive bits from the scrapyard.
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...
What exactly is nastier that comes out of a catalytic converter? Methinks you know not what you speak of.
Other than easy routine maintenance (which is what you describe), modern cars are much harder for the average person to "fix nearly any problem that crops up."
Hydrogen Sulphide is incredibly poisonous. It's produced *only* by catalyst-equipped cars. That's what the "rotten egg" smell you get is - and ironically it's worse when the exhaust never gets properly hot (for example, when you're driving in town). The air in built-up areas was a lot cleaner in the UK before cars were fitted with catalytic converters.
I know modern cars are harder to work on, that's why I think people should get older cars. Just think of it - buy a car for maybe a tenth of the price of
It only happens when something is very wrong with the engine or emissions system. I've never smelled it in any of my cars, and only a handful of times from other cars on the road over the last 25 years.
The human nose is extremely sensitive to H2S, even trace amounts are detectable. What you perceive is a very insignificant amount. You make it sound like cars are discharging plumes of H2S - they are not.
Face it, no matter what you may think, new cars pollute much much less than any old car. Don't get
I've got figures to prove it. My 1988 2.2 litre Citroen CX, non-cat, carb-fed, big old cast iron tractor engine produces *less* CO and NOx than a 2001 VW Passat. Got both sets of emissions figures, tested about two months ago, right here on the workbench.
Well, probably specifically mine, since I spend an hour or so a month servicing it. Not a lot to pay for easy starting even in the pissing wet awful weather we've had this month (car sitting in 6" of water one evening when I finished work, because the car park had flooded), and 36mpg if I'm not being too badly behaved on the motorway. The Passat is a 2001, 1.8 litre. I don't know what its power output is, but the Citroen is 2.2 litres and around 115bhp book figures. In view of the car's age and mileage,
Well-maintained older cars actually produce less pollution than a lot of newer cars. Strange but true (hint - the stuff from catalytic converters is incredibly nasty, the stuff from non-cat is less nasty but there's more of it). Plus, they're easy to work on, parts are cheap, and you can always get good used expensive bits from the scrapyard.
I recently calculated the pollution caused the manufacture of a brand new fuel-efficient Japanese car, and the pollution caused by the horrible (8) mpg my 1979 V8
With all the fancy scientists in the world, why can't they just once
build a nuclear balm?
Noises (Score:3, Insightful)
Instead of reading other websites or books, he should have done a AskSlashdot
In my opinion (a WRX), it's best to leave any mods/upgrades to the experts. If you have the money to spend on mods, you should have the money to pay for the experts' time.
Re:Noises (Score:1)
If you like "hacks", though, you might want to try out some mods to your car, just for the sake of trying it, and seeing what results you come up with. You'll be much prouder of your fast car, when you've made it fast by yourself, than if you just gave it the standart expert treatment. At least with old engines, there is still quite a lot you can do on your own, and you can experiment without immediatly killing your en
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:DIY is good (Score:2)
Other than easy routine maintenance (which is what you describe), modern cars are much harder for the average person to "fix nearly any problem that crops up."
Re:DIY is good (Score:2)
I know modern cars are harder to work on, that's why I think people should get older cars. Just think of it - buy a car for maybe a tenth of the price of
Re:DIY is good (Score:2)
Re:DIY is good (Score:2)
Re:DIY is good (Score:2)
also what other facters are involed, size of engein, power output.
Re:DIY is good (Score:2)
Re:DIY is good (Score:2)
Well-maintained older cars actually produce less pollution than a lot of newer cars. Strange but true (hint - the stuff from catalytic converters is incredibly nasty, the stuff from non-cat is less nasty but there's more of it). Plus, they're easy to work on, parts are cheap, and you can always get good used expensive bits from the scrapyard.
I recently calculated the pollution caused the manufacture of a brand new fuel-efficient Japanese car, and the pollution caused by the horrible (8) mpg my 1979 V8