Car questions you have but are afraid to ask...

[lucky]

Ok no matter how stupid it may sound ask away. I have been tinkering with cars since 1998( Wow ten years... that makes me feel old. and im only 23)
Go for it. I wont laugh.

I know the basics and a little perf. stuff.

[KitWiz4687]

have you ever seen the inside of a CVT transmission? I've always wanted to know what the kind used on a vehicle look like...
For those of you who have no idea what kind of transmission that is I can give a breif description. CVT stands for Continuously Variable Transmission, it is capable of shifting the gear ratio fluidly as it trades off speed for power based on the amount of resistance against its output. The simplest way to imagine it is it being a gear on a shaft that can change the number of teeth on itself as needed to transfer rotational energy to the wheels with as little waste as possible, anyone who has fiddled around with simple gears know that the more teeth the source gear has, the faster the output gear will turn and vice-versa.

[epion04]

http://cars.about.com/od/thingsyouneedtoknow/a/CVT.htm

This is the inside of a bike's CVT.

http://metrosouthscoots.blogdrive.com/

[lucky]

Wow someone beat me to it.
Good job.

[epion04]

So, I was bored today and began to wonder, what is YOUR preferred intake and/or exhaust?
This is brought up being I am currently in the market for an intake/exhaust upgrade for my current truck.

Everyone knows the basic K&N, flowmaster, ect ect.

What do you like?


For myself, as odd as it is, On my old 3.0L ranger, I had a cheepo $20 Raptor muffler and no cat with a K&N intake. Worked pretty well, didnt sound half bad.

[lucky]

k & N is garbage. I need to find the link to it. they had various test proving it. Not bashing you or anything.

My preferred exhaust is a catless 3" turbo back
composed of an invidia downpipe, test pipe and an HKS cat back exhaust.

preferred intake is a CAI which runs to the inside of your fender and is really close to the ground. However running a CAI in florida is a bad idea because it rains and floods too much. sucking water into your engine = bad juju

my setup now is
Complete 3" HKS turbo back exhaust
Injen Cold air intake (Need to get something else before I hydrolock the motor)

What I want to do.
Invidia down pipe replaces the HKS downpipe
Catless Up pipe
Perrin or APS intake

[SpeedFreak]

Ok so i have a 1994 Explorer right now (XLT 4 door with the 5 spd manual)...i have a few problems i cant figure out....im right now getting 12.5 MPG on avrage city driving...any idea on how to get that up alittle...like to 15ish

2nd I need help finding a new intake....and speakers...i cant find ANY that fit...its getting annoying. any idea where i can get speakers that fit and a intake that fits.

[epion04]

Well speed, here comes captain obvious to the rescue.
FIRST off, make sure your plugs, wires, cap, and rotor are in good shape. Also, take a look at the coil. If it is bad, and the rest are brand new, they still wont work worth a crap. (the coils in that series are notorious) Check tire pressure, balance and alignment. The simple stuff.

[SpeedFreak]

Well speed, here comes captain obvious to the rescue.
FIRST off, make sure your plugs, wires, cap, and rotor are in good shape. Also, take a look at the coil. If it is bad, and the rest are brand new, they still wont work worth a crap. (the coils in that series are notorious) Check tire pressure, balance and alignment. The simple stuff.

Alright I'll check that with a friend this weekend. Also I will clean out the MAF (Master Airflow Sensor) when i can kill the car for a few days

[enzia35]

Clean out whatever junk you have in the back. The more weight you're lugging around, the more energy is needed to get that sucka moving.

What are your driving habits like?

[lucky]

I can see this going into hypermiling really quick. So Im going to kill it before it starts. I hate the technique however I do have some good advice.

Me personally I dont hyper mile... its pointless on a turbocharged car. my engine is as efficient as its going to get. however there are some gas saving tricks I've picked up that threw my mpg from 320 to 360

Obviously weight. as mentioned before. less is better
plan ahead. try to time stoplights but dont impede traffic doing so

"If you really really really want to save gas I would start planning ahead.

an engine uses more fuel at idle (richer fuel trims) than in gear and slowing the car down.

Motor Trend July is my source.

reason why.

all obd2 vehicles use what call a decel cut/zero throttle cut.....it cuts fuel any time you let off the gas and the engine is above a certain rpm.

any of you that have a Wideband O2(this is an aftermarket modification that allows you to monitor your air/fuel mixture) know that cruising in gear uses Virtually No fuel.

@ idle/neutral,you car will use Stoich fuel trims(mine is around 14.7 parts are to 1 part fuel)

In fact most engines work more efficiently at higher rpms that at lower ones.

tailgating large trucks? No. way too unsafe. not to mention other cars. if your on my [censored] my brakes are getting applied slowly as a warning then hard when you do not back off.

shutting off car when coasting to a stoplight? No. You loose power to your accessories (despite what some try to tell you) not only that constantly shutting car off then cranking it back up isnt great on your battery and starter motor. you can drain a battery if you crank it up to often without fully recharging it. also hard on the cars ecu main computer cost anywhere from 800 to 5000 to replace depending on the vehicle.

Driving way under the speed limit? Really not a good idea as you actually cause others to use MORE gas not to mention your not gonna make any friends doing that. Plus most roads require you to maintain a minimum speed. And the fact you create a traffic hazard by blocking all the cars behind you can make it harder for ambulances to get by in emergencies.

Putting a resistor in the IAT to "Trick" trick the ecu into seeing a highertemp is definately bad, and in newer vehicles can actually hurt fuel economy, and under WOT can cause you to burn a hole in your piston.

Bogging down your engine is never good.

you saved 50 in gas... that piston you burnt a hole through. it cost 500 for a set. they do not sell them individually. think long and hard before you try any of the techniques your friends say work.

There are a few tricks that work for hypermiling but is your clutch, transmission, ecu, crankshaft or pistons worth the savings? note that all these parts are over $600.

the one technique that does work is keep moving and try to time red lights in your area. it has no negative affects on your car or you. just dont roll a red light or you have johnny law to worry about.

Static Friction is always higher than dynamic friction. It takes more energy to accelerate from 0mph to 2mph than it does to accelerate from 2-5mph....

Obviously weight. as mentioned before. less is better
There you have it. several techniques mentioned and only two are good and doesn't put the car, the driver, or anyone else at risk."

post I made on my live journal. I had to edit it because I had to tear into some people for posting some blatant ignorant crap.

[SpeedFreak]

after reading that im gonna give up hyper mileing... my techniques suck xD and EVERYTHING unnessesary is out of my car...i try to keep it clean. still its 5000 lb being pulled by a motor with only 150 HP and 220 ft lb of tq. 12.5 city may be bad but i can live with it as long as filling the tank is 35 dollars

[enzia35]

I'm not advocating hypermiling. I'm just saying let's not drive like teenagers who don't pay for their gas.

[SpeedFreak]

I only drive hard when on the toll road...0-70 is kinda fun

Edit: Ok so my friend got hit....now....there is a junkyard about 45 minuets from my house....do you think we could get parts there or would we have to go thru honda and pay 500 for parts?

[avwolf]

I only drive hard when on the toll road...0-70 is kinda fun

Edit: Ok so my friend got hit....now....there is a junkyard about 45 minuets from my house....do you think we could get parts there or would we have to go thru honda and pay 500 for parts?

Call the yard and see if they have the parts. They might just know. It wouldn't hurt to ask.

Most yards charge a few bucks for you to go in and look though, so if they know that they don't have the parts for sure, then you probably don't want to waste the time and money to go see. But if they do think they have the parts, it'd likely be significantly cheaper for you to go in with the tools and tear them off a wreck than to buy new parts. Though, of course, you're accepting a bit of risk of potential failure there. *shrug*