93 replies to this topic

[1stGenRex]

On the radiator note, if one has a small leak the best and cheapest method of fixing it is black pepper.  Just get one of those cheapy mccormock shakers and dumps some in the filler neck.  Pepper does not dissolve and will just collect at the hole and close it up.

and since gas is so expensive, keep in mind that properly inflated tires can save you a TON of cash at the pump.  I check mine once a week.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

HA i already said that!!!

[3gencivic]

i forgot to ask about the gas over filling too. let us know on that. i have alway gone more then the first click i try not to spill but once in a while depending on the trigger i get to much. i can get about 1-2 bucks more in.

[GIFF]

i think my fuel line is kinked because when i have almost an empty tank. i'll put in like 3 gallons and it will click. but thats a different problem.

ok back on topic.

[bigk3000]

8. If your battery terminals are heavily corroded, use soap/water to clean them and use dielectric (sp) grease to coat them.  No more corrosion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As an electrician, for aluminum contacts I use an anti oxidant called "permatrox" available at most hardware stores. This will stop corrosion of your battery terminals.

[Ryland]

#1 Nitrogen in your tires insted of air will make last longer, larger molicules so they don't leek out as fast, disapate heat faster, doesn't rot the rubber from the inside, and it doesn't exspand and contract with hot and cold as much so your tires don't go flat in the winter.

#2 Silcone II calk (not everyone carrys it) protects electrical contacts, like on batterys from corrosion by forming a compleat air tight seal, and it can be cut or peeled off easly when needed.

#3 Foam air filters can be more effective at traping dirt, and alow more air to pass then a paper air filter, while being washable, thus saving your engine from that fine road grit in the air.

#4 Cars are solid, two solid objects can not ocupy the same space at the same time.

#5 Getting an alinment done is good for a number of reasons, it saves you gas, saves your tires, makes your car handle better, and you have a 2nd person looking at all your car for problems that you might have missed.

#6 Pencel erasers are your best friend while cleaning electrical contacts.

[3gencivic]

#? expandafoam a good light body fill. easy to work with less time to curry and esay to snad ,paint no excess wieght

[JayK]

ABS does not always make u stop faster in some cases it can make you stop slower, it is give better braking control and not lock the wheels up. sometimes u can stop faster lockin it up

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When would locking the brakes and making the tires slide make you brake faster? I guess if your tires still had pretty good grip, they may stop faster, but it doesn't make sense, at least to me, that sliding the tires to a halt would ever be more effecient than a steady level of braking.

Please educate me though, what do I know? I just got this from a magazine.

And for 3gencivic, what other car had it's ABS fail on you?

[Surestick]

ABS will probably stop you faster that locked wheels but not as fast as wheels held just on the point of locking up.

Most drivers can't brake that accurately, especially in an emergency and it lets you steer while braking so the ABS gives better performance for most people short of race car drivers in an emergency stop situation.

[Greg Gauper]

A locked tire has less available traction than an unlocked tire. The reason is that when you lock up a tire, the localized temperature instantly climbs to the point where the tire actually liquifies, the result is a skid mark (well...two actually if you check your underwear ). The available grip of the locked tire continues to drop off. Plus a locked tire cannot be steered. An unlocked tire at threshold breaking provides the greatest stopping power. The tire continues to rotate and is able to dissapate the heat generated from stopping so grip stays constant.

That said, some of the car magazines like Road & Track have published tests with and without ABS and there are some rare cases in which a locked wheel will stop quicker than threshold braking. It occurs when you are on an unpaved road or something similar with a loose sand or gravel surface. What happens is the locked wheel actually 'plows' into the loose surface and digs in. Similar to those 'escape roads' in the mountains when trucks loose their brakes. There were also some cases when ABS equipped cars would get confused such as on a cobblestone road, or if racing on a circuit in which the cars get unloaded over a rise.

That said, for 95% of the time a car with ABS will stop quickers than a non-ABS car. The real true advantage of ABS comes into play when you have a surface with uneven traction, such as near a shoulder with gravel on one side and pavement on the other. The ABS keeps the side with less traction from locking up. Other wise the car would spin.

[jay_blu1983]

if you put bleach on your tire's it will give you awsome grip for a short pierod like one ax run..

forgot if you use revirse osmosis deionised water in you raid you wont get any deposits.

Edited by jay_blu1983, 02 December 2005 - 10:49 AM.

[JeepGirl]

Wow! very good info greg, i learned something! i had no idea abs could tell if there were 2 wheels on the road and 2 on the soft shoulder.

side note: i crashed a 2001 ford ranger on the TEST DRIVE due to abs brakes.... i know it sounds dumb but it happened, i was looking to buy this lil ford truck, the dealer gave me a plate for the weekend and said come back on monday to write things up... winter was really bad, side streets badly rutted. first time driving a stick in the winter in 7 years. anyway, i go to shift from 2nd to 1st coming up to a stop sign at about 10kph, the rearend slips out of the ruts, i'm going sideways and theres parked cars. i'm dancing all over the brakes. rear wheels pop back into the ruts only to have the drivers side springs unload thier tension and the rear shoots out the ruts to the passeneger side.... i'm now going 3 kph the front wheels pop out of the ruts and i end up hitting a parked 78 suburban with a push bumper and a winch at about 3kph... at the last second just before i hit it i saw a lil tiny ambre light on the dash flash once, ABS. i had been driving it like it had standard brakes, pumping the shit out of the brakes to remain in control of the truck, i had managed to confuse the ABS. the sales guy never once said anything about abs, and there was nothing inscribed on the truck anywhere to denote that it in fact had abs brakes. you can even look at the cluster in those trucks and you wont see abs anywhere, its behind smoked plastic and it only lights up when the abs is active. anyway, the truck was toast, pushed the front end in about a foot, i drove it back to the dealership (a block away ) they said everything was kewl and they were happy i was ok. then 2 days later his manager calls me and tries to stick me with the $1000 deductable on thier insurance, i call my lawyer, tell him what happened, he calls them back and tells them that they never said anything about abs and i thought it was all standard like the sales guy had said. they never bugged me for money again, yet still tried to sell me the truck after it came back from repair FOR THE SAME PRICE!!!. the guys suburban i hit.. he was outside on his balcony smokin a dewb and saw the whole thing. he even said it wasnt my fault. funny thing, the ford was mangled, yet i didnt even move any snow off the suburban when i hit it, it took no damage. the guy that saw it thought it was the funniest thing sence adam sandler he was laffin so hard.

anyway, yeah, i hate abs, i'm oldschool. tough lesson learned. and it wasnt even my first time using abs.

Edited by JeepGirl, 02 December 2005 - 11:05 AM.

[Greg Gauper]

JeepGirl,

An ABS car doesn't 'know' that two wheels are on slick surface and two wheels are on a dry surface. What the ABS does know (via sensors built into the hub assembly) is that one or more wheels are not rotating as fast as the remaining wheels and adjusts the braking pressure to that individual wheel (or wheels) to keep it from locking up. BTW - The same sensors are also used on some cars for traction control and some controllers actually apply brake pressure to a spinning wheel to regain traction. Some high end cars (BMW's & Caddy's come to mind) also use the ABS controller to provide 'stability' control in that they have additional sensors that are able to measure the 'yaw' of a car to determine if it is sliding/skidding in a corner and can apply the brakes to a specific set of wheels to regain control. This feature is also one of the first that get's turned off or deactivated when these cars are raced (such as in SCCA's T2 class) since this feature makes the car slower.

And yes, it is difficult to unlearn old habits. The best way to learn is to go into an abandoned parking lot after a snow storm and just get used to hitting the brakes as hard as possible and let them do the work.

Biggest problem I have is when I switch from my daily driver (non-ABS) to my wifes car (with ABS). I have to unlearn my brake control technique. And hopefully I don't get too used to it when I switch back to my car (Oh Cr@p!!! This is the car without ABS!!!)

But then, I also find my left foot reaching for the clutch pedal when I drive her car and after 2 or 3 blind stabs I remember that her car has an automatic

As far as liking or disliking ABS, I would have to honestly say that I prefer it.
SHOCKING! HERESY! How can a racecar driver admit he prefers ABS to a non-ABS car?

Simple. When I'm racing, I'm 100% completely focused on what my car is doing, and once you are driving at the limit of the car's ability, you are constantly focused at that level. And the surface condition of the track is pretty consistant from lap to lap (unless it's raining or somebody dumps a motor on the track).

But when I'm driving on the street, in my daily commute, in an unexpected emergency situation, I would suspect you are more likely to encounter a condition in which the available grip on two sides of the car are not the same, such as swearving to avoid something and having two wheels on a gravel shoulder and two wheels on pavement...or on a rainy road and having two wheels on a worn, oily surface and two wheels on a rough surface so that the available traction on one side is reduced. In a non-ABS car, all you can do is reduce the braking to all of the wheels to keep the the side with reduced grip from locking. But an ABS will continue to apply maximum braking force to the side that still has more traction.
Fact - The ABS car will stop quicker!

This is a more realistic 'real world' scenario.

That said, as I posted above, the biggest problem is switching from an ABS car to a non-ABS car and making a mental note so I don't forget.

It's the same problem I have when I switch from my normal FWD racecar and drive a RWD racecar. It really sucks when you forget what you are driving and you try to correct for a slide, and then you remember you're not driving that car you're driving the other one......

Edited by Greg Gauper, 02 December 2005 - 11:49 AM.

[JeepGirl]

lolz, i've done some of the same stuff, i once dropped the trans in my dads work truck by hopping out of my standard trans mustang into his auto trans chevy truck, i usually listen to the rpms and change gears when the engine tells me to, well, i tried to shift into 2nd in the highway but in an auto truck, it hit 1st gear and the trans was no more..... my dad was rather non-plussed about the whole thing as he was sleeping in the passenger seat when it happened..... our boss said not to worry, the truck was leased and he had done the same thing himself with one of the first trucks he leased fromt he same company i still felt really stupid about it, but not as bad knowing that the big boss had done it to lol

the only time i have problems switching from FWD to RWD is when its slippery out, i start to slide in a FWD car i just hammer the gas a tad to pull it out of the skid, try doing that in my hubbies lifted jeep with 33's and a 4L and its drift city! we have this one bad corner on the way home from his work everyday, its a freeflow corner thats going uphill, it doesnt get much sun during the day so it stays icy, both of us have over shot that corner and wound up crossing 4 lanes of traffic right into the 7-11 parking lot on the other side. and were not the only ones. they spent all summer trying to repair that corner so it wouldnt be so slick in the cold, but after 6months of construction its the same deal, slow down, put it in 2nd and ROLL through the turn, use ANY gas and your going for a spin..... i've seen cops and ambulances lose it on this corner while filling up with gas at the 7-11. lol

anyway as off topic as that is, heres a tip. if you live in a place that gets really icy roads in the winter, let about a lb or 2 out of your tires, makes for a slightly larger contact patch giving us NON-ABS braking people more contact with the road, you might lose a miniscule amount of milage but its worth it for the extra traction, of course if you get a HUGE dump of snow fill those tires to spec so they can cut through the snow better.

[toxicshit]

when buying a 2nd hand car:

1. The radiator fluid should be clean and contaminant-free. Remove the cap and check its underside for foreign substances as a light brouwn, foamy residue, this mousse-like coating is a sure sign that oil has contaminated the coolant system and indicates a possible blown head gasket or even worse a cracked / warped cylinder head.

2.Look at the oil on the dipstick, does it have a watery look? smell the dipstick to determine if the stuff is coolant or gassoline,when its both it can be that the cylinder walls are cracked, or a piston is bad. Try to light the dipstick oil and water wont burn , gasoline does !

3. take a good look at the Sparkplugs they should be coffee with milk brouwn colored.

4. Crack open the oil cap and take a big wiff of the underside. if the smell of burned oil fills you nostrils, the car has most likely run without oil changes.

5. use a flash light to look into the oil filler point. to check the internals if the oil is stuck onto the camshaft holders they havent done a oil change for a long time and the internals are most likely worn.

6. When you need a lock nut.. and you dont have one.. use a piece of fishing line that you loop thue a normal nut and fasten it then. Getto style home made lock nut !

[TAAGMANsCRXwithKYBs]

another tip:

In a pinch an aluminum can and two band clamps can temporarily cover a hole in a tailpipe. Entirely ghetto, but still functional. Also, if you have a stain on your upholstery or even on a metal part from something like sharpie ink, et al. It can usually be removed with hairspray (Aqua Net extra hold has worked best for this).