TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by Koenigsegg_Rox »

Well then how come they're portrayed as two completely different paintjobs in prostreet?
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

Koenigsegg_Rox wrote:Well then how come they're portrayed as two completely different paintjobs in prostreet?
Because EA are idiots. Or they needed a fancy word and thought nobody would notice.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by Koenigsegg_Rox »

Yeah that's a pretty decent point....
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by TONTO89 »

lol thanks to everyone who answered my question I think I get it now.
alot of my searches came up with both being pretty much the same thing so I think thats a pretty good assumption
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by xHaZxMaTx »

Rightio, 'nother question about shifting techniques. Everyone who knows how to drive a car with a manual transmission knows the routine: Gas in, clutch out, accelerate, gas out, clutch in, change gear, gas in, clutch out, repeat. However, I did some experimenting, tonight, with the use of the gas while shifting. If you're quick enough and you time it just right, you can disengage the clutch, shift and reengage all without letting off the gas. This will leave your engine free to rev up to higher RPMs (you'll have to be careful not to redline, obviously) while you're shifting, and when you reengage the clutch in the next gear, you get a little boost from the higher rev.

So I'm wondering two things.

1.) Would this actually give you better overall acceleration than revving the engine up to the shift point with the clutch still engaged and shifting traditionally?
2.) Is this technique in any way harmful to either the clutch or transmission?

Edit:
Ah-ha! Once again, Wikipedia has proven its usefulness. Apparently what I just described is known as 'power-shifting' and from what I've read, there's no short-term damage or overly-significant long-term damage if you do it right; "This helps the car accelerate faster, but increases the wear on the clutch and the transmission beyond normal levels and shortens the expected life on those components." But, hey, that's what happens when you drive your car hard, ja? :P
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

Shifting like that could possibly give you a boost in acceleration, but you are punishing the clutch in the process.

Drive properly you dolt :P

Edit: Don't be fooled by what you read on Wikipedia. Although there will not be any short-term "damage", abusing the clutch will make it overheat and start slipping. Then you won't be going anywhere in a hurry.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by xHaZxMaTx »

Obviously you wouldn't do that in every day driving and only when you're trying to accelerate fast, and same could be said for down-shifting (which puts the same/similar stresses on the clutch, I would assume) while braking to 'decelerate', which I haven't actually seen anyone knocking as a braking technique, so would it be safe to assume that both techniques can be used sparingly without worrying too much about the health of your clutch and/or transmission?
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

Really, you also shouldn't use the clutch to slow down the car.

For regular driving, first you brake to slow down (the brakes are there, use them) and then select a lower gear after the car has slowed down enough. You don't need to drive like a grandpa, but don't treat the clutch as a brake.

Even engine braking is looked down upon by some people (not as in going-down-hills engine braking, but heel-toeing through every gear), and I partly agree. I just do it because it's fun, but really you should just use the brakes.

Brake pads are easy to change, clutch is not so easy.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by steelsnake00 »

boganbusman wrote:Even engine braking is looked down upon by some people (not as in going-down-hills engine braking, but heel-toeing through every gear), and I partly agree. I just do it because it's fun, but really you should just use the brakes.
I've always used engine braking and clutch control to control my cars. I've never seen any real drop in clutch life compared to anyone else I know, and my cars certainly used to spend a fair bit of time on the dragstrip or on the track.

As far as I'm concerned, clutches are consumables in the same way brake pads are.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

Brakes should be able stop the car effectively without any other assistance. That is their job.

I fully understand what you're saying though. Yes, the clutch life may not be affected, and the way you want to drive is entirely up to you, but from a pure performance standpoint there is no need to rely on engine braking to slow the car down.

And although clutches and brake pads are both consumable, which would you rather change out?
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by steelsnake00 »

boganbusman wrote:Brakes should be able stop the car effectively without any other assistance. That is their job.

I fully understand what you're saying though. Yes, the clutch life may not be affected, and the way you want to drive is entirely up to you, but from a pure performance standpoint there is no need to rely on engine braking to slow the car down.

And although clutches and brake pads are both consumable, which would you rather change out?
Brakes are able to fully and effectively stop the car, but using the clutch to control speed is something I was always taught to do. It's as effective under some circumstances, moreso under others, than using the brakes.

I'm a masochist so enjoy craning out engines. Give me the clutch, please :mrgreen:
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by RSZETEC »

I use engine braking all the time, its good in a track situation aswell as youre using the engine to slow the car down aswell as the brakes you dont need to use as much braking as you would just letting the revs die so you dont get as much fade :D

anyways anyone know anything about tuning diesels as i may be getting a vectra 1.7TD soon and have been told you can get really good gains from turbo diesels nowadays
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by steelsnake00 »

RSZETEC wrote:anyways anyone know anything about tuning diesels as i may be getting a vectra 1.7TD soon and have been told you can get really good gains from turbo diesels nowadays
Big gains can be made from using front mounted intercoolers and improved software. If you want to go all out, strapping on a large turbo from a diesel truck is often a laugh, but don't expect it to be responsive.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by RSZETEC »

funny you should mention bigger turbos as today i was having a conversation with someone who is able to aquire a holset turbo off a railway shunter now i have no idea what kinda boost thats gonna run but i imagine itll be laggy as hell


do the N reg vectra's(as in the isuzu engined ones) have an ecu? i thought maybe the fulelling just needed turning up
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by Zero260 »

So I'm trying to get some shtuff done this week to the old 'Lude while I'm on break. A little tune-up. Here's my list:

Oil change
Spark plugs and wires
Brake pads (maybe resurfacing the rotors if I can find a place to do it cheap)
New battery (my damn intake is rubbing against it and it's a mess... due for a new one anyways)

Any other suggestions for what I can do on my own or with a friend, that doesn't cost too much? Also, being the noob I am, I could use some advice on what brands to use and what not.

Just got a new radiator, so no need for a flush. My timing is a bit off but I don't want to bother going to a shop to get that done (at least for now).

I'm trying to get my car in decent shape so I can move on and start buying some parts from my massive parts list.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

You can adjust the timing by yourself, and without a timing light. It just takes a bit of trial and error.
Slightly loosen the 2 or 3 bolts that hold the dizzy on and turn it a bit in either direction (while the car is running). See what happens to the engine, you will notice it running rougher and smoother as you turn it back and forth. Actually first of all you should mark the dizzy (with a pen or something). Then if it all goes wrong you can just put it back where it was. When you think you've got it in a good spot, tighten the bolts back up and go for a drive. If it runs smoothly without pinging, try turning the dizzy a tiny bit more and keep doing this until you get ping, and then back it off again slightly. This should be pretty close to ideal timing. Make sure the car is at operating temp when you decide on the final adjustment.
If this sounds too hard then just go to a mechanic, they won't charge you much for a timing adjustment since it takes only 5 minutes.
Also, if you find that the dizzy has been adjusted all the way to one side and the timing still seems off, you may have skipped a tooth on the timing belt. Just something you should be aware of.

Obviously you should make sure the rest of the ignition system is working well before you do this, so go ahead and change the plugs+leads. It's also a good idea to take off the dizzy cap and clean up the rotor and the metal things in the cap (don't know what they're called lol). Replace both if they look crappy.

More things:
- was the thermostat changed when you did the radiator/coolant?
- check the big bushes on the rear suspension trailing arms, it's very common for these to be cracked/split on Hondas (assuming that you have them, not all Hondas have the same setup)
- when the car is jacked up, grab each wheel and shake it up/down and left/right to see if there is any freeplay
- check the air filter, and if the fuel filter hasn't been changed in a long time then do that too
- is your car auto or manual? check the fluid either way
- flush and bleed the brake fluid when you do the pads

That's about all I can think of for now, let us know how it goes.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by Zero260 »

Sweet, the timing thing sounds easy enough... I've seen it done before. I'll give it a shot. But what do you mean by ping?

Thermostat was changed.

I have a cold air intake... Air filter could use a cleaning though, thanks for the reminder.

Yes, it's a manual (come on!). There's no dip stick, and I could never find the damn drain plug or where to fill it. Guess I'll do some research real quick.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by steelsnake00 »

Pinging (AKA knocking) is when the fuel/air mixture in the engine either detonates prematurely, or detonates too late. It's a sign of the timing on the engine being significantly out. Advancing or retarding the timing can be advantagous to performance under certain conditions, but do it too far or at the wrong time and it will "ping" and potentially damage the engine
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

Yeah, if the car was turbo'd then I wouldn't recommend that he play around with the timing by himself, but since it's only n/a there isn't too much risk that he will break something. Just gotta be careful.

When it pings it will sound like something is rattling around inside the engine, as if someone just dropped a couple of loose bolts in there, and the higher the load on the engine the worse it will sound. So the best way to check for ping is to drive up a hill in a high gear and give it the boot (or pile all your mates into the car, that works too).

With the tranny, the drain plug should be easy enough to find but there isn't always a fill plug. Sometimes you need to remove the speedo drive and fill it from there. Read around on Honda forums and I'm sure you can easily find out about it. Just make sure you find (and loosen) the fill plug BEFORE you drain it, otherwise you could be stuck with no fluid in the 'box.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by steelsnake00 »

To follow on from Bogan's explaination, running timing that's too retarded on a turbocharged engine eventually damages sensitive items such as wastegate springs, turbocharger hotsides, cats and other exhaust components as retarded detonation increases exhaust temperatures to undesirable levels. Premature detonation can potentially shorten the lives of injectors, valves, seats and springs.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by XCROSSX »

What is a 4AE engine in terms of Toyota? Specs please?

Also, is there any R32 Skyline with the steering wheel in the left side?
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

XCROSSX wrote:What is a 4AE engine in terms of Toyota? Specs please?
You mean the 4A-GE?
XCROSSX wrote:Also, is there any R32 Skyline with the steering wheel in the left side?
Nissan never made any, but you can get one that's been converted to LHD if you have the $$$.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by Koenigsegg_Rox »

...And quite a few $$$ you'll have to have.
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by Carcrazy »

This 100% isn't thread worthy, and I'd feel like I douche double-posting in my car's thread, so...

I'm hoping to install the bluetooth and iPod systems in my car tomorrow, (no way in hell am I going to pay someone else to do it. They're not TRD parts, they don't carry the car's original warranty anyway.)

Well, a simple question: what's the best thing to use as a panel remover? I'd use a flat head without second thought but the car's got some rather soft plastics on the dashboard, and any little nick I give it will drive me crazy until the day it dies.

(I remember watching my brother work on his bucket back when he was a little older than me... he jimmy-rigged almost everything, to the point where the electrical system fried itself. The plastic panels in the hatch started falling off willingly because he'd removed them the wrong way so many times - but this is a story for another day.)

The point is, I don't want to screw it up. I actually broke my iPod because I didn't want to wait 5 days for the right tools to ship to me to take it apart, and now I'm worried about this. Other than that, I've got everything I need within 10m of me.

Thanks for the help! ^_^
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Re: TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

Post by boganbusman »

There are proper tools you can get which are made from plastic, but I usually find that a small flathead is enough. Wrap the end with masking tape if you're worried about scratches.

Toyota dashboards are usually fairly easy to pull apart. Just remember to pull off all the knobs for A/C controls first, and be careful with any plugs/wires that may be attached to various switches.
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