Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[aDoomGuy]

I dunno... I don't trust electric vehicles. I mean we have winter here for most of the year. From October to May we should expect sub zero temperatures which means battery capacity will be lower and charging will take longer. I want a car that can charge its battery while it drives besides ...how enviromentally friendly are EV's when still much electricity is made from coal. I don't think the world is ready for electric motoring. First we should stop using coal plants and similar IMO. Cargo ships and industry is probably responsible for more pollution and destruction of natural habitats than our cars and I don't see that changing even despite of The Paris Agreement, because rich nations can just pay poor countries and increase their allowed carbon output as well as sourcing factories and stuff to the poor countries. Moving a problem only makes the richer nations look better on paper it doesn't solve the problem, which politicians doesn't seem very interested to do anyway. IMHO they're just serving the rich and using the environmental problems as a way to make them look good to voters.

[AlwaysFSX]

51 minutes ago, vetali said:

Or just replace the mowers with electric mowers.

Very hard for landscaping companies to switch over to electric, recharge time and battery capacity is what kills the switchover. Where I live they spend most of a day doing landscaping for the surrounding neighborhoods and they simply can't afford the downtime to recharge all of their equipment several times a day.

[vetali]

Just now, AlwaysFSX said:

Very hard for landscaping companies to switch over to electric, recharge time and battery capacity is what kills the switchover. Where I live they spend most of a day doing landscaping for the surrounding neighborhoods and they simply can't afford the downtime to recharge all of their equipment several times a day.

Yeah, good point. But for the Kyles that drag out the mower once a week for their 600 sqft "yard", theres no point. Where I live is like John Deere's wet dream. People buying their 5k dollar zero degree turning radius riding lawnmowers for a yard the size of a basketball court.

[AlwaysFSX]

3 minutes ago, vetali said:

Yeah, good point. But for the Kyles that drag out the mower once a week for their 600 sqft "yard", theres no point. Where I live is like John Deere's wet dream. People buying their 5k dollar zero degree turning radius riding lawnmowers for a yard the size of a basketball court.

Oh I definitely agree with you here, regular person who mows their own yard and things like that should have switched over to electric asap. Especially because it's so much quieter. Companies it'll be a lot harder.

[bcredeur97]

1 hour ago, AlwaysFSX said:

Oh I definitely agree with you here, regular person who mows their own yard and things like that should have switched over to electric asap. Especially because it's so much quieter. Companies it'll be a lot harder.

I pay someone to cut my yard. It’s about .8 acre. They charge me $50/cut which I think is pretty reasonable 

 

i don’t think I’d want to cut it myself. I rather be doing other things and paying someone lol 

 

robo mowers don’t seem like a good option yet I’d have to spend $3k on one that would only /maybe/ work properly. If my yard was half the size I’d probably try one 

 

edit: the husqvarna 450XH is what I had looked at previously. $3250 

 

not to mention I’m sure someone would try to steal it 

[atxcyclist]

1 hour ago, AlwaysFSX said:

Oh I definitely agree with you here, regular person who mows their own yard and things like that should have switched over to electric asap. Especially because it's so much quieter. Companies it'll be a lot harder.

The rechargeable ones will have to get less expensive. I just bought a standard mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine, a decent one, for $250 new. The cheapest decent rechargeable one is at least double that. My last gas mower lasted 15 years, so the batteries will need to get better too.

[jagdtigger]

On 12/27/2020 at 3:23 PM, bcredeur97 said:

That said.. fuel injection is getting cheaper and it’s not like small computers cost much? I mean you can use an arduino for engine management (speeduino for example).

Im  presuming you are talking about 2T engines. Injectors are still pricey in the long-term, carburetors will go for a very long time before need servicing and the price of parts are way below that of a new injector. And less prone to fuel quality (not dirtiness). As for ignition you only need 2 coils, one transformer, one capacitor, and one thyristor. Way cheaper than what an arduino would need to function.

 

/EDIT

And just as an interesting bit of info you can create a double clutch 2 speed automatic gearbox without electronics.

[bcredeur97]

Alignment is done. 

 

I just asked for Flyin Miata’s alignment specs, they got pretty close. 
 

went for a little joyride after through the countryside. Car feels great.

cant believe I’m done with the suspension project I never thought I’d actually do it  

 

I still need to get new leather for the seats. @Bitterhows your covers from Lseat holding up? 

edit: no why idea why the picture decided to rotate sideways, it’s just a simple portrait pic on my phone

[vetali]

17 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

Alignment is done. 

 

I just asked for Flyin Miata’s alignment specs, they got pretty close. 
 

went for a little joyride after through the countryside. Car feels great.

cant believe I’m done with the suspension project I never thought I’d actually do it  

 

I still need to get new leather for the seats. @Bitterhows your covers from Lseat holding up? 

edit: no why idea why the picture decided to rotate sideways, it’s just a simple portrait pic on my phone

Cross caster is pretty dang close to being out of spec. Its nice their machine greys out non adjustable measurements. Ours will show it as red if its out of spec and non adjustable.

[bcredeur97]

19 minutes ago, vetali said:

Cross caster is pretty dang close to being out of spec. Its nice their machine greys out non adjustable measurements. Ours will show it as red if its out of spec and non adjustable.

Yeah it was interesting that caster was off the most, FM says 5 degrees. 

 

From what I understand, the caster and camber angle are both adjusted with the front LCA bolts. So getting one right can kind of throw off the other. I can’t blame them for not spending too much time on it because they were pretty busy (I waited about 3.5 hours, the first 2 my car didn’t even move from the front parking lot lol) 
 

 

I should prob learn how to do alignments in my driveway 

[vetali]

50 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

I should prob learn how to do alignments in my driveway 

Thats only somewhat good for toe... not good for a full alignment. Problem is they likely aren't eccentric bolts so its really difficult to do minute adjustments. Honda says .50 degrees cross caster is out of spec. Looks like yours is the same. Its very borderline. Cross caster is the difference between the sides on the axle.

 

I wish I knew like anything about car audio. I am trying to do the audio system in my durango and its somewhat confusing. Doesn't help the chinesium headunit I got (pretty much the only single din carplay head unit that wasn't crazy overpriced) doesn't have any specs for output.

[Bitter]

Seats are holding up great but I haven't really driven it much yet, been a slow year.

[bcredeur97]

20 minutes ago, vetali said:

Thats only somewhat good for toe... not good for a full alignment. Problem is they likely aren't eccentric bolts so its really difficult to do minute adjustments. Honda says .50 degrees cross caster is out of spec. Looks like yours is the same. Its very borderline. Cross caster is the difference between the sides on the axle.

 

I wish I knew like anything about car audio. I am trying to do the audio system in my durango and its somewhat confusing. Doesn't help the chinesium headunit I got (pretty much the only single din carplay head unit that wasn't crazy overpriced) doesn't have any specs for output.

I guess that's true. All the inner LCA locations are eccentric bolts (unless I'm mis-understanding what you mean):
Not my pic and I think this is an NA rear but it's the same pretty much. 

Here's the inside fronts, again not my car but same (those are actually delrin bushings shown)

FM even makes eccentric bolt "locks" if you have problems with them slipping:
https://www.flyinmiata.com/default/eccentric-lock-kit.html 

Car audio is pretty dumb tbh. I've looked into it myself before, it's pretty much a marketing war and no one actually trying to make a good product (unless you maybe want to spend thousands). I hate it. Too bad you can't just rip the sound systems out of an S class or something and just use that. lol

[bcredeur97]

12 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Seats are holding up great but I haven't really driven it much yet, been a slow year.

Well that's good. I was thinking I'll get the color match closest to mine (their "brown") and do diamond stitching + ask for it to be perforated. Seems like that would look nice. Stock is just perforated (and I think I want to keep that for sure... I'm sure it makes a decent difference as far as breathability goes)

I'm just nervous as other people say they are a bit loose. My plan for that based on what I've read is to mist the insides of them with water prior to install and then park in the sun when I'm done for a while. Hopefully will make them tighten up if they are loose. Don't think I want to take a heat gun to leather and risk messing them up. 

[vetali]

8 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

I guess that's true. All the inner LCA locations are eccentric bolts (unless I'm mis-understanding what you mean):
Not my pic and I think this is an NA rear but it's the same pretty much. 

Here's the inside fronts, again not my car but same (those are actually delrin bushings shown)

FM even makes eccentric bolt "locks" if you have problems with them slipping:
https://www.flyinmiata.com/default/eccentric-lock-kit.html 

Car audio is pretty dumb tbh. I've looked into it myself before, it's pretty much a marketing war and no one actually trying to make a good product (unless you maybe want to spend thousands). I hate it. Too bad you can't just rip the sound systems out of an S class or something and just use that. lol

Not what I meant but if they are eccentric then it should of been adjusted (green=go doesn't mean good)

 

Thats the thing with car audio. You pay premium price for low/mid range stuff. Its really annoying. Its why I am debating on just going cheap.

[bcredeur97]

2 minutes ago, vetali said:

Not what I meant but if they are eccentric then it should of been adjusted (green=go doesn't mean good)

 

Thats the thing with car audio. You pay premium price for low/mid range stuff. Its really annoying. Its why I am debating on just going cheap.

Yeah. Maybe one day I'll find a good shop with ppl willing to spend the little extra time on that. Need to find someone smaller/slower. These guys were nice but prob just didn't have the time. At least it's way better than my eyeball alignment at home after changing all this stuff lol.

I wouldn't go cheapest I can find probably but I guess just find something with decent reviews from a wide variety of people. Add a bit of insulation around speakers too, it might help some. Tech youtubers should get into car audio cause a stir in that market...

[Bitter]

Anything is car audio if you put it in a car. My Mazda runs two non car audio 8 ohm 6x9's in the back deck off a JL 300W amp but they're wired so it's a single 4 ohm load. It doesn't get crazy low but it's punch and enjoyable and can actually do about as many watts as the amp puts out before it completely starts clipping and sounding like ass. Up front I've got some car speakers uhh Infinity Kappa 5x7, no place to stick tweets so they're two way with aim-able tweets. Wired up normally to another amp of some kind that can do about 150W/channel into those. A total of about 600W RMS is possible but it's horribly loud and the volume curve on the kenwood head unit is weird so whatever. It sounds nice for what I listen to and doesn't distort at volumes beyond what I would ever listen to long term, it's good enough. Added some sound damping and stuff in the doors and other parts of the car to make it sound a little better and more solid. Doors close more like a Mercedes than a Mazda.

 

https://www.parts-express.com/tang-band-w69-1042j-6x9-subwoofer--264-837  Those speakers! Bigass voice coils, bigass magnets, decent excursion. And it's a JL 300/2 V1 driving them. It's slowly coming back to me what's in the dang car.

[vetali]

I have been looking at some polk speakers. I might go with that. First I am just gonna wire it up and see how it works with the speakers that are in it. They are very old infinitys. This thing also has the uplevel amp, but I believe its been bypassed. If it works okay then I will just slap in the polks and get an amp for a sub. Rather not have to wire into each door if I don't have to.

[Bitter]

12 minutes ago, vetali said:

I have been looking at some polk speakers. I might go with that. First I am just gonna wire it up and see how it works with the speakers that are in it. They are very old infinitys. This thing also has the uplevel amp, but I believe its been bypassed. If it works okay then I will just slap in the polks and get an amp for a sub. Rather not have to wire into each door if I don't have to.

I stuck one of these in my moms 2010 Mazda along with a whole set of the Bose audio premium speakers (minus the sub under the spare tire) and it worked out pretty well. It sounds nice and rich/full like the OE Bose system and integrated to the factory stuff just fine.

https://www.alpine-usa.com/product/ktp-445u

[vetali]

7 minutes ago, Bitter said:

I stuck one of these in my moms 2010 Mazda along with a whole set of the Bose audio premium speakers (minus the sub under the spare tire) and it worked out pretty well. It sounds nice and rich/full like the OE Bose system and integrated to the factory stuff just fine.

https://www.alpine-usa.com/product/ktp-445u

Is the input the RCA and the output goes through the stock harness? That would actually be cool.

[Bitter]

8 minutes ago, vetali said:

Is the input the RCA and the output goes through the stock harness? That would actually be cool.

It can be or it can be line level from a stock deck. I forget how hers was connected but it works well. One of the used Bose speakers has pooped out though so I was supposed to replace that when she was visiting this fall but Covid.

 

So funny story, she had her car in for some warranty work on her windows. One side switch died and the other side motor took a shit. Shortly after she said her radio was quieter on the driver side. I took a look at the car when I saw her next and found that the tweeter had vanished. Weird shit, I'm guessing one of the techs at the dealer needed it for their own car more. lol. The dealer tried to blame the sound damping material inside the doors for the motor and switch failure, but she knew better since she helped install it with me and gave them quite the stern talking to about how hard that butyl sticks to the car and that there was no way in hell that's what caused these problems and if that was the case why didn't the tech take pictures to show or they can go pop the door panel and show her where it's come loose. So they honored the warranty because they were just full of shit and didn't want to get paid warranty rate on the repairs.

[jagdtigger]

12 hours ago, vetali said:

Doesn't help the chinesium headunit I got (pretty much the only single din carplay head unit that wasn't crazy overpriced) doesn't have any specs for output.

Its cheap for a reason. You are the one who figures out where goes what. In case of a car specific unit you pay more because someone else already done that for you. You either "pay" with your time or money.....

[vetali]

12 hours ago, Bitter said:

It can be or it can be line level from a stock deck. I forget how hers was connected but it works well. One of the used Bose speakers has pooped out though so I was supposed to replace that when she was visiting this fall but Covid.

 

So funny story, she had her car in for some warranty work on her windows. One side switch died and the other side motor took a shit. Shortly after she said her radio was quieter on the driver side. I took a look at the car when I saw her next and found that the tweeter had vanished. Weird shit, I'm guessing one of the techs at the dealer needed it for their own car more. lol. The dealer tried to blame the sound damping material inside the doors for the motor and switch failure, but she knew better since she helped install it with me and gave them quite the stern talking to about how hard that butyl sticks to the car and that there was no way in hell that's what caused these problems and if that was the case why didn't the tech take pictures to show or they can go pop the door panel and show her where it's come loose. So they honored the warranty because they were just full of shit and didn't want to get paid warranty rate on the repairs.

I'll do some research and make a decision.

 

1 hour ago, jagdtigger said:

Its cheap for a reason. You are the one who figures out where goes what. In case of a car specific unit you pay more because someone else already done that for you. You either "pay" with your time or money.....

It doesn't matter if its a 50 or a 600 dollar head unit. They all come with a basic kit of labeled wiring. I am talking about the output specs.

[Sarra]

My Subaru Baja has a plastic cover built in to the front bumper that says "Front Tow Hook" on it.

 

Removing the cover reveals... A plastic piece molded into the bumper.

 

There's no threaded hole to install a front tow hook. What the everliving fuck, Subaru... I don't even...

 

Kicker is I'm waiting for a Tow Truck right now. I was going to use a front tow hook and have the tow driver winch the thing on the deck, but... Nope. Gonna have to pull it up from the rear, I guess.

[jagdtigger]

3 hours ago, vetali said:

I am talking about the output specs.

Well thats "funny", a basic info loke that is missing from the manual and website?