People who have been into modified cars here in Australia have for decades known of the incredible bargains that can be had from Japanese-importing wreckers.

Because of the speed with which Japanese drivers discard near-new cars, the drivelines – or even complete front halves of cars – can be bought amazingly cheaply. Engines and gearboxes boasting late model technology, for less than the cost of having an old clunker rebuilt. It’s simple – buy a locally-delivered car and then install a new Japanese-import driveline having much greater performance. Over the years I’ve done this twice – and both times got a tremendous car for the money.

And now there’s a whole new and exciting Japanese-import field opening up.

Because Japanese manufacturers have led the world in the creation of hybrid petrol/electric cars – the first was built over 10 years ago – and because many were sold locally in Japan, hybrid car parts can now be sourced out of Japan at the same ridiculously low prices.

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http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/should-tesla-motors-sell-out-1084.html

An interesting opinion article, especially in the context of the global financial crash that has occurred since this piece was first published.

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Years ago I did a muffler comparison test for a magazine. I used about $120,000 of equipment to test the sound attenuating properties of the mufflers – including a dyno, test car and sound pressure level meter.

Since I was working from home, I ended up with a lot of mufflers (all clean and brand new, I might add) strewn around the lounge room.

And, in a moment of (drunken?) lunacy, I found a much simpler way of testing the mufflers than using a dyno and the rest of the gear. In short, I simply grabbed a muffler and yelled through it.  And then another muffler, and then another muffler…

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The topic of bump stops does not attract much interest. But especially in cars with lowered suspension, and in light-weight cars, bump stops form an important part of the springing system.

A bump stop is the (usually) rubber buffer that is compressed as the suspension reaches full bump. (Some cars also have full droop buffers as well.)

Traditionally, bump stops were impacted only rarely, but more and more often in current cars, the suspension is designed in such a way that the bump stops are frequently contacted.

Let’s look at light weight cars first.

In a light weight car, the variations in possible loads make up a greater proportion of the overall vehicle mass. This means that, to avoid bottoming-out, the suspension must be set up more stiffly to cope with the potential load variation.

Or – and here’s the key point – the bump stops can be designed to be increasing rate (but still relatively progressive) springs that are brought into operation when the car is carrying full loads over bumps. That way, the spring rate of the suspension during ‘normal’ load carrying can be set much softer, giving a better ride.

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The more you think about turbo boost control, the more implications there are for any given system.

Let’s just refer to a traditional wastegate system.

(That’s where there’s a bypass passage – the wastegate – around the turbine. Open the wastegate and exhaust can bypass the turbine, slowing turbo speed and so dropping boost pressure. Remember – the less open the wastegate, the higher the boost pressure.)

In this discussion it doesn’t matter if it’s an electronically controlled system or a simple pneumatic system.

Let’s say that boost pressure is sensed from the compressor outlet of the turbo. If the maximum desired boost is 10 psi, the maximum outlet pressure of the compressor will also be 10 psi.

But the situation changes if the boost pressure is sensed from the intake manifold. If 10 psi is again desired, the boost pressure at the manifold will be 10 psi, but the boost pressure being developed by the turbo will need to be higher.

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The other day I bought some manuals published in July 1960. They’re lecture notes from the Technical Training School for Qantas Empire Airways Ltd.

The notes are primarily on the Lockheed Electra, an aircraft powered by four Allison 501-D13 prop jet engines. These engines each developed about 4000hp.

One of the very interesting technologies covered in the manuals is a real-time, on-board dyno. Yes, in the cockpit was a gauge that displayed the power being produced by the engine! This gauge was calibrated from minus 1000hp to plus 6000hp. Accuracy was quoted as being +/- 355hp.

So how was a real-time indication of power output gained?

On this turbo prop design – as with all turbo props that I’m aware of – a gearbox is used to reduce the speed of the turbine to that suitable for driving a propeller. The turbine is joined to the reduction gearbox by means of a driveshaft, splined each end. Surrounding this shaft is another shaft, this one splined only at the turbine end.

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I’ve been thinking about the way in which cars are heading. More and more these days you see driver-selectable modes. A sports mode – or even super sports mode – on a double clutch transmission. A button that sharpens throttle response, changes damping and alters auto trans shift points.

Two points.

Firstly, if the car drives badly when in standard mode, fitting a special button doesn’t fix the car. The ‘fix’ needs to be far more fundamental: at minimum, all modes need to drive well.

But the main point I want to make is this.

Why on earth are manufacturers giving only ‘digital’ control over this type of driver selection? Why an on/off switch when it would be far better to provide an analog knob that allows the driver to adjust the action of the system to their taste?

A knob for power steering weight.

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A while ago in a reply to another blog post, I wrote about the current Lancer Evolution that:

“The Evo should use far improved throttle mapping where blade angle is mapped against foot position and the calculated instantaneous tractive effort value. It should also use a smaller turbo. ”

At least one reader was so excited by this notion that he wished to “quietly roll up into a foetal position and rock back and forth on the floor”. However, leaving aside bizarre responses, it’s a concept sure to interest some.

I won’t discuss the ‘smaller turbo’ bit because most of you will have a good understanding of this idea. But what about the throttle mapping?

In electronic throttle cars, the relationship between the accelerator pedal position and the throttle blade opening no longer needs to be linear. In a linear system, the throttle blade would be half open at 50 per cent accelerator pedal travel, three-quarters open at 75 per cent accelerator pedal travel, and so on.

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The other day I was given some interesting Porsche books.

From any other car manufacture, they wouldn’t be ‘books’ but instead be new car brochures, but Porsche really do produce full books on their models. (Incidentally, these are always worth buying – a friend who sells them on www.ebay.com.au has the user name q993.)

One of the books was on the Porsche model that I believe to be a complete sell-out of everything that Porsche has always stood for – the 2.2 tonne Cayenne.

(And these thoughts were confirmed when I looked at the car’s quoted fuel economy – a combined cycle of 15.8 litres/100km for the manual Cayenne S. Even the 306 km/h 911 GT3 is quoted at 12.9 litres/100km!)

Anyway, be that as it may, what interested me in the Cayenne publication were the details on the suspension. Two different types of springs are used – air suspension on the Cayenne Turbo and conventional steel springs on the other Cayenne models.

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