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The MW Automotive Thread Quattro SpecV


areaseven

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2010 Exige 260

0-60 in 4

I am getting the SC out of this thing for my Lotus, as well as the brakes and other upgrades. So i will have this thing minus the roof scoop and the wing (which are really too track looking anyway).

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I've heard that F1 cars can--in theory--produce enough downforce to run upside down on a surface, at high enough speeds.

But I'd imagine that engineering and building building a test track sturdy enough, smooth enough, and long enough to incorporate a corkscrew with a gentle enough transition to allow for such a stunt would be just too huge a project to even think of funding.

Oh wait--Ferrari would probably have deep enough pockets, if they hadn't just sprung for that theme park in Dubai...

79704-Ferrari_World_Abu_Dhabi.jpg

Edited by reddsun1
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Anybody care to share some common sense tips on keeping an old car alive and healthy for as long as possible?

I'm not having any trouble with my car whatsoever - and I change the oil every 10 thousand Kilometers, I've gotten its' break thingies changed and generally it works great.

But given that it's punching 10 years, is there anything I should look out for? It's a Mazda 626 Sedan. 135 thousand KM (not miles!).

Just asking to maybe pick up some wisdom from people with experience in stuff like this.

Pete

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Anybody care to share some common sense tips on keeping an old car alive and healthy for as long as possible?

I'm not having any trouble with my car whatsoever - and I change the oil every 10 thousand Kilometers, I've gotten its' break thingies changed and generally it works great.

But given that it's punching 10 years, is there anything I should look out for? It's a Mazda 626 Sedan. 135 thousand KM (not miles!).

Just asking to maybe pick up some wisdom from people with experience in stuff like this.

Pete

I am driving a 18 yr old W124. 200k+ miles.

IMHO, no special difference in treating an 8 yr old car or an 18 yr old car. Just have to watch the dials and be vigilant for wierd noises and behaviour. And check for physical wear and damage which can potentially cause rust (esp. in those hard to see areas - e.g. battery acid leaks over the years corroding the firewall near the battery).

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Thanks. Will look under the hood for that kind of stuff...when the weather breaks :) Thus far I only have a small little smigget of rust above one of the rear wheels. I guess I'll do something about that over the summer :)

The fun part about having an old car is that slowly but surely I'm kind of learning about auto mechanics...just because one has a tendency to be more mindful that with a new car where you just assume all is well :)

Pete

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Anybody care to share some common sense tips on keeping an old car alive and healthy for as long as possible?

I'm not having any trouble with my car whatsoever - and I change the oil every 10 thousand Kilometers, I've gotten its' break thingies changed and generally it works great.

But given that it's punching 10 years, is there anything I should look out for? It's a Mazda 626 Sedan. 135 thousand KM (not miles!).

Just asking to maybe pick up some wisdom from people with experience in stuff like this.

Pete

I think mileage is not an issue on your vehicle. Here in the US, people put on average 12,000 miles per year - so over 10 years 120k miles, that translates to 193,121 km, so you're definitely on the low end of usage... but driving habits might differ substantially in Europe as over here in Midwest US we have like no public transportation at all.

Road condition and infrastructure also plays a huge factor. Here in Detroit the roads are terrible (ironic isn't it), pot-holes everywhere, they patch them every year and summer is a mess to drive around because of the road construction.... but a few months later all the holes return again. I wonder if they use whip cream to patch the holes. As such, the lifetime of a vehicle is much reduced.

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I think mileage is not an issue on your vehicle. Here in the US, people put on average 12,000 miles per year - so over 10 years 120k miles, that translates to 193,121 km, so you're definitely on the low end of usage... but driving habits might differ substantially in Europe as over here in Midwest US we have like no public transportation at all.

Road condition and infrastructure also plays a huge factor. Here in Detroit the roads are terrible (ironic isn't it), pot-holes everywhere, they patch them every year and summer is a mess to drive around because of the road construction.... but a few months later all the holes return again. I wonder if they use whip cream to patch the holes. As such, the lifetime of a vehicle is much reduced.

Hate to break it to ya Ghost Train - but don't knock Detroit's roads until you drive in Poland :)

I lived in Michigan for four years and frequently drove around in Detroit (albeit WITH other people, not as the driver) - and I can assure you that Detroit's roads are excellent compared to Poland.

First of all - Poland has about 2 kilometers of highway. In the whole country. They've been "building" highways here for 20 years and can never get it done. I drove on a Polish high way last year when I went to an anime convention - I drove on it for like 30 seconds....a two lane road splits into six lanes ...and I was crusin' like I was back in the USA...for 30 seconds...and then six lanes merge back into two and everybody's screwed :lol:

Most of the roads here don't even have lines painted on them. Most of them were never built to accomodate traffic from both opposing sides.

The vast majority of the roads in Poland were constructed for one purpose: Moving tanks and columns of military trucks with soldiers in them. And like a train track, you know the train always only goes one way before turning around to go the other way - so it was with the roads.

The roads are extremely narrow - just enough really to fit ONE big truck.

Yet for the past twenty years - people have used them as double lane roads where I wen ---> this way and you went <----- that way.

In the winter - it's freeky because the sides of the road - the already narrow road - get covered in snow and mud and crap - and .... well - basically driving conditions are like in Mad Max. It's insane. You have oil tankers and chemical trucks driving on ice, you have crappy Soviet cars which can't do more than 40 km an hour on the same road as BMWs...

Oh - and you also have babies, old women, drunks and bycicles.

In their grand wisdom - Poland's road planners didn't build ANY sidewalks ANYWHERE.

Nor did they build street lights for when it's dark.

So you can imagine - you're driving, it's snowing, it's dark, there's a drunk guy walkin in the middle of the road, an oncoming car, somebody tailing you (and they always tail you...like...when they want to pass you - they don't understand the idea of ACCELERATION - you know - actually hitting the gas and going much faste in a short amount of time to overtake the vehicle in front of you...no...what they do is they drive up right to your tail and tailgate you for like 10 minutes - and then, slowly, cumbersomely they attempt to overtake you...usually just at the point where you have to swerve in to their line of driving because you have a baby carriage being pushed by some old woman on the right)...

Screw it - gimme Detroit any day.

This is why I worry about my car - every day is like driving through a War Zone. All that's missing are people actively shooting at you and land mines.

Beyond that - it's pretty much a war zone.

Only in the city center is it remotely civilized.

And on that 2 kilometer stretch of high way that lasts 30 seconds! :lol:

Pete

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The 2011 Mustang GT is good enough for me. With the return of the 5 "oh" the Mustang is finally the car it should've been 16 years ago...

Edited by myk
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If that's definitely the new 5.0 engine sitting under the blower; I wonder how far the compression is knocked down. :huh:

2011-Shelby-Mustang-GT-350-Engine-1600x1200.jpg

Information released by Ford on the new 5.0 in the 2011 Mustang GT indicates an 11:1 compression ratio. Without some super high octane fuel, I don't know how this engine doesn't come apart under boost.

Edited by Wicked Ace
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So you can imagine - you're driving, it's snowing, it's dark, there's a drunk guy walkin in the middle of the road, an oncoming car, somebody tailing you (and they always tail you...like...when they want to pass you - they don't understand the idea of ACCELERATION - you know - actually hitting the gas and going much faste in a short amount of time to overtake the vehicle in front of you...no...what they do is they drive up right to your tail and tailgate you for like 10 minutes - and then, slowly, cumbersomely they attempt to overtake you...usually just at the point where you have to swerve in to their line of driving because you have a baby carriage being pushed by some old woman on the right)...

Oh dear lord rofl, I hate retards who do that - I meet one of these idiots on the expressway almost every single day. I'm part of the elite 1% of the Michigan population that believes in following the law and try to obey the speed limit, which for the expressway is 70mph... quite generous compared to other places....

Anyways, I sometimes very very gently tap once on the brake (not hard enough to slow the vehicle down) so that they can see my damm brake-light as communicating to the car behind you is what I guess it was originally designed for - but they never get the idea or understand what I mean. Eventually, just like you describe, like 10 minutes later they pass.

I've noticed lately that most people who do this are also yapping away on the cell phone, hence probably too distracted to figure out that there is less than 1m clearance between his front bumper and the rear of my vehicle and that we're both doing 70 mph.

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Oh dear lord rofl, I hate retards who do that - I meet one of these idiots on the expressway almost every single day. I'm part of the elite 1% of the Michigan population that believes in following the law and try to obey the speed limit, which for the expressway is 70mph... quite generous compared to other places....

Anyways, I sometimes very very gently tap once on the brake (not hard enough to slow the vehicle down) so that they can see my damm brake-light as communicating to the car behind you is what I guess it was originally designed for - but they never get the idea or understand what I mean. Eventually, just like you describe, like 10 minutes later they pass.

I've noticed lately that most people who do this are also yapping away on the cell phone, hence probably too distracted to figure out that there is less than 1m clearance between his front bumper and the rear of my vehicle and that we're both doing 70 mph.

A good rule of thumb is to merge into the next lane to the right when faster traffic approaches from the rear. Let the faster traffic by, do not play vigilante traffic cop by trying to slow the flow of traffic. If you regularly brake-check people while slowing the flow of traffic as you describe above, you should be prepared to be the subject of road rage.

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A good rule of thumb is to merge into the next lane to the right when faster traffic approaches from the rear. Let the faster traffic by, do not play vigilante traffic cop by trying to slow the flow of traffic. If you regularly brake-check people while slowing the flow of traffic as you describe above, you should be prepared to be the subject of road rage.

Yeah - this is true... but on the other hand...one becomes the subject of road rage mainly because somebody is an A-hole, not on account of something he does.

Like in this instance - if some dude tailgates me and tries to force me to change lanes - screw him. Why doesn't he just pass me?

That's the real reason they tailgate you - to force you to change lanes.

On the other hand - I've noticed that most people here have serious problems (as I mentioned) with the concept of accelerating - and this often causes road rage. Like when a traffic light goes green. I'm not a "speed demon" by any stretch of the imaignation - but just purely on account of driving an automatic, all I need to do is tap the gas pedal and I go from 0 to 100 kmph in a few seconds with my old beat up mazda.

Meanwhile, the guy in the lane next to me is usuall driving stick shift in their new BMW or Mercades - and it takes them way longer to accelerate because they have to first switch gears to 2...achieve X speed upon which they can switch to 3....hit the gear-pedal a few times...switch to 4....

Inadvertantely - these morons think that I'm a show off...which is totally not true. It's just the benefit of automatic drive vs. stick shift.

But in this country - the predominant view is the automatic drive is worse, that cars that drive on automatic "break" all the time, and there's this wild paranoia that automatic drive means that the gear box will fall out of your underbelly or change crazily on its' own. I have no clue where this prejudice came from...

Anyways...dealing with tailgaters is usually made easy thanks to this... I usually have two rules of thumb:

1) If you can, step on the gas and go so f-cking fast that nobody is going to be able to catch up with you - put enough distance between you and them and then relax

2) If you can't - just f-it, switch lanes, slow down, and let all the morons move up in front of you. And the plural is true. It's usually like 4 or 5 of these jerk offs who, once you slow down and let them move up front, are all road raging against eachother...passing eachother, tailgating eachother, swerving between lanes... best to just let them go do their thing and keep your distance.

In either case - the goal of both 1 and 2 is the same: creating ample distance between you and potentially dangerous situations. The difference is in method: speeding up or slowing down.

As for the speed limit...

In Poland the problem is that because of no high ways, then even on the "express" roads where you can go faster (between cities), there are stop lights every now and then. This sucks because you accelerate to a nice speed but then you need to slow down for the lights...and then accelerate...and on and on it goes :)

But oh well...such is the nature of the roads. I thankfully manage to drive at non-peak hours usually...

Pete

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There's already talks on the next-generation Mustang, and it looks like it will lose one of its most distinguishable characteristics: the solid rear axle.

Report: Next-Generation Ford Mustang to Get Independent Suspension and Global Platform

Funny, considering that Klaus Arning designed an IRS system for the Mustang over 45 years ago, for the original platform. Apparently it's readily adaptable to the newer '05-'09 Mustangs, as there's a company that sells this same "Arning IRS" system for both original and current-model cars. But at $6000+, it's a helluvan expensive upgrade.

OriginalMustangIRS.jpg

But one can't help but wonder if Ford had put it into mass production, would it have brought the costs down over time? or driven it into a higher price-bracket and out of reach of the sporty-youth market that made the original cars so successful?

Every time I'm behind an Explorer in traffic, I look under the rear bumper and think: for that, you can justify the expense and outlay for designing and producing an IRS system; but for your so-called performance oriented model [Mustang], you won't do it "for economic reasons"? How bass ackwards are you?

Going to a global platform could very well be a colossal blunder on Ford's part though. One of the Mustang's greatest strengths has been its humble origins, i.e. being a design that's based on an economy car platform [originally: Falcon], but also offering nearly limitless options to owners in the way of customizing and improving performance, handling and esthetics.

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I need help my mother is planing to have the oil in her 99 Buick Regal changed, but she is also planing to have them use a Fuel injector cleaning done at the same time.

Will this damage the engine because we got the version with the super charger, and it requires premium high octane gas in it; Are last car which was a 99 Ford Taurus we had it done and it did not harm in any noticeable way?

Edited by miles316
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Oil change and fuel injector cleaning are two unrelated systems, and it will do plenty of good not harm, I'd rest easy for this maintenance. As far as the 5.0L V8 being Supercharged and having 11:1 compression, i'm not sure, but isn't this motor direct injected? If it is, then lower compression isn't necessary to run a blower (or a turbocharger), 10:1 is the new 8.5:1 in direct injected vehicles because of the cooling properties of the fuel on the cylinders during compression. Admittedly 11:1 seems a bit high even for a direct injected motor, but it might not be running very high boost to give it more low end.

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On the other hand - I've noticed that most people here have serious problems (as I mentioned) with the concept of accelerating - and this often causes road rage. Like when a traffic light goes green. I'm not a "speed demon" by any stretch of the imaignation - but just purely on account of driving an automatic, all I need to do is tap the gas pedal and I go from 0 to 100 kmph in a few seconds with my old beat up mazda.

Meanwhile, the guy in the lane next to me is usuall driving stick shift in their new BMW or Mercades - and it takes them way longer to accelerate because they have to first switch gears to 2...achieve X speed upon which they can switch to 3....hit the gear-pedal a few times...switch to 4....

Inadvertantely - these morons think that I'm a show off...which is totally not true. It's just the benefit of automatic drive vs. stick shift.

Pete

Actually, Pete, it's not a case of automatics or sticks being better or worse than one another. These people are either slow or really, really bad at driving a stick shift.

My current car is a manual and most of the time I'm ahead of other cars at traffic lights without me even trying to be faster than the other cars.

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A lot of people just plain don't press the pedal down AT ALL and just idle away from the light. I mean, when I'm the 2nd or 3rd person at a light, and I'm the last one to get through---they're accelerating WAY too slow. (also, when you accelerate THAT slow, it's actually less fuel efficient than a more rapid acceleration----full throttle is of course the least efficient, but just like going 10mph instead of 50mph, a "moderate" rate is the most efficient, both for acceleration and cruise)

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Oil change and fuel injector cleaning are two unrelated systems, and it will do plenty of good not harm, I'd rest easy for this maintenance. As far as the 5.0L V8 being Supercharged and having 11:1 compression, i'm not sure, but isn't this motor direct injected? If it is, then lower compression isn't necessary to run a blower (or a turbocharger), 10:1 is the new 8.5:1 in direct injected vehicles because of the cooling properties of the fuel on the cylinders during compression. Admittedly 11:1 seems a bit high even for a direct injected motor, but it might not be running very high boost to give it more low end.

It is actually a Six cylinder, but I needed to know if the Fuel injector cleaning would damage the engine or if its actually needed.

I'm not sure about what type of injector system the Buick Regal has, but since the car has a supercharger the owners manual, and the sign under the gas cap says premium unleaded only.

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As far as the 5.0L V8 being Supercharged and having 11:1 compression, i'm not sure, but isn't this motor direct injected? If it is, then lower compression isn't necessary to run a blower (or a turbocharger), 10:1 is the new 8.5:1 in direct injected vehicles because of the cooling properties of the fuel on the cylinders during compression. Admittedly 11:1 seems a bit high even for a direct injected motor, but it might not be running very high boost to give it more low end.

No direct injection on the new 5.0; however, "cooling jets" are used to cool the pistons. Hmmm. . . <_<

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