153 km/h in a 110 Zone #1
Re 153 km/h in a 110 zone...
I am happy that Julian Edgar got off his 6 month suspension - it is truly the
most difficult part of the penalty. I too was in a similar situation in
Victoria. I was driving on an
open, straight country road (Northern
Highway) and then, bang – 140 km/h in a 100 zone.
I did all the searching I could and, like Julian, it seems I found that it’s
more popular to help people who have lost their licence for drink driving than
for speeding. Unfortunately I did not find a similar Act to you.
I did get some legal advice and the gist of it was:
- The lawyer could get a few km/h off (I needed 6 km/h off) for something
like AUD$1100 per day in court.
- In Victoriaat least, a Judge
has no power to reduce the period of a suspension. So to get a reduced/removed
suspension you need to be found innocent.
Also, the fact that I have never had a speeding fine doesn't count for
anything.
Now I am in the situation where I have to move from where I live because of
an offence I see akin to jay walking on a quiet street.
Anon
Australia
153 km/h in a 110 Zone #2
Re 153 km/h in a 110 zone...
Great article, Julian - I was glued! Perhaps there would have been another
career beyond the motoring journalist! By the way, also a great job getting off
the disqualification - a great many would have just copped the 6 months no
matter how much it hurt.
Peter Watson
Australia
153 km/h in a 110 Zone #3
Re 153 km/h in a 110 zone
by Julian Edgar...
Referring to the above article as to how you managed to evade a licence
suspension. Although you state your reasons and regret for the offence, I cannot
help but wonder how this article would affect other road users.
As a motoring journalist, you of all people know how the law works. The
revelation of how someone evades punishment - for a lame reason at that - only
diminishes people’s respect and yours for the law. The fact that you were
testing aerodynamics meant that a test both before and after the modification
had to be taken out. The offence was well thought out beforehand. Part of the
title in the article says “the consequences” - it should say “consequences
evaded”. Although you do not boast
about not losing your licence, the fact that a whole article is dedicated to it
is doing just that!
Please do not publish any more stories like this as it disrespects the law. I
do, however, enjoy reading articles which promote law adherence and compliance.
For example, articles that refer to how to safely modify a vehicle and keep it
roadworthy or legal at the same time. As a journalist you do have a
responsibility to people reading your articles as they do get influenced by
them.
Keep up the good work, but please no more of this.
Frank Di Giorgio
Australia
153 km/h in a 110 Zone #4
Hey Julian - nice court story (153 km/h in a 110 zone).
Now how about “Electric Bike - Part 4”? You could do some aerodynamic wheel mods
and get it pedalling along at 153 km/h!
Kim Miller
Australia
153 km/h in a 110 Zone #5
Re 153 km/h in a 110 zone
Hmmm, responsible driving and speeding fines aren’t mutually inclusive. You
do have an obligation, Mr Edgar, to act in a responsible manner whilst driving
and earning a living from that driving.
Why not do some track time or find a very quiet back road where you can have
scouts surveying the road to see if clear of other motorists, police, etc?
I don't think it wise to have shown other people how they can still drive via
way of showing significant hardship. Yes, I have also been pinged (5 km/h over)
- but not 40 km/h over.
Very disappointed...
Simon Brown
Australia
DFA No Go
I have purchased and DFA and hand controller, assembled it carefully and when
I went to test it I found I couldn’t get the hand controller to work. Nothing
appears on the screen. I have double and triple checked all connections and am
unable to see what could be causing this. There were a few differences in the
drawing and actual circuit board of the DFA - mainly locations and component
that’s goes in location 5N6. I tested the DFA on a bench and everything seems
good - LED lights up, etc. I plug the hand controller in and nothing - no
display and no control of output signal. Do you have any suggestion on what it
may be? What do I need to check – anything?
Sutheara Chea
Australia
If the screen lights up but doesn't
show anything, you need to turn the adjustment pot on the screen
fully clockwise. If there is no screen light up at all, you need to resolder the
pins on the connectors on both the screen and the DFA.
DFA Can Do
I just had a quick Q about the DFA...
It certainly looks like a good thing - and a bargain at the Do-It-Yourself
price. I have a project in mind and I've been considering my options.
It has come time to change our family truckster and at this stage a Toyota
RAV4 fits our needs. But they are hideously slow. My plan is to grab one of the
old models and "beef it up" a tad by either building my own turbo kit or fitting
a complete GT4 engine.
The DIY turbo kit is appealing from a $$$ standpoint. I have a standard T25G
off my SR20DET, some old intercoolers lying around and the skills/equipment to
build my own manifold. The stumbling block is engine management. I don't want to
go aftermarket. Been there, done that - disappointed. And, from what I can work
out, the Toyota ECU is not easy to re-program like the Nissan units I'm familiar
with.
This is where the DFA comes in. Fine for fuel adjustment, but I fear the NA
ignition curve would also require considerable massaging seeing a typical turbo
engine's ignition curve is considerably different. I guess I could use water
injection to tame the detonation around peak torque but I'd rather not have to.
Any comments/suggestions would be welcomed.
Pete Liebig
Adelaide
The DFA should provide enough tuning
flexibility for a relatively low boost custom turbo set-up (about 7 psi). Yes,
the NA ignition mapping will be different to a factory ‘turbo’ map but if you
run premium unleaded (96 – 98 RON) and tune the DFA with an ear for detonation
you should end up with a pretty good result. The detonation threshold can also
be lifted with effective intercooling, colder spark plugs and – as you suggest –
water injection. Note that the IEBC (Independent Electronic Boost Control) is perfect for
controlling a water injection solenoid valve.
“Most Interesting” AFM Bypass
I find the articles on the DFA and airflow meter bypass (Airflow Meter Bypass, Part 1)
most interesting...
I have often thought about an airflow meter bypass, but just never got round
to doing the R&D. However, what about us unlucky bastards, who own a car
with a Karman vortex airflow meter? Apart from tossing the engine management for
something else it’s not easy... Mine has reached the point where the duty cycle
is at maximum - past this the engine thinks that there is no more air going into
the engine, when in fact there is. I've never built up the cash to go
programmable, so I’ve just pulled back boost pressure until I can work out how
to deal with it... I started with a rising rate fuel pressure reg, not really
knowing at that stage that the AFM was the culprit. The pressure reg made the
drivability really average and the only way you could drive the car was to never
allow the management to go into open-loop... This means staying below full
throttle and warming the car up before driving it!
Adrian Wortley
Australia
If the DFA (suited to 0 – 5 volt
airflow meters) is popular, we believe Silicon Chip magazine will develop a system to
suit frequency output meters as well. Write to them!
Dual AFMs?
Re: Airflow Meter Bypass Airflow Meter Bypass, Part 1.
Whilst reading this article I was wondering about the possibility of running
two airflow meters? These could be run in parallel or perhaps a more complex
system that’s split across cylinders. From memory, some BMW V8s (I think Audi
and Benz do it as well) run split systems. In very simplistic terms couldn't you
take both signals, protected by diodes to stop cross talk and "half" the
combined output to get average? Just food for thought. Seems to me this approach
would work best on ‘V’ or horizontally-opposed engines where it's ‘easy’ to
split intakes.
Simon Brown
Australia
We imagine it would be possible to
configure a pair of AFMs in parallel and tune using the DFA. However, it is far cheaper and easier to use the standard airflow meter with a large
bypass with the system tuned with the Digital Fuel Adjuster.
1UZ Information Treasure
Chest
Just responding to Garth Dorrans' query about finding specs for the 1UZ-FE
(Response).
The best source of information on the 1UZ and for discussing modifications is www.lextreme.com
Damien Smith
Australia
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