Response

Maths Errors

I'd just like to point out an error in your article 'Performance Maths Part 2'.  "The last step is as easy as punching 0.5 into a calculator and pressing the 'tan' button."  You actually need to press the inverse tan button to go from the tan of an angle back to a angle.  Also the results you show for the inverse tan are not correct.  The inverse tan of 0.5 is 26.6° not 55°, and the inverse tan of 0.222 is 12.5° not 22.6°.  Otherwise a good article,

Basil McKinley
Australia

Thanks - errors now fixed

Aristo

You need to feature some Artiso's :)

Julian
Australia

Yes.

Sub Design Software

On the page Subwoofer Design - Part 2 you say that the bass box program is the best thing to use... this costs ~$200. not that I'm telling you how to do your job or anything but there is a program called WinISD that does the same thing for free, - I'm sure readers would appreciate this tip.

PS: cool site - learning loads - cheers

Danny
United Kingdom

Electric Superchargers

Can someone please tell me the truth about all these "electric supercharges" which are flooding the market at the moment. I figure it this way: Using a 4litre V8 engine at say 5000RPM. Therefore 4litres x 5000RPM = 20,000 litres of air per minute which equates to 333litres per second. Therefore to achieve any real positive pressure in the intake part of the engine we would need approx 333 x say 4 = 1333 litres per second Therefore rounding off to say 1500l/s @80kpa pressure drop (or resistance to flow) we would need a fairly decent fan or a small fan that will spin through a gear box at a very high RPM. Do you agree with my thinking?

Russell Aleksic
Australia

See The Twin Turbo Zet.

Falcon Economy

I know you guys probably get this question plenty of times and I have searched for the answer on your articles/kits, however...

I have just purchased a 2000 AUII Fairmont and the fuel economy and drivability is not the best (19-25lt/ 100k) so now I have a need to (I'm assuming) adjust the mixtures using techniques you guys cover and I don't want to spend $1000'S doing it. Your digital fuel adjuster kits seems to cover Air Flow meters only and I need to modify the Ford MAP (or TMAP) which from what I can gather this kit won't do?

The car is not a race/performance car although it has extractors/exhaust fitted. I just want to improve the drivability and fuel economy to what I think is a reasonable level. I plan on doing the mods myself as I have some electronics understanding (component functions, fault finding, identification etc) although not at the cct design level.

A starting point of what to look for in your database of kits and articles would be much appreciated.

Darren Roles
Australia

We would suggest a custom-tuned engine management program designed to enhance economy.

Free Motorsport Looms

While Googling for a spot to unload a variety of race car looms with various connectors, mostly Deutsch AS type I ran across on of your articles. Could you point me to a forum that is interested in these used items. Not greedy just hate to throw this stuff away.

Bill Bartley
bbartley@cheevergroup.com
United States

DIY Speed Sensitive Wipers

I am 18 years old and like most young car enthusiasts find that most of my car modification projects are not limited by my imagination but by my budget, this is one of the reason why im such a fan of your diy electronics projects. I was recently a passenger in a newer car than my own and was amazed by a very simple feature that i would probably never have thought of but would find very useful and that is speed variable windscreen wipers. Since i found out that these things actually exist i have been utterly frustrated every time i drive my own car in the rain and have to constantly adjust the intermittent knob whenever i reach a set of traffic lights to slow down my wipers. I have only very briefly consulted the wiring diagram of my car to see if such a thing could be added to my car and gave up fairly quickly. I was wondering if you knew of a suitable electronics project that would modify the signal that controls wiper speeds depending on the vehicle speed or whether its even possible without getting the entire wiper control system from a  newer car. I would be very grateful for any help you could give me and it would be awesome if you did an article on it.

Simon
Australia

A device that switches the wipers to intermittent when the car stops would be fairly easy to enact – just use Frequency Switch, Part 1 to enable the intermittent mode. However, one that relates wiper speed over a wide range to road speed would be much harder.

Coming Cars

A while back you wrote about cars specialized for commuting.  Small inexpensive cars for one or two people.  You asked where these cars were.  It appears they are on their way. wardsauto.com

Tim Fulton
United States

Flat and V Engine Configurations

Re: 917 Motor Flat or V?

I think what a lot of readers are not recognizing is that a motor can be "flat" and a 180 V at the same time. The "flat" refers to the configuration of the cylinders, and the "boxer" or "V" refer to the crankshaft configuration.

Here is a Wikipedia explanation: wikipedia.org

It turns out that the Germans call all flat engines "boxers" so everyone is correct, the 5.0 liter 12 is a flat 180 V12 boxer!

Randy Wright
United States

Prius Mixtures

About "DIY Modification of Car Electronic Systems - Part 1", I hope the next part discusses O(2) sensor, mixture trim. Also, the potential risks of lean mixtures on catalytic converters. With my Prius, I can easily enough modify the O(2) sensors to trick the car into a leaner mixture but I don't want to burnout the catalytic converter . . . yet.

ps. I am quite happy with my online subscription and the quality of this read. It beats the heck out of what is on the USA magazine racks. Thanks!

Bob Wilson
United States

The Prius is much too smart to adopt lean mixtures using the approach you suggest.

Commodore Display Data

In your article VT/VX Hidden Data you have the following statement "Finally, the display that reads P OFF presumably isn't telling you 'where to go', but indicates that the "police mode" is not activated." I have found that on my Dad's VT that when you turn the parking lights on this display changes to P ON. I have no idea if this happens on any other car or what the purpose of it is for.

David
Australia

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