The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working

[o0n8]

To me hybrids are for city driving with the occasional longer trip needed. then they are perfect for someone. If i live within 20 minutes of my work i would love to have an ev (tesla model s) for commuting but they aren't feasable yet. I kinda wish someone would make a cheap ev and be honest and say it's for short drives like commutes to work, but since people always think they need the security of having to go long distance someday, it won't sell

 

[CTt3P5]

"As Good as it Gets" quote. One of my favorite movies of all time.




No pressure. It will just be sitting in the garage. I heard some cats use the quick release hardware from mountain bike hubs for the rear strut bar. I keep meaning to look into this more.

Alright cool. I found a Whiteline brand QR kit but their bolts are 20mm (.79") from flange to flange. After a quick phone call to CS yesterday morning I discovered their bar is 2".....so it's back to the drawing board. If you happen to have time this weekend could you get me the measurements on that ebay bar....bolt length and bolt size (guessing it's 10mm...that's what I've been finding others use)? I have a feeling I'll have to source my own hardware.

 

[Lewis7789]

No problem. I'll get you some measurements tomorrow. And there's always McMaster Carr for hardware.

 

[magnumP5]

good morning kansas!

and synthetic fuels sound like they still have a ways to go to be a good replacement as well. ethanol cannot be transported in the same fashion as gas, at least not with the current pipelines gas uses. it pics up water which isnt good in your engine. electricity needs to be created, and right now, the cheapest way is burning coal. it is ugly, but a huge coal plant powering millions of electric cars (it should be able to since they can power millions of homes) is more efficient than every car having its own burning power plant. and once the energy is created, there is already the infrastructure to get it to your home. (although the electrical grid is about 40 years behind what it should be).

oh, and synthetic fuel would still need hydrocarbons or some form of organic matter, which would still have to be grown, which would still take up farmland. i suppose you could use ditchweed or something, but around here, or in MN where im from, they bale that grass and use it as feed for animals too. either way, i do not think it is the best option.

so, are either of them a good option for most people right now? probably not. although, i would love a first gen insight. you know, the one that got 60 mpg and was a manual. it would just be my commuter car. otherwise, yes, hybrids suck butt and i would never buy one until they make them less of an appliance. the CRZ is a novel approach, but not good enough mpgs considering it still isnt fast and doesnt get better mileage than the old CRX even.

there is a lot of work to be done. but calling them fail at their infancy is not going to get us away from our dependence on fossil fuels. money spent now, even if it sucks to do so, is cheaper than 10 years from now. then it will cost twice as much, or worse the way the dollar is falling right now. not to mention gas is relatively cheap right now. cant wait to see everybody complaining that the government didnt do enough when gas is $10 a gallon. that is always how it is. when something happens, the government either did too much, or not enough.

LOL, I still think you're missing my point. A synethetic fuel does not have to be ethanol. I know we can synthesize keronse to power jet engines (Airbus A380 did that last year) but I have yet to see it applied to an automotive application. However, if they can synthesize kerosene, which is a more refined form of petroleum, why can't they synthesize gasolene and diesel fuel? The way they make it is by gasifying hydrocarbons and then restructuring the chemical bonds as they see fit. Why do you have to grow new things to make hydrocarbons? Human waste, dead animals/trees/people(!), garbage, etc. As long as the chemical composition has some form of C-H bond it can be used.

The only problem I see is this doesn't fix the COx and NOx pollution issue. Although, since the fuel is synthetic you can insure there is no sulfur content, which would be awesome for diesel fuel!

 

[thejeans]

you know if all the car companies stop making such piggies we wouldnt even be having this convo... haha

 

[Rockin03mp5]

i see what you are saying. didnt know they synthesized those fuels already. i assumed they just refined oil.

 

[magnumP5]

i see what you are saying. didnt know they synthesized those fuels already. i assumed they just refined oil.

Well in the case of the Airbus A380, only one of four engines was using it and they didn't report any problems (that I know of). I do know in many cases they do mix regular and synthetic fuels.

Actually, now that I think about it I do remember seeing an article talking about a car running off of human poop. May have even been posted here. I'll go back and find it to see if it's the same thing I'm talking about.

Even so, it still has the same problem as ethanol (in the US) and battery-powered vehicles in that the process to make the fuel requires more energy than the fuel produces. I just think if we devoted more research to this alternative, rather than batteries, we'd have a faster opportunity to get off of fossil fuels. I'm not saying batteries aren't the way of the future, but I do think we're a long ways off. It'll probably take some kind of breakthrough in power cell (not hydrogen!) technology before batteries are truly feasible. I'm thinking something like the Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future, LOL...

 

[CTt3P5]

No problem. I'll get you some measurements tomorrow. And there's always McMaster Carr for hardware.

Sweet....yes, I was browsing their site yesterday...

 

[GiJoe]

Yall know that small cars produced during and right after the first fuel crisis got better gas millage than any of the hybrids today right?

 

[o0n8]

like the original civic? but you have to add all the weight of "safety features" that are mandated now and they wouldn't do so good

 

[GiJoe]

like the original civic? but you have to add all the weight of "safety features" that are mandated now and they wouldn't do so good

True but we have better ideas and technology to make even more efficient vehicles now. Kinda sad people gotta make more money.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

they were very small, light weight, and 0-60 of about 15 seconds.

 

[o0n8]

talk about some bulls***, i signed up for a GB in febuary (mishimoto radiator), sent my payment and have waited, and waited and waited, now the product (which was brand new item for mishimoto) is finished and at the manufacturer's warehouse and still not shipped out yet, maybe in a week or two? Now i found out the a web site has the product, at their shop ready to ship out and for a better deal. That's some bulls***

now that i think about it i think it started before feb, that's when i sent in my money

 

[fishdonotbounce]

So I've been looking at what my next car should be and even though I'm really really really leaning towards a speed3, I want to know my options. I want something that's not slow as a ******* snail like the P5 and has under 50k miles. My maximum price is 16k, POSSIBLY 17k. It can't be a small car like the miata but I won't rule out a coupe if it's roomy. Any ideas?

 

[princess peach]

I'm not a big fan of hybrids either, all the work involved in producing the batteries, disposing of them later, production of the cars, recycling etc is just too much. TDIs would be the way to go to get good mileage, or just doing some hypermiling in order to save some fuel on your current car, most people use way more fuel than they need to.

However, I'm not against growing corn or algae to produce bio fuels. This is a good idea (not a replacement for oil by any means) but people claim there is not enough land in the US to produce enough, yet apparently none of the geniuses behind the big corporations have realized that this would be a great project for third world countries, i.e: Colombia (where I'm from for those who don't know), a big part of Colombia's social problem is that people don't have a job and don't have enough education to qualify for what is available. For this reason A LOT OF THEM have resorted to grow amapola, canabis and other plants so rebel groups can produce and sell drugs, most of the time it's the only choice they have in order to provide for their families. How about they grow corn so the big companies can produce biofuel? There is PLENTY of land that can be used for it, and we have enough coast line to plant algae as well. Colombia is not the only country that can do this, nor the only one who suffers from those kind of problems, so there is plenty that can be done in this area.

I think having a balance of biofuel and oil refined gas would be better in the long run since I haven't heard of a company that is doing research regarding the production of tires, lubricants, etc WITHOUT OIL... some companies like Yokohama are adding orange (yes the fruit) to the tire compound in order to change it's characteristics, but oil it still a big part of the process, and what about roads? How are we going to keep building and maintaining roads when we run out of oil?

 

[fullmetal]

LOL, I still think you're missing my point. A synethetic fuel does not have to be ethanol. I know we can synthesize keronse to power jet engines (Airbus A380 did that last year) but I have yet to see it applied to an automotive application. However, if they can synthesize kerosene, which is a more refined form of petroleum, why can't they synthesize gasolene and diesel fuel? The way they make it is by gasifying hydrocarbons and then restructuring the chemical bonds as they see fit. Why do you have to grow new things to make hydrocarbons? Human waste, dead animals/trees/people(!), garbage, etc. As long as the chemical composition has some form of C-H bond it can be used.

The only problem I see is this doesn't fix the COx and NOx pollution issue. Although, since the fuel is synthetic you can insure there is no sulfur content, which would be awesome for diesel fuel!

Diesels actually use sulfur to lube their fuel systems sorry to burst your bubble on that on low sulfur fuels cause huge problems in diesel engine.

 

[fullmetal]

So I've been looking at what my next car should be and even though I'm really really really leaning towards a speed3, I want to know my options. I want something that's not slow as a ******* snail like the P5 and has under 50k miles. My maximum price is 16k, POSSIBLY 17k. It can't be a small car like the miata but I won't rule out a coupe if it's roomy. Any ideas?

i have seen 2 MS6's in your price range but a good solid MS3 will run you a grand or two more.

 

[Fiji Mazda3]

So I've been looking at what my next car should be and even though I'm really really really leaning towards a speed3, I want to know my options. I want something that's not slow as a ******* snail like the P5 and has under 50k miles. My maximum price is 16k, POSSIBLY 17k. It can't be a small car like the miata but I won't rule out a coupe if it's roomy. Any ideas?

You can definitely do something like a GTI, Cobalt SS, Evo, STI, RX8. You've got tons of options really. All depends on what you really want.


Oh, and a guy is selling some RX8s if anyone is interested.
http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/2002469215.html

 

[PrinceValorum]

you know if all the car companies stop making such piggies we wouldnt even be having this convo... haha

QFTMFT

So I've been looking at what my next car should be and even though I'm really really really leaning towards a speed3, I want to know my options. I want something that's not slow as a ******* snail like the P5 and has under 50k miles. My maximum price is 16k, POSSIBLY 17k. It can't be a small car like the miata but I won't rule out a coupe if it's roomy. Any ideas?

Check out a Probe GT. Look for one with under 100k, they're harder to come by, but you could get a suuuper nice one for like 4500 max. I saw a 97 with 35k miles sell in Cali for less than 5500. It's built on the Mazda GE platform, and has the KL, so you're set in the handling and the power department. It gets decent mileage (lower-upper 20's depending on your driving), and has a good amount of room with the hatch. Just trying to keep your options open. I'd never consider spending 16k for a car..

Hybrids FTMFL! We have a Jetta TDI that gets better fuel economy, emits less pollution, has more power, has more torque, has more interior space, looks better, etc. than any of the "economical" hybrids out there (read: Prius, Insight, CR-Z).

There are plenty of 245/45R16 r-comps available, I would just need to figure out how to transport them...

Yeah, my mom has a Prius and it's the worst thing to drive. I would make an analogy relating driving it to necrophilia, as it simply has no soul. She also averages about 35 (mostly city), which is pretty poor, all things considered. I told her later about the Jetta TDI which is a much better choice, and she seemed to regret her decision, but the reason she got it was to get that warm fuzzy feeling that she was doing something good for the environment.. (rolleyes)

Anyway, here's your solution to transporting the wheels. I looked through 1700 pictures in my folder to find these, so hopefully it's something you can use.

 

[magnumP5]

Diesels actually use sulfur to lube their fuel systems sorry to burst your bubble on that on low sulfur fuels cause huge problems in diesel engine.

Can you explain this? I'm not aware of any lubrication properties of sulfur compounds. It's my understanding that the sulfur in diesel fuel is a product of the refining process and impurities in the crude petroleum. Sorry, I just can't buy that low-sulfur fuel is harmful when my wife's TDI manual states explicitly to use it. That would be like saying E85 is harmful to flex fuel vehicles...