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The Car Thread ... !
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The entire engine? I have a hard time believing such a vehicle would be designed.
If the fuel to run a monstrosity gas guzzler was abundant and cheap, say fantasy fusion, I could see buying something big like:
There was a time when it seemed most Americans liked big, tall gas guzzlers, when gas was cheap. I was one of them driving a full size 92 Chevy Truck. I learned over the years that King cabs and 4wd kills gas mileage. My favorite truck was the (small) 1981 Toyota, before Tundras, when trucks were relatively inexpensicve utility vehicles, before they were turned into expensive luxury vehicles by the manufacturers.
As is, I could still see buying a 13 mpg guzzler as a utility vehicle if it offered needed work capabilities. Otherwise, what a horrendous waste of money to run it.
True. I think if it had a purpose (such as the daily need to tow a 747), then cars like that could be justified. Purchasing one would be irrational but the audacity of such an engine is what makes it so appealing. Ah well, it'll continue to be a dream for now. My next vehicle is an economical diesel with low CO2 emissions good MPG and blah blah blah.
I saw one of these parked at a liquor store the other day and did a double take:
Nice looking vehicle although not a convertible.
BMW i8 $150k
Sweet!
Alright guys, quick question for those who work on their own cars.
Replaced my rear shocks on my E90 but now the passenger rear sits lower than the driver side. It should be noted that the passenger side had the blown shock and I was driving with it for a little bit over a season - happened right before winter, too cold to swap it out until now.
As for as I know and what I've read, you would have to do a lot to springs before they even start to show any signs of wear/tear but any chance that driving on the blown shock on the passenger side put too much stress on the spring to make it sit lower or is it a coincidence? I inspected the spring and there was no signs of cracks. Also, when replacing the shocks, I did load the suspension but not that accurately so any chance that could lead to one side sitting higher than the other? I know that springs primarily control ride height but right now, I can't seem to find an answer to my problem. Before the shock replacement, the height was about the same, post replacement, there's a noticeable height difference.
Replaced my rear shocks on my E90 but now the passenger rear sits lower than the driver side. It should be noted that the passenger side had the blown shock and I was driving with it for a little bit over a season - happened right before winter, too cold to swap it out until now.
As for as I know and what I've read, you would have to do a lot to springs before they even start to show any signs of wear/tear but any chance that driving on the blown shock on the passenger side put too much stress on the spring to make it sit lower or is it a coincidence? I inspected the spring and there was no signs of cracks. Also, when replacing the shocks, I did load the suspension but not that accurately so any chance that could lead to one side sitting higher than the other? I know that springs primarily control ride height but right now, I can't seem to find an answer to my problem. Before the shock replacement, the height was about the same, post replacement, there's a noticeable height difference.
Some cars do sit higher on the driver side when there is no driver. It could be anything from your coils being busted and not visible, your mounts are busted, etc. Or it's normal and you need to have a second person look at the car while you're in the driver's seat.
Interestingly, this issue seems to be common with E90s over other BMW models. Definitely get it checked out by a professional/shop to relieve your worry.
Edit: Learned something interesting over the weekend. The Bolt is sold at a loss of $9,000 per vehicle. That's before incentives, I believe. Chevy is practically "giving away" a near-$50,000 vehicle per sale. Electrics and compacts don't interest me, but the Bolt looks rather nice on the inside and to a point on the outside.
Interestingly, this issue seems to be common with E90s over other BMW models. Definitely get it checked out by a professional/shop to relieve your worry.
Edit: Learned something interesting over the weekend. The Bolt is sold at a loss of $9,000 per vehicle. That's before incentives, I believe. Chevy is practically "giving away" a near-$50,000 vehicle per sale. Electrics and compacts don't interest me, but the Bolt looks rather nice on the inside and to a point on the outside.
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@iLog.Genius
A rear shock isn't part of the vehicle support (vs. a strut/coil setup), so I doubt that would've have compromised the spring - I suspect either some other issue (per post #6236) or something just got shimmied/moved/rotated. A common issue is simply the springs seating, and being rotated all the way to the coil stop (though would be a touch odd with just a rear shock replacement)
Did you do the work yourself?
A rear shock isn't part of the vehicle support (vs. a strut/coil setup), so I doubt that would've have compromised the spring - I suspect either some other issue (per post #6236) or something just got shimmied/moved/rotated. A common issue is simply the springs seating, and being rotated all the way to the coil stop (though would be a touch odd with just a rear shock replacement)
Did you do the work yourself?
Although I find the idea of a Prius appealing, and test drove one when it first came out, for myself and wife to get around town, or even go cross country, they (electric cars) can't currently compete with small economical gas powered vehicles.
I would have less of a problem with the Prius if it weren't slow, terrible looking, and just an all around bad car.
IIRC there was an issue with broken rear springs on E90s (run a google search). Though I could be getting that mixed up with E46s. If you have the time, you could try swapping the rear shocks from side to side. See if the problem travels.
I like the Volt as a hybrid, but look at it as more things to break, along with the battery penalty when it's time to replace. However, I like the look but am not in love with it.
There are tugs specifically designed for the wear and tear of towing large aircraft.
Then you have the Crawler-Transporter
And, of course, when the shuttles were still in service you had to get them back to Kennedy if they landed somewhere else
I assume those transporters were gas powered, but maybe not.Then you have the Crawler-Transporter
View attachment 698222 View attachment 698223 View attachment 698224
And, of course, when the shuttles were still in service you had to get them back to Kennedy if they landed somewhere else
View attachment 698225
I assume those transporters were gas powered, but maybe not.
I think they have four diesel engines each(one on each corner). Max speed is about 2mph.
They're really quite an amazing feat of engineering. The crawlerways from the Vehicle Assembly Building to either of the launch pads(LP39A and LP39B) are inclined, and the platform tilts to keep the stack level across the trip.
The Crawler-transporters were built in the 1960s for the Apollo program, and are still being used by Space-X and likely any future activity for the forseeable future at LC39.
I like the Volt as a hybrid, but look at it as more things to break, along with the battery penalty when it's time to replace. However, I like the look but am not in love with it.
The battery has an 8 year, 100,000 mile warranty and a lot of 1st gen Volt owners with 100,000 mile+ are still getting the advertised 35-40 mile electric range. It helps the fact the battery is liquid cooled/warmed and only uses 8-10 kw of its 16 kw capacity( engine turns on to maintain a 30% charge and it only charges to 80%) to help keep the battery in good health.
SpaceX does not use the crawler-transporter. They built their hangar at the beginning of LC-39A and rails on the pad which the strongback( with Falcon 9 and soon Falcon Heavy) ride horizontally up to the launch pad then the strongback sets the Falcon 9 vertical.
The SLS( if it ever launches) will still use the VAB and crawler transporter to get it to LC-39B. Orbital ATK is in talks now too for a new rocket that will use a high bay in the VAB, crawler transporter, and 39B when SLS is not using it.
NASA sold tickets when the shuttles left KSC to take you to the Shuttle Landing Facility to see it depart. I went to see Discovery leave for DC.
That was for the E46. I checked the springs and all the hardware and everything is within spec - alignment is all in spec, so from that, I've come to the initial conclusion that everything else is ok except for the spring. I'm going to try and swap the shocks and see what happens. If it's still lower on the passenger side, I guess it's the spring and it will need to be replaced.
On a more positive note, was given the opportunity today to own one of these fun little machines:
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Finally got around to connecting with the seller - acquisition complete - pics to come post-mounting
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Yeah, if you can easily wrench this yourself, that's a good test, and the rears aren't _too_ terrible.
It's not bad. It's a lot more tedious removing the trunk liner. Swapping the shocks was the easy part.
Originally it was known as "Grand Prix" for John Cooper's involvement with F1. Now the community refers to it as GP with the "GP2" referring to the second generation MINI (R56). Original GP referring to the first generation (R50).
Not sure if I'm going to take it, still working out some details with trade in of my R56 Cooper but I'm very intrigued. Would never have had the opportunity through standard methods as all GP2's were spoken for/pre-sold before arriving in Canada (50 units in total) but one of my co-workers has one but doesn't really drive it since she already has 3 other cars and saw that I had a MINI with a manual transmission and asked if I would be interested since she wanted to give the opportunity to someone who would actually appreciate and drive it instead of "wasting" it by allowing someone else who would view it as just another MINI but modified.
Is anyone impressed with the looks or performance of:
2017 Audi TT Convertible Roadster srarts at $48k
It looks kind of round to me, and no back seat/ledge!
This Mazda MX5 looks better and is less expensive:
2017 Audi TT Convertible Roadster srarts at $48k
This Mazda MX5 looks better and is less expensive: