Tested: Palmer Performance Engineering's DashCommand
By Steve Rockwood
Technology is amazing. Back in the heyday of the import scene, people who had serious setups – or wanted to look like they had serious setups – had rows on rows of gauges. The closer the resemblance to the cockpit of a Boeing 747 your Civic's dash looked, the more street cred you had. These days, however, products like Palmer Performance Engineering's DashCommand takes those rows of gauges, and puts them into a device that fits in the palm of your hand.
Turbo Tech: Turbo Troubleshooting
By Khiem Dinh
FACT: most of the time, the turbo is not the source of the problem. Out of all of the turbos that get swapped by dealers and shops (think diesel big rigs, work trucks, construction equipment, etc), an average of 90% of them have absolutely nothing wrong with them. Of the remaining 10%, about 5% or so of the failures were due to user error.
By Mike Kojima
Our friend Pro Drifter Walker Wilkerson was having a problem. As of late he has been plagued by drivetrain failures in his Fatlace Nissan S13. Part of the reason has been that because he competes in Formula D against the big V8’s of other pro teams, with a small displacement boosted SR20DET, Walker must do a lot of clutch kicks to keep the pipey turbo engine in its powerband.
Wrench Tips #25: How to Clean Up That Nasty Butyl Tape Vapor Barrier Goo
by Dave Coleman
It's worse than Aunt Jemima's. That nasty butyl tape goo that's used to hold the plastic vapor barrier sandwiched between the interior door panel and the the door itself. The goo gets on your fingers and tools and follows you around for weeks. Try to clean it up with Simple Green or even brake cleaner and it will laugh at you. It turns out there is a simple, if a little tedious, way to clean this stuff off your doors.
By Sarah Forst
I just recently completed Eibach lowering springs and anti-sway bars upgrade on my 08 Infiniti G37S Coupe. My question is when and where should I use threadlocker (red/blue) or Loctite? Different sources say different things, but is there a rule of thumb for applying these adhesives?
Got a difficult tech question? Email Sarah at asksarah@motoiq.com
Formula SAE: Part 2, The Little Team That Could
By David Zipf
Last time we took you through the hand built chassis and suspension of the 2011 University of Delaware Formula SAE car. Formula SAE is a collegiate competition for engineers where schools design and build race cars and then try to “sell” their design to a mock spec series. The cars are raced, but they are also picked apart by industry engineers and promoted to industry investors.
Project Miatabusa, part 10:
Tubular Subframes and Engine Mounts, Oh My!
In July, 2010, we posted Part 2 of Project Miatabusa and proclaimed, in a very carefully worded headline, "the engine is in!" "In" was the operative word. Not "installed", or "mounted" or anything nearly as accomplished as that. In fact, we had kinda faked it, hacking away with a plasma cutter to see just what the engine wasn't going to get along with. Now, finally, the engine is actually mounted.
Project Nissan 350Z Part 2 - Installing KW Clubsport Suspension and Whiteline Sway Bars
A lot of times a pre made exhaust just wont do it. You might have a car that no one makes an exhaust for. You might want to make a big diameter turbo exhaust for a car that never came turbocharged. You might want to make a special exhaust for your own special requirements.
Project S2000 - Track Testing Revised KW Clubsports and Earl’s Oil Cooler
The last track outing for the S2000 showed a few deficiencies still existed in the setup. The most problematic from a reliability standpoint was the scorching oil temperature. From a speed standpoint, the car was still very loose (last track update). Going back to the beginning of the project, you'll remember that we switched the tire sizing from a stock staggered setup (215 widths up front, 245 on the rear) to an even, or non-staggered, setup utilizing 245 width tires front and rear (Part I).
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