supertownace

the red crimp connector you used to join your wiring up will fail in time. i have seen what happens to vehicles were these types of crimps are used....they have been the cause of MANY electrical fires. do yourself and your insurance company a favour and get that particular join SOLDERED not crimped. the crimp itself will be the cause of eventual localized resistance and eventually the wiring will heat up as a result....possibly leading to a fire. they are nothing more than a cheap-and-nasty way to connect wiring.......consider yourself warned cheers

the size reference i have given is the diameter of the conductor inside the cable. and no house cable isn't a good idea as it's too stiff and is intended for house use only. from your original question you asked if the speaker wiring already fitted to the vehicle was suitable for what seems to be a high powered audio system. the answer i gave is "not really". yes you will need to run new cabling to your new speakers from your rear mounted amp.....(how else does the signal get to them??) forget about using the original speaker cabling already there. no it's not that hard to install new cabling. i did it for 2.5 years and in all sorts of vehicles..all you need to remember is to use common sense and use cable ties to make it neat. cheers

one other thing....... the earth cable from your battery to your audio system.......make it the same size as your positive cable......if not the next size BIGGER.. the reason for this is so that there is no restriction or "resistance" for any current returning to your battery. cheers

generally speaking with amp to speaker wiring you aren't looking for what the cable will handle wattage-wise...more so what sort of signal loss will there be. most mobile audio systems have around 20 to 30 volts running through their speaker cabling...the main difference is the wattage. for most "rear amp/front speaker" setups i have used 2mm twin core cable....this provides plenty of capability to upgrade the system later on if you so desire. i generally use the 2mm twin cable for front/rear speakers and 6mm twin core for subs. subwoofers need the larger cable to cope with the "instant" power needed for that deep down thump that shakes front windscreens and the like....keeping this cable as short as possible will help too. this is why you see a lot of sub enclosures with the amp tacked onto the back. when retro fitting a new system into a car with an exisiting system i generally only use the original head unit harness for things like main/switched power and also things like remote antenna and backlighting. for everything else i run separate/new cabling. if you install your amp/s into the boot area of your car be sure to run ALL your power cabling down one side and ALL signal/speaker cabling down the other side. this isolates your signal cabling from any interferrence that may come from power cabling....and yes it DOES happen. also....run a separate earth lead from the negative terminal of your battery to your amp/s...make sure your head unit/signal processing is also earthed to this cable. it prevents noise from "ground loops" entering the system and creating problems. hope this helps cheers

yeah...go the orions!!!.....i love the hercs too.....but the new globemaster 3's are awesome!!!! cheers

density has nothing to do with it. its the burn rate..hence the different octane rating.....the higher the number the slower the burn the more energy released. the same rings true for gunpowder ordinary gunpowder burns faster than black powder. black powder has more energy to release than ordinary gun powder. the SLOWER the burn rate the more energy a fuel has. you can near on freeze the two fuels to make them both as dense as you can, yet they will still perform the same as if they were at room temperature. compare normal unleaded fuel to say bp 100 fuel. bp 100 has an octane rating of 100....ordinary unleaded is something around 89-91 octane. avgas has an octane rating of 110LL-130LL the "LL" stands for "low lead" this is why a lot of speedway cars that are setup for normal fuel use avgas...the higher octane rating is an easy performance gain. cheers

being in the transport industry as i am i get to talk to fuel tanker drivers regularly. and when asked the question "were does the fuel come from" they all give the same answer...... all fuels come from the same bulk crude oil carrier.....they then process it and it goes out to the different fuel company bulk stores. there they add their "secret herbs and spices" then transport it t the different servo's around the place. as i understand it the base fuel is ALL the same......just different companies add different additives to make theirs "better than the rest" i do know that several fuel companies may even share the same fuel supplier, and the fuel may even be the same across the board....however we as consumers aren't supposed to know that. at one time during my "high octane fuel investigation" i did notice that several fuels were the same colour and left the same fuel stain inside the intake runners......go figure that one!!! what i did notice was that the higher octane fuel likes more compression. to this end i think these fuels are slower burning and like a little more squeeze. (have you ever noticed how an engine rattles when you use the el cheapo fuel??) cheap fuel is EXACTLY that....and will sometimes contain water too.....great for rusting and corroding the insides of your fuel system. as mentioned before....if you want to see if a particular fuel is for you then you need to use it over a reasonable length of time for any true results to show. i did this myself with my hardtop.....i found i got an extra 60km from a tank after using the same fuel over time....and no i didn't pussyfoot it around either. i drove the car no differently...lol my foot was always on the floor and gone!! the end conclusion i came up with was this........ high octane fuel + more compression = BIGGER BANG for your dollar = better performance. cheers

something else i just remembered....... with all these "high octane" fuels around...one thing is common amongst them all.... that is...they ALL have injector cleaner in them to some extent. when these fuels first came out they were the ducks nuts.....they all claimed big things(better fuel econmy etc)...so i tried them all over a period of time. back then fuel was around 70 cents/litre. i kept an eye on EVERYTHING to do with the fuel system in my car(1977 XC hardtop...nice thumpy pushrod v8...went like stink too....*** i LOVED that car) the first thing noticed was that it began to idle smoother( even though it had a HUGE duration cam in it!!....260@50) next was the fact there were small amounts of water exiting the exhaust(this is a sign of the fuel burning correctly and converting into carbon dioxide and water) then after about a month or so of using these fuels i removed the carb to see what the intake manifold runners looked like...prior to using these new fuels the manifold looked very dirty and fuel stained. on removal of the carb i was amazed to see the runners were THAT clean you could eat your dinner off it. so...in the end these fuels will do good things for the insides of your engine.....pity the cost of it is almost prohibitive. just remember that using just 1 or 2 tanks of the stuff WON'T get results you may want. you need to use it over several MONTHS before it starts to show the goods. cheers

1966 morris 1100 1992 corolla ae92r hatchback 5 speed....had a bullbar with HUGE spotties and a towbar...was setup for long distance driving. went from quilpie in western queensland to rockhampton in central queensland (1100km's) in one night stopping only to refuel. averaged about 110-120km/h the whole trip. 1977 XC hardtop....had it for 11 years. had a BIG clevo under the bonnet with the bulletproof disc brake LSD 9 inch under the *****. the speedo went to 220km/h.....wound it off the dial one night until the needle hit zero again.....about 250-260km/h........on and open straight highway at night.....and i STILL couldn't out drive the factory high beam...it was a twin headlight grille. western star/volvo/mack prime movers.....450 to 550hp....all of which are work trucks and all will pull a 3 day growth from your face. various weird and mad contraptions more commonly known as home-built go karts and the like...done 140km/h just 50mm off the ground kneeboard........well you are in control of it so i guess thats driving too......did 80 miles/h on the water.....thats about 180km/h give or take. cheers

so you call hitting 30 pound boost at 1200rpm "less stressful"?? before you come back with an uneducated ill informed answer.......consider this... for every 7psi you force into an engine you DOUBLE atmospheric pressure...that is you effectively increase your engine capacity TWOFOLD. so at 28psi you effectively turn your little 2 litre engine into 8 litres. henceforth the reasons for little riceburners to self destruct quite often when their owners try and squeeze too many horses out of something never designed to do it. cheers

it doesn't matter what method of forced induction you choose...if your engine is worn both types will speed up the impending rapid launch of engine parts into a low orbit. both turbocharging and supercharging have their respective features as well as down sides. supercharging takes horsepower to drive the compressor(downside) but the horsepower gain usually overrides this(feature) plus there is no extra under bonnet heat buildup (feature) supercharging however is linear in boost rise in that the harder you rev the engine the more boost created. this is set by the ratio of pulley sizes you use.(downside) turbocharging uses exhaust gas to build boost(heat buildup under bonnet(downside)) and requires no mechanical effort from the engine(feature) the boost created by the turbo is infinately variable via wastegate control(feature) as you can control when full boost is achieved at whatever revs you want(feature) turbochargers are not as bulletproof as superchargers(downside) as a supercharger does not need a period of cool down time to protect the internal rotating parts.(speeds of 120 000rpm are reasonably common in turbochargers) the same goes for the external intake plumbing needed for turbos.(pressures of up to 50 psi are common) turbocharging an engine is a lot more complex to setup than supercharging. you need oil and cooling water hoses for the turbo. you also need to fabricate(if one isn't commercially available) an exhaust system from the engine to the turbo turbine housing then out the back of the vehicle.(don't forget a high flow catalytic converter too) an intercooler is common to both types of forced induction. although supercharged intercooling isn't as common as the turbo version. as mentioned before turbocharging creates a lot of under bonnet heat and so intercooling has more advantages over supercharged intercooling. i believe a company in west australia does custom forced induction kits for vehicles. from memory their name is CAPA im unsure if they still exist. hope this helps cheers

in the begining some gearboxes were separate to the engine. they were three speed crash boxes. this meant they needed to double clutch each any every gear. they were simple and tough. as technology and materials developed so did gearboxes. todays passenger vehicles have the most advanced gearboxes.....they have internal oil pumps and even oil coolers. they have been designed to make cog swapping easier for the driver and hence make driving more enjoyable. this came about due to the advent of "synchro rings" they have small teeth on their outer edge and a taper on one side. they work by pushing the taper into the respective gear you want and slow it down until the teeth engage the gear. they are simple and work effectively. however....... there are gearboxes in modern vehicles that you don't need a clutch to change. they have 2 counter shafts instead of one. they vary in the number of gears they have....from 8 to 18. they are as tough as they come they are designed and built heavy to cope with up to 620hp and over 2000 pounds of torque. they are also "timed". they are the eaton roadranger gearbox. you will find these gearboxes in all modern heavy trucks. they work by using a "sliding clutch" between each gear. to change them without a clutch you need to match your road speed with your engine speed. once you get this right it will slide straight into the next gear. no clutch needed. the roadranger gearbox have been around for many years and have evolved greatly. the latest innovation is the "autoshift" range. these gearboxes are computer controlled and work in conjunction with modern computer controlled engines. you still have a clutch pedal on the floor....but instead of a normal gearstick you have an automatic type shifter. to use them you take off and stop as per a manual vehicle with the clutch. after that the gearbox changes by itself with no need for a clutch....the computer management does it all for you. so as you have read there are two distinct and totally different gearbox types used in modern vehicles. the roadranger or "crash" gearbox whre you can get away with not needing a clutch.....and the "synchro" type gearbox where you NEED to use a clutch. if you constantly use a synchro gearbox without using a clutch to "unload" it you WILL end up with most of the synchro teeth in the bottom of the gearbox. as a side note...synchro rings are generally machined from an alloy of brass. the actual gears of the box are made of an alloy of steel. and as murphy's law dictates to us...the softer material will wear first. hope this sheds some light for you all cheers

i think you have an alternator housing alignment issue. if after doing two sets of bearings in a relatively short time then its not the bearings. the bearings used in most alternators are a common size/part.....eg...6202...6203 are common bearing numbers. these bearings cost between $10 and $20 each as a rough ballpark figure. also check to see if your rotor is bent. it does happen but its not common. the rotor is the bit that spins. sometimes you will get an uneven wear pattern on the slip rings....have a close look there also. another place to inspect is where the bearings fit inside both housings. what you will need to look for is a wavy or rippled pattern where the bearings sit in the housings. this is called "fretting" this is where the bearings spin inside the housing. also...if the bearings just drop into place (they should fit with slight thumb pressure or a GENTLE tap with a SMALL hammer) then the housing is worn...put a little blue loctite where the bearings go inside the housings when you reassemble it.....or replace the housings. hope this helps cheers

like i said....im a diesel man.... my opinion on ethanol based/blended fuels i will keep to myself. my suggestion is find a fuel that you like and are happy with and stick to it. there's nothing wrong with personal choice. cheers

i own and drive diesel engined vehicles so the E10 debate is a lost cause for me.....however...... as most of you (should)know ethanol is an alcohol based fuel. the likes of your shell v-power etc are all mineral based fuels. (incidently....these types of fuels have the bonus additive of an injector cleaner....which works very well i might add!!) this is why car makers list the vehicles that can handle alcohol fuel......its mainly to do with flexible fuel lines etc as some will swell up and go soft as they react to the ethanol. you have all seen "top fuel" drag racing surely...to this end they all run alcohol based fuel mixed with varing amounts of nitro-methane. the point im making is this..... normal mineral based fuels work in engines designed with compression ratios around 7-9.5 to 1. anything higher and they start to rattle their heads off like a bunch of rocks going around in a cement mixer. engines that use alcohol fuel exclusively run compression ratios around 13-15 to 1. for an engine to run well and efficently on both fuels then a compromise in compression ratio must be found. this is usually around 10 to 1 give or take. in a lot of cases an engine that is running rough after changing to E10 fuel may be due to the fact that all the carbon buildup inside the engine...intake manifold/fuel injectors/cylinder head/ piston crown/valves/exhaust manifold is being loosened and being passed through the engine. this is because alcohol based fuels are hygroscopic, that is they absorb water. water that is heated turns to steam and the steam softens and removes the carbon deposits. so in a way this is a good thing due to the "cleanup" effect. one down side that E10 fuel has is that not only does it absorb a certain amount of water...it also holds in suspension and passes it through the entire fuel system...pump(s)/fuel lines/carb needle and seat/fuel injectors all can be (and usually are) affected. i guess i don't need to explain what partly blocked fuel injectors feel like at 100km/h!! just my little bit of techy blurb...... cheers

reguardless of what people think of putting metho in your fuel tank to absorb water........water WILL eat anything alloy in a fuel system. thats why car makers put a bung in the lowest part of the tank so you can drain the water out. my suggestions still stand as per previous post. although resetting the engine management MAY solve SOME of the problems. have yu replaced the fuel filter??...a slightly blocked fuel filter will also cause problems. cheers

first of all...grow up and learn how to drive a car. its obvious from the pic of the concrete block that you hit this thing at speed (skid marks don't lie!!) you know the speed you were doing so don't kid yourself(or anyone else)you were going slower. second......hitting things like that at speed with most certainly bend suspension components. things like tie rod ends both inner and outer will need to be replaced on the side that got hit. you will never see the internal damage so its safer to just replace them. also replace upper and lower ball joints....same deal again. take the car to a suspension specialist and get them to check your steering geometry....i will bet my left nut to the fact that SOMETHING is bent (upper or lower control arms and/or front sway bar). thirdly......own up to your foolish driving habits to your old man. i will also bet my left nut to the fact that he did something similar when he was a kid too. in owning up and saying that you broke something will (usually with time) be gotten over by your dad and he will move on.....and hopefully you and your dad can understand each other better for the future. cheers

ohh.....one more thing..... you say you need power for an amp right??.......be sure to run a separate earth return lead back to the battery and use this as a common earth point inside the cabin. it stops you getting what the industry calls "feedback loop"...thats where you get electrical noise in your sound system from using too many different earth points. DO NOT put a fuse in this earth return line only your main +12volt line to your amp etc. i've also see electrical fires start from installations where they put a fuse in the earth return line back to the battery. cheers

the easiest way is to find a rubber gromet in the firewall...best way is to pop it out and see what is behind it. suggested places to look are on the drivers side look for a gromet where the clutch cable/master cylinder would be. on the passenger side MOST toyota passenger vehicles do have spare gromets that you can pass cabling etc through. i spent 2 1/2 years installing phone kits/two way radios/emergency beacons and lightbars/spotlights to just about ANY vehicle and most times it was nothing more than common sense and just plain looking on BOTH sides of the firewall to see what was available to use. DO be careful of engine management cabling etc....dont do what an apprentice did a shove a stainless steel guide wire through a wiring harness and short the whole harness to earth and start an electrical fire.....you have been warned!!!! hope this helps cheers

Cheers mate. We have been useing Fuchs oil at work for four years now. The engines and other components we rebuild are in great condition. We recently had a pump on a DK90 drill acheive over 25000hrs. It somehow missed getting changed out at 10,000hrs. I wish I new a little more about smaller engines though! not much different to an engine in a D11!!!!!! they both have up-and-down-and-round-and-round bits inside....both need a cooling system......and both explode when you run them out of oil!!!!. it doesn't matter how big an engine is....they still all have the same basic components to make them work. cheers

i have a close family friend who has been using a mac for the last 10 years. never had a crash or any other problem. as for your "shiny key" comment.....he has used this mac for writing top end business programs that he has sold worldwide as nearly all of them use a linux based system. i really dont care if you put a mac down and crap all over it. unless you have actually USED a mac and understand that it is BETTER than all the generic ibm machines out there....then you are still living under a rock...perhaps you should crawl back under it........ cheers

i havent had much to do with fuchs oils. i would check up on it to see if it is diesel engine compatable. yeah oem gauges can be troublesome but i personally wouldnt use a gauge that allows hot oil under pressure into the cab with you.....had the experience of that pressure line letting go......it sprayed me with hot engine oil...i had 1st and 2nd degree burns on my legs. cheers

yeah the figures sound about right. leave it well alone. always use a good quality "diesel engine specific" oil like BP mono 30 etc. DON'T use valvoline engine oil as it will glaze up cylinder walls and cause problems. most oil pump relief valves are set to about 60 pound anyways. anything higher than this and you start to get problems like spinning bearings on big ends/mains. the idle figures are ok too.....i've seen chev and holden v8's have a low as 10 pound at idle....thats a REAL worry cheers

why dont you rebuild what you already have??...getting a 2nd hand engine may well see you back where you are now....stuffed engine and no car. an added plus is if you rebuild what you've got is that you KNOW what is inside your engine AND you can build it for what you want to do with the engine....1/4 mile??...street hack??...or all out get up and boogie as for performance cams....look into adjustable cam wheels....this enables you to adjust cam timing...thus either retarding or advancing your cam timing....but be warned.....some injected engine dont like having their cam timing played with......if you get a performance cam set....get a kit where you get an upgraded computer chip too...this allows for more agressive cam timing cheers PS....i'm a small engine mechanic too...been doing it for 18 years.....car engines aren't THAT much different

the "knock" you speak of definately sounds like a spun or worn big end and/or main bearing. it can happen anytime. it mainly happens if you have: worn bearing shells big end caps that have had the bolts stretch (either by excessive heat or over revving) installed the conrods/pistons the wrong way (yes this IS possible) a worn crankshaft with new bearings (the common one is where you fit standard bearings on an undersize crank) an engine oil pump that has its pressure relief valve set WAY too high and pushes bearings out (have seen this in a high performance v8 marine engine) this knock will not cause the engine to burn oil....that is caused either by worn rings/pistons/cylinders worn valve stems worn valve guides hard or cracked valve stem seals i have also seen a car burn its auto tranny oil....this was caused from the modulator valve on the tranny letting go cheers