Car News: Sept. 26

Are you a fan of the Nissan GTR? Love the all-conquering Godzilla monster from Japan? But you need more room for kids and or supplies? You just might be in luck. Pictured here is a very special Nissan Juke. It has the engine from a GTR along with the wheels and transmission to give the Juke its all-wheel drive. No word on price or if it will even be mass-produced. Thanks to Motor Trend for the picture.

Speaking of Nissan GTR, the 2013 Nissan GTR should be coming out with 570 horsepower along with other minor adjustments to suspension and aerodynamics. That is about 40 horsepower more than the current GTR and it is already one of the world’s fastest production cars. It is one of 3 production cars that can hit 60 mph from a standstill in under 3 seconds, which is crazy fast.

Corvette is saying “me too” with Porsche and their transmission choice. The C7 Corvette, within the next few years a new Corvette should be released, is rumored to sport a 7 speed manual transmission. The 2012 Porsche has a 7 speed manual and will be on sale soon, though the new model is visually very similar to the outgoing model and is hard to pick out.

A Hyundai Genesis Coupe has been spotted with a supercharger under its hood. This could be a R-spec version of the 3.8 liter V-6. Since Hyundai will not put their new 5 liter engine in the coupe, this supercharged engine could go against the Mustang GT and the Camaro SS.

Gordon Murray, the man behind the greatest supercar of all time the McLaren F1, is still designing cars. Though he no longer is designing legends like the F1, his most current work is looking into the future of automobiles. He is currently working on an electric vehicle. It is called the Teewave AR-1. The car features lots of carbon fiber, to keep it light weight. The engine comes from the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. It has a limited range of 100 miles and can only go 100 mph. Electric cars have a long ways to go still. Thanks to autoblog.com for the picture.  

Car Apparel: Seatbelt belts

Yes you read that correctly, seatbelt belts. The manufacturers even claim that the seatbelt came out of an actual car, adding to the cool factor. There are a few different companies you can choose from: these include Acura, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Corvette, Dodge, Ford, GM, Honda, Hummer, Jeep, Lincoln, Nissan, Mustang, Pontiac, and Viper. So no matter what company you love and show devotion to, most likely you can find a seatbelt belt that will help you show your devotion even more.

I have bought two, a Viper seatbelt belt and an Acura logo one. I chose the Viper because the Dodge Viper was my first dream car and I still have a spot in my heart for the beast of a car. It was a man’s man car, with the latest version pumping out 600 horsepower and no traction control. It took a lot of nerve to drive any version of the Viper. It is still one of my dream cars and I hope one day to be man enough to handle one. With the seatbelt belt, I feel like I own at least a piece of my dream car and sometimes can feel the power of the Viper through the seatbelt. But that might be part of my imagination.

My first car was an Acura and the plan was to buy another Acura and the Acura seatbelt belt was to match with the car. Acura and Honda are my favorite mass production car companies that are imported to the United States and that was another reason for buying the Acura seatbelt belt.

What I like most about the seatbelt belts, is that they are just like seatbelts. They even make the clicking noise when put on, and to take the belt off you have to push the logo button. If you are a car fanatic and you are looking for a new belt, I would highly recommend one. They run about $16-$22 depending on which one you want. Search either on Amazon.com for cheap Corvette and Mustang ones. Or, check rockitrigs.com for a wider selection but a little higher price. And remember, buckle up.  

Modifications on a Budget: Meet my car

O the joys of car shopping. Some, including myself, enjoy it. On the other hand, there are many that loathe the prospect of searching for a new vehicle. I have recently sold my car just to turn around and buy another. One reason was to teach myself to drive a manual, yes shock shock, I don’t know how to drive stick. The other purpose was to find something more exciting and a vehicle I would enjoy modifying. After much enjoyable searching I found a Honda Civic that had a small turbocharger. I am not a mechanic and don’t completely understand how it works. All I know is that it is attached to the exhaust tubes and spins off the waste from the explosion from the engine. For a more in-depth look into turbochargers feel free to visit http://www.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm. And if there is anybody that knows more, please comment. One thing I have learned, if you want a modified car, go out and buy a used car that already has those modifications you want. The seller can’t sell it for what they put into it, though they often try. Here are some pictures of my new project. This first picture is the boost gauge that keeps track how much pressure the turbo is building. It was machined into the spot where a small cup holder used to be on the stock vehicle.

Here is a picture of the turbo. It is a td04h1 turbo set up with a custom blow off valve. The turbo, I believe, is from a Saab. You know, those quirky cars from Sweden. I love the sound of the turbo boosting, and if you haven’t heard a turbo spooling it is necessary.

This last picture shows a Skunk works strut bar. This is to help with the handling, so it can turn faster in the corners. It seems to be doing its job, the car handles well. The car also has a sport suspension kit, but that proved hard to capture on my digital camera with my limited photo abilities. There are more modifications, and I will show those later. I will also document future modifications I make to the car. I am also open to any suggestions. 

Car News

The automotive industry is a living, breathing entity. It is ever changing and forming around what the customer wants and future technology that will making driving safer. Saab seems to be in constant trouble and Volkswagen is trying to take over the world, one automotive manufacturer at a time. But even Volkswagen won’t touch Saab; the only company crazy enough to buy Saab was a peculiar car manufacturer from the Netherlands. In this section will be a short recap on what is going on in the automotive world each week. With the recession, the last couple years have been turmoil and a lot has changed. GM has shed itself of Pontiac, Saturn, Oldsmobile, and Hummer. Ford has sold off Land Rover and Jaguar to an Indian car company, how surprising is that? To top it off, they sold Volvo to a Chinese company.  But that is years in the past, and lots has happened. It would take up too much time to explain all that has happened in between. Instead, let us talk about more recent events.

Ford has finally ended production of the Crown Victoria. The final Ford Crown Victoria rolled off the assembly line in Ontario, Canada. Some might find it funny that the last of such an American vehicle was built in Canada and bought by a customer in Saudi Arabia. Don’t have enough room in your garage for a Lamborghini Aventador? Well, you can buy a 1/8^th scale model. It is made out of diamonds and gold and platinum and is going up for auction with a starting bid of, sit down, $4.7 million. For that price it should clean the house and mow the yard without complaining. Once again Americans have a hot wagon to drool ever, but never experience. Audi is testing their RS4 Avant around the Nürburgring in Germany. And Land Rover has decided to change the way they have been naming their SUVs. They will go to naming their vehicles instead of using abbreviations and numbers. 

Car Apparel

No, this has nothing to do with dressing your car up in clothes, though a bra for your car could be a good idea, depending on how far you drive and the areas in which you commute. But no, I am referring to clothes and accessories to wear. Want to show your allegiance to a certain car brand? Or you might just think it looks cool. Whatever your reason to wear car apparel, this section will go over different types of apparel and will include ways to obtain these different types of apparel.

One in particular that I have really gotten interested in is the seatbelt belt. Manufacturers of these products claim that the belt part is actually from the car. To me, that adds to the cool factor knowing that this was actually part of a car once, not just some cheap manufactured belt to look like it was once a seatbelt. But, that is if I believe and trust the manufacturers of the product. It is somewhat disappointing that some car companies’ seatbelts are not available for purchase. For example, I was sad to see that companies such as Abarth, Renault, Ferrari, Lotus, along with other European brands. But there are some other brands that have a strong following, such as Jeep, Honda, Hummer, and others. These are pretty cool accessories, they click shut and to release the belt, you need to push the central button. They are usually a big hit with friends. 

Modifications on a Budget

Have you ever wanted to modify your vehicle? Not completely pleased with an aspect of the car or just wanting to improve the dynamics of the car or truck? Have you wondered what you could do with the money you have? I am a huge car guy and I like modifying, making the car my own and different than others on the road. But being an average college student, I don’t have an unlimited source of cash to draw from to do whatever modifications that I want, I have to limit myself to what I want most out of the car.

Different modifications for the car can be divided into 4 categories; performance, handling, audio, and visual. Depending what you want most out of the car, will determine what you will spend most of your time and money into. If your main priority is to humble the guy in the Vette next to you, or maybe you just want to blow out the old man’s ear drums. While others want to make their car stand out in some way, whether in a good or bad way. It is all a matter of personal choice.

I have been obsessed with cars my whole life and religiously studied them for the last decade. To my friends I am known as the “car guy” and they come to me with their car questions. I try to read car blogs and car magazines every day, and if I don’t, I catch up on Sunday with any car news. I have a close friend that is a car mechanic and I am a member of the SAE club, which standards for Standards of Automotive Engineering. Another great way to learn more is from each other, I encourage any information or questions from any reader. Throughout this blog I will talk about modifications on my vehicle and go through the process for a few of them. I will also have two other sections, car news and car apparel. The purposes of these will be discussed later. Enjoy.