Car Modding?

I of course know that car Engine Modding in its self is another thing. But I used it as an example only in that its one of something (still left) we can Mod in our garages/homes. And so that industry has been around long and has, Gone its path.

The visionaries of that time imagined massive engines with endless horsepower. But as we've seen, other forces find their way in and alter/refine the path of the home Modder.

Industry always starts out headlong into the Biggest and the Everything, but in the end finds its way back to the *simple*.

Sad but true, in the long run the Simpleton always wins.

I you're missing my point though. Im simply using cars as a metaphor, because they are broadly excepted, complex and have had time to solidify. But I didn't mean to get off topic.

Anyway car modding does still happen but the course its taken is very different than what the modders of the early days imagined. That was my point and you see that.

Back on point.. Let me say, There are many different parallels you can look back on to see where personal tech is going...

There are a few rules that invention uses to please the most people for broad usefulness, e.g. Sales. It has always worked this way;
1. make it easier. (Anyone can use it)
2. make it cost less. (Everyone can have one)
3. make it smaller. (Fits anywhere)
4. make it most efficient. (Does everything)

This will happen regardless of what We as modders want it to be.
In the long run every successful product ends up being (Fitted to the most people possible). The majority of people are ignorant and simple, so with that will go the *Personal Computer. In a word, Clinical.

So I see Cell phones being the way, toward the next 20 years. The thing I hate about that is I wont be able to get my fingers dirty and Hot Rod it up like I can now. But maybe like You and I are really are saying 'There will be a different way'.

You are visionary, where do you see the personal computer going in say 10~15~20 years?

Thanks for your good points and being in on the debate, btw.

1) Powerful processors take a lot of power and generate a bunch of heat.
2) Cheap mass storage is not completely miniaturized just yet.

Today I can connect my iPhone to my HD TV via AppleTV and surf the web, watch movies, and even do some email.

But my phone only has 16 gigs of storage, while the 1T drive in my desktop is faster and cheaper. Also the processor on my desktop is a whole lot more powerful than my iphone.

My desktop is not the same size as my iPhone because:

- The Intel i7 processor won't fit in an iphone, (think of the power and heat issues)

- A cheap 1 Terabyte SSD small enough to solder to the iPhone motherboard does not exist.

In theory, if my phone had the same processing power and storage....with maybe a wireless keyboard or mouse attached, why would I need the big shiny metal box that is my desktop PC?

A laptop or tablet are kind of in-between,

Tomorrow's 'PC' may just be a docking station for your phone, tablet, or mini-laptop essentially.

YES, we can compare cars to computers.....look at the original high performance PC, the IBM PC cost about $1500, and my phone can run circles around it...heck the processor built into my TV, my car, or my portable GPS unit could smoke it in a drag race.

Today for $1500 you can buy a desktop PC with a nice monitor and printer and have $1000 left over, if you shop carefully.

The best Ford Mustang you could buy in 1982 was the 5.0 HO which put out a whopping 160 horsepower and did zero to sixty in 6.9 seconds.....today the BOSS 302 puts out 444 horsepower from the same 5.0 Liters, delivering something like four seconds 0-60.....but I digress.

I listed several.

If you are talking my snowmobile it's hard to say, the engine is stronger than all the drive components. It is very common to see clutches and belts explode under the pressure, so you can't really measure it.
But my sled will do 0 to 60 in an around 2-3 seconds, 10 seconds to reach the top speed of 200kph. Snow conditions affect traction and top speed.
Our drag race sled does the quarter mile (in summer) in 9.83 seconds. a 900 CC motor. Gas milage on the drag sled is about 4 gallons per mile, so not great lol.

Which allows the incoming charge to help push the burnt charge out of the cylinder and allows better filling of the cylinder at high RPM as the gas has a higher velocity and hence more Kinetic Energy.

But here the snowmobile is likely to produce more HP per Liter of swept volume but at the same time have a smaller engine which allows much higher HP at the expense of a shorter engine life. For example I have a 9.15 cc motor here that is claimed to produce 1.5 HP which considerably exceeds the magic 100 HP per liter but that engine isn't going to last very long. I may get several hours running out of it which will be quite a lot considering that a 5 minute run will be an exceptionally long run.

No comment on the Force Feeding any Reciprocating Engine as the use of Turbo/Super chargers is a unnecessary complex addition for very little benefit. Of course if you are using 60 PSI Boost or higher it's worth while but for the common Boost pressures that are used in Production Engines of 5 to 8 PSI it is a unnecessary complication for little benefit. That's one of the things I was taught when I was working in Germany for the God of the Car Makers anyway. ;)

Though if anyone can design a engine that has a Piston Speed of approaching 186 feet per second it's most defiantly something I would want to play with. :^0

Col

Cars made from the Drop Belly Fuel Tanks of World War 11 Aircraft.

Or the Rods which where Open Wheeled overpowered under braked modifications of the very first Mass Production Line.

Sure they where not modified from new they had to first get a few years on them and be affordable to those who wanted to play with them. I loved the idea that in the 60's cars where unreliable and broke down all of the time. Back then people used to repair them themselves because that was cheaper, there was not the fixation on consuming at the expense of everything else and people looked at what was best for them and their families.

Maybe back then people where more resourceful and could cope with lights not turning on when you flicked a switch or water not coming out of a tap when you turned it, and they certainly didn't waste stuff or contribute to Landfill like we do today for the sake of simply consuming and having the latest and greatest bit of Kit this week.

They would back then use some fencing wire and tie food wraped in foil to the exhaust manifold and cook it as they drove to a picnic so you had something to eat when you arrived at your destination rather than starting a fire and cooking your own meals. Back then there where no shops at Picnic Sites and the reason you went there was exactly that you wanted to get away from things like that not be reliant on others to enjoy yourself.

The first car my father had did break down but only when it was involved in a collision but even then you tended to drive away from collisions and didn't demand a tow truck to tow your car away because it had a broken tail light or roadside assistance because you got a flat. You just pulled out the spare and put it on the car and continued driving. People even had rags in their cars so they could wipe their hands clean after changing a flat tire.

Today most people don't know how to open the bonnet let alone how to change a tire. Just recently I had one guy trying to pay me for changing a tire on his car after the rim broke and he blocked the driveway of a service station which I was trying to use.

Today cars are so fragile that if a light bulb blows some people believe that they have to be towed away and wait for the specialist repair. I personally like to say things like [i]They have run out of Blinker Fluid or they mistakenly used Headlight Fluid in the Tail Lights and caused the car to self destruct.[/i]

Col