|
Welcome Well, the last one was three years old, so it's time to roll out a shiny new resource & reference thread. I'd like to keep things somewhat categorized, so as you come up with additions and recommendations, post them here or PM me and I'll get them added. This way, people don't have to scroll through multiple pages to hunt for something. As it stands, these are not comprehensive enough, and could use some serious updating. How can you help? We need the best forums and links of the bunch. Simply listing a ton of forums is pointless, and anyone can type "Miata forums" into Google. What we need here are the cream of the crop. (This is why I sorta gave up pulling EVERY forum link out of the last resource thread - it started to seem a bit excessive). Some of these could be removed, and certainly a lot of great stuff could be added. This is where I need recommendations from you guys. Table of Contents: 1. Favorites / most common 2. General Resources 3. Vendors 4. General / Broad-Topic Forums 5. Make/Model-Specific CAR Forums 6. Make/Model-Specific MOTORCYCLE Forums 7. Fuel Economy / Mileage Facts and Myths -by- Phone 8. How to Make Your Car Go Faster -by- Fleetwood75 9. Basic things to look at or ask for when buying a used car -by- whiskas 10. Hey, I got a ticket! -by- einTier[/url]   
sigtrap fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Aug 2, 2008 |
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 10:07 |
|
|
1. Favorites / most common einTier's Detailing Guide (Hosted by Krakkles) AI detailing guru einTier's highly-regarded and requested detailing guide. It seems to shift around a lot, so I'll list several mirrors. CARFAX - http://www.carfax.com/ For a small fee, you can get an account that will allow you to look up an in-depth history of what’s happened to a given car since it rolled off the assembly line. Using a database of records, in combination with government registration services, this service can detect odometer rollback, accidents, fleet vehicles, etc. Absolutely essential information when purchasing a used car. Pay No Fine - http://www.artofhacking.com/tucops/etc/misc/NOFINE.PDF Bitching about your tickets in A.I. is prohibited, but here's a PDF with good info on dealing with them. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Mar 24, 2011 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:49
|
|
|
2. General Resources MSN Autos - Used Car Information - http://autos.msn.com/home/used_research.aspx Lists common problems with many models. Car Survey - http://www.carsurvey.org/ Tons of reviews by people who actually own the cars. FuelEconomy.gov - http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ EPA gas mileage ratings for most cars and trucks 1985 and newer with engine/transmission breakdowns. Great to know when looking at used vehicles. Parker's - http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/ UK Site with reviews for newer cars('90+) and technical data for older ones('80+). Autozone - repair info - http://autozone.com/repair_info.htm Free basic repair and maintenance guides (similar to Haynes but with better illustrations) for a number of common vehicles. Automotive Digest glossary - http://www.automotivedigest.com/glossary.asp Huge glossary of automotive terms. PaintScratch - http://www.paintscratch.com/search.htm A great site for looking up paint codes. Tire size calculator - http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html Handy little calculator that shows the difference in speedometer readings between standard and replacement tires. Building a leakdown tester - http://www.xs11.com/tips/misc/misc3.shtml Build a cylinder leakage tester from hardware store parts: Daniel Stern Lighting - http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html Oft-referenced information site that debunks a lot of misconceptions about lighting, aftermarket HIDZZZ and such. In particular, http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/bulbs/Hid/conversions/conversions.html Turn Fast! - http://www.turnfast.com/ An online guide for road racing enthusiasts, including driving techniques, tutorials, etc. Carfiche - http://www.carfiche.com/ Downloadable factory service manuals. Depending on how they are doing on funds, they cycle availability of their downloads so if you see something listed that's not currently up, donate or check back in a couple of days. (CARB stuff at JTR) - http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Chevrolet_S-10_V-8_Smog.html Good article that shines light on the oft-misunderstood CARB smog laws. Car battery FAQ - http://www.repairfaq.org/ELE/F_Car_Battery.html Everything you'll ever need to know about car batteries. the12volt.com - http://www.the12volt.com/ Free site (requires registration) with basically every car's wiring diagrams and whatnot. Great site for stereos/cruise controls/alarm systems/other hookups. Korman - Handling adjustment chart - http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/thandling.htm Handy chart for tweaking under/over steer, listed by parameter. Vehicle bolt pattern reference - http://www.discountedwheelwarehouse.com/Vehicle_Bolt_Pattern_Reference.cfm This should be a handy reference (it was dead when I tried it) Somebody fucked around with this message at 04:53 on Feb 26, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:49
|
|
|
3. Vendors Bavarian Autosport - http://www.bavauto.com/ BWM parts catalog Cox Imports - http://www.coximports.com/ Import performance parts Dennis Kirk - http://www.denniskirk.com Lots of aftermarket motorcycle parts - Recommended by `Nemesis German Auto Parts - http://www.germanautoparts.com/ Some of the cheapest parts (aftermarket and OEM) you can find anywhere, period. Great place for brakes, clutches, etc. International Auto Parts - http://www.international-auto.com/ Recommended parts vendor for Alfas, Fiats and Lancias. International Product Development - http://www.ipdusa.com "The best site for Volvo parts I've found. Good selection of stuff for my older 740." - Sir Tonk LMC Truck - http://www.lmctruck.com/ Tons of parts for new and classic Chevrolet, GMC, Ford and Dodge pickups. Midwest X1/9 - http://www.midwest-x19.com/ Fiat X1/9 Parts and knowledge NewEnough - http://www.newenough.com Well-known vendor of motorcycle gear (Jackets, boots, gloves, etc.) Neuspeed - http://www.neuspeed.com/ Aftermarket manufacturer of performance parts for Honda, Acura, VW and Audi. Pelican Parts - http://www.pelicanparts.com/ Porsche and BMW parts RockAuto - http://rockauto.com/ "Massive selection of stock parts and very good prices." - oxbrain Summit Racing - http://www.summitracing.com/ "Wide selection of generic aftermarket stuff and insane prices. $10.95 ground shipping for almost all orders." - oxbrain TireRack - http://www.tirerack.com/ Excellent vendor for wheels and tires, as well as brakes, suspension, etc. Top_end Performance - http://racetep.com/ Lots of import parts, including hard-to-find stuff Vick Autosports - http://www.vickauto.com/ Another vendor for for Fiat & Alfa Romeo parts. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 05:04 on May 1, 2007 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:49
|
|
|
4. General / Broad-Topic Forums SpeedArena - http://www.speedarena.com/ General motorsports site. Sportbikes Website - http://www.sportbikes.ws/ Large sportbike community. The Jalopy Journal - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ News and forums for old cars / hot rods Musclecar Club - http://www.musclecarclub.com/ All about American muscle cars. The Old Car Manual Project - http://www.tocmp.com/ Tons of scanned manuals and brochures - really cool. Hotrodders.com - http://www.hotrodders.com/ Great resource for restoring cars, includes tons of articles on every aspect of the car from bodywork to engine rebuilding, etc. Texas X Riders - http://www.texasxriders.com A bike forum for Texas that focuses on group rides and meets, broken down by portions of the state. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Mar 29, 2007 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:49
|
|
|
5. Make/Model-Specific CAR Forums ACURA ________________________________________________________________ Club RSX - http://www.clubrsx.com Parts and forums for the RSX. NSX Prime - http://www.nsxprime.com/ Info and forums for the NSX. Acurazine - http://www.acura-cl.com/ Forums for Acura CL, RL, TL, TSX and RDX Acura TL parts - http://www.autocarparts.com/cars/Acura/TL/ Yeah. Acura TL parts. Honda-Tech - http://www.honda-tech.com Covers a bunch of Honda / Acura models AUDI ________________________________________________________________ AudiWorld - http://www.audiworld.com/ Articles and forums for Audis. BMW ________________________________________________________________ Technik Engineering - http://www.technikpower.com/site/ Performance parts for BMWs Bimmerforums - http://www.bimmerforums.com/ News and forums for BMWs. DTMPOWER - http://www.dtmpower.net/ Articles, pictures, classifieds, videos, and forums for BMWs. Maxbimmer - http://www.maxbimmer.com/ More BWM forums DODGE / CHRYSLER / PLYMOUTH / MOPAR ________________________________________________________________ Moparts - http://www.moparts.com/ Lots of Mopar stuff. TurboDodge.com - http://www.turbododge.com/forums/ Forums for 1984+ turbocharged Dodges VFAQ - http://www.vfaq.com/index-main.html Basic DSM-related install procedures with photo and step by step guides. Allpar - http://www.allpar.com/ Tons of information on Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Jeep, etc. Slant Six Forum - http://www.slantsix.org/ Forum for Slant Six and "A" body fans. Neons.org - http://www.neons.org/ Main site for all models of neon, and they have an excellent FAQ. FERRARI ________________________________________________________________ Barchetta.cc - http://www.barchetta.cc/All.Ferraris/All.Ferraris.html A fun place to poke around if you are interested in classic Ferraris. This has them all listed by serial number, and you can look up their history and pedigree. Ferrari Chat - http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ Forums for all you Ferrari owners! FIAT ________________________________________________________________ FLU - http://fluforum.italiancarclub.com/index.php Forums for Fiat & Lancia FORD ________________________________________________________________ Corral.net Forums - http://forums.corral.net/forums/ Resources and forums for Mustangs. focaljet - http://www.focaljet.com/ The Ford Focus enthusiast site Focus Sport - http://www.focussport.com/ Focus parts Ford Service Manual CD/DVDs - http://www.fordcds.com/ Free downloadable service Manuals (Torrents) Modular Depot - http://www.fordcds.com/ For all issues specific to the modular engine Fords (basically all Mustang v8s from '96+ and all other Ford v8s from '94+) GM ________________________________________________________________ C5Forum - http://www.c5forum.com/ Articles and forums for C5 Vettes. CamaroZ28.com - http://www.camaroz28.com/ News and forums Corvette Forum - http://www.corvetteforum.com/ Resources and forums for all Corvettes. Corvette FAQ - http://wiki.corvettefaq.com/index.php?title=Main_Page WIKI for C2 & C3 Corvettes. 4th Gen LT1 F-Body Technical Aids - http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech1.html Tons of technical info and how-tos for 4th gen F-body Camaros & Firebirds. ColoradoK5 - http://www.coloradok5.com/ All about 1969-91 Blazer/Jimmy including GM Trucks and Suburbans. ClubGP - http://www.clubgp.com/ All about Grand Prixs and G8s - Forums, parts list and database, parts store, member registry/gallery, tutorials ZZ Performance - http://www.zzperformance.com/ Everything you could ever want to know about how to drive, race, and modify a Pontiac Grand Prix. Sells parts and has a huge comprehensive collection of information on Grand Prix stuff. 3800 Performance - http://3800performance.com/ Lots of stuff for the GM 3800 engine and 3800-powered cars. SYTY.org - http://www.syty.org/ Syclones, Typhoons, and Sonoma GTs V8Buick.com - http://www.v8buick.com Recommended by MrSaturn BuickStreet.com - http://www.buickstreet.com Also recommended by MrSaturn LS1Tech - http://ls1tech.com/forums Recommended by IOwnCalculus ImpalaSuperStore Forums - http://www.impalasuperstore.com/naisso/Forum2005 For the 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS - Recommended by `Nemesis A-Body.net - http://www.a-body.net/forums/ "82-96 GM FWD A-bodies forum. Kinda slow but the people there know their stuff." - Left Ventricle GMFullsize Forums - http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/ "Best place on the net for GM trucks, imo." - OrangeCrush Beretta.net - http://www.beretta.net "Probably not the typical car people would cruise google for, but there are several very knowledgeable people there." - IdeoPhantus HONDA ________________________________________________________________ S2K International - http://www.s2ki.com/Home/ Resources and forums for S2000s Honda-Tech - http://www.honda-tech.com Covers a bunch of Honda / Acura models LANCIA ________________________________________________________________ FLU - http://fluforum.italiancarclub.com/index.php Forums for Fiat & Lancia LEXUS ________________________________________________________________ my.IS - http://my.is/ Resources and forums for the IS200, IS250, IS300, IS350 and IS-F. Club Lexus - http://www.clublexus.com "...terrific Lexus site with active forums. I've also bought and sold things there with great results." - Jymmybob LOTUS ________________________________________________________________ Elise Talk - http://www.elisetalk.com/ Information on the Elise / Exige, as well as many other Lotus models. MAZDA ________________________________________________________________ TripleZoom - http://www.triplezoom.com/ Info and forums for Mazda enthusiasts. ClubProtege - http://www.clubprotege.com/forum/ Mazda Protege forums Foxed.ca - RX-7 manuals - http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual For 1979+ RX-7s & RX-8s. Factory Service Manuals, Wiring Diagrams, Parts Manuals, Rare doccuments, Collision Manuals. Mazda3Forums - http://www.mazda3forums.com These are forums! For the Mazda 3! Mazda6Club - http://www.mazda6club.com/ Mazda 6 stuff, in club form. Mazda6Tech - http://www.mazda6tech.com/ More Mazda6 resources. Miata.net forums - http://forum.miata.net/vb/ "the definitive technical and general Miata site"- Savington Miata Turbo - http://www.miataturbo.net/ "lots of detailed technical knowledge regarding turbocharging"- Savington MERCEDES ________________________________________________________________ MBWorld - http://forums.mbworld.org/forums/index.php Forums for all M-B cars. MITSUBISHI ________________________________________________________________ EvolutionM.net - http://www.evolutionm.net/ Resources and forums for Lancers / Lancer Evos. Mirage Performance - http://www.mirageforums.net/ For the Mitsubishi Mirage. GalantVR4.org - http://www.galantvr4.org/ For the 4G63-powered Galant. DSM Talk - http://www.dsmtalk.com/ Forums and info for DSMs. Starquestclub - http://www.starquestclub.com/forums/home.php Starion / Conquest forums. NISSAN ________________________________________________________________ My350Z - http://www.my350z.com/home/ Resources and forums for 350Zs. Internet Z-Car Club (IZCC) - http://zhome.com/ Tons of info for Z owners. HybridZ - http://www.hybridz.org/ All about Z-cars with motor swaps, mostly GM V8 and Nissan I6. Maxima.org - http://www.maxima.org/ Stuff for Maximas B15Sentra.net - http://www.b15sentra.net/ 2000+ Nissan Sentras (GX, SE-R, Spec V, etc.) Performance Nissan Parts - http://www.mynismo.com/ Lotsa Nissan parts Motorsport Auto - http://www.zcarparts.com/ Great source for Datsun/Nissan Z&ZX parts SCION ________________________________________________________________ Scion Life - http://www.scionlife.com/ Scion stuff, naturally SUBARU ________________________________________________________________ NASIOC - http://www.nasioc.com/ Resources and forums for Imprezas, but lots of info for Subarus in general. ClubWRX - http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/ Forum for WRXs. Legacy Owners Association - http://www.legacygt.com/ Recommended by Fantastipotamus TOYOTA ________________________________________________________________ Supra Forums - http://www.supraforums.com/ As the name implies. Yotavans - http://www.yotavans.org/ Community for Toyota cabover vans. Also, see here for more active forums. Yotatech - http://yotatech.com/ Everything you want to know about Toyota SUVs and trucks. VOLKSWAGEN ________________________________________________________________ VWVortex - http://www.vwvortex.com/ Many articles and forums relating to (mostly) watercooled Volkswagens. TheSamba.Com forums - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum For aircooled VWs - Without a doubt, the most comprehensive aircooled forums, covering almost all models. ShopTalkForums - http://shoptalkforums.com THE place to go for aircooled tech questions, experts with typeIV conversions, EFI, forced induction, and pretty much everything else technical. MKV Forums (Rabbit, GTI, and R32) - http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/index.php Much easier to navigate than VWVortex and I prefer them." - Uthor VOLVO ________________________________________________________________ swedespeed - http://www.swedespeed.com/ News and forums for Volvos. Run by the people behind VWVortex. Turbobricks - http://www.turbobricks.com/ Forums for turbocharged Volvos. VolvoForums.com - http://www.volvoforums.com Generic Volvo Forums broken down by model series (they tend to focus more on the newer models) sigtrap fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Mar 24, 2011 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:50
|
|
|
6. Make/Model-Specific MOTORCYCLE Forums HONDA ________________________________________________________________ TotalRuckus.com - http://totalruckus.com These guys are great. Practically every Ruckus owner must be on this forum and it has a bunch of traffic for a single model forum without a ton of sales. Honda Shadow Resource Center - http://www.hondashadow.net Lots of good info on their main site and the forums are mostly populated with owners of newer Shadows. Kawasaki ________________________________________________________________ Kawasaki Motorcycle.org - http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/index.php General Kawasaki motorcycle forums. SUZUKI ________________________________________________________________ Old Skool Suzuki - http://www.oldskoolsuzuki.info/ Great community for anyone interested in air/oil/water cooled GSX/GSXRs SuzukiCycles.org - http://www.suzukicycles.org/ All Suzukis ever built. The GS Resources - http://www.thegsresources.com/ All about classic Suzuki GS motorcycles Katana Central - http://www.katanacentral.co.uk/ All about the Suzuki Katana SV Rider - http://www.svrider.com/ Suzuki SV650 forum GSTwin - http://www.gstwin.com/ For Suzuki GS500 (post 1989) bikes YAMAHA ________________________________________________________________ R1 Forum - http://www.r1-forum.com/ Forums for the YZF-R1 R6 Forum - http://www.r6-forum.com/ Forums for the YZF-R6 R6 MessageNet - http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/cmps_index.php More forums for the R6 sigtrap fucked around with this message at 17:30 on Aug 2, 2008 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:50
|
|
|
7. Fuel Economy / Mileage Facts and Myths -by- Phone I saw on the news today a guy running his car off of water and I think tha- No, you don't think, and that's the problem. Much electrolysis is a scam. Just off of the top of my head, the efficiency for electrolysis is about 10-15% whereas the internal combustion engine sitting in front (I'm taking a wild guess that your econobox is not a mid or rear engined car) is about 30-35% efficient. The thing with energy systems is that you always get out a significantly less amount of work from the source of potential energy. poo poo sucks, deal with it. gently caress! My car/truck/SUV/mule is getting 20mpg and I can't afford it! What hybrid should I get? Thanks Voltage If anyone is thinking of buying a prius, please, consider the following: Toyota Prius: $21,500 USD 46MPG Combined Estimated Annual fuel cost (12,000 miles/year): $1,170 USD Toyota Corolla: $15,250 USD 30MPG Combined Estimated Annual fuel cost (12,000 miles/year): $1,800 USD Price Difference: $6,250 USD; Yearly Fuel Cost savings: $630 My full size truck/SUV is gets terrible mileage, what can I do to improve it? Thanks JnnyThndrs Other than driving at 65 or lower on the freeway, the only thing that will really help is to lower the wind and rolling resistance - that means taking off roof racks and ESPECIALLY removing your "dubs", MONSTER MUDDERS or whatever other giant loving tires you paid a fortune for in a misguided attempt to be "cool" and "different". My car says that it needs premium, is 87 OK? Thanks ProjektorBoy Suppose you have to pump 20 gallons to fill back up. If regular unleaded is $4.50 a gallon, and premium unleaded is $4.75 a gallon. 20 * 4.50 = $90 20 * 4.75 = $95 For the price of a combo meal at Mickey D's you're putting premium in your tank, which is what your vehicle recommends. Someone else in this thread said to just bring a sandwich to work. There's your cost offset. Stop freaking out about premium gas. I heard on the news that if you fill up your tires, you can get achieve a better fuel economy! Why do you listen to those retards? It's the loving retarded leading the retarded. Yes, you want to keep your tires inflated PROPERLY. Do NOT fill up your tires to or above the rating on your tires' sidewalls. You will have less rolling resistance which can equate to maybe .5-2mpg if you're lucky; however, if you over inflate, there's a good chance of a blowout and your handling ability has been dramatically reduced. Check your tires' pressure often with a GOOD gauge and a good rule of thumb is to inflate 2-3 more psi than what is stated on your door jamb. Reminder: air expands when its hot! Repeatedly thrashing a container full of air several hundred times per minute will cause it to warm up! Fill up your tires when they are cold and measure the psi from there. 33 psi cold will usually be 35-36psi an hour later on the freeway. -thanks kimbo305! Scooters get 100mpg! And they have a half a gallon tank and top out at 25mph. Motorcycles get 50mpg! Thanks Z3n Also they will kill you if you don't know what the gently caress you're doing. And if you do some basic math: 50mpg at 5$ a gallon with an average travel of 1000 miles a month: 100$ 20mpg at 5$ a gallon with an average travel of 1000 miles a month: 250$ Now: Costs of startup - training, gear, rain gear if you're giving up your car. 1000$. Motorcycle - 2000$. If you're lucky, you don't have to replace tires: 400$ If you're lucky, you don't have to replace the chain and sprockets - 200$ Maintenence every 6k - 20k, plus oil changes, etc. - 500$-1000$, each time, depending on your bike. Regardless, you're going to be replacing tires once a year, as motorcycle tires simply don't wear like car tires: 400$ General Tips: - Keep your tires properly inflated - Do not race to stop lights - Keep a steady pace and at least go the speed limit - Shift a bit earlier than you're used to; 2500 instead of 3000rpm - On the freeway, you can attempt to drive behind a bigger vehicle; however, DO NOT DO ANY OF THAT HYPERMILING poo poo, THOSE GUYS ARE COCKS If any of you have suggestions to add, I'll try to keep up and update this. Fuel Economy Game There's been a couple of threads about this, I think that the standard format is: <Year/Make/Model> Best: ## Worst: ## Last fill up: ## And here's a link to Google to convert either from km/L to mpg or mpg to km/L. Or even imperial to US gallons. Still need to pretty it up a bit... sigtrap fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Aug 2, 2008 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:51
|
|
|
8. How to Make Your Car Go Faster -by- Fleetwood75 Making your car go faster is all about overcoming bottlenecks. The follo wing guide is by all means generic, and while its general principles apply to most cars, there will always be exceptions that you'll need to follow for your own car. It is only meant to be a general guideline for the path that you have chosen 1. Tires are the first thing that you need to look at on a car. No matter how fast your powertrain is capable of propelling your vehicle, it won't do squat if you can't put power to the ground. First, you'll need to determine whether you want to stick with the same wheels that you have. Larger wheels, with lower profile tires, will offer you better handling, while worsening your ride quality (smoothness). Also remember that it's generally a good idea to stick with the stock outer diameter, since that's what your suspension was designed for. Lastly, if this vehicle will be driven in the winter then make sure to get some all season tires, or even a set of snow tires (if this applies to your region). 2. The next thing that you'll want to look at is how the power gets to your wheels. All cars come equipped with a differential, whether this be part of an axle, or part of your transaxle in the case of FWD vehicles. Your differential has the capacity to be Limited Slip, which will improve your traction under circumstances. Look for limited slip differential upgrades. Also, while you're in there, you can change the gears that determine your final drive ratio. A numerically higher gear will give you better acceleration, but a lower top speed and worse gas mileage. Find out what the best gear is for your car. 3. Three steps in, and we haven't even talked about the engine. That's because we're doing as much as possible without concerning ourselves with it yet. The transmission is your next important step. Perhaps you might want to consider getting a different transmission, or beefing up your existing one. Since many factory transmissions aren't designed to handle much more than a stock engine, this is always a good idea. Remember that manual transmissions are better for performance in most applications, but that you can also build automatics to handle amazing amounts of power, and shift fast. 4. Finally we get to play around under the hood. The goal from this point on is to overcome bottlenecks in air and fuel delivery. Replace your stock airbox with something high performance, such as a Cold Air Intake, Ram Air Intake, or even a hood scoop. Make sure that a high flow air filter accompanies this. The goal here is to get colder air to flow into the intake at a faster rate. 5. Now you can get a lot of air into the engine, but what about getting it out? Replace your stock exhaust with something high performance. Start right at the engine with the exhaust manifolds. Find a set of headers, preferably long tube, equal length, with a large diameter. Buy some high flow catalytic converters, and if you have a "V" engine (V6, V8, etc) go with true dual exhaust via an H-pipe or X-pipe. Do not use a Y-pipe anywhere in this setup, unless it is absolutely necessary. Make sure to add high flow mufflers, and if possible maintain the same tailpipe diameter that the rest of your exhaust system has. Remember that you'll only get as much flow as the skinniest section of pipe will allow. Exiting the exhaust in front of the rear wheels can be beneficial on RWD cars, due to cutting out the number of bends (restrictive) that the pipes have to take. 6. Now it's time to go back to your intake, to ensure that you're getting as much air into your engine as possible. The next restriction that you're facing is your intake manifold. You should shop around for a high performance manifold, complete with a larger throttle body. Now would also be a good time to upgrade your MAF sensor (if equipped) to a larger diameter, along with all of the ductwork for your CAI, Ram Air, etc. 7. At this point some people with small displacement engines choose to add forced induction (a turbocharger or supercharger). You can do this if you choose to, but by doing that now instead of later you are most certainly copping out early, and cutting your engine's lifetime short. However if you're on a tight budget, and want big gains at this point, then it is the obvious route. Your airflow has ceased to become a bottleneck now, and at this point you need to make sure that you've got an appropriate fuel-air mixture. Upgrade your camshaft(s) with something high performance that's still streetable (ie. Your car will still idle, and have a useable power range). You'll probably want to pick up a high performance engine computer while you're at it, since most stock computers don't take too kindly to cams that they aren't designed for. If you have a pushrod engine you should probably look into higher ratio roller rocker arms. Also, you should probably replace your timing belts/chain while you're doing the cam swap. 8. Now that you're sucking in that much more fuel, you'll need a fuel system to match. Look into high volume fuel pumps, and larger fuel injectors (or a carb if equipped). Buy these a little larger then you need right now, as later on down the line we may need to be pumping more fuel in. 9. Cylinder heads are the next big step. Find yourself some high performance heads, with larger valves, and preferably made of aluminum. This will be a pretty big job, but once it's done the entire uppper half of your engine will be built for high performance. Expect big gains to come at this point. 10. Now it's time to look at displacement. This is the point where the lower half of the engine needs to be built. Getting more power will require more stroke, so you'd best look into stroker kits. While you're down there you should get a high volume oil pump, and a windage tray to keep your oil from frothing up at high RPMs. If you don't plan on going any further with this setup then you can get some high compression pistons. 11. At this point you've got a completely rebuilt, and drat fine naturally aspirated engine. The best upgrade you can do at this point is to go with forced induction. Look around and find a supercharger or turbocharger that fits your application, and install it. Your car will become a real rocket with this addition. Don't forget to get your engine computer reprogrammed to handle this upgrade. 12. So you've got a built-up forced induction engine an you still want more power? It's time for the nitrous. A properly assembled nitrous kit is not detrimental to your engine, as long as you use the right parts, and stay conservative with it. Get a kit and make sure that your engine management can handle it. 13. Still not satisfied? Go get a bigger engine, or even better, another car. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Aug 2, 2008 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:51
|
|
|
9. Basic things to look at or ask for when buying a used car -by- whiskas - First of all, ask about any major work done to the car like engine, suspension, body work. If it's been in any accidents that may have hosed up it's chassis at all. Later on when we're examining the car we may find evidence of damage or repair work, and it's good to know if the seller is a lying sack of poo poo before we start negotiating price with them. - Ask the owner if they have any maintenance records. It's not a big deal if they don't have receipts for tiny stuff like oil changes or air filters, I'd be thoroughly impressed if they did. However any decent owner would keep receipts from major work like head gaskets, body work, etc. If they don't have any records it should put a little  in your head.- This only applies to older cars. Ask if the timing belt was changed (should be done at 100,000 miles), a minority of cars have timing belts these days. Timing chains are more commonly found on larger engines. - Ask about the last time the oil was changed (done every 3000-5000 miles) make note of what they said. If they said they don't remember, ABORT ABORT ABORT. Ask also about when brake pads (every 50000-100000 miles), clutch (manuals only, every 150000 miles) or transmission fluid (automatics only, every 50000 miles) were changed. Also ask if they use synthetic oil. - Take this opportunity to examine the tires and note how much tread is on the tires. If you were to imagine putting a penny into the tire's tread, a new tire would take up 1/3 - 1/2 of the penny. - Ask for and look for any interior problems, bulbs, gauges, AC, power windows not working, stuff like that. - Check for rust in the wheel wells and rocker panels. Stand back from the car and look for any slight differences in color between it's exterior panels that may indicate they were replaced, also look for dents. The best and easiest indication that a car was repaired or in an accident is if the gaps between body panels is uneven. Ask the owner to turn the car on and pop the hood. Even if you don't know poo poo about cars always take a look what's underneath the hood and pretend you know your stuff. - Look for any signs of fluids, greasy stains on metal, anything that would indicate that it's leaked something. Oil leaks would look dark and greasy. Battery leaks look white and powdery. Coolant leaks look dark and smell sweet. Look at the bottom of the hood, if there are any leak stains there too. Also looks underneath the engine for any greasy spots, because fluids always drip down. - Do some parts on the car look newer/cleaner than others? A new radiator could mean that the car was recently in a frontal collision. - Listen to the engine. Does it sound like it's keeping a constant RPM? You may hear some ticking caused by piston slapping (lol GM) or poorly lubricated valves. These are signs that the engine is old, but isn't that big of a deal. Grinding noises are very bad and expensive to fix. Older engines usually sound like poo poo until they warm up. - Ask the owner to rev the engine while you look at it. Does the engine hop violently when it's revved? - Again, ask the owner to rev the engine, this time look at the exhaust. If any blue smoke comes out, or (if it's a warm day outside) any dense white smoke comes out it may indicate that the engine is burning oil, and unless you like adding oil to your engine as often as you fill up your gas tank, it'll be expensive to fix. Time to take it for a test drive! - Look at the gauge cluster, is the check engine light on? Keep an eye on the temperature gauge during your trip, does it fluctuate at all? A good car's temperature stays constant during it's trip. - Take some sharp turns at speed and listen to any thumping or squeeking noises that may come from the suspension or drive train. - Does the steering wheel shake at all? (when driving it could mean bad alignment or bad steering, when braking it could mean warped rotors) - Makes sure you take the car in and out of all it's gears. - Listen for funny noises, rattles, squeeks, clanks, vibrations, etc. It's inevitable that older cars will have some interior panels rattle. - Accelerate hard and brake hard. Don't be a pussy and push the car. Use your judgement, if something doesn't feel right it probably isn't. - Go over some speed bumps, or go on a bumpy road. The car shouldn't be bouncy when recovering from a bump, and neither should it feel like riding over a bump in a shopping cart. It should absorb the bump in a firm but smooth manner. - After driving for a while, pull over to the side of the road and turn off the car. Pop the hood and look at the coolant resevoir (DON'T OPEN IT!!!) and check if the fluid inside is bubbling or boiling. If it is then the headgasket is blown. - Remeber when we asked the owner when they changed their oil? New oil should look like honey, old oil should have the same color as dark coffee (dark coffee color is a good thing). If the oil is poo poo brown or any other funky colors, something is hosed with the engine. The above isn't a replacement for a full mechanical inspection, but it can help you find many common problems that are found in used cars. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Aug 2, 2008 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:51
|
|
|
10. Hey, I got a ticket! -by- einTier Oh boy, you got a ticket. Believe me when I tell you that tickets are no big deal. Yes, you can get out of them. I’ve had over 60 myself in 15 years of driving. A police officer pulling me over doesn’t even raise my heart rate any more, I’m just impatient and ready to get back on the road – can’t he tell I’m in a hurry? Have I ever had my license suspended? No. Have I ever been in serious trouble over my tickets? No. Have I gotten out of all of them? No, but I have gotten out of all but a very small handful, maybe five or six. Almost all of those were before I realized how to fight. I have not had a ticket go on my record since 1996, and it’s not because I stopped getting them. This is an accounting of all of my knowledge about getting out of tickets. Why am I doing this? Because I’m tired of people asking me for advice. I’m tired of telling people how to get out of their tickets. I’m tired of having typed this up three dozen times. Read this, and you’ll know how to get out of your tickets. This is everything I know. However, you should also know that I am not a lawyer, and my experience is only with courts in the state of Texas. Your laws may differ, and your mileage may vary. I am not responsible if these tricks do not work for you. First things first, you must understand what traffic ticketing is really all about – revenue generation. If you don’t understand this fact, and really believe that tickets are all about right and wrong, you will lose. You will attempt to play a game that doesn’t actually exist, and you will be unprepared for the game you are being forced to play. This was my mistake in many of my first tickets, and one of the tickets I got nailed for was one of the few I wasn’t guilty of. The speed limits are consistently set artificially low, and everyone breaks them knowing they are loosely enforced. Then, when the police need to make a little bit of extra money, they have a huge pool of "criminals" to pick from. Think about it this way, how many people do you know that have never broken the speed limit? Do you really think that 35 mph is a reasonable speed for a dry five lane road at 3am? Conditions change, and most people drive a reasonable speed considering the conditions. Studies have shown that speed limits have little effect on how fast the average driver travels, but they do cause a greater disparity of speed – which is actually what’s dangerous. It’s not so bad to drive 80 mph on the freeway when everyone else is driving 80 mph, but it’s quite another if four cars are traveling at 35 mph. This isn’t the only decision that’s made in the interest of revenue generation and against your safety – in many places where red light cameras are installed, the yellow light time is decreased. Why? Because that causes more people to run the red light. Some run it out of indecision, they can’t figure out what the correct action should be, but the vast majority is stuck in a zone where they can neither stop safely nor clear the intersection before the light is red. Longer yellows are safer for the motorist, but they don’t generate nearly as much revenue. Guess which one usually wins? I’ll get off my soapbox now, but I really want you to understand that the vast majority of tickets are not about safety, and they are not about right and wrong, they are simply a means for police departments to generate revenue. Now that you understand the concept of your ticket, you are better prepared to fight it. The first thing you should do is come to the realization that since this is about revenue generation, this is probably going to cost you some money and some time. Our object here is to keep the hurt to a minimum. The sooner you come to this realization, the closer you are to beating your ticket. During my glory days of speeding, I often called this my “speeding tax”. I would typically get about six tickets a year, if I drove as fast as wanted where ever and whenever I wanted. Those six tickets would cost me, on average, about $150. So, for the cost of about $900 a year, I could speed with impunity. Think about that for a while. For a long time, it was worth it to me, and had the economy not taken such a downturn, I’d probably still be doing it today. Second, you need to understand that it’s not so much the court’s fine that stings, it’s the insurance and points hit you’ll accrue if you just pay the ticket outright. Even if insurance just raises your rates $15 a month for a ticket, that’s $180 a year for the next three years. If you have a run of bad luck (and remember, everyone speeds) and rack up two or three during that time, you’ll be placed in a high-risk pool. Forget about reasonable rates, your rate will at least double or triple. Then, there’s the points to worry about. If you collect enough of these, they’ll take your license and you’ll be walking. Or driving without a license. So, when we talk about minimizing damage, the primary goal is to keep the ticket off our record. Our secondary goal is to decrease our court costs – but we should never compromise the success of our primary goal in the pursuit of our secondary one. Third, you need to figure out what kind of ticket you’ve got. A “fix-it” ticket is very different from a generic moving violation, which is different from a DUI or reckless driving ticket or street racing ticket. If you got one of the latter tickets, you need to stop reading now and go get a lawyer. Those types of tickets carry heavy penalties and possibly jail time and vehicle confiscation. They are not to be hosed with, regardless of your innocence. You need a lawyer. If you got a fix it ticket, you’re pretty much almost home. Luckily, these don’t go on your record, insurance never finds out, and they don’t usually cost all that much – if you fix the violation. So, go get the problem fixed (which you should probably fix anyway), prove to the court it’s fixed, and pay the reduced fine, usually something trivial, like $10. If it’s truly something stupid, like a front license plate violation, then fix it just long enough for the court to verify things are cool, then change it back. If you got a moving violation (or perhaps a fix-it ticket you just can’t fix), then things get a lot more complex. Understand that at this point, you still have a lot of options available, but not all of them are good ones, and there’s not a single option that will work every time. You must be flexible and willing to work within the system. You must also be dynamic and intelligent and willing to change course when the situation demands it. The easiest course of action is just to hire a traffic attorney. For anywhere between $50-150, they will do everything for you that I’m about to outline below. You might have to make a token court appearance and maybe pay a small fine to the court, but other than that, the ticket just disappears. I did this for a long time, and that’s how I learned the majority of the tricks detailed below. I will still do it if I get stuck with a really large ticket, like the 105 in a 55 I got four years ago. On a ticket that large, your options are limited and a lawyer can be of great assistance. For your run of the mill speeding ticket (25 over or less), it’s not really necessary, but if you are that worried, the extra insurance can be nice. If you’re 25 over or less, a common option is to take a driver’s safety course. In Texas, it’s called defensive driving. Typically, you will not be (initially, at least) offered this option if you’re over 25 mph over the speed limit. I highly recommend that you don’t take it. Again, you’re going to ask me why. My reasoning for this is that this is your ‘get out of jail free’ card. It’s better to save it for when you really need it, and it’s nice to know that the entire time you’re negotiating, you’ve got an ace in the hole. If you have this option, at any time you feel that you just can’t win, you can opt out and take the course. It’s a powerful negotiating chip, but you only get one per year here in Texas. At one time, it was one every three years. Are you absolutely sure that you won’t get another ticket in a year? Remember, some courts are easier to work with than others, maybe it’s best to save that thing for when a court just won’t play ball. Now, we get the meat of the matter. You’re actually going to fight the ticket yourself rather than take the easy options. Good for you. If more people did this, there wouldn’t be any money in the system and we’d stop getting bullshit tickets and bullshit traffic laws. Let’s first clear up some misconceptions, urban legends, and myths. Number one, if the information on the ticket is wrong, then the ticket will be thrown out. Maybe. Probably not. When you’ve had over 60 tickets, just about anything that can be written down wrong has probably been written down wrong on one of those tickets. I have never had a ticket dismissed because of erroneous information. Not one time. You have to realize that a ticket is not a strict legal, binding document. It is simply an accusation. This is why they tell you that signing it isn’t a admission of guilt. The officer is simply recording the facts as he saw them, and in lieu of him taking you to jail, you’re agreeing that you are aware that he has accused you of wrong doing and that you will show up to the court to settle the matter. That’s all it is. If there’s erroneous information on it, he can certainly amend or change the ticket. He doesn’t even have to do this before it arrives in the courtroom for your trial. If you choose to go this route, and I highly, highly, highly recommend that you don’t, because it’s a gamble, this is your only shot – dispute the information in court. What you’ll need to do is get him to verify under oath the information on the ticket as true to the best of his recollection, then you will have to prove that the information on the ticket is incorrect. If it’s really an egregious error, then you might cast enough doubt on his testimony to get the ticket dismissed. If he can’t remember what color car you were driving, or what the license plate number was, or what road you were on, then maybe he was so incompetent at the time of the citation that he couldn’t reasonably be sure you were speeding. Again, it’s a gamble, and a pretty high stakes one. Number two, if the officer doesn’t show, the ticket will be dismissed. True. But don’t ever count on this. I’ve had exactly two tickets dismissed because the officer didn’t show. I’ve seen very few dismissed for the same reason, with one notable exception – when the traffic ticket requires the verification of a third individual. There is a court near my home town that loves to write tickets for cutting in the ferry line. Usually, the officer does not see the violation, another individual brings it to his attention. If this third individual does not show up for court, then it is impossible to verify that the violation ever took place, and the ticket is dismissed. People do not usually show up for these, because it’s such a pain in the rear end to show up in court for something that no longer really concerns you. Number three, you should just walk in, plead guilty and throw yourself at the mercy of the court. No. Never, ever, do this. This is such a gamble. Certainly, there are judges who will take pity on you, and will reduce your fine or give you a break. It’s happened to me, more than once, and that’s how I used to fight tickets before I knew better. But here’s the problem, if the judge doesn’t take pity on you, for whatever reason, you’ve just said you were guilty! Under oath in a court of law! You have no more options! You’re guilty! Good luck appealing, or using your defensive driving or anything else, you’ve just eliminated a good majority of your options by saying you did it. Believe me, there are many more judges who will nail your rear end to the wall for pleading guilty than will save it. It’s very likely you’ll get the maximum punishment, in which case you should have just paid the fine and saved yourself some time. I know you’re wondering why the judge is going to nail you to the wall, so I’ll tell you – you’re wasting the court’s time. Traffic court is very boring and takes much longer than it should, because everyone wants to go up and give an excuse for doing something that was against the law, which isn’t a defense anyway, all the while claiming they are guilty of the crime. If you don’t have a defense, why the gently caress are you in a courtroom? Number four, the officer wouldn’t show me the reading on the gun (or some other “proof” of the violation), therefore, he shouldn’t have written me the ticket. Nope. He can write you a ticket just because he thinks you were speeding. He doesn’t have to prove anything until it goes to court. Number five, I’m innocent, so I should get off. No, no, no, a thousand times now. Go back and read the first part of this article, specifically, the part about this not being about rights and wrongs and guilt and innocence. I hate to break it to you, it matters not that you are innocent or guilty. Your road is just as hard either way, and it is probably in your best interests to understand now that it is going to cost you some money. Remember, we’re just trying to minimize that. Yes, I’ve gotten tickets I shouldn’t have gotten. I got convicted on them too – most of the time, it’s your word (or you and your friend’s) against that of the officer and prosecuting attorney. It is very hard to prove that the officer is lying or mistaken, even if he is. If you can indeed prove this, it’s probably better to prove it to the prosecuting attorney (detailed below) and get the ticket dismissed outright. Now that you’re actually going to fight, let’s detail your first court experience. There should be a court date somewhere on your ticket. Actually, this isn’t even a court date, per se, it’s just the time by which you have to contact the court, either over the phone or in person to settle the accusations against you. Don’t bother calling for the first week or so after your ticket – they won’t have any record of it yet, and you’re just wasting your time and the court’s time, and showing you have no understanding of how the game is played. Usually, about a week before the due date, I call the court. Most of the time, you can make your initial plea over the phone, but sometimes, you’ll have to go down to the court in person to do it. Your options are: guilty, not guilty, or nolo contendere (no contest). The first and last options are bad. I’ve explained why the first is bad, even if you get to give an explanation, and the last is simply another way of stating the first – I’m guilty, but I don’t want to say I’m guilty, so I won’t contest the accusations against me. The only one that should interest you is, “not guilty”. Once you make this plea, you will be assigned a court date to formally make your plea. This is an arraignment, not a trial. However, be prepared that if you in person to make your plea, you may proceed directly to arraignment, and if you go for arraignment, it’s possible (though not usual) for a trial to immediately follow. It is best if you ask the court about these things, and it is in your best interest to show up prepared and dressed properly, even if you do not expect a trial today. On that note, let me address the issue of dress. Most of the people who fight tickets are the dregs of society. They can’t afford the ticket, so they go to court to fight it, hoping either to get their fine reduced or an extended payment plan. Go to the supermarket in the worst area of town, pick out the ten people dressed the worst, and you will see the kind of people who make up 90% of the people you’ll see in court. They come to court wearing the worst things, so bad in fact, that there is usually a sign stating inappropriate attire. These are usually things you should know not to wear, like flip flops and shorts, but people do it anyway (and get thrown out of court). Some wear clothes that have visible holes, some look like they haven’t bathed in a year. I’m not saying not to feel sorry for them, but I am saying that you don’t want to look like them. These are the average person the judge sees every day, and every one of them wants a special break because they are poor, and they don’t have a good defense, and they are guilty, and they won’t be able to feed their kids, and on and on and on and on. Notice something? They are wasting the court’s time. Judges hate that. If you dress like that, he will assume you’re there to waste the court’s time like everyone else. Every once in a while, these people will show up in a button up shirt and tie. That’s not bad, but it’s obvious you still don’t know how to dress for court. Look around you. Everyone who does real business in this arena wears a suit. If you want to be respected, then you also need to wear a suit. It doesn’t have to be a $2000 Armani designer suit, but it should be nice. This will tell the court that you understand how the game is played, you respect the court, and even though everyone else is here to waste the court’s time, you are here to make an argument. Even if you’re not. You’d be surprised how many people forget or overlook this very simple and very effective tool. Now, let’s make our plea. The first thing we want to do is plead not guilty. The second thing we want to do is ask for a trial. Texas offers you the option of a jury or judge trial, I highly recommend taking the jury. Your state may not offer this option, but if it does, take it. After you’ve done this, you need to go back and remember our goals. Remember, our primary goal is minimizing damage, specifically keeping this ticket off your record and out of the eyes of the insurance company. Even though we’ve asked for a trial, we are going to do everything we can to avoid actually going to trial. Trial is risky. Sure, you might win, but you also might lose. Losing sucks, and it causes us to not achieve the primary goal. So, if we have to sacrifice a few secondary goals to ensure that we achieve our primary goal, it’s worth it. However, you must make the appearance of being willing to go all the way to trial, or the court will call your bluff. It’s very much like a poker game. The idea is to make all your opponents fold long before the river card comes out. Even if you’ve got an incredible hand, it can still be beaten, and it’s better to win a small amount of money than it is to lose big. After you made your plea, remember that we have to go to arraignment to formally make our plea to the court. This is a very good time to bargain, and I’m usually not in court past this point, unless the court just won’t deal. Before you actually make your plea to the judge, you’ll probably meet with the prosecuting attorney. Funny how no one ever mentions him, but he’s the one that pulls all the strings. He gets to decide if your case ever even sees the inside of a courtroom. He’s not your friend, but he is someone to negotiate with. Typically, this is a very informal meeting. His primary concern is figuring out why you’re fighting this ticket and how to keep it out of the courtroom. Remember how I told you we want to keep it from going to trial? Well, he really doesn’t want it to go to trial either. It’s a risk for him to take it to trial, particularly if it’s a jury trial. Number one, it’s going to cost the court time and money to prosecute, meaning that less money goes into the general coffers. Number two, there’s a decent chance he could loose, especially with a jury trial (and those cost even more money). He doesn’t know who will show up for jury duty that day, and maybe one of those people is like me, and just won’t convict on a minor traffic violation, no matter how much evidence there is. Remember, it’s all about revenue generation, not right and wrong, and going to court is a huge wildcard and always costs money. This is a huge bargaining chip for you, and you need to fully realize it. You also need to realize that this isn’t the last time you’ll see the prosecuting attorney. So, his first question will attempt to determine why you’re there. Be honest, but don’t reveal too much. Don’t talk about your guilt or your innocence, or even about the case. Just tell him that the ticket isn’t the real issue, you just don’t want the points or insurance to find out about it (your primary goal). Now, this is like gold to the prosecuting attorney. You’re telling him, without saying so much, that you don’t care if the court gets your money, you just don’t want anyone else to get any of it. This gives him a lot of options to keep it out of court, because ultimately, the court will get their money. Now, every once in a while, you’ll get a PA who is either too greedy or too concerned with right and wrong to fully comprehend the game that’s being played. This happens, and is more likely in a small court than a large one. This is where you have to be flexible. At this point, one of several things will happen. He may press to see how serious you are about fighting. This is where you might present any evidence you might have, and try to convince him that the case really has no merit. I had a friend get out of a seatbelt ticket just last week by showing the PA that he had photos showing that it was impossible under the conditions for the officer to determine if his seatbelt was fastened (it was, incidentally) or not. No trial, no court, no nothing. Just dismissed. Your concern here is convincing the PA that you actually are serious, and you’ll go all the way to trial if you have to. The attorney may also offer you a deal. If it’s a good deal, take it. To me, a good deal is a reduced fine, no points, no record, no insurance hit. Sometimes they may not reduce the fine, or they may require you to take a driving class, or some other crap. This is always open to negotiation, and feel free to ask for anything you think you might can get. What you will have to keep in mind is that if you can’t reach a deal here, it is going to at least cost you more time. The deal you will accept may depend on how valuable your time is to you. I have accepted some pretty mediocre deals just to keep the ticket off my record and keep me from spending any more time. Sometimes, the PA won’t deal, or won’t make a deal that you can live with. In this case, he’ll set a trial date for you. This is not the end of the world, even though we don’t really want to go to court. At this point, you may wish to reconsider your driver’s education class, or you might want to get some more evidence, or you might want to go to court. These are all options you’ll have to weigh and validate for yourself. Every court and every case is different. On the subject of evidence, I’ll just say this: I usually don’t bother gathering any, though I bring a briefcase to court to make it look like I have some. Remember, for me, this is all just a bluff to get out of the ticket. The last place I want to be is in front of a judge and jury – and I’ve only been there a couple of times. Often these cases will come down to the officer’s word against your word, and we all know how that comes out, right? Now, if you’re serious about going all the way to trial with this, you might want to contact the court and do a public records request and make sure that the officer is current with his calibrations and certifications. The paynofine pdf goes into that in a lot of detail, so I’ll refer you to that document if you want to pursue that route. Be aware that many officers do keep their calibrations and certifications current, or at the very least, make sure to make it look like they do. The next thing that will happen is your trial date will come up, usually sometime in the moderately distant future. You will meet with the PA again before your trial. This is when your bargaining power is at its highest. He really doesn’t want a trial any more than you do, and he’s going to try to cut his losses. He does have a few hole cards though, he knows if the officer has shown up today, and he knows how solid (or not solid) his evidence against you is. If you have gotten to this point, now is the time to ask for the sun, the moon, and the stars. Chances are extremely good that you will get it. If you don’t get it, you will proceed to trial. Scary, huh? Don’t sweat it so much. Pick the best jury you can, and make the prosecution prove their case. Don’t even worry so much about your evidence, or even if you can prove anything. Even if you lose, this is still far from over. Remember that 105 in a 55 I mentioned above? The one I had to get a lawyer for? Well, it happened in the smallest of small towns, and the judge and PA didn’t want to deal. We went through all the steps above, and they were unyielding. Even the public records request was no help. To be fair, what I had done was a fairly serious crime, and I don’t blame them for wanting to nail my nuts to the wall over it. I know I deserved it. We went all the way to trial, picked a jury, went through trial, and lost. End of the world, game over, right? Wrong. We immediately appealed the decision. This cost me a little bit of money, as I had to put up a bond equal to the amount of the ticket – which was not a small amount. This kicked my case up to the county level. Understand, county is a huge court, and they don’t normally deal with traffic tickets. They have ‘real crime’ to deal with, and much more serious things than a speeding ticket. They took one look at my case and said, “what in the hell is this doing clogging up my court?” Well, I assume that, because they were pissed when it came up. Note that they were not pissed at me, they were pissed at the lower court for not handling the case and keeping out of their hair. Regardless of the guilt, it was such a minor thing in the eyes of the county court that the lower court should have bargained with me so that it didn’t get to this level. But it did, and now it was wasting their time. Remember again, judges hate to have the court’s time wasted – only in this case, they saw it not as my fault, but the lower court’s fault. They were so mad, they knocked my fine down to a trivial amount and changed the ticket to an equipment violation, meaning no points, no record, and insurance never found out. All that said, it is better to avoid getting a ticket in the first place. Always be alert, attentive, and use your radar detector. If you do manage to get stopped, be kind and courteous and try your best to negotiate a warning rather than a ticket. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Aug 2, 2008 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:52
|
|
|
(reserved)
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 05:54
|
|
|
(reserved)
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 06:24
|
|
|
Mistakes? Additions? Recommendations? Post them here! THIS IS NOT A Q/A OR GENERAL CHAT THREAD! If you have car questions, ask them in the forum or the nearest 'stupid question' thread. sigtrap fucked around with this message at 06:50 on Mar 28, 2007 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 06:24
|
|
|
Add Honda-tech.com to the list of Honda forums?
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 12:54
|
|
|
These Mazda3 forums were recommended to me and look pretty good from just looking around on there. http://www.mazda3forums.com/ Not sure if you wanna list it, but I've looked to these J-Body forums when looking up info about my Cavalier. The people on there are mostly idiots who think Cavs and Sunfires are the pinnacle of compact cars, but they do have a lot of technical information. http://www.j-body.org/
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 13:42
|
|
|
Could you perhaps add https://www.v8buick.com and https://www.buickstreet.com to the list of GM sites?
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 14:14
|
|
|
The forums at https://www.legacygt.com are pretty good for technical stuff, and DIY or performance modification write-ups, so they may be worth adding for the growing number of Legacy owners around here. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 14:48
|
|
|
Edit: Ignore this part for sigtrap has pointed out I am a retard On the GM side of things, ls1tech.com has one of the biggest forums around for all things GM GenIII/IV related, including - of course - the LS1 swap board. IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Mar 28, 2007 |
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 17:24
|
|
|
Remember to recommend forums not just because they exist, but because they are good forums. I've got some great requests so far, but also a few that are like "here are some forums for X and they seem OK". Anyone can find forums through Google - I want YOUR opinion on which ones don't suck.IOwnCalculus posted:einTier's detailing guide is awesome, I think someone still has a mirrored copy of it somewhere. 
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2007 18:15
|
|
|
sigtrap posted:Remember to recommend forums not just because they exist, but because they are good forums. I've got some great requests so far, but also a few that are like "here are some forums for X and they seem OK". Anyone can find forums through Google - I want YOUR opinion on which ones don't suck. Forums that are good: http://www.impalasuperstore.com/naisso/Forum2005/ 1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS forums (The root of the website is also a storefront that sells a LOT of parts for the Impala SS -> http://www.impalasuperstore.com ) http://www.svrider.com Suzuki SV650 forum Vendors (Motorcycles) http://www.newenough.com http://www.denniskirk.com
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2007 01:03
|
|
|
Hey mister what about the A-bodies?  http://cgi.a-body.net/forum 82-96 GM FWD A-bodies forum. Kinda slow but the people there know their stuff.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2007 02:05
|
|
|
https://www.neons.org Main site for all models of neon, they're the only general neon forum on the net and have an excellent FAQ on their site. http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/thandling.htm Handling adjustment chart used frequently by us racing tunas. http://www.discountedwheelwarehouse.com/Vehicle_Bolt_Pattern_Reference.cfm Wheel bolt pattern reference, Tirerack may have this, but I couldn't find it on their site. And thanks for keeping my used car guide alive.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2007 04:25
|
|
|
Ok, everything should be caught up thus far. Thanks for the links Oh, and please continue to post quick descriptions - just enough to let us / me know that you've used the site and that it stands out as not sucking.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2007 05:43
|
|
|
Aircooled Volkswagens http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/ Without a doubt, the most comprehensive aircooled forums, covering almost all models, and everything you can think of to do with them. http://shoptalkforums.com/ THE place to go for aircooled tech questions, experts with typeIV conversions, EFI, forced induction, and pretty much everything else technical. http://hoodride.com/phpBB2/index.php A bunch of great guys with a lot of knowledge, play nice with them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2007 08:56
|
|
|
rockauto.com has a massive selection of stock parts and very good prices. summitracing.com has a wide selection of generic aftermarket stuff and insane prices. $10.95 ground shipping for almost all orders.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2007 18:02
|
|
|
If you find yourself with a Fiat (in my case an X 1/9) then this is a forum that's proven useful to me; http://fluforum.italiancarclub.com/index.php Along those lines, these are the folks that you'll have to learn to love to keep a Fiat running and happy; I've purchased several hundred bucks worth of stuff from these guys and find them helpful, they ship fast and everything is what you asked for. The down side is that you have to order exactly what you want because they won't tell you that you need extra parts to replace something you broke; http://www.international-auto.com/index.cfm/sc/29101 Vick Autosports; if International doesn't have it, Vick may - but don't think that you can pick up 30 year old parts on a whim. Still, I've spent money here and they are professional, fast and comparably priced to International. http://www.vickauto.com/ Mad Matt. He races X 1/9s and has a lot of bits and a lot of knowledge; http://www.midwest-x19.com/
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2007 00:38
|
|
|
Just wanted to add that I added some RX-2 manuals and am starting to add more miata and rotary resources to the previous Foxed.ca link. Also, anyone with more mazda manuals, feel free to email me on the link on my site.
|
|
#
?
Apr 28, 2007 08:25
|
|
|
DSM cars, non turbo 420a mainly, and info on the 4g63 http://forums.2gnt.com VW MK1-5 http://vwfixx.com Vendor sites http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com Good deals on performance parts http://www.rockauto.com Stock parts; great pricing, shipping & customer service. Have to second them.
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2007 02:59
|
|
|
http://www.clublexus.com is a terrific Lexus site with active forums. I've also bought and sold things there with great results. http://www.infinitifx.org is a pretty comprehensive and well-run forum. It's pretty much only for Infiniti FX owners, but has a lot of how-to guides with pictures and videos, along with a lot of people who've done just about anything you can think of to the cars.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2007 13:14
|
|
|
MR2 Forums: http://www.mr2oc.com http://www.mr2board.com
|
|
#
?
Jun 22, 2007 18:53
|
|
|
Miata forums: http://forum.miata.net/vb/ (the definitive technical and general Miata site) http://www.miataturbo.net/ (lots of detailed technical knowledge regarding turbocharging)
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2007 00:36
|
|
|
MKV Forums (Rabbit, GTI, and R32). Much easier to navigate than VWVortex and I prefer them. http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/index.php General Kawasaki motorcycle forums. If you have a cruiser, especially the 900 cc variety, this is a good place. Not sure how well the sport bikes are represented. http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/index.php
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2007 04:51
|
|
|
For Suzuki GS500 (post 1989) bikes: http://www.gstwin.com/
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2007 01:34
|
|
|
https://www.carlscycle.com - Online parts store with online catalogs for bascially anything you may need, from on road, to off road, to watercraft. It also has OEM parts fiches for Kawasaki, Honda, Polairs, and Suzuki models. I work in shipping there, mention Willfrey (please, don't request a discount, just mention Willfrey) in the notes when ordering and I may be able to knock freight off the price for you. EDIT : I no longer work there. But don't let that stop you from ordering. Willfrey fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Oct 3, 2007 |
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2007 04:58
|
|
|
BMW diagrams and parts numbers, for BMW cars and motorcycles, and Minis. http://www.realoem.com
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2007 14:44
|
|
|
http://forum.gtiroz.net/ The Australian GTiR forums are retard free and is an absolute wealth of knowledge on the Nissan GTiR (and also pulsar SR20det swaps using the GTiR version of the sr20). You can also download the workshop manual, buy it on CD and be part of the constant group buys on order. It is intimate and drama free. The only problem is the admin Shalom can be pretty strict and it takes a good week or so to get your login.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2007 05:41
|
|
|
Left Ventricle posted:Hey mister what about the A-bodies? http://www.a-body.net/forums/
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2007 01:08
|
|
|
https://www.gmfullsize.com/forum Best place on the net for GM trucks, imo.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2007 00:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 10:07 |
|
|
Stangnet is the BYOB of Mustang forums. That place is full of idiots that have no clue what they are talking about and is possibly more worthless than The VW Vortex. Direct people to http://www.corral.net/forums/ for all things Mustang. The Corral is kinda like Slashdot.org; many people into IT stuff read a ton of different sites, but everyone in IT reads Slashdot. Tons of different forums for everything you can possibly do to a Mustang inhabited by the best people in the business from racers to parts manufacturers. The Corral has over 100k members so you do need to do some wading to find the people who know what they are talking about, but it's not too bad. The classified section will also have every Mustang and mustang part on the net that is for sale since everyone crossposts their adds there. For all issues specific to the modular engine Fords (basically all Mustang v8s from '96+ and all other Ford v8s from '94+) direct people to http://forums.modulardepot.com/ . Anyone who is anyone in the modular community posts there. The guy who designed the 4R70W transmission found in most automatic Fords from '94-'05 and the guys who designed the modular engine all are regular posters. Pretty much every manufacturer of modular engine parts and racer who uses a modular engine posts there as well. Awesome place full of people who know their poo poo. Very high signal:noise ratio. frozenphil fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Oct 15, 2007 |
|
#
?
Oct 15, 2007 20:01
|
|
