Autospeed: http://www.autospeed.com

Thinking of upgrading your factory filter: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_2232/article.html

Want to understand spark plugs?: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_108731/article.html

Choosing and installing lower springs: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_111167/article.html

Porting your head:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_111154/article.html
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109805/article.html
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109232/article.html

Car overheating*:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_111195/article.html

*Testing your waterpump:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110478/article.html

Cheap and light diy bass:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110933/article.html

Cheap diy battery charger:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110701/article.html

Air ram (air intake pickup):
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110824/article.html
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110360/article.html

Changing rings in your engine:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_110696/article.html

Transmission cooler:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109772/article.html

Radiator upgrades:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109734/article.html

Throttlebody upgrades:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109622/article.html

Removing dents:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109624/article.html

Fitting an intercooler:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109459/article.html

Exhaust mods:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_1466/article.html
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_1474/article.html

For modifying an EF/EL, Do a search on the autospeed website for "Frank".

I guess we all know this car well, but a good insight into the e-series for those like myself who are new to the game.

Seriously if you are the kind of person who wants to know s**t, you'll look over the page, ive spent hours reading and rereading some articles because they contain so, so much information that will make you understand more than a lot of people

Another article is: http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_108915/article.html

"So you think that your wider tyres put more rubber on the road? Wrong! Or maybe that wider tyres have increased grip because of their larger contact area? Wrong again!"

Provides a great explanation and an insight everyone who drives needs to know about car tyres!
Read it like 5 times, its a lot to take in but worth it!

Well that article isn't correct. That formula is generally true for most materials but not for rubber. I guess a good example is a flat tyre is always harder to push than a pumped up one. I think it has something to do with most materials having contact points in only a tiny amount of places, whereas rubber has contact over a much larger area as it is elastic.

If that quote were true, a 245/x/14" would have as much, or rather as little, grip as a 165/x/14"
Its pretty simple - more rubber on the road (larger contact area) = more grip.

This is a great read.

Haha nice work recommending that book, but it poses the question, why are we near blindly modifying professionally engineered vehicles.. The answers easy, cos we feel a burn to modify everything we touch Which is why we found fordmods!

I dont know enough to comment outside what ive learnt from that article so without me getting a design in chemical engineering, majoring in rubber, my opinion would be worthless

(I'll admit when im out of my scope)

because most factory designs need to make economy of design and materials their primary concern..... if that wasn't the case, why don't many cars come with factory mandral headers?

I've browsed the whole autospeed site and while heaps of the articles are great and thoughtful... I dislike the way mr edgar colours everything with his own preconceptions. He has more or less said that if ford and holden want to prosper, they need to ditch the falcon and commodore or make them smaller and stop spending research money on big cars... He also said something to the effect that ford were idiots for spending money on the front end handling when it could better be spent fixing the plastics inside... he said the ford already handled well enough as it was..

what I don't understand.. is why does he bothers to review big cars at all? He doesn't like them anyway, and doesn't see the need for them.. so he isn't really the person I'd choose to give them a valid review or comparison.. I would hate to tow my boat up kalamunda hill behind a Prius.. or a caravan for that matter..... I'd also hate to discover that the price to replace my dead batteries was more than I could sell my prius for.... and yet we have falcons driving around happily with 700,000 km on them.

On and for anyone interested in a prius.. (Julians most spoken about car recently I think)
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automoti ... prius.html

Have a read.

Anyway, my opinion of autospeed is to take home the science.. not the opinions.

Im not saying your wrong because I dont know the correct answer, but using my understanding by putting more pressure in the tyre your decreasing the contact area but increasing the amount of pressure per sq inch on the rubber to the road, which would in turn increase the friction and end up with the same amount of grip level

the reason the wider tyres grip better is probably due to the fact that the rubber is able to keep cool easier hence we can run a softer compound of rubber increasing the friction without overheating the tyre hence loosing grip

dont know wether im right or wrong but thats how i interpreted the article

It says the only benefit from changing wheels and tyres, is by lightening them, which is near useless anyway on a falcon, or by running a larger diameter wheel, increasing the time that the rubber is not in contact with the road = longer cooling times or running higher pressures, reducing deformation which is what causes them to heat up, apart from the friction of course

Mandrel headers, im not in the business but i can assure you there is a good reason, probably cost or product availability, demand etc? There would be reasons.

Every single person has their bias, you could remove this partially by getting a person who catches a bus everywhere to review their cars, but their bias will be towards public transport, then other biases would occur.

I love the plastics inside the fords, pretty much the only reason why i didnt get a VS years ago.
You have to learn to respect other peoples opinions, unless they are arrogant and push it down your throught, in which case they should have their internet deleted, but an opinion voiced nicely, and they are very valid and well learned ones, are welcome in my opinion

Which is exactly my point.. the engineers that design this stuff have to take cost and convenience into account as well as performance when they design this stuff.... always leaves room for mods afterward.


Yes, but getting Julian to review big cars is like getting the pope to review buddhism. There really isn't any point.

I love the plastics inside the fords, pretty much the only reason why i didnt get a VS years ago.
You have to learn to respect other peoples opinions, unless they are arrogant and push it down your throught, in which case they should have their internet deleted, but an opinion voiced nicely, and they are very valid and well learned ones, are welcome in my opinion

Yeah.. opinions are good.. which is why I didn't suggest not reading the articles ,but rather suggested taking the science and leave his opinion there.

Or read it and make up your mind, i think what they do is brilliant! If i could steal what they know, from their minds, i would.. Conincidently, this is not possible

oh yes.. some of the stuff is brilliant..

I preferred it when he drove Frank the EF and wasn't a green zealot..

I still have a look every month to see if any interesting new tech is there though.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/EM-hypermili ... riving.php