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http://www.autocarmagazine.com/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/232017/ Superchargers look set to become the next mechanical car component to go electric after a British company unveiled plans for a blower powered by an electric motor. Instead of being driven off the engine by a belt, like a...

The more I need it the more likely it is I don't get it. I change gears a hundred times a day in normal driving without any problems. But take it out on the drag strip and try to get a time, and time after time the same thing happens, I go from first to second OK, but when I change up from 2nd...

If the phaser advances the inlet camshaft 16 degrees at 1450 rpm and retards it again at 6800 under control from the ECU, why haven't I heard anyone mentioning: (a) that upper limit being moved up by the same amount when ECUs are rechipped and the rev limit is increased? (b) that upper limit...

We laugh here whenever someone finds an electric supercharger on eBay and asks "do these work". But it seems the serious car manufacturers are working on something pretty much along those lines. http://autospeed.drive.com.au/cms/A_108916/article.html Horsepower for horsepower turbocharged...

Someone recently started a thread saying they'd had their 197 dynoed on a chassis dyno that bolted to the hubs rather than having the wheels drive a roller. I got a little annoyed that the dyno operator had told the person that the 158.5 bhp the car had gotten on that type of dyno equated to...

Mine's a Mk2 Ph2 172, which got delivered in this country (Australia) with 15x7 wheels and 195/50 tyres. Does anyone know how much smaller diameter wheels will physically fit? I'm asking for track day use where smaller rolling diameter tyres would be better. They'd lower the car and lower...

Renault has an announced a diesel RenaultSport Megane, the dCI 175. You can even have the Cup suspension. http://www.autocarmagazine.com/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/224493/ Its got the grunt, and its got better fuel consumption that the petrol version. And since the front end of the mk3 Clio is...

Next week the desert lake racers have their annual event out on Lake Gairdner here in South Australia. Its this huge desert salt pan that's dry most of the year, and only has water in it for a short while after the occasional rains. The desert lake racers have a section of it measured precisely...

Young men don't like the same things as old men. Young men are leaner, fitter, more athletic, have better reflexes and poorer. Old men are fatter, and slower and richer. The cars they like, the sports they like, the women they prefer reflect all the differences between them. Young men want to...

There's a sticky by Edde at the start of this section about service intervals. It says in part "Normal servicing is done ever 18k or 2 yrs there is a 1 month/1k tolerance so you can have it done up to 25month or 19k before any warranty implications." I'm puzzled that this is very different to...

Anyone know yet how they get 197 ps out of the 2 litre engine in Renaultsport Clio III? Anyone know what would have to be updated/changed/whatever in an earlier model to match, if its possible? Its a lot from a conventional (non-VTEC) long-stroke engine. The only thing I've seen from the pics...

I've had gearbox problems with my 172. They rebuilt it with all new synchros. It was never established why they all wore out to start with. But one problem I have repeatedly complained to my dealer about he's done nothing. I think he thinks its just me, that I'm clumsy, or careless, but I've...

Just got the car back from the dealer. The gearbox was pulled out and the totally-stuffed 5th gear synchro replaced, along with the noticeably weak synchros on 1st and 3rd, and I hope the 2nd and 4th gear synchros too because they came in the kit from France. The sensor thingy on the gearbox...