To anyone who isn't aware, there is a huge world of car hacking. There is of course the basics like getting an expensive air filter (pointless), and it goes all the way up to welding up your own custom car. The more common mods are things like tuning your suspension, replacing your engine with a more powerful one, or upgrading your differentials. It takes a wide range of skills, including welding, machining, panel beating, plumbing, and electrical. You can very easily nerd out on this.
It's also a good money suck. Pretty easy to spend a year's pay on car mods that at best do not regress safety features nor increase your rate of speeding tickets. At worst you're looking at safety issues and additional tickets (cost).
Not judging — people have different hobbies and are free to spend their money how they see fit. If you're looking for frugal hobbies, though, this isn't it.
(Now, shadetree home car maintenance — that's a frugal hobby in a similar vein. It's a nice break from the keyboard and requires some of the same skills.)
This is disappointing to read, but an understandable point of view from someone who isn’t into their cars.
The issue is there are two kinds of modders: those who mod for the track and those who mod for street racing. I’d bet that OP has experienced the latter and not the former, hence the negative comment.
There is a massive group of car modders who build their cars for the track. We understand that the road is not the right place to drive fast, and that there is almost no advantage in doing so. We seek faster lap times which often requires improving features of the car such as tires, brakes, suspension, stiffer anti-roll bars, gearboxes, clutch, seats, weight reduction, etc...
There's car mods other than race cars. I have a modified Toyota 4Runner that will go just about anywhere. There's a really large field of people restoring old cars, which is difficult because some parts just don't exist. This overlaps with the restomod scene, which restores old cars while selectively upgrading certain parts.
And then you get to stuff like putting a Tesla into an old Honda. If you have to ask why, then you wouldn't understand.
Did the GP mention it being a frugal hobby? Why bring up an issue, claim there are limited upsides and then point out that you aren't judging? It seems antithetical to the hacker spirit.
But you're right. I have a lot of money into my car. I also have 0 tickets. It also has a roll cage, FIA approved seat, harness bar, harness, hans device, etc
I'd love to do a lot more to my car, but I live in an apartment in a crowded part of the city; no garage, no place for tools.
Is there anything like the equivalent of a commissary kitchen, but for cars? Like a garage with tools where I could rent it for a couple of days, and then go work on it with their tools, etc?
The aviation world has similar stuff. In the US, the experimental homebuilt scene is great. Lots of us (myself included) buy a kit and build and customize from there. My build is a kit from Vans Aircraft (likely the biggest of such manufacturers), but other companies sell kits and even just plans to build to your heart’s content. As the builder of record, you’re free to build and customize things like engines and avionics without being a certified mechanic.
This is absolutely true. Here's one of Jim's other builds that's sitting in our office. It's a steam powered car on a Model A frame. He and one of our other engineers are getting pretty good at this.
binky is bonkers. been following the build since like episode 5. That fella is a wizard with a grinder and a mig welder. absolutely the best auto fabrication i've seen on youtube.
When will we be able to run more OSS on our Teslas, or at least a security hardened version? It's pretty obvious that they can be remotely hacked and made to look like a fatality was driver-error.
Tesla is locked down good for remote hacking. But if you can get physical access you can do just about anything. But the same holds true for every other car.
I can't wait for an open source car marketplace with standards and blueprints to order or 3d print yourself. I read about more ecar companies like one in upstate NY making old bronco like SUVs
Considering they built a new subframe and raised it so much, this is really more like a custom Tesla/volt frankencar that is wearing the body shell of an Accord as a hat.
They really needed a normal strut and control arm setup. I think it was just a poor car choice. something american with wider track and mustang2 front suspension would have been a better fit.
One day, when money is not an issue and I have the time to tinker all day long, I'd love, I mean LOVE, to build my own electric Saab 9000. I'm a big fan of the early, non GM Saabs and currently own two. For some unknown reason, I've always had it in my head that an electrified 9000 would be the most perfect car every possible. I understand and am comfortable knowing I am alone on this. Buy lordy, one big lottery win and I know the first thing I'm getting myself!
I'm not a big car guy, but I am nostalgic for my 9000. Like a true Saab it was in many ways a strangely put together car, but it had a hard to describe feel of being well engineered and a great ride. I owned a 900 too, and had Saab still existed I would most likely still be driving a Saab today.
Perhaps the new Chinese owners jump onto the electric wave and need a good base vehicle? One can dream!
At least an electric 9000 wouldn't have the balance chain chewing up the engine block ;)
It's such a solid car. Over engineered I dare say but such a lovely thing to drive. And personally, I still think it looks quite contemporary amongst cars of today. My father had a 900 and I feel that was my gateway Saab as I adored that thing. In a way I don't really feel for any other cars. I like cars, but often can give or take. Saabs make me feel all funny. Perhaps I should see someone about it... Must admit, I've never had any issues with the balance chain. After a head gasket (that was skimmed, fixed and happy for another 80k) I had a heater matrix go and a radiator, then water pump but I put all these down to the gasket going. Another brilliant thing with the ones of my era, is they are designed to be worked on. No job was ever that much of a pain.
Yeah, I'd be happy with one of those! My fathers 900 was very special to me. I'm sure it was a Saab 900 T16s in gun metal grey without the rear side grills.
I have an ebay alert set up for such a model. Sadly although understandably they still command a high price. I've had accidents on eBay with Saabs before. Current owner of a 6 door stretch 9000. Couldn't see it go for scrap value.
Another fun swap: a Tesla drive unit and Volt batteries into a Lotus Evora. Basically recreating the original Tesla Roadster's bigger counterpart.
Volt+Tesla is an increasingly popular swap because the Volt batteries are easier to manage and have a more convenient form factor. Plus, there are more of them available from recyclers.
So, why aren't DIY Powerwall guys snapping up Volt battery packs? I can see two reasons to DIY a Powerwall: Price and to work around Tesla's stupid rules about where/how Powerwall can be installed. Seems like you'd want the cheapest batteries you could get if price is your motivating force in building a DIY Powerwall.
Sounds a lot like the urban legend I read years (and years) ago, about the son of a Porsche dealer who dropped a Porsche Spyder engine into a Volkswagon Bug. According to the story, he had a lot of fun rolling up next to muscle cars at stop lights, and then watching them disappear in his rear view mirror.
> We get this a lot. A police officer picking at his nose while trying to figure out what to charge me with. Notice the hopeful anticipation of us on the right. We're rooting for him and offer suggestions but unfortunately, the California Department of Motor Vehicles did not anticipate such a vehicle so he's out of luck.
The guy from your second link seems to be simultaneously completely crazy and completely awesome. I love his edit:
You have to give the California Department of Motor Vehicles (the DMV) credit for creativity on this one. A DMV insider has disclosed to me that the DMV has made a formal request to a federal agency to rule if my Beetle constitutes a threat to national security based on what could happen if it got into the wrong hands. This raises three questions in my mind: #1 Does this mean I’m the right hands? #2 If someone with the name "b_laden13" is the highest eBay bidder for my Beetle can I refuse his offer even if he has the prestigious eBay Red Shooting Star feedback rating (the highest)? #3 Would this affect my eBay rating?
Small Block into a Volvo 240 is a pretty common hack in Scandinavia, to the point that you can buy kits that have all the required hardware and necessary paperwork to get it approved. They won't do 190 mph, but they are able to convert rubber into smoke perfectly fine.
Back in the 70s I had a motor magazine with a story titled “Big (Golf) Balls” about a German who split a Golf GTI down the middle to widen it, then put a Porsche 911 transaxle in the back. That would have been a Mk I Golf too.
The version I've heard was that someone dropped a Porsche engine into a Trabant, which apparently was an easy swap as some technology for the Trabant was stolen from porche and the engine would just fit straight away. Then the Trabant would smoke everyone from traffic lights. I guess it's just an urban legend.
Back in University, we had one guy in the dorms who said his Uncle Bill put a Miata engine in an MGB. We were contemplating how that would even remotely be possible; looking up pictures of forums boards of both engine bays.
"Well I guess, if you remove all of x, y and z and made custom mounts..."
We later learned this guy ones one of those bullshitters who would lie about everything; told us he was in the national guard and hat to shoot rubber bullets at people looting stores after tornadoes. He was our age and had one of those civilian IDs they give military family members.
Next semester we ask the guy if his uncle will bring his MGB to the car show we were putting together. "Oh he sold it." .... right ...
Anytime we had some crazy idea for our cars. "I wonder if I could convert my mom's Maxima to a 5spd," the respond would always be, "I BET UNCLE BILL COULD DO IT!"
While I'm not saying the guy in college wasn't a liar, there have been many MGB conversions to a V8.
http://www.advanceautowire.com/mgbgtv8/ is just one that I know of. Though I only know because when I was younger, my parents had MGs, sadly my siblings all got one for graduation and I didn't. They figured I would want the computer more.
In the UK they do put K-series[0] engines into the MGB.
[0] The K-series is the descendant of the T16, which is the descendant of the M-series, which is the descendant of the O2-series, which is the descendant of the O-series, which is the engine that we /designed/ for the MGB, but never was put into the MGB before it was canceled. The O-Series instead went into a bunch of work vans and other hateful boxes instead.
So he might have sort of been right. But he was probably still a royal bullshitter.
I have heard credible similar stories (from an employee) of airship industry's at cardington putting one of the spare 3/4 race Porsche engines (used in the airship) into a Volvo they used as a chase car.
Dunno about a spyder engine, but I used to sometimes tune an old beetle with a 911 (930) turbo engine and transaxle. It ran 9s on the 1/4 in low boost. Shit was scary.
...and somewhere else, someone is probably contemplating swapping a combustion engine into a Tesla. The world has a way of balancing itself out with weird things.
Put a gasoline generator in the frunk and run an extension cord to the charging port. You'll probably get 50-60 MPG. (Teslas cannot leave the Park gear while charging, so a workaround is needed.)
...unless you wanted to retrofit a Toyota eCVT onto a Model S. The Toyota eCVT is quite remarkable in combining electric and mechanical drivetrains entirely through planetary gear ratios, without any shifting. John Kelly at Weber State University has many excellent videos describing these transmissions.[0]
Indeed - the Toyota hybrid synergy drive is a real marvel of engineering. The way in which it uses two separate motor generators to simulate a conventional CVT is just amazing.
Also worth checking out: http://evbmw.com/ this is electronics wizard and Irishman Damien Maguire converting BMW's (in his view, the best cars in the world) to electric.
His videos are very detailed and also fairly slow paced so you can take your time to understand. He's done several brilliant builds already including an E39 (aka the best 5-series in my opinion), and E31 (8-series from the early 90s).
Currently he's busy with an E36 EUR1000 conversion which almost sounds too good to be true so it will be very interesting to view.
Deep cycle lead-acid batteries have fine cycle lives, and indeed were (and are) used for driving golf carts. However, they trade off for lower specific power, which makes them unsuitable for a full-sized, highway-speed-reaching car.
Readit News
It's also a good money suck. Pretty easy to spend a year's pay on car mods that at best do not regress safety features nor increase your rate of speeding tickets. At worst you're looking at safety issues and additional tickets (cost).
Not judging — people have different hobbies and are free to spend their money how they see fit. If you're looking for frugal hobbies, though, this isn't it.
(Now, shadetree home car maintenance — that's a frugal hobby in a similar vein. It's a nice break from the keyboard and requires some of the same skills.)
The issue is there are two kinds of modders: those who mod for the track and those who mod for street racing. I’d bet that OP has experienced the latter and not the former, hence the negative comment.
There is a massive group of car modders who build their cars for the track. We understand that the road is not the right place to drive fast, and that there is almost no advantage in doing so. We seek faster lap times which often requires improving features of the car such as tires, brakes, suspension, stiffer anti-roll bars, gearboxes, clutch, seats, weight reduction, etc...
And then you get to stuff like putting a Tesla into an old Honda. If you have to ask why, then you wouldn't understand.
But yes, it very easily gets to be expensive.
But you're right. I have a lot of money into my car. I also have 0 tickets. It also has a roll cage, FIA approved seat, harness bar, harness, hans device, etc
Is there anything like the equivalent of a commissary kitchen, but for cars? Like a garage with tools where I could rent it for a couple of days, and then go work on it with their tools, etc?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbVdaa_gKB2/?taken-by=jimmy.buil...
Perhaps the new Chinese owners jump onto the electric wave and need a good base vehicle? One can dream!
At least an electric 9000 wouldn't have the balance chain chewing up the engine block ;)
https://www.nevs.com/en/ They build EV out of SAABs olf offices using a SAAB 93 as a platform. Check it out!
I have an ebay alert set up for such a model. Sadly although understandably they still command a high price. I've had accidents on eBay with Saabs before. Current owner of a 6 door stretch 9000. Couldn't see it go for scrap value.
Another fun swap: a Tesla drive unit and Volt batteries into a Lotus Evora. Basically recreating the original Tesla Roadster's bigger counterpart.
Volt+Tesla is an increasingly popular swap because the Volt batteries are easier to manage and have a more convenient form factor. Plus, there are more of them available from recyclers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CdOlX1iq_0
Also, there's the guy that built a jet engine into his Beetle:
http://www.ronpatrickstuff.com/
> We get this a lot. A police officer picking at his nose while trying to figure out what to charge me with. Notice the hopeful anticipation of us on the right. We're rooting for him and offer suggestions but unfortunately, the California Department of Motor Vehicles did not anticipate such a vehicle so he's out of luck.
You have to give the California Department of Motor Vehicles (the DMV) credit for creativity on this one. A DMV insider has disclosed to me that the DMV has made a formal request to a federal agency to rule if my Beetle constitutes a threat to national security based on what could happen if it got into the wrong hands. This raises three questions in my mind: #1 Does this mean I’m the right hands? #2 If someone with the name "b_laden13" is the highest eBay bidder for my Beetle can I refuse his offer even if he has the prestigious eBay Red Shooting Star feedback rating (the highest)? #3 Would this affect my eBay rating?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apoeGMWF17c
(And he's in Oregon! go Oregon! haha)
Acceleration to 60mph in 1.8 seconds. 1250 ft lbs of torque. This was in 2013, too.
https://www.omniauto.it/foto/19417/fiat-500-porsche/302209
Now (after having fitted a Ferrari engine) have made another one with a Lamborghini V12 engine (Italian, but not bad at all via Google translate):
http://motori.ilmessaggero.it/news/news_fiat_vecchia_500_pi_...
https://www.topgear.com/car-news/850bhp-aero-engined-bentley...
Was sold to Jay Leno.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvAPzGCqVG0&feature=youtu.be...
Back then the title was quite risqué.
https://youtu.be/EE5x9vlb0ss?t=25
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Gdm_e_hxs
Deleted Comment
"Well I guess, if you remove all of x, y and z and made custom mounts..."
We later learned this guy ones one of those bullshitters who would lie about everything; told us he was in the national guard and hat to shoot rubber bullets at people looting stores after tornadoes. He was our age and had one of those civilian IDs they give military family members.
Next semester we ask the guy if his uncle will bring his MGB to the car show we were putting together. "Oh he sold it." .... right ...
Anytime we had some crazy idea for our cars. "I wonder if I could convert my mom's Maxima to a 5spd," the respond would always be, "I BET UNCLE BILL COULD DO IT!"
http://www.advanceautowire.com/mgbgtv8/ is just one that I know of. Though I only know because when I was younger, my parents had MGs, sadly my siblings all got one for graduation and I didn't. They figured I would want the computer more.
[0] The K-series is the descendant of the T16, which is the descendant of the M-series, which is the descendant of the O2-series, which is the descendant of the O-series, which is the engine that we /designed/ for the MGB, but never was put into the MGB before it was canceled. The O-Series instead went into a bunch of work vans and other hateful boxes instead.
So he might have sort of been right. But he was probably still a royal bullshitter.
[1] https://jalopnik.com/someone-should-buy-this-porsche-engined...
...unless you wanted to retrofit a Toyota eCVT onto a Model S. The Toyota eCVT is quite remarkable in combining electric and mechanical drivetrains entirely through planetary gear ratios, without any shifting. John Kelly at Weber State University has many excellent videos describing these transmissions.[0]
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLNDGUISTYM
Deleted Comment
His videos are very detailed and also fairly slow paced so you can take your time to understand. He's done several brilliant builds already including an E39 (aka the best 5-series in my opinion), and E31 (8-series from the early 90s).
Currently he's busy with an E36 EUR1000 conversion which almost sounds too good to be true so it will be very interesting to view.
I remember my dad and I scaling up the math (I was only 10 so I needed a little help) and I remember asking him why normal cars didn’t have batteries.
I don’t recall the answer but it was long... I also was quite distracted with my new RC toy car .. err tank (google fast traxx).