Vehicles – Page 3 – bhtooefr.org

Folding bike upgrades

2013-06-06

I’ve been busy upgrading my folding bike.

Starting point was a bone-stock 2002 Dahon Boardwalk 1.

Added the following:

Skyway Tuff Pads (they appeared to be the Kool Stop salmon compound, and the LBS had them in stock, not sure that’s what they actually are, though)
1976 Sachs Duomatic 28h 2-speed kickback IGH coaster brake hub, built into a Sun CR18 rim by the LBS (gearing is 48/22)
Planet Bike Superflash, turns out that it lines up perfectly under the sprung saddle
TransIt Epic DX rack trunk
Biologic Joule 2 20h dynamo hub (Biologic/Tern sells these prebuilt with Kinetix Comp rims for $115 shipped to the US)
Tektro Sabre BX2 brake lever (the stock plastic lever was honestly terrifying)
Busch & Müller Lumotec Lyt BN plus headlight (in German)

I think this is pretty much all this bike needs except for maybe tires and a pedal upgrade.

Cool airplane-based 3-wheel vehicle build on Hemmings

2012-05-07

Stumbled on a cool airplane-based 3-wheeled vehicle build on the Hemmings blog tonight, and it’s for sale.

This thing is really friggin cool. Execution of the nose is a bit weak, but… I really like the layout.

Now I want to find a damaged four-place single-engine low-wing plane and do that myself. Two ways to get reverse, really – use the GL1500 drivetrain like that guy did as-is (I’d want Megasquirt and taller gearing, though), or do a through-the-road hybrid system with the hybrid system on the front wheels, and implementing reverse. That allows one to use the GL1200 fuel injected driveline instead – less displacement, lower cylinder count, etc., etc.

With a GL1500 megasquirted, I’m thinking it’d get around 70-75 highway, 40-50 city.

With a GL1200 FI and a hybrid system, 75-85 mpg highway, 60-90 city depending on how well the hybrid system is tuned.

Weight would be in the 1200-1500 pound ballpark I think, both engines are in the 90-100 hp ballpark (the GL1500 was all about more torque), so you’d be looking at 0-60 times in the 5-7 second ballpark, top speeds probably 140-150 mph (quite low drag), although you won’t want to go that fast.

And, it’d be a more practical layout than my main 3-wheeler project idea if executed properly – 4 seats plus some (not much) cargo room, instead of 1 normal seat, 1 barely usable seat, and less cargo room. Downside is, production would be less practical – it ain’t cheap to build things this light new. Piper wants $301,500 for an Archer TX – even if you go with the “half of the plane price goes to the lawyers” rule, and even if you knock $100k off for not needing all the FAA certs and the Lycoming engine and all, you’re still looking at $50k.

Thoughts on my three-wheel vehicle project

2012-04-02

For a while now, I’ve been planning a tadpole (also known as reverse trike) three-wheel vehicle that would have tandem seating, an enclosed cabin, and would achieve 156+ miles per US gallon on the highway by using a diesel engine.

I’ve even bought a 654 cc twin-cylinder Ruggerini diesel engine for this project. Here’s the problem though.

That diesel will get me in the ballpark of 16-20 hp. While that will be more than enough to achieve cruising speed, 16 hp won’t get me acceptable acceleration, and even 20 hp will be painful. In addition, the driveline will be rather long, due to having the transmission behind the engine (and a fair distance away to avoid fouling the oil filter), and then the rear wheel behind that.

So, my question to you is… should I abandon the diesel route, and go to a 300 cc single-cylinder fuel injected gasoline engine from a scooter (which means CVT)? Continue reading “Thoughts on my three-wheel vehicle project”

Why long haul trucking is an awful idea, and rail is far better for long-distance transport

2012-03-19

Semi trucks are a common sight on American roadways, crossing the country, delivering goods quickly.

However, they’re actually a huge problem for our economy. They put tremendous strain on our infrastructure (and they don’t pay their way for their damage to our infrastructure), they’re inefficient compared to trains, and they present a serious safety risk to car traffic.

In my opinion, long haul trucking activity in the US should be extremely reduced. Read on for why that is the case. Continue reading “Why long haul trucking is an awful idea, and rail is far better for long-distance transport”

Well…

2008-06-30

Holy crap it’s been a long time since I’ve made an entry…

Where do I begin…

Well, last day at my job was June 13… that sucked. Oh well, I’ll be able to get more experience this way…

Got new wheels for the Miata – Konig Heliums. 15×6.5, 11.4 lbs per wheel. They look great. 🙂

Palm OS web browsers suck the big one. And Opera Mini runs like ass in WebSphere. How do I know this? I got a Centro. Much better than that dying Sanyo.

Today, I got a Selectric II. Man, that thing is fun to type on. For some reason, the 6, 7, 8, and 9 keys don’t spring back up properly, but other than that, it’s in perfect working order.

Oh, and not sure that the sidebar is updating properly, but I got a Twitter account… check it out at http://twitter.com/bhtooefr 🙂

Idea for promoting fossil fuel conservation…

2008-01-07

I’ve posted this on a few different forums for quite a while now, but I’m blogging it here now.

Various schemes have been proposed, some of which have been implemented. These include taxing gasoline to the sky, taxing cars for fuel use, and similar ideas. These schemes all have issues, though.

My idea is a bit more creative. Directly taxing the fuel has the most impact, but also the most opposition. So, my idea is a variation on that theory.

With my idea, a $1/gal (note: that number is just an example, like all numbers in this entry. Plug your own numbers in) petroleum tax would be applied to all petroleum-based fuels. Simple gas tax, right?

Wrong.

At the same time, I would provide a tax break to counter this tax. I’d set a fuel consumption target that the average citizen would have to meet – let’s say, 15,000 miles at 30 MPG, or 500 gallons – to get the tax completely countered. And, how would this work? Across the board $500 tax refund for all taxpayers.

Here’s the advantage of this system over the other systems. For someone who meets that target, they will ultimately pay $0 more. However, for someone who beats that target – let’s say they drive 10,000 miles getting 40 MPG, or 250 gallons… they’ll MAKE $250. And, for someone who doesn’t use petroleum-based fuels at all? $500 in that person’s pocket.

So, this system promotes alternatives to driving, or driving less, or driving more fuel efficient cars, very flexibly (unlike a scheme like CAFE,) while not excessively penalizing for normal consumption. I think it’s the best of all worlds.

What do you say?

Hmm. Haven’t posted in a while.

2007-12-16

So, I moved into my apartment at the beginning of October.

The first weekend I was there, I thought to myself, “self, your car is a piece of shit. I think you need to buy a new one.”

So I did so – a 1992 Mazda Miata.

Rather… different from the Golf, but DAMN fun.

The Golf, FWIW, is awaiting a friend to be ready for it, to part it out.

Anyway, yesterday, I finally got a real camera, and today, I decided to find a nice big parking lot and have fun in the ice and snow.

So I did so. See below. 😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS4__2mHuRs

Bike!

2007-05-01

So, this is ANOTHER ride, all of $30.

Some other stuff, and it’s good to ride now! 😀

BTW, 09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0.

Long time, no post…

2006-10-05

So, since the last Civic post, I’ve gotten a 1986 Golf diesel from oilhammer on TDIClub. The car needed a brake booster, master cylinder, steering rack, driveshafts, and an engine and transmission. Luckily, despite the frontal impact on the Jetta, only one driveshaft was damaged, and that was in moving the car, not in the wreck!

GMARK, Growler, and compu_85 helped out a lot… heck, GMARK even provided the site for the engine swap.

The engine swap went fairly well… just one note for future reference. Make sure you plug in the fuel cutoff solenoid wire before trying to start the thing. 😆

Then, a brake line failed, so had to limp it to a brake shop.

Now, an engine mount’s failed, but that, minor shifter issues, and getting the title transferred (waiting on the title to be notarized) are all that are in the way of getting this car on the road (and the failed engine mount and shifter issues won’t prevent me from driving it for a short term until they’re fixed). Which is good, seeing as the Civic’s driveshafts are shot, and I don’t have the experience to install new ones. And I don’t have any other vehicles to drive.