Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

You still owe us pics!
 
CrzRsn said:
Hold on - looking at the picture attached to the eBay link, the OD of the threaded portion of the stalk is 12mm, not 10.

4bvcy7fl.jpg


I'm not familiar with motorcycle lighting but every link (eBay or otherwise) I'm seeing says "fits all motorcycles with 10mm universal bolt." If its truely universal, why would Moto Guzzi give you a 14mm hole? Something doesn't right here. And if its so universal, why are these guys trying to sell you a 12?
Click to expand...


The bracket for the Guzzi turn signals have two holes: a 14mm, and another smaller one behind it. (I measured the larger one with a Harbor Freight caliper.) The 14mm hole is where the plastic indentation for the wires go, and the signal itself is held on by that bolt behind it.

01750680.jpg


The big hole is too big, and the small hole is too small. :wicked: Hence, my question on whether there's a spacer to fit in between.
 
Now that it is cold out, some of us might find this useful.


 
You shouldn't have to turn on A/C separately if your vent setting is already on the defrost mode.
 
93Flareside said:
You shouldn't have to turn on A/C separately if your vent setting is already on the defrost mode.
Click to expand...


Not all cars are that smart. My Miata for example has a slider for the vents, but AC is controlled by a separate toggle.
 
Well yeah, so does my wagon and Mustang. However, once defrost is on, the A/C clutch engages. Unless you're low on freon.
 
GRtak said:
Now that it is cold out, some of us might find this useful.


Click to expand...


I didn't have to use the defog this morning (thank FSM or i'd be late.....) but between this, my apparent inability to discern if my heater core is leaking (no antifreeze smell that I can tell, dry floors, but I see condensation on the windshield sometimes from the defog vents that isn't "clean" - I can't simply dry it away it smears sometimes....once the AC/defrost air hits it it disappears but some smears remain), and the crazy cold temps this morning...i think it's time to get the Jeep in the shop to fix the tepid heat once and for all.
 
Last edited:
Is this the part where I point out that I can send a text message to make my car warm itself up, even if I'm across the globe? :p

It's the most expensive accessory I've ever bought but also the best one. I :heart: my Ebersp?cher pre-heater.
 
rickhamilton620 said:
I didn't have to use the defog this morning (thank FSM or i'd be late.....) but between this, my apparent inability to discern if my heater core is leaking (no antifreeze smell that I can tell, dry floors, but I see condensation on the windshield sometimes from the defog vents that isn't "clean" - I can't simply dry it away it smears sometimes....once the AC/defrost air hits it it disappears but some smears remain), and the crazy cold temps this morning...i think it's time to get the Jeep in the shop to fix the tepid heat once and for all.
Click to expand...

Unless you like have ethylene glycol kill your brain cells, you probably should get that taken care of sooner rather than later.

- - - Updated - - -

Perc said:
Is this the part where I point out that I can send a text message to make my car warm itself upa hacker can run my car/heater out of fuel
Click to expand...

FTFY. :mrgreen:
 
Turning my heater on full doesn't do squat if the engine takes 10 minutes heat up while driving, 20 while idling. :p
 
BlaRo said:
Ok, random engineering question.

I have a hole drilled into the Moto Guzzi's headlight brackets, for the turn signal. It is 14mm in diameter, to accommodate the stock turn signals.

I'd like to buy some eBay signals, and they come with 10mm bolts.

Is there a thread spacer of some sort that will bridge the gap here? I don't want to drill any more holes. If there's a name for this thing, I haven't the slightest idea where to start looking.
Click to expand...

For the archives, because I already texted BlaRo:

Yes, there is a 10mm standard. It only applies to sportbikes - the 10mm standard came from them. There is a 14mm/12mm across the flats sort of standard used for Euro cruisers. The Japanese use something similar for their cruisers and standards. It's so they can stick a DOT approved breakaway stalk on top of which they stick the actual lighting head. Honda uses a similar setup on my 919, only they flip it around so the smaller hole is towards the direction the light is facing. Here's a couple samples of what the 919's version looks like.

Front:


Rear:


There are about three ways to deal with the problem short of having them float around in the holes with washers hopefully clamping them in.. If you are lucky, the manufacturer just stuck standard 10mm signals out at the end of the stalk or you can find something else to fit there. There was a company called Watsens, for example, that made lights to specifically fit the brackets or stems on the 919 for a while. However, most people aren't this lucky.

Second, you can just abandon the mount points and install mirrors with integrated signals and an integrated taillight that has the signals built in. This is what I did with my 919.



Third, you can find a reducer from 14mm to 10mm, which will center the signals in the holes and with two fender washers will allow you to use about any 10mm signal you wish to use. (Don't just google "14mm 10mm reducer" though as most of your search results will be glass reducers for bong piping.) One source of these reducers is in BMX bicycle axle peg kits; BMX bikes apparently have both a 14mm and a 10mm or 3/8" axle standard, so many peg kits are made for 14mm and include reducers (they sometimes call them adapters) to allow them to fit both.

s-l1600.jpg


There are also adapter kits for their axles, to allow a 10mm axle to be fitted to a frame set up for 14mm axles.
3814convertwash_430.jpg


http://www.profileracing.com/estore/product.php?productId=334
http://www.crucialbmxshop.com/profile-10mm-to-14mm-adaptor-kit.html

So, there you go.

- - - Updated - - -
Perc said:
It would take the better part of a week to empty my tiny 55 liter tank. The battery will be dead long before that, I'm afraid. :p
Click to expand...

Non-electric cabin heaters/pre-heaters are banned in the US because the ones that came in VW Beetles killed a whole bunch of people back in the 60s and 70s.
 
Last edited:
IceBone said:
Turning my heater on full doesn't do squat if the engine takes 10 minutes heat up while driving, 20 while idling. :p
Click to expand...

It's strange because two of my friends have 2.0 PD TDI's and they both start producing heat very quickly. Much quicker than my TSI.

Still, that was the only good thing about the Toyota Auris rental I had a few years ago. It started producing heat within a couple of blocks.
 
Spectre said:
Non-electric cabin heaters/pre-heaters are banned in the US because the ones that came in VW Beetles killed a whole bunch of people back in the 60s and 70s.
Click to expand...
You guys and your obsolete automotive laws and regulations... :lol:

That was an Ebersp?cher heater, btw. The same company that made mine. The other major player is Webasto and the word "Webasto" is synonymous with "fuel fired pre-heater" around here. I always just tell people I have a "Webasto" if they ask. Dealerships do the same thing in classifieds.

Anyway, there are millions and millions of these heaters on the road in Europe. Every truck with a sleeper cab has one. Up here, many diesel passenger cars have them as OE equipment, as well as most vans and pickups. At this point, it wouldn't cross my mind to buy a daily driver without one.
 
Perc said:
You guys and your obsolete automotive laws and regulations... :lol:

That was an Ebersp?cher heater, btw. The same company that made mine. The other major player is Webasto and the word "Webasto" is synonymous with "fuel fired pre-heater" around here. I always just tell people I have a "Webasto" if they ask. Dealerships do the same thing in classifieds.

Anyway, there are millions and millions of these heaters on the road in Europe. Every truck with a sleeper cab has one. Up here, many diesel passenger cars have them as OE equipment, as well as most vans and pickups. At this point, it wouldn't cross my mind to buy a daily driver without one.
Click to expand...

I'm aware of that, but I'm not sure the ban is a bad thing.

IIRC, unless they can show they will last for at least 100K without maintenance under US conditions *and* meet the pollution standards required of the car they are to be installed in, they can't even be legally imported as a not-for-on-road-use device. Given that US operating conditions are demonstrably harsher than Europe's, I'm not sure that's a bad thing - one of many problems experienced with the Bug's heater was that the exhaust piping (which was another one of those "well, we never had problems with it in Europe" things) would leak and the car would fill with carbon monoxide. While I'm sure there have been improvements in the intervening half century, I'm not sure there have been *enough* improvements that such a thing wouldn't happen again.

Instant heat is nice, but is it worth the potentially high chance (in North America) of carbon monoxide poisoning/suffocation? Probably not - and it's not just us, I believe the Canadians banned them as well. I believe they also recently revisited the issue and determined that fuel powered heaters were still not durable enough for their safety concerns.

Edit: Large trucks, as in Class 8 tractor-trailers, *can* legally have Webasto type fuel heaters, but they have to be mounted well outside the cab and neither it nor its exhaust path are allowed anywhere near the occupancy cell. Usually it's mounted behind the cab, from what I've read.
 
Last edited:
Perc said:
That was an Ebersp?cher heater, btw.
Click to expand...

FYI, US Beetles were sometimes fitted with a Stewart-Warner 'Southwind' gas heater that, unlike the Ebersp?cher, never killed anyone. It was (rather expensively) built to an extremely high specification with very high quality materials and multiple redundant failsafes; it might eventually have decayed to the point it might have been a danger after 40-50 years, but it got caught up in the ban long before that could happen.


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=581501

This was an aftermarket or dealer fitment; the cars were never shipped here with anything but an Ebersp?cher if they shipped with a heater at all.
 
Last edited:
Car's been booked for Monday. I also brought up the sweating on the HVAC box/little to no drain, as well as the occasional perspiration on the inside of the windows when parked in humid weather.

He says that it's odd that I don't smell antifreeze inside...he'll try a flush of the system then go from there along with checking the drain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top