Suspension/Engine/Wheels

[BartoszMakowski]

Hey I want to learn more things about cars before buying one or two . Like I already know quite a bit, but I ofcourse need and want to learn more. The things that I'm intrested about learning are supension, engine, lsd, electronics, wheels, aerodynamics. Basicly everything there is to know. There is a book about suspension called "How to make your car handle" on drifting.com's shop. I really don't like buying things from the internet. What else should I look into? I'm intrested in specific makes like Nissan, Toyota and Mazda. But learning about, say Dodge wouldn't hurt either. So what books/websites should I read about... i've done some reasarch but no luck. I also used the search button .

Anyone???

[pallamas]

Read anything you want, it won't make a difference until you get a car and drive it.

[AuspeX]

http://www.howstuffworks.com has great articles on how things work (obviously) and they have an emersive auto section. Not much brand specific, but it'll tell you how a (limited slip) differential works or how a rotary engine works for a couple examples.

[spinitsidewayz!]

smart idea to pick up all you need to know before buying a car. you should try checking out car specific forums too to see how certain cars are, (maintenance, common problems, prices, fixes and such) club4ag.com, freshalloy.com, etc. after you get a car you really tend not to care as much about technical stuff. more about getting your car to drive like you like it and having fun. it might sound silly but the search button is your bestfriend. something techy you need to know? search it on a certain forum! also check out the tech sections. happy learning.

[Craftsman]

What do you want to learn?

Let me start there...

Let's start with motor. The motor has several thermal and control systems in it that is used to create power. The power that is created is generally called shaft power by engineers. That shaft power is sent to a transmission via clutch and flywheel (this is for another time) where it's torque is converted to match the power needed to move the car. (I don't know how to explain transmissions. It converts torque is a good explanation but that's only good if you know what they do already) The torque is then sent to the differential. The differential then distributes the torque to each wheel.

Suspension. The suspension basically suspends the car from the road. The geometry has alot to do with the functionality of the suspension though. Geometry meaning how the car reacts to inputs of steering or suspension travel. Anyways, I know you hear a lot about cutting the springs to make your handleing better. These are words from an idiot who knows nothing about control systems. You want to have an optimized setup for your suspension. The best bet is to get a spring and damper combination as their rates are matched for each other. If you cut your springs you're going to come across underdamping. This is when your car bounces up and down when it comes across any suspension travel. If you go overdamped and only replace your damper, you're going to have a car that returns to it's original height after a long period of time. Therefore a critically damped system is much more better than both. If you're going to swap out your springs for stiffer springs, swap out your dampers for a higher rate damper also...

Tires and wheels. Lighter is better. Rotational inertia is something we all try and fight to make the car faster. Usually smaller rims can make a car accelerate much faster than 17" or 18". But if we're talking about drifting, the goal is to have very small tire flex. Therefore having large rims is a good thing in our case... Only problem with large rims is that, more torque is required to accelerate the rims. AKA slower acceleration with larger wheels. Another problem that you come across with larger rims is weight. Weight is not good. The more mass a wheel has the more inertia a wheel has. Inertia is the the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest. R X F... F is weight, R is Radius. The farther you are from the pivot point the more weight affects your inertia. So lightweight and small is the way to go if you can... If you look at alot of racing series, you'll see that some cars have 20" rims. The reason for the 20" stuff is because of the brakes needed. It's not because the enineers wanted them...

Anyways, if you have more questions ask... Shoot me an IM, if I'm not busy, I'm more than willing to answer and give you suggestions.

Matt.

[Ripper]

the transmission transfers the power made by the engine (internal combustion) to the universal shaft then to the differential

[corollarollas]

gasoline burns

[Wayne]

ahahah all this amaizing info and than you see gasoline burns wow lol

horns go honk honk

[GRiDRaceTech]

In what racing series do cars have 20" wheels? The Harlem Cup? WRC Rapper's Circuit?

[LexmarkX73]

Originally posted by GRiDRaceTech
In what racing series do cars have 20" wheels? The Harlem Cup? WRC Rapper's Circuit?

uhh they use 24" rims