dhp

It is not an inexpensive hobby and neither was it a trivial decision to buy the camera. I spent more on the body+lens than I spent on my first car. I took some photography classes when I was young and always wanted an SLR and after all these years.. I finally have one. I don't expect to make any money from my photos (unless i see brad and angelina in the the bushes) but its been worth the money for us... Its a hobby that me and my wife enjoy.. we're both into nature/wildlife photography and we take turns using the camera. Even though, she sometimes does way better with a canon p&s (she has the eye and I know the tech ) The point is, you don't necessarily get better pics with a DSLR but there are some pics that I couldn't have taken without the DSLR.

Cant help with places to buy but; do a lot of research on all the components before committing. I have a D80 with a 18-135mm that came as a kit. I have had the lens fail twice already and had to send it back for repairs. I got the insurance thru the vendor (circuit city) just in case, but its still a pain in the rear... 2 more failures before lemon law kicks in and I get a new one. just wondering who the Nikon dealers are in SL and if anyone knows how their service is

how often is a champion decided at the last corner on the last lap of the last race of the season? first Le Mans and now this.. how can next year be better than this? Glock rolled the dice on the tires and it almost paid off, but rain came in during the last 3 laps. for the guys without live feed; he slowed down and moved to the left letting Hamilton thru. Last year Hamilton lost by a point and this yeah he won by one.. how cool is that? I am sure Vettel will be once to watch next year.... now, what else is on TV? county cricket on espn? Any Sri Lankans playing?

what a race.... awesome finish! now I hope my finger nails grow back to normal soon

specs from karcher says 100 bar max pressure (about 1400 psi) is enough to remove grease and dirt and sometimes paint . Its only a 340 L/H so, you might want to save it for just the tough and dirty spots like wheels and below the side moulding line panels, wheel wells etc. These are not meant for everyday use so don't expect the pump and impellers to last under heavy use. Should be ok for every-other-weekend use..

240-280z the best looking for me... then again who doesn't like e-type lookalikes? I would say the z32 has now reached "classic" status. I have driven a 350Z and loved the response and handling, hated the visibility, lack of arm rest (door handle-rest is too low and shutter opening is too high), don't care for the looks either. 350 was a comparable pkg in 03 but then they dragged the same specs on for too long while the competition left them behind. as I have said before on this forum there should have been a 350zTT for the US mkt by 04-05. Back in the old days you could get a Z car for less than an M3 and then bring the M3 owner to tears at a stop light... fast forward to 03 and the Z is slightly if not the same as an M3 in price and about 40hp less. I haven't seen the 370 yet but have seen the G37 and wasn't impressed. Looks like nissan is putting all their high performance eggs in the GTR basket. this is just my opinion...

I usually use Superflux LEDs made by philips and sold under lumileds brand. The tails shown above were made with 70ma 2.6v Leds with just an array of resistors (no PWM). For turn-signals, you can use high power resistors to prevent hyper blinking but thats not a perfect solution in warm climates (resistor has to dissipate the extra energy as heat - you're wasting energy). A smarter option is to swap out the thermal flasher unit with an electronic one which maintains same flash rate independent of load. I used and e-flasher for the front turn signals shown . These are just 3x 10mm amber LEDs per light.. I later added 2 more LEDs per light but still not bright enough IMO, but haven't had a chance to redo yet... sorry for being picky but LEDs are not "bulbs" - there has to be gas inside to make it a bulb

hey guys, no offense but most ready made LED clusters aren't bright enough to replace the OEM incandescent bulbs. There are some 194 (holder) type LEDs that can work for parking light and side (fender/quarter panel) signal applications but if you want adequate and safe amount of light, then you will have to make your own. Its not that hard to make .. I have posted these before on this forum and I am sure most of you guys can do this at home.. (these are some I made for a 99 maxima)

might wanna do some research into what wood they use for the trim, If you can find the proper treatment/bending (steam and then brace etc.) I am sure there are ppl in SL that can do it. might even turn out to be a profitable venture..

GTAm the car is coming together well.. how is the interior. I was looking at this Alfa pics on a car on ebay earlier today.. the interior was mint. I figured it might give you some inspiration check it out

this is a good idea in general but as usual implementation will be an island-style-clusterf#$k.. In most countries, public busses are exempt from mandatory seatbelt requirements because there are some other measures to prevent injuries (padded seatbacks etc.) but how will this work with local busses with the (forehead-cracking) hand rail on top of the seat back? Then there is the whole other issue of all the ppl that are standing in the bus... what about them? Then there are all the cargo vans which are converted to carry passengers.. You can attach belts to the B, C and D pillars but its going to be hard to come up with an effective seatbelt for a middle (when u have 3 across) seat.

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sorry, I didnt know that he claimed to have used micowaves to do it... but AFAIK you can use microwaves to agitate the water molecules for faster electrolysis but its still ecectrolysis that breaks the bonds plus this method is not very efficient when driven from a DC source as in a car cos you have losses with voltage inversion . You can use microwaves to make the process faster but eh energy needed to break the bonds is the same. You can use plasma electrolysis for faster H2 extraction but thats a whole other can of worms esp in a vehicle...

hey guys.. I heard about the water-cars a few years back when ppl started selling DIY conversion kits on fleabay and started looking into the feasibility of it. The concept almost sounds plausible until you do the numbers. The basic premise is that a car's alternator draws mechanical energy from the engine at all times while the car's electrical needs are quite a bit less than what the alternator is producing. Therefore we have excess (mechanical) energy..which is wasted at the alternator. ppl have tried many ways of harnessing this energy and using it to assist the engine. For a hydrogen boosted ICE to work you have to efficiently convert the mechanical energy into electricity and then store it in a battery and then use that stored energy for electrolysis.... and if all that worked at high efficiency then you still have to reform the produced H2 into the vehicles fuel (petrol). Properly reforming would chemically bond the H2 with the fuel and not allow any H2 gas which can and WILL cause cylinder detonation now here's the bad news; by the time you convert from mech to elec energy and break H-bonds and reform fuel you have spent more energy than you can recover by adding H2 to the cylinder. This can work for a short trips if you allow the battery charge fully and then start converting water to H2 until the batt is almost drained. For that lil period you will get higher mileage but you cant sustain it for longer time period. Considering all the losses involved with H2 electrolysis, you'd be better off adding a second battery to store the extra mech energy and using that energy to drive an elec motor coupled directly to the engine. There are a few of these belt-assist-starters that you can use to replace your alternator and starter. These can provide mild assist to the engine when you need it or be a substitute for N2O if you use super capacitors instead of regular lead-acid batteries. The only other way to get an H2 boosted ICE to work over a sustained drive is to have an H2 tank and have the electrolysis done outside the car ..with solar or other renewable source. I'll put my money on an electrical car with maybe some ICE assist... but then again I am an EE and thinking about self preservation sounds like this guy in SL didn't pay much attention to the reforming part of it..

our family owned a pre-egg-shape (box model) non-turbo from 91-97 [32sri34xx] so this might not relate 100% to the model you're looking at. We had the usual problems related to SL road conditions; we went thru a lot of CV-joints, tie-rods, shocks etc. We changed the timing belt 3 times during that time (cos 1st time mechanic had allowed oil to drip thru t-belt cover) We also had a nagging problem of the oil-pump allowing air to seep in when sitting for a day or so. I had to pump/siphon/spit/repeat (diesel tastes better than pertol:)) on many days. Unfortunately for the car, i did most of the driving from 94-97 and after a few years of that, a missed oil change or 2 , and some idiot flushing the engine.. it was time for an overhaul. We gave it new piston rings, injectors, sleeves and the works (for about 75KRs back then) and she ran like a champ. It would more than keep up with the petrol cars. I wouldn't tell you to stay away from it but its probably easier to maintain a petrol than a diesel but then again, I learned most of what I know about cars from working on that charade....sniff sniff like miniace said, fuel economy is this car's strong point. Back then it was like 60cents per Km. but have the car checked out cos one major repair can eat into all that fuel savings

charitha is correct on how the mechanical fan takes a few horses away from the wheels but it seems more than just a few horses in stop-n-go traffic when ur in the lower power band of the engine. You can feel the reduced throttle response on a hot day when the fan is running (clutched). for the thermostat you'll have to do some research and trials. I owned an 88 accord which had an electric thermostat attached to the radiator, I am sure you can find a similar model in SL for civics, crxs, etc. You then need to find a fan thats specced for an engine capacity similar to your (I would go for one slightly higher). These have a metal backing that you need to mount onto a flat surface of the radiator. You can use some metal straps for testing Then there is the issue of size; (this is where I am stuck in my project) you need a fan the same diameter as the stock if you have a shroud (plastic cover) guiding the air from radiator. Then you need to find one with a bolt pattern that will work with your car. IMHO finding the right fan is the hardest.. then the electrical conn isn't too hard Ignition power source ------ relay(hooked to battery with fuse) ------thermostat---------fan positive in the beginning until you get the thermostat perfected, I would put a manual switch from relay to fan in the dash, so u can watch the temp and turn on the fan if needed.

I haven't yet but will be shortly on a stock E39. I am still on the fence about the actual fan, have been researching which model works best with the car. You need to match the CFM and power consumption to the car while being able to fit into the shroud. I can help with the relay, electric thermostat and wiring. what make/model is urs?

It can help cars with some existing grounding issues. Like Ripper said the bimmer 5s have trunk mounted batteries and can have some grounding issues with engine block. Its a good topic for Sri Lankan autos that spend a lot of time around hot, humid and sometimes salty conditions. Ideally all terminals used in SL should be crimped, soldered, and heat-shrunk with no visible coper. I used to work for a wire harness manufacturer for about 4 yrs and we sold 1000s of battery cables to various industries (not essentially the fancy colored gold plated stuff) but sometimes its easier to add a new cable than try to troubleshoot an existing ckt.

yeah, its easy to make the case for grounding kits in theory but it doesn't provide much practical performance. You can probably have the same performance gain by loosing some weight (reducing fuel load, removing junk from trunk, etc.).

it depends on your existing grounding. -Take a volt meter and measure Voltage between negative post and a spot on the opposite end of the engine bay and block. If there is a considerable difference then you can benefit from a grounding kit. -If your grounding cables have broken strands, loose or corroded terminals then you can benefit from replacing or adding grounding cables The theory is that resistance will cause enough of a voltage drop to hinder the performance and by adding a grounding kit you can ensure optimal performance; but in practice I have measured the voltage difference and found to be around 0.1V max (@ 14V thats around .71%). If you're car is within its operating voltage range, then adding an extra grounding kit does nothing but add weight!

cool video here is Natgeo's ultimate factory : Ferrari video part 1

Choosing the donor vehicle depends on the purpose of building the EV. IF its for short distance speed, range or a lil bit of both and also the cargo capacity. IMHO a lighter car with enough room for the additional distributed weight but at the same time with a strong enough frame to take the weight is ideal. Usually this means older European cars and some older Japaneses cars. I am not sure if a tuk tuk is the best donor for an lead-acid EV but you can look into it (do the numbers) Can someone check their electric bill and post the rates (per Kilowatt Hour)?

Saturn: looks like we think alike I have been looking for a good donor to make my first EV.. still looking for an E30 with a bad engine and good manual tranny. EVs make sense in stop-n-go traffic (ie colombo) cos when you stop moving the motor stops spinning (but then so does the AC.) saving energy. there is a guy who does conversions here in NC.. search for [mike moore, EV] on youtube. You can find almost step-by-step instructions on youtube to do an EV conversion. Is SL, you'll have a hard time sourcing the controller and contactors (hairball) if you want some motivation check here its a daily stop for me

Saturn: you can find cheaper 12-24V panels (made for outdoor ponds) for around 25$ on ebay. These combined with an old car battery can provide backup/outdoor lighting. Also, famous electronics shop in pettah used to bring down smaller 2.5V (good for LEDs) panels back in the 90s, call them up.. they still might. for a whole-house application, the price is around 8000$ for a kilowatt. A typical US home needs around 3-4KWHs and thats about a 12-16 year payoff to recoup the money. With the current "green" initiative, there will be more efficient and cheaper models available in the near future. SL can use smaller panels for micro grids in rural areas like SEEDS is installing lemme know if u need help sizing, charging, ckts, etc. good luck!

yeah, I saw some mention to that show. Strommer owned his own construction business before becoming a so called tv personality. He has a show on hgtv where he shows ppl how to finish up home improvement projects called "over your head". What's annoying is that he comes out like he's still acting in a daytime soap (also which he did in his career) even when he's showing someone how to install a kitchen sink. There are ppl like jay leno, tim allen, seinfeld who are car guys but they need the money to do another tv show the only incentive for them would be the chance to drive all the new cars but then they get to drive the exotics anyway... In hindsight we were really lucky to have TG shown in SL back in the day (along with progs like towards 2000 and beyond 2000 etc.)