Pros and Cons of Driving Straight Drive

Pros and Cons of Driving Straight Drive

When buying a car you have two choices you can either get a stick shift or an automatic. If you have driven a stick shift you already know what it’s like if you have not the only difference is that instead of the transmission changing the gears for you, you push in the clutch and move the gear shift into the appropriate gear.
Picture of gear shifter of manual transmission truck

Since you know what a straight drive is i can start telling you the pros and cons of it. The first positive thing i can think of is that it gets you more involved with your driving. This can help you stay awake on those long drives. Another good thing about driving a straight drive is that you don’t have to wait as long for it to warm up because you are the one changing the gears. Also when driving a stick you can save gas by coasting down a hill by pushing in your clutch this allows the gears to spin freely and therefore uses less gas because it doesn’t have to move as much.

The pros of driving an automatic transmission are that you can multitask even though that isn’t the best thing to while driving and that just about anybody can drive these without any practice. The bad thing about driving automatics is that it is a whole lot more expensive to replace a transmission if it goes bad than if the clutch goes bad in a straight drive.

Compare Contrast

Compare Contrast

In this blog I will talk about the many differences between new and old cars. The first difference that you may notice is that the body styles back then were not made of cheap materials like today's cars are. The way they were made back then was from steel which helped to protect you better. Another difference is that all of the buttons and electronic controls we are so used to in our cars. The main things the older cars had in their consoles were controls for the radio stations and maybe an air conditioner switch depending on the year of the car.

New Camaro an 69 Camaro

Although there is many differences there is some things that haven't really changed over the years one of these things are that the reason cars are made have pretty much remained the same. The reasons being transportation and for recreational use such as racing or just working on it to make it better.

New Mustang compared to old Mustang

Some other differences that you might not notice without being under the hood is the engines on newer cars are regulated by computers instead of you having to make adjustments on the older cars. Personally I like to make the adjustments by myself because i am more of a hands on learner and if your computer breaks in your car it will give you the skills you will need to get your car back to running right.

Interview Post

People in this time tend to let other people do their repairs on their cars instead of themselves. There could be many reasons for this, the main cause for it I think is that people were not educated on how to do these things. Even if it is small things such as changing your oil or rotating your tires you should have a certain extent of knowledge about your vehicle. This knowledge can come in handy probably more than you think.

Everyone in my family either works at a garage or take their cars to the garage but most just make their own repairs to save money. Because my family has access to a garage with professional equipment we are able to make repairs and do tune ups to our cars with very little or no charge. But other people might not be as lucky as me and they may have to go to Autozone or other stores that sell similar products and this might cost more but some garages may overcharge you if they think you are inexperienced with this type of thing.

If your are going to go to a garage then you should call at least three and get an estimate of how much the job will be. Also you should check to see if they have had any bad references or not and then choose the best choice.

I interviewed my friend, Carlos Martinez about this. He has three brothers and only one sister, and he lives with both of his parents. This year will be his last year in high school and he drives a Chevrolet Malibu. Carlos and I have been friends ever since elementary school.

The first question I asked Carlos was if his family works on their own cars he answered:
Yes me and my dad and my brother do all of the repairs to my mom and dads cars.

The second question I asked him was what all he knows how to do to fix cars and he said I know how to change the oil and the tires but my dad and older brother do most of the main repairs but they are trying to teach me more.

Unfortunately our interview was cut short because he had to do his chores. What I got from the interview was that each family has their own way of bonding and his family's way of doing that is working on their cars. This is also a way that my family gets to spend time together too.

Chevrolet Volt

In this blog I will tell about a new hybrid that Chevrolet has come out with. The car that they have come out with is called the Volt because it is a hybrid. When these cars first came out they were very expensive but with advances in technology they can make the parts needed for cheaper and with less wastes.

Picture Of Chevrolet Volt                                      
http://totaltrust.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/chevy-volt.jpg

What a hybrid is, is a car that can run on both electricity and gasoline. The reason that hybrids were created was to save gas for the people who have them. Also it created more jobs because not everyone can work on them because of all of the technology incorporated in them..

Because these cars are electric they people working on them must wear protective rubber gloves. This is one of the few setbacks to being a hybrid owner but the savings will be a great help in this tough economy. With the rising gas prices Americans need all the help they can get when it comes to saving money.
                           
Picture of  engine and electric generator thanks to Carsabout.com                                                                             
http://0.tqn.com/d/cars/1/0/f/L/2/ag_11volt_engine.JPG

Even though I like cars with more muscle I would drive this sleek car. For 34 miles per gallon and 375 miles per tank of gas I think just about anybody would too.

How to tell the gear ratio in a 87 Chevy truck

How To: Tell the Gear Ratio

This weekend my dad and I worked on the rear end of my truck and we need to know the gear ratio of it so that we could get a front end that matched. The reason a front end has to match up with the rear end is because if the gears are different sizes then the drive trains are going to be spinning at different speeds and that will end up breaking them or the transmission.

For the type of truck that I have there is a couple of different gear ratios that you can have, the way that you can find this out is by jacking up the rear or the front of the truck and spinning the tire. While spinning the tire you need to have marks on the drive train. So whenever you you spin the wheel you will count how many times the yoke spins for example if the yoke is just over 4.0 then your gear ratio would most likely be 4.10


Even though this blog is just about a Chevrolet truck it can be used universally on most vehicles that were built before 1999. The reason for this is because most vehicles now a days are more high tech and most likely still have the ratio on the title.


When ever people think of working on their on cars they often think that it will be too difficult or they don't really want to invest the time into learning how to do it but after reading this article I hope that it helps your if you ever need help with thid type of project.



Property of Michael Weaver

New Chevrolet BiFuel trucks

General Motors have recently released  a new series of trucks that will have a new and revolutionary way to save money on fuel. What they are doing is installing a tank that will hold compressed natural gas or CNG the estimated cost of this fuel is about $1.89 per gallon. The engine that will he using this new fuel source is going to be a 6.0 liter V8 Vortec. One of the set backs to this new equipment is that it costs $11,000 on top of the original price of the truck. Even though this is pricey it will make up for it after about 80,000 miles, this amount of miles on gas alone would cost about $21,300 but with the compressed natural gas it would only be $10,080.

The technology that is incorporated into the trucks allows it to transition between gasoline and CNG without having to get out of the truck and get under the hood. Although this is a cheap alternative to gas you need to consider your location, such as if there is a station that you can refuel at and if you are going to be able to keep both tanks refueled.

Math aside, there are other positives and negatives to running a vehicle on compressed natural gas. If you have a station locally and want to do your part for the environment, CNG could be the way to go. But as we've seen in the past, many consumers are likely to do only what's required and not much more. Keeping the CNG tank full in addition to the standard fuel tank might just be a little too much to ask.

Says a writer from www.autoweek.com 

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120418/CARNEWS/120419821#ixzz1t0s5VJno

http://www.carsnaval.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2013-Chevy-Silverado-2500-HD-Bi-Fuel-CNG-tank-open.jpg
Picture of the Chevrolet BiFuel Truck and the container that holds the fuel.

Camaro ZL1

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131847
Picture of a Camaro ZL1
This spring General Motors will release the new version of the 69 Camaro zl1. The reason this car is so special is that when they were first produced there was only 69. What makes them better is that instead of a regular stock engine the were equipped with an all aluminum engine.

http://www.managedspeed.net/chevrolet-camaro-zl1-2013-compare/1762.html/chevrolet-camaro-zl1-2013-engine-block
Picture of the ZL1's engine.
With Ford’s recent release of the new Boss 302 Mustang General Motors will quickly follow up with the remake of this classic car. But other than the different body style other different modifications have been added to it such as Magnetic Ride. This is addition will make the zl1 be able to turn sharper and harder at greater speeds, also it will give it a smoother ride.

“The 2012 Camaro ZL1 is the highest-performing production Camaro of all time.” says an excited General Motors executive and I truly believe that this is true. I cannot even begin to describe all of the special features this car has but here is a  link to some videos that will show you all of the specs and details of these. http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro-zl1-performance-sports-car/#videos