Global Warming Created Art Car During SF earthquake in 1989 at 5:04 pm???

Photo by Harrod Blank

I have been thinking about this artcar for for some time now so I had to write about it, and maybe its because I have a feeling there will be another major earth quake in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the next couple of months. On October 17, 1989 a major earthquake hit San Francisco at 5:04 PM that devastated this area really bad. But the destruction gave birth to an unusual artcar called 5:04 PM. Michael Mikel was wondering around SF after the earth quake when he came upon an Oldsmobile with its top crushed in by a pile of bricks from a wall. He offered to buy the car but the owner just gave to him considering the car a total loss. With some minor repairs and a new number plate "5:04 PM" he had got himself an art, created by one of mother earths nasty tantrums. I guess that's the positive side all that "CO2" is Global Warming Art Cars. Michael you lucky stiff I spent 2.5 years working on my art car, yours took a few minutes. Thank you "Mother Earth" for you creativity and your tantrums once again.

Marilyn Dreampeace, we will miss you!!!

A few days ago I go an email that Marilyn Dreampeace creator of come play with me art car past away from a very rare form of cancer. She was featured in Harrod Blank's Wild Wheels book on art cars. She was an inspiration to me to create my own art car called the Mercedes Pens. I had the opportunity to meet her at my very first Artcar Fest 2005 and again in 2006. She always had a postive outlook and alwasy fun to hand out with. For more photos of Marilyn and friends go her flickr pool


1973 BMW 2002Tii called "Come Play with Me"


Toyota Prius called the "Hibird"


Toyota Prius called "wet dreams"

Photo credits Paul McRae

ROAD TO WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP (WRC) FOR INDONESIA 2009

Proses untuk mengembalikan event WRC di Indonesia sudah mulai berjalan melalui pertemuan awal antara Bpk. James Tangkudung (Asisten Deputi Pembinaan Prestasi Olahraga) yang mewakili Menegpora RI dengan Mr. Morrie Chandler (President FIA WRC) pada tgl. 11 Juni 2007 di Singapore dengan didampingi oleh Bpk. Irawan Suchayono (Sekjen PP. IMI) ; Bpk. Harris Gondokusumo (Biro Olahraga PP. IMI) & Jeffrey JP (Rally Indonesia Organiser), dimana juga sekaligus Mr. Morrie Chandler menyampaikan undangan kepada Menegpora RI untuk menghadiri penyelenggaraan Rally New Zealand 2007 (WRC round 11) agar dapat diberikan masukan mengenai cara pelaksanaan suatu WRC dengan dampak/multiplier efek terhadap segi ekonomi dan pariwisata dari Negara itu.
Pada pertemuan tersebut President FIA WRC menyampaikan tahapan2 yang harus dilakukan oleh Indonesia adalah :
a. Penyampaian aplikasi sebagai kandidat WRC ditahun 2008 dengan progress WRC di tahun 2009, dimana aplikasi tersebut harus disampaikan oleh PP. IMI dengan mencantumkan jadwal ; lokasi serta penyelenggara dari event (kandidat WRC & WRC) dan kemudian FIA akan memberikan persetujuan sebagai Kandidat WRC yang akan diputuskan oleh World Council and General Assembly of FIA pada rapat akhir tahun.
Dimana pihak PP. IMI bersama-sama Rally Organiser harus aktif untuk menjadi anggota (representatif) dan hadir pada setiap annual meeting dari Working Group ; World Motor Sport Council dan General Assembly dari FIA
b. Melakukan pembayaran Inscription Fee (registered in the FIA calendar) untuk sebesar EURO 103.200 paling lambat tgl. 31 Januari 2008, dimana biaya akan dipergunakan untuk keperluan dari FIA Delegate saat peninjauan event kandidat WRC dan dapat diperpanjang pada tahun berikutnya bila belum memenuhi ketentuan WRC tanpa perlu melakukan pembayaran lagi. Inscription Fee ini diperlukan oleh FIA sebagai jaminan atas keseriusan suatu negara sebagai penyelenggara kandidat WRC, adapun Inscription Fee untuk menjadi WRC adalah sebesar EURO 155.050
c. Apabila Indonesia telah disetujui menjadi salah satu kandidat WRC dari kawasan Asia pada tahun 2008, maka secara terkait akan juga dialokasikan pada jadwal WRC di tahun 2009 dengan ketentuan subject to inspection on year 2008.
(Terlampir jadwal tahun 2008 & tahun 2009)

Laporan hasil kunjungan dan proses persiapan selanjutnya dalam bentuk proposal rencana kerja & anggaran biaya tahun 2008 s/d tahun 2010 telah disampaikan kepada Pemerintah melalui Menteri Pemuda & Olahraga RI dan Ikatan Motor Indonesia (PP. IMI) serta juga organisasi yang baru terbentuk yaitu Indonesia World Motorsport (IWM).

Tahapan berikutnya adalah melakukan kunjungan kerja ke Rally New Zealand 2007 pada tgl. 30 Agustus s/d 2 September mendatang sesuai undangan dari Mr. Morrie Chandler (President FIA WRC), dimana Menegpora telah menunjuk Bpk. James Bpk. James Tangkudung (Asisten Deputi Pembinaan Prestasi Olahraga) untuk mewakili guna melakukan pembahasan lebih lanjut untuk persiapan & koordinasi langkah berikutnya serta melakukan study banding sebagai persiapan dari rencana penyelenggaraan kembali WRC di Indonesia.
Rombongan yang akan berangkat mendampingi Deputy Menegpora adalah Bpk. Harris Gondokusumo (Ka. Biro Dept. Olahraga PP. IMI) dan Jeffrey JP (Rally Indonesia Organiser)

Persyaratan serta kondisi yang terjadi pada penyelenggaraan WRC adalah :
1. Negara yang menjadi kandidat WRC harus terlebih dahulu melaksanakan event yang berstatus FIA Regional Championship (di Indonesia adalah FIA APRC)
2. Jumlah negara penyelenggara untuk WRC mulai tahun 2009 akan menjadi sebanyak 12 putaran, dimana 6 negara sebagai penyelenggara tetap dan 6 negara akan dirotasi secara bergantian

Informasi selanjutnya selama kunjungan kerja delegasi WRC Indonesia dan partisipasi Indonesia Rally Team – Subhan Aksa/Hade Mboi akan kami sampaikan secara bertahap sampai dengan akhir penyelenggaraan Rally New Zealand 2007 (WRC round 11)

Kami sangat menghargai atas dukungan dari rekan-rekan media melalui peliputan yang diberikan dan hal tersebut sangatlah penting untuk dapat membantu sosialisasi proses pencapaian penyelenggaraan event WRC di Indonesia, dimana segala kritikan dan saran juga sangat kami butuhkan guna percepatan proses serta demi kemajuan Olahraga Otomotif cabang Rally di Indonesia.
Akhir kata apabila terjadi kekurangan dan kesalahan baik yang disengaja maupun tidak disengaja, sebelumnya kami memohon maaf serta kami sangat mengharapkan untuk dapat bekerjasama lebih erat lagi untuk bersama-sama memberikan kontribusi kepada Negara tercinta Indonesia melalui event-event Internasional (APRC & WRC) yang akan datang. Terima kasih atas perhatian serta liputannya dan sampai jumpa di GUDANG GARAM INTERNATIONAL RALLY INDONESIA 2007 putaran 3 di Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan pada tgl. 7 s/d 9 September mendatang.

Ball joint

Description: A ball joint consists of a hardened-steel, bearing stud and socket enclosed in a steel housing. The bearing stud is tapered and threaded and fits into a tapered hole in the steering knuckle. A protective boot prevents dirt from entering the joint assembly. Ball joints are used on the front end of virtually every car and light truck. Vehicles with conventional suspension systems use two ball joints per wheel: an upper and a lower ball joint. Cars with MacPherson strut suspension systems use a lower ball joint and an upper strut bearing rather than an upper ball joint.

Purpose: Ball joints serve as the pivot points between the tires and suspension. Ball joints also support weight. On some vehicles, the ball joints may be used to make wheel alignment settings.

Maintenance Tips/Suggestions: Many cars use “lubed for life” ball joints that can’t be lubricated. Replacement ball joints often come with lubrication fittings. If your car has lubrication fittings, the ball joints should be lubricated at every oil change. Ball joints, along with other suspension components, should be inspected annually along with a complete wheel alignment. The most common vehicle symptoms associated with worn ball joints are wandering, uneven tire wear, and erratic steering. Ball joint inspection methods and specifications vary, so have your vehicle inspected by a qualified service professional.

source : carcare.org

History In Motion Art Car

Motion in History is one of the art cars created by Forrest Butcher found on his web site The Fun Garage. He wanted to build/fabricate a TransAm-style racecar-type bodied vehicle and in the spring of 2005 he started. His car is built on an originall 1975 Volkswagen Bus, and all that is used is the frame. Built with a 1" square tubing and flat sheet metal, the vehicle was hand tooled and designed in the style of a 1960s Trans Am racing car. Nice work and thank you for the submission.

Turkey Day Art Car

In commemorating Thanksgiving day, I decided to go out and find an Artcar that was decorated as a turkey or in some way turkey "themed". The closest I came was the Chicken Car and an artcar found in Istanbul, Turkey. Run kid, run for your life!!!!


Art Car from Turkey by Pictures from Turkey


Chicken Car by Scott Beale

I also found another funny picture from Turkey, apparently gas prices have hit an all time high there as well.

By everyone, enjoy your turkey or close substitute and make sure you you leave enought room for the veggies...NOT!!!
Aslo check out The Cork Truck by Janet Groenert, recently added to the artcar list

Automotive Dynamometer Systems(dynamo meter/rolling soad) information

Once you have built your new motor, or fitted any tuning parts you will NEED to visit a good automotive Dynamometer or rolling road. If you don't you will never be able to set up your engine properly. A good dynamometer allows you to use a gas analyser while under load so you can see the real air fuel mixture at all RPM's while driving.

Rather than discuss the subject on this site it is better if you go to my Automotive Dynamometer pages, as I used to build them! (Below)

Conventional Engine tuning methods

By "conventional engine tuning" we mean internal engine work. Not Turbocharging, Supercharging, Nitrous Oxide Injection, etc. No "bolt on power" modifications. but tuning the internals to give better airflow.

Getting more power from a standard car engine by conventional tuning means is at best difficult. (we will ignore standard turbocharged cars for the moment). The only way is to increase the airflow drawn through the engine. There are lots of ways to do this and it all involves a lot of work and money! For example:

• Bigger side draft carbs or throttle bodies

• Bigger engine bores / pistons (machined to increase capacity)

• Bigger engine stroke (offset ground machined crankpins and shorter connecting rods)

• better tubular exhaust manifolds and system

• better port shape in the head (ported head)

• Bigger inlet and exhaust valves fitted with specially shaped valve seats

• Higher compression ratio

• longer duration and higher lift camshaft

• forged pistons (for strength)

• stronger connecting rods to cope with higher RPM's

• uprated oil pump/system to help engine reliability at higher RPM's

• Crank / Connecting rod lightening, balancing, strengthening etc to cope with higher RPM's than standard engine

Depending on what you are trying to achieve you may need to do all of the above or just some! A fully tuned and "built" race engine is seriously expensive, loud, and unsuitable for road car use. It has bad driving characteristics, uneven idle, little low rpm power etc. And it is usually short lived as it has to be revved hard to get to any useful power. Obviously then it is best to start with the biggest engine variant of your model of car to begin with! This way you may not need to tune it at all to get the same power! If you do tune it it will not need as extensive modification to achieve the desired power so will be more user friendly.

Conventional tuning has low limits on how much power you can expect too. Its easy to get a few horsepower more, but very difficult to get any big power increases. And the cost of power goes up and up as more power is wanted...

Unless you have a good reason to use "conventional tuning" rather than fitting a bigger engine, or a turbocharger or Nitrous injection then these are probably better options for road use.

Fuels, and fuel additives

There are hundreds of different fuel additives with all kinds of different claims! We are only really interested in the ones that CAN work to help power.

First we need to understand the differences between the two common road fuels we all use, and a few "race" fuels.

1st we have all those "additives" that claim to improve power, and torque, improve "smoothness" emissions, and mileage! Sometimes by 25 percent! But they cannot, or will not tell you how! Well get real! They are a CON!

2nd we have "octane boosters" SOME of these work well. Look for tests and recommendations, or just use proper high octane fuels in the first place!

3rd we have "upper cylinder lubricants" such as Redex etc. Well in a road car they may not hurt. In a highly stressed race engine running on the borderline of detonation, it might just be enough to kill it! You see oils radically lower the total cylinders Octane So be careful!

4th Methanol. This can if added in small amounts increase octane. But it may make the total fuel mixture weaker so again be careful!

Then there are the lead replacement additives. These may or may not work, some definitely don't. They are designed to replace the lead that some engines like to stop valve/head seating problems in pre unleaded fuel days! Don't confuse lead and Octane. Lead is for lubrication. Octane is a measure of the fuels ant knock properties. Although lead happens to increase octane a little too!

A little known fact...

In the UK leaded pump fuel if you can get it when mixed with super unleaded gives a higher octane than either alone! Because both use different additives to increase octane that work less effectively the higher the concentration

The Grass Car

For the longest time I have been fascinated by grass covered cars. Its a whole other world when people cover vehicles in astroturf or even better real grass. The later takes a bit more skill as you will see in the video of a guy who started doing that in the late eighties. I did a search on Google and Flikr and found a few more vehicles covered in this stuff, the effect is simply amazing. Talk about an eco friendly green car.

Brooklyn, New York artist Gene Pool is featured in this short video from the movie Wild Wheels by Harrod Blank

Gene Also did a Grass Bus

And here are some other Grass Cars I found on Flikr

Photo by temp13rec.

Photo by Cyrius

Photo by basheem

Photo by Daniel Mauermann

Photo by anab Jain

Photo by northreflections

Photo by europeanartphoto

Photo by Mulad

Photo bymeherenow

And a few others

The Plaidmobile by Tim McNally

The Plaidmobile by Tim McNally

Photo by Harrod Blank

The Plaidmobile is a 1985 Buick SkyHawk with a plaid custom paint job. Tim resides in NY and spent a 2-3 years trying to change the official color of the color throught the DMV from"red" to "plaid". This car has been driven all over the country and is also featured in Harrod Blanks book on Art Cars.
Check out Tim's other car on Flikr as well:)