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One time when a bunch of us were ganged up partying at Gear Head Inn I raised a point that had been glaring to me for quite a while. I marveled at the fact that early everybody there was driving stuff they had built. Nearly everybody. Perry was quick to say, "YOU built." I said no, I bolted. There's a difference. We went back and forth a few times. Built. Bolted. Built. Bolted. A blower and some brakes and exhaust and a shifter is all bolt-on stuff.
Besides, these days when you open the hood on newer rides you can't even see the engine for all the stuff. That's daunting if you want to tamper with it. But if you want to throw caution to the wind and really make a car's computer get pissed off, just get a tuner. Regardless of brand or design, they sell you a whole lot more car than they let you drive away from the lot with. It's in there, you just have to coax it out of it and override all of the layers and layers of consumer dumb padding that comes from the showroom. I guess that's hotrodding but you can do it without understanding a thing about all of the stuff you can look at but not even see.
Red's engine light came on. I knew enough to keep on driving him, running just fine. For months, to the point that I started wondering if the engine light had been on ever since we put the blower on there, but I don't think it was. Maybe someday I'll check it, it only means the computer is disgruntled about something. When I put a hotrod tune on Bluebelle to turn off the speed limiter to run The Mile, her engine light stayed on. The trouble code meant, "Somebody tampered with my computer and I don't like it." Unauthorized intrusion into the program. Wahhhh, 131 mph worth of unauthorized intrusion on a 4-door grocery getter appliance, Put some electrical tape on the dash panel to cover up the light so Sue Unit won't see it when she cranks it.
One day last week I finally got bored enough to check on Red's engine light. The trouble code was for the EVAP fuel system. Whatever that is. Right away I was thinking we put two fuel pumps into the gas tank to feed the blower. One stock one and an extra one running in parallel. Maybe somehow all of that ... No, there's an evap system built in. It captures fumes inside the tank and sends them to be burned along with the fuel. Wow. You can't just look at all of that stuff and know that it even does that. The trouble code meant there's a small leak in that system somewhere. Or it could mean that the gas cap was loose one day for a little while. I cleared the code and it didn't come back.
Then I thought about all the guys back in the day that would pull the body off of a VW Bug chassis and make a dune buggy out of it and use a beer keg for a gas tank. They didn't have a light like that on the dashboard and they kept on going just fine.
Besides, these days when you open the hood on newer rides you can't even see the engine for all the stuff. That's daunting if you want to tamper with it. But if you want to throw caution to the wind and really make a car's computer get pissed off, just get a tuner. Regardless of brand or design, they sell you a whole lot more car than they let you drive away from the lot with. It's in there, you just have to coax it out of it and override all of the layers and layers of consumer dumb padding that comes from the showroom. I guess that's hotrodding but you can do it without understanding a thing about all of the stuff you can look at but not even see.
Red's engine light came on. I knew enough to keep on driving him, running just fine. For months, to the point that I started wondering if the engine light had been on ever since we put the blower on there, but I don't think it was. Maybe someday I'll check it, it only means the computer is disgruntled about something. When I put a hotrod tune on Bluebelle to turn off the speed limiter to run The Mile, her engine light stayed on. The trouble code meant, "Somebody tampered with my computer and I don't like it." Unauthorized intrusion into the program. Wahhhh, 131 mph worth of unauthorized intrusion on a 4-door grocery getter appliance, Put some electrical tape on the dash panel to cover up the light so Sue Unit won't see it when she cranks it.
One day last week I finally got bored enough to check on Red's engine light. The trouble code was for the EVAP fuel system. Whatever that is. Right away I was thinking we put two fuel pumps into the gas tank to feed the blower. One stock one and an extra one running in parallel. Maybe somehow all of that ... No, there's an evap system built in. It captures fumes inside the tank and sends them to be burned along with the fuel. Wow. You can't just look at all of that stuff and know that it even does that. The trouble code meant there's a small leak in that system somewhere. Or it could mean that the gas cap was loose one day for a little while. I cleared the code and it didn't come back.
Then I thought about all the guys back in the day that would pull the body off of a VW Bug chassis and make a dune buggy out of it and use a beer keg for a gas tank. They didn't have a light like that on the dashboard and they kept on going just fine.
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