Bitchin' Auto

Hot Rodding Your Lawnmower?

Fri, 18 May 2012 08:06:00 -0400

Well, maybe not in the literal sense, but I wanted to discuss how you can go about getting a little bit more out of your lawnmower.

I, like many of you, have a newer self-propelled lawnmower which has a set engine speed. You grab the safety handle, pull the starter cord, the thing goes vroom, you release the cable and it shuts off. You do not have any direct way to change engine speed. Either it is on and running, or off and not. The other day I had an issue with the engine where it didn't seem to be running up at its normal speed. I started looking at how the carb and all was put together to see if there was something wrong. What I figured out turned out to be an easy problem to fix.

Looking at how most lawnmower

Buying a Car From the Stealership

Fri, 11 May 2012 17:16:00 -0400

Buying a car from the Stealership

I�ve wanted to write this article for some time now. As some background, I was laid off from my job as an Imagery Analyst (I�ll tell you about it sometime) in May of 1998. After about a month of searching for a new job, I took a job selling cars. Selling cars, IMHO, is not a very good job for anyone, at least the way I was forced to sell cars. This was neither profitable nor fun for me, so here I am writing this article, hoping I might be able to help some of you in the future. After a year and a half of selling cars, being a new car sales manager, and second chance finance, I pretty much saw the gambit of life at a dealership. About the only part I didn�t see was ownership, which takes a lot of money

How an Engine Works

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:00:00 -0400

What is an internal combustion engine? It is responsible for turning an air/fuel mixture into motion. It does this by burning the mixture inside the engine to utilize the power output of the combustion explosion. There are different kinds of internal combustion engines like diesel or gas turbine. However, for the purpose of this article we are talking about ones utilizing gasoline as its primary fuel source.

In order to understand how an engine works, a look at engine makeup is required.

Block:

The block is the foundation of the engine. It is upon the block which everything else is mounted. Most blocks are made of either cast iron or aluminum. Most automobiles

90 Minutes With Dave Smith at FFR!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:36:00 -0400

Monday I left to come to Boston for a conference for work. The plan was to be here most of the week. When I found out, I dropped an email to Factory Five Racing to see if I could get a tour of the plant. Their front lady, Sally Bean, sent me back a note saying they could oblige. I was ecstatic (as you could probably tell from this blog post). When I got to Boston, I got in the rental car and started my hour trek down to Wareham, MA. I arrived a little early due to being able to grab an early flight. I was glad I did, as I don't think I would have made it to the Factory Five shop

How To: Change Your Oil

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:56:00 -0500

Most people on this forum, this will come second nature to you. But, there are those that are either looking to save money, or just want the satisfaction of doing some things themselves and that is what this video and forum is all about. Everything starts small, and you don't get much smaller than changing your own oil. Not only can it save you $20+ every 3-5 months, but you know what is going in your engine, and that it's done correctly.

My mother had had her oil changed twice at "Lube Shops" and both times, they left the drain plug loose. One of them cost her an engine, but they replaced it, and the tech was fired. It's small oversights like this that give good reason to do things yourself.

Here is

How To Install Poly Bushings - Front - Camaro

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:13:00 -0500

What's up guys and gals. I thought I would post up a how-to on installing poly bushings from Prothane. I had noticed that my steering was really loose so I started checking the front end out. On the passenger side, I could grab the upper control arm and move it front and back about 1/2", not good. So, i ordered this kit and started the install on the passenger side. There are no pics from that side other than the completed pics. This is cause the drivers side is exactly the same with the exception of having to remove the master cyl to get to a shock bolt.

So, with all of that said, onto the writeup.

The first thing that you want to do is get the car up in the air and put it on jack stands. Take the front tires

Good newbie guide to DSLR photography

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:46:00 -0500

Part 1 - Aperture, Shutter Speed, & ISO

First and foremost, we need to cover the 3 main settings you should be adjusting on your Digital SLR and the relationship they share with one and other: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO. In the world of photography, light is everything. These 3 settings control how much light enters your camera or how your camera processes that light, so understanding what each setting controls and the relationship between the settings is critical to taking a properly exposed picture.

1) Aperture

Think of Aperture as the hole in your camera that lets in light. A bigger aperture means a bigger "hole" and thus, lets in more light. Conversely,

How To: Powder Coat (56k Warning!!!)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:43:00 -0500

Hello everyone, I have searched on here and have noticed that people are paying quite a bit of money to have just the case powder coated. How would you like to know how to do it yourself? It's not near as hard as you are thinking it is. And, you can do a whole computer (after the purchase of the gun) for about $10, and that is a high figure.

The first thing that you need to do is go here and select the gun that you want. You can spend as little as $90 plus the powder of your choice, or just do it like I did and get the elite system that has some pretty good powder. It

Welcome To Bitchin' Automotive!

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:45:00 -0500

Hello everyone, and welcome to the ALL NEW Bitchin' Automotive! This is a brand new forum for anything and everything automotive. From your every day grocery getter to an 8 second drag car, everything is welcome here. Please be patient as we add more and more content. If you have any suggestions for us, please let us know by creating a thread in the forum by clicking the forum tab above. Thank you everyone, and hang on for the ride!

Bitchin' Auto Staff