January 31st, 2010 by cloud

First a little history as to what pushed this article. I’m employed by possibly the best wagon dealer in the land. We in the service dep.

Have many fleet accounts that we look after. One of our accounts has an World glider. A glider is largely a taxi and frame rails. The engine, drivetrain, and rear spindles all come from another donor wagon. Kind of similar to building an enormous model. This actual lorry was married to an 8.3 litre Cummins midrange engine and a six speed trans. whoever put this lorry together neglected to record any info per engine, what sort of a wagon it came out of, for example. Obviously, the engine is a nightmare to find parts for. I searched the web in vane, but could’nt come up with anything solid to draw from. Thus, this article. Let me go thru the different engines and share with you what I’ve found.

Caterpillar – The common spot to find the engine S / N is on the valve cover engine information tag. If this is missing, Moggy is real good at stamping the S / N on the right side near the back of the engine. I don’t know if this is applicable to all of the engines, but I know it’s there for the enormous bores. Cummins – The engine information tag is bolted to the front accessory drive cover on the driver’s side of the engine. This is also where the imperative parts list number or CPL will be found. If this is missing, on the giant bore engines, Cummins stamps the engine S / N on the right side of the block near the oil cooler. Now the bad news, the tiny bore engines – 3.9, 5.9, 8.3 litre engines, don’t have this stamping. What I do in my situation is to take all part numbers obvious on the engine and insert them into your web cumpas program. A little hint, Cummins wraps injection lines on the mechanical engines with metal tabs that have part numbers on them. I know this is a crap shoot, but it’s a place to start. Good luck Detroit – Like Caterpillar, the valve cover is the number 1 place to find the engine S / N. I’ve been out of the Detroit scene for some time now, but I suspect that they also stamp the number on the block. Series 50 and typically series sixty engines are the main streem for this kind of powerplant. Although there remain a slew of the old 8V-72′s out there in busses. Also the fuel pincher 8.2 litre is still out there also.

Navistar – The good ol’ 466 and 530 models. Once more, the engine information tag on the valve cover is the number 1 place to start. On the driver’s side engine block, there’s a block casting number that may give you a great start, too. If the engine is the first engine in the wagon, line set tickets will tell the S / N. If performing an in-frame overhaul, particularly on an older van, do you a favor and double check the particular engine number against the line set?

This goes for all of the engines listed above. The wagon V.I.N. Is potentially the best spot to start to getting the data needed to get the correct parts the 1st time.

Freightliner, Kenworth, and Volvo use the last six digits of the V.I.N. Global, Sterling, and Ford use the last eight digits. Mack is a little different. They like the last six digits of the V.I.N. And the model kind of the truck. I hope that this helps someone on the way. Most folk will know this information, but somebody hopefully will benefit from this. Be correct in your search, and let’s keep the wheels of America Rolling!!

January 20th, 2010 by cloud

The cost of gas is beginning to get more dear as the cost of gas goes up many of us are searching for accessories to add to their lorry to improve their gas mileage. There aren’t many accessories that may actually help your gas mileage but many folks are beginning to take a look at paths to increase their power using cold air intake systems. High-performance cold air intake systems help engines run online by trapping and filtering the air as it comes into the engine. Most regular fuel injected automobiles have a filter that’s not a space mounted filter on top of the engine like of the carburetors of vehicles do. With a cold air intake system there’s often some sort of divider that separates the way in which the air filters and enters into the engine.

These intake systems provide cold air coming through the griddle of the van this is a more appealing option than grabbing warm air from under the hood. Because cold air is more dances its miles better for your fuel injector and ready hands the h.p. of your van. You can get performance kits that include all of the hardware you’ll need to install your cold air intake system. Basically installing the system may not take particularly long for someone who knows what they’re doing; a talented technician should be in a position to complete the task in only two hours. When your system has been installed you’ll basically hear the air as it enters the filter. When you’re going slow you can only here a tiny noise, but as you start going quicker you’ll hear a much louder roaring. The majority who has got a cold air intake system really think this roaring is a pretty cool sound and don’t find it extremely vexing. Many makers claim that by employing a cold air intake system you can essentially get improved gas mileage with your lorry. But sadly there’s not any hard paperwork to prove this fact.

So for the moment the sole reason for installing a system like this is as they’re better for your engine and if you like the cool roaring noise that you get when going fast. If you’re not an engineer and still want to get a cold air intake system try visiting your local engineer and asking them if they suspect it might be a tight fit for your lorry. You might also need to check out and see if anyone else has a cold air intake system already on their van that you might most likely have a look at or hear about for having one installed on your wagon.

With the skyrocketing cost of gas any tiny thing that you do to help save gas and save your cash is a smart idea.

Though the cold air intake system isn’t proved to reduce gas mileage many of us have done their own experiments with it and asked down that they do improve gas mileage with this sort of system installed on their lorry.

January 18th, 2010 by cloud

Un accident, par définition, n’est jamais intentionnel. Cependant, non intentionnel ne signifie pas « non responsable ». Par conséquent,  dans certaines circonstances, une collision peut entraîner une hausse de votre prime d’assurance auto.

Un responsable est nécessaire

Pour les compagnies d’assurance, il y a nécessairement un responsable lors d’un accident d’automobile, même si vous n’auriez pu rien faire pour le prévenir et si le policier détermine que vous n’avez commis aucun délit.

• Si vous êtes le seul conducteur impliqué dans l’accident, vous serez automatiquement responsable quand vous ferez votre demande d’indemnité auprès de votre compagnie d’assurance.
• Si vous êtes impliqué dans une collision avec une autre voiture, la question de responsabilité se complique. Si vous appelez un policier, il pourra normalement déterminer qui est le responsable en fonction du code de la route en vigueur localement. Parfois, la responsabilité du conducteur ne fait aucun doute.
  • Si vous heurtez l’arrière d’une voiture, vous êtes responsable.
  • Si vous changez de voie et avez un accrochage latéral avec une voiture qui se trouvait dans votre angle mort, vous êtes responsable.
  • Dans certains cas, il faudra que la police ou l’assureur fasse une enquête pour déterminer qui est réellement responsable de l’accident.

Si vous êtes tenu responsable d’un accident, cela peut entraîner une hausse de votre prime d’assurance automobile.

Si vous êtes responsable

Si vous avez un accident avec responsabilité, il restera inscrit à votre dossier de six à dix ans. Cela signifie que votre prime d’assurance auto risque d’augmenter et que, par conséquent, vous pourriez avoir à payer pour cet accident pendant des années, jusqu’à ce qu’il soit effacé de votre dossier. Votre prime d’assurance commencera alors à baisser.

L’accident pourrait être pardonné
La majorité des compagnies d’assurance proposent une « clause de pardon » à leurs clients.

• Pardonné — Si vous êtes assuré auprès de la même compagnie depuis un certain temps et que votre dossier de conduite est irréprochable vous pourriez alors être admissible à la clause voulant que votre premier accident avec responsabilité soit « pardonné ». Cela veut dire que votre prime n’augmenterait que légèrement.
• Mais non oublié — Si vous avez un autre accident, préparez-vous à en payer le prix.

Votre compagnie d’assurance peut vous aider

Même si un accident entraîne une augmentation de votre prime, votre compagnie d’assurance peut vous aider à faire en sorte que celle-ci demeure abordable. Renseignez-vous à propos des rabais auxquels vous pourriez avoir droit et des façons astucieuses de réduire votre prime d’assurance voiture.

January 15th, 2010 by cloud

Volvo drivers have regularly been tainted with a rep of taking care, slow and decidedly unexciting. Quite where this has come from I’m not sure, but even if it’s correct, is it a bad thing? Quite honestly, I’d like anybody driving a pile of metal at a velocity quicker than I’m able to run to be on the careful side. Obviously, the game of motor racing is encircled by the requirement for speed and has a name for being horny, dangerous and exciting. But are Michael Schumacher and company basically as thrilling as we like to think? Anyone that can drive a formula one vehicle at 200mph obviously doesn’t spend plenty time doing anything apart from driving. Road geeks, as I believe I shall collectively name all pro drivers, don’t commit much of their free time to doing exciting things, or non exiting things either. Eddie Irvine doesn’t crochet; Jensen Button has not got a fondness for playing the recorder and David Coulthard has not perfected the art of calligraphy.

They do all drive well and are famous for their ever so careful driving on the general public roads and byways. Are these pros of the road ridiculed for reasonable behavior and charged with being ‘Volvo drivers’? I believe not. The comprehensive antipode of the Volvo driving reputation is something known as Boy Racers.

These young kids (and lassies) are also road geeks, but of a wholly different calibre. Just like F1 drivers, all of these folks do is live and breathe driving. Sadly, they have taken the fun of motor racing and attempted to inject it into their street cars thru vehicle alteration and a perspective like a three years old after a bag of Haribo; dangerous! What appears to have been overlooked on their part is the true geek nature of those concerned in motor sports. What the Boy Racers have done is attempting to copy the likes of Lewis Hamilton, but instead missed by a mile.

Actually, James May is a lot closer to imitating the giants of racing than the guy with a Burberry cap and matching Peugeot. Mr. May is also the apex of what the public visualize when they think about a common Volvo driver. So how could we narrow this opening in opinion and create a name where road geeks and boy racers combine. I believe the key lies in car alteration.

Here, the 2 sides combine.

The execs can only achieve their standing as road gods thru the mechanical genius behind automobile parts, and the newbie’s try to have a piece of the action by adding skirts and lights to make their hot hatch go quicker. If there might be some kind of mass celebrity endorsement by pro road geeks to bling up a Volvo and then drive realistically, would the street racers take notice? It is a long shot, but possible. Volvo parts would be used to add style and class, and better performance at a steady 60mph. Lights would be avoided in favor of extremely good center caps ; spoilers would be denied but extra safe brake discs would be fitted. The sheer irony of it is the pros live and breathe in the driving, and are orientated to enhanced performance, quality and comfort. These elements are supreme, and a real sign of a road geek looking for excitement the sophisticated way. On the other hand, those that spend each waking moment selecting the next shade for a re-spray and fitting additional turbo exhaust features to a lackluster motor, are spending valuable time not driving whilst pretending to be exciting. This is a bit lifeless in my viewpoint.

January 5th, 2010 by cloud

Products these days appear to be more on the accompanying product than the product themselves, and the keystone in this promotional strategy seems to be coming up with saleable items that are considered cool.

We are used to this strategy in promoting films and Television shows from the variety of plastic toys, tee shirts and mouse mats available on eBay. I might have asserted in the shops, but there don’t appear to be most of them about now. Actually, it’s the fertile advancement in the acclaim for internet shopping which has boosted the trend for such product. If each product required a store shelf, the high st would be overrun with novelty present shops. One of the new contenders on the block when it comes to promotional accessories is in the auto promoting industry.

But just how will they hope to help possible customers to buy their product? Or is it the case the accessories available are for folk who are owners. Having spent a bit in Monaco, where autos are gigantic, glossy, fast and incredibly dear; having a Ferrari tee shirt, belt or wallet is thought of as a fine sign of outward pride. The guys and gals that are sporting these wares are usually truly owners of a Ferrari. In the United Kingdom the typical bloke that rambles around in a Ferrari baseball cap in reality owns a Ford Fiesta. Fortunately, the Italian brand with it’s prancing pony is basically classic enough in itself to be a fashion item. A little like wearing a Britain soccer shirt when everybody knows you are absolutely not on the team. Volvo accessories on the other hand are likely only acquired by folks that drive Volvos. I will not imagine a Porsche driver swanking about with a key fob that’s for a different class of vehicle, and I won’t image someone that drives a Citroen having any Volvo accessories either. Having said that, I do remember a pal of mine, back in the 1980s having a puffer style jacket that was worn by rally marshals, decorated with the Volvo emblem. I hopelessly wanted that jacket and I owned a Fiesta; oddly enough so did she.

It was actually the cool factor of the rally organization that made it fascinating though , and without the selling groups of the time knowing it, there had been a product right there that we had an interest in, as it was cool. It is this angle of opportunity the blokes at Vauxhall have employed in advertising the Corsa. The clever use of in-year-face woolly toys with rude boy attitudes has given the Corsa an edge over its opponents. The C’mon dolls as they’re called are one bit of goods which has nothing at all to do with the product. They do not wear Corsa garments, they are not decorated with the Corsa brand and they definitely aren’t an automobile. They’re fascinating though; but as much as I need one, at no point do I want to go out and purchase one of Vauxhall’s automobiles. Is this a marketing ploy that is massively backfiring? A vehicle company certainly can’t turn a profit on sales of woolly toys alone, you would need to sell approximately one thousand C’mon dolls to equal the acquisition of a Corsa.

At least with folk that are purchasing the Volvo accessories, they are driving the auto as well as wearing the tee shirt and sporting the key fob. What a fantastically reasonable promotion system.