By Mark Gearhart

powerTV Media

Torque converters are the component that made the modern automatic transmission possible, transferring power from the engine to the rest of the drivetrain without the use of a clutch. Even though we’ve all used them, few of us understand what’s actually going on inside or how they’re built. To answer those questions, we talked to TCI, one of the country’s most popular manufacturers of performance converters, and they were gracious enough to walk us through how converters are made, and how they do their job.

Before we spoke with the professionals, we did some research of our own. We discovered that although boat-loads of research and design have been dumped into the torque converter since its creation, it originally began as an option in luxury daily drivers in the late 1940’s. Check out the full story at Dragzine.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I’ve always felt that the time-honored dirtball technique of punching a screwdriver through an oil filter was just plain asking for trouble, but from the looks of it, this poor guy was doomed from the start no matter what he tried. In the course of the struggle, the filter ended up getting sheared off down to its base, so there’s now basically nothing left to grab onto to make it turn. I’m not exactly sure how the Saab 9-5 is set up, but from these pics, it doesn’t look like getting to the threaded spigot from the other side of the block wall with the motor disassembled is much of an option either. Ever had this happen to you? What should he try next? Via VWVortex.

Continue reading "How Not To Un-Stick A Stuck Oil Filter" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It’s kind of an underhanded question, because I have to admit, there isn’t really anything I cheap out on anymore myself, which is why I’m usually broke. I used to go cheap-and-nasty on tires, until spending a year working for Firestone cured me of that. I tried cheaping out on reproduction body panels, but found that they needed so much bodywork to fit right that it was completely not worth it. Suspension wear parts I never mess around with–the last thing you want is some D-grade alloy in a crucial ball or stud that’s likely to shear off at 90 mph. And I learned my lesson on made-in-China junk electronics after a headlight switch tried to set my Eagle’s dash on fire. I guess I concentrate on getting the best possible deals–discounted or free–on top-shelf parts rather than trying to cut corners on quality. And I try to make up for it by buying bargain-bin consumables. 99-cent cans of brake cleaner? I’ll take a case!

But I have to be missing something–what car parts do you cheap out on, and get away with?

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

I like to ask every so often because I’m always looking for new sources. Lately I’ve been geeking out a lot on Amazon.com’s parts site. People generally don’t think of going to a book site for car stuff, and the parts department is very much buried on the the Amazon homepage (home >Tools, Auto, and Industrial >Automotive). Both of these factors may be playing a role in keeping the prices reasonable–it’s still kind of a secret. Their year/make/model search is extremely good, and while a lot of the common parts come directly from Amazon, the site is also features a marketplace format so you can pretty easily dig up all kinds of obscure and random stuff from out-of-the-way sellers (like, who would’ve known I could get Competition Engineering 3-way adjustable drag shocks for my AMC Eagle? Sold!). All this, plus I’ve been extra-obsessed ever since I figured out I could spend my reward certificates there that I get from my credit card. Free car parts–it just doesn’t get much better than that.

But anyway, how about you? Found any good new online sources for car parts since the last time we discussed it?

By John Naderi

StreetFire.net

They say it never rains in sunny Southern California but who are they exactly and why is it that they know so little about meteorology? On this coming Saturday, December 12 the annual GReddy garage sale will take place where you can get all sorts of mad, crazy deals on GReddy goods. And while Ole Ma Nature plans to rain on the parade (or garage sale as it were) GReddy reports that the show (ahem, garage sale) will go on as planned. In order to keep everything rain-free GReddy will move the festivities inside. Wait, this is a garage sale that takes place within an actual garage, what are the odds? Check out GReddy.com for more info or you can follow GReddy’s Twitter account here.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

For regular old OEM replacement parts, I’m pretty obsessed with RockAuto. I dig their super-navigable online catalog, the prices are close to wholesale, and for most items you can choose from a variety of brands–which works great for me since I like to avoid the service-grade Made-in-China suspension wear parts and electronics that try to set your car on fire. I’m also into Northern Auto Parts, which tends to stock a lot of the more obscure and obsolete items–a goldmine for my diesel Escort, among other things. For performance goodies, I’m all hearts for Summit Racing, though they can be a little spendy for me. Ditto for Clifford Performance, where I enjoy drooling over straight-six upgrades for my AMCs and scheming about getting them cheaper on eBay. How about you? What’re your favorite car parts websites?

I had some suspension work done on the Valiant recently, and when I got the car back I found a big Pedders sticker on the back window. I didn’t mind, since the guys who did the work managed to get me out of a fix. Besides, there’s something about a bull wearing a helmet and holding a bunch of suspension parts that just cracks me up. However, it does remind me of my previous life when I sold new Fords. We would occasionally get a customer who would insist that there be no dealership stickers or license plate frames on their car when they took delivery. Their theory was that since they were paying us for the car, we could go and advertise elsewhere. It never bothered me, as I was always happy to move another piece of inventory out the door. But their attitude contrasts strongly with the idea I had about the old XP Falcon that I used to own. One of the things that really pleased me about the XP was that it still had the original Heath’s Ford sticker on the back window from 1965, even though that dealership was long gone by the early 90’s. So how about you—what brand does your car wear?

Continue reading "What Brand Does Your Car Wear?" »

Worrying about wiper-blade brands seemed to me like the silliest thing in the world, until a friend of mine talked me into a pair of pricey Rain-X Latitudes (18 bucks a pop). The difference between those and my parts-store house-brand blades was so drastic that I felt my Eagle had a new windshield every time it rained, and as a result, I’ve since bought Latitudes for all my cars. However, a new Consumer Reports study named certain cheapie brands as top performers—like the Valeo 600, Anco 31 Series, and Michelin RainForce—but noted that these bargain blades tend to degrade quickly, not lasting much longer than 6 months. So what do you do? Buy cheapskate blades and change them frequently? Shell out for the expensive ones and have a clear windshield for longer? Or just pick up whatever and then run them ragged until you can barely see through the smears?

It’s always one of those pro/con situations, whether to replace an entire half-shaft or "just" swap on a new CV boot. What if there’s just a hairline crack in your original boot, you’ve hardly lost any grease, and you know the joint is still good? To me it seems wasteful to replace the entire shaft when all you need is a boot. At the last shop I worked in, we had one of those lovely spreaders that’d quite nearly ploink a replacement CV boot on for you. But my former shop is an entire continent away now, so I decided to try out one of the joe-shmoe semi-universal boots. More…

Continue reading "Had Much Luck With "Kwik Boots"? I Sure Haven't…" »

I’ve recently had some trouble with my Valiant: last week, the ignition switch decided to give up the ghost. I could’ve hot wired it, but that’s not really my style, so instead I ordered a replacement unit that will simply replace the old switch. Interestingly as a result of my problem I have found out that there is apparently only one person in all of Australia who actually rebuilds the units to new or better-than-new specifications. Unfortunately the units that I have had in the past which have been sold to me as ‘rebuilt’ have only lasted a year or more as they were actually only second-hand and not rebuilt as the sellers had claimed. From what I can gather, the locksmith has developed a special key that is inserted into the barrel to open it. Then the contents are removed and rebuilt. To top things off they also come with a new key. According to the people at Hemi Performance, my new ignition switch should have the life span comparable to that of the original factory unit. When was the last time you were sold something for your car that wasn’t all that the seller claimed it to be?