Hooniverse Asks: Which engine are you most sad to see fade away?

The naturally aspirated V12 engine from Aston Martin is a large lump that I’m rather fond of. It’s an aging hulk of a powerplant that lies a bit about its true size. Listed at 6.0-liters, the 5.9-liter unit generates strong power figures and tremendous noise. It’s final song is being sung under the hood of the car in the photo above, which is a Vanquish S. There it’s producing 580 horsepower, has a redline around 7,000 rpm, and when you see the tach needle sweep past 3,500 rpm your ears are in for a true treat.

This engine is going away in favor of slightly smaller versions that are aided by forced induction. The power will be greater, but the noise is not the same.

Which engine out there do you miss? Which current engine is in a production vehicle but its time is limited and you lament this fact?

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Hooniverse Asks: Should you modify your daily driver?

This isn’t my exact car, but it’s close enough for the purposes of this post. That’s because it’s a stock Mazda CX-5, which is the vehicle my wife and I purchased over a year ago to serve as our daily driver machine. My wife does a fair bit of driving for work so a lease was out of the question. I wanted something that wouldn’t sap my soul anytime I was behind the wheel, so our options narrowed further. With kiddo and a pair of dogs figured into the equation, we wound up bringing home a CX-5.

It’s been great for the over 30,000 miles now showing on its odometer. There are no squeaks or rattles. The cloth seats are still wonderfully comfortable. Our mid-grade Touring model has downsized wheels which equals tires with more sidewall, and greater ride comfort as a result.

Lately though, I’ve been having thoughts about the thing. It looks fine as it sits, but what if I just throw some parts at it? I’m not talking about anything major. In fact, right now I’m just considering a wheel and tire upgrade, though I worry about making a change to the ride that will worsen the experience. Especially when its my wife that’s spending most of the time driving the CX-5.

So, dear readers, I ask you… should you modify your daily driver? If so, how far are you willing to take it? I know the answers to this will be all over the place, and no one is really wrong here. Still, I’m curious to see the varied takes on the idea.

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Let’s Talk About… The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Jalopnik got ahold of a leaked image showing off the upcoming Corvette ZR1. It’s mighty angular. Mighty aggressive. And it’s sure to be mighty fast around damn near all race tracks. Is it mighty appealing?

Click on that Read More button to hear what the Hooniverse Collective has to say, and then add your opinion in the comments below.

… Continue Reading

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Podcast: Episode 224 – Will Baty from Centerforce Clutches [SEMA 2017]

The first in our series of SEMA 2017 podcasts Will Baty of Centerforce clutches stops by to talk about… clutches.  We talk about what to expect visiting SEMA and the realities of tradeshows at large before we dive head first into “Clutchlandia”.  Clutchlandia is a magical place where friction is high slipping is punishable by death and Evo engines magically survive past 400HP. 

Ridiculous fictitious nations aside we cover the developments of clutch technology over the last twenty years, how flywheel weights affect your driving and some of the intricacies of dual-clutch transmissions. Thanks to Magnaflow for graciously hosting the Hooniverse and ShoutEngine podcasts at SEMA 2017.

Hooniverse – Will Baty of Centerforce clutches – SEMA 2017

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Hooniverse Asks: What’s the dumbest thing you’ve broken… while fixing something else?

Shit… Not how intended to spend this afternoon. Help me @leistungautohaus …you’re my only hope

A post shared by hooniversejeff (@hooniversejeff) on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:17pm PST

While wrenching on my 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan yesterday afternoon, I had a goal in my head. That goal was to adjust the turn signal so it held position when activated and the other was to adjust my driver’s side glass so it was in the closed position.

With respect to the turn signal fix, it was as simple as pulling back a cover and then dremeling out a cleaner notch for the stalk to grab when it’s selected. Now it stays on until the wheel cancels it back to the standard off position. It went just swell.

The driver’s door window is currently giving me trouble because I decided to leave the car with a valet parking service during a trip to Vegas for SEMA. This was dumb on my part for many reasons, but I caved because the price wasn’t much higher than the normal parking rate and it included a wash, which my car needed. Upon my return, I found that my Benz had not been washed. The trim around the ignition key was out farther than before I left, but it was never fully in place so I can’t fully fault anyone there. My driver’s window was halfway down, and when I got into fire up the car and bring it back up it would go no higher.

Yesterday, I decided to open up the door and take a look around. My goal was to loosen the window regulator, slide the window into the fully closed position, and tighten everything back up. Then have someone with more knowledge help me figure out why it was jacked in the first place. I can’t get the actual glass to slide more than halfway up the door though, and I don’t know why. To get better access, I figured I’d remove the side mirror.

While doing so, I snapped one of the three screws holding that mirror in place… so now I have a door torn apart, a window off the tracks, a loose regulator, and a side mirror that’s not tight to the body. So I ask you, what the dumbest thing you’ve broken while trying to fix a different part of your vehicle?

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Hooniverse Asks: When did the Jeep Wrangler become the TactiCOOL poster child?

The Jeep Wrangler took over for the CJ back in 1986. It was a vehicle still built upon the bones of a machine bred to serve in wartime, and then refined for civilian duty as the decades marched on. Today we have the JK generation Wrangler, and we’re all waiting for Chrysler to stop toying with us and pull the sheet back on the upcoming JL, especially the long-rumored pickup truck version.

Current Jeep fans fall into many camps, but they all seem to genuinely love their highly-capable vehicles. From the base two-door on up to fancy Unlimited Rubicons, you can take a Wrangler anywhere. Lately, it seems like more and more Jeeps aren’t really going places though, yet the owners are already prepped for North Korea to drop their Nukes on the West Coast.

Am I crazy, or does it seem like there has been a bit of a rise in the amount of heavily customized Wranglers prowling the streets? Not lightly upgraded examples, but Wranglers wearing every LED light offered in a given catalog, an angry scowling front-end half covering the headlights, and the cleanest upgraded suspension bought right off the SEMA show floor. These are Jeeps that appear ready for battle, but bear no scars from prior engagements. These Jeeps are tactiCOOL. Also, it seems to happy more often with the more expensive Unlimited over the standard two-door Wrangler.

Is the modern Wrangler Unlimited basically the AR15 of the off-road world? A good tool sullied by a handful of its owner base that seem hellbent on applying every mod with no care of how it actually affects performance. Or even making use of that performance.

When did the Jeep Wrangler become the vehicular posterchild for the tacticool amongst us?

[The Jeep above is listed for sale at ViperExhange.com …for $68k]

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Podcast: Episode 223 – ‘Bout Dat Zinfandel Life

Just me and a delicious bottle of beer, sitting around spinnin’ yarns…

Today I talk about running the Pismo Beach dunes in a Polaris RZR, letting someone else drive our Mazda CX-5 so we can taste wine, and then I dive into the upcoming guests for the SEMA episodes we’re going to record next week.

After that it’s question time, and as always you all have some good ones.

Hooniverse – ‘Bout Dat Zinfandel Life

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A quest to bring a 90’s icon back to its sports bike glory

Image snagged from Jalopnik

When you love a specific point in time for your preferred mode of transportation, you find yourself hunting down ways to gain a piece of that time. For Peter Monshizadeh, that point in time appears to be when sport bikes were colorful, stylish, and well built during the early 1990’s. That’s why Peter decided to track down a unicorn of the era; a 1993 Honda CBR900RR.

Not only did Peter find the bike he was looking for, but he found one with less than 1,000 miles on its odometer.

After acquiring the bike, Peter quickly set to work restoring it to its original glory. That adventure is well chronicled over at Jalopnik. You can see exactly what Peter needed to do in order to restore his new bike, and he even breaks out the costs of his journey.

Go read it, then day dream about the projects currently in your life or the ones you hope to add in the near future.

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Clarion Builds Acura NSX fetches $135K at auction

The Clarion Builds program has moved off another great vehicle from its stable. That’s how it works though, as this program is designed to generate buzz around a cool build and then sell that build at an auction to provide funds for a worthwhile charity. It happened in the past with the wonderful Clarion BMW 2002, and now the time has come to hand over the keys to this excellent Acura NSX.

… Continue Reading

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Hooniverse Asks: What vehicle would be the starting point for your overland build?

Let’s say you were looking to pack up the wife, kids, and maybe a dog. You want to get out and explore, and you want a vehicle that can take you far off the beaten path and then provide shelter once you’re away from others. The world of overlanding is calling you. What vehicle would you use to answer that call?

There are many excellent platforms out there from which to choose, and all cater to a wide range of budgets. Our own Christopher Tracy is doing entertaining day trips and weekend getaways with his Land Cruiser. Friend of Hooniverse Zach Bowman packed up his family for an entire year on the road and he used a Dodge truck fitted with a large camper shell. 

If you were looking to head off into the sunset, what vehicle would you want rolling beneath your feet?

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