I used to grow up watching Flintstones (while I didn’t know English back then) and although I didn’t understand a damn word, I did enjoy it thoroughly.

Here’s how to hack a toddler’s Flintstones Car for your young children.

I have a 20 month old grandaughter and a 14 month old grandson who are dressing up as Pebbles and Bambam for Halloween. I decided they needed a Flintstone Car to complete the look. This is how I made it…

via instructables

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Wow, check out this mini RC V12 engine that runs like a real V12 engine, except 10 times smaller. (but still loud)

“12-cylinder-4-stroke V-engine with two camshafts below, mixed lubrication and air cooling. * 21 mm bore stroke 21 mm Displacement 87 cm ³ engine capacity to 7,25 cc per cylinder. * Compression ratio of 1:10 weight ca 4800 g speed of 950 - 5000 1/min”

via hackedgadgets

Well, Ford has decided to add a new Parental Control to their cars by having a Smart Key with a chip that can limit how fast your teenage daughter/son drives, how loud the stereo is played, and other features that can help your child stay out of trouble.

I think this is a really good idea and it won’t cost the car manufacturer another dime since most of that is already controlled by a car-resident computer.  The only money they will really have to spend is on the chips inside the key but that still should cost less than a quarter per chip as mass production.

I think this is fantasy of movies coming to life as now we are really trying to control how a person drives.  There will be negatives like when you are trying to get away from a serial killer, a 80MPH speed limit won’t help.  But I am sure people will find a way to hack this too, maybe it is pointless for smarter teenagers but we will get the rest of them.

In addition to implementing a speed limit, the key can be used to limit the volume of the car stereo system and emit a chime for six seconds every five minutes until the driver puts on a seatbelt.

MyKey can also be programmed to chime once each time the car reaches 45 mph, 55 mph, and 65 mph to alert young drivers about their acceleration.

Another feature, useful to anyone who fails to notice when the fuel light goes on, chimes when the car is 75 miles from empty. (The light on a Ford usually goes on at 50 miles to empty.)

via cnet

Our President Bush, the most miserable failure in history of the United States, decides to sign another bill that will allow automakers to borrow $25 Billion, adding to the national deficit of $700 billion.(or is it $800 billion)

Whatever the case is, this is kind of an outrageous stuff because I would have never voted for this bill to pass.  I don’t see how pumping more money into the auto industry will help our economy, maybe create more factory jobs.

While the U.S. banking industry is still waiting for Congress to give it a $700 billion hand, President Bush signed into law last night the spending bill that gives U.S. automakers $25 billion in loans to get their collective act together.

But unlike when a bank deems you worthy of their money, the Big Three won’t be getting any cash for some time. Despite the companys’ CEOs saying repeatedly how they were desperate for help and how automotive life as they know it would end if they didn’t get financial help, there’s at least a 60-day delay until they can cash this check.

This is exactly the reason why our economy is failing and getting worse.  Can someone please give George Bush a blowjob tomorrow so we can impeach the day after that?  Another miserable failure act from the worst President in history who has his name more associated with the sewer plant in San Francisco than any kind of brains.

via autoblog

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Check out this DIY on how to use your tow hook as a digital camera mount.  This will be good for those of you speed racers out there who can’t get enough digital footage of your own car.

Now, I’d like to see someone put this on a Tow Hook on a SUV to get some backdoor footage too.

What this is good for: autox, backroads, a camera you don’t care that much about.
What is it not good for: on the track (you need the tow hook operational duh!), in the dirt (might work, but the camera might die), snow (see dirt).

Warning: Some people have claimed that in an accident the tow hook will prevent the airbags from deploying properly. I haven’t tested this, be warned that this may or may not be the case and there is some risk involved with this.

via make, DIY Page

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That’s right, someone decided to make a V8 engine out of Legos.

It’s not gonna run your car anytime soon but still, it’s a fantastic Lego project.

via hackedgadgets

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I am sure many of you encounter situations where your nuts or bolts stay on the rim, causing you to accidently break it off.  Now, if you ever get those hard-to-remove nuts whether from rust or whatnot, you can use this method of heating wax with propane gas near the nuts and bolts to get them totally loosened.

I’ve personally broken a rim stud before, and needless to say, I wish I had known how to do this back then.

I have a trick that has been around for a long time. This is a trick we used to use for exhaust manifolds when the bolts were so rusted in that breaking a bolt was very likely to happen. To avoid having to remove the stud in a separate process we used this trick to get them loose. This works better with a fair amount of heat to start and then let the wax slowly cool for about 3-4 minutes before attempting to remove the bolt of nut.

via metacafe

Here’s a really cool lookin’ car made from junk parts while it does 4.5 seconds 0 to 60MPH and gets 35+MPG!

This is the final result of 15 months and at least 800 hours of work in the garage. This is not counting time spent designing, ordering parts, negotiating prices, etc.

The car was built from scratch. The engine is an Acura k20a3 from an RSX. It sounds awesome.

Special thanks for the Make community for inspiring the maker spirit in me. Building stuff yourself is a much better way to be a citizen than senseless consumption.

The car has a good amount of junk (recycled stuff) in it. The stainless panels all came from old appliances. The black body panels came from an ancient kayak and an old doghouse. The throttle pedal was made entirely from salvaged parts from a dumpster at an engineering firm around town. Of course, the engine was also recycled from a crashed car.

It’s a blast to drive.

0-60: 4.5 seconds
MPG: 35+ miles per gallon
The best part: the bizarre looks I get from random strangers.

via make, flickr

Well, at first I thought this was for real but then I realized the truck’s shadow shows that this truck is actually being towed so person in the video is STUPID.  (dumb…dumb…dumb narrator, she’s forgot to pass the truck…hello!  try going 85MPH please!)

enjoy~

via autoblog