Jesper has created an automotive performance meter using a handful of ICs. The key chip is the ADXL202 from Analog Devices. It measures acceleration while the AVR 8515 keeps track of time and does all of the calculations. All you need to do is enter the weight of the vehicle and the meter will calculate your 0-60 mph time, 60-0 braking distance, and maximum horsepower. There is a complete schematic on Jesper’s site, but the code still needs to have a few bugs worked out. This project is essentially a reproduction of the first generation G-TECH/Pro meter (bunnie has a picture of the original board). The new generation G-TECH meters are fun to play with and do interesting things like determining the engine RPM by measuring the noise in the electrical system.

Continue reading “AccelR8, A Homemade G-meter” →

Brent Curry had been planning on taking a trip and with previous adventures testing both his endurance and comfort, he decided to construct a new vehicle to for his travels. The couch bike has two independent gear trains and uses a tiller handle to control the front wheels. Brent and his Norwegian cohort Eivind used the bike to explore Maritime Canada. They only drew attention from the cops 3 times during their journey. They did have a little trouble with the couch being 7 inches wider than a Lincoln Navigator; when riding on paved bike trails they had to disassemble the bike to get around gates designed to prevent motor vehicles. The travelogue also mentions being forcibly dismounted only once, when Brent failed to grab both brakes at the same time.

[via Treehugger]

Continue reading “Couch Bike” →

Once Scot got his second motorcycle it became very apparent that he needed to figure out a way to transfer his gadget gear between bikes. A simple trailer connector is used to provide 12V to the bag. This power is distributed by a block with three switches on it. One powers the map light. Another powers the radar detector. The third switch is for a future MP3 player. With some cable shortening Scot was able to get the radar detector and its display into the bag. Now by simply disconnecting the power lead he can move the whole bag to a different bike.

[thanks Sleekblack]

Continue reading “Electrified Tankbag” →

Russ W. Moore of Bad Brothers Racing has an awesome project on his hands. The motorcycle frame is from a Yamaha YSR-50. Smaller than a standard street bike and larger than a pocket bike it comes with a 50cc engine and is street legal. The gas turbine is being constructed from a Cummins ST-50 usually found in large trucks. The documentation is pretty thorough and covers the build from the beginning. It’s still in progress, the exhaust and pumps still need to be mounted, possibly a starter too. The ECU will be a Basic Stamp II. See, you don’t need to be Jay Leno or have 150K to have your own jet bike.

[thanks arocketman]

Continue reading “Mini Gas Turbine Motorcycle” →

Biodiesel has moved into the spotlight recently due to rising gas prices. It’s an attractive solution because of the minimal modifications needed for the conversion and the abundance of fuel. The original Diesel engine was designed to run on vegetable oil, but fossil fuels proved much cheaper.

This particular conversion is on a 1980 Mercedes Benz. It uses a second fuel tank mounted in the trunk to store the filtered waste vegetable oil. Vegetable oil can gel and even solidify when the outdoor temperature drops so the tank has a built in heat exchanger to warm the oil with engine coolant.  The fuel supply line is bundled in with the warm water lines as it travels to the engine compartment.  The car is started using the normal fuel tank and then switched over to the vegetable oil after it has properly warmed up. It is important to switch back to regular diesel before turning off the engine to make sure the oil is flushed out of the injectors and supply lines.

Continue reading “Vegetable Oil Benz” →

[Blind tree frog] sent in two great links. The first is a full write up that resulted in the bike pictured above. It was hand built by laying carbon fiber over aluminum tubes and could be made for $600. The second is a more traditional triangular frame bike that was constructed by following the original article. Both bikes are beautiful pieces of work.

Continue reading “Home Built Composite Bike” →

Homemadeturbo.com is dedicated to scratch building turbo systems using salvaged parts. That’s pretty cool, but this project really caught my eye: building an individual throttle body manifold for a Honda engine. Jeff picked up a  set of throttle bodies from a 2001 gixxer on eBay for $50. He then cut down the stock manifold and added extensions to attach the throttle bodies using silicon couplers. The velocity stacks also came from eBay for $35. The only really difficult part seems to be attaching the throttle position sensor. It is definitely a great looking set up and much cheaper than it would ever be off the shelf.

[thanks bodiby]

Continue reading “Individual Throttle Body Setup” →