Cold air intake experiment

How much difference in temperature is there between the following locations?

1. Short Ram Filter Location
2. Cold Air Filter Location
3. Open Air Filter Location

I decided to test this out for myself with a GE temp monitor with external probe. I currently have a cold air intake on my 96 Civic LX which positions the filter under the passenger side headlamp, behind the front bumper. I was considering cutting a hole in the front bumper to cool down the air where the filter was sucking, and I wanted to know if there was a large enough difference between the outside temp and the inside bumper temp to be worth it. While I was at it, I decided to test if the Cold Air system was even worth it. The answers are, the Cold Air System is worth it, cutting up the front bumper to cool down the air to the Cold Air System is not.

Here's why:

*All stop temp's were recorded after 5 minutes of parking.
*All moving temps were recorded after 10 minutes of 40mph cruising.

Outside Stop Temp - 92 deg F
Outside Moving Temp - 85 deg F

CAI Stop Temp - 101 deg F
CAI Moving Temp - 87 deg F

Short Ram Stop Temp - 138 deg F
Short Ram Moving Temp - 89 deg F

There is something very important to note about the measurements above. I only had to drive about 700 feet before the CAI temp reached it's lowest point of 87 deg, I had to drive 4 miles for the Short Ram temp to reach it's lowest point.

The short ram filter location takes a very long time to cool down while driving, and it heats up very quickly when you stop. In contrast the cold air system (CAI) filter location cooled down quickly while moving, and was slower to heat up.

If I was pushing the engine, I bet the short ram location would have been even hotter, even while moving.

Therefore the cold air system is worth it, but cutting a hole in your bumper for it is not. Unless you build a ram air chamber, but that is a different story. ;-)

Civic 96-98 M3 Mirror Install

NOPI Part numbers:
875+1073 = 3 Wire M3 Power Mirrors
892+0034 = Mirror bracket Civic 4dr 96-00

First off let me say that if I wouldn't buy these again because:
1. They didn't even come close to fitting the car correctly out of the box
2. One of the mirrors was internally wired in reverse so U=D and D=U
3. The screws they included were so cheap they actually broke off when I tried to UNSCREW it from the plastic..

Ok, so now on to the install. I only had time to list the modification steps, so you'll have to fill in the blanks to figure out all the steps.

1. Remove your old factory mirrors and cut the white connector off leaving as much wiring hanging off as possible. Make sure you unscrew the connector from the old mirror first. You may also need to adjust the wire inside the housing with a long thin screw driver to get more slack.

2. drill the 3 mount holes a bit in your car door to make the holes more oblong shaped.

3. Trim the 3 pegs in the mirror bracket to make the 2 lower pegs about 1.6cm and the top peg about 1.3cm. You may need to carefully drill into the hole to get some extra depth.

4. Cut the lower ridge off one side of the triangular seal that came off the factory mirror. This will help it fit the new mirror bracket.

5. Using the 3 bolts from the old mirror, screw them into the 3 pegs in the new mounting bracket. Screw the new mirrors into their mounting brackets and test fit the entire assembly on the car including the triangular seal.

6. If you're satisfied with the fitment, fill the mounting pegs with epoxy and screw the bolts into the holes. Make sure you put them in all the way, but don't overtighten.

7. Take a multimeter with a DC voltage settting and figure out which wires control the U+D and L+R on your car. The ground wires were grey on the drivers side and pink on the passengers side for me. You should see +12 or -12 on the mutlimeter when you have it hooked up correctly while moving the mirror control pad in the car. Make sure you solder these wires together correctly with the new mirror according to the instructions that came with the mirror. (using the white connector, don't just solder them right to the car wiring...) I also recommend using electrical tape to keep everything insulated from each other.

8. After the epoxy has set, assemble all the pieces and attach it to the car.

Expect your new mirrors to vibrate much more than the OEM mirrors and also give you a much narrower field of vision.

Bosch spark plugs for Del Sol Si

I recently installed some new Bosch spark plugs in my D16Z6 (part #4030)
http://www.boschautoparts.com/Products/SparkPlugs/Platinum.htm

They replaced some NGK V-power plugs that became fouled with a rich fuel mixture. The NGK plugs had a v-shaped center electrode with a flat ground electrode, while the Bosch plugs have a small flat center electrode with a v-shaped ground electrode (which is hard to see in most of the pics Bosch published for this plug).

I wanted some NGK G-power or laser platinum plugs for the D16Z6 like I use in my B16A but none were available according to the application list from NGK.

For now I'm very pleased with how the Bosch plugs perform, and the small center electrode should resist fouling better than the previous plugs.

Using SSH without a password

Here's the quick and dirty way to login to ssh without a password (tested on Redhat Linux)

1. user@client$ ssh-keygen -t rsa
(hit enter for blank password and take all defaults)

2. user@server$ mkdir ~/home/user/.ssh

3. user@client$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh user@server "cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys"

4. root@server$ vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
change PermitEmptyPasswords to "yes"
root@server$ service sshd restart

If you run into problems, make sure the permissions for the .ssh directories and all files beneath it are set to 700 (ie: chmod -R 700 /home/user/.ssh)

There are obviously some security implications here. Use at your own risk!

Setting the date in Linux

For handy reference I decided to post this tiny bit of syntax in my blog. This was tested in Redhat Linux. (The date command as part of coreutils)

date -s "09/16/2008 11:52:00"

Dish Network DVR Upgrade

I recently got a Dish Network VIP612 DVR to replace my old 510 DVR. Unlike the 510, the 612 can record two shows at once (which is nice). The HD programs look as good as they do off my old antenna depending on what the program is.

However, I've had several problems with the unit. Sometimes playback is choppy when playing a recorded show, viewing photos makes the box reboot, and the over-the-air antenna hookup reads low signal even though there is actually more than enough.

I've already replaced the unit once and the second unit behaves the same way which makes me think that these are engineering flaws and not manufacturing flaws.

Update:
I recently connected the 612 to an LCD monitor using a HDMI cable with a DVI (DVI-D) adapter, and it looks great!