Left Hand Drive Conversions Pros & Cons – A Must Read

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Only about 52 countries of the world drive on left side of the road, this driving system is introduced by Great Britain. From total of 193 sovereign states only 52 drive on left side of the road or say Right Hand Steering mounted vehicles. This makes about 1/4th. Of the total world driving with Right-Hand Drive vehicles. More investigations show that there is no special reason, whereas the countries including United States of America claim it to be safer.

Some readers might be wondering how to convert a right hand side steering to a left hand side. This is obviously not so simple and the risks and costs involved should be taken into proper consideration. But why there is a demand for such a method and why such users do do not buy Right-Hand drive or Left-Hand Drive vehicles in the first hand to comply with their country traffic rules. Results show that customers who cannot afford a new car goes for a second-hand and when they look for a second hand high quality vehicle with less mileage and high specs their eyes turn towards Japan.

Japan is the largest market for exporting high quality used cars, but Japan has a traffic system equivalent with United Kingdom and drive on left side of the road. Therefore the customers who wish Japanese domestic vehicles have to either drive a Right-Hand Drive vehicle or do the conversion of steering if there are some strict rules about imports of Right-Hand Drive used vehicles. Some countries have totally banned the imports of Right-Hand Drive vehicles which have transferred the attention of used vehicles exporters to provide a Left-Hand Drive conversion. One such exporter is Nexuss International Co.Ltd. Of Japan known as Nexusscars. They are striving to provide every support to the global importers of used cars from Japan.

The steering conversion process is technical and is not limited to mechanicals but electrical also. The vehicles having center-locking, electric windows and power-assisted steering have to be reinstated after the conversion so as the driver does not feel any different from original. In the conversion process first the dashboard, door trims and steering kit have to be removed including foot pedals. The empty spaces from the pedals on the floor have to be fixed taking full care not to burn any electrics. Then Brakes master cylinder, Aircon, heater and power steering cables should be fixed in the opposite side. The important factor is to install the new electrics and new rubber parts and cables including foot pedals.

The airbags are very sensitive therefore extra care has to be taken while taking off the steering bracket and re-fixing it. Lastly the full checks to make sure that all the electrics are functioning properly after the new dashboard is fixed and the new steering bracket is welded properly to the passenger side. Once all the functions are tested the door trims have to be fixed and the job is nearly over. In Japan there are speed road testers which will tell electronically about the drive; this saves the risks on the road. After the test proves OK your converted Left-Hand Drive car is ready for a safe drive.

There are few garages in Japan who provides this extra ordinary service under qualified mechanics. The prices for steering conversion can vary and depend on the type of vehicle but please always have a second opinion about the prices and expertise of such jobs. Have a save drive-bon voyage.

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Source by Lilaa Ivanova

Kid Trax Fire Truck

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Customers are lining up to agree that the Kid Trax Fire Truck is the new burning hot item for kids. Viewed by elves, on over a million wish list at the North Pole.

It has a 12v battery that ensures you maximum run time to assure long-term life of the battery, charge for 24 hours on initial charge. Once battery is completely charged, it will put out power for 10 hours of endless fun between charges.

Safety is always a concern when it comes to fire fighting. That is why customers are thrilled with he twin rear-wheel drive motors and durable MaxTrax wheels with a traction strip to avoid slippage, parental speed control, sturdy grab bars, and the indestructible frame maintain your little hero’s safety.

When your child lights up the real working and flashing emergency lights, the Kid Trax Fire Truck magically comes to life. Kids adore the light-up dashboard and side mirrors with reflective surfaces, it ultimately has imaginations racing like a wildfire.

Customers are impressed by the multiple speeds in the Kid Trax red fire engine. It has a low-speed at 2.5 mph and a high-speed at 5.0 mph, with a reverse speed at 2.5 mph. Plus, there is a parent lock out speed control for safety.

The Kid Trax Fire Truck will more than get the attention desired when your little hotshots speak through the megaphone. Kids love calling out to those in need of rescue while on their electric ride on fire truck.

Customers agree that the Kid Trax red fire engine electric ride-on is not be complete without its real working water feature The 1-liter capacity super-spray hose can inevitably put any fire out. Your little heroes will enjoy staying cool when it is hot outside with the active water play

Sound effects blare when your junior fire marshal twists the diesel engine ignition to begin rescuing in the Kid Trax Fire Truck. Caution when you hear the emergency sirens, main sirens, and the real air horn warning you to move aside. Built into the steering wheel, buttons are easy to access.

Kids love the must-have rescue tools. The blow molded shovel and axe can easily be removed from the Kid Trax Fire Truck. They can either stash them on the fire engine or play with them while off duty.

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Source by Melissa Gannion

Car Loans With a Credit Score Below 500 – Get Yours Now

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Owning your own car is not just a luxury, but it is a necessity that most people must have, including those people with bad or damaged credit. You need your car in order to get to work, go shopping, and to take your kids to school. However, there are many people out there with credit scores that keep them from getting the financing that they need in order to buy the car that they need. If your credit score is below 500, you have what is known as horrible credit, and traditional financing options that are available to you are scarce or even non-existent. The good news is that while you need to work on rebuilding or repairing your credit file, there are lenders who will take a chance on you with damaged credit, even for those borrowers whose credit scores are below 500.

Less Worry About FICO Score

These lenders worry less about your FICO score and look more at what really matters to them – your ability to repay them when they loan you the money to buy a car. These types of bad credit car loan servicers are accustomed to dealing with those who have bad credit, and in their eyes, the car itself stands as collateral for the loan. This means that the lender looks at factors like your length of time at our current job and the amount of pay that you receive for doing that job. They also take into consideration your other income, or income that other people in your home receive. For this reason, it is always best to include the income that your spouse brings into the home when you apply for your car loan for bad credit.

Interest Rates To Expect With Bad Credit Car Loans

Be prepared for a bit of a surprise when the lender informs you about the interest rates that you will pay on a bad credit car loan. Because you have had negligent credit in the past, the lender will likely assess a higher rate of interest than he would for a borrower with good credit, and this is done to offset his risks. You can reduce the rate of interest that you will pay in one of two ways. First of all, you can apply a down payment to the purchase price of the car that you want to finance under the bad credit car loan.

Any type of down payment that you can produce will help lower your rate of interest, so even if you pay only 10% or even less down on the car, you will get a lower rate of interest and that, in turn, will cause the loan to cost less and have the bonus benefit of making your monthly payments smaller. Secondly, you can apply for the bad credit car loan with the help of a cosigner who has good credit. Having a cosigner can significantly reduce the amount of interest that you are charged on your loan.

Bad Credit Car Loans Can Improve Credit Score

Once you have been approved for your bad credit car loan, become a good steward of the credit that has been extended to you by making timely monthly payments. Many people that take out these types of bad credit car loans find that they are able to improve their credit scores, which can have the ripple effect of reducing the interest that you are charged on subsequent loans in the future, and opening the door for you to obtain other types of credit.

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Source by Jess Peterson

LPG: Availability and Benefits

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This article highlights the problem of LPG, which is being alleviated by increasing availability. It talks about the drawbacks of the availability issue and also details solutions, giving situations and recommendations for converting to LPG.

Currently up-take of LPG amongst consumers is quite low, with about 120,000 LPG cars out of a total of about 26 million cars on our roads. This figure is however, always increasing.

A reason for the low up-take could be a lack of availability of LPG, which in some areas is poor. With only about one tenth of the UK’s service stations stocking LPG, it can be difficult to fill up your car in some areas but this is also ever expanding with more and more LPG stations popping up over the country. There are currently on-going campaigns to make LPG more widely available and easily accessible, which should help LPG reach you and your area.

Obviously, in order to be truly cost efficient you’ll need to have an LPG station near you but if your nearest LPG station is miles away then there are also the environmental benefits to consider as these alone are part of the attractiveness of LPG. With LPG stations opening daily, LPG is becoming an extremely attractive and cost effective option for many drivers, especially high mileage and fuel thirsty cars.

Although the major car manufacturers are not producing LPG cars, you can easily modify a petrol engine to run on LPG.

Check out the availability of LPG near you at http://www.fuelture.com/wrapper/Find-LPG-stations-in-your-area/

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Source by Daniel Muir

Drift Car on a Budget – Part 1, Choosing Your Car

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So you’re interested in drifting and want to start competing. Well before you can begin to compete you need to have a car that can compete.

This can be a problem. If you where anything like me when I started out, you don’t have the cash to build a Formula D level slide machine. So what do you do? Well, do what I did; build a drift car on a budget!

The first step is finding a good platform to start with. This can be a challenge with all the different cars that are used in the drifting world. But I have a few solid rules that you can follow that will help make your decision a lot easier.

First, you will want something driftable. By saying driftable, I’m talking about how it needs to have the essential characteristics of a drift car. You will NEED to find a car that has rear wheel drive (RWD), and a manual transmission. Don’t go out and find something with a automatic transmission or for some reason front wheel drive (FWD) and say “I can just do a tranny swap” or “I can do a RWD conversion”. DON’T! This is NOT WORTH THE EFFORT, PERIOD! The purpose is to build a drift car for as cheap as possible and as quick as possible so that you can be on the track drifting as soon as possible.

Second, you want it to be cheap. I set a budget of $1000. I know plenty of people that found a car for less but they got lucky. I set my budget of $1000 for a running driving car that I could build into something that would be competitive. Along with the price of the car being cheap, you want parts to be cheap. You want a vehicle that has a strong aftermarket following and an abundance of spare parts that are easy to find and cheap.

And third, you will want a vehicle you aren’t in love with. In the world of drifting, you will make mistakes, you will have accidents, and you will crash. Therefore you want something that you will be willing to take to the edge and past in order to improve your skills. Too many times I’ve seen people that are afraid to push themselves and there car because they’re afraid of crashing. To be able to learn and improve you can’t be thinking about crashing, you need to be thinking about how you can better your technique. You can’t be afraid of crashing, it’s inevitable so deal with it.

I chose a 1992 Nissan 240sx for several reasons. They’re cheap, they have a huge aftermarket following, parts from other Nissans are bolt-on upgrades, and the 2.4L DOHC (KA24DE) engine is tough and loaded with torque.

Cars I would recommend are the Nissan 240sx S13 and S14, Mazda Miata MX-5 (any year), Toyota Supra (I recommend the older body style of the early 90s), Mazda Rx7, and the Toyota Cressida. Or if your into domestics you can go with the Ford Mustang, or any other cheap abundant RWD car.

Up next “Drift Car On A Budget: Part 2, The Essential Mods”.

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Source by Chip Szalewski

Custom Wheels – Why Buy Aftermarket Custom Rims

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Because they look cool right! The performance benefits of custom wheels should be your answer. In the 1950s and 1960s race car drivers developed lighter magnesium wheels to reduce weight and enhance performance in all form of racing. They were called Mags by the racers, a term still widely used today. However, most magnesium wheels were far to fragile for daily street use. Plus magnesium oxidizes very quickly and require frequent polishing. Magnesium wheels used in modern race cars are often forged to make them stronger and reduce weight. As a result contemporary forged magnesium custom wheels are very expensive. The oxidization problem is the reason you don’t see contemporary custom wheels made of magnesium.

Fortunately for the custom wheel market today manufacturers developed light weight aluminum alloy wheels that provide the strength needed and come in numerous finish options while reducing wheel weight. Trendy wheel finishes include chrome and polished aluminum, plus painted aluminum alloy come in hyper-silver, silver, white, black, gray and Anthracite. While many of us choose aftermarket custom wheels for their good looks, there are many important performance benefits resulting from reducing a wheels weight compared to factory steel wheels.

The additional strength of a custom alloy wheels can notably reduce tire deflection and tire rollover while cornering. You also get increased brake cooling with custom alloy wheels because aluminum alloy is a great conductor of heat. The large mass of the aluminum wheels help dissipate heat from the brakes. The open design of 5 spoke and 6 spoke custom wheels allow more air flow over the brakes cooling them as you drive in city traffic.

One of the most significant factors affecting a car, truck or SUV road holding ability is the reduced weight of custom aluminum alloy wheels over factory steel wheels. By reducing weight, custom wheels provide improved acceleration and braking. You must also be careful not to exceed the design weight of the original wheels and have the reverse effect by adding larger wheels and tires or aluminum alloy wheels that are gravity cast. Gravity cast aluminum alloy custom wheels are cheaper but heavier and prone to bending. Look for aluminum wheels that are either low pressure cast or forged, they cost more but will reduced weight and adds strength.

Keep in mind that sizing up or adding larger wheels and tires will actually add weight. So plus sizing should be done the proper way. By using a larger diameter wheel with a lower profile tire it’s possible to properly maintain the overall original diameter of your wheel and tire. It’s important to keep your new custom wheels within 3 percent of the original equipment. Differences larger than 3 percent can cause problems with transmission shift points which can decrease fuel mileage. It can also confuse braking system computers, reduce ride comfort and cornering capability. Go for wider rather than taller wheel – tire diameters, the results is a larger contact patch and a sportier look.

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Source by Steven Farber

Horace Benedict De Saussure – The Creator of the First Solar Energy Collector

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Not many people think about the origins of harnessing the energy of the sun when the battery in their iPod or cell phone begins to die. They just open the high efficiency solar cell blades on their solar battery charger and draw the free, inexhaustible energy of the sun into their solar powered electronic devices. It’s unlikely that once their electronic device is charged, that they contemplate the sun’s incredible energy; that the energy the sun provides in one minute can supply the world’s energy for one year, or that the sun can provide more energy than the world’s population could consume in 27 years. They don’t realize as they listen to their iPod on the beach, or call for a tow truck with their cell phone, that the sun, which provided the energy to charge their electronic device, has been providing this energy to the earth for the last 4 billion years.

Thankfully, being aware of these facts is not necessary in order to enjoy the benefits of solar battery chargers, or any type of solar powered electronics. Either does knowing that the journey that brought us to today’s solar energy technology began in the year 1767, with the physicist Horace Benedict de Saussure.

Due to the increased use of glass during the eighteenth century, the French-Swiss scientist Horace Benedict de Saussure became aware of the ability of glass to trap solar heat. While many of his contemporaries preferred to work with burning mirrors, which could burn objects at a distance or melt the hardest metal within seconds, de Saussure set out to determine how effectively glass heat traps could collect the energy of the sun by building the Western world’s first solar collector.

When de Saussure created what was to become the first solar oven, he had tried several designs before determining that a well-insulated box with three layers of glass to trap outgoing thermal radiation created the most heat. The highest temperature he reached was 230° F, which he found did not vary significantly when the box was carried from the top of Mt. Cramont in the Swiss Alps down to the Plains of Cournier, 4,852 feet below in altitude and 34° F above in temperature, thereby establishing that the external air temperature played no significant role in this solar heating effect.

Although not many people are aware of Horace Benedict de Suassure and his groundbreaking experiments involving solar energy collection, they certainly have him to thank for pioneering the harnessing of this environmentally friendly source of energy. This along with the development of the earliest version of the solar oven, which is still the most energy efficient, and pollution-reducing oven in use today has demonstrated the benefits of harnessing this benign source of energy. Without the experiments of Horace Benedict de Suassure they may have never been the creation of the photovoltaic cell at Bell Laboratories in 1954, or the development of the solar chargers, solar battery chargers, or solar powered electronics that we use today.

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Source by Richard McCrossen

Fasteners and Their Uses

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Fasteners are hardware devices that are used to mechanically join or affix two or more objects together. The bond can be permanent or temporary. The application of fasteners can be home based or in industries. There is a vast variety of fasteners available today with varying applications. Some examples of fasteners used in industrial applications include bolts, rivets, pipe plugs, pins, clinch studs and anchors whereas example of fasteners for home use include zippers, buttons, pins and hooks. Some of these fasteners may be used in both, industrial and home applications. The use of these devices is very important as they hold parts and components together. For example, in machinery, fasteners are used to bind separate parts together. If they are not used properly, it could result in the failure of the machine which may prove to be disastrous in some cases.

We would all have encountered at least one of the most commonly used fasteners which include safety pins, clips, buttons or zippers. New types of fasteners are constantly being invented to match the different needs of people. The fasteners used in a car would not be the same as those used on ships or airplane. Also, the material used to make them varies depending on the application. For example, very strong iron fasteners would be used to bind objects that would be put under great amounts of stress. However, these have some disadvantages. They cannot be used on ships as they are bound to corrode when in contact with salt water. Therefore, a more economical and advantageous alternative to these can be stainless steel fasteners.

As mentioned earlier in this article, the bonds made by fasteners can be permanent or non-permanent. The need for non-permanent bonds arises when fasteners need to be removed for the object to be dismantled without damaging it. Such fasteners include bolts and nuts and threaded fasteners amongst many others. Screws have the simplest mechanism. They are a piece of metal that have an incised thread and slotted head. They are inserted into a hole which runs through both objects to be bonded and are tightened by simply turning the head. A bolt makes use of a nut to be secured on the opposite side when it is run through a hole to secure the bond as it does not have threads on it.

There are many factors that affect how one chooses which fastener to use for the various applications. Some factors that can be considered are environmental; temperature of the place where the fastener would be used in, is it a corrosive environment, types of forces on fastener; tensile, compression or shear, requirements of the fastener; frequent assembly and disassembly and most importantly the cost of the fastener being used.

Uses of fasteners are evident in everyday life. It’s just that we tend to ignore their presence as it’s so vast. They help to ensure that components are held in place and can function properly.

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Source by Amrit Pal

Kurt Johannsen, Engineer Extraordinaire

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The late Kurt Johannsen of Alice Springs ran a trucking service through the outback of Central Australia in the 1950’s. It was a trucking service with a difference, and that difference was Big Bertha, a Diamond T International ex Australian Army truck towing several “Self -Tracking” trailers over a narrow, winding bush road, loaded with 700 empty fuel drums and was really a sight to see.

He was contracted to the Shell Company to pick up all the empty 44 gallon fuel drums in the outlying station properties and return them to the Shell Depot in the Alice. In those days (C1950) the station Owners/Managers would pick up several drums of Petrol and Diesoline, then load their rations for the next month on top of them. In spite of the £ 2.00 (2 Pound) deposit on each drum, they were very seldom returned to the depot by the station, which resulted in a drum shortage.

The Diamond T was a bit different to the original unit built by International, it had a Gardiner Diesel motor and a greatly extended chassis Kurt’s development of the “Self Tracking” system is now used all around the world where road trains are used.

His other engineering feats include,

  • Concentrating Copper Ore at Jervois Range using evapourative vats when he found that the rail freight on the copper ore cost more than the price he got for the ore. The ore was dissolved in acid and the liquid pumped into a shallow, wide tank, where the natural evpouration rate of up to 1 inch (25mm) per day did the job for him. The blue crystals of pure copper sulphate were then packed into drums and railed to Adelaide.
  • He built a working Gas Producer that made its own Charcoal from wood from the side of the road, he always maintained that all he needed for travelling was a saw or a hatchet as there was always dead wood available close to the roads.
  • The big American Station Sedan with the gas producer on the back was also altered with Kurt’s genious. He built a self contained, fold-out, fly-meshed, kitchen/living/sleeping area, which tucked away into the rear of the vehicle, then the big rear door with the gas producer was shut, giving no indication as to the real nature of the car.
  • During the Lasseter’s Reef period he took off from Alice Springs in his Tiger Moth to do some searching himself but on landing at a pre-organised fuel dump on a claypan he hit an anthill and splintered the propellor. He removed the prop and trimmed the splintered end with a hatchet, then had to trim the other end until he had the prop balanced on a screw driver. Realising that he would have less thrust, he took off on full revs, well over the safe level, used up all of the clay pan and just made it into the air, and a low level return to the Alice.

Big Bertha and the Gas Producer & Station Sedan can be seen at the Transport Museum in the Alice, and the Modified Propellor, alongside a standard one, at the Air Museum, and you’ll marvel at the difference.

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Source by Pete Rumball

How a Small-Business Owner Can Easily Benefit From YouTube

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The official YouTube statistic shows, that for march 2015, creators filming in YouTube produced over 10,000 videos that generated over 1 billion views and more than 70+ million hours of watch time. Viewers on mobile devices are spending more time than the ones on a desktop. But only 9% of the small business are using YouTube. The stats are pretty impressive indeed.

A question might arise “How a small business owner with basic marketing knowledge could benefit from that?”

What is actually a small business owner? The SBA defines that a small business is a venture with less than 500 employees. There are around 28 million enterprises fitting in. However, a bigger business could afford to spend more on marketing. But what about entrepreneurs having a team of few or literally “two men and a truck” or self-employed professionals and service delivery guys?

52% of all small businesses are home-based and they rely on local clients. They can benefit from locally oriented online marketing activities.

Having a YouTube channel has moved from being an option to a business priority. To explore it, first, you need to register your brand or yourself in YouTube. It is easy, just open a free Google account. Then in the app menu, you will find your newly created video channel. Click on “My channel” and then describe your business activities in details. Use the option to add pictures that illustrate your services on its best.

It is time for the first video. For better mobility and efficiency you might use your smartphone. YouTube is really great optimized for mobile devices so you just need to point the camera hit the “record” button and make a short video. Show your work – a project you just have completed, a problem that was fixed and so on. The video will be immediately uploaded to your channel. Name it with something related straight to your work. For an example “My new pipeline project is ready”. “A newly painted wall”.

Other way to make an interesting and eye-catching video is by pictures. Just shoot some scenarios straight from your work and upload them. YouTube will convert for you 8 – 10 pictures into a video slideshow that rocks. Do not forget to grab additional option to make the video slideshow more interesting. Just pick from the free list a dynamic and emotional music. This approach requires more pictures. All images should be related to your work. For example, taking several shots before, during and after the project could be a decent illustration on the results you are delivering to your clients.

Be active on YouTube. Share all your videos with other social networks you might have – Twitter account, Facebook profile, Pinterest wall and so on. This will expand your social media presence and will rise your chances to reach new customers. An approach like that for sure will increase your popularity. People would love not just to hear, but to see your work. Just show them your best.

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Source by Nikolay Peshev