Comments by "Brad Griffin" (@BradGryphonn) on "driving 4 answers" channel.

  1. I was a truck driver for many years, and most vehicles I'd ever driven (truck or car) on unsealed roads were rear-wheel drive. Therefore, I got used to how those types of vehicles reacted on said roads. In the 90s, I started working for a company that made urgent deliveries to coal mines West of where I lived. One day I was in a small, front-wheel drive car delivering some small, yet extremely urgent parts to a mine, along a loose gravel haul road. The haul road was wide. Probably about 50 metres (approx 150 feet) I guess. I was tooling along in this little car at about 120kmh and came to a long, sweeping bend. As I entered I backed off a little and the car stopped following the bend and decided to start skating across the gravel. Now, in a rear-wheel drive vehicle that wouldn't happen due to the inertia of the rear, and if it did, you just give it time to correct before adding any 'gas'. So, I stayed off the gas and the car kept sliding along. I then remembered some side comment I'd heard from a bloke who I knew who played with FWD cars. "If you back off too much, they just slide, so you need to feather the power as you corner..." So I gave it some power and it started to pull itself around the bend. I used the whole arc of the bend, and thank the gods there wasn't a haul truck coming down that side, but I got it back on line. Lesson learned.
    4
  2. 3:05 I have recently purchased a 2005 Ford Courier with a V6 4.0l SOHC engine. The thermostat housing on this one is plastic and the previoUs owners sold it because their mechanic couldn't pinpoint why it kept losing water and overheating. I can't understand how he didn't see the pink stains all over the housing. I replaced it with an aluminium/aluminum housing that came with sensors for 50 dollars less than an OEM plastic unit. EDIT: The housing is made in two parts and they are bonded together. However, after many heat cycles and possibly having the thermostat replaced, the join weakens and allows water under pressure to escape. Stupid design decision.
    2
  3. I'll have to hunt through your videos to see if you've covered the similarities and differences between Turbochargers and Superchargers. From my minimal knowledge, both are much the same but they derive their boost via different methods. 'The Skid Factory' (an Aussie channel) covers some of the differences and is worth a look.
    2
  4. Yeah, sorry. That was me that did the welding. Not my best work. But hey, it was 2mm Ti. It behaves weirdly... The previous comment may or may not be true...YOU decide.
    1
  5. I have learned something new today, so I am subbing. This was really informative, man. Thank you.
    1
  6. I now understand why my father insisted that I run our 2-stroke mowers and brushcutters at high revs, rather than playing with the throttle, depending on what I was cutting. He never explained why.
    1
  7.  @nicholasagnew2792  I'd suggest the commenter may have been thinking about drum brakes, and also cars that have no brake booster, what was once called 'Power Brakes', and once upon a time was an optional extra. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that long ago that all cars had drum brakes. In fact, for many years, disc brakes were optional extras. So yeah, there are 'outdated' braking systems. In the days of drum brakes, you had to use your gearbox to assist in braking down mountain ranges because if you didn't, you'd lose your brakes through overheating before you reached the bottom of said mountain range or hill.
    1
  8. As a relatively old fart who has played with cars for a few years, I've never found a need to 'upgrade' a brake system. I replace rotors and pads with the factory spec parts, and maybe upgrade the pads to a better wearing pad. I see the benefit of larger discs and caliper setups for extreme, regular braking as is the case with track cars, but yeah, on the street? I'd suggest it's a waste of good money. Buy better tyres and upgrade your suspension instead. We used to modify cars long before computer games, and the main promotional stuff we'd see in those days were adverts for bigger tyres and wheels, and improved suspension components. About the closest thing I recall in those days to upgrading brakes were slotted rotors and different compound pads. I won't talk about drum brakes, a common standard feature in older cars. Let's just thank the braking gods for giving us disc brakes.
    1