LED Air Vent Gauges Are A Tasteful Mod For The Mazda Miata

Anyone in the JDM scene can tell you, round air vents are prime real estate for round analog gauges. If you want a gauge but don’t want to block your vent, you could consider building these L…

A Simple Air Suspension Demo With Lego Technic

The most common suspension systems on automobiles rely on simple metal springs. Leaf spring and coil spring designs both have their pros and cons, but fundamentally it’s all about flexing met…

RC Car Gets F1-Style DRS Rear Wing

DRS, or the Drag Reduction System, has become a key part of Formula 1 in the past decade. [Engineering After Hours] decided to implement the same system on an RC car instead. The DRS system was imp…

Cassette Player Cupholder Is A Useful But Risky Idea

The cup was invented in 1570 BC. Despite this, infuriatingly, the cupholder didn’t become common in the automotive world until the early 2000s. Cars built in the years PCH (pre-cupholder) typ…

SLS AMG Velomobile

Many gearheads dream of owning a supercar, but their exorbitant prices make them unattainable for all but the most affluent. [Andrzej Burek] decided to make his dreams come true by building his own…

Mazda Patents Spinning Dorito To Extend EV Range

OK, so a Wankel engine doesn’t really use a Dorito as its cylinders, but it sure looks like one. The company has announced it will offer a range extender rotary engine for the MX-30 electric …

Building A Chain Drive Differential From Junkyard Parts

A differential is a very useful thing for a vehicle. It allows two driven wheels to rotate at different speeds, such as when going around a corner. [Workshop From Scratch] needed a chain driven dif…

Build A Better Mousetrap… But It Better Be Better!

As creative problem solvers, we like to “think outside the box,” and we should strive for that. But what happens if your strange idea isn’t kept in check by cooler heads? There is…

Converting A Porsche 944 To Run A MAF

Electronic fuel injection was a big leap forward for engine control. However, early implementations often left something to be desired. This was the case for [Rob] and his Porsche 944, which had re…

The J1772 Hydra Helps You Charge Two EVs At Once

There are plenty of electric vehicle (EV) chargers out there that are underutilized. This is particularly common where older EVs are involved, where the cars may only be able to charge at a few kW …

Car Batteries: More Than Just Wet Lead

Working on car electrical systems used to be easy. The battery simply provided power for the car’s starter motor when starting or to run the small number of accessories when the engine wasn&#…

EV Chargers Could Be A Serious Target For Hackers

Computers! They’re in everything these days. Everything from thermostats to fridges and even window blinds are now on the Internet, and that makes them all ripe for hacking. Electric vehicle …

Spoofing LIDAR Could Blind Autonomous Vehicles To Obstacles

Humans manage to drive in an acceptable fashion using just two eyes and two ears to sense the world around them. Autonomous vehicles are kitted out with sensor packages altogether more complex. The…

EV Sales Sticking Point: People Still Want Manual Transmissions

Call me crazy, but I’m ride or die for manual transmissions. I drove enough go-karts and played enough Pole Position as a kid to know that shifting the gears yourself is simply where it&#8217…

Garage Door Opener Ejection Seat

[Scott Prints] had a familiar problem. His garage door opener was boring, and rattled around annoyingly in his car’s center console. This was obviously a major issue that needed to be dealt w…

Your Car Has Driving Profiles – Here’s How To Change Them

Just like mobile phones of yesteryear, modern cars have profiles. They aren’t responsible for the sounds your car produces, however, as much as they change how your car behaves – for in…

3D Printing Hard-to-find Vintage Vehicle Parts

When I was growing up, my dad and I restored classic cars. Combing junkyards for the pieces we needed was a mixture of interesting and frustrating since there was always something you couldn’…

Lamp Flashing Module Is Perfect For Automotive Use

Modern cars tend to have quite advanced lighting systems, all integrated under the control of the car’s computer. Back in the day, though, things like brake lights and indicators were all don…

Backup Camera, Digital Dash, Road Assist… In 1969?

If your friend told you their car had a backup camera, a digital dashboard, climate control, could find radio stations, and even helped stay on the road, you wouldn’t think much about it. Unl…

Tech In Plain Sight: Rain-Sensing Wipers

While it is definitely a first-world problem that you don’t want to manually turn on your windshield wipers when it starts raining, it is also one of those things that probably sounds easier …