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Bigger Power with 2-Strokes

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

What is a 2-stroke diesel engine?

As the name suggests, these engines work on reciprocating
actions of pistons. One stroke means one linear motion of the
piston in one direction. When the piston moves in the opposite
direction, that is counted as another stroke.

For a 2-stroke engine, the piston has to move up, and then down
to complete one cycle of the engine. In those 2 strokes of the
piston, the crankshaft will have turned 1 revolution.

The 2 strokes of the piston is to complete 4 stages of the
combustion cycle - air intake, compression, combustion and
exhaust. As you might have known, in order for a fire (or
explosion) to occur to power the engine, we need a fuel, a
heat source, and oxygen coming together at the same time.

Remember how the crankshaft and the piston moves in a cylinder?
The reciprocating movement of the piston is converted to rotary
motion by means of a crankshaft. The piston reciprocates between
Top Dead Center and Bottom Dead Center inside the cylinder liner.

One of the most prominent feature of a 2-stroke engine is the
presence of air intake ports on the cylinder liner that will
enable fresh air to be led in for combustion.

These air inlet ports are cut into the cylinder liner somewhere
at the lower end of the latter. In a typical design, the air
inlet port are located about 35 degrees from the Bottom Dead
Center (BDC).

In many designs, the fresh air that is introduced into the
cylinder is also used to drive out the spent exhaust gases
inside it. Many designs make use of scavenging air fans like
electric blowers or turbochargers to slightly pressurize the
intake air before the latter is introduced into the cylinder.

In order to allow the exhaust gases to be expelled from the
cylinder, exhaust ports are often cut into the cylinder just
like the air intake ports. A typical design will have the
exhaust port located about 50 degrees from Bottom Dead Center.

So, let’s describe our engine stages at the combustion space
between the piston top and the cylinder head.

From Bottom Dead Center (BDC), the piston, full of fresh
air, moves up the cylinder liner until it covers up the air
intake port. The air intake process stops.

The piston moves further up. It then covers up the exhaust
port on the cylinder liner. The exhaust process stops.

The piston moves further up. The air inside the combustion
space is compressed and becomes hot. The piston has nearly
reached Top Dead Center at this point.

Highly atomized fuel is then injected into the combustion
space. The fuel burns rapidly causing an explosion inside
the combustion space. The explosion causes a tremendous
rise in pressure and the piston is pushed down towards BDC.

As the piston moves down, the exhaust ports uncover about
50 degrees from BDC. Exhaust gases are thus led out from the
cylinder. The pressure inside the cylinder drops immediately.

The piston moves further down. At 35 degrees from BDC, it
uncovers the air intake port. Fresh air is then led into the
cylinder.

The piston then reaches BDC. Because of the momentum
created from the force of the explosion, the piston reverses
in direction and moves upwards towards Top Dead Center (TDC).

The process then repeats itself.

In some designs, the exhaust gases are removed through an
exhaust valve, located at the cylinder head and very similar
to the 4-stroke engines. This type of scavenging is called
uniflow scavenging. The timing of the valve opening and
closing will be controlled by a camshaft, push rods, rocker
arms or other similar devices.

Well folks, why do we want to squeeze all the strokes into
2 cycles? That could be discussed further…

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The Great Value Of Accident Photographs

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

You were humming along on a bright and sunny day when suddenly Fred Fuddle, a local character from a nearby town, drunk as a skunk and zooming along in his pickup, flew through stop sign crashing into the right front of your motor vehicle. You had no choice to avoid him. Now the time has come to settle your claim for property damage and personal injuries. Let

Borrowing on a Credit Card

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

One of the easiest ways to borrow money of a financial institute is to use a Credit Card, available from all banks, building societies, and other financial organisations. The choices available are enormous, with a wide variety of interest charges, annual charges, loyalty schemes, and bonus points available. However there are two broad areas that you should look at:

Annual Interest Rate

Firstly if you do not intend to pay off your Credit Card bill at the end of each month, then you should look at the Annual Interest Rate (APR), this rate is typically between 13-17% at the moment, and you should be looking for a card that offers as low an interest rate as possible. You should also bear in mind that you are charged much higher rates of interest than other forms of borrowing money, so if you do not intend to pay of your bills for a long period of time, then you should seriously consider a different form of loan that is less expensive.

Extra Benefits

On the other hand if you do intend to pay off you credit card bill at the end of each month, then you should be more interested in the loyalty schemes that are on offer. These vary from being awarded points every time you purchase something (these points can than me used to purchased gifts or air miles etc), to simply being given

The Truth about Colossus: Are You Just A Magnetic Image?

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

What is Colossus?

Colossus is software licensed to about twenty-five insurance companies to aid in predicting the settlement value of claims. The insurance industry maintains it is a useful tool because it considers a great many factors, and the settlement values are just a range for use in any way the insurer wishes. The claimants

How Your Auto Insurance Rates Are Determined

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

Your auto insurance rates are determined by a number of factors:

driving record
usage, how you are using the vehicle, work, pleasure, business
how many drivers you have and their ages
how many vehicles you have
what kind of coverage limits you want
what area you live in
your payment history
what color car you drive
your insurance credit score
your claims history
your occupation and how many years you have lived at your current residence
how fast you can solve a Rubix cube
your daily, weekly, annual mileage

There is a lot of information about you that is used to determine your rates. You are grouped or pooled together with similar drives of the same background that way you are not paying for drivers that are much worse than you.

Similar risks will pay similar rates.

Your usage affects your rates because if you are driving to and from work or school 5 days a week, 15 miles one way you have a higher chance of getting in a accident than someone who only drives 1 mile 1 way 3 days a week or someone who works from home and only drives to get groceries. So business, work, and school usage is higher than pleasure usage.

The area you live in affects your rates due to the fact that one area or town may have a higher incidence of claims than another area. One area may have higher lawsuit payouts or higher theft rates than another area. Even if you live in a affulent area your rates may be higher due to the higher value vehicles in your area cost more to fix than in an area with lower value vehicles.

Although you may have heard that if you drive a red car you will pay higher rates but this is not true. It is a myth. GEICO, USAA (For Military Only), and Allstate, to name a few, don’t even ask what color car you drive when you apply for a quote. And your VIN number doesn’t give this info either.

If you have one car and three drivers you will pay more because that car will get used alot more than if you had only 1 driver and 1 car.

If you have had a poor payment history or your policy has cancelled due to non payment you will have higher rates when you try to reapply for insurance.

The higher your insurance credit score the better. The insurance credit score is similar to your FICO credit score such that the higher your FICO score the lower your interest rate and the higher your insurance credit score the lower your insurance premium.

Your claims history will affect you for a minimum of 3 years. If you have filed a claimed or if you even mentioned a claim to your insurance company it can and most likely will affect your rates.

A. Chris Tijerina has developed http://www.insurance-for-cars.com which answers the most common questions drivers have about auto insurance. Visit today.

info@act33.com

How Do I Lower My Auto Insurance Rates?

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

Since there are many factors that go into determining your auto insurance rates, there are many chances to lower your rates.

If you change jobs and your drive to work changes or you stop working or you work from home, you should contact your insurance company.

If you have a teen driver and they go to school over 100 miles away without a car then you should be able to get a discount.

If you get married and are in your teens or twenties call your insurance company and see about combining your policies.

Take defensive driving if your state allows it for a discount.

See if increasing your comprehsive and collision deductibles will save you a lot of money. You need to compare what you’re saving and how much more you will have to pay if you file a claim. For example, if you go from $500 to a $1000 deductible and it lowers your insurance $50 per 6 months then it saves you $100 a year.

It will take you 5 years to break even from what you are saving compared to how much more you have to pay.

Now, if it saves you $250 every six months then it would be more worth your while.

See if combining your auto and home insurance polices will qualify for a multi policy discount with your current company. This could be a substantial discount.

One of the biggest ways you could save $200-$500 or more a year is shopping around for insurance. The auto insurance industry is very competitive and this is great news for smart consumers like yourself. Shop for auto insurance quotes here and see how much you can save.

A. Chris Tijerina is the publisher of the site http://www.insurance-for-cars.com which answers your most common questions about auto insurance.

info@act33.com

The Car Insurance Rate Calculation Explained

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

Different companies will apply different factors to the way they finally arrive at a price for your Car Insurance. Generally speaking though the concept is the same. This involves collecting various bits of information from you and feeding it through a computer system which adds or takes away money depending on the answers you give. The value put on these answers is decided by the individual Car Insurance company. For example, some Car Insurance companies may believe that having a speeding conviction increases your chance of having an accident in the future - therefore they may add money to your price if you have such a conviction. Similarly, some Car Insurance companies may decide that because you have a lot of No Claims Bonus Years then you are less likely to claim - therefore they may discount your price. All in all there are around 30 different factors that may affect your final premium. Now you can see why you get such a difference in the price of your Car Insurance by going to various companies. Each company will have it’s own view of what they believe should be assigned to each answer you give. The Car Insurance quote you get through the http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk website will look at lots of different Car Insurance prices from lots of companies. That way you can get the best possible price for your profile.

Andrew Bowen is the CEO of Accept Direct Limited. Accept Direct offer car insurance to UK customers through their website http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk

Young Driver Car Insurance

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

It has become increasingly difficult to get young driver car insurance in the UK. The reason behind this is because the statistics for young drivers having a car accident are not very good. By definition, young drivers have very little experience of driving and thus have a greater chance of having a bump in their vehicle. Car insurance companies are obviously in business to make money and are understandably reluctant to insure such drivers. In most cases, companies will either offer a policy at a very high premium or refuse to insure the person altogether.

However, there are ways to lower your premium. First of all you should purchase a car that has a low insurance group number. Insurance group numbers range from 1 - 20. Generally speaking the higher the number the higher your premium is likely to be. This is because cars with high insurance group numbers usually have bigger engines, are more expensive and go faster. A low insurance group vehicle will lower the premium for a young driver policy. Young drivers should also be encouraged to take an advanced driving test. Some companies look favourably on drivers who take this test as they are seen as more responsible and more careful about their driving. Finally, opting for third party fire and theft or third party only cover also lowers your quote. If you have purchased a vehicle that does not cost very much money then you should seriously consider whether or not you need a fully comprehensive policy.

Getting cheaper quotes for young drivers can still be tricky. However, http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk have a special option that is aimed at this particular market and can save you a lot of money on your insurance quote.

Andrew Bowen is the CEO of Accept Direct Limited. Accept Direct offer car insurance to UK customers through their website http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk

New Car Registrations and Car Insurance

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

In September 2001 the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) introduced a new number plate registration system that was designed to last for 49 years. The new change was welcomed not only by the car dealers but also by the car insurance industry as the DVLA also decided to issue new car registrations twice a year instead of once a year.

In the past, new registrations were issued on 1st August every year. Inevitably this caused a major headache for insurance companies as so many people required insurance at this time. This once a year rush for insurance was compounded by the summer timing when most people, including insurance company employees, go on holiday. Today, the new registrations are issued in March and September. This eases the workload for insurance companies and allows them to more easily staff up for the increase in calls.

Of course, the old system ran for about 38 years and so there is still a large population of people who require insurance renewal on 1st August. So around July, August and September, Insurance companies are still especially busy and you can generally expect long call centre waits with a lot of direct companies.

Using the internet instead is a much easier and quicker way of getting your new car insurance quote. Accept Direct (http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk) have a very fast online quote system which eliminates call centre waiting times. The Accept Direct website is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will deliver you a competitive quote in minutes.

So next time you need car insurance, whether you’re looking for a cheap insurance quote for your brand new car or would like to get a low cost renewal, just go to the Accept Direct website at and save yourself some time and money.

Andrew Bowen is the CEO of Accept Direct Limited. Accept Direct offer car insurance to UK customers through their website http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk

Car Insurance No Claims Bonus Explained

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:34:06 +0000

No Claims Bonus is a term used to describe the number of years you have had Car Insurance without making a claim. Put simply, if you have had Car Insurance for 4 years and you have not made a claim in that time, then you have 4 years No Claims Bonus. No Claim Bonus is probably the single biggest factor affecting the cost of your Car Insurance premium. Every year that goes by without you making a claim is another year of No Claims Bonus. Generally speaking, the more No Claims Bonus years you have, the cheaper your premium will be for the car you need to insure. This is because Car Insurance companies can see that your history regarding making any claims is a good one. When changing provider, Car Insurance companies will usually ask you to prove your No Claims Bonus in the form of a renewal notice or a letter from your current Car Insurance company. If you have several years of No Claims Bonus but then make a claim, the Car Insurance company will usually apply it’s rules of how much to knock back your No Claims Bonus Years. Some companies such as Accept Direct ( http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk ) offer to protect your No Claims Bonus for an extra fee during the quotation process. Having full no claims bonus can also entitle you up to 75% discount on your car insurance premium.

Andrew Bowen is the CEO of Accept Direct Limited. Accept Direct offer car insurance to UK customers through their website http://www.acceptdirect.co.uk