Topic: What to Look for in Ford Catalytic Converters

[damienpaul]

What to Look for in Ford Catalytic Converters

Added: (Fri Jul 29 2005)

Automobiles are highly responsible for the alarming rate of air pollution affecting the global environmental condition today. Everyday millions of cars, trucks, and other vehicles around the world belch out fumes and gases that are harmful to the environment. When an engine burns fuel, it produces hazardous gases namely carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons or volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide molecules. These gases are very dangerous to any living organism and has been steadily degenerating the earth's protective ozone layer for years now. Thus, to counter this, carmakers have sought ways to minimize the damaging effects of car exhaust fumes by installing catalytic converters.

Pressbox.co.uk article

[piersdad]

most cars have then now and it is intersting that they do clog up with age and could be a rason for higher  fuel consumption
Postet at: July 29, 2005, 07:17:06 PMtesting for image shack posting

[Cran]

well, if we all drove vehicles like that little prototype...
... much less pollution
... far fewer deaths and injuries
... much easier to chat as you drive
...hassle free parking

[piersdad]

lol trouble is it takes 3 kids to drive it.
but seriusly it takes me 6 minutes to the mall and 12 minutes to the nearest suburban shopping area .
the mall is 7 minutes by car.
the money saved in petrol off sets the time taken on the longer journeys.
range is near 30 miles so it needs a charge up once every few weeks. abvout 50 cents worth of power

[Cran]

That's excellent ... hmmm, maybe I should take you up on that offer how much would one sell for? What's it's cruising speed? How does it handle rough roads? >thinks< I could flog the Commodore for a few hundred ... fuel savings at $1.15 per litre ... rego savings at about $250 every 6 months ... might even be able to get broadband again!

[piersdad]

lol 
 its an ex mobility scooter and currently has a top speed of 8.5 km per hour so a bit slower than the commodore
 once you get above 12 km per hour the range suffers and the battery cost sours so that at 50 km per hour the cost of replacing the batteries is a major factor in the cost per mile
max speed for mobility scooters is 12 km per hour as per regulations .
above this speed you run into road regulations such as crash tests air bags and all that PC stuff ment for 160 km/hr vehicles

[Cran]

So a 90km return commute to uni is out of the question, huh? 
>thinks< better keep the Commodore, after all...

  But I could still use it for local shopping ... hmm ... might sniff around and see what I can scare up

[piersdad]

exactly i built a small commutor car in 1979 and it was a 2 seater gull winged car the size of a golf cart.
just for short trips in town
it would be ideal now but its long gone  but i still have the motors for it.
will post a pic soon.
in a short trip using a mobility scooter of say 1 to 2 km the armchair ride to and from the shops is relaxing and just a few minutes longer  especially as there are not traffic lights to wait at ,or parking problems.
my longest journey is 12 minutes and the same car trip is 8 minutes when including parking and walking from park and even having to get the car from the garage.
add to that the time you need to earn the extra costs of petrol.

[Cran]

I saw the pic of your electric car somewhere - it just earned you another karma point ... but I'm tempted to smite you for not pushing on with it... just think where electric city cars might be by now if you had promoted your ideas 

[piersdad]

i did my best at the time but the big boys have a lot more push than me and? as soon as we started there was a drop in petrol prices and an introduction of some fuel efficient cars .
so i went broke ans lost my freehold house and had to start again and never really recovered
there is two pic in rthe image gallery of the car  prototype  and the production truck

[sandycampbell]

most cars have then now and it is intersting that they do clog up with age and could be a rason for higher ?fuel consumption

It's a pity that when that happens, a lot of people cut them off the exhaust system, and don't replace them. Maybe the price of catalytic converters should be cheaper, perhaps that is an incentive to replace them rather than just cut them off and put a new but of exhaust in.