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Conspicuous Conservation, the ostentatious display of objects that mark a person as eco-friendly, has become popular over the recent decade, with example of wealthy people making a point of being seen driving a Prius, putting solar panes in silly places and even wearing shoes "suggesting" you worked on the BP oil spill cleanup.
On the opposite side of the coin we are starting to see some rather deplorable examples of Conspicuous Pollution, the most flagrant of which is called "Rollin Coal".
These kids, (they are almost always 20 something rural guys) will spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 modifying their pickups for the sole purpose of belching huge clouds of black exhaust; adding smoke stacks and smoke switches (which either trick the engine into thinking it needs more fuel, or dump diesel fuel directly into the exhaust manifold).
This is not just a handful of guys. Elizabeth Kulze posted an article with links to “an entire subculture” on Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram. “It’s just fun,” one coal roller says. “Just driving and blowing smoke and having a good time.”
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25 2014, @01:00AM
Are these HP mods or just smoke tricks? I remember the 1980's oldsmobiles with shitty diesel engines that used to crack the blocks/heads, but one guy modded his olds diesel to the point of making it compete with gas engines. It didn't blow out a bunch of soot, but could do burn-outs and smoke the tires.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Darth Turbogeek on Monday August 25 2014, @01:39AM
IF you are pushing 500Kw+ and a boatload of torque, yes it could be for performance and even then, the combustion should be good enough in that your only sooting when you are at huge boost AND full throttle levels. But the fact is, these assholes are not doing it for engine performance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25 2014, @01:41AM
Taking an engine originally designed for 9:1 compression and trying to get it to do 22:1 was a trick GM didn't pull off successfully.
Points to anyone who can name an '80s car that didn't suck.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by carguy on Monday August 25 2014, @02:10AM
Points to anyone who can name an '80s car that didn't suck.
Can you give points after you've already commented as AC? Not sure how that part of the mod system works.
Anyway, my 1986 Chevy Sprint (made by Suzuki, 1 liter 3 cylinder) was a lot of fun. In this case fun came from being able to drive flat out much of the time -- can't do that with a typically overpowered car. It also had a lovely manual rack & pinion steering system, precision and feedback that haven't been matched by any power assisted steering that I've tried.
Those were the days of the national 55 mph limit, so the Sprint was plenty fast for the freeways. I even got a "waste of a resource" ticket for 65 mph from a Nevada state trooper -- a $2.00 "not a speeding ticket" -- while getting ~40 miles/gallon. That was Nevada's way of protesting the national speed limit.
(Score: 1) by Darth Turbogeek on Monday August 25 2014, @03:03AM
Oh dear LORD, are you venerating THAT shitbox? You could of at least have tried for the GTi version, which was a great little thing that would regularly beat up much bigger and powerful cars around racetracks. The 1 litre versions were bloody awful
If you want to point to great 80's cars, well Group B was around so you have a range of maniac creations to point at (Audi Quattro, Lancia Delta S4 and 037, Puegot 205 Ti, Porsche 959, Ferrari 288 or F40). The Group A cars were late 80's and those had some now quite rightly venerated examples - the first Subaru Liberty RS, Mitsubitsi Galant VR4, the first of the Toyota GT4's the Lancia Delta Turbos - then there is the tarmac based cars like the Escort Cosworths, the Group A Commodores and just at the end of the 80's, the car no one would deny pretty much is one the truly great cars of all time - the R32 Skyline GTR.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by carguy on Monday August 25 2014, @04:09AM
THAT shitbox?...
"You make your own action"[*]
Once I got past teenage hormones, I figured out that it is much more fun driving flat out (in a slow car) than in a powerful car at a fraction of its potential. It's not about the absolute limits of the car (don't believe the car magazine editors), it's about how much of the limits you can explore every day, on every corner in the subdivision or industrial park. Besides, the Sprint controls were really sensitive and lovely, especially the steering -- only matched in precision by the manual steering version of the NSX (Zanardi edition) and a couple of lightweight Lotus' (Loti?) with manual racks. No on-center dead zone (torsion bar windup) and no force/velocity limits that are part of every hydraulic assisted steering rack. If you've never paid attention while steering through a good (low backlash, low friction) manual rack, you don't know what you are missing.
Going back some decades, original VW Beetles and Fiat 500s were fun for the same reasons.
I've driven some of the cars you mention and they are completely frustrating to drive on the street for more than a few minutes (unless you are prepared to lose your license...aka the end of fun). The limits are much too high for mixing with "civilian" traffic. On a track is another thing all together, but how often do you get to do that?
[*]
FORD: Well, let’s get out and see. I’m hungry for a little action.
ARTHUR: In a cave?
EDDIE: On Brontitall? [Sharp intake of breath]
FORD: Yeah! In a cave, wherever! You make your own action.
ZAPHOD: Sling open the hatch computer.
EDDIE: Er, Okay.
(Score: 1) by Darth Turbogeek on Monday August 25 2014, @04:27AM
I'm actually quite familiar with the Swifts. I raced one as well as owning the the next generation 1.3l. Believe me, you aint going to convince me anything less than the GTi was contemptible rubbish (The steering is lovely? Ummm... no). Whats the use in a low limits car if it's shit? Plus sorry but power steering has looooong surprassed generic buzzbox in steering feel. A early Mini (also something I've owned) mocks a Suzuki for steering anyday.
Oh and I would drive a few of those other cars pretty much weekly at a track. I actually owned a couple too. Maybe a brutally fast car that rearranges your brain on the limit cant be used on the road but I tell ya what, I look at my present truly absurdly fast V8 powered monster and I can enjoy it soooo much just cruising.
(Score: 2) by evilviper on Monday August 25 2014, @06:13AM
I will admit... An econobox that's light weight, low to the ground, and has minimal soundproofing, sure makes you FEEL like you're driving twice as fast.
Beyond that... I suppose some people just always like having a challenge. And there's little sadder than a nice, shiny, expensive new sports car, just stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25 2014, @04:13AM
If that car made you happy, you get the points.
Of course, I didn't mean mod points.
When I think of '80s cars, I think *extremely ugly*.
For ~20 years, the under-hood tubing thing on cars was a plumber's nightmare.
OTOH, under the hood, my '70 Boss 302[1] was as simple as they come.
[1] I had the Can-Am suspension and the close-ratio 4-speed but the Windsor block+Cleveland heads setup had been pulled before I got the car.
I still had a cop ask "What have you got in that thing?"
(A 302 Windsor 4V.)
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25 2014, @02:04PM
>> Of course, I didn't mean mod points.
Looks like bait and switch to me...
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday August 25 2014, @04:19AM
Early 80's Subaru's were pretty good.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Informative) by computersareevil on Monday August 25 2014, @04:47PM
This myth just won't die.
GM DID NOT MAKE THE OLDS DIESEL FROM A GAS ENGINE BLOCK!
For fuck's sake, look it up!
The problem was SHITTY FUEL, NO WATER SEPARATOR, and STUPID MECHANICS who didn't understand torque-to-yield head bolts. NOT THE ENGINE!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25 2014, @07:19PM
Just to name two off the top of my head that didn't suck.
Toyota AE86
Merkur XR4TI
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Monday August 25 2014, @06:06AM
This is from the article:
In order to have an edge, drivers started modifying their trucks to dump excessive fuel into the motor, which gave them more horsepower, torque, speed and a better chance of winning.
And it makes no sense. If you have the correct air/fuel ratio, then all the fuel and all the oxygen is getting consumed. The amount of oxygen limits the amount of fuel you can burn. If you're running rich (excess fuel) you don't get more power, you just get incompletely-burned fuel (black smoke). This is elementary stuff.
More likely explanation of how this stupid trend started: some dumb-ass had a shitty truck that was blowing black smoke, and all his dumb-ass buddies thought it looked awesome.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday August 25 2014, @05:58PM
One of the simplest fixes is to make the oxygen sensor always show an excess of oxygen. (Literately a couple bucks to install). You'll continue get most of the horsepower your motor was capable of, but not much more unless you have a turbocharger. You still need to bypass the factory exhaust system with a temporary (or permanent) route to your big stacks because that much smoke will mess up your exhaust system very quickly.
More complex, and less damaging to the engine is exhaust manifold injection, mixed with a small quantity of air, and an exhaust system bypass valve. This version does not hurt horsepower output.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 25 2014, @08:48PM
Fundamentally, the oxygen sensors are variable resistors.
A switch, some wire, and a resistor and you can spoof the reading.
.
exhaust manifold injection
Go back 50 years and guys were doing something similar.
Instead of smoke, they wanted flames out the back.
Mount another ignition coil near the rear and put a spark plug in the tailpipe.
Afterburners!
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by EvilJim on Wednesday September 17 2014, @05:38AM
some of my old mates when we were teens would inject oil into their carbies for a sudden cloud for tailgaters, same sorta thing but only used in defence instead of offence