For years now, BritishV8 has provided a nice gear-ratio-to-road-speed-at-rpm calculator. Dan Masters created it in Excel, and it's downloadable here: http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/chart.xls
What if BritishV8 offered a whole toolbox of useful converters and calculators!
They could be in Excel, or possibly web-based (if someone volunteers to do the PHP and/or Java work.)
So... can I get some volunteers?
How about some suggestions?
a) What online tools would you find most useful?
b) What existing tools do you like (and what do you like about them)?
Example:
I think this is a pretty nice compression ratio calculator: http://www.csgnetwork.com/compcalc.html
(Anyone here want to create an even better one?)
Curtis, I've been using the gear ratio calculator on the GM F body site and I really like it because it already has a drop down menu with a lot of popular transmissions and their ratios already loaded as well as tire size information and it works with 6 speeds if you have one of those. http://www.f-body.org/gears/
I like the Java script as well as not everyone can open Excel files.
Good information! What other calculators and features should we benchmark (and why)?
Curtis,
I've always liked the "Roadway Vehicle Dynamometer" Bowling and Grippo put together.
http://www.bgsoflex.com/auto.html
I played with it several years ago and thought it gave reasonable results. I think something like this could be useful for fine tuning your engine. There are a bunch of other tools at the site as well.
-- Scott
hmmm... Scott, didn't you tell me that you have some programming skill? We need to talk!
Here is the tire size calculator I have used. It's great for comparing different tire size options
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
So many people ask questions about engine weight, such as: "What's the weight difference between a Rover V8 and a Ford V8?" The question isn't easily answered because there are so many variables... literally hundreds of them just for the three or four most popular engine choices.
Maybe it's impractical to do, but I think it would be really cool if we had a "calculator" where a user could select between all the popular variables and out would pop an accurate weight for a specific combination. Of course, the data tables would be big; the calculator would need enough data to be able to calculate the weight savings of this intake manifold over that one, this gear reduction starter over that OEM starter, this crank vs that stroker crank, this flywheel and pressure plate vs. that lightened flywheel and diaphragm pressure plate, etc., etc., etc. -
Maybe we'd want the calculator to accept and "learn" new data/variables from the user's research. (Example: If you're the first person to contemplate AFR aluminum SBF heads, then it's up to you to enter an accurate weight for them, but from then on AFR heads would be in the table for other people to select.)
Ideally, you'd be able to save several component combinations and then build a table showing them side by side in columns.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could input cost estimates for each component choice and automatically generate some sort of cost-per-pound-saved calculation?
Yep, that would be awesome. At the least, so we could get this list started, maybe a sticky that we could post to with parts and weight.
Here's a nifty gear ratio calculator.
http://efi.moonwell.com/gears.php
-- Scott
Well if someone wants to weigh all the various components, I'll write the PHP for a calculator for a specific engine.
Would be great if it had 215, SBC, 302 and LS1 plus the common options for each. Other motors would be a bonus, but that would cover 90% of the conversions I reckon.
We do have weights of probably most of the components in old postings, if there was a simple way to mine the data. I know block weights and such are in the Roadmaster thread.
There's a useful dynamic compression ratio calculator in the recent 340 postings. Is there going to be a "Tools" option in one of the drop down tabs?
Jim
We do have weights of probably most of the components in old postings, if there was a simple way to mine the data. I know block weights and such are in the Roadmaster thread.
There's a useful dynamic compression ratio calculator in the recent 340 postings. Is there going to be a "Tools" option in one of the drop down tabs?
Jim
Wheel offset calculator:
http://www.1010tires.com/WheelOffsetCalculator.asp
I haven't had time to give this thread a lot of thought lately... until yesterday.
Jay Musgrove has kindly offered to share his clever calculator for bend spacing along tubing of popular diameters:
Tube Bend Calculator for Easier Rollcage Fabrication (http://www.britishv8.org/roll-cage-tube-calculator.xls) (854KB, Excel spreadsheet with macros)
This will be especially useful for anyone fabricating a rollcage! Jay will also be writing-up an article to explain use of the calculator, with photos of his own cage during construction.