The Vauxhall Story
Big Car:
If you like cars, or even if you don’t like
cars, Vauxhall has very likely been a big
part of your life. If you haven’t owned one,
you’ve probably hired one, or been driven around
in one, or seen them day in day out on the
streets. And for good reason. Vauxhall has
been pumping out affordable mainstream cars
for decades. But its fortunes have gone up,
then down, up, then down, up, then down, and
finally up then sort of down? over the last
162 years it’s been in business! So, let’s
dig into the Vauxhall Story.
(music)
The Vauxhall story starts appropriately enough
in Vauxhall, now a borough of Greater London.
In 1857 a guy called Alexander Wilson started
“Alexander Wilson and Company” to build
steam engines and pumps. Remember, this was
a time before practical internal combustion
engines, and in the 19th century steam engines
were powering everything from boats, to trains,
to pumps to keep mines dry.
They focused on small boats and launches,
and did OK, but finances weren’t looking
too good by the 1890s. The now 57-year old
Alexander Wilson left the company in 1894
and a year later the company went bankrupt.
It was restructured and in 1897 renamed to
the Vauxhall Ironworks. That same year Fred
Hodges was made head of the drawing office.
Fred had an automobile passion and began enthusing
the company to make big changes to the company
for the 20th century. It started with their
first petrol engine, the 5hp “Jabberwock”,
which they would sell to power small boats.
Steam was so 19th century, and Vauxhall was
changing with the times.
Fred believed this engine could also be used
to power a car, so designed the Model 719
in 1903. The car looked like a marine engine
bolted to carriage and bicycle parts, which
it was in some sense, but it was smarter under
the skin. To try to make the car as light
as possible and because of his boat construction
experience, Fred created the first uni-body
car.
The car was improved in 1904. The engine gained
one extra horse, and the car got a reverse
gear, and the dodgy tiller steering system
was abandoned in favour of a regular steering
wheel. To help it sell, the car was driven
in the London to Glasgow reliability trial,
although they probably didn’t stop off at
McDonalds! In those days it wasn’t a race
to see how fast you could get somewhere, it
was to see if you could get there at all!
With sales of these new-fangled cars starting
to take off, and with problems with the lease
on their Vauxhall factory, the company looked
for new, larger premises. Luton was looking
to attract new business after the decline
of the hat-making industry. They created an
attractive package to lure Vauxhall Ironworks,
and cars built there were doing so well that
by 1907 the company was renamed to Vauxhall
Motors.
Fred Hodges had been the early visionary behind
Vauxhall’s early cars, but when he took
a leave of absence a new hire, Laurence Pomeroy
took the initiative and became the powerhouse
behind Vauxhall’s next cars. In those early
days of motoring it was only the very rich
that would afford these expensive playthings,
and Vauxhall focused on the fast, sporty cars
that they wanted. The first car Laurence made
won several trials and hill climbs and was
developed into the successful A-Type. He also
produced the 1913 30-98 that was the first
car guaranteed to go 100mph.
But his crowning achievement was the 1911
“Prince Henry”, after the motor trials
that were named for Prince Henry of Prussia.
With the car clocking up win after win, road-going
versions were snapped up quickly. Vauxhall’s
were very popular with the Russian nobility,
and Vauxhall opened a Russian sales office.
But it was short-lived affair, with the decided
lack of rich Russians after the Communist
revolution of 1917.
The First World War left Britain penniless,
and rich people’s playthings like fast cars
weren’t really selling. With Vauxhall’s
sales drying up, they looked around for a
potential suitor. Many people, me included,
think General Motors must have bought Vauxhall
in the 1960s or 70s, but GM picked up Vauxhall
in 1925 for $2½M! The bailout made sense
for Vauxhall, but there are many reasons why
the purchase made a lot of sense for General
Motors. GM was locked in a battle for car
sales with Ford, and Ford had already expanded
to the UK in 1909 and was assembling cars
there in 1911. To compete with Ford, they
needed to expand to sell cars in other parts
of the world. Vauxhall was known for their
high-end cars – and the Vauxhall name would
give GM’s mass market cars some cachet.
With the 1929 Wall Street crash, the GM purchase
likely saved Vauxhall from bankruptcy.
In the 20s and 30s small inexpensive cars
were the growth market, with the Ford Model
T selling over 16½M cars around the world.
It’s tempting to think Vauxhall would build
GM cars in the UK, but with smaller roads
and a different customer GM let Vauxhall produce
its own cars. The first major car to come
out was the 1930 Vauxhall Cadet. With Vauxhall
free to raid GM’s part bin, they fitted
the first synchromesh gearbox to appear on
a British car.
The Cadet was sold for the low, low price
of just £280, but by 1937 Vauxhall were selling
a unibody Vauxhall 10-4 for just £168, also
offering it as the Bedford HC. By offering
cars at such competitive prices they were
showing they could produce cars at scale and
control costs. Vauxhall had completed its
transformation from a high-end car maker to
mass producer.
But Vauxhall wasn’t the only European car
company GM had their eyes on. In 1929 they
purchased Opel in Germany. Opel was a little
different as it was already a mass market
car manufacturer, and in fact by 1937 they
had the largest car plant in Europe.
GMs plans for European domination would be
interrupted by someone else’s plans for
European domination, although it’s surprising
that Opel’s German factories were churning
out civilian cars until the autumn of 1940,
over a year after the war had started. Vauxhall’s
factories were given over to making helmets,
rocket parts and Churchill tanks. They continued
to produce Bedford lorries and buses for the
war effort at a new plant, suitably in Dunstable,
Bedfordshire.
Opel was initially spared from the Nazi war
machine, likely because Hitler didn’t want
to tip off an American company as to what
they were doing. But with aircraft and tank
parts desperately needed by 1942, they were
pressed into service. With these plants now
a part of the war effort, Allied bombers targeted
and destroyed the Opel factories. It’s ironic
that American bombers were charged with destroying
an American-owned factory.
After the dust cleared GM had to start from
scratch with Opel, not just because the factories
were destroyed, but because some were located
in the now Communist East Germany. GM considered
throwing in the towel but decided to continue
production. It would take until December 1947
until car production began again.
After the war Vauxhall restarted production
of the 10-4, but middle-class Britain just
didn’t really have the cash. The company
found itself selling larger and more expensive
cars to those that could afford them, and
the Government encouraged British companies
to export to help restart the struggling economy.
But Vauxhall’s like the 10-4 would start
to be built in other parts of the world such
as Indonesia.
With the improving British economy, in 1948
Vauxhall released two new models to capitalise
on this growth - the large Vauxhall Velox
and medium Vauxhall Wyvern. Both did well,
selling in their hundreds of thousands, and
by 1953 Vauxhall was producing 100,000 cars
a year. They offered a bit of futuristic American
glamour in a dowdy, austere post-war Britain.
But respectable middle-class Britain bought
them in their droves.
In the 1950s the large Velox was replaced
by the Vauxhall Cresta, with the medium Wyvern
being replaced by the Victor. The Cresta would
become the person transport of the Queen herself,
but it took Americana to the next level, with
fins at the rear, curved glass and oodles
of chrome. But it was the Vauxhall Victor
that really took off, selling 1.3M.
"The stylish rear end. With the exhaust pipe on the
Super discharging through the bumper."
"Door locks. At both sides of the car."
"The flashing turn indicators, way up above the taillights."
"A handsome sensible instrument panel,
right beneath the driver's eye."
"A good solid handbrake, with a high-speed release."
"A 5-position main switch.
You use the key only to unlock the switch."
"After that the switch itself is turned
to put on the auxiliary circuit."
"The main ignition circuit, and to start the engine."
Vauxhall would continually update the styling of both
cars, keeping up with the latest fashionable
styling.
By the end of the 1950s cheap and cheerful
cars like the Morris Minor, Ford Anglia and
Austin Mini were becoming affordable to nearly
everyone. Vauxhall realised they needed a
small car to compete, so designed the Vauxhall
Viva. For the first time they would work with
Opel, producing a common floorpan that would
be used for both the Viva and the Opel Kadett.
But they didn’t make it easy on themselves!
Opel used metric and Vauxhall imperial measurements
through the entire process.
The Luton plant had expanded and expanded
since 1905, but with the company expecting
big things from the new Viva, they realised
they needed a new factory. It was built at
Ellesmere Port, across the Mersey from the
Triumph Speke plant near Liverpool. The Viva
was a success, selling over 1½M cars, and
it was also popular around the world, becoming
a top-seller in Canada as the Envoy Epic.
Vauxhall tried its hand at motorsports in
the late 60s and early 70s with the 2.0L Viva
GT and Firenza having some success, but the
road-going Firenza was a beast with a top
speed of 120mph and a 0-60 time of 8 seconds.
The 50s and 60s were a boom time for many
car manufacturers, and Vauxhall was one of
them. But as the 60s turned in the 70s Vauxhall’s
fate wasn’t looking too good. Ford’s complete
and compelling range was overshadowing the
Viva, Cresta and Victor. And Vauxhall’s
were developing a reputation for being rust-prone
and unreliable. By the early 70’s Vauxhall’s
UK market share was down to 7½% and GM were
thinking of closing the company. Workers were
enduring 3-day working weeks, and empty production
lines made for low morale.
But Vauxhall kept trying new things to return
to success. The first was better corrosion
protection. The second was saving development
money by using GM and Opel vehicles. The 1975
Vauxhall Chevette was based on the GM T-Car
platform that was used by 36 other vehicles
around the world. And Vauxhall’s new family
car would be the 1975 Vauxhall Cavalier, a
rebadged Opel Ascona that was built on GM’s
worldwide J Platform that would be used for
the American Chevrolet Cavalier.
But it would take until the 1980s until Vauxhall
would once again become a top seller. The improved
mk2 Cavalier was joined by the supermini Vauxhall
Nova and hatchback Astra, producing a solid
line-up that could be sold to fleets alongside
their luxury Carlton and Senator. Vauxhall
even added the sporty Calibra to the mix in
1989.
But although Vauxhall was riding high, it
was a shadow of its former self. Design was
being done by Opel in Germany, with Vauxhall
little more than marketing and manufacturing,
and it’s telling that Vauxhall’s corporate
HQ were moved into the old design and testing
building.
Ford and Vauxhall were locked in a fleet battle
into the 1990s. Company cars were popular
because they were an untaxed employee benefit.
Fleet sales slowed when the tax loophole was
closed, and the remaining fleet sales were
going to more prestige cars like the BMW 3-series.
Vauxhall had to retreat from the luxury car
market as German luxury car makers with their
fancy badges took sales, leaving Vauxhall
with the low margin small and medium car sector.
But small and medium car sales were still
good, with the Cavalier being the 1993 number
1 selling car in the UK.
Vauxhall launched an “all-terrain vehicle”
as it was called at the time, the Frontera,
in 1991. Yes, it was a rebadged Isuzu MU,
but it was built in the UK and used Vauxhall
/ Opel engines. It would be joined by the
larger rebadged Isuzu Trooper as the Vauxhall
Monterey in 1994.
But you shouldn’t underestimate the power
of Jeremy Clarkson’s infamous review of
the Vauxhall Vectra in 1996. The car was the
follow-up to the Cavalier, and his review
was scathing attack on its blandness, with
people singing “I am bored” in the background.
One rep tellingly says in the review “I
think the back looks like the BMW”. So,
the best thing he could say was that the car
was a bit like a car he’d rather have. The
review was rather unfair but was a great story
to tell down the pub, and Vauxhall’s image
soon became one of dependable but dull cars.
The supermini Nova was now the Corsa. With
“No va” being Spanish for “doesn’t
go”, the Spanish workers must have had a
quiet chuckle to themselves while sticking
the badges on the back.
By the late 1990s there was a clear demand
for people carriers or MPVs. Vauxhall tested
the water with the Sintra, based on the Chevy
Venture U-body platform that would be used
for the ill-fated Pontiac Aztek. Apparently,
Opel and Vauxhall left the naming of this
car up to a computer, which didn’t seem
to be the wisest idea especially as it came
out with the name “Sintra”! After scathing
reviews and being ranked J.D. Power’s least
satisfying car to own, the car was quietly
retired. It was clear that GM were trying
to build one car for the whole world and satisfying
no one in the process. And with GM having
money problems, new Vauxhalls were going to
be hard to finance.
The smaller 1999 Zafira was a much more pleasant
MPV and was more popular, with innovative
foldable rear seating. It was joined in 2003
by the even smaller Meriva. And Vauxhall tried
the innovative Signum large car that sat a
little higher to provide bags of internal
room. But when I say Vauxhall made these cars,
by now it was Opel making the cars and slapping
a Vauxhall badge on the back.
And Vauxhall didn’t just rebadge Opels.
Vauxhall sold the Lotus-based VX220, but why
buy a Vauxhall sports car when you could buy
the cooler Lotus version? The Agila was a
rebadged Suzuki Wagon R+. The Monaro was a
rebadged Holden from Australia, as was the
VXR8. You can see a pattern forming here…
Vauxhall could hardly be called a British
car manufacturer when it sold cars designed
and manufactured in other countries. But while
vans continued to be produced, Luton car production
ceased entirely in 2002.
Vauxhall and Opel concentrated on their core
line of Corsa and Astra cars which were still
top sellers. And Vauxhall were still selling
more cars in the UK than everyone but Ford.
With crossovers becoming popular, Vauxhall
launch the Antara in 2006 along with the Mokka
in 2012 and Crossland X in 2017.
Parent General Motors filed for bankruptcy
in 2009, selling off its Saab business. Vauxhall
and Opel were going to be sold to Canadian
“Magna International”, but GM changed
their minds as they felt Vauxhall and Opel
were integral to their recovery.
Vauxhall continued to sell well into the 2010’s,
but not spectacularly. It slipped from the
number two UK car marque to number three behind
Volkswagen, and its share of the car market
dropped from 14% in 2008 to less than 8% in
2018. And finances weren’t looking too good
either. Vauxhall Opel lost over $18B between
1997 and 2017. In 2016 alone they were losing
£1M every working day. The company was using
9 different platforms across its vehicle range
when other companies were saving money by
developing just 2 or 3. And with a lack of
finances the whole hybrid and electric car
trend passed Vauxhall by, with the Ampera
E-Rev being a rare highlight, although it
was just a rebadged GM Chevvy Volt.
PSA own Peugeot and Citroen, and they’d
gobbled up Chrysler’s European arm in 1979.
In 2017 they did the same to GM’s European
arm, buying Vauxhall Opel for $2.3B, making
PSA the second largest car manufacturer in
Europe behind Volkswagen.
They’ve plans to rationalise the company.
9 platforms will be whittled down to just
2, and with PSA paying royalties on every
GM platform that goes out the factory door,
there’s an incentive to get it done fast.
The new Corsa used a GM platform and was about
to be released when PSA bought the company.
They rushed to switch it to a PSA platform,
but it still took 2 years to release the new
car.
Since 2017 PSA have been reluctant to invest
in UK factories with the uncertainty around
Brexit. In 1957 there were 22,000 people working
at Vauxhall, but in 2019 there were just 3,000.
Automation has allowed for fewer workers with
higher output, but it shows that the car industry
just isn’t the British jobs powerhouse it
once was.
So just what is a British car company, and
if Vauxhall isn’t British then when did
it stop being British? When GM purchased it
in 1925? When Vauxhall car design ended in
the 70s and 80s? When PSA bought it in 2017?
And is PSA really a French company, when it’s
owned by shareholders around the world, and
has British factories and German design houses
staffed by Italians and Danes. It’s natural
to be patriotic about your country, but with
car companies it’s becoming increasingly
irrelevant.
Vauxhall has a varied history, from steam
engine maker 162 years ago to luxury sports
car maker, to a canny and innovative producer
of inexpensive cars, to tank and busses during
World War 2, to mass-producing family cars.
Time will tell how it fares in the new PSA
era!
To get early advert free access to new videos,
or to appear in the credits, please consider
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Thanks for watching and see you in the next video!
How to Replace Drum Brakes on Your Car
Scotty Kilmer:
one, two, three, four!
Rev up your engines!
It's time for the Scotty Kilmer Channel,
are your rear brake shoes worn out
making noise, well then today's your
lucky day, because I'm going to show you how
to change brake shoes on a car, first
thing you want to do is Jack it up in
the air, get it a few inches above the
ground, and take off the wheel
then get a big hammer and whack the drum a
few times to loosen it up, and off it
comes, now if you have a hard time
getting the Drum Off, here's a trick that
works on lots of cars, you'll notice
there's two holes, you can screw bolts in
these two holes and they'll force the
drum off of the car if it's stuck, now if
you look inside on the drum brakes, you'll
notice there's all kinds of Springs and
devices, so here's another trick only do
one side at a time, while you're
working on this side, just have this side
with the drum off, so you can look at
this side to see what you did wrong if
you can't figure out where all the
springs go back, that way you'll always
have a good reference point to see where
all the springs and bolts go back on, now
the first thing you want to do is get a
pair of clippers and then pull the top
spring off, you grab it and pull and off
it comes, then remove the retaining ring
by using a pair of pliers, pushing it in
twisting it and twist it so it meets the
hole and comes off, off it comes, then
this whole shoe just pulls right off and
there's a spring on the bottom that you
just remove, then just take the other
brake shoe off too, but you'll notice it's
got an emergency brake cable on it, to
get the emergency cable off you use your
Clippers and squeeze them lightly at the
very end and pull them out, then you
just twist it off it comes, then get your
box a new brake shoes and transfer the
parts on this brake shoe to the new one,
get all the springs and parts and put
them in the holes and hook them up and
don't forget the little emergency brake
spring, it fits in here and then it
clamps on right here, now before you
put the shoes back on, you'll notice on
the backing plates here there's little
rub marks, you want to put some
lubrication on them so they don't squeak
so you get some synthetic brake caliper
grease and then apply it to all these
areas where you see they've been rubbing,
on the left side and the right side and
grab the emergency brake cable pull it
back, hold it in place and put it back on
the shoe here, then put the back
shoe in position first and stick a
little spring back on, first put the
spring on then get the little cover, line
it up and push it on, you might have to
twist it a bunch of it eventually
it snaps on, then get the other shoe and put
the bottom spring on the bottom
pull it over and connect the top, now
comes the tricky part, you got to get the rod
in, so you get your Clippers and you grab
the spring while you line it up in the
hole, and
snap the spring in, it's hard but eventually
it goes in and of course you have to put
the retaining spring on the other side
too and the last thing to do is to
adjust the automatic adjuster, you need
to screwdriver, one pushed back the
piece that holds it in place and the other
one you turn to loosen the adjuster
because the new brake pads are thicker
then slide the drum back on and see how
it feels, in this case it's dragging just
a little, which is exactly how tight you
want it, you don't want it to be too
loose, if it was too loose you need to
tighten it up by adjusting the adjuster
again, but in this case it's dragging
just a little, which is just right, and you
don't need to be perfect in this either,
because they have automatic adjusters on
it, whenever you slam the brakes on going
backwards they adjust themselves
perfectly anyways and of course don't
forget to do the other side, they work in
pairs,
so the next time you're quoted an
expensive brake job, why not do it
yourself and remember if you've got any
car questions
just visit Scotty Kilmer.com
THE TRUTH ABOUT FALKEN TIRES
Fitment Industries:
- How should I put my feet?
It's kind of like a;
you can't do cross leg
'cause nobody
Because guys don't like guys that do that.
Hi guys what's going on.
It's Alex from Fitment Industries.
And today we're gonna be talking to you
about Falken Tires.
That didn't seem very exciting.
So we're gonna try it again.
Mario recut this one.
Hey guys what's going on?
It's Alex from Fitment Industries
and today we're gonna be talking to you
about Falken Tires in this
episode of Tire History.
So I hope you're ready to
put up with my beardless face
for a couple minutes so I
can teach you some things.
Falken Tires was a tire brand
that was founded in 1983.
It didn't come to the
United States until 1985.
Falken Tires is a subsidiary
or a partner company
of a big boy company called
Sumitomo Rubber Industries.
Sumitomo is a rubber industry
manufacturing company
that is based out of Japan
and is probably the largest
rubber manufacturer industry
in the world.
And they have always been
involved in just the rubber
manufacturing industry.
In fact they wanted to
just kind of do everything.
I mean why wouldn't you.
They made golf balls,
tennis balls,
and they just decided that
they wanted to make tires too.
Consumers were just like sure.
That's it.
That's really the entire conversation.
Sumitomo has just been at the forefront of
everything and anything rubber related.
And when they decided to start
getting into it more heavily
they partnered with any
company that they could.
Now Sumitomo originally got
involved with tire manufacturing
in 1909 with a company called Dunlop.
You may have heard of 'em before.
They came from Britain
and they wanted to partner
in a company in Japan.
Just because the resources
and the workforce
was available there at
a much cheaper price.
And Sumitomo came on board and said yes.
We can do that.
And they just decided
to create a partnership.
And it worked very well for
them for a very long time.
As the years progressed,
the two companies essentially
became friends with benefits.
They just continued to
grow and intermingle
either in Japan or just
throughout the world.
And things tended to
get a little bit messy.
Because Dunlop started to find themselves
getting more and more liquidated
and everything got really confusing
and Sumitomo was like hey we'll buy you
and Dunlop was like well how.
I thought we were like good friends.
And Sumitomo's like yeah
well we just kind of want
to have everything.
Dunlop and Sumitomo
essentially reconfigured
and split partnership ways
and Sumitomo turned into SRI.
Which is Sumitomo Rubber Industries.
And Dunlop still considers to be a brand
that they use and develop and produce for
but Sumitomo took a really
big bite out of their industry
just because they wanted
to continue to grow.
Now everything kind of
looked up for Sumitomo
until they essentially
had another partnership
with a company that you
may not have heard of.
That company is Goodyear.
Which I actually hope that
you've heard of Goodyear before.
But I don't know if that
was sarcastic enough.
I don't really even know if it was funny.
But we're just gonna
continue talking about it.
As if the joke was just never said.
Because it's just Mario and I here
in a dark room with one light on.
So it's kind of weird anyway.
Moving forward.
Sumitomo and Goodyear
had a pretty long lasting relationship.
It lasted about 18 years.
Until they essentially
dissolved the partnership
in around 2015.
But all you really need to know is Falken
is part of SRI.
And SRI is a huge conglomerate
of a rubber manufacturing
industry company that makes tires
for probably about six to
eight different tire brands.
If you're looking to argue on if a Falken
is better than Ohtsu
or Ohtsu's better than this
or something is better than that,
they kind of all just trickle
back to the same place.
Falken really didn't enter the market
like a lot of other companies usually do.
You see when a tire manufacturing company
comes into a market
they usually come out with like
a bunch of marketing money,
a bunch of plans to integrate
into the consumer world,
and then just blast the hell
out of anything and everything
they can so people just
started running their wheels.
On top of that,
they're really just looking for a company
that would maybe host OEM application
or something like that for you
know your Ford or your Chevy
or something in America
that Americans enjoy.
Falken just didn't do that.
Instead what they wanted to do,
is they wanted to find a
way that people would just
essentially trust the name Falken
before they would buy them.
And they did that with the
best way you could possibly
get involved in terms of using tires.
Motor sports.
Falken began getting involved
in any sort of motor sport
they possibly could.
Now because they really had
a huge company behind them,
they really didn't have a lot of money
to just go out and start mass promoting
all over every single auto cross or rally
or race style event that they could.
Instead they started
off with the small stuff
and with the stuff that was
local to their business.
In Japan they started out in 1985
promoting just different events
that ran Falken Tires.
And it began to work.
Falken didn't really get
involved in making a tire
for a consumer and then
get involved in racing
and then kind of reverse engineered it
like most companies do.
Falken instead just went
and they made tires for a race car driver.
Or just enthusiasts that
was out you know in the back
doing world rally championship style stuff
with their old
(bleep)
car.
They would then take that
feedback from the people
that actually ran these vehicles,
turned them into a tire
that could be used.
Then they sold them to consumers.
And that's why Falken is just known as an
ultra high performance
you know tire company
that just specializes in what they know.
Instead of going to try and
make a ton of money right away,
they just wanted to focus
on what made a tire good
and then went to the consumers
and was like yo you should buy this.
And the consumer was like, sure.
But you're not really that old.
And then Falken was like yeah,
but you know, 18s 18.
Anyway you get the point.
Falken just kind of got
involved in anything
that they could.
They began distribution in
Glendale, California in 1985.
But it wasn't until 1990,
that they actually
developed a headquarters
in Ranchero Cucumberino.
Ranchero Cucumber o, cucumberino.
Cumbero.
Ranchero cumbero.
I wish I was joking.
Rancho Cucamonga.
And Falken just continued to grow.
They grow naturally with a
lot of the Sumitomo background
behind them.
They had a lot of history on
how to make affordable tires
that just wouldn't break the bank.
And Falken continued to have
a pretty cool point of view
especially in the United States
and in Japan of being
willing to just kind of do
whatever they wanted.
Falken wasn't necessarily
under the microscope
on what sort of tires they needed to make
so Falken just got to be
the cool younger brother
that just tried to see what would work
and what didn't.
Taking place in Irwindale in 2003,
Falken decided to partner
with a bunch of race teams
that specialized in drifting.
Now in the USA there's
always been a little bit
of kind of like a give, give, give,
take, take, take,
sort of mentality.
Especially coming from like the
Japan automotive enthusiasts
which is where the grass
roots drifting truly started.
But in 2013 in Irwindale,
it became apparent that this was a sport
that Americans would love.
And Falken was all over it
when it came to marketing
and promotion.
They were all over cars.
They were all over the news.
They were all over marketing
and blah, blah, blah, blah.
'Cause Falken wanted to figure out a way
to introduce their brand to the market
of the United States of America.
And it worked.
That was the reason that Falken
probably still exists in
the United States market
as a pretty prominent tire
brand in the United States
and after that essentially launch,
Falken began to grow
in the domestic market.
They continued to make
different types of tires
for pretty much anybody that needed 'em.
And as they kind of got a
little bit more comfortable
the belt got looser,
they decided to make
tires that weren't really
ultra high performance,
but were more all season or
truck or passenger light.
A lot of the reports and
reviews on Falken tires,
report that most of them are pretty good.
Especially in the early
stages of the life,
but they get pretty much hell of loud
once they get over that
7 8,000 mile marker.
Falken really doens't
kind of talk about why
they just really continue to make tires
and it works out for them so far.
But they do drifty drift things.
So that's pretty cool.
Falken on top of that,
I don't think will
really delve into making
extreme creative tires because
they just don't need to.
Falken is still a pretty huge
supporter of the drift scene
here in the United States
and they continue to make tires
that work for people if that's
really what you wanna do.
But Falken doesn't have the
same sort of huge brand loyalty
I would say as Toyo or Nitto
or something of that nature.
So that is everything that
we have on Falken Tires.
Let us know in the comments
what you'd like to see next.
But of course,
please be sure to subscribe.
And if you're looking for tires,
we actually have wheels,
tires, suspension, air lift.
I'm sure you've heard it a million times.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
We will see you later.
Peace.
Chevrolet
Audiopedia:
Chevrolet | Wikipedia audio article
wikipedia tts:
How to Change a Serpentine Belt : Removing a Serpentine Belt Using Auto Tensioner
expertvillage:
Hi! My name is Nate McCullough on behalf of
expertvillage.com. In this clip we are going
to talk about the proper way to remove your
drive belt with an auto or spring loaded style
belt tensioner. Using the pulley configuration
chart, what I am going to do is locate the
auto tensioner. I’m just going to point
right down here. This is the bolt that you
are going to want to latch on to with your
wrench or belt removal tool that you can take
and rotate your auto tensioner to get your
belt off. What I am going to do is demonstrate
how the auto tensioner works and as I pull
on this belt, you can see that tensioner moves.
It is spring loaded and as the vehicle requires
different loads for accessories, that auto
tensioner will take up the slack. Okay. This
is one of my favorite tools for this job as
long as you have room to use it. This is a
fit all or crescent wrench. I’m gong to
take and slide my wrench down onto the drive
bolt. Let me give you a demonstration here
a little better of how this operates. We rotate
this particular vehicles auto adjusting tensioner
clockwise. As you can see how that works,
it removes all the tension from the belt,
just like so. Once you have the tension removed
from the belt, you can slip it off the pulley
and release the tension and the belt will
come right off.
Pony car | Wikipedia audio article
wikipedia tts:
Accelerator Pump
HolleyPerformance:
the accelerator pump system consists of
three main components: the pump
diaphragm
the pump cam and the pump nozzle
this is the carburetor system that is
most responsible for having good
crisp off idle throttle response its
purpose is to inject a certain amount of
fuel down the throttle bores
when the throttle is opened by
accomplishing this purpose
it acts to smooth the transition between the
idle and main circuits
so that no stumble hesitation or
sluggishness will be evident during the
transition phase
differences in vehicle weight
transmission and rear axle ratios
affect the amount of fuel and the
delivery rate that should be provided by
the accelerator pump
this may necessitate the customizing of
your accelerator pump to your vehicle
and its use the old saying if a little
is good a lot is better
does not apply to the proper tuning of the accelerator pump your car's
performance can be just as bad
if it receives too much fuel too soon as
if it receives
little fuel too late the first thing
to check is the clearance between the
accelerator pump diaphragm
arm and the operating levers screw and
spring assembly
start by making sure the accelerator
pump arm is just touching
the bottom of the operating lever screw if
their slack
hold the screw at the bottom and adjust
the nut up top
until there's no slack but also so that
the pump arm
isn't being pushed up now hold the
throttle lever to the wide open throttle
position
you only a feeler gauge with the 1/15,000
blade
slip the blade between the pump arm and
the adjustment screw bottom
before you do this check make sure the
fast idle cam lever
is disengaged so that the throttle arm is
fully seated
if there's proper clearance you'll see
the pump are move down a bit
when the blade is inserted when you pull
the blade out you'll see it move back up
a bit when it snaps back up to the screw bottom
it'll be a slightly snug fit and you'll feel
a little drag when you move the blade back and
forth
the purpose for this clearance is to
assure that the pump diaphragm is never
stretched to its maximum limit at wide
open throttle
which could cause premature pump failure
the amount of fuel that can be delivered
by one accelerator pump stroke is
determined by the pumps capacity
and the profile of the pump cam the period
of time that it will take for it is
predetermined amount of fuel to be
delivered
is affected by the size of the pump
nozzle
or squirter a larger pump nozzle will
allow the fuel to be delivered much
sooner
than a smaller pump nozzle if you need
more pump shots sooner
then a larger pump nozzle size is
required
during acceleration tests if you notice
that the car first hesitates
and then picks up it's a sure bet at the
pump nozzle size should be increased
a backfire or lean condition on
celebration also calls for
a step up in pump nozzle size conversely
if off idle acceleration does not feel
crisp for clean
then the pump nozzle size may already be
too large
in this case a smaller size is required
the smaller diameter nozzles
lengthen the pump shot duration: and are
used with heavier vehicles
or with vehicles equipped with lower
numerical
rear axle ratios larger diameter nozzles
say numbers 35 through 40 will shorten the
pump shot duration
but deliver a greater initial volume
of fuel
these sizes should be used on
applications where engine speed will
increase rapidly
such as vehicles with good power to
weight ratios best acceleration
is achieved when the accelerator pump
delivers lean
best power fuel to air ratio to the
engine not when the maximum volume
of fuel supply when tuning a double pumper
an important point should be kept in
mind the secondary accelerator pump
must supply fuel for a sufficient time so
that the secondary main nozzles
can start up and deliver fuel to the
engine after the secondary throttle
plates are
opened if the main nozzles in the venturi don't start by the time the pump
shot finishes
bogging will result Holley accelerator
pump nozzles are stamped with the number
which indicates the drill pump hole size
for example a pump nozzle stamped with
the 35
is drilled 1/35000 of an inch in diameter
pump nozzle sizes are available from
numbers 25 to 52
you should note that whenever a number
forty or larger accelerator pump nozzle
is installed
the hollow pump nozzle screw should also
be used
this screw will allow more fuel to flow
to the pump nozzle
which will make sure that the pump
nozzle itself will be the only limiting
restriction
and not the threads of the mounting
screw for the squirter
also be aware that underneath each
squirter there's a check valve needle
during assembly if you turn the
carburetor upside down while the squirter
is removed
this needle might fall out when changing
the pump nozzle it's best to jump three
sizes at a time
for example if there is currently an
offline hesitation with a number 28
pump nozzle
try a number 31 pump nozzle also
if you end up needing to use a
thirty-seven or larger pump nozzle
then you should also use a 50 CC pump
diaphragm assembly
when maximum pump capacity is desired a
50 CC accelerator pump conversion kit
is available under Holly part number: 20-11
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