I can get into autistic detail about PC hardware specs and what nuanced variables mean what for your vidya performance...

Nah, I've been modding and nigrigging old boxes for years now and used to work at a college fixing/upgrading servers and shit. The only benchfaggotry thing I've done is Frankenstein a Dimension 2400 into being able to run Crysis, and that was just a side effect of wanting to play Fable without having to turn my CRT sideways lol

>mileage or performance
>early 2000s minivan
'no'

It had about 180k miles on it when I got it, how much more life can I expect out of it, assuming I maintain the fluids and shit

3800 series II detected.

bitches don't know 'bout turbo caravans

Wtf are those?

If' it's an auto, expect that to explode somewhere around 250k, depending on whether or not the previous owner changed the tranny fluid (they never do). That and rust are really the only things that you'll have to worry about, the engine will most likely outlive the rest of the car.

Of course, all of this is dependent on what maintenance the vehicle has had.

The 3800 is a GM V6, which you don't have considering you own a Ford. A Caravan was a Dodge minivan, and they offered it with a turbo motor, so it wasn't as painfully slow as most other minivans.

Fucking madmen at Chrysler, just slapping turbos on literally everything. Gotta admire that.

It's the volume of the cylinder heads. Your 6 cylinder heads displace 3.8L. The bigger the displacement, the easier it is to put more gas and air in there, and consequently make more power.

Hehe should probably keep quiet about the 1.3L that could or the 2.6L engine that makes 900+HP at 10k, would prob make things a little to wankeled ;)

We're actually gunna be swapping the tranny filter and fluid out soon, which it definitely needs, cuz it hovers like a bitch when I get between 35 and 45, which I assume is where they set the switchover from first to second gear. It hasn't started grinding yet, but the transmission icon popped up a few days ago. The thing sat on a farm for 2 years before we bought it, and we swapped out the wipers, front brake system (everything but the line), oil filter and drained it, back tires and shocks, inner tie rod end, swaybar links, and air filter. Hopefully after we get the tranny knocked out, we'll be fine.

>I know the V6 is for the cylinders
Kind of. The 6 is for the number of cylinders. The V is for the configuration they're in. gif related.

For example. BMW and Volvo don't use V6's (unless you're talking a 70's or 80's Volvo). They use I6's where all 6 cylinders are in one line, so an Inline 6.

Subaru and Porsche are difference because of course they are. These are known as flat sixes. there are 3 cylinders on each side opposing each other. These are also often called Horizontally Opposed 6's. Often abbreviated as F6 or H6, but both mean the same thing.

Holy fuck.. I'd heard of I engines being put in Jap farm trucks, but never knew what that meant other than it was weird because they had 3 or 5 cylinders.

>it hovers like a bitch when I get between 35 and 45
>the transmission icon popped up a few days ago
It might already be fucked then, sorry to say. Hope it's just a bit low on fluid.

but american pickup engines also have inline 6's both gasoline and diesel ones

Yup. This is how an engine works simplified. This gif shows an I4 engine. I4's are the most common engine configuration on the planet. Anyways. This gif shows how a car runs and gos through all stages of a 4 stroke engine. Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow.
A vacuum created by the piston going down in the cylinder sucks in air.
On the second stroke, the piston comes up, compressing the air/fuel mixture as much as possible. How much it's compressed is known as the compression ratio.
Next come the power stroke. The spark plug ignites the fuel and air mixture and the resulting explosion forced the piston back down.
Now comes the exhaust stroke as the piston comes back up, forcing the burned up gases out the exhaust.

The more air and fuel you can burn, the more power a car will make.

>windstar
Lolllll.
OP just turn it into a camper van and roadtrip in it.

No one wants to mention the dark side of the Dorito?

fine.
Beyond normal car engines is another 4-stroke engine known as the Rotary engine. These bastards don't have cylinders or pistons, but instead used a triangle that spins at high RPM in an oblong hole. The triangle, known as a rotor, spins around the crankshaft. These are often nicknames Dorito engines due to the rotors being shaped like a Dorito chip.

Rotary engines are generally known for their unique sound, ultra-smooth nature, and high revving nature. Mazda is the most famous for the rotary engine (even though it was invented by NSU, now known as Audi). Mazda used the rotary engine to great success is a long line of sports cars, namely the Cosmo, RX3, RX7, and RX8.

However they are NOT known for reliability. At the tips of each rotor are seals known as apex seals. These seals wear out normally around 60,000 miles. It's the equivalent to the piston ring in a conventional engine. And just like a piston ring in a conventional engine, requires an entire engine rebuild to replace.

>These are often nicknames Dorito engines due to the rotors being shaped like a Dorito chip.

>Mazda used the rotary engine to great success is a long line of sports cars, namely ... RX8.

wow so Veeky Forums has become full blown reddit now huh

no

Shiiiiiiiiiiit

For real dude, I know fuck all about cars.

Why don't they use electromagnets and a Faraday system to both pump and charge?

That's actually exactly what we plan on doing with it lol. We grabbed some tarps to drape over the ass end and attach to the cargo rails in the roof and put in the ground via bungee cords and tent spikes and a battery op lantern to hang on the trunk door. As for the inside, the back 2 rows pop out, so we're gunna get an air mattress with a lighter slot pluggable pump and battery op fan. We already have a portable charcoal grill and there's a nearby lake that lets you camp out for 5 bucks a night.

They're interesting bastards for sure, but they require special maintenance as opposed to normal piston engines.
They burn oil by design, so you have to check the oil every other fill up. This is known to be painful as Mazda generally puts the dip stick rally close to the exhaust, so you're likely to burn your hand checking the oil.

You can't just start it and immediately shut it off either. Doing so will cause the engine to flood with fuel.

This is all on top of the 60k engine rebuilds recommended by mazda themselves.

apex seals go in, boost comes out. it's magic

>Why don't they use electromagnets and a Faraday system to both pump and charge?
It's called Tesla Motors. They make all electric cars. No engine, just a powerful electric motor and a fuckton of batteries.

Also because it wouldn't make enough power or torque to be usable

What do you mean about pump and charge?

GO
WATCH
ENGINEERING
EXPLAINED
ON
YOUTUBE

...

>air mattress
Been there done that, just get foam padding and thick blankets.
Air mattress' lose air and make it awkward to move around.

Buy a good battery box and a seperate battery, maybe a solar panel for the top.

EMP pulse to send a magnetic piston up and down the chamber and wrap it in a coil so the back and forth can recharge the battery cells.

wastes more energy than it makes. It's horribly inefficient, even compared to a conventional gas engine.

Good to know. I thought about maybe nigrigging some kind of solar cell battery array, but hadn't thought about if an air mattress would be fucked.

Even if you combined it with the brake charging and solar roof like a Prius?

yes. You'd be better with a conventional gas or diesel engine, or even an electric motor setup like Tesla uses.

Does the Tesla basically just work like an RC toy car scaled way the fuck up?

Your van has those roof rack attachment parts on the roof right?
If not then try and find some.
Try to rig up a box to fit up in the middle of the racks and wire up some solar panels to the top

Sorta. Bigass battery powers a motor in each wheel, but the actually engineering of it is a bit more complex than that.

All pretty valid points except Mazda doesn't recommend 60k rebuild intervals. At all. In fact all of their rotary a are backed by 10 yr 100k engine warranty. I oersonally have had an rx8 with 240k miles with only one rebuild at 130k

minus the remote control, and with way more sophisticated batteries, and a much more powerful motor, but yes.

Current US market electric cars:
Chevrolet Spark EV (being replaced next year by the Chevrolet Bolt)
Nissan Leaf
Tesla Model X
Tesla Model S
Tesla Model 3
Toyota Rav4 EV (drivetrain designed by Tesla)
Fiat 500e
Ford Focus EV
Kia Soul EV

Even the electric versions of conventional gas cars have a LOT of changes over their normal gasoline powered siblings.

Tesla is notable, not just in the fact they only make electric cars, but also their engineering. The Tesla Model S is currently the safest car on sale, period. The government rated it 5.5 out of 5. The Tesla's structure was so strong and so well designed that not only did it ace every single test thrown at it, but during the roof strength test, the car was so strong it actually broke the testing machine. It was estimated the Model S is so strong that it could support 4 Model S's on its roof.

And when they went to test its safety in a rollover crash, they had another problem. The battery pack on the Model S weighs over 1000 lbs and is under the car. This means the center of gravity is extremely low. The NHTSA couldn't get the car to roll over for the test and they had to design a whole new machine just to flip the car.

Yup, totally has em, that's what we bungee the tarp to; totally gunna invest in a panel rug at some point.

Do they even have stuff under the hood?

What's the frame made out of, titanium?

>Do they even have stuff under the hood?
They have what Tesla calls a frunk.

They have an additional storage bay, and access to the washer fluid and brake fluid reservoirs (iirc) . The motors are placed right by the wheels and the batteries lay flat under the cabin of the car. Electric cars are quite straightforward.

This is what the chassis looks like. No messy auxiliary parts like a normal internal combustion car so there's not much to it, however it's rather heavy due to the fuckton of batteries

Scratch that then, just buy a seperate box, deep cell battery, and connect everything up.
The 2nd battery should be goof dor charging whatever eletronics, your normal battery will be there to start up the car.

Anyways im tired as fucj and barely making coherent sentences, have fun bro.

The best part though is in the back. In the trunk... are 2 more seats! It's the only sedan capable of seating 7 people.
Don't need those 2 rear seats? They fold into the floor.

Damn, y'all are really making me want a Tesla. I remember when they first came out I drooled at the concept and since then I've always said it'd be sweet to go win a few episodes of Jeopardy and buy one, but this thread has rekindled that fire.

They can also out-accelerate their chief competitor, the BMW M5. The M5 will eventually pass the Tesla because the BMW has a higher top speed, but the Tesla will get to 60 mph and beat it down a drag strip.
youtube.com/watch?v=vvHTN0Yi1t4
In the video, you can see the M5 started to catch up. Still lost but not much further and the BMW would've won.

and a comparison test with a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
youtube.com/watch?v=RWQ-dnpplaA

go watch EngineeringExplained and you will appreciate cars my fellow autismo friend

fucking love those rear facing seats. fond childhood memories of sitting in those and pretending to be the rear gunner on a bomber. good times

lemme translate, here's your new gaming rig;

>toshiba laptop from 2004
its not special in any way shape or form, kinda old

>3.2ghz Pentium 4 HT
3.8 motor is ok, but is much better in literally any system that isn't this one

>Radeon IGP
this is your minivan shell, its shit, it was always shit, and it will always be shit

>35whr battery, 130w A/C charger
efficiency is nowhere to be found

>$35 price tag
hey, at least you practically got it for free

I think someone else posted it too, so I'll definitely check it out

Seems about right lulz

>These seals wear out normally around 60,000 miles

>This is all on top of the 60k engine rebuilds recommended by mazda themselves.

[citation needed]

I just hit 92500 miles today, the car is from 1981.