Engine tuning

Engine tuning is an adjustment, modification of the internal combustion engine or modification to its control unit, otherwise known as its ECU (Engine Control Unit). It is performed to yield optimal performance, to increase an engine's power output, economy, or durability. These goals may be mutually exclusive, and an engine may be detuned with respect to output (work) in exchange for better economy or longer engine life due to lessened stress on engine components.

It has a long history, almost as long as the development of the automobile in general, originating with the development of early racing cars, and later, with the post-war hot-rod movement. Tuning can describe a wide variety of adjustments and modifications, from the routine adjustment of the carburetor and ignition system to significant engine overhauls. At the other end of the scale, performance tuning of an engine can involve revisiting some of the design decisions taken at quite an early stage in the development of the engine.

Roadkill

Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been struck and killed by motor vehicles driven by humans on highways. It is important because of the loss of wild animals, road safety, and the economic impact on both drivers and road management. For this reason it has increasingly become the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how it can be mitigated. Some roadkill can also be eaten.

History

During the early 20th century, roadkill or "flat meats" (or "highway pizza") became a common sight in most industrialized First World nations, as they adopted the internal combustion engine and the automobile. One of the earliest observers of roadkill was the naturalist Joseph Grinnell, who noted in 1920: "This [roadkill] is a relatively new source of fatality; and if one were to estimate the entire mileage of such roads in the state [California], the mortality must mount into the hundreds and perhaps thousands every 24 hours."

In Europe and North America, deer are the animal most likely to cause vehicle damage. In Australia, specific actions taken to protect against the variety of animals that can damage vehicles – such as bullbars (usually known in Australia as 'roo bars', in reference to kangaroos) – indicate the Australian experience has some unique features with road kill.

Day

A day is a unit of time. In common usage, it is an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean the consecutive period of time during which the Sun is above the horizon, also known as daytime. The period of time during which the Earth completes one rotation with respect to the Sun is called a solar day.

Several definitions of this universal human concept are used according to context, need and convenience. In 1967, the second was redefined in terms of the wavelength of light, and was designated the SI base unit of time. The unit of measurement "day", redefined in 1967 as 86 400 SI seconds and symbolized d, is not an SI unit, but is accepted for use with SI. A civil day is usually also 86 400 seconds, plus or minus a possible leap second in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and, in some locations, occasionally plus or minus an hour when changing from or to daylight saving time. The word day may also refer to a day of the week or to a calendar date, as in answer to the question "On which day?" The life patterns of humans and many other species are related to Earth's solar day and the day-night cycle (see circadian rhythms).

Garage

Garage may refer to:

Vehicles

Film

Music

Other uses

Engine

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one form of energy into mechanical energy.Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines (such as steam engines), burn a fuel to create heat, which then creates a force. Electric motors convert electrical energy into mechanical motion; pneumatic motors use compressed air and others—such as clockwork motors in wind-up toys—use elastic energy. In biological systems, molecular motors, like myosins in muscles, use chemical energy to create forces and eventually motion.

Terminology

The word "engine" derives from Old French engin, from the Latin ingenium–the root of the word ingenious. Pre-industrial weapons of war, such as catapults, trebuchets and battering rams, were called "siege engines", and knowledge of how to construct them was often treated as a military secret. The word "gin", as in "cotton gin", is short for "engine". Most mechanical devices invented during the industrial revolution were described as engines—the steam engine being a notable example.