Jay Gaulard Blog

Saving Water, Electricity, Honda Civic, Solar and the Prius

Monday, June 16th, 2008

Seven Ways to Save Energy by Saving Water

Though many states and localities are waking up to their water shortages and taking steps to plan for “peak water”, people generally continue to waste water and to ignore the energy-water link.

New Material Absorbs Light Completely And Generates Electric

A partnership between Duke University and Boston College turned out to be very beneficial for the science world, as they obtained a metamaterial that absorbs all the light it gets (yes, it becomes invisible) and that is supposed to generate energy more efficiently than the solar cells.

Civic Outsells F-150 for First Time Ever

Go little Civic, go!

How To Heat Up Solar

It seems incredible then that the U.S. Senate has again failed to pass a bill that would extend solar tax credits to build new power plants.

Prius is Now the Most Searched New Car on Cars.com

Cars.com has announced that for the first time ever, the Toyota Prius has become the most searched for new vehicle on the popular vehicle classifieds site — surpassing long time favorites such as the Accord and Camry. The Prius first appeared in the top 10 most searched vehicles list last summer.

Car Parked in the Garage

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

I can definitely see how people’s garages get full of stuff. I mean, it’s like a playpen in there. Right now, I have all sorts of tools and shelves…old mailboxes, you name it. The last thing I want to do is organize it to make space for a car. Well, when Winter comes, I am definitely going to do that.

The other day, I discovered a squirrel living under the hood of my car. I also discovered some mouse droppings in there as well. Can you believe it? The car has about 4,500 miles on it and this happens. I decided that it would be a good time to see if both the cars fit in the garage. A few nights were a bit cool and the vermin may have been looking for a place to snuggle. Well, this would throw them off the “under the hood scent.”

I got both of them in there, but there really wasn’t that much room to take a photo. The one above is the best I was able to get.

Laura’s car is still in there. She hasn’t driven it since we got here, which is good for her wallet…or purse…whatever.

Biodiesel, Brains, Hybrids and Vista

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Top 15 Unexpected Uses For Biodiesel

While virtually everyone is familiar with the use of biodiesel as a substitute for diesel fuel, there are a few novel uses that may not have crossed your radar. Biodiesel can produce hydrogen, clean up oil spills, degrease your tools, heat your home, and more.

Does the Human Brain Possess Potential Super-Powers?

Some of the most incredible minds on Earth lack the ability to filter irrelevant facts and can retain information at incredible rates. Somehow their brains are able to store & access incredible loads of info, even perceiving & relating to this info in an entirely different way. Some scientists even believe that our brains could possess super-power.

Top 10 2008 Hybrids

Hybrid rankings have often been simplistic: Most are little more than lists of the highest-mileage models on the market. Here, we ranked hybrids based on how much fuel savings they get when compared to their non-hybrid version, as well as how much all that saved gas is going to cost you.

Vista SP1: Threat or Menace?

But given how customers who have upgraded from XP have struggled with driver and application incompatibilities, it’s no surprise that many are gun-shy of the latest update.

Paint on Solar Power!

The idea is to coat every piece of steel cladding with a solar cell paint. As steel is passed through the rollers multiple coatings of of the solar cell system are applied to it. Based on the preliminary research, the materials that are being applied are suited to capturing low level solar radiation, which means that they should work just as well.

I Passed 1000 Miles

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

The other day, during our Connecticut trip, I passed the 1000 mile mark in my almost new car.

I was wondering when this was going to happen, since it’s been a while. I think I’m doing pretty well, considering I bought the car on January 3rd and hit 1000 miles on March 3rd. That’s about 500 miles per month. Not bad for saving gas.

Magellan Maestro 4000 GPS Navigation

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

If anyone remembers what I said back a few months ago about getting a new car, it was that I really wanted GPS navigation. Well, with the car I got, if I had added the GPS navigation, it would’ve raised the price around $5000. Now, I wanted the GPS, but I’m no fool.

Since I got the new car without the GPS, I still had this thing nagging me in the back of my mind. For the past few weeks, I have doing a little research. I found a pretty good GPS system for a good price. I bought the Magellan Maestro 4000 GPS Navigation. I initially found this model on Circuit City’s website for $399. It was on sale for $349 and then on sale again for $329. I thought that was a pretty good price, until I looked on Buy.com and found it for $229.88. That’s about $100 less. What is that about? Anyway, the GPS arrived yesterday.

I have to say, GPS is just about the coolest thing out there. I really didn’t think it was going to be this freakin’ cool. I did a little driving around with it yesterday. After I put an address in it, the little box on my dashboard would talk to me. Now, remember that I have never used one of these things before, so I am still in awe. I can’t wait to try to get lost…it won’t let you.

There are a few reasons why I decided to get this model. One was the price. For the 4.3″ screen, the price was lower than a bunch of other ones. Another was the way the maps look. I don’t like those “cartoony” maps that many other brands use. Also, the ratings were ok. The lower ratings came from those weird tech people who look into every feature something has. I usually use about two features out of one hundred. I think this model was a good choice.

Refueling For the First Time

Friday, January 25th, 2008

I don’t know how many people I told this to in the past for weeks…”I got this car on January 3 and I still have a quarter tank.” I guess I met my goal of not driving much. It does feel good to not know what the gas prices are anymore.

Well, I have bad news. The two trips to Lowe’s today forced me to put some gas in the car for the first time. I think gas is around $3.17 per gallon for the cheap stuff, if you can call it that. There are about 450 miles on the car right now and it has an 18 gallon tank. If my math is correct, I am getting around 25 miles to the gallon. That’s not bad for a full sized V6, considering I have done very little highway driving.

They sure don’t make cars like they used to…thankfully.

Honda Accord, Modulo, Civic and Not a Hybrid

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

2008 Honda Accord Review (Test Drive)

A hands on review of the newly redesigned 2008 Honda Accord. A full test drive based review!

Modulo 2008 Honda Inspire / Accord

Since the announced of 2008 Honda Inspire/Accord. Many of the Honda specialized tuner take their opportunity to show off their capability. After Muger now presenting to you is the Access, one of the tuner show out in 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon.

Civic Hybrid vs. Prius

Road Test: 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid vs. 2006 Toyota Prius & 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid vs. 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid

The fall of the Honda Accord - Who is on Top now?

See the top rated family sedans from Consumer Reports. The Honda Accord has finally fallen from its #1 spot. Who tops the 2008 list of sedans?

HONDA ACCORD HITS THE BIG 3-0!

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Honda Accord in the UK. Over the past four decades, more than 15,800,000 units have been sold across the globe, making it one of the most popular cars in the world.

A Honda that will get 62.8 MPG and is not a hybrid!

Feast your eyes on this, car technology and high-mileage nuts. It’s a Honda Accord that runs on diesel. It gets 62.8 miles a gallon on the highway, but otherwise looks and feels like a regular Accord.

Saab, Ford Mustang, Toyota and Corvette

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Foreign press leaks pics of New Saab SUV concept car

Saab’s putting out a new small SUV to compete with the BMW X3 and Land Rover LR2 Freelander. It’s called the 9-4X, and a prototype will be shown at the Detroit Auto show next week. The first pics hit the web ahead of schedule. Not bad looking, but does the world need another small SUV?

2010 Ford Mustang GT spied, sporting GT500 wheels?

Jalopnik was the first to bring you pictures of a heavily camouflaged 2010 Ford Mustang and now they’re going up-powered. They’re the first to bring pictures of a similarly camouflaged 2010 Ford Mustang GT…and it appears to be sporting GT500 wheels.

Toyota reveals A-BAT El Camino-like concept pickup truck

It’s a truck-car from Toyota that looks like it was formed via a menage-a-truck between the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevy Avalanche and a Toyota Prius.

Exploding the new Corvette ZR1’s LS9 engine

An exploded view of the 620+ HP supercharged LS9 engine from the newly revealed 2009 Corvette ZR1 just to show how it ticks. Here’s every single part in the engine — in detail — for all to see.

5 Things you need to know about the new Corvette ZR1

This cocktail party cheat sheet might come in handy this week. Among the weirder things: the Ferrari Enzo’s front brakes are the new Corvette’s rear brakes, and a special paint coating for the roof cost GM over $60,000 per gallon.

My New Sony Hanycam

Saturday, January 5th, 2008

I went out today to give my new Sony Handycam Camcorder a try. I have mad skillz and I know how to use them. I decided that a look at the engine of the new car would be cool as well as a drive down the road. I had to go drop off some clothes at the clothing drop anyway, so it was a good excuse to use the camera.

As you know, I have been putting some videos on YouTube. My Honda Accord videos have been getting quite a few views. I guess people out there are interested in the new body style. Get this - some little 19 year old posted a comment on one of my videos stating that the car I posted a video on wasn’t really an “EX” or a “V6.” Ok, then…just for him, I took some video of the engine…

…and this is me trying out the camera while driving down the road…

351 Cleveland Engine Block - Ford Mustang Mach 1

Friday, January 4th, 2008

Hey, remember that time I wrote a post about Jeff’s 1970 351 Cleveland engine rebuild in his Ford Mustang Mach 1? Yeah, those were the good old days, weren’t they? Man oh man…

Oh well. Anyway, he got the engine block back from the machine shop with a pretty little bow on it. I just love stuff when it comes back from the machine shop. In goes some dirty piece of metal and a dream and out comes a new looking and shiny piece of metal. I can understand how some people wouldn’t care too much about an engine block, but c’mon, go rebuild one yourself and tell me if you don’t care after that. It’s quite an experience.

Blah, blah, blah…ok, to the pictures…

These two photos are of the engine block after it was returned from the machine shop. Ooohhh, how nice. Do you remember what it looked like? Here’s a reminder.

These are the new camshaft bearings that were pressed in.

These are some before and after photos of the crankshaft bearing caps.

This is a before and after picture of a piston and rod. Pretty cool, huh? Of course, the engine won’t stay this color. It’s going to get painted, so we’ll have to wait to see what that looks like.