JUST TINT IT

Christmas is just around the corner and I don’t know about you but I just can’t decide what to get. There are plenty of things I could ask “Santa” for Christmas but there are also plenty of things I need. However, since it is Christmas I think I’d rather choose a want rather than a need. I’d really like to tint the windows of my car and I figured if I don’t want to spend my money I’m sure my parents, I mean Santa, can help me out.

The reason I want tint for my car is for looks. That’s why anyone in their right mind gets tinted windows, but it does actually serve a purpose. Some tint can reduce the heat in your car on a hot summer day by 78%. It also protects the interior of your care because it can block out nearly 99% of harmful UV rays that fade your dash and other interior plastics and reduces the glare. That’s helpful for me because normally when I need my sunglasses the most they’re nowhere to be found. And not to mention if you would happen to get into a wreck bad enough to where your windows shatter, the tint actually acts as a net and keeps a lot of the class together reducing your risk of further injuries you may suffer. But let’s face it, while all those are good reasons I just want it for the appearance.

Honestly, I don’t want to dark but I still want it dark. 30% is actually the legal limit in the state of Indiana but I would be willing to bet around 75% of tint is illegal. I’m shooting for about a 20-25% tint all the way around. Just enough to make it look good but not get me in trouble either. Not to mention “Santa” isn’t going to buy me 10-15% if she knows the legal limit is 30. Just in case you were wondering 25% looks like the picture above.

Fuel System

With gas prices like they are today, putting fuel into your vehicle is a topic that is on everyone’s mind. But what happens once the nozzle has been removed and the car is full of gas? You probably just get in, turn the key, and you are on your way, never truly thinking that you just put gas in the rear of the vehicle, yet the engine is in the front. Gravity is not on your side either, so how does the fuel get from the tank to burn within your engine? The fuel system is one of the most crucial parts in running an internal combustion engine.

When you put fuel into your car it builds up in your fuel tank, a big usually plastic or metal container located in the rear of the vehicle. The fuel tanks on newer cars have baffles inside of them to make sure that the fuel does not slosh around. They also have an inlet tube, outlet tube, and a vent. This vent is not venting freely into the atmosphere but instead runs through a filter and into the engine to let the vapors burn. The liquid fuel is pumped into the carburetor or fuel injectors by a fuel pump. The pump allows the fuel to be forcefully pushed through the fuel lines without running into problems like gravity pulling fuel away from the engine. There are two main types of fuel pumps, mechanical and electrical. The mechanical fuel pumps were made for the older carbureted cars, and the electrical pumps are what cars with fuel injection nowadays use. The electric fuel pumps can be low pressure or high pressure, making a huge difference when replacing them.

The fuel is pumped then towards the engine where it is turned into a vapor gas to be burned by either the carburetor or fuel injectors. If you catch my next blog I will be writing of fuel injection and carburetion.