Response

Failing Monitor

i have made and installed single led loop monitors on two 97 miatas and they both work well for only a couple of days. i am very sure of my connections. the ic's are damaged and when i replaced  the lm311 they both work again but again only for a couple of days. it seems something's wrong with the circuit design. i hope you could help me on this. thanks.

Archie
Philippines

The circuit is the simplest possible and so it is not protected against voltage spikes, etc. If you are continually having problems we suggest that you instead build the Smart Mixture Meter and if required mount just one of the orange display LEDs on the dashboard.

Diffs

I was just searching through the old issues and couldn't find any articles about differentials and the types of traction aiding devices available. This may be because I haven't used the google search function correctly (I could not work out how to make it genre specific like the old search function), if this is the case please let me know. Otherwise it might be an idea to do an article on this, explaining the different types of LSD's (viscous, mechanical, 1way, 1.5way ect.),locked diffs (mini spools, welded diffs) and ratcheting diffs (lokka's ect.) How the devices work and more importantly how the car behaves, both  pro's and con's would be great. Also an article on older cars with character (late 70's to late 80's) particularly the euro's might be something worth looking into, dedicating an entire article to one of these cars might be pointless but maybe having a 2 or 3 part series with old BMW's, Merc's, Alfa's, Jag's ect.

Anton
Australia

Test

Great to see back the new car tests in all their informative prose.  Would it be possible for the team to do a test on a Toyota Aurion. Although I do not own this model, I think it is the best family car ever produced for the Australian car market.

Martin Wollaston
Australia