About the Author

About the Author

This page is primarily about my credibility. This is where one would expect to find a degree in physics or engineering along with a list of qualifications and professional experience in the automotive industry. Instead, I have a surprise. I'm formally an artist. I have a BA from a small liberal arts college with a focus on studio art. How does this qualify me as an automotive expert? It doesn't. My work experience was primarily running a metrology lab where I measured machine tools, turbine blades, and engine components with structured-light scanners. That doesn't really qualify me as an automotive expert either. My credibility is in what is presented on this site. I am entirely self-taught about cars and engines (among many other things). Engineering is something that comes naturally to me. I did not have the interest to attend an engineering school because I was much more interested in figuring it out on my own than having it spoon fed to me on a schedule. Engineering textbooks do help though. Art provides me a whole different set of challenges I enjoy. And I have mastered my own creative process. Professionally, I reinvent myself as needed.

My point here is that I'm good at what I do. My work speaks for itself. I have amassed a great deal of knowledge and understanding about automobiles and I'm providing some of that back to the public for free. My goal here is to have a comprehensive beginner's guide to understanding technologies and the engineering compromises that make up automobiles. I encourage everyone to expand their knowledge beyond this website.

I'm a curious skeptic. I want to know what's possible. I will always want to know 'what else can it do?' The best way to find out is to get my hands dirty and test my creations to the natural forces. And I encourage others to do the same. If I screw it up, I do it over until I get it right. The human mind can only make abstractions of nature. Absolute understanding of nature isn't necessary for survival. So we humans need to tinker to understand the world around us. The best way to do this is deductively. I feel the scientific method was the greatest human invention. Of course this requires belief in "cause and effect." And even then, the best we can do is simply to know something beyond a reasonable doubt.

I have made a significant effort to make this website as data-centric as possible. The focus is primarily on the data recorded, measured and calculated. It is unbiased, unlike me. My opinions and biases will seep through the text from time to time. And I won't make any apologies for it. However I will correct any incorrect data if it's pointed out to me.

My expertise is on the Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth 2.0L and 2.4L engines. However the forces of nature are universal. The forces at work in these engines are the same forces at work in any other engine. There will always be some outliers where some of the usual stuff may not apply to rotary engines, diesels, multi-displacement engines, and two stroke engines. But those will earn their own web pages on this site.