Beck/arnley 036-1602 Valve Cover Gasket Set on 2040-parts.com

MIT researchers rethink electric-car batteries

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say a new battery design for electric vehicles could be a lightweight and inexpensive alternative. The goal for the team's three-year project, launched in September 2010, is to have a functioning prototype ready to be engineered as a replacement for existing electric-car batteries. At this point in the project, the prototype uses a “semi-solid flow” to separate the two functions of a battery--storing energy and discharging it when needed--into separate physical structures.

MINI Coupe: The video adventure begins

MINI Coupe Adventure - if it's Wednesday, it must be Hong Kong Well, it wouldn’t be MINI without a new video to promote the MINI Coupe. Just days after we finally got the MINI Coupe sans camouflage – and with a gazillion photos to go with it – MINI are already on to the next step of the marketing buzz – the MINI Coupe video. Actually, we had a choice fo two ways to go; either a pile of fairly dull bits in lowish resolution that came in without a soundtrack, or a buzzy little viral-aimed ‘MINI Coupe Adventure’.

Build your Mini Cooper Hardtop

We suspect that your initial inclination upon the discovery of a new model's configurator is to throw gobs and gobs of equipment at a car to see just how high the price will go. After all, that's what we tend to do. It's especially satisfying with German automakers — notably Porsche and BMW — who seem to have turned option pricing into something bordering on absurdist theatre.