Yeah, that was most likely it.

Saw an audi suv at the hardware store not to long ago. The thing that surprised me was that the back opened and took the tail lights with it. The entire back was an opening, as wide as the vehicle. Not sure which model it was, or how that was accomplished. 

My phone doesn't want to play video, but the gif pretty clearly shows an electric gear motor/actuator. You can see the wires running out of it. 

1. They care, but to a lesser degree.

Apologies I missed that part. I assumed the conversation was about all the bushings, including those on the control arms.

Beware of messing with suspension components yourself. There are big springs there, they can be under tension, and they can fly off and take off the face of someone not careful.

I thought it had something to do with performance myself. Straight pipes are not the key to good horsepower. For good performance, you need tuning. Sport bike people care about power. HD people often do not.

I bet the Harley Davidson trump train edition would sell. For a while at least. 

There is an interesting comparison there. Replacing exhaust isn't uncommon in the automotive or motorcycle world. I'd guess that the rates of sport bikes with after market exhaust are roughly similar to HD. But while those exhausts are much louder than stock, they typically still have mufflers and appear to not be as…

Well, lets do some math. Lets assume peak combustion pressure is at TDC, and exhaust valve opens all the way at BDC. 1,000 psi peak combustion pressure, 9.0:1 compression ratio, 1.25" dia valve.

In industrial (linear) applications pneumatics are cheap, and the very easy to implement and maintain, Hydraulics are powerful but slow, and magnetic actuators are fast and precisely controlled, but very weak.

I thought the real killer of magnetic valves is that the exhaust have to be open against very high pressures, requiring extremely high forces. I wondered if one solution was to have a semi magnetic, where you have an exhaust cam of a very short duration that starts the valve opening, but the lift duration and…

I think whomever buys this is very far removed from an average jalopnik reader.

Component reliability isn’t some factor that exists in isolation. It is dependent on the environment and forces it is forced to operate in. A 90's kia will be perfectly “reliable” if kept in an air conditioned nitrogen bubbles in a museum. Most cars have a very hard time with a 24 hour race.

1. I’m not upset. There are better things to get upset about.

Nope. I think the rest of the car will rust/rot/crack/burn around a perfectly running motor (unless something happens to the cooling system)

I’m saying it can’t double as wildly impractical daily driver even when owned by a most determined sort of maniac of better than average means.

Do you mean the comment?

There is a lot in a car that isn’t the engine.

For 2 months at most.