Stuff I've seen wrong (automotive)

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NoCoast

Quote
Jens
Most of what I serviced MB, Porsche, Ferrari, Opel wasn't too bad. Every now and then I'd see something stupid, but most of those things were stupid engineering rather than poor repairs.

Stupid engineering, stupid genetics, and boring vehicles I would guess from that list.

And there you'd be guessing in the main wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Mercedes cars are usually very well engineered, and very well thought out and very high quality parts down to small things like wire connectors that are real good...not my taste in cars but they are really very good---and they do think about easing service. BMW are good at what they are supposed to be but they expect, like Porsche, frequent extensive, rigorous service where time in not an isssue mais malhueresement ---at average of $110-120/hr it is...but since their entire ethos is one of asserted superiorty and status, people will pay anything for status...

Ferrari, oh yeah some spanner-monkey is going to comment about poor engineering...

Opels, just simple solid sturdy cars.....it's too bad more guys haven't had the chance to pound on Opels, they were really well balance, strong cars with motors that had what we want: way over capacity in the motors such that nobody in USA had the budget to build one that was stressed, and with just a clear eye for conventional stuff, could make really great power, and last a long time....something to be said for cast iron....

Very amusing when I see guys who I know really are not aware of any details of construction, dimensions, source of parts, materials comment on engineering and what "the idiots " did...

Oh well there is one long fad: The Germans loved to put the fuse box in the footwell right below where the battery sat in the engine compartment.
Normal overcharge, leakage would usually eat thru the tray and.....run down onto the fuses......No problem IF the owner and mechanic would keep the thing cleaned, and painted to prevent the rust thru...but of course they didn't...The Germans expected discipline, the reality was that people weren't...sadness resulted.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quote
john vanlandingham

Quote
NoCoast

Quote
Jens
Most of what I serviced MB, Porsche, Ferrari, Opel wasn't too bad. Every now and then I'd see something stupid, but most of those things were stupid engineering rather than poor repairs.

Stupid engineering, stupid genetics, and boring vehicles I would guess from that list.

And there you'd be guessing in the main wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Mercedes cars are usually very well engineered, and very well thought out and very high quality parts down to small things like wire connectors that are real good...not my taste in cars but they are really very good---and they do think about easing service. BMW are good at what they are supposed to be but they expect, like Porsche, frequent extensive, rigorous service where time in not an isssue mais malhueresement ---at average of $110-120/hr it is...but since their entire ethos is one of asserted superiorty and status, people will pay anything for status...

Ferrari, oh yeah some spanner-monkey is going to comment about poor engineering...

Opels, just simple solid sturdy cars.....it's too bad more guys haven't had the chance to pound on Opels, they were really well balance, strong cars with motors that had what we want: way over capacity in the motors such that nobody in USA had the budget to build one that was stressed, and with just a clear eye for conventional stuff, could make really great power, and last a long time....something to be said for cast iron....

Very amusing when I see guys who I know really are not aware of any details of construction, dimensions, source of parts, materials comment on engineering and what "the idiots " did...

Oh well there is one long fad: The Germans loved to put the fuse box in the footwell right below where the battery sat in the engine compartment.
Normal overcharge, leakage would usually eat thru the tray and.....run down onto the fuses......No problem IF the owner and mechanic would keep the thing cleaned, and painted to prevent the rust thru...but of course they didn't...The Germans expected discipline, the reality was that people weren't...sadness resulted.

I agree. I think. I just got back from looking at a Merc 190E because it looked like a 2.3 Cosworth. It wasn't a Cossie so I left it in the PNP. Seemed like an okay car, though.


Just a regular autotragic 2.3. And yeah, that's the seat on the trunk. I had to move the other one to pop the hood.

It's maybe 500 yards from where the Xratty is, too.

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Why do you even need brakes? Are you some sort of pansy or something?

I own a 190e 2.3, it is my wife's daily. I love that car. Great fuel mileage, will go down the highway at 80 no problem, is comfy, and man are they sturdy little cars. I would like to find one for myself, plain 190 5spd with cloth interior. I have only seen 1 ever, and I worked at a MB BMW only shop....

Or the 190 16v Cosworth, but those are going for good money these days

Words are not required to get what happened with the first two. The second was the turbo in my Rx7 after some hard runs.

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

The third photo looks like some ROV Telemetry from the Deepwater Horizons disaster.....

WTF am I supposed to be looking at, here? It's yellow, black, and purple.

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Parfois, on fait pas semblant!

I am:
I know:
I am from:

Nobody.
Nothing.
Nowhere.

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Creech
The third photo looks like some ROV Telemetry from the Deepwater Horizons disaster.....

WTF am I supposed to be looking at, here? It's yellow, black, and purple.

At least that one I can guess is an engine bay or something.

I'm pretty sure the first is a half-dissected cockroach, and the second is a rusty outline of north dakota.

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KF7RWG
http://www.utahrallygroup.com

read the first sentence of my post! it was my turbo in the rx7. downpiped was glowing all the way under the car.

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

I still have no clue on the first two photos.
I thought the third photo was showing some poorly protected wiring and coolant hoses but were you just trying to show the glowing turbo?

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Grant Hughes

yea the glowing turbo. never seen one that hot.

the first two are oil from a camaro scraped from inside the block. was like jello

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

I saw a car some into a service years ago where the turbo was so incandescent you could *see* the turbine spinnning inside the hotside. yike

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Jay Woodward
Snohomish, WA
'90 Mazdog Frankenprotege
Chronologically, 46...

Quote
Jay
I saw a car some into a service years ago where the turbo was so incandescent you could *see* the turbine spinnning inside the hotside. yike

I've hear stuff exactly like that a dozen times..

Alway though Gee the human eye can't resolve light flickering on and off at 24 cycles a second, for sure at 60 cycles a second, can't see propellers spinning that are 10 foot diameter and only spinning 1000-2000 rpm, how can people see a turbine wheel spinning at 10, or 20 or 50,000 rpm?

Maybe I need glasses.

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

well its not like its at a standstill, you can tell its moving. Light is another story since its, well light.

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

Quote
john vanlandingham
I've hear stuff exactly like that a dozen times..

Alway though Gee the human eye can't resolve light flickering on and off at 24 cycles a second, for sure at 60 cycles a second, can't see propellers spinning that are 10 foot diameter and only spinning 1000-2000 rpm, how can people see a turbine wheel spinning at 10, or 20 or 50,000 rpm?

Maybe I need glasses.

But the real question is, what does the Ford Rally manual say about it. This one time I was up in the hinter northernlands and talking to some guy who at the time was really considered at the top of his field and was pretty much the go to guy for everyone in the area when it came to pretty much every subject and over a few beers he told me that this exact thing about windmills, they move so fast that the human eye cannot resolve the ACTUAL propellor but that doesn't mean that you can't occasionally disern A SINGLE or FLASHING of a propellor or that the propellor is ACTUALLY there.

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Grant Hughes

Quote
Gravity Fed
yea the glowing turbo. never seen one that hot.

Really?? 1400ish HP at 18lbs of boost...

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SteveL
This is the point in the killing spree when you really should turn the gun on yourself

didnt think at 200 or so they could get that hot, and stay glowing like 10 minutes later.

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023