Historical or useless car facts.
Discussion
Dracoro said:
mchammer89 said:
Dracoro said:
Strawman said:
The main/dipped switch for the headlights (IIRC). Handy if you are cornering on a twisty road with main beams on and someone comes around a corner against you, you don't have to take your hands off the wheel.
Hang on, just re-read that.What car requires you to take your hands OFF the wheel to dip the headlights? I think EVERY car I've ever driven, the stalks can be operated without removing hands from the wheel, that's why they're placed where they are!
I bet the IAM have something to say about they, you should be "shuffling" your hands when turning and never have them at top/bottom Really though, it's never been a problem, shuffle hands a little and flip the stalk. You should be able to do this whilst smooth cornering with ease.
I just found an old historical Chrysler report on the original 1960s Dodge Hemi- an engineering development report with power and torque curves and other dyno data.
In it I found out that the old Chrysler Hemi makes a Peak Volumetric Efficiency of 90% at 4800 rpm
(compare that with:
BMW S54= 107%
Honda S2000= 120%
Jaguar AJ27 V8 4 litre= 96%)
and has a best point fuel consumption of
255-260 g/KWH (0.42 lbs/hp-hr)
I was expecting in the 300s!
This astonished me the most: The crankshaft bearings are over sized- so you'd expect friction to be high, the engine has dual four barrel carburation, not fuel injection, distribution is bad so you'd be limited by your worst cylinder, the 10-90 burn duration is likely to be very slow with 36 deg all out ignition advance requirement. On the other hand the fuel atomisation is likely to be good- as it often was with carbs and the engine was probably allowed to run lean as it didn't have to meet stupid emissions regs via catalytic converters (8% benefit).
The best port injected modern engines make around 235 g/KWH (BMW S54 M3), an average to good one may be 240-250 g/KWh.
In it I found out that the old Chrysler Hemi makes a Peak Volumetric Efficiency of 90% at 4800 rpm
(compare that with:
BMW S54= 107%
Honda S2000= 120%
Jaguar AJ27 V8 4 litre= 96%)
and has a best point fuel consumption of
255-260 g/KWH (0.42 lbs/hp-hr)
I was expecting in the 300s!
This astonished me the most: The crankshaft bearings are over sized- so you'd expect friction to be high, the engine has dual four barrel carburation, not fuel injection, distribution is bad so you'd be limited by your worst cylinder, the 10-90 burn duration is likely to be very slow with 36 deg all out ignition advance requirement. On the other hand the fuel atomisation is likely to be good- as it often was with carbs and the engine was probably allowed to run lean as it didn't have to meet stupid emissions regs via catalytic converters (8% benefit).
The best port injected modern engines make around 235 g/KWH (BMW S54 M3), an average to good one may be 240-250 g/KWh.
deevlash said:
are those bad figures for the time?
I...don't know, I'll have to see if I can dig out some figures for an old Porsche 911 engine, a Jaguar XK or a BMW M30 6 cylinder.I'd imagine the BMW M30 'big 6' to be one of the best- as they kept it and evolved it into the 1990s.
It just goes to show how little petrol engines have progressed compared to diesel engines in terms of efficiency
Marquis_Rex said:
deevlash said:
are those bad figures for the time?
I...don't know, I'll have to see if I can dig out some figures for an old Porsche 911 engine, a Jaguar XK or a BMW M30 6 cylinder.I'd imagine the BMW M30 'big 6' to be one of the best- as they kept it and evolved it into the 1990s.
It just goes to show how little petrol engines have progressed compared to diesel engines in terms of efficiency
I wonder what the figures for the Lambo v12 are? Its been around for yonks.
BigBen said:
Futuramic said:
tali1 said:
Nissan Primera was first car in its class with ABS standard across range.
I disagree! Here's why. The Mk3 Granada, introduced somewhere between '86 and '87, I'm sure I've seen rough ones on the D and perhaps C, was the first family car to have ABS as standard across the range. Ford in the mid eighties had a fixation with the system, even going as far as to fit a mechnical setup to top spec Fiestas and Orions which were bereft of engine management computers. The mechanical ABS, if a fault developed, became a Satanic killing machine prone to releasing brake pressure during emergency stops. The Granada though, didn't have it.Edited by tali1 on Friday 26th September 20:52
Edited by tali1 on Monday 6th October 19:38
The Mk3 Granada had a full blown ECU that ran the ABS, as well as injecing fuel into the twin-cam engines and controlling the cat. With the added, tasty, ingredient of the MT75 gearbox the Mk3 was a thoroughly modern car indeed.
The Nissan Primera was designed in about 1988. Prototypes were running by '89 and serious hatchback and saloon production began by the Tyne in 1990-ish. The estates were imported fully made up from Japan. There was some advancement over the older, cheaper and quite possibly superior and better looking Bluebird. 16 valve engines were standardised and both outside and interior were restyled in the definitively bland fashion of the nineties.
Octav Botnar wasn't happy. The Bluebird had an unrivalled reputation for toughness and durability; it may not have handled or performed but it lasted. Good quality steel and ruged drivetrains elevated it into the Volvo class of longevity. These things, loved by customers, were cheap. The much more advanced Primera was far more expensive. Not wishing to lose the Bluebird's audience the Primera was made more cheaply, and not as well.
There was also an absolute poverty specification 1.6 in the initial lineup. This had a carb feeding the 16 valve unit, not catalyst and of course, no ABS.
Ben
) had that mechanical ABS, even down to my mum's 1.3 Popular. 
</anorak attack>Dunno if it's been said, but in 1916 something like 60% of all cars in the world were Ford Model T's
Polarbert said:
TheKeyboardDemon said:
I really like finding out about bits of info that have no real value other than to add a 'did you know' factor when I can't think of anything else to talk about, so I wondered if any of you guys had some bits I might like to read about.
For example:
I was told by a Mercedes enthusiast that the Mercedes logo uses the 3 lines to represents 3 times and the circle represents the world, so a properly serviced Merc should be able to go 3 times round the world or do the equivalent mileage.
Another Example:
The BMW logo came from BMW's historical past where they used to make propeller engines for war planes, the white represents clouds, the blue for the sky, the lines between represent the propeller and the circle for the shape made when the blades are turning.
It would be great to find out things like how your favourite manufacturer got to be called what their called, ie Ford was named after Henry Ford, Firestone Tyres after Harvey Firestone (who incidently had in his circle of friends Thomas Edison and Henry Ford) or things like something that they did before anyone else, ie mass produced cars or invented pneumatic tyres etc...
Thomas Edison nicked the idea of the lightbulb off an English bloke.For example:
I was told by a Mercedes enthusiast that the Mercedes logo uses the 3 lines to represents 3 times and the circle represents the world, so a properly serviced Merc should be able to go 3 times round the world or do the equivalent mileage.
Another Example:
The BMW logo came from BMW's historical past where they used to make propeller engines for war planes, the white represents clouds, the blue for the sky, the lines between represent the propeller and the circle for the shape made when the blades are turning.
It would be great to find out things like how your favourite manufacturer got to be called what their called, ie Ford was named after Henry Ford, Firestone Tyres after Harvey Firestone (who incidently had in his circle of friends Thomas Edison and Henry Ford) or things like something that they did before anyone else, ie mass produced cars or invented pneumatic tyres etc...
In North America, parallel developments were taking place. On July 24, 1874 a Canadian patent was filed by a Toronto medical electrician named Henry Woodward and a colleague Mathew Evans. They built their lamps with different sizes and shapes of carbon rods held between electrodes in glass cylinders filled with nitrogen. Woodward and Evans attempted to commercialize their lamp, but were unsuccessful. They ended up selling their patent (U.S. Patent 0,181,613) to Thomas Edison in 1879
Fer said:
LuS1fer said:
Fer said:
Negative Creep said:
The B11 Nissan Sunny has a stopwatch as standard
The 2CV had a calendar to measure the 0 to 60 times.Regards
Iain
Fer said:
LuS1fer said:
Fer said:
Negative Creep said:
The B11 Nissan Sunny has a stopwatch as standard
The 2CV had a calendar to measure the 0 to 60 times.Pigeon said:
Fer said:
LuS1fer said:
Fer said:
Negative Creep said:
The B11 Nissan Sunny has a stopwatch as standard
The 2CV had a calendar to measure the 0 to 60 times.
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