Ford and GM are working together to build a 6 speed automatic for future cars. Ford is spending 370 million and GM is spending 350 million on this joint project. There reasoning was to help keep the engineering in the USA and build a product they both need. Both car makers know this is a bridge they need to cross and rather than both companies sending the work out of the country to keep costs down they decided to work together. Lets hope it works out.
I'm way on the side of Ford and GM...... but $720,000,000.00 to develop a new product with existing technology? No wonder they are eating us alive overseas... sheesh....
On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 21:38:14 -0400, "Wayne" brought forth from the murky depths:
I salute both of them. That should make out-of-stock parts a near impossibility, too. Win/Win!
- Don't be a possum on the Information Superhighway of life. ----
Well I sure hope that they do a better job on this transmission than Ford did on the Taurus.
On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 21:59:55 -0400, "Gene Kearns" brought forth from the murky depths:
That's all new tooling and dies for hundreds of parts, plus factory reflooring, R&D time for dem high-priced enjuneerz, etc. It saves 1,100 jobs, too. Here's the article, Gene.
- Don't be a possum on the Information Superhighway of life. ----
"Gene Kearns" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Looks like a lot of money, but it really isn't, when you consider the size of the project, the expected volumes produced, and the cost of machining equipment, foundry equipment, controllers, automation, gauging, facility changes or the build of a new facility, engineering, environmental and testing. I'll bet by the time it is done, the costs come in closer to $1 billion.
--Sounds like the corporate equivalent of a gummint pork barrel. Why piss away so much money on a thing like this? Probably to avoid going down other avenues of research that would result in things like hybrid vehicles I'd guess. No sense rocking the boat, etc. Harrumph.
With the 6 speed transmission they get about 4 to 6% in fuels savings and it is a good marketing tool.
Is there something that's supposed to be technologically new about this transmission, aside from all the speeds?
Ed Huntress
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 17:57:14 GMT, "Ed Huntress" shouted from the rooftop:
Ed, this is a secret, but the truth must be told. There is no transmission. This is a ploy to divert millions of dollars to build the Ultimate Mind Control Device. This device will use cell phone towers and GPS technology to locate, isolate, and reprogram the brain of anyone whom the government deems to be a threat. Small-scale testing has already begun is rural areas of California, where odd behavior will be written off as 'normal'.
A key feature of this system is- hang on, someone's at the door. I'll be right bac "An honest man doesn't need a long memory"- Jesse Ventura
Hundreds? I hope not.
If so, it will be another over-engineered, impossibly complex, mechanics (and owners's) nightmare...
Ok, but what happens when you put it in reverse?
Ed Huntress
I saw a thing the other night on how Harley Davidson sent a team of engineers over to Porsche to design an engine (Porsche are the people using a pre-WWII Volkswagon type engine in their current hot car, so it seems like a fit.). After much self back-patting, they came up with an engine they called the "twin cam" cool, but wait, that isn't "overhead cam" just twin? Then they ran it and it wasn't powerful enough so they reworked it. When they got done it looked like a bad copy of a 1975 Jap motorcycle engine, except it wasn't overhead cam, or was it? It finally put out 116 HP, on , I forget, 2,000 cc? Of course any 1,000 cc Jap MC engine put out 120 hp twenty years ago. But good news, Edelbrock has put out a soup up kit so you can put on a new heads and carb and get a few more horses. Maybe I've got a couple of programs mixed up and the Edelbrock kit goes on a different bike. Anyway, like Clint says:"A man's got to know his limitations". Harley teaming up with Porsche to make a "state of the art" motorcycle engine made me laugh. Both have thier strengths, I happen to think that the Porsche 911 is the best mass produced sports car ever built, but engine technology? Paul
"Gene Kearns" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Actually, if it is the transmission i'm thinking of, it will be utterly simple. I read an article regarding the inventors and the transmission. They have a website:
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 18:55:45 -0400, "Gene Kearns" brought forth from the murky depths:
OK, 100. But automatic transmission overhauls have never been an owner project and always been in a specialized mechanic's realm. I know. I have a 1972 U.T.I. diploma on my wall for it. (Boy, that was another lifetime ago and I no longer toss those transmichigans around like I once could.) They took another several grand in special tools just to dis/re-assemble, too.
- Don't be a possum on the Information Superhighway of life. ----
Greetings from a rural area of California.
To prevent the mind control try this:
There's nothing revolutionary about it, but it does combine all the latest technology, fully electronically controlled, lock up torque converter, more speeds to better match the torque curves of today's smaller high output engines, etc.
They're getting 230 hp out of 1.8 litre 4 bangers, but those litte screamers are real peaky, so you need a lot of speeds to keep well up on the torque curve. I recently drove a Honda S2000. It was like a 4 wheel motorcycle, goes like hell, but you have to shift a lot to keep it up where the power is.
Gary
This seems very strange to me, and I was wondering if that was the case. I thought they were going in the opposite direction, with variable valve timing and all that.
But I drive an old piece of crap, so I have little perspective on it. Having driven a 180-hp, 1600 cc Stage III Lotus Elan on a track once upon a time, I can't imagine a peaky beast like that on the street.
The Honda probably is a lot better in that regard. The Lotus needed 2500 rpm just to stay lit at idle -- for the few seconds you could actually idle it without fluffing the plugs.
Ed Huntress
On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 22:55:56 GMT, "Ed Huntress" shouted from the rooftop:
You become Libritarian.
-Carl
"An honest man doesn't need a long memory"- Jesse Ventura
Roger Shoaf wrote: : Greetings from a rural area of California.
: To prevent the mind control try this: :
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