Why use heavy oils in gearbox?

For what it's worth, the late 40's Chrysler electro/vacuum shifted transmission used 10 weight motor oil to lubricate conventional gears.

Don Young

Absolutely. As a matter of fact, almost all of my vehicles have been without power steering -- with my favorite being the MGA which was one of my first cars.

Of course, you can get a pretty light steering from even a rather heavy vehicle with the proper amount of caster. Bot that is not much help when a heavy vehicle with wide tires is stationary -- that is when the power steering is a benefit.

O.K. That makes sense.

Probably a bit more friction loss when not being actively used. And the friction loss in the extra pulley, too.

Enjoy, DoN.

Ha-ha! Maybe. The Lucas battery in my MG Midget wouldn't start the car at temperatures below 10 deg. F when it was new. Maybe they build their central heating the same way.

-- Ed Huntress

I suppose it a matter of priorities: Weak batteries, strong beer, whereas in the US...:-)

Tom

This busines of 35mpg is quite simple to acieve.

The technology is there, It needs a tax? incentive for the car MFG's to change their design references. So lets look at these.

1. a steady state speed on a straight level road, take any one it doesnt matter. the energy needed to keep the car at this speed is equal to the drag. this is from several areas. rolling resistance, engine/transmission friction losses, engine efficiency aerodynamic drag. Each one can be optimised with current technology.

Next,

1. accelerating from one speed to another, this could be from 0mph to

The former is in the control of the driver and the second is again in the hands of the maker..

So if you want to optimise your car for maximum miles per gallon it will need to be

very light, all aluminium , composite construction very aerodynamic very low rolling resistance, no soft sqiggy tyres ie throw away your fancy wide fashion statment tyres and run on the old design michelin"X" as made in the 1960's super effient turbocharged common rail pulsed fuel injection diesel aka VW polo or Smart car all aluminium engine transmission castings, lightweight glass in windows,

made in 2 seat tandem configuration , as well as 4 seat and larger.

With these specs I predict at a steady state speed of 70 mph a mpg on US gallon of over 70. with current technology, Give me the authority and funding and ill have one ready for mass priduction for you in 24 months.

Any takers? Ted Frater Dorset UK.

Ed,

If by shear strength, you mean viscosity, then ATF might be quite viscous in low temperatures mentioned elsewhere in the thread. Or, are you thinking of shear thinning or other non-Newtonian/viscoelastic phenomena?

Bill

Now the next question, will the occupants survive a collision with anything larger than an opossum?

Gunner

I don't get it: it sounds like you are exceeding that now?? Just curious how silly they are getting.

No offense to you, I keep hoping that they will finally cause a local economic meltdown and _maybe_ the rest of the country will wake the hell up before it's too late (if it's not already).

Bill

Wes,

That's a depressing thought, efficiency wise :(

Hey, watch it! :) My 90 Sentra does not have power steering, and its fine. My 96 F150 has power steering. Returning home from work involves getting the dog out of the garage and then putting the car into it. The driveway slopes, and I quickly realized that I did not need to crank the car for the trip. I once tried something similar with the truck, and found all the power stuff to be almost essential to "put it where I wanted it." Granted, that was not at highway speed, but whatever would replace it would have to be more friendly should the assist fail.

I have no idea. The electric idea seems reasonable, provided it is a fail-safe assist and not "crash by wire."

Bill

point taken, lets go back a bit, I was lucky to get my engineering training in aviation aircraft structures, So im aware of the bird strike risks as well as the automotive collision risks.

We have a serious deer problem here in the UK, the overall nos have trippled over the past 30 yrs and deer strikes are a weekly occourence here in this part of the UK makes quite a mess of the front of the car as Ive had it happen to me!!!!. modern design techniques and constructions will give the energy absorbing reqirements of the statutory crash tests. So it can be done. It depends on whar risk assessment has been made, and what are the statistics?

Compliments of the season anyway,

Ted

Might cost quite a bit tho. Ted

Would have been great when I was commuting to work. But now I need something that will carry stuff. Not a great deal of stuff, but at least a 500 kilos.

What I think is needed is driver insurance, instead of car insurance. If I could buy driver insurance, I would have a small coupe in addition to the truck. Can't drive but one at a time, but the insurance is per vehicle, not per user.

Dan

They have something of a deer problem in the US as well. My mother had a Chevy Impala written off by a collision with a dear in the late 1970s, IIRC that was a good sized car.

Nobody yet has mentioned the various tests showing that occupants of large 4x4 or vehicles with chsssis often end up with more severe injuries than the occupants of the passenger vehicles they collide with due to the higher decceleration rates resulting from the lack of significant energy absorbing structures in the 4x4, pickup etc. While the passenger car might be a write off and the larger vehicle not damaged much the larger vehicle occupants may suffer far more severe injuries than those in the passenger car.

I don't think ATF is viscous at any reasonable temperatures, Bill. Somebody mentioned that it forms a chemical film and that rings a bell with me.

I'm not a tribology expert but when I was studying gears the lubricant properties differentiated high-pressure capability and shear strength. Shear strength apparently is a property by which oil can take sliding loads, as in a hypoid gear, without the film breaking down. I've always thought that high-pressure lubricants can take a high static pressure but not, necessarily, high shear loads.

But, like many other things having to do with engineering, I studied that a very long time ago.

-- Ed Huntress

What you want is insurance built into the cost of fuel. Everyone is insured, and if you don't drive much it doesn't cost much.

Ted Frater wrote in news:gZobj.28468$jy3.13195 @newsfe7-win.ntli.net:

The Loremo is scheduled to be on the market in 2009, getting over 100 MPG (US), and seat 4.

At what price?

One assumes, that along with fox hunting...they managed to ban deer hunting as well?

Or do they remain the property of the King?

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the s*it out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Our farm stead/home is isolated on the edge of a 6000 acre conifer plantaion, which is owned by the Repstone estate trust. The main trust beneficiary is the manor of Wareham, a local small town. The hereditary owner of that is the local lord , not called as such. the deer are his property, not the crown's as elsewhere.

we are only allowed to shoot then IF the become a nuisance on our land. not in the surrounding woods and heath land.

The do come into the garden and eat my wife's rose bushes. As such we prefer to let be and see them, rather than shoot them. Our local South dorset Hunt still meet thoroughout the winter and chase an imaginary fox. These are becoming a serious pest because the former control is no longer there. they have moved into urban areas and specialise in tearing open refuse sacks and scattering the contents everywhere. We dont have refuse as such, only bottles and tins to dispose of. There we take to our local recycling center in exchange we collect all the thick chip board as fuel for our wood burners. Its much better than wood from the forest as its verly low moisture content, consistent, and free. We cut it to size on a tractor driven 25hp saw bench. How the poor live!!. We dont have any main services from anyone, providing all our own. Pays to be independent!!!. Hope this answers your questions Ted Dorset UK.

That depends upon the model.

gives 2 prices depending upon the model.

Since the prices are in Euros, there's no telling what the actual price will be IF the car is allowed into the US.