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Boxer engines have a low center of gravity. Great. They also have a higher-than-necessary parts count because of multiple cylinder heads, head gaskets, camshafts, etc. Not as great. Has any manufacturer ever stuck an inline engine on its side with some kind of chain or gear setup to "relocate" the output from the crankshaft in an effort to lower center of gravity? This might also help with pedestrian crash stuff. The smoothness of a boxer would be lost. The engine would be longer with the cylinders in line instead of in two co-planar banks. It sure seems like it would end up cheaper because of the overall reduced parts count.
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Jul 18, 2022 16:18
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PBCrunch posted:Has any manufacturer ever stuck an inline engine on its side with some kind of chain or gear setup to "relocate" the output from the crankshaft in an effort to lower center of gravity? This might also help with pedestrian crash stuff. Lots of inline sixes are tipped over to some extent to keep the engine lower. The Chrysler slant six of course is a famous example, but my old E46's M54 was also slanted and I'm pretty sure it's a "more often than not" thing at least in passenger car applications where hood height matters.
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Jul 18, 2022 17:18
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PBCrunch posted:Boxer engines have a low center of gravity. Great. They also have a higher-than-necessary parts count because of multiple cylinder heads, head gaskets, camshafts, etc. Not as great. Not quite but...  E: with the chain visible 
mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Jul 18, 2022 |
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Jul 18, 2022 18:07
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You'd need a full dry sump to pull it off properly and those are expensive.
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Jul 18, 2022 18:42
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McTinkerson posted:You'd need a full dry sump to pull it off properly and those are expensive. Boxer engines don't need dry sumps. At least the Subaru ones don't. I guess ultimately it will never matter because in ten years or whatever there won't be enough new cars being built with internal combustion engines that need low center of gravity.
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Jul 18, 2022 21:32
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PBCrunch posted:Boxer engines don't need dry sumps. At least the Subaru ones don't. I guess ultimately it will never matter because in ten years or whatever there won't be enough new cars being built with internal combustion engines that need low center of gravity. I don't know anything about the EJ stuff, but the Subaru FA motors have oiling problems on track and are pretty notorious for spun bearings.
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Jul 18, 2022 21:43
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How much do modern high-power density engines weigh? I have no scale of reference anymore, the 1.5L that's in the Bronco, Escape and more is apparently 200lbs total, aluminum block aluminum head, and cranking out 200hp: https://dustrunnersauto.com/ford-1-5-ecoboost/.
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Jul 18, 2022 21:55
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PBCrunch posted:Boxer engines have a low center of gravity. Great. They also have a higher-than-necessary parts count because of multiple cylinder heads, head gaskets, camshafts, etc. Not as great. Toyota Previa, tho not for the reasons you've suggested
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Jul 18, 2022 22:43
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STR posted:Believe it or not, the drive unit does have an oil filter, at least on the Model 3 and Model Y. Up until they added that filter, the drive unit(s) did need oil changes, but it was something like every 100k (and not really in any service manuals - it was just something you did if you knew about it and planned to keep the car a long time). Huh yeah 480,000 miles on the original engine sounds pretty good. That's probably equivalent to the total number of miles I've driven in my lifetime I think they've completely redesigned the drive units at least twice with different mounting points, control systems etc so they are probably "rebuilding" it however that works, as a newer model drive unit isn't plug and play Elon at one point said the newer models should hold up to over half a million miles but not sure where that statement landed years later
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Jul 19, 2022 00:54
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Not sure I would trust anything at all that would come out of that dude's mouth in any capacity
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Jul 19, 2022 01:07
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LFP batteries should have a longer lifespan but more data is better than speculation
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Jul 19, 2022 01:17
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Oh I meant that the drive unit would last half a million miles. That one guy got 480k on his first gen unit so I would imagine they've achieved that goal now And yeah lifepo4 has been in use in hospitals on all sorts of critical equipment for ~20 years now. People are pulling the batteries out of retired hospital equipment and finding they still have more than half their charge holding capacity, in a lot of cases 80%+. It's automotive use is still pretty new but seems promising, even if it's a little heavier than the lithium ion laptop batteries they started out using. Sailboat cruisers in the Bahamas can't say enough good things about them when it comes to cost per cycle and energy density
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Jul 19, 2022 01:35
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PBCrunch posted:Boxer engines don't need dry sumps. At least the Subaru ones don't. I guess ultimately it will never matter because in ten years or whatever there won't be enough new cars being built with internal combustion engines that need low center of gravity. Yeah, you could get away without a dry sump if the whole engine is designed to drain oil that way. You would need one if you took an existing casting and stuck a chain drive on the back and leaned it over, though. However, the chain drive itself is introducing a whole bunch of extra parts, and a slight hit to efficiency. And then look at what you're gaining. Even if you've flopped the engine completely on its side, all you've really gained is moving the mass of the cylinder head down a bit, and on a modern aluminum-headed I4 that's not much. Maybe in a full-on racecar you can save some frontal area while you're at it. Subaru and Porsche can justify their use of flat engines however they want, balance, low center of gravity, whatever. The truth is they're using those engines because it's what they've been building, and what their cars are designed around (for better and for worse). Even Porsche isn't fully beholden to flat engines anymore; when given rules that allow them to build whatever engine they want for a racecar, they're doing V4s and V8s. And you're right, we're at the end of the internal combustion era. The FA engine is good enough to get Subaru through to whenever they go full electric, and Porsche will eventually figure out how to sell 911 buyers on the idea of a 911 with an electric motor instead of a flat six. There's certainly no economic or product-related reason for Subaru to develop a conventional I4, or for Porsche to raid other VAG engines for 911s, Boxsters, and Caymans.
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Jul 19, 2022 01:51
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PBCrunch posted:Has any manufacturer ever stuck an inline engine on its side with some kind of chain or gear setup to "relocate" the output from the crankshaft in an effort to lower center of gravity? This might also help with pedestrian crash stuff. Peugeot used a couple of engines in the 70s/early 80s that were transverse 4cyl engines tilted back by 72 degrees. They used a set of gears to transfer power from the crank down to the gearbox which was integrated into the sump. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA-Renault_X-Type_engine I could only find a blurry diagram but it gives you the idea...  In case it's not super clear the end of the crank is the large black pulley ~2/3 of the way down on the left, and you can just about make out the gearing below it conecting it to the combined gearbox/sump. Sweevo fucked around with this message at 11:37 on Jul 19, 2022 |
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Jul 19, 2022 11:33
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VelociBacon posted:Sounds good - I forgot to mention it but I would also make a point of requesting after your initial phone call that communication be in writing (email). This lets them know you're taking this seriously and that you are prepared to take appropriate action on your behalf to ensure you aren't being led around in a circle. It sucks but this is a squeaky wheel situation and what you don't want is for your work to be put on the back burner because someone else is making more noise than you. VelociBacon posted:I don't know what country you're in but if you drive a Jeep I'm guessing you're American - I would ask to speak to the manager and explain that it's getting a bit much and that you require they send you an email in which is found an itemized list of what needs to be done, when it will be done, etc. If they give you any kind of grief I would immediately involve the better business bureau. H110Hawk posted:Do a free 15 minute lawyer consultation before you do that. Make sure you aren't leaving money on the table, though blood from a stone if the other party isn't insured. They probably also don't have any assets. Just popping in to give a heartfelt thank you for everyone who gave me pointers on this. I got the jeep back two days later after asking for a list of work. The issue turned out to be the roof panel was cracked and the part was 4-6 months out and the shop and adjuster were arguing about payment timing (shop wouldn’t order part until approved, adjuster wouldn’t approve until ordered). I managed to fight it out and they did a temporary patch of the roof and the part has been ordered. Would have been easy to figure out of the body shop or my insurance were at all communicative. But whatever. It’s done-ish And thanks a ton for the advice about the face scar. I was able to get ~$3500 for it (it’s pretty small) which I could have probably fought for more but that’s a really useful amount of money right now as opposed to a protracted fight for an uncertain amount more in the future. It would t have even occurred to me to make the claim if not for you folks so tons of appreciation
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Jul 19, 2022 17:48
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HashtagGirlboss posted:Just popping in to give a heartfelt thank you for everyone who gave me pointers on this. I got the jeep back two days later after asking for a list of work. The issue turned out to be the roof panel was cracked and the part was 4-6 months out and the shop and adjuster were arguing about payment timing (shop wouldn’t order part until approved, adjuster wouldn’t approve until ordered). I managed to fight it out and they did a temporary patch of the roof and the part has been ordered. Would have been easy to figure out of the body shop or my insurance were at all communicative. But whatever. It’s done-ish Hell yeah glad it worked out as best it could.
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Jul 19, 2022 19:12
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I have a 2017 Subaru Outback with the 3.6r motor. The other day I got a low oil level indication half a mile from home, so I finished the drive home and parked it for the night. The next morning I bought a quart of oil and then checked the oil level. It was almost exactly halfway between the full and low marks on the dipstick. I put in about half a quart to top it off, but it still strikes me as weird that I'd get a low oil indication only half a quart from full. Is this weird, or is this just a Subaru thing?
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Jul 20, 2022 01:27
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Safety Dance posted:I have a 2017 Subaru Outback with the 3.6r motor. The other day I got a low oil level indication half a mile from home, so I finished the drive home and parked it for the night. The next morning I bought a quart of oil and then checked the oil level. It was almost exactly halfway between the full and low marks on the dipstick. I put in about half a quart to top it off, but it still strikes me as weird that I'd get a low oil indication only half a quart from full. Is this weird, or is this just a Subaru thing? Getting a false signal generally means a bad sensor or a bad connection somewhere (or a broken wire). It will probably happen more and more often until it fails completely. It's tough to diagnose it while it's intermittent.
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Jul 20, 2022 01:38
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Looking for some advice or a "this is a good idea" or "that won't work": I've been dealing with erratic oil temperature and to a slightly lesser extent oil pressure issues with the K24 BRZ since I finished it. Oil temp would go from 190f at cruise to 240-260f when doing a quick wide open throttle pull in a matter of seconds, oil pressure would go from 80-ish psi to 110-120psi. After a lot of loving around I figured out there was some interference happening with the drive by wire setup and reproduced the oil temp moving with throttle while the car was off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWq5JqXJHFY Getting data from other swap people is like pulling teeth, but I finally found someone else having the same exact issue so I emailed the swap kit vendor, who told me: quote:Are you using the stock BRZ throttle body? We did extensive testing on our test car last year and didn't come across that issue. I have heard the Bosch throttle bodies may need shielding. I looked at the Toyota wiring diagram and see:  This seems to tell to me that the DBW motor wires need to be shielded together and the DBW signal wires also need to be shielded together, rather than just shielding the signal wires. I started looking at the pins and wire I will need to do this since I'll have to basically make a jumper harness by depinning the main harness, add new shielded wires with grounded, and pin the new wires into the throttle body because the harness is a raychem'd up thing (https://kpower.industries/collections/kpower-86-swap/products/kpower-86-electronics-package) After thinking about it, will shielding these 4 wires likely actually fix my issue? Is there something else I should try first? BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Jul 20, 2022 |
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Jul 20, 2022 03:51
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BlackMK4 posted:Looking for some advice or a "this is a good idea" or "that won't work": well, it seems clear that the DBW motor is causing some interference. since the stock harness is shielded, it makes sense to me to shield your swap harness similarly. i am not sure if that's the only source of noise, since you don't see a change in the oil pressure reading during your test, and the coolant temp doesnt change as much. but i would imagine the motor in the throttle body works a lot harder under load (pushing against all that air) than it does with the engine off, so there would be more current, and more interference. its possible that there are other contributors, like a bad ground somewhere, but you know you have a problem here so it makes sense to me to fix it. ive been advised before that if you're trying to keep noise inside the shielding from getting out, it's best to ground both sides of the shield. if you're trying to keep noise outside from getting in, only ground one side to avoid ground loops. i dont understand why you don't create a ground loop in the former case, but that's what i was told anyway.
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Jul 20, 2022 06:36
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DildenAnders posted:Does anyone have experience trying to fix a sloppy shifter in a 7th Gen manual civic? I tried calling a few transmission shops but they angrily told me they won't be able to get parts for a 20 year old car, and it's bugging the crap out of me. for real? Where do you live? Have you tried like a Honda-specific shop or one that works on older cars/enthusiast cars/etc? I’ve had all sorts of work done on my E36 and I’d be shocked if one of my usual places responded to an inquiry like that (that said, my shop is the sort of place that rebuilt part of my DME after water got in and shorted it rather than make me fork out an additional $500 for a replacement, so I admit that I might be speaking rather ignorantly about a special case that’s non-representative or special or whatever) Is there a Honda equivalent to FCPeuro/BavAuto/etc?
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Jul 20, 2022 08:35
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DildenAnders posted:Does anyone have experience trying to fix a sloppy shifter in a 7th Gen manual civic? I tried calling a few transmission shops but they angrily told me they won't be able to get parts for a 20 year old car, and it's bugging the crap out of me. Looks like there's one place that still makes bushings. They're an aftermarket upgrade, but.. https://www.torquesolution.com/Honda-Civic-Shifter-Bushings-p/ts-scb-507.htm
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Jul 20, 2022 11:27
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Looking for some tips when buying a used car private party from out of state. I've been looking for a particular car in good condition with relatively uncommon options, found one in good shape and low miles with everything I'm looking for (on Autotrader), but it's in Wisconsin and I'm in California. I've had a PPI done and negotiated a mutually agreeable price with the seller, and feel fine enough at this point without seeing the car personally about risk of unseen issues. So now at this point I've got a logistics issue: I'd rather not fly out there and drive it back, partially because of the hassle of getting there as it's not terribly close to a major airport and flights from here to there suck to begin with, partially because I'd rather not take that time off work or away from family, and partially because it is due for timing belt replacement, and I'd rather not risk that being an issue in the ~2000 mile drive home (it's, like, 85k miles and should be done at 80, which doesn't seem terrible? but it's also a 2005 MY and a 17 year old timing belt doesn't seem great?). The main question is: what do folks recommend for exchanging money / title / etc when shipping a car long distance that is reasonably safe and comfortable for both buyer and seller? I've suggested using escrow.com but the seller is concerned about negative reviews where sellers haven't gotten their money a month+ after the transaction. He suggested wiring him money and he overnights the title, but I have concerns about that for probably obvious reasons.
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Jul 20, 2022 15:30
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nitsuga posted:I like this website: https://www.aa1car.com/library/automotive_electrical_circuits.htm this treats me like the idiot that I am, and I appreciate it, thanks
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Jul 20, 2022 17:33
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Steve French posted:Looking for some tips when buying a used car private party from out of state. I've been looking for a particular car in good condition with relatively uncommon options, found one in good shape and low miles with everything I'm looking for (on Autotrader), but it's in Wisconsin and I'm in California. I've had a PPI done and negotiated a mutually agreeable price with the seller, and feel fine enough at this point without seeing the car personally about risk of unseen issues. Most of the time I've done exactly what he suggested, wire the money and they send the title. There is risk involved but unless you have someone local you trust or you fly up there to exchange cash for the title it's the standard way to do it.
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Jul 20, 2022 18:21
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Raluek posted:well, it seems clear that the DBW motor is causing some interference. since the stock harness is shielded, it makes sense to me to shield your swap harness similarly. i am not sure if that's the only source of noise, since you don't see a change in the oil pressure reading during your test, and the coolant temp doesnt change as much. but i would imagine the motor in the throttle body works a lot harder under load (pushing against all that air) than it does with the engine off, so there would be more current, and more interference. After talking with the vendor more they mailed me a patch harness to test out for them. We will see how it goes! I think that the oil pressure was reading 0 because the motor was off, you could see the voltage for it fluctuating in the text output though. BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Jul 20, 2022 |
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Jul 20, 2022 19:36
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Steve French posted:Looking for some tips when buying a used car private party from out of state. I've been looking for a particular car in good condition with relatively uncommon options, found one in good shape and low miles with everything I'm looking for (on Autotrader), but it's in Wisconsin and I'm in California. I've had a PPI done and negotiated a mutually agreeable price with the seller, and feel fine enough at this point without seeing the car personally about risk of unseen issues. There's actually a thread dedicated to this In my case I had the car inspected by the local brand expert, as recommended by a local car shop that was in turn recommended by a family members boss I just wired money straight to the guy after he emailed me a bill of sale. He owns a workshop and has been there for a million years, not hard to track him down. He didn't mail the title immediately but it got here before the physical car did. If it's just some guy working at best buy, might not advise this route Shipped the car, it's getting kind of expensive now, enclosed shipping is 50% more and they're picky about drop off if you don't live near a Major Metro Area
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Jul 20, 2022 20:26
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Hadlock posted:There's actually a thread dedicated to this Would you mind sharing a link to it?
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Jul 20, 2022 21:10
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This one I think https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3996026&pagenumber=1&perpage=40
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Jul 20, 2022 22:50
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Thanks for the input. I'm thinking at this point I'll make sure he emails me a bill of sale first, along with perhaps a scan of the title or some other thing that reasonably proves he is who he says he is and actually owns the car (I know he _has_ the car since he took it to the shop for the PPI appointment I booked, but I don't know that the contact info I have for him is _him_ and he actually can sign it over to me. Then I'll wire and have him send the title, and I'll arrange shipping. It'll be $$ and arguably not worth it but gently caress it, all in it won't be all that much money. Just don't want to be screwed out of the whole sum by getting scammed.
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Jul 21, 2022 01:47
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Mildly curious what happened to that cayenne SUV you found on the side of the road
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Jul 21, 2022 02:18
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Hadlock posted:Mildly curious what happened to that cayenne SUV you found on the side of the road Haha, it's still on the side of the road. I chatted further with the local shop (that I trust, have been having them do work on our RS4 for a few years now) and they knew the history and story with that particular one and warned me off it (tl;dr is that the seller worked for a wealthy family in the area who sold it to her cheap, or maybe even gave it to her, and she didn't know what she was getting into). The issues they'd already identified would have been $4500 to fix, let alone any others that cropped up after dealing with those, and I decided I don't have time/appetite for an additional DIY project on top of the Firebird. But he did help convince me to look for a first gen Touareg instead, which is what we're looking to buy here, found one with low miles, in good shape and with a locking rear diff.
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Jul 21, 2022 03:15
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Holy gently caress do not buy a rust-belt SUV and ship it to where cars aren’t rusty. That’s a world of pain.
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Jul 21, 2022 17:32
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Oh I didn't see the part about him buying a car where they spray your car in effectively acid for five months a year Yeah that seems ill advised The only car I'd buy from that region would be a garage kept convertible Tourareg(sp?) probably spent the lions share of it's time in the acid bath as a sacrificial anode for the convertible
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Jul 21, 2022 17:45
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Hadlock posted:Oh I didn't see the part about him buying a car where they spray your car in effectively acid for five months a year I can't claim to know how VW did things on that platform but my 18 year old Cayenne (same platform) that's lived it's whole life in the northeast has basically no rust because the entire body was galvanized from the factory, undercoated, the exhaust is stainless, the hardware was anodized or coated...... It's entirely possible to not have a disastrous vehicle that lives its life in salt. It's just that most manufacturers don't want to spend the money to make that happen.
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Jul 21, 2022 17:56
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Probably a good point, some cars are a lot more resilient to rust. That said…. In my experience, the rust-experienced folks have a wildly different definition of “basically no rust” from a west-coaster’s definition.
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Jul 21, 2022 18:08
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It’s also not impossible to keep a car relatively clean with regular washing and maintenance
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Jul 21, 2022 18:17
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RIP Paul Walker posted:Probably a good point, some cars are a lot more resilient to rust. Yes, some people who have no experience other than the west coast think that cosmetic rust on poo poo like rotors means the car is unsafe to drive. Here, even in the summer time, that means "it hasn't been driven in a couple days".
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Jul 21, 2022 18:51
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Check the brake and fuel lines. Hopefully it's just GM being assholes about making safety parts out of mild steel...
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Jul 21, 2022 18:54
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West coast all the way to Mexico, to the Louisiana border really There's like 80 million people in the US that would consider visible rust on a 15 year old car unacceptable, it's not an uncommon position to hold
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Jul 21, 2022 19:10
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