Misc Thread VI: Return of the Threadi

[ClutchFork]

"Look, Grandpa's car still has a steering wheel!"

Funny, but ultimately a very sad story. I hope it is a lot way off before we get there.

[Rope-Pusher]

"Look, Grandpa's car still has a steering wheel!"

Funny, but ultimately a very sad story. I hope it is a lot way off before we get there.

Driver operational interfaces are tough to get just right. I'm sure there are manufacturers who would just as soon move along and get past having to spend time and money on them "if the car's just going to be driving itself anyway". I think that's the key. If lane minding or automatic emergency braking systems go down now, the driver intercedes and completes the trip. Without the availability of driver controls, a vehicle with an inoperative self driving system becomes a disabled vehicle, hopefully parked along the side of the road and not stopped in a traffic lane.

[Rope-Pusher]

TO HELL WITH EMISSIONS FINES, WRANGLER V8 COMES BACK - Autoline Daily

To hell with emission fines, Jeep is bringing the V8 Wrangler back for another year. Rated at 14 MPG combined, the Wrangler 392, the quickest and most powerful Wrangler ever made, will get a second model year thanks to “popular demand.” But it’s only bringing back the Final Edition, which has a number of upgrades and a hefty price tag and probably the real reason it’s bringing it back. The 2024 Final Edition had a starting price over $100,000, so the 2025 model should be about the same, which probably also makes it the most expensive production Wrangler ever made.

https://media.stellantisnorthamerica.co ... 5952&mid=1

[Rope-Pusher]

I painted my red 2002 Liberty as a flag using blue and white poster paints. It lookedsimilar to this one, but my stripes were straight, not wavy (at least not until I drove it in the Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise)

[Rope-Pusher]

SUPERCAR VS HYPERCAR


vs


https://www.continentalautosports.com/f ... -hypercar/

I was thinking it might be more like Gozeera vs Mecha-Gozeera,

or even something from an episode of this:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFXcirSidnY[/youtube]

[Rope-Pusher]

FAW-VW SIGN DEAL FOR HUMANOID ROBOTS - Autoline Daily
Volkswagen and its Chinese joint venture partner FAW are currently testing humanoid robots at one of their plants in China and they must have been impressed enough because they’ve signed a cooperation agreement with the company that makes them. FAW-Volkswagen and UBTECH will explore ways to integrate the robots, called Walker S, into automotive manufacturing sites. Right now they’re using it for vehicle quality inspections, but they must want to grow beyond that.

[Rope-Pusher]

It looks like they are still perfecting the automobile over at Three Pedals


Three Pedals: These guys will give your old Detroit V8 the gearbox it deserves - Autoweek

Korsower's two-pedal brake and clutch assembly is very well-engineered and sturdier than the factory single-pedal setup for an automatic. They also make a sturdy tubular crossmember for these cars that helps improve chassis stiffness. The cost of the 70-piece kit, which includes all the requisite hardware, is $8,895 and you can do it yourself (they'll help with directions). Or you can send them your car and they'll install the conversion and road-test it for about $3K.

You get a new T56 Magnum six-speed gearbox with a low 2.66 first gear, Quick Time T56 to LT1 adapter, McLeod Super Street Clutch and Flywheel, Wilwood master cylinder, Powermaster starter, Inland Empire balanced driveshaft, Motive Gear 4.10:1 ring and pinion (the old automatic rear is too high) and much more.

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/a1821 ... -deserves/

https://threepedals.com/

[IMBoring25]

Wonder why the Vic kit is set to start at 2003. I wouldn't think any of the 2003 changes would have touched anything relevant to such a kit. Seems like it should go back to at least 1998.

[Rope-Pusher]

Wonder why the Vic kit is set to start at 2003. I wouldn't think any of the 2003 changes would have touched anything relevant to such a kit. Seems like it should go back to at least 1998.

I don't know - Maybe the kit is close, but something like the transmission crossmember couldn't be 100% common.......or the axle couldn't handle dump-the-clutch impact loads if it had a set of 4:10 gears. When engine power was down, Ford probably used lighter and less robust axle housings that aren't big enough to accept large diameter pinion gears, etc.

[Rope-Pusher]

...seems tummy I came upon a lab report from when they released the Street Hemi and they had to go with a bigger differential on the Amish Hemi cars because the load coming from the driveshaft can be so much more abrupt than from a slushbox car. Eye bleef it was a Dana 60 for the Amish cars.

[Rope-Pusher]

No, I don't do the Tik-Tok or Snap-Chat things....,
but I can drive a stick,
read and write in cursive,
tell time on a clock with hands,
count back change,
parallel park,
tie shoelaces,
and do math without using a calculator

[Rope-Pusher]

In a quote from Malcolm Gladwell:

"This reminds me of a question I used for years in interviewing potential assistants: Do you know how to drive a manual transmission?"
"If you said no, you didn’t get hired. I know that sounds terribly arbitrary. But here’s my reasoning. It is not necessary to know how to drive a stick in the 21st century—particularly if you’re 22 years old. So the only people who do are those who are willing to take the time to master a marginally useful skill. Now why would a 22-year-old do that? One reason is that they like knowing how to do things that most people do not. Another is that they realize that the most fun cars in the world to drive are sports cars, and the most fun sports cars to drive are the ones with manual transmission, and they like the idea of being able to turn a rote activity (driving) into an enjoyable activity. I want to work with the kind of person who thinks both those things.... I think, in no small part, human happiness is a numbers game. The more small things in your life that you can turn from negative to neutral, or neutral to positive, the happier you are. The people who bother to learn how to drive a manual understand this. Like I said, these are the people I like to have working with me."