I agree. My projects list continues to build, I suspect it is at least 5 years worth.
For me, I enjoy expanding my repertoire, recently adding stained glass, laser CNC, and wood steam bending to my growing skill set. (well, perhaps "skill" is too big a word...perhaps "attempts" would be more suitable)..😉
Happy New Year
John
I came to the realization that what I do for a living, indirectly, can affect the lives of so many by advancing the technology. I may not understand the science and tech of the researchers, but if my contribution can help save the lives of loved ones, I can be comfortable with that... I have been on the wrong end of that, and do not wish anybody see that path.
John
Hi Ed,
As a card carrying STLE tribologist/lubrication engineer for the ZPlus company I wrote a series of white papers on this topic: https://zddplus.com/how-it-works/
Tribologists/lubrication engineers in general are a hybrid between a chemical engineer and physicist, and tribology is totally fascinating but lacks the artistic aspect audio engineering has as a bonus to the technical work. PCEO (Passenger Car Engine Oil) is a deep topic, and I wrote the first couple of Tech Briefs with a salesman hanging over my shoulder...after he got bored and stopped hanging around my office I wrote the more technical next 13. My target audience was classic and high-performance engine builders as well as commercial engine builders. At one point we were even supplying the ZDDP additive I formulated to Exxon and other oil companies which seemed odd, but in reality we were shipping it to the field engineers who kept the natural gas compression engines running along the pipelines. These engines burned natural gas and run compressors to speed the natural gas along down the pipes...
Happy new year!
Howie
Howie,
One of my secrets in maintaining my bronze bearing machine tools is using an additive to keep the bearings from leaking as they get older and wear.
The machines were designed before “synthetics” became available. So they typically had a 20 year or less service life even with oiling every shift.
Replacing my 25 year old turret punch is $225,000!
I learned a bit about lubrication while racing gravity powered “buggies.” I perused the applicable technical journals in the school
https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2021/april/buggy.html
The open secret was to heat the rubber tires to reduce hysteresis loses.
One of my secrets in maintaining my bronze bearing machine tools is using an additive to keep the bearings from leaking as they get older and wear.
The machines were designed before “synthetics” became available. So they typically had a 20 year or less service life even with oiling every shift.
Replacing my 25 year old turret punch is $225,000!
I learned a bit about lubrication while racing gravity powered “buggies.” I perused the applicable technical journals in the school
https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2021/april/buggy.html
The open secret was to heat the rubber tires to reduce hysteresis loses.
Wife's Sister has one of these. She absolutely loves it. If I had a roon setup with a dedicated tablet front end I could see that being the core of a sensible living room system. So not for this dinosaur 😀
On oil, the leakiest engine ever made was of course the Buick 215 which Rover bought and turned into the 3.5L V8 used in many land/range rovers over the years. It was old enough to have a rope seal for the front crankshaft seal. Over time the story goes that the crud made a made a better seal than the rope. Some silly owners tried using modern oils with a good detergent pack in which removed the crud and caused incontinent engines everywhere. of course as the joke goes you can tell when a land rover* is out of oil as it stops leaking.
*Insert name of any BL car from about 1960 to 1980.
*Insert name of any BL car from about 1960 to 1980.
Wow Bill, another slagging off of our engineering heritage. land/range rovers (should capitals be used?} Easy to criticise, what have you done engineering wise to justify your expertease?
Keep being big Bill, the tour of Rega is extinct......
Insert:
E-Type
PS,
The critical piece of information here is "good detergent pack." The main route to degradation of oil is chemical reaction with other elements especially at elevated temperatures, and to that end hydrofinishing of base stocks to ensure very few free ionic bonding sites on the base fluid has become a well defined practice. Synthetics by nature (especially PAO) can be made extremely non-ionic, making them highly unreactive and stable. It is the calcium or other ionic based detergents which react with ionic deposits and "clean up sludge.," The urban myth of synthetic not binding to metal has truth in that the early synthetics (Amsoil especially) had insufficient ionic additives to ensure proper adhesion which led to more rapid wear of metal-to-metal interfaces. This was quickly realized and the additive packages modified to correct this inadequacy. Additionally this lack of ionic solvency of early synthetics caused a shrinking of seals which was quickly rectified by the boosted ionic additive package, indeed the modern synthetics can and are engineered with superior solvency for elastomers (ASTM D4289).
However, in the long-memory of older mechanics synthetic will always be inferior and cause leaks...
Happy new year all!
Howie
Noted, I was just agreeing with your assessment that the detergent was the factor causing sludge loosening... But here in the US, most BL engines never sludge up...it is hard for yard art to sludge ...(ducks and runs...)
Cheers & HNY!
I do wonder if half the problem with these old dog V8s is that, once they start using a quart of oil every 1000 miles or so people stop doing an oil change as they figure they are adding the same amount over time and you get spectacular build ups of goop in the sump pan that the oil pump then heroically distributes round the engine.
I believe you are correct, I have even heard people say just that! After a while the filter sludges up, the bypass valve opens and voila! Sludge and bits of metal and all else circulate freely, scoring bearings, wiping cams out and causing sludge everywhere.... I rebuilt a Chevy 283 for a Nova project and the one I pulled out of the salvage yard looked like a round black ball...the valley between the heads and under the valley pan was literally full of goop. It took me days to clean it off to where I could see spark plug wires and take it apart. I built it back stock and installed it in a fully restored 1967 Chevy II, I got 95% at a classic car show...I loved that car until Hurricane Fran dropped a huge poplar tree on it in 1996...it was my daughter's favorite car...it looked as good as this one:
Cheers!
Howie
The Jaguar V12 engine of the 70's and 80's used a rope seal at the rear of the crankshaft. I nut and bolt level rebuilt mine, and borrowed the specialist assembly tools from a very friendly local Jag dealer and service centre. Including the gizmo that pushed the rope seal (two halves of it - one in the block and one in the rear cap) into place. The two halves had a bead of hylomar between them to seal the gaps. Daft arrangement.
Even after all that it still marked its territory from that darned seal. Nothing like as bad as it used to before rebuild, but still not perfect.
Even after all that it still marked its territory from that darned seal. Nothing like as bad as it used to before rebuild, but still not perfect.
We have a Alexa Studio in the conservatory - a truly impressive piece of kit for c. £200. I understand you can get a second satellite speaker and set up a stereo system. I just love it that you 'Alexa play be some insert what you want and off she goes. Great sound. all my music purchases are automatically on there plus loads of other stuff.
There was much to like about the early Novas: they were light (<3000 lb) so even a modest engine made them move well and get decent mileage (for the time) Also I love the '66-'67 styling. I had Herb McCandless of McCandless Racing fame machine the block and heads for 10.5:1 compression, when built it was a modest 260 HP, but in a 2600 lb 2-dr it really moved out quite well and looked entirely stock!