The wonders of simple engineering

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peterbot
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The wonders of simple engineering

Post by peterbot »

Driving to work this morning in the meteor when suddenly the car dies and refuses to restart :cry: . Manage to restart it after about 10 minuites and limp home.Got home tonight and go straight for my first suspect,dizzy cap and rotor arm. Sure enough both were knackered and the bag that covers the cap was full of oil which can't have helped matters. Trip down to halfords for a few bits and 10 mins later running sweet and smooth again :D . Took me a month to sort out the wifes synergie with all its fuel injection and control boards when that went wrong.
Day off tommorow so abit of spit and polish to the bx for the ccc event this weekend 8) .
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Philip Chidlow
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Post by Philip Chidlow »

And some think we are mad driving around in old Citroen bangers... more fool them (with the obvious exception of your Synergie-running wife :lol: :lol: )...

Hang on a min. my wife wants a Synergie :roll:
Last edited by Philip Chidlow on Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
• 1992 Citroen BX TZD Turbo Hurricane
• 2006 Xsara Picasso 1.6 16v
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

Found out yesterday that as aero-engineers struggled to get the internal combustion engine to improve performance in the thin air of high altitudes, Frank Whittle came along with his jet engine, which had one (1!) moving part.

Nowadays, jet engines have more that 20 thousand moving parts.

We look for more and more performance, but this brings more and more complexity with it.
(Red BX 1.7TZD ("Well, it is a style icon" - Tom Sheppard)) "Was", Tom, "was"
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Vanny
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Post by Vanny »

Oscar wrote: Nowadays, jet engines have more that 20 thousand moving parts.

Testing question, is that just all the stators and rotors? I mean there all made individually but are bolted to the central drive unit, i've only ever had anything to do with simplified models of jet engines but they same to have pretty much one primary rotating part and all the other moving stuff is just control gear!


Still give me an XUD anyday, soooooo simple but still bags of fun :D
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Oscar
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Post by Oscar »

Vanny

Two years ago I had the barest idea of how my bonnet opened. Now you're asking me about jet engines!

I dunno, is the answer. It was in a book that I'm reading, called The INgenuity Gap, by THomas Homer Dixon. His thesis is that we seek greater performance from all sorts of systems, but are falling behind in our supply of ideas and organisation to make those systems work. We are also causing different types of performance in (natural) systems, which we may not be able to survive.

O
(Red BX 1.7TZD ("Well, it is a style icon" - Tom Sheppard)) "Was", Tom, "was"
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cavmad
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Post by cavmad »

One of the beauties of the Citroen 1.7/1.9 diesel is there apparant simplicity and longevity. My previous experience of diesels were mostly Isuzu engined Vauxhall`s and o.k when they ran well they were brilliant but they certainly seemed to have more problems at lower mileages than the Citroen engines.
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Post by jeremy »

If you want simplicity go for a MK 1 Ford Escort or any Capri - an excellent example of what you can leave out and it still works!

I agree with you Vanny - apart from the turbine shaft (which may in fact me several running one inside the other) - Jet engines have very few moving parts - which I'm sure is why the things are relatively light for the enormous power produced - and why they run for ever with minimal servicing. Yes the rotors themselves will be made up of individual blades secured somehow - but they revolve as one - bit like the exhaust manifold on your engine - yes its there but the only time it moves relative to the engine is when you take it off!
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