OT: "Mixed up the brake and accelerator"?!?

[rbowman]

If you want a depressing movie, try 'Leisure Seeker' with Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland. She has cancer, he has dementia and they're taking a last road trip in a '75 Winnebago.

[rbowman]

It's been about 50 years but as I remember it the fluid coupling served as the flywheel and the clutch was bolted to it. The transmission itself had several solenoids to shift what was essentially a manual transmission.

I also remember it was cast iron which was a bit of a surprise when I pulled it out without a transmission jack. I rented one to put it back in. The point of failure was a seal on the fluid coupling. It had sort of a beryllium copper bellows arrangement to hold the collar against the converter and the bellows had cracked. A replacement was unobtainium and solder wouldn't take so I put it back together and lived with the leak.

I haven't followed the developments in a couple of decades but I believe 'automatic' transmissions in big trucks use a similar scheme, basically a manual with computer actuation.

[Rod Speed]

Its freezing or panicking.

Its not freezing thinking nothing will help, its freezing and not doing anything when its clear you have f***ed up and are about to go over the edge of a multi story carpark onto the road outside.

Some do just faint in that situation.

Wrong when you freeze.

[rbowman]

And a really, really good driver can get into first on an old Chevy transmission that didn't have synchro rings on first.

[rbowman]

A phone call is very different. Your mind really isn't in the car at the time. Haven't you noticed the apparent oblivion of people walking around talking on the phone?

I don't even like talking to passengers when I'm driving. Maybe it gets better with practice but I've literally driven hundreds of thousands of miles solo and I find people chattering away to be a distraction.

[rbowman]

It is different than a motorcycle when a novice startled by the unexpected acceleration tries to hang on for dear life inadvertently twisting the throttle further. Rinse and repeat until an immovable object is encountered.

It's not as obvious but I think something like that happens in those cases. The driver has the impulse to slam on the brakes but the foot is still on the accelerator.

Of course if the driver is hollering something in Arabic at the time...

[Clare Snyder]

The only time I have trouble shifting the ranger without the clutch is when I think about it. Then I can snip or grind them every time!!! Otherwize, it's "automatic". It actually shifts smoother when I don't use the clutch than when I do - likely because I shift slower without the clutch. The eaton sounds like the shifter on the old Naugatuck fire truck - a '37 or something like that. I don't think there was a single shift that was a straight line!!

1 2

R 3 4 5

or something like that

[Clare Snyder]

Twin Clutch automatics work that way. Allisons don't. They are planetary (epicyclic to the Brits) transmissions - hydraulically operated but electronically controlled - just like most current cars but on a MONDO scale.

Talking about cast transmissions - I'll never forget my first cast iron powerglide - on my chest - on a creeper - on the floor - under the car. I think it weighed more than I did - Actually I KNOW it did

- likely close to 4 times my 16 year old skinny 110 lbs. I was lucky to survive that one!!

[rbowman]

Yeah, that was me and the Chrysler. There was that moment when you own the whole thing are realize you're about to set a personal best in the bench press category. I'd pulled aluminum Torqueflites and manuals that were nowhere near that heavy.

[rbowman]

It was a Volvo White cabover. My theory was that with 53' trailers a cabover was more maneuverable, at least compared the Kenworth and Western Star conventionals that were in the fleet. No problem since nobody wanted the cabovers.

Then the company started buying conventional VWs. They could turn tighter than the cabover so I was out of that truck as soon as possible. The new trucks had Eaton 9 speeds too but not OD so they had a H pattern.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Interesting. Can you explain what it did?

[rbowman]

That gives a good description. As for the clutch,

"The clutch was necessary any time the gear lever was moved between Low/High, or Reverse. A fluid coupling was attached to the flywheel, and a conventional clutch was mounted in tandem. "

In stop and go traffic the fluid coupling would allow you to stop without using the clutch but there had to be some way to break the torque to go between ranges.

It was a primitive approach when other manufacturers were developing designs based on planetary gear sets. It was a long time before AT's became as efficient and trouble free as manuals.

[Dave Plowman (News]

That's not a pre-selector gearbox, though. It is similar to what Rover used on the P4 much later on. Except that they used a servo controlled clutch to allow you to change between low and high ratio. So no action, other than moving the lever, needed by the driver.

One of the first true autos was available very shortly afterwards. Rolls Royce used it for the next near 20 years, so must have been reliable enough.

[Commander Kinsey]

A collar is the best idea. Then you don't accidentally push too hard and get R.

[Commander Kinsey]

They claim to have that in the UK, but simply driving along a road, I see cars coming towards me with about a factor of 3 difference in brightness between sets of headlights. We used to have a standard: 55W dip, 65W full. But LEDs f***ed that up, and they never bothered to make a new standard, and the law being as stupid OCD as it is, they took 55W to mean power rather then brightness. So you can legally have a 550W equivalent output from LED headlights.

I was checked at a spot safety check once and the policewoman noticed I had no water in my washers. She jokingly said "that's the worst crime ever!"

I was stopped once by the pigs for speeding. He noticed I had no seatbelt on. I said I removed it as I was about to get out and speak to you. He asked if it worked, so I yanked it and made it lock, then said "yes, it's fine". I was told off for a bald tyre and let on my way with no fine. I think they just pull people over when they're bored.

Not enough people living in the sparsely populated Australia to care about emissions.

Not that that's an insult, you're one of the few countries with a sensible ratio of people to land.

I failed all 4 when stopped for speeding. It got me let off with the speeding offence. The tyres only require you get new tyres. No fine, no points on license. It pays to have a dodgy car.

Windows need to be able to be opened to escape apparently. But closing shouldn't be a problem.

ROFL! Yeah I had that once, a pig yanking on my battery to see if it would come loose. I asked him how it could free it's mountings, the two thick cables, smash though the air intake, then the radiator, then the bumper, then still have enough momentum to hurt somebody. I was told not to be so smart. I apologized and promised to be stupid from now on. His colleague burst out laughing and that was the end of that test.

Not sure what the fee is meant to be in the UK, they all charge different amounts. I think the garage has to pay the government a set amount, but garages can charge more if they like, or less to attract customers. The ones that charge less are the ones to avoid, as they charge a lot more for anything they find wrong.

I never service it at all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't understand this conversation. If something can be fixed in 2 minutes, why on earth would the garage fail the car then ask you to bring it back?

Same here, only one fee. There's a 2 week limit or the government charges the garage again.

It's the same here, vintage cars can be as dangerous as you like. They are anyway even if looked after, as they have no modern equipment and have drum brakes etc. Fucking annoying that a more modern car has to be 10 times as safe as the vintage car. If it's only 9 times as safe it's apparently unroadworthy.

The UK government doesn't even remind you it's due. They hope you'll forget so they can fine you.

[Commander Kinsey]

Your jealousy is showing. I can create a decent conversation.

[Commander Kinsey]

That doesn't surprise me. My Honda CRV had a column shift (ack!) It actually had all the gears in one line. It was very very easy to shift two gears at once by mistake. Stupidest design ever. That coupled with the engine valves being overly soft so they melted after a professional conversion to LPG, and the ABS sensors costing £165 whereas a Golf is £15, and the 4WD system only engaging when it decided it needed it, which was 2 seconds after the wheels started slipping, so you were now buried deep in mud, I will never ever ever buy a Honda piece of s**te again.

[Commander Kinsey]

In the UK I don't think the above picture ever happens. Reverse is always always on the left. Who the f*ck would think that reverse should exist next to the highest forward gear?! Totally and utterly illogical.

[Clare Snyder]

Yes - it stopped the drive from being transmitted to the transmission so the gears would stop turning and you could put them into gear fron neutral - just like on a standard transmission. The fluid coupling (on fluid drive) or the torque converter (on Gyromatic) allowed smooth application of power when the accellerator was pressed - and in the case of the TC on the gyromatic gave an effectively variable drive ratio from startup to cruise - giving torque amplification that a fluid coupling cannot do.

[Clare Snyder]

You mean the GM Hydramatic??? They used ir for only 15 years, from

1952 to 1967 - made under licence from GM Cadillac/Oldsmobile divisions. It wasn't a BAD transmission - dor a 1939 design. Their use in tanks and other military equipment during the war accellerated the design mutations to a decent box.