Thought it was time to build the perfect car using parts from any and all. This started when i was driving home yesterday in rain that varied between monsoon and intermittent, and my wipers adjustment was simply not up to the job.
So my first perfect part are the adjustable wipers from an MG Maestro, 10 seperate settings for intermittent and a top speed that was faster and smoother than the car.
Right all i need now is the rest of the car
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I'd like to have a car one day that has a gas turbine engine in it
So that is my choice of engine.
It has already been done with a motorcycle - so why not a road going car?
tinyurl.com/5no4y5
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I'd like to have a car one day that has a gas turbine engine in it
It has already been done with a motorcycle - so why not a road going car?
Not a great success as far as I know.. about 60bhp and 7mpg.
news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/8/...m
Edited by Manatee on 06/09/2008 at 21:33
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Not a great success as far as I know.. about 60bhp and 7mpg.
Old technology I am sure it is easily achievable with what we have available today.
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I have very recently bought a car with auto / rain sensing wipers. I am the first to admit that I previously would have seen this as a frivoulous and even undesirable feature. What car could possibly be smarter than me when it comes to deciding what wiper setting is required I would have said........
Complete convert.......brilliant idea !
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>I have very recently bought a car with auto / rain sensing wipers. Complete convert ..... brilliant idea !<
My 1999 Peugeot has an early version of that idea, and at times it's a nuisance. I guess it counts raindrops until a certain value, but in fine rain the screen isn't really wet enough. I am forced to choose between no-wipe and continuous, and neither is really suitable. Are newer ones any better?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 07/09/2008 at 13:11
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Light bulbs that can be changed in 30 seconds without tools or the need to remove any other componant first.
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Light bulbs that can be changed in 30 seconds
You can now procure LED replacements that will out last any old fashioned tungsten element.
Look here tinyurl.com/5hbv9l & scroll down the screen.
As I understand these are not MOT suitable...
Edited by Tron on 06/09/2008 at 21:40
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>>So my first perfect part are the adjustable wipers from an MG Maestro, 10 seperate settings for intermittent
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Re washers wipers.
My MKII Cortina came with manual pump washers and IIRC twin speed wipers.
I fitted a second washer bottle with an electric pump and a pair of nozzles.
Then I bought a small ( of the shelf) unit that fitted at the bottom of the dash that provided :-
A totally variable delay wipe and a totally variable screen squirt or both.
So if required I could have wipers on slow and intermittent squirt.
Of course I had the option to vary the twin bottle contents to have wash from one bottle and then rinse from the other. :-)
How things have progressed in 30+ years.
Today I have six settings for delay wipe on my Mondeo but I really dislike the wipe / wash.
I want control to thoroughly wet the screen BEFORE the wipers start.
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I'd like a two position switch for wash and wipe. The initial soft touch for water only, back a click and the wipers give half a dozen sweeps. Nothing is more irritating than having the wipers flailing across a dry screen because one or more of the nozzles is blocked or frozen.
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Henry,
You might have liked the Renault 9 which delivered an impressive fan of water from a single jet.
Or you might not, because some drivers complained it obscured their vision until the wipers made their first sweep,
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Late Montego / Maestro wipers were great in that when switch off the parked themselves completely off the screen under the lip of the bonnet, they moved on to the screen when switched on and on intermitent parked at the botton of the screen between wipes, quite clever actually.
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>>You can now procure LED replacements that will out last any old fashioned tungsten element.
>>As I understand these are not MOT suitable...
It actually makes a right fool of the law actually. As far as lighting regulations are concerned I believe OE LEDs are illegal as well, but because the car is European type approved (or something like that) it over rides that aspect.
Not that I have, but I believe some LED positions are legal on my 1972 Morgan, and if you go a bit older, they are certainly legal. So my vintage car with its questionable battery charging does use some.
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I think the above posts are symptomatic of the way cars are nowadays - nothing much but a collection of gadgets.
Very little mention so far of the best engine, transmission, suspension, comfortable seating or whatever - just a concentration on how to fiddle with the windscreen wipers and change a light bulb. ;-)
Personally, I would have a gas turbine, no need for transmission, all independent suspension with a de Dion back axle, superb 'anti-submarining' seats and simple, no-nonsense tactile switches for all systems.
I've just remembered - Rover built that car in 1963 and it darn nearly had the gas turbine engine as well!
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Link to page on Rover gas turbine cars:
www.rover.org.nz/pages/jet/jet5.htm
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Link to page on Rover gas turbine cars:
Really interesting reading - thanks for the link.
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I think the above posts are symptomatic of the way cars are nowadays - nothing much but a collection of gadgets. Very little mention so far of the best engine transmission suspension comfortable seating or whatever - just a concentration on how to fiddle with the windscreen wipers and change a light bulb. ;-)
Good point, but I think that with speed limits, cameras and congestion imposing a strict ceiling on how much performance you can extract from your car nowdays people don't really have an issue with modern engines (apart from the complexity) and handling. Most cars are powerful and comfortable enough for the majority of us in our everyday lives, and it becomes the little things - like having to go to a main dealer to get a headlight bulb changed - that can have us tearing our hair out.
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Automatic headlights-on setting.
Very useful for eg Northern Italy when the m-way is a succession of tunnels of varying length.
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Robin Reliant
Spot on.
Cars are treated like white goods but many (most) users have no idea how things work.
There is no real incentive as realiability improves.
I appreciate many of the bells and whistles on my Mondeo, some are nice and others are "should be standard on all cars"
Proper tyre pressure monitors that can be trusted and do not need fancy tweeking when changing a wheel are IMO one of the the most important requirements on all cars.
Almost every day I see tyres that are low on pressure (and I am now a low mileage user.) High profile tyres made loss of pressure easier to see.
Low profile tyres cause me to be a little concerned on every trip.
Alerting the user to a serious problem is a real ****
Shout at them?, Put it into limp home mode the next time it stops ( lane 3 of the M25 ?)
put the hazard flashers on?
Some are so thick nothing will work while others will panic if a voice from the foot well
says " Danger stop immediately!"
A choice of voice ? A. Darling has a turn of phrase!, SWMBO, Maggie ( This car is not for turning )
Any other suggestions.
A graphic display showing a failed bulb is another must ( My Mondeo has a good example of this)
Easy change parts include things like .
A small ding in the corner of a bumper. today A whole bumper not just a corner is needed.
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