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A few things to know before stealing my 914

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Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#111

Post by ho_schi »

It always entertaining when Americans speaking about manual transmissions as something mysterious. It is not, feet on pedal, switch, feet from pedal. Europeans are surprised seeing you manipulating the wipers to control the transmission.

I consider personally most automatic transmissions horrible. The gear is either to high to overtake or so low that the engine is running with too much RPM. The only exception is the gear-less Multitronic[1] by Audi. Sadly replaced by DSG. Nasty rumors say VW did that because the Multitronic had no more issues and worked well ;)

The DSG works somehow and the shifting is somehow acceptable. The automatic transmission Ford uses (e.g. C-Max) is horror for the driver, passengers and the engine. Adventurous people may proceed to double-clutching[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitronic

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_clutch_(technique)

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#112

Post by protomyth »

londons_explore wrote: post #82
rascul wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all states test emissions, either.

I imagine this means cars with bad emissions end up living in states with no tests...

I'm not so sure on that. Some of the states that don't test are pretty damn inhospitable to cars and bad emissions is often the first sign of the end of the vehicle.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#113

Post by abstrakraft »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #95
gkoberger wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this context (a fun blog post), I disagree. I find it to be incredibly clear when someone is playing in a world they truly understand and love. Not to say one can't be hoodwinked from time to time, naturally, but for me it's not the "facts" that ring true. It's the joy and humor and love that is hard to fake.

A really good author could probably make this up. Some types of writing require that ability. Imagine you're writing about a fantasy world where everyone drives giant Bloops instead of cars. You might have a few chapters written from the perspective of a master Bloop mechanic. She's been fixing Bloops for as long as she can remember; she considers it her life's calling and she loves every moment of her work. The auth…

This sounds like most of the aside conversations between author and reader in Douglas Adams' writing.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#115

Post by bshep »

rob74 wrote: post #108

Great article! Makes me wonder if in 40 years people will write about how to (not) get an old Tesla Roadster or BMW i3 going again? Although, rather than pumping the acceleration 4 times to get enough gas into the engine so it will start, that will probably begin with hacking the car's system so it allows you to start it...

as a guess it would go something like this:

step 1. prepare a usb with files needed to jailbreak the car and be able to connect to your wifi

step 2. setup a home network with dns/ntp and a reverse engineered tesla server that will authorize the car to work

step 3 set date to reasonable values that the car will accept

step 4 do some button dances to start the car from the usb

…

ill leave the rest to your imagination

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#116

Post by bluetomcat »

Almost any 30+ year-old vehicle is full of these special quirks requiring special "rituals". The annoying thing is that they are hard to fix and often require rare parts which are not easily available.

I have a '95 Rover 216 Coupe which is mechanically very solid (Honda engine and running gear) and very well maintained, but the rest of the car is full of quirks caused by age deterioration. The numerous "rituals" include things like never closing your frameless door with the window down (a nasty cracking sound follows), manually pulling the tooth of the release latch before closing the boot, care when washing it so not to let water enter the spare wheel area permanently and cause rust, etc.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#117

Post by gedy »

My brother had one of these about 20 years ago, and he eventually sold to a guy from other side of town. One day a few months later the car comes pulling into his front yard at high speed and does a spin out. The guy happened to be driving past and a front control arm snapped off due to rust, and he couldn't control the steering.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#118

Post by h2odragon »

orangepurple wrote: post #55

I used to bother with mechanical junk like this when I was younger. I bought 10 cars under $1000 and repaired everything from shattered valvetrain to clogged fuel filters. These days if I wanted to drive a junk car with a good brand I would LS swap it and call it a day. It's more important to treat cancer before it metastasizes unlike the hospice care this person is giving that car. It troubles me to see people suffe…

I don't doubt this person could restore that car to factory perfection or remake it into a modern masterpiece. Thats not what it's for tho.

The clapped out heap of junk has an integrity, and dignity, worthy of respect. This car should most properly be exhibited on blocks in the front yard, surrounded by tall grass, possibly with a tree beginning to grow out of it somewhere.

Between a trophy and a salute to both the soul of the machine itself and the many people who made it. "Well done thou good and faithful servant"

It should be a habitation for dogs.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#119

Post by marcosdumay »

criddell wrote: post #101
fabioborellini wrote: post #22

So, apparently there is no mandatory vehicle inspection in the US. Of course there isn't, it would violate the freedom to drive with an unroadworthy car.

The state of Washington is an interesting case. They had annual inspections and then somebody ran the numbers and found that so few cars were being flagged, that it was an enormous waste of resources. They got rid of their inspection requirement. More programs should be run like that. Set a goal, create a program, then periodically evaluate if the goal is still the same and if the program is effective.

How do you tell if there is no vehicle failing because your inspection takes them off the roads or if it's because nobody wants them anyway?

Any kind of policing is self-denying. You can't evaluate it while it's being applied.

Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914

#120

Post by BoorishBears »

ho_schi wrote: post #111

It always entertaining when Americans speaking about manual transmissions as something mysterious. It is not, feet on pedal, switch, feet from pedal. Europeans are surprised seeing you manipulating the wipers to control the transmission. I consider personally most automatic transmissions horrible. The gear is either to high to overtake or so low that the engine is running with too much RPM. The only exception is the…

Most automatic transmissions are horrible because most cars are horrible.

Good cars have good transmissions, regardless of transmission style.

The ZF8 is an excellent transmission that's seen everywhere.

PDK does justice to the most performant modern Porsches in a way that manuals struggle to keep up with.

Even relatively small volume DCTs like the one in the 4C are pretty great these days.

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