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The art of auto engineering

howacarworks.com

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Re: The art of auto engineering

#41

Post by AlexMuir »

samwillis wrote: post #38
devnullbrain wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using an NB Miata is interesting: they're common donor cars for modern Locosts. That crowd might appreciate this as the ultimate workshop manual.

For those unaware a "Locost" is a Lotus 7 self build replica from the incredible 1996 book "Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250" https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0854299769/ref=dbs_a_def... The original donor car was (I think) a Mk3 Ford Escort, obviously they are a collectors car now. There have been a number of revisions now, it's published by Haynes the publisher of many car repair manuals. There is…

I too had that very book as a teenager. It's a small world - when I was at uni I was hired to build a website for someone. Their friend then asked me to build them a site and I recognised their name from the caption of a photo of a couple of schoolboys on the back page of that very book. Turns out they built the car at school and went on to build an automotive company.

Re: The art of auto engineering

#42

Post by pcthrowaway »

AlexMuir wrote: post #37
savgore wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought this course a year or two back and I don't feel short changed whatsoever, I really enjoyed it and thought that something will have caused the projec to drop off as the passion and knowledge is there in all your content. Thanks for the work you've done on it so far - and super excited to find out that the passion is still burning to make it even better.

I'm so happy to hear that. The initial 20-hour estimate was just guesswork really. I made 14 hours so far and we haven't even got through the engine, never mind the transmission, steering, suspension, fuel, ECU, brakes, and so on. Probably be more like 50 hours in the end!

To be honest, $25 lifetime seems like a steal for this.

Maybe it's the value of the current content, but consider raising prices for new subscribers after some more content is finished, maybe to $40 or something.

Or you could also try location-based pricing if you want to keep it affordable/accessible to people outside of first-world countries

Re: The art of auto engineering

#43

Post by samwillis »

AlexMuir wrote: post #41
samwillis wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those unaware a "Locost" is a Lotus 7 self build replica from the incredible 1996 book "Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250" https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0854299769/ref=dbs_a_def... The original donor car was (I think) a Mk3 Ford Escort, obviously they are a collectors car now. There have been a number of revisions now, it's published by Haynes the publisher of many car repair manuals. There is…

I too had that very book as a teenager. It's a small world - when I was at uni I was hired to build a website for someone. Their friend then asked me to build them a site and I recognised their name from the caption of a photo of a couple of schoolboys on the back page of that very book. Turns out they built the car at school and went on to build an automotive company.

Amazing, the author was a DT (design technology) teacher at a school just down the road from where I grew up. They would build these in a club at school.

Photo of the school workshop, with a production line of cars: https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/oundl...

Re: The art of auto engineering

#44

Post by AnthonBerg »

BlueGh0st wrote: post #23
AlexMuir wrote: post #15

Oh no! I come to procrastinate on HN and find my own site at #2. After many years, it's still not ready to share!! I've got so much more I want to do with it. Even though I'm sure it looks abandoned, I have been working hard on getting back into this. The last couple of months I've been developing a 3D viewer for mechanical components that lets you disassemble/rebuild/step through processes. I wish I could share it b…

As usual, Miata is the answer. But in a world where the Miata doesn't exist, which car do you think you would have chosen for this project?

If useful, here’s an answer: The Suzuki DR-Z400S/SM motorcycle. As one example.

It’s not a car! I know! The thing is that motorcycles are such good learning platforms. They’re small, man-portable (in a pinch), there’s almost everything in there that’s in a car – but much less of it and more accessible. Single-cylinder motorcycles are also good for learning because there’s only one cylinder and one set of valves and one cylinder or fuel injector etc. :) One of everything and everything is smaller and more easily accessible than in a car. In short they’re very hackable machines.

The DR-Z400 is reliable, ubiquitous and cheap. Parts are available. Lots of DIY information out there and easy to find.

I knew NOTHING about cars. Got the motorcycle bug. A DR-Z400S was the most bike for the money here. Bought it. And that’s how I got into this by accident.

Now I know how to swap out a carburator for a bigger one and tune it, tune suspension behavior by simulating the hydraulic valving inside the suspension, maintain brakes, replace tires and pick them for what road feel I want, fix flats on the side of the road, fix a stator if I need to, reduce vehicle weight etc. etc. All by chance. Has nothing to do with me being smart or industrious and everything to do with lucking into ownership of a bike that kind of teaches you how to work on it and has a great online community.

I also really really really want a Miata!!!

Re: The art of auto engineering

#45

Post by amelius »

Dah00n wrote: post #18
ofrzeta wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not pay 20 bucks to an indy content creator?

Nothing wrong with paying but if you have to pay then why is it here? Then it is just an advertisement on HN.

This reminds me of the Apple adverts that get posted on HN whenever they have a new product.

Why is that "ok", and this isn't?

Re: The art of auto engineering

#46

Post by jonasdegendt »

jonhysilvers wrote: post #22
AlexMuir wrote: post #15

Oh no! I come to procrastinate on HN and find my own site at #2. After many years, it's still not ready to share!! I've got so much more I want to do with it. Even though I'm sure it looks abandoned, I have been working hard on getting back into this. The last couple of months I've been developing a 3D viewer for mechanical components that lets you disassemble/rebuild/step through processes. I wish I could share it b…

I bought the course a couple years ago, really happy to know that there's more content on the way. PS: I could never had imagined that the acceleration pedal controls air intake and not gas.

Hah, I remember disassembling a motorcycle for the first time and in the process figuring out that the throttle cable just opens a valve that I had just taken the airbox off of, I was mind blown!

To anyone that's looking to get into wrenching on your own stuff, I can definitely recommend getting started on a motorcycle if you have space, money or time constraints. It's a lot more accessible initially.

Re: The art of auto engineering

#47

Post by qwertox »

nitin87 wrote: post #10

just a promotional video . make it free that would work ....

My first thought was that this is spam. But then, actually looking at what this page is offering, it is really interesting.

@AlexMuir definitely deserves it to be at the top of HN with this project.

Re: The art of auto engineering

#48

Post by AlexMuir »

samwillis wrote: post #43
AlexMuir wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too had that very book as a teenager. It's a small world - when I was at uni I was hired to build a website for someone. Their friend then asked me to build them a site and I recognised their name from the caption of a photo of a couple of schoolboys on the back page of that very book. Turns out they built the car at school and went on to build an automotive company.

Amazing, the author was a DT (design technology) teacher at a school just down the road from where I grew up. They would build these in a club at school. Photo of the school workshop, with a production line of cars: https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/oundl...

Private education with that sort of facility is terrific value for money.

Re: The art of auto engineering

#49

Post by turing_complete »

Dah00n wrote: post #18
ofrzeta wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not pay 20 bucks to an indy content creator?

Nothing wrong with paying but if you have to pay then why is it here? Then it is just an advertisement on HN.

You could say the same about any software tool or company shared here.

Re: The art of auto engineering

#50

Post by moffkalast »

Reason077 wrote: post #24
moffkalast wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why spend hours Googling when I can just ask the latest version of GPT in and it'll tell me how to work the problem and diagnose it.

The main problem with GPT is that it will sometimes quite confidently give you incorrect information. It's like a kid who will just make up some elaborate story rather than admit they don't know something. So it can't be considered a trustworthy source. Yet.

True, but anything it says is generally easy to verify before you do something stupid. And for things as common and relatively standardized as cars I would expect it to do very well.
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