Show us your Cars

[Frank Dernie]

it had a continuous variable transmission which I thought I would dislike.

CVT is in principle technically superior to fixed ratio gearboxes but since it seems very different to drivers it has come under a lot of critiscism from motoring journalists who don't understand the technology.
It is difficult to engineer inexpensively though. My favourite, in terms of clever use of technology, it Toyota's e-CVT which is a very light and efficient system but only applicable to a hybrid.

 

[Count Arthur]

It is difficult to engineer inexpensively though.

They're used a lot on "twist and go" type mopeds and surely they have far fewer parts than a multi speed gearbox. Are the larger car versions significantly more complex?

 

[Willem]

My parents had one of the first DAF cars with a Variomatic cvt. My father the engineer loved the idea. In later years they bought another one, and I had a chance to drive it. I thought it was really nice to accelerate with the same revs and the speed going up. Press the accelerator and it was a bomb at traffic lights, even with a small two cylinder air cooled engine. It was noisy.

 

[Count Arthur]

DAF, that's it, I was trying to remember the name of an early CVT car.

This ever so slightly modified version looks like fun:

 

[Frank Dernie]

They're used a lot on "twist and go" type mopeds and surely they have far fewer parts than a multi speed gearbox. Are the larger car versions significantly more complex?

View attachment 147796

Hugely so.
Dead easy with a 5 hp not bad with 100 hp, very difficult with a few hundred.
It isn't really more complex but the parts strength required rules out rubber belts.

 

[Frank Dernie]

DAF, that's it, I was trying to remember the name of an early CVT car.

View attachment 147822

This ever so slightly modified version looks like fun:

View attachment 147829

I think this was a F3 car iirc. It had around 100 or so bhp.
Williams had a working system for F1 capable of 700 bhp or so but it got banned because the performance improvement was so big everybody would have to do it and since it had taken Williams several years to make work and reliable they would have won everything for years and/or none of the others would have landed any sponsorship.

 

[Willem]

That DAF is the later more elegant Michelotti designed model 44 with the enlarged two cylinder aircooled 850cc boxer engine. We had the earlier models with first 600cc and later 750cc. There was also a later Model 55 with a 1.2 liter (?) Renault 4 cylinder engine. This was developed into a ralley car. Later on there was also a slightly restyled model 66 with a DeDion rear axle instead of the original swing axle and other improvements developed from the F3 car, and a Volvo 66 when the passenger car division was taken over by Volvo, and a larger DAF 343 and a later Volvo 343. At the time, DAF had an image problem because people in the Netherlands thought that automatic gears were for sissies. Hence the ralley car, and also this formula 3 one. These, by the way, all had rubber belts. To address the problems with more powerful engines the company later also developed a system with metal belts in a push rather than pull configuration. This part of the company was acquired by Bosch in 1995 and produces belts for many car companies.
And for those of you interested in the very first 600cc generation (we had one): https://www.google.com/search?q=daf 600&tbm=isch&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CJkBEKzcAigBahcKEwiI7oX7mLbyAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQPg&biw=1663&bih=939
We also had one of these, the somewhat later and more luxurious 750cc Daffodil version (including the whitewall tyres): https://revivaler.com/daf-750-daffodil/ Ours had two tone paint, a sliding roof and a radio (!!). This site also has some information on the clever transmission technology.

 

[Wes]

 

[JJB70]

For some reason the transmission has always seemed to be the poor relation. Many automotive enthusiasts seem to be obsessed with engines and suspension arrangements but take the gear train for granted despite the amount of clever engineering in gears and transmissions.
It's not just automotive either. Gearboxes for high power applications such as electricity generation and ship propulsion are often taken for granted yet any design blunders with torsional characteristics are more likely to result in a transmission failure than the bits either side, especially if it has been badly enough designed to get torque reversal in the gears. And replacing a big gear box is horrendous as there aren't that many companies that can make the things.

 

[Wes]

...

 

[Ken1951]

View attachment 147872 ...

Gears? We don' need no stinkin' gears!

 

[LTig]

View attachment 147872 ...

Sell it as modern art ...

 

[Jim Matthews]

View attachment 147872 ...

Yikes.

10,000 mile oil change intervals?

 

[Wes]

it's from a trans., so it is likely longer than that - maybe 100k or more

 

[Jim Matthews]

it's from a trans., so it is likely longer than that - maybe 100k or more

Any 10mm sockets in the pan?

 

[Wes]

not that I know of - I have all of mine!

 

[eric-c]

This picture was taken yesterday at my mechanic. Can you guess the car based on this picture of where the muffler pipes connects to the catalytic converter?

The car is 33 years old and the muffler is original. Mechanic busted off one of the flanges as it so rusted out. I finally had to change out the muffler as one of the dual tail pipes was dangling after a short drive coming out of storage



Hint 1 - Car is European





Hint 2 - my previous and now retired mechanic said "this is the last car made by this company that was designed by engineers and not accountants"





Hint 3 - over 2 million of this series in various trims were made





Hint 3 - Donna Martin drove this car in Beverly Hills 90210. Yeah, its a crappy pop culture reference





Hint 4 - came in 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and 4 cylinder turbo






Here it is fresh out of storage




Congrats, if you guessed

1989 BMW 325i convertible aka E30

 

[thewas]

Hint 4 - came in 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and 4 cylinder turbo

No 4 cylinder turbo existed, at least not original from BMW, the only original turbo version was the 324td (turbodiesel) which was a R6 engine.
E30 is a lovely classic, wish myself I had a nice 325i coupe or M3.

 

[JJB70]

Last weekend was our last in England and I hired a Renault Zoe to get around. I have to say I was very impressed, I did 190 miles and the range indicator was still saying 45 miles. Although I wouldn't call it fast it was very quick pulling away from lights or junctions and handling was fine. Steering was a bit light for my taste but I guess most people want light steering in that class. It was pretty practical with good rear space and a very usable boot. And although it used a large touch screen it had rotary air-con/vent controls and physical short cut buttons. If anyone is looking for a super mini type car it's well worth a look, I would happily have one.

 

[virtua]

Here is my 1991 Honda Integra LS (DA9), outside of this car I also have a 2012 Honda NSC110 Dio scooter which I get around on as well when the weather is better than it is now in Australia. I was really happy to get my hands on one of these Integras as I've always liked them and I rarely see them anymore, though I imagine they're much more common over in the US where you guys have a much bigger fanfare for old Hondas.