Autumn and Your Car

You’ve turned back your clock, changed out the batteries in your smoke alarms, what should you be doing with your car?

How about checking the tires?  Taking a look at the tire pressures and making sure that they are what they should be is probably the first thing you should do.  You know what your tire pressures should be, right?  Well, if you forgot, go check the door jam sticker.   Stick with the factory settings or if you like to experiment add a pound or two, just keep records of what you choose.  The temperature has changed and you should be checking them at least once a month, but the changing of the clocks is a good reminder that its time to check them now.

Use a high quality gauge.  Forget the pencil gauge.  A dial gauge with a bronze Bordon tube is very accurate.  There are electronic ones that are supposed to be within half a percent.  A dial one will be just as accurate and you will never have to change the battery.

Speaking of batteries, this is a good time of year to take a look at the battery under your hood.  As colder weather comes the battery will have to work harder.  Now is the time the check the connections and make sure that they are free of corrosion.  I would remove them (wearing safety glasses) and clean them up with a wire brush or a tool made for the job.  Clean the battery with one of the many spray on products that will foam up and neutralize any acid.  If you want to save some money get some baking soda and mix it with a little water and brush it on.  That will also neutralize any acid.  Wipe the battery with paper towels and toss them in the trash barrel.  Battery acid is nothing to fool around with.  If your battery is not of the sealed variety then carefully remove the caps (wearing safety glasses) and check the level of the “water”.  The plates should be completely covered with liquid.  There is an indicator in each hole which shows what the level of fluid should be.  ONLY use DISTILLED water to fill a low cell.  IF the “water” has gotten low enough for plates to uncovered you need to take your battery to a parts store and have it tested.  If the battery is close to four years or older it would be good to have it checked anyway.  By the way, it isn’t just water in the battery, there is acid mixed in.  You must be respectful of it.  When working around a car battery be sure not to have an open flame.  If you can’t see well, use a flashlight, NEVER a match.  The battery creates two gasses, oxygen and hydrogen.  Batteries can explode, in a very dramatic way.

While you are in that engine compartment you should look around and see and feel for things.  Things like the drive belts.  They may be V-belts or serpentine.  V-belts can be checked for tension.  If they are cracked or slipping and at least three years old you should consider changing them out for new ones. 

Check the hoses going to the radiator.  When the car is warm or cold, give them a squeeze.  They rot from the inside out and will sometimes feel squishy when you squeeze them.  If they are five years old then you might as well change them in any case.  Why would you want to wait for the hoses to burst on their own?  In my Turbo Eclipse I had 14 hoses to replace that carried antifreeze.  It was a pain, but I was never stranded with a blown hose.  I’ve been on a race track when the car in front of me had a small hose go and dump a lot of antifreeze on the track.  That stuff is very slippery and caused more than one car to spin out.

You change out your anti-freeze at least every two years, right?  Some of the new formulations, notably used by GM, put extended-use anti freeze fluid in their cars now so be sure to check.  I think it is important to change out the fluid because it not only refreshes the coolant, but there are important lubricants that will extend your water pumps life if you change to new fluid.  You can do it yourself if you dispose of the old antifreeze carefully, or you can go to a service stations and they can back flush the system getting out sludge that like to stay in the engine.  While you are in there you might want to replace the thermostat.  If it is three to four years old it is a good time to put a new one in.  The thermostat makes sure that the coolant is up to proper temperture before it allows it to flow through the radiator.  If it is ever stuck closed you will have cooling problems.  If it is stuck open it will affect your fuel economy.

It is probably a good time to clean you car by washing and waxing it.  Start by using a good quality automotive shampoo made for washing cars.  Don’t use dish washing detergent!  Wash it in the shade and rinse thoroughly.  Start at the top of the car and work down.  Use a bucket that can hold three gallons or dump it out about half way and put in a fresh mix of car wash.  Use one of the “wooly mits” to wash with and keep it rinsed in the wash bucket often, this keeps the dirt in suspension instead of scratching the finish of your car.   Then use a chamois or cotton towels to dry it.  If its been a while take the time to clay bar the paint.  It would take off contaminants that the soap will not and leave you with a silky smooth car finish.  Then protect it all with a nice quality carnuba wax.  Make sure that it doen’t have any cleaners mixed in. Just use pure wax.  Buff it off with nice clean cotton towels.  If you ever wonder if a towel is all cotton you can test it with a match.  Hold a burning match to the loops and they should char, not melt.

Those are the basics and this is the right time of year to do them.

What Makes a Road Great

For some people it is a freshly paved stretch of asphalt that is straight as an arrow and flat as a pancake.  They look forward to the speed they can attain without the bother of slowing down for curves or fighting gravity’s pull by climbing a hill.  There are even events held out west where public roads are closed off and drivers get to accelerate to their hearts content, at least until they exceed their limits of skill and the laws of physics.

In contrast I prefer a road that begs to be approached with respect and demands to be understood.  A road with curves that undulate with a rhythm that you must discover if you hope to transverse them with alacrity.  These are the roads that reward you with g-forces and tests the coefficient of friction that reveal your tires’ slip angle. 

The road that compresses your suspension as you enter a corner only to fall away at the apex will demand that you time your moves properly or it will let you learn how it feels to have no control.  Sending you into a world of understeer that works in slow motion until you hit an obstruction or regain your contact with the road.

The great roads to drive must have no driveways or side roads.  Those variables spell tragedy and must be respected. 

Such a road should have a reverse banked curve or two to frustrate and tease you.  Such a curve will irritate you until that magic moment when you have finally got it right.  You time your braking and throttle with the input to the steering and you discover that you now know something that you felt you might never discover just a moment before.

The perfect line through a corner has revealed itself and challenges you to come back again and see if you can duplicate it exactly the next time. 

When there are straights you enjoy the exhilaration of acceleration, but find it boring if it lasts too long. 

If the curves are banked to your favor a grin will cross your face as you enjoy the advantages of a road that gives you a helping hand. 

Sometimes a little sand or early morning dew will change a road that you thought you knew.  In an instant it will let you know how it feels to lose that all important contact with the road.

When the road is a race track that you will be able to lap again and again the challenge is to keep it on the edge and not make a mistake.  The repetition will demand that you duplicate your path and your moves making minor adjustments for the wear in your tires and the changes in the track surface.  It is demanding and it take concentration.

Jackie Stewart once mentioned to Jimmy Clark how he almost lost it on a difficult turn and Clark was aghast.  To him you always had to be on the ragged edge of almost losing it or you were not racing. 

It is strange when you tell people that you drove on a race track and they ask you how fast you went because simply telling them a maximum speed doesn’t convey the fact that you were going as fast as you could all the time.  At times that might be 35 mph and you felt on the ragged edge, while when you hit 120 mph on the straight you were waiting for it to get over so you could hit the corners again.

You find that when you have learned the secrets of a roads curves and contours it becomes a shorter road.  You aren’t fighting to understand what you need to prepare for next you are simply there and on top of it.

I think that is why WRC racing is so fascinating.  You know that there are no laps where the drivers can perfect their attack on difficult portion of the road.  It is all difficult and there is very little time allowed to get to know the road.  That is why the navigator has become so important – calling out the turns, gears, speeds, and hills.  When you see a rally driver execute a switchback in a perfectly timed drift you can’t help but admire the skill that it took to accomplish.

Garages Then and Now

Long before the automobile there were garage-like structures known as barns.  Instead of service stations there were blacksmith shops.  The transportation choices were horses, carriages, and your feet.

It was important to protect and maintain your transportation and for some time if you owned it you could fix it.  Some specialty work such as wheel repair and manufacture, harness making, and the proverbial buggy whip company existed to service these modes of transportation.

The wealthy could afford a carriage house and people devoted to the care and feeding chores.  Everyone else had to learn to care for themselves. 

Before the automobile came to be there was the bicycle.  The Wright brothers had a bicycle shop.  Many blacksmith shops evolved to service and supply bicycles.  My own family’s ancestors did just that. 

The bicycle did not require a barn to store. Perhaps a porch or a shed out back was all that was needed to protect it from weather.  But it was certainly more complex than any existing transportation device so the bicycle shop became a necessity.

When a gasoline engine that was small enough to be attached to a carriage was developed, and combined with the sprockets and chains borrowed from the bicycle technology the automobile was born.  Truly a “horseless carriage”.  The concept of motor powered transportation vehicles was so compelling that it spawned more than a hundred companies that designed and manufactured automobiles in the US.

It took a visionary like Henry Ford to comoditize car and make it affordable to the blue collar worker and the farmer.  Right along with this was the necessary infrastructure to supply the essential gasoline and service. 

Gasoline sold for five cents a gallon.  Your average wage was twenty-two cents and hour.  Three cents of it was tax.  I don’t know what they did with the tax income, because they certainly didn’t build many roads.  In 1905 there were only 144 miles of paved road for 8000 cars.  The speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.  The blacksmith shop that had transformed into a bicycle shop became a service station.

When you pulled up for fuel there was no self service.  For your five cents a gallon someone pumped your gasoline, checked your oil and water (antifreeze), and made sure there was air in your tires.  With practically no paved roads and bicycle tire technology you were lucky to get a few hundred miles out of your tires.  There was no detergent lubricating oil for the crankcase so every few thousand miles it would be torn down and all the sludge was scraped off.  In many the main bearings were formed by hand by the mechanic.

You probably didn’t have to worry about flushing or bleeding the brake system because the brakes were mechanical.  You did have to put grease in the suspension cups so that the friction points wouldn’t squeak or wear out prematurely. Don’t worry about your shock absorbers, you didn’t have any.  Battery?  Nope, you didn’t have a starter, only a hand crank that was likely to break your arm if you weren’t careful or lucky.  No seat belts, air bags, or even a rear view mirror. 

All these things came later.  You can than racing for the rear view mirror.  The first race cars would not only have a driver, but a mechanic riding along.  The mechanic’s job was not just to fix something during the race, but to look to the rear and warn the driver of someone trying to pass.  One enterprising driver decided to save the weight of his mechanic and attached a mirror so he could see behind without turning around in his seat.

You can thank racing for many of the nice things about cars today.  The tire technology has gone from bias belted tires to radial and now Michelin has an entirely new technology that completely eliminate pneumatic tires from the roads, the Tweel (http://www.michelinman.com/difference/releases/pressrelease01102005a.html).  Fuel injection, turbo charging, all wheel drive, and thousands of other technology improvement came out of racing cars.

In the post WW II world people were happy to have a house without a thought to a garage for their car.  In those days you had one bathroom and one phone in the house so what did you care about your car.  Most were parked on the street and the only time they needed a garage was when they were being serviced.  In the seventies garages came into style.  In the northern climes they made it easier to deal with during snow season.  Still a one car garage was about it. 

Then came the eighties where the consequences of the prosperity of past WW II was combined with the material expectations of the baby boomers.  Two car garages were a status symbol and you not only had multiple bathrooms and telephones in the house you had more than one color TV.  Oddly enough many of these garages hardly ever saw a car park in them.  They were too convenient to use for general storage and a workshop.  Usually cluttered with bicycles, sports equipment, and some boxes of things that would not be opened before the next move.

Today garages are still being included with the house and most of them are actually part of the house.  They tend to be on the small side, even the two car garages can barely contain an SUV let alone any tools or a bench. 

The service station no longer exists.  It has been replaced with a pump-your-own convenience store.  No one checks your oil or cleans your windshield.  You can pay close to three dollars a gallon for fuel and some times of year even more.  You car has become far more complex than Henry Ford could ever had imagined. 

Henry was all about simplification.  When he had his engineers working on a successor to his model T he challenged his engineers to design a carburetor that would not need four bolts to mount it to the manifold.  The engineer proudly designed a solution using only two bolts, half of the original design.  Henry sent him back to the design board saying he wanted it done with one bolt.

Today the personalization of cars has spurred an aftermarket industry of over $35 billion.  This means a lot more garages are being used for what they were meant to be – a place to care for the automobile.  It has also created a growing number of custom shops that don’t just service cars.  These shops provide frame-off restorations as well as installation and tuning of the products of the aftermarket performance industry.

Take a look at your own garage and imagine what it could be.  A safe haven from the weather and a place to tune and care for the most technological piece of transportation the public has ever had the privilege to own.

Stealth

Spirited driving, speeding, scofflaw, or just “Sorry officer, I had no idea”.  How ever you want to describe it there are speed limits and there are drivers that exceed those limits.  Depending upon what road or highway you look at, over 90% of drivers exceed the posted limits.  Not you, you say?  Perhaps, but as we get familiar with our vehicles, the same routes to and from, we bring our speeds up to something that moves us along efficiently and usually this is higher than what the regulations allow. 

Often we get caught up in the flow of the traffic around us or we know the area so well that doing 35 in a 25 zone doesn’t seem excessive anyway.

But the limits are out there and often enough we get an unpleasant reminder when the police pick our favorite avenue or highway to start enforcing those posted limits.  After World War II the military technology of RADAR was applied to speed enforcement on the highway with units that were limited in their range and flexibility.  Some of the first ones were only practical if the unit was stationary.  The emitter and receiver was an obvious give away.  It would be attached to the car’s door and look like a 10″ diameter spotlight with a green opaque lens facing the traffic.  It was still effective and spurred counter measures on the part of the driving public.  The most famous was the Fuzz Buster.  It was a black box that sat on the dash and plugged into the car’s cigarette lighter.  It had an on/off switch and squelch dial.  It was as primitive as what the police used, but for drivers it was a small miracle.  Paired up with a CB radio you felt almost invincible.  At least for a couple of years.

As we know oh so well, technology moves on and so did the speed monitoring technology that the police used.  The counter technology kept up and often exceeded what the police had.  The wave lengths that the police were authorized by the FCC to use (yes, even the police have limits to observe) started as X band, then K band.  Later Ka band was added.  This last one allowed extremely fast switching on of the radar gun (part of the evolution of form).  The one good thing about this technological change was that instead of blasting every vehicle and thing on a roadway with microwave energy constantly, the officer would observe visually the road, spot a suspect and engage the technology to confirm his suspicion.  At least from a legal standpoint this was an improvement since it meant that the officer was actually establishing probable cause prior to confirming the speeding infraction.  This also meant that it was also very difficult to develop a counter technology that would be effective.  Sure, you might pick up the signal if the officer was aggressively using his radar gun on vehicles ahead of you, but if not, you would find yourself in that embarrassing situation of trying to talk your way out of a ticket.

Yesterday USA Today reported on a technological development that could be the next hope for the 90 % of us that just happen to exceed the posted speed limits.  It is a microwave invisibility cloak.  Described by David Smith of Duke University, it diverges from the current technique of absorbing microwave energy to one of bending the microwave energy around an object.  The prototype creates an electromagnetic mirage around objects that bends the microwaves enough to no longer reflect them back, but allow them to continue on the the next object. 

The current stealth technology used on things like military aircraft involve coatings that are much like a “fur” with hair that is the same as the wave length being used by radar to scan with.  That way most of the radio energy gets trapped within the “fur” and is not reflected back.   It is the reflecting back of the microwave energy that tells the police radar gun what speed a vehicle (or other object) is traveling at.  As the energy bounces back its frequency changes if it moves toward or away from the radar gun.  That change is calculated and produces a speed reading. 

If you’ve ever heard a fire truck or ambulance coming toward you and then passing by, you noticed the change in pitch of the sound of the siren.  If you were in the ambulance you would not have heard any change in the pitch of the siren’s wail.  As the ambulance approaches you the sound waves are compressed and you hear the pitch raise and when the ambulance passes the waves are stretched out and the sound drops in its pitch.

With the technology of the microwave invisibility cloak being prototyped by Duke researchers, you might be able to drive a car that microwave energy from a radar gun passes harmlessly around.  The officer would see you, but the radar gun would see nothing.  While radar jammers have been used they are definitely illegal as broadcasting of radio energy is strictly regulated by the FCC, this is a strictly passive technology that would not be under FCC’s jurisdiction.  Things could get interesting.

Diesel – Bonneville Record Holder

We saw it LeMans this year and now the Bonneville salt flats.  A British experimental car using two JCB444 engines that normally would put out 150 hp apiece, were modified to produce 750 hp each. 

The result was a world land speed record that broke the old one by nearly 100 mph.  Since 1973 the record was 235 mph, but as of August 23 of this year it is now 328.767 mph.

The Dieselmax was driven by Andy Green, who gained fame as the driver of the first car to ever exceed the speed of sound.

This is another example of diesel power showing that it is not just for large tractors or trucks.  Diesel powered cars are going to be known more and more as performance cars that provide exceptional mileage.

This year a far cleaner diesel fuel is starting to be distributed in the US.  You will recognise it by the new green labels that will adorn the pumps.  It is and Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel fuel (ULSD) that contains no more than 15 parts per million of sulfur.  Typical fuels used prior to this contained up to 500 parts per million or more.

This new diesel fuel will be required for all highway diesel vehicles from 2007 and on. 

You next super car may be a turbo diesel that not only out accelerates a gasoline fueled sports car, but is 30% more efficient, too.

A Balanced Approach – battery relocation

Why would you want to move a perfectly good battery out from under the hood to somewhere else in the car?

Well, there are a couple of reasons. First of all the environment under the hood subjects your battery to some extremes that don’t do a lot for its ability to hold a charge or extend its useful life. Under the hood it gets hot from the engine and radiator as well as the occasional water and mud thrown up from the road. Secondly, they tend to weigh a lot, forty pounds or more, and are not usually placed in the best location from a weight balance point of view. The only exception I can think of was the air cooled VW Beetle where it was under the back seat. That kept it close to the rear engine but out of the engine compartment which just did not have the room for it. Other than rusting out the floor from the splashed corrosive fluid that was in the battery, it turned out to be a good place for it. It kept it out of a harsh environment, and also kept the weight low and close to the center of the car inside the wheel base.

Our front engine cars will usually have the battery mounted up high in the engine compartment and often ahead of the front axle. Knowing that the best design for handling would be to concentrate as much of the car’s mass as low as possible and centered between the axles, this factory mounting spot is definitely not the ideal. This has prompted many a race car builder and even home mechanic to relocate the battery to a more optimal location.

Such a relocation in a race car is subject to sanctioning body rules that ensure it is done in a safe manner that protects the driver and the car while it is competing on the track. The backyard mechanics should take note of these rules as they perform their own battery relocation so the their good idea doesn’t turn into a nightmare.

There are some relocation kits available from after market suppliers such as Summit and Jegs that give you a head start with most of the components you will need.   They usually come with a battery box made of plastic, a set of large diameter cables for the positive and negative battery leads, some hardware to facilitate mounting the battery inside the box, and maybe some zip ties.   This is a great start and very economical, but there are a few other components you had better plan to add.  Before we get to those let’s think about the new location for the battery.  You should plan on changing to a “gel” battery that not only doesn’t need water added, but has nothing to spill if not kept in an upright position.  The Optima brand battery is a good example.  While you are at it, be sure to get a battery with plenty of cold cranking amps.  You will be pushing the current to the starter over a lot longer distance and having 800 to 1000 cranking amp capacity will not be overkill, especially if you have a high compression engine to turn over in the winter.  So where do you mount this lead weight?  Often the spare tire well is the most convenient.  That usually means relocating or eliminating the spare tire.  Getting rid of that weight might not be a bad idea anyway.  When I did just that with my Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX I added a repair kit to my “trunk”.  It included a tire plugging kit, a small air compressor that would run off my battery, and a can of flat fix for when I was really desperate.  Scout out the location and try to keep it as close to the ideal of being inside the wheel base and low.  In a race car you don’t have to deal with the daily driver world of carrying passengers, etc. so you can pick a spot in the cabin area (as long as the sanctioning body permits) that is close to the ideal location for mass.  In your street car you will have to compromise and keep it in the trunk area.  If you want to keep your spare tire you can often find a spot behind the rear seat and between the shock/strut towers that will do nicely.  It might be a nice time to integrate a strut tower brace with the battery box.  It all depends on your budget.Some things will be required that you must fit into your budget.  Things like a circuit breaker (or fuse) for the positive battery lead.  This should be mounted within 15″ or less of the battery terminal.  This will protect you from a short to ground with that long positive lead you will run from the battery’s new location back to the engine compartment.  If the positive lead every gets chaffed or cut in an accident you want that circuit breaker to trip before a fire occurs.  You will also need an insulated terminal block.  When you look at your battery in the factory location you will notice that there are several wires going directly to the positive terminal.   With the battery relocated you will need a terminal block in the engine compartment to tie them all together.  This is not the time to cut a block of wood, screw it to the fender, and bolt all the cables to it.  High end automotive audio shops will have things like insulated terminal blocks and 100 amp (minimum) circuit breakers.  You can also look on the Internet.  A side benefit of having the circuit breaker is that it is a quick disconnect of the battery for when you are working on the electrical system of your car.

 

Another must is to cover the positive cable with split plastic sheath for the whole length.  This is to protect against chaffing.  Yes, I know the cable already has insulation, but you need all the protection you can get.  It is much cheaper than having your car catch fire.  Get some red electrical tape and wrap the sheath from one end to the other.  That will identify this as the positive lead. 

I found the battery box supplied in the Summit kit way too large, so I picked up a better sized one from Auto Zone.  In my installation I had to make it shorter so that it would fit in the spare tire well and still cover the battery.  I also had to fashion a solid mount for the battery and the battery box.  Batteries weigh up and you don’t want them wandering around on their own.  Make sure the metal parts of your battery mount are insulated and take the time to slip red and black insulated covers over the positive and negative terminal clamps.  Batteries can explode and you NEVER want to allow anything to short those two terminals.

Run the positive cable to the engine compartment through the car’s interior.  Routing it outside along the frame is a bad idea.  You do not want to expose the positive cable to an environment where it could be cut or impacted by road debris.   I find that most cars have a nice cable path close to the door sills and under the carpet.  Use your head and do everything to keep it protected.  When you reach the firewall you have a couple of choices as to how you get it into the engine compartment.  You may luck out and find that there is all ready an insulated access point through the firewall.  If not you have to decide the best place to make your own.  If it means you must drill a hole you have to make sure that you have a way to cover the edges of that hole so that NOTHING can chafe the cable.  There are firewall pass-through terminals made that are designed so that they completely seal and insulate the hole and provide terminals for the cable to bolt to on both sides of the firewall.  I have always been lucky to find a well insulated factory pass-through on the cars that I’ve done this modification on.

Pick your ground connection point very carefully and do it well.  First you will need to find a spot for the negative cable in the back close to where you have the battery.  Make certain that it has all the paint off the spot where you attach the cable.  You can also use a star washer under the terminal to assure a good mechanical metal to metal connection.  Then go back to your engine compartment and add some ground cables there.  I make mine from 8 gauge cable from a stereo shop, cut them to length, and solder on terminal ends. Then I use heat shrinkable tubing to cover the cable insulation and as much of the terminal connector as is reasonable leaving only the part you bolt down exposed.  This ensures that moisture and air is kept away from the connection that is soldered.  Do this to any connections you make and you won’t be plagued by corrosion in these spots.  Corrosion means electrical resistance and trouble.  You want to have a good ground between the engine block and the frame, the frame and the transmission.  On cars with O2 sensors you want to be sure that the exhaust system also has a good ground back to the chassis.

If you plan to take your car to a track you may find that you will be required to have a battery cut-off switch installed and accessable from the outside of the car.  Be sure to set this up so that it disconnects the alternator as well as the battery.  When done properly it should kill the engine while it is running and not just take the battery out of the electrical loop.  Some sanctioning bodies will also require more than a plastic battery box.  They will want to see a solidly mounted metal box that has a vent tube going from the box to the outside of the car (Yes, I know that the gel batteries have nothing to vent.  Get over it.).  In any case you are responsible for finding out the rules.

If this is just to make your street ride handle better and give yourself the experience of a challenging, but satisfying modification you don’t necessarily have to have the cut-off switch. 

Leverage the Internet and see what others have done, keeping in mind the safety tips I have highlighted.  Take the time to think out the steps to make this project successful.  When you are done you should have an installation that looks so professional it could have come that way from the factory. 

School Buses

I thought everyone did it.  When you are growing up you think everywhere is the same as what you experience where you are.  How was I to know?

My school bus was yellow just like everywhere else, but there was a difference that I did not know was unique until many years later.  All of the school buses in our town were named.

It made things so easy.  You could identify the bus you needed to take to and from school by the name on the side.  When you reached junior high school and you had to take a late bus you knew which one would take you to your village by its name.  It was completely natural and intuitive.

Maybe it was because the place was surrounded by the ocean and folks were used to naming their boats.  In the morning you would wait for the “Barbara” to come to the bus stop and pick you up.  If you stayed late you took the “Patricia” back home.  What could be more natural. 

It was later that I found out that other towns did not have names on the sides of their school buses.  Instead all the buses said the same thing.   Such and such school or such and such county school system.  How did students figure out which one to get on?  I guess they had to look for a number or a placard in the window that would turn yellow over time.

Later I talked to my grandmother about it and she commented that my great grandfather had named one of his the “Osceola” after an Indian Chief.  In our town the buses were owned by individuals and not by the town itself.  They contracted with the town to bus school children, but they owned the bus and, like a boat, chose to name it.

She told me of the horsedrawn coaches that would bring the summer visitors from the rail station to the village inns had names like “Northern Lights”, and the “Mayflower”.

There were the “Andrea” and ”Andrea II” school buses that were named for an aunt of mine.  Today when the town publishes a school bus schedule it does it by bus name and you can find names like “Osecola”, “Cotacheset”, and “Wianno” after the native names of the area.

It might be interesting if we had names for our cars and trucks, like boat owners do.  What would you call your’s?  Mine might be the “Silver Streak”.

Six Cylinder Engines

Today we see a lot of cars using a V6 design, in particular many great front wheel drive cars built by Mitsubishi, Acura, Honda, to name a few. There was a time when a six cylinder engine meant an in-line six and there were a few really interesting ones out there.

Jaguar had an exstreemly strong version in the sixties.  In the XKE it powered the two seater with such alacrity that it could hold its own with many of the muscle cars of the era and then out corner them.  It did suffer from the curse of Lucas.  The almost exclusive vendor of British car electrics was a company called Lucas.  Most owners referred to Lucas as “the Prince of Darkness”.  Whether it was the heater, the coil, or the light switch, Lucas electrics would be certain to let you down and sometimes in spectacular ways.  In the days of carbon spark plug wires Jaguar’s six cylinder ran them down between the cam covers where, as they aged, they could arc to one another providing misfires and frustration. 

Those were the days of points and condenser ignition.  It was odd to find cars designed for the British Isles would have a problem in damp and foggy environments, but they consistently frustrated their owners with “morning sickness” on this side of the pond.  There was a great story of a local mechanic, Al, who was called out one foggy Cape Cod morning to cure such a problem.  The owner was a wealthy man that lived in one of the more exclusive areas.  He had a multi-car garage and had several classic British cars in his stable.  The one he wanted to drive that day was an XJ-6 that refused to start.  All sowed up at the man’s house while the owner was still in his robe and slippers.  The man had planned to crank up the Jag and let it warm up while he had his morning coffee, usually a good idea.  So Al had him open the bonnet (hood) and then took a peek inside.  The owner, naturally curious stood near by to see what Al would do.  Al removed the distributor cap and pulled off the rotor.  “Ah ha”, said Al.  “Do you have a $100 bill?”  A bit flustered the owner of the Jaguar fussed about in his robe.  Al said,”never mind I have one,” and pulled one out of his wallet.  Then he took the bill and ran it between the points in the distributor.  He put the rotor back in, attached the distributor cap, and told the man to start it up.  He did and the engine immediately came to life.  The owner was monetarily grateful and would later recount Al’s magical genius to his friends and contemporaries.  The reality was that any piece of paper would have done the trick in wiping the moisture from the morning’s dew off the points, but Al’s showmanship was brilliant.

There have been a couple of notable six cylinder engines in the US as well.  Plymouth had the slant six.  It was a long stroke engine that designed so that the cylinders were at an angle, much like a bank of cylinders on a V8 engine.  This provided clearance for more conpact body designs and was offered in cast iron as well as aluminum blocks.  It was a strong dependable engine that could be had in as large as 255 cubic inches of displacement. 

Another six cylinder engine from America that never achieved the recognition that it deserved was Pontiac’s Overhead Cam (OHC) Six.  This was designed in an era when cams in American engines drove push-rods which acted on rocker arms in order to open and shut the valves.  The OHC 6 was revolutionary in that aspect in particular.  This offered it the ability to breath much better than the traditional six cylinder designs.  It came in a 250 cubic inch displacement and was offered with a four barrel carburetor in its “Sprint” configuration.  A friend had a 1957 Pontiac that came with a V8 engine that had a carburetor fire.   he repainted the scorched hood and replaced the bulky V8 with an OHC 6.  This took a lot of weight off the front end and allowed him to put in a transmission with over drive.  He ended up with a classic looking car that had great gas mileage and excellent power.

The straight six is not seen much any more.  It takes up too much space with its length and has a much tougher time passing emission requirements than the V6.  They were some great engines though.