One of the brilliant parts about the human condition is that everyone thinks at least a little differently. Ask three people about the same problem, and you might get three entirely different solutions. The path you’ve taken in life might also result in different ways of thinking, such as the difference between being a casual car enthusiast and an engineer.
David Tracy wrote about how the ST205 Toyota Celica GT-Four had simultaneously the smallest and weirdest functional hood scoop. The little hole in the Celica’s hood cools the timing belt. Yeah, you read that right. The comments were too good Anoos kicks us off:
Assuming Toyota wouldn’t do this unless there was a problem, please follow the recommended maintenance schedule for the timing belt on your GT-Four.
Lastwraith:
Since it’s a mid-90s Toyota, I’m assuming the maintenance interval of NEVER will be just fine?
Roofless:
Car Nerd: “Wow, cool, they’re cooling the timing belt – that must mean it’ll last a long time!”
Engineer: “Huh, they’re cooling the timing belt – that must mean it’s under a lot of thermal pressure and won’t last very long.”
LTDScott:
A friend of mine owned a GT-Four Celica, and he described it as one of the best looking cars he’s ever seen on a flatbed tow truck, because that’s where it normally was.
FormerTXJeepGuy:
It’s not a normal timing belt, it’s a cool timing belt.
In other news, Lewin wrote about the Mosler TwinStar, the Cadillac with two Northstar engines. Username Loading….:
It’s got a Northstar and a Southstar, for double the headgasket issues. Great idea though, have a backup Northstar to get you home when one fails.
SageWestyTulsa:
“Yeah, I’m looking for a faster Eldorado ETC, but make it even worse looking and significantly heavier. While you’re at it, halve the fuel mileage, and double the number of failed headgaskets.”
Warren Mosler: “Say no more.”
Finally, Tycho wrote about the Xiaomi YU7, the car from a phone company that everyone’s talking about. Zeppelopod:
Think it’ll go over well in Missouri? I hear they’re the Xiaomi State.
Have a great evening, everyone!
(Topshot: Toyota)
These two were pretty funny:
Roofless:
LTDScott:
But Tycho’s Xiaomi State was also golden.
I guess I want a Xiaomi over a GT-Four Celica.
My Wisconsin kid for some reason always spell Missouri or refers to it as “Misery.
Even though I live in WA, I happen to love KC so it’s a bit of a conflict.
“Xiaomi State” That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!
There are two Automotive camps. Engineer and Technician.
It’s been long said that an Engineer would crawl over 1000 virgins just to screw a Technician.
Signed, former Diesel Technician of 17 years.
(I know this isn’t the case, but damn, did it feel like it some days.)
I supervised both categories for many years.
My definition was a technician washed his/her hands BEFORE going to the bathroom and an engineer did it after.
For a field engineer it’s before and after.
For a clean room technician — never?
Exactly.
Honestly… a lot of that blame should not be on engineering, it should be aimed towards bean counters. A lot of sub assemblies that are easy to put together when not in the car, and then borderline impossible to service, are because of bean counters and their quest for ever increasing efficiency and speed, at the expense of servicability.
This is very true. We have service in the room from the very first digital mockups and we would like to have a design that is both easy to assemble and easy to service. However, if it becomes of question of saving the company money on assembly or making something easier to service – the automaker is ALWAYS going to go with saving ourselves money instead of saving a future owner money on service costs. (An owner who likely isn’t even our customer but the 2nd or 3rd owner)
Yes. Between
design for function
design for manufacture
design for service, and
design for cost,
the first, second and fourth are are requirements for a thing to exist and to sell, which are the primary goals of ownership. Unfortunately, the third is secondary to those.
I have found the most balance in designing machine tools, where serviceability is nearly as important, and cost and manufacturability are less of an object.
I am an engineer and do a lot of my own car repair so I feel like I can speak to both sides. As an engineer, you are given so many conflicting priorities and constraints. We would love to make things serviceable, but that conflicts with cost requirements, space efficiency, weight, and aerodynamics. On top of that, a lot more stuff is intended to just be swapped out instead of fixed. There is also the need to make it easy to assemble (not disassembled). Things go together in the optimal sequence and are stuffed into a small space to satisfy the above requirements and before you know it you have something no mechanic wants to touch. It doesn’t change the fact that it sucks to try and service anything nowadays but it does make me even happier when I come across a serviceable design. In summary: we’re not trying to screw you, I promise!
Xiaomi state! 哈哈哈哈哈 (that’s “hahahahaha” in Chinese)
I feel like XiXi 嘻嘻 would fit a Xiaomi joke better.
啊对对对 （Ahhh yep yep yep)
lol timing belts are by definition not cool
congrats on COTD everybody
Found David Tracy’s burner account
Hey now, I’m pretty sure a timing belt in a deep freezer would be so cool it would be sub-zero!
We can clearly be both, a (not casual) serious car enthusiast and an engineer. It works for me.
Same, though in my line of engineering I have been accused of putting in extra effort to screw over technicians and electricians. It isn’t true, but I almost always replied to the accusations with “Oh, everyone told me you were the best, but I guess not. I’ll remember that for the future when I need someone of only moderate skill level.” Worked every time to get the work done and the complaints down to OSHA-acceptable sound levels.
Oh, I was sure the “Autopilate” comment on TMD was going to get it today!
It’d be funny if the GT-Four Celica timing belt just screams like one of those screaming goats when the belt gets hot.
If it replicated the Honda VFR’s gear driven cam scream when it gets spinning, that would be beautiful.