Re: Brakes unable to stop runaway Lexus in California?

Now they'll probably come out with a big red emergency shut off button sitting on the middle of the dash so this doesn't happen again.

If you did that, obnoxious and ill-behaved kids would press it.

--scott

Well or course you'd put it where they can't reach it.

Obnoxious and ill behaved kids.How about Armor for your HDTV?

Chee! Reminds me of Cheech & Chong. cuhulin

ore

Well, you're both right - discs *do* require more line pressure than drums, but a Fiat Spyder is a fairly light car so it doesn't matter all that much. I used to have a Porsche 914 with manual discs, but in general, manual discs are pretty rare and unlikely to be found on anything but small, light sports cars.

nate

Well, you're both right - discs *do* require more line pressure than drums, but a Fiat Spyder is a fairly light car so it doesn't matter all that much. I used to have a Porsche 914 with manual discs, but in general, manual discs are pretty rare and unlikely to be found on anything but small, light sports cars.

nate

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I wholly concur.

I've had several 1972 Fiat 124 Sports Coupe. They all had standard vac operated brake boosters. The coupes also had a valve that measured the angle of the body to the rear axle and reduced line pressure to the rear disks on hard braking to prevent the rear wheels from locking up. A nifty idea.

Now that you mention it, a friend of mine has an Alfa Romeo from that time period. It has vacuum, but gets it in a strange way. Ive seen it, and my friend has attempted to explain it, but I am not satisfied that I understand it completely. A vacuum line is tapped into the head near the exhaust port. I dont know that it goes directly to manifold vacuum or what. Maybe someone here knows the details of this unusual bit of Italianism.

My brother had a 914. It was a great beauty. Too bad the brakes sucked. I guess there's no such thing as stop-and-go traffic in Germany. :-)

That's interesting - I don't know anything about that.

The Alfa I had was a little weird too. It had a SPICA mechanical fuel injection that was like a analog/mechanical computer whose workings scared me to death. The transmission and clutch was in the rear end which means the driveshaft spun at engine speeds which means the driveshaft had to be balanced to a high degree but it never was. It also had nifty inboard disk brakes and a DeDion rear suspension. The specs were advanced for the time but it was pretty much all a technological dead end.

Italian engineering.. such beautiful concepts, such wonderful carrozeria, such pissant results, usually.

This entire story illustrates yet again the beauty of the manual transmission. Depress clutch (or not), take it out of gear, end of problem.

You betcha! And if (seldom) you have to repair it, you can do it in the back of a small shop in Avezzano with ordinary hand tools for the most part.

Im glad you brought this up. I am not really a fan of automatic slushboxes.

I have no problem with manuals but the reality is that it's mainly appropriate for small sports cars. I don't want to be shifting if I've driving a bunch of kids or adults around. I wouldn't want a manual in a large family car any more than I'd want an automatic in a small VW or Fiat.

The manual will die out along with the piston engine. The cars of the future will be probably be powered with electric motors. My guess is that electric motor controllers could be programed to simulate the torque and shift take-up of piston engines. Sadly, that'll probably be the only legacy of the age of the piston engine and manual gearboxes that will survive.

Urgh, memories of that disk / suspension setup on Rover P6's - it was a real pig to work on because it was so inaccessible :-(

My condolences on your Rover. I would have liked to have owned a Jag but after studying the manual, I got scared. :-)

Not familiar with that. Could it have been something like a low pressure source (using the bernoulli effect for high speed flow), possibly boosted by a vacuum amplifier, for low intake manifold vacuum conditions present during periods of acceleration concurrent with high exhasut gas velocities? An altogether hilarious concept, no?

My experience (albeit dated) has been that most automatic transmissions are not much more, if at all, demanding to repair than standards. The former usually involves only replacing friction surfaces, gaskets o-rings and possibly snap and sealing rings. They most often don't require the replacement of bushings, pumps, sprags, gears, servos ... Once failed the latter is likely to involve, if not require, replacement of synchronizer rings, dogs, shifter forks, ball and/or needle bearings sets, possibly gears or shafts.

Gee, I dunno, Ferraris, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, Bugattis, Ducatis, Benellis, MotoGuzzis, Lombardinis, Ruggerinis, Vancini and Martellis, Pininfarina, Bertone... both designs and manufactured products weren't exactly crap, imho. ;-)