3 cylinder engines next? by whozit

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

3 cylinder engines next?

POSTED BY: WHOZIT
UPDATED: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 03:43
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Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:44 AM

In Obama's America we have to think "small"......like his penis.

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-three-cylinders-2012
0317,0,4405998.story?track=icymi

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:33 AM

M52NICKERSON

DALEK!

I'm sorry if you fell you need a big engine to make up for your short comings! I'm also sorry that you fail to understand how better fuel efficiency is a good thing.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:43 AM

WHOZIT

Quote:
Originally posted by m52nickerson:
I'm sorry if you fell you need a big engine to make up for your short comings! I'm also sorry that you fail to understand how better fuel efficiency is a good thing.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

I own a 2012 FORD Focus and I like it, but in Barry's America he'd love us ALL to be driving Smart cars while he crusies around in a limo.

You know he and his Hollywood pals love their limo's and SUV's, but he wants gas prices high so we'll all have to sooner or later own glorified riding mowers.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 6:17 AM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

Looks like engine efficiency is moving in a positive direction. More power, less size, less fuel.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

Note to self: Mr. Raptor believes that women who want to control their reproductive processes are sluts.

Reference thread: http://fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=18&t=51196

Never forget what this man is. You keep forgiving him his trespasses and speak to him as though he is a reasonable human being. You keep forgetting the things he's advocated. If you respond to this man again, you are being foolish.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 7:17 AM

CAVETROLL

Until I can buy a small diesel in a car we're not even talking about fuel efficiency.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 8:46 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Ironic.

I happen to be in the process of car shopping while trying to piece together and jackwire the fried dash electronics of my current ride, some of which went out with a pop, fizzle and cloud of smoke, and said boxes cost twice the blue book of the car, so am using salvaged parts and ingenuity with little hope of a longterm solution cause even then this set of wheels is on it's very last legs...

And I am TRYING to find a puny, fuel efficient car, hoo boy - firstoff there's price, it makes no goddamn sense if the PRICE of your econobox is more than a friggin luxury sedan, then there's the stinkin WEIGHT, all that government mandated bullshit adding weight and bulk which can only be countered by more powerful, less efficient engine, and useless besides cause the whole POINT is not to get into an accident in the first place and that's a lot easier if you're driving something agile, which most modern cars are NOT...
Too much weight, too much mass - and all the engine and ABS and trac-control in the universe isn't gonna defy the laws of physics when they come to visit and you can't AVOID an impact cause that bulk and weight adds momentum.
Never thought I would see the day I looked back on the handling of the AMC Gremlin X with nostaligia - despite ludicrously bad weight balance, puny tires and the crummiest suspension ever it was damn skippy in comparison to modern tugboats, no WONDER everyone is into drift-cornering these days, there ain't no other way to GET those bloated monsters through a corner at speed.

And I feel ya on the micro TDI diesel, I've been trying to arrange greymarket "import" of a VW polo bluemotion with little success, plus if it ever does come to america expect it to be much less fuel efficient and tripled in price, argghh..
Although VW totally owned us on hybrid tech - since we were planning to frankenstein it with the hybrid setup from a Prius even if we had to rip out the back seats, just to see how far we could go on that, plus adding solar film to the roof, yadda yadda, and then VW pulls out their own custom hybrid which nails down 200+ MPG, epic - but I'm sure the american automakers will once again cadge congress into more idiotic "safety" regulations which are nothing of the sort but rather a means to bar the entry of competition - the fekkheads learned NOTHING from trying to sell SUVs to people who wanted econoboxes that's for damn sure.

Average MPG of the vehicles I can afford is SEVENTEEN, that is disgusting, we could do better than that in the goddamned fifties fer cryin out loud, and many of the crummy import econoboxes back in the 80s REGULARLY surpassed 30mpg, AND handled better than this naval yard rejects we sell today.
Special mention for the Ford Fuckup, aka Focus, since a lot of em were built here under conditions and QC which makes me cringe, there were SERIOUS problems on the factory floor, believe it.
Handles like a HUMVEE, gas mileage of a TRUCK, priced like a PORSCHE, and based on a cheap, shoddy rally car design which couldn't even compete, and for all that when we got stuck with one as a rental-loaner the engine power was pathetic and the braking system terribly flawed, I drove a YUGO with better pep and handling than that crummy piece of junk.

I did look at a beat up Prius that was going cheap, but the battery pack is borked and the electrical system is hangin by a thread so that was a wash, and the other cheap "heap" I looked at would get me throttled by my ex or assassinated by my insurance company.
Some ex street racer had to get RID of his backup car due to a DUI and legal bills, so I found myself offered a jacked up, fully tuned, nitrous equipped Hyundai Tiburon complete with flame job for a mere five grand - only, well... NO ONE wants me to have it, bleh.

Situation as it stands, looks like I'll have to take what I can get, hoping for an older Saturn cause they're kinda bulletproof in design, but finding one that someone is willing to part with which hasn't been beaten to hell is gonna be a challenge.

Believe me, if I could FIND a puny little econobox with an engine that small that wasn't priced like a goddamn lincoln continental I'd snap it up in a heartbeat - all I really *need* is a box with an engine to fetch groceries with, fer cryin out loud.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 11:26 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

I'm still puzzling over why the idea of 3-cylinder vehicles is so foreign to the Zit. Hell, I had a 1981 Yamaha motorcycle that was a 3-banger (850 Special). GM also used to sell a 3-cylinder in the Geo Metro. The "hot-rod" version of that car was the 4-cylinder Suzuki Swift GTi, and it actually was pretty quick, and still got great mileage.

My li'l Honda CRX uses a tiny 1.6-liter 4-banger, makes a touch over 108hp, and will quite easily run with a new Civic Si or 6-cylinder Mustang, all while getting far better mileage than either of those cars. And don't even get me started on the Honda CR-Z, which was supposed to be the spiritual successor to the CRX, bringing sportiness and frugality to new heights, but failed miserably (in my view, at least) on both counts. And it weighs more than 600 pounds more than my CRX.

There's a myth that small engines are wimpy, but that's all that is, is a myth. Any big-block Corvette owner who ever tried to keep up with a Lotus on a bendy road learned that lesson the hard way.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 11:40 AM

WHOZIT

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
I'm still puzzling over why the idea of 3-cylinder vehicles is so foreign to the Zit. Hell, I had a 1981 Yamaha motorcycle that was a 3-banger (850 Special). GM also used to sell a 3-cylinder in the Geo Metro. The "hot-rod" version of that car was the 4-cylinder Suzuki Swift GTi, and it actually was pretty quick, and still got great mileage.

My li'l Honda CRX uses a tiny 1.6-liter 4-banger, makes a touch over 108hp, and will quite easily run with a new Civic Si or 6-cylinder Mustang, all while getting far better mileage than either of those cars. And don't even get me started on the Honda CR-Z, which was supposed to be the spiritual successor to the CRX, bringing sportiness and frugality to new heights, but failed miserably (in my view, at least) on both counts. And it weighs more than 600 pounds more than my CRX.

There's a myth that small engines are wimpy, but that's all that is, is a myth. Any big-block Corvette owner who ever tried to keep up with a Lotus on a bendy road learned that lesson the hard way.

I use to know a guy with a Geo Metro, it was sooooo cute, and tiny. I think it's a lawn ornament in front of his house now

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 1:55 PM

CAVETROLL

I hear you, Frem. I just dropped $5,000 on a 2001 VW new beetle. It is a 2 liter, 5 speed. The saving grace it is that it only has 80,000 miles. But the average 25 mpg is a darn site better than my truck's average 15.

If gas goes to $5 a gallon as the doomsayers are predicting it will pay itself off in 2 years on savings alone. However, gas went over $4 a gallon last election cycle, and dropped sharply after the election. I'm bracing for a repeat.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 2:05 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

... I had a 1981 Yamaha motorcycle that was a 3-banger (850 Special) ...

I have fond memories of Yamahas of circa that vintage. I never rode the 850, but was a passenger on a 550, 650 and 750, and tooled around on the dirt a bit on a borrowed TY250.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:32 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
... I had a 1981 Yamaha motorcycle that was a 3-banger (850 Special) ...

I have fond memories of Yamahas of circa that vintage. I never rode the 850, but was a passenger on a 550, 650 and 750, and tooled around on the dirt a bit on a borrowed TY250.

Too bad Obama paid Harley Davidson billion$ in bailout$ to kill the only Made In USA sportbike, then move its HD factories to India.

Any American who dares ride a streetbike today faces an 11,000% increase in arrest, thank to Obama's bribes to cops, which now want an additional 1,000% increase in arrest of all drivers. Or cops just kill you without warning -- for sport -- for the heinous crime of speeding...even when you're a cop riding a bike to work.

Govt wants to massively raise the gas tax to PUNISH owners of efficient cars, for costing govt gas tax. So much for govt wanting anyone to actually save gas.

So you might as well fly...

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 3:38 PM

KWICKO

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
... I had a 1981 Yamaha motorcycle that was a 3-banger (850 Special) ...

I have fond memories of Yamahas of circa that vintage. I never rode the 850, but was a passenger on a 550, 650 and 750, and tooled around on the dirt a bit on a borrowed TY250.

Yup, my bikes kept getting bigger and bigger. That 850 started life as a 750, but I blew that motor up and as luck would have it, the shop had an 850 that the rider had just been killed on. Some luck... I bought the engine, put it in, had it a week before I damn near got killed on it as well. Valentine's Day 1982. My niece was born on April 12 the same year, in the same hospital I was still in.

Lots of good memories on that bike, and one really, really, really bad memory of it. The day I was released from the hospital, I borrowed a 650 Special from a friend so I could "get back on the horse". I proved I could still do it, and haven't felt the need to ride since. As I recall, the 550 and 650 Specials were two cylinder bikes, with the 750 and 850 being 3-bangers. Didn't they come out with an 1100 Special later that was a 4-cylinder?

I always really wanted a Honda CBX, though. 900cc inline 6-cylinder, screaming motor. Six carbs, and a true, bona-fide bitch to work on, by all accounts, but oh so fine when you get it right!

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:51 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Do you remember - out of curiosity - somewhat b4 then didn't Yamaha experiment with a 1 cylinder ~1000cc motorcycle (affectionately?) called the Thumper?

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 6:16 PM

KWICKO

Don't remember that one. There was lots of stuff going on with bikes around that time, though, as new things were being tried by nearly everyone. Kawasaki had their 2-stroke Green Machine dirt bikes - I started on a 100cc dirt bike when I was a kid, and worked my way up to motocrossing a bored-out 400cc version that was a ton of fun.

A buddy of mine bought a Suzuki street bike with a Wankel rotary engine about the same time I had my big Yamaha. It took me a while to figure out why he could leave me in the dust with what claimed to be a "550cc" engine, 'til I realized that rotaries really make power like they're about double the displacement listed, which is how most racing series classify them (a 1.3-liter Mazda rotary in the RX7 would be put into a 2.6-liter racing class, for example).

Another friend had a Kawasaki Z1000, I think it was - 1000cc four-cylinder, quite fast. Bikes like that and the Honda CBX were really the forerunners of the superbikes and sportbikes of today.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 7:30 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
Originally posted by whozit:
I use to know a guy with a Geo Metro, it was sooooo cute, and tiny. I think it's a lawn ornament in front of his house now

Think he'd sell it ?

Funny as hell, the dude I more or less "stole" my Ex out from under, quite blatantly at the time, could more or less body double for Hagrid, the guy is just freakin ENORMOUS, six foot eight and bulk to match, okay ?
And he drove a CRX, that was alas, in terrible shape...
Man he pulled up one time and I am lookin at the car sideways and he asks me "what, did something else fall off ?"
"Nah, I'm just waiting for the rest of the clowns to get out."
I did kinda like needling the poor guy, which was a bit over the top after swiping his girlfriend too - imma bad, bad man.

Also, we rented a Geo Metro 4 door when we hit up Pokey and Wammys wedding in Reno (btw, their newest spawn, Alice, was born recently with neither problem nor fanfare, and is just as revoltingly cute as the rest of their kids) and needing to visit people in the north part of the state, and California, we ran the HELL out of that little car - while the gear range on the automatic was kind of narrow, once you got used to it and could feather the throttle at the right points she was a dream to drive, and good mileage besides, did well even through the hills and twisties of Donner Pass, which I took at somewhat more than the recommended speed...
Who's inhabitants mind you, have NO sense of humor about the thing, which is kinda annoying cause I wanted some snarky postcards, meh.

Anyhows, I downright LIKED that four door metro, it was a nice car, handled well, fuel efficient and for what it was the engine HP and transmission range was quite sufficient - were they not all so old as to be no longer reliable I would buy one of THOSE, curse it all.

Oh, and worth a mention, I am actually MORE of a threat on the track in a smallish, underpowered car than a big one, as more than one demo derby or full contact smash racing opponent learned to their peril - apparently said talent crosses over into games too as Anthony can tell you, cause in World of Tanks it ain't my massive KV3 that should scare you, it's that goddamned Leichtraktor, cause I will KILL you with that thing, bwahahaha.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Sunday, March 18, 2012 7:34 PM

FREMDFIRMA

Speakin of bikes though, it's a damn shame I broke the axle on the extremely rare differential equipped rear end of this thing, it was PERFECT as an in town runabout, got around 100MPG and was drastically overpowered besides cause I had about 1k worth of performance parts backing it up.
AND because I used an oil-injected system two stroke, no need to pre-mix - the oil tank under the seat was good for a thousand miles or more and you could top off at a station on regular gas, which gave it incredible range.

I miss that beastie, I do.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, March 19, 2012 7:57 AM

KWICKO

Quote:
Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
Quote:
Originally posted by whozit:
I use to know a guy with a Geo Metro, it was sooooo cute, and tiny. I think it's a lawn ornament in front of his house now

Think he'd sell it ?

Funny as hell, the dude I more or less "stole" my Ex out from under, quite blatantly at the time, could more or less body double for Hagrid, the guy is just freakin ENORMOUS, six foot eight and bulk to match, okay ?
And he drove a CRX, that was alas, in terrible shape...
Man he pulled up one time and I am lookin at the car sideways and he asks me "what, did something else fall off ?"
"Nah, I'm just waiting for the rest of the clowns to get out."
I did kinda like needling the poor guy, which was a bit over the top after swiping his girlfriend too - imma bad, bad man.

There's a reason big guys choose the CRX - it's quite roomy inside! My wife's 2001 Civic 4-door feels horrible to me - I can't fit in it, everything is crashing into my knees and shins, the switches and buttons are all in places I can't reach (I have to have the door open to adjust the door mirrors, for instance, because the switch for them is UNDER where my knee meets the dashboard!). The new CR-Z I can't even get inside - can't move my foot from accelerator to brake because there's a big solid knee protector there, hitting about halfway up my shin and blocking my leg from rotating on the heel.

The CRX fits me better than the Dodge Durango does, better than any Toyota I've ever found, better than any Nissan, and better than any other Honda, for that matter, with the exception of the '88-'91 Civic hatchback, with which the CRX shared a platform.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Monday, March 19, 2012 10:33 AM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Frem a chara, I'm glad baby Alice came out allright, what day was she born, my new little nephew E was born on the sixth of this month. So I'm a four time auntie, how many kids does Pokey have now?

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, March 19, 2012 2:24 PM

FREMDFIRMA

That'd be March 6th, Riona, Alice Maxine (don't ask me, they all got weird middle names), and she is the fourth in a row - S'funny that the third was born despite pill and other methods, and Alice was born in spite of an installed IUD which thankfully they figured out in time to remove and it caused no problems.
Wammy's just one of them girls who gets pregnant when you so much as LOOK at her I guess, but it's okay cause she is adorable, and Pokey is way too pretty for a guy so all their kids are like revoltingly cute.

I told her she's now my official Mistress of Minions, heheheh.

And Mikey, MY problem with cars is the other way around, being 5'6" and not having a long reach due to all the patchwork, plus having to drive with my left foot - so I *need* a car that's close-in, and my Ex's Dakota having been built for larger people I feel like I am somebodys kid driving a piece of construction equipment, meh.

I wonder if I could con DepHomeSec into a grant to finance one of these...
Maybe tell em it's crucial to the security of the township or something, given how ludicrous the excuses are for them to hand out military equipment to just about anydamnbody, and on our dime too!

That certainly WOULD make driving around here a whole lot easier...

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, March 19, 2012 5:19 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Wow that's cool because E was born on the sixth and he's my brother's fourth child as well.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012 3:43 AM

CAVETROLL

When the engine goes in my Dodge I am thinking about kitbashing a Cummins 4bt, 4 cylinder diesel engine into it. The mechanical portion is a no-brainer. Everything is built with the same bolt pattern. I might have to fabricate motor mounts. The electrical portion will be a nightmare. Trying to make the Cummins talk to the dashboard of the Dodge.

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