Posts from the Twilight Zone (can YOU figure them out?)

Mr_Shiftright

Sometimes I read a post and I just stare and stare and no explanation comes to mind.

There are things beyond the knowledge of ordinary men such as myself. Maybe YOU can help these people, who obviously have a real problem of some sort, but a problem which defies my ability to not only solve, but even understand. They seem to defy the laws of Automotive Science.

Heres one for openers. All comments welcome:

The Case of the Disengaging Crank Pulley

Shifty the Host

zueslewis

the concept of the crank pulley stopping while the engine is running is as impossible as Mad Max (Mel Gibson) flicking a switch to engage his supercharger.

tboner

Just difficult. You would have to have another path for the air to go around a "roots" style supercharger. The pulley engage is no more difficult than an A/C compressor clutch.

I could imagine a case with a two layer shell, hollowed out, so there are two paths for airflow. The path through the case, when the supercharger is not spinning, and the traditional path when the supercharger spins, drawing even more air through the carbs.

Probably a tuning nightmare. Don't know if you could use two carbs, because under boost the "non-boost" carb might not see vacuum.

Of course, it is easier today with fuel injection and electronic boost control.

TB
engineer geek

zueslewis

but there were no provisions on that Ford Falcon for disengaging the blower. It used a regular roots blower and blower manifold. The split scene where the camera shot would jump down to him hitting the switch, then you'd see the blower engage under the hood, then he'd fly away.

Yes, it CAN be done, but it wasn't then. As a car guy and hard core movie trivia geek, I've had that argument before...

Mr_Shiftright

Yes, but does this exist on a Suzuki Samarai? That would be quite a trick.

If so, why on earth?

Also, what DID the man see when he said he saw his crank pulley STOP?

Very mysterious.

zueslewis

I was ......pffffttt, the engine, dude, it like stopped, but it was ...pfffftttt...still turning, man. (Said in Tommy Chong fashion)

0patience

The mad maxx blower is a bypass type blower with an electric clutch drive pulley. You know, like the AC pulley?
I've installed a few of them.
They are dogs at lower rpm and terrible on fuel economy, but when you flip the switch they really come alive.

isellhondas

Is Lucas making crank pullys now?

leadfoot4

I never knew that a crank pulley could leak oil!!! LOL!!!!

swschrad

alias has a rubber ring between the shaft and the pulley drive for noise isolation, it could happen that the rubber seal breaks and it's just spinning and smoking, glazing up what's left of the rubber inside the pulley drive, until the rubber's ridge breaks off and the pulley drive flies off.

I suspect there are some other symptoms, like looking under the hood and losing lunch from the odor, that might attend this condition.

but the most likely explaination is aliens from outer space. or ephedra. you can blame anything on ephedra now, the gummint says it's ok. or saddam. check your service records for tech "666," if he did your inspection, it's sabotage by saddam. the wires told me so

pat84

It's a good day, indeed, that I don't step on my crank.

Mr_Shiftright

Yep, think you were right, that's exactly what it was...a deteriorated rubber ring of some kind--but I think the pulley was actually turning, it was the belt that was slipping as the pulley shifted.

The idea of a clutch-driven crank pulley was just too wild for me. I started thinking "only the French would design something like that" and no doubt for all kinds of rational reasons in their minds.

I'll go look for more Twilight Zone posts.

tboner

"Posted by Powrd1.8T on 2003-03-19 16:27:03"
Hey guys, I've got a 98 1.8T. I've had a k04 and chip for a while and wanted to get more performance. I was recommended to port and polish the intake and exhaust. We found out they used abrasive material to do it like gritty sand. So I got with my friend that tunes Hondas and we decided to try it ourselves. We got a bag of sandblasting sand and hooked up into the intake and started the car. We had to hold the gas so it would run. He wanted to let the engine suck in the sand through the intake so it would port it out and then push it out the ehxaust so it would port the exhaust manifold.
I was worried that it might cause problems but he figured it'd be OK as long as we didn't make boost and it get sucked in the turbo. After running the car and letting it suck in sand we got about half way through a 25 lb bag. The check engine light was on and the engine was bucking and kicking and sounding really weird. We stopped and hooked the car back up normal and took off the sand supply. We tried to start it again and it was really hard. Once started it couldn't idle and kept making weird noises. We took it out and drove it and it started to make scraping and knocking noises.
Help! Can anyone tell me what to do! My buddy only does Hondas so he doesn't know much about Audis

This has to be a joke, at least I hope for the sake of the genepool it is a joke.

TB

swschrad

damn, that's one hot tuning job, I gotta get me some of that!

Mr_Shiftright

It sounds like a joke, yeah, but I actually did, I SWEAR ON A BIBLE OR TWO, I did stop a guy who was about to pour borax into the intake horn of a Mercedes turbo diesel to "seat the rings".

To this day, I regret having interfered, as I've often daydreamed about witnessing what would have happened.

div2

That's Moronic Critical Mass:
http://warnerrobert.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=00- 1263

zueslewis

of those guys actually knew what they were talking about.

div2

And you can bet your bottom dollar that if they had a tire problem they'd turn around and sue the tire shop for "letting" them buy tires with a lower speed rating. Idiots...

zueslewis

Not bad, and really good considering he was probably on the "frequent smoker" program.

div2

But who would want superior handling when they can have long treadlife instead? Especially with Dayton tires. Tell me those puppies aren't state of the art...:P

zueslewis

ranks right up there with the $150 a set, 17" "Wanli" tires I saw on ebay!!

bolivar

In another topic ISELL mentioned seeing horrors in his past life as a tool saleman. I didn't want to contribute this item, as it all was somewhat off-topic.

But seeing as this topic doesn't really seem to have a topic, I'll contribute this story heard from a friend that swears it's true.

"Friend mentions to me that a guy we both know came by his house looking for help with a problem. He was trying to check the rear differential grease on his 1969 Z28. And could not get the square-headed plug out. He was using one of the few tools he owned, a Cresent wrench. My friend said he should have been able to do it with the wrench and asked a few more questions.

Seems the guy was attempting to remove the plug using the large round hole in the end of the wrench. The hole used to hang the Cresent on the nail in the wall...."

zueslewis

you mean the kind that works perfectly with a 3/8" ratchet???

bolivar

I think this one had a square head that protuded, rather than an 'innie' one that will take a drive extension.

zueslewis

I'd think the worm adjustable thingy end would be the end to use...

swschrad

if the only tool you have is a meat cleaver, everything you see is meat.

but which end is the handle.....

isellhondas

Most broken hand tools are the result of abuse.

And "abuse" is a word the abusers don't want to hear!

isellhondas

I've never seen this done but I have heard an old timer or two say it really works.

I also watched, dumbfounded, as a Chevrolet mechanic in a Chevy dealer de-carboned a 350 Chevy engine with a bottle of water!

He was an old timer too...he held the throttle linkage open at a pretty high RPM and squirted the water...lots of it...into the carb.

The engine shook and pinged like hell! You should have seen the black crap that came out the tailpipe.

And, it worked! It idled like a purring kitten when he was done!

Mr_Shiftright

Water-injection is based on a sound scientific principle.

Borax in an engine is based on Model T Ford technology when piston gap was about the thickness of a 2X4, carburator jets were the size of a drainpipe and metallurgy was about as good as a Vermont wood stove.

isellhondas

Hanging out in the corner gas station...

There was an "old timer" he must have been 50 at the time who was very well known as the local flathead expert.

If you had a flathead Ford or any other kind of a flathead, he was the guy you wanted to see.

Anyway, he swore by the borax method. A customer had an old flathead Pontiac eight that had been overhauled by someone else not long before.

I guess the rings didn't seat and the car smoked and burned oil.

I didn't see him do it but others did...he give it a "borax" treatment and it apparantly worked!

True story...now, would I try this? Heck No!!

swschrad

seems to me if you break the handle off a ratchet using a three-foot gaspipe as a cheater, you should accept that you are killing the tool.

and you should never, ever get into a position where any part of that jury-rig monkey trick is going to be able to touch you anyplace. injuries, at best, hurt.

we've all probably used a "force multiplier," but I sure hope you knocked the broken end of the tool out of the pipe before taking it back and trying lamely for a "lifetime warranty" replacement. I'm getting more into the mode of taking out the hacksaw and replacing the hardware if it's external rather than getting my FM out.

andre1969

is a pretty old trick. I've done it a few times...on my '79 Newport, and on my grandmother's '85 LeSabre. The trick is to use a bottle that sprays a really fine mist. You can also use a plastic soda bottle, and just hold your thumb over it and let it drip in, but don't let it drip too fast, because water doesn't compress too well!

isellhondas

But this guy was REALLY squirting the water in!

I thought he would shatter a piston but he didn't.

swschrad...

When it comes to abused tools, I've seen it all. Nothing would surprise me. I've seen 3/8 in. 34 inch extensions used as prybars.

I've seen test light probes that have been used as line-up bars.

And the LIES from the abusers I've heard...!

isellhondas

I saw a Fox Valley dwell-tach volt meter that some idiot used to somehow "test" a 220 dryer hookup!

swschrad

I screwed up in sighting a bunch of conduit stubs left in yet-open walls during a rework of a science class building a dozen years ago, and when asked later by our phone guy if there were any runs down the walls for new lines, recommended several. he didn't have a fiberglass fish tape, so when the Ideal tape went into the 3-phase breaker panel and got across a bus bar, it stopped moving with extreme results.

I took him out to lunch; the electrician declined.