Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Filed under: automotive

Working on a Peugeot. Ah, brings back high school memories.

My brother Mark is getting a new clutch for his 80's Peugeot 505. If you don't know, they're a French car that stopped importing into the US in the late 80's. They ride very smooth and have some nice features like leather seats and seat warmers. They're also very easy to work on since not a lot of computer stuff.

He and dad have been working on it all day. Good thing it's such nice weather!

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With a new day brings new progress, got the engine out! Now my brother and dad have to replace the clutch and put everything back together! Big job.
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Now the fun part, putting it all back together in the dark! Haha. I remember doing something similar back in the day, usually with parts left over. Oh well, as long as it runs right? :)
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Cutting grass with a '51 Farmall Cub tractor

It's been about 18 years which feels like my whole life, but I still enjoy it. It's about an acre of what's left of my granddad's property. The old tractor just keeps on going. My granddad originally bought it to take care of the property when he was raising, training, and showing Morgan horses. I grew up on the property and so have always been around to operate the tractor. 

It's not the safest thing. They didn't build them with cages around the driver back then. With lots of low hanging branches on the old apple trees, I have to watch not to get knocked off. Since the tractor has a throttle that you set to a certain level, it would keep right on going even without a driver. It also has a governor that opens up to give more power when it senses the engine needs it. So if it ran into a house or a fence, the govenor would open up and the tractor would do it's best to plow through any obtacles. Even though it's a small engine, the gearing is designed to take advantage of every ounce of horsepower and torque.

There are also no guards to protect the driver from falling onto and getting dragged under the big rear wheels, so that's another danger. Finally, the way people die on these old tractors is when the tractor runs into something that doesn't budge or break. Since the front end is lighter than the back, it will start to climb up and quickly flip the tractor upside down crushing the driver. Being aware of these dangers, I've never had any problems and am always safe. It goes really slow so there's usually time to push in the clutch or hop back on.

One cool feature is that it has individual brakes for each rear wheel. That's so it can turn on a dime for going down the next row of crops. It's pretty useful if I need to turn sharply. With the wheel turned all the way in one direction, stepping on the inner wheel's brake actually stops the wheel and the tractor spins on that axis. Tears up the ground some too which is always fun. Good for cutting around tree trunks and pulling out weeds around the tree at the same time.

This tractor was the first motorized vehicle I ever drove. I started when I was 14. It's also how I learned to operate a clutch (manual transmission). Since there's no shifting once moving, it's really a nice thing to train on. Very forgiving to new clutch operators too. It's not a synchromesh transmission, just straight gears, so the tractor has to be stopped to change gears. Starting in third is always fun. You've got to put the engine to it's max and slip the clutch until it gets up to speed. The front wheels kind of wobble going that fast down the road. I think something's gotten a bit loose over the years.

I appreciate that I've had the opportunity to drive and operate a vehicle like this. Everytime I get on it's like I'm transported back to the 1940's when these tractors were designed. With nothing but hours of cutting to do, I've spent many an hour driving the tractor and contemplating life. A humbling experience.

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My dad and I working on the old '51 Farmall Cub

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They really knew how to build things to last back then. This tractor just keeps on purring along with no major work being done to it.

Recently it started leaking water because the original radiator hose finally got a crack in it!

Porsche 911 GT3 R with a mechanical flywheel battery

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via porsche.com

The mechanical flywheel battery is charged by applying the front brakes. The flywheel is spun up from the brake energy and remains spinning until energy is needed. The flywheel spins at up to 40,000 rpm and this is how the kinetic energy is stored. Apparently, this is very efficient compared to chemical batteries.

When needed, the flywheel battery is slowed electromagnetically and generates up to 120 kW of electricity for the two front electric motors. It can do this for up to 8 seconds before it needs to be charged again.

I really like this kinetic energy battery instead of chemical. I think it would last longer and shouldn't degrade in performance like chemical batteries do over time.

It reminds me of those toy cars that I used to play with as a kid where you have to push it along the floor several times to spin up the internal flywheel and then push the button to send it zooming off like a missile on wheels!

This Porche is so cool, the only question is when can I buy one? I hope this technology spins off from racing to more affordable hybrid cars that people can actually buy.