Why do petrol engines scare me so much?

[AMC Rebel]

I am also a tad wierd about noises.... And smells.... As do random smells when driving. A nearby skip fire recently had me on the hard shoulder with the bonnet up sniffing frantically!

When I hired a car for a weekend jaunt along the Wild Atlantic way in Ireland I thought I'd cooked the clutch until I realised it was the smell of peat fires.

[rantingYoof]

Warm day, Mason the LS400 with cheeky stainless steel tips, both windows and sun-roof open, driving through a village with a high stone wall on one side and cottages fronting the highway the other...blipped the throttle to get up to speed and the V8 grumble converted me forever.

 

Also, having now heard a TVR 290 with the Cosworth 24v lump with a stainless steep twin-pipe no-crossover set-up, I'm quite interested to find out what a Volvo five-pot would sound like with a similar arrangement.

[Mally]

Without my hearing aid I hear nothing.

With my hearing aid, I often hear nothing due to an ear infection blocking my ear canal. My other ear is even more useless.

It can be an advantage at times, except when someone thinks I'm ignorant.

[DodgeRover]

I would recommend exposure to diesels from the 60s through to 80s on a daily basis ideally from childhood to get you used to the wide variety of noises a car can make without expiring terminally.

After that petrol engines will all seem ever so refined and quiet.

[MikeKnight]

I keep thinking the injectors in my Supra are too loud, but then I remember they're firing pound coins into the engine.

[mercrocker]

Its not the mechanical din I over-react to, its the other cacophony you tend to get in old motors.  The clips that hold door cards on in my Morrises tend to lose their springiness and rattle in their holes.   The Cowley has a slightly under-size bonnet hinge pin which sets up a resonance right through the whole bonnet and hence the car.    

 

Drives me bloody mad, I haven't got time to worry about whether the engine is making an odd noise.   I was convinced the Minor had a death rattle not long ago, though, when the battery steady had got loose and dropped forward over the rocker cover..... 

 

There is a lot to be said, however, for plenty of underbonnet insulation.