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Cars with strange mechanics


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I can't find a thread for this...

 

Cars with odd ways to do mechanics, engine, drivetrain, electrics etc.  show them here.

 

Let me start with Peugeot running a belt around the corner.

 

peugeot304-motor-2721583200849390947.jpg

 

 

204 and maybe the 304? I seem to remember that my 204 used the alternator pulley as the 'top' 90 degree turn.

 

The 404 had a peculiar back axle arrangement too, put the wrong oil in it and it 'chopped' at 30mph in top.

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^^^^Worm gear final drive in the 404?

 

Odder than the 204/304's round-the-corner belt drive is that the final drive/driveshafts are at the front of the gearbox. Long wheelbase win!

 

A feature also to be seen on the Toyota IQ I believe. Short wheelbase win?

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Some that came off the top of my head.

 

Cars with bass ackward gearbox; Saab 900, various old Citroen.

BMW M70 V12 which have 2 of every electronic engine components. Because having to fix only one BMW component is too easy.

Honda S600 had chain drive like motorcycle.

Honda 1300 was a little 1960's saloon powered by air-cooled engine equipped with 4 carburettors and dry sump system powering the front wheel.

Toyota Hybrid "Power Spilter" Gearbox, after many years of trying to understand it I'm now convinced it's witchcraft.

 

There'll be more, but I need sleep badly.

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Land Rover TD5 engines that ran part of the engine loom through the oily bits.

 

I also find BMW E36 rear brakes a bit of an odder than standard design, the rear calipers are pretty standard, but don't have a handbrake mechanism. Instead they use the inside of the disc as a drum handbrake, complete with shoes and all supporting drum hardware.

 

The Fiat 1.2 and 1.4 16v engines don't have a rocker cover as such, instead they run their cams through a "cambox" rather than cams carried on the head itself, so only one cam is actually driven by the timing belt, the other is gear driven of the first one. If, for any reason you need into it (such as to replace a seal of leaking cambox gasket), it therefore becomes a full timing belt job.

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I also find BMW E36 rear brakes a bit of an odder than standard design, the rear calipers are pretty standard, but don't have a handbrake mechanism. Instead they use the inside of the disc as a drum handbrake, complete with shoes and all supporting drum hardware.

 

My Corolla has that as well, i was quite surprised when changing rear pads.

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Add Corvette, Volvo 960 and Smart car to the example list too.

Also Fiat 128, 127, and possibly Ritmo/Strada. Mounted to the body in two places, the springs act also as anti-roll springs.

post-17481-0-59029000-1539114866_thumb.jpeg

 

See also countless GM USA models of the recent past such as the autoshite Oldsmobile.

Like Smarts, Sprinter / Lt vans have transverse leaf springs at the front.

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My Corolla has that as well, i was quite surprised when changing rear pads.

 

Same, my e36 was squealing on one rear side, thought it was a stone on the disc backing plate, stripped down the rear brake and it turned out it was a snapped retaining pin on one of the shoes inside the disc, something i didn't know it even had until i got the disc off!

 

Was a surprise!

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Same, my e36 was squealing on one rear side, thought it was a stone on the disc backing plate, stripped down the rear brake and it turned out it was a snapped retaining pin on one of the shoes inside the disc, something i didn't know it even had until i got the disc off!

 

Was a surprise!

E39 and E46 too. Cos it's not dear enough buying bits for the feckers anyway. Mines sticking on at the moment. Grrr
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