Cars with strange mechanics

[Junkman]

Pretty sure side mounted rads on original Minis was a first...........

1900 Renault:

 

[Junkman]

Rover P6 and Ford Zodiac MKIV rear calipers:

 

 

[MorrisItalSLX]

Alfa 75 inboard rear brakes

 

 

Enjoy changing those.

 

Ditto for Jaguar's independent rear suspension setup

 

[twosmoke300]

So are we all in agreement that transverse leaf springs and drum in disc handbrakes aren’t unusual at all now ?

[M'coli]

Ditto for Jaguar's independent rear suspension setup

 

Of course! It uses the driveshafts as top links.

[cort16]

I’m sure junknsn will know it’s was used firsts is the 1907 crossly trumpet 7 side valve but the vr6 , v6 with a single cylinder head looks fucking weird to me.

 

 

[Sir Snipes]

ZX and its passive rear wheel steering. Unusual at the time: since adopted for many other models by several manufacturers iirc.

 

I thought the ZX's sliding rear seat was a brilliant innovation too, but later found it was not a new thing.

Passive rear steer wasn't so unusual, Porsche made a big deal of it with the 928 in the 70s. It's a part of just about any chassis design due to the inherent flex in rubber bushings, usually the intention for slight toe-in and negative camber under load.

Makes me wonder what the earliest example of active rear steer was though?

[Guest Conan]

 

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 ex-Nissan engineer friend told me that all Nissan with rear disc brake had that arrangement until very very recently because the R&D didn't bother to learn the disc handbrake cable design.

[Sir Snipes]

My ex-Nissan engineer friend told me that all Nissan with rear disc brake had that arrangement until very very recently because the R&D didn't bother to learn the disc handbrake cable design.

No;

S12 Silvia disc only

S13 Silvia/200SX drum & disc

S14 Silvia/200SX disc only

 

A lot of misinformation in this thread....

[Bianconeri]

Peugeot spark extenders, why not use a longer cable?

 

 

The Renault 14 may have used those too, I remember you needed a very long spark plug socket plus the wretched things were miles over at the back of the engine due to way it was canted backwards.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Alfasud. Tappets adjusted through a hole in the cam between two slim cam lobes operating on the same bucket - an Allen screw in the centre operated on the valve tip. Such an elegant solution making valve adjustment incredibly easy.

[Guest Conan]

No;

S12 Silvia disc only

S13 Silvia/200SX drum & disc

S14 Silvia/200SX disc only

 

A lot of misinformation in this thread....

 

Thought it was unbelievable too. Might have been specific model of Nissan. A few certainly had that arrangement or just not available with rear disc brake at all.

[quicksilver]

I’m sure junknsn will know it’s was used firsts is the 1907 crossly trumpet 7 side valve but the vr6 , v6 with a single cylinder head looks fucking weird to me.

 

 

Even weirder than that, VW also made a VR5. Yes, a V engine with an odd number of cylinders.

 

Renault 6 weirdness has already been mentioned but for one thing. It has a starting handle but we can't figure out where the heck it's supposed to go. Putting it in the front of the car would insert it into the gearbox, and for it to work on the front of the wrong-way-round engine it would have to be inside the car going through the bulkhead, which is too stupid even for Renault.

[Lacquer Peel]

The VR design was cribbed from Lancia but even Lancia wasn't strange enough to try a 5 pot version.

 

[andy18s]

We spotted an old racing car at Shelsey Walsh which had a huge brake disc on the back of the diff rather than brakes on the rear wheels.

 

48.png

reducing unsprung weight/halfing the weight with only 1 caliper and putting it on the the centre line of the chassis....very clever

[rml2345]

So are we all in agreement that transverse leaf springs and drum in disc handbrakes aren’t unusual at all now ?

Volvo used the drum in disc handbrake setup as well on 200/700/900/850 and probably more so no, pretty common I'd say...

 

Speaking of Volvo 850s, the semi independent rear suspension seems quite odd.

 

[5speedracer]

Even weirder than that, VW also made a VR5. Yes, a V engine with an odd number of cylinders.

VR5.jpg

 

Renault 6 weirdness has already been mentioned but for one thing. It has a starting handle but we can't figure out where the heck it's supposed to go. Putting it in the front of the car would insert it into the gearbox, and for it to work on the front of the wrong-way-round engine it would have to be inside the car going through the bulkhead, which is too stupid even for Renault.

Makes a nice noise the V5

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

[Volksy]

Seem to remember Mazda advertising a new transmission with a reverse gear syncromesh. So you could engage reverse whilst moving forward. !?!

[quicksilver]

Not a car engine but the Commer TS3 was pretty weird. Two stroke, three cylinders, six pistons, no valves and a big supercharger. I've heard one in action and it makes a very odd noise.

[cort16]

 

 

[AMC Rebel]

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.

 

 

 

 

Ha! saw this topic and my first thought was the Peugeot belts - I remember seeing one in a scrapyard and being amazed - and thinking it was a brilliant solution tho the transverse engine cooling issues that Minis etc al had.   That was before electric fans made it easy of course.

[kinkersaab]

Yay, another chance to post a pic of 4 matic w124 front springs.....

 

[Lacquer Peel]

Seem to remember Mazda advertising a new transmission with a reverse gear syncromesh. So you could engage reverse whilst moving forward. !?!

Most Fords of the past thirty years have that feature, it's more to aid smooth reverse gear selection if the car is rolling slightly

[Ross_K]

Makes me wonder what the earliest example of active rear steer was though?

 

Late 80's Honda Prelude?

 

[yt]

[/yt]

[sierraman]

VW Sharan V6. Chain fitted at the back of the engine that blows every 100k. Not a driveway job.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Alfa 75 inboard rear brakes

 

 

Enjoy changing those.

 

Didn't the Rover P6 have inboard rear discs as well?

 

Inboard front discs: NSU Ro80, VW K70, Citroen DS and SM 

[M'coli]

Inboard front drums or discs: 2CV and derivatives.

[cros]

 

Roland LLoyd seemed to favour odd cylinder arrangements, theres usually an extra pot sticking out somewhere, even on the earlier 'single'. Lots of effort to avoid pre-mixing oil, but a feeble thing all the same.

[pshome]

Who needs valves if we can have sleeves:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeve_valve

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willys-Knight

[rml2345]

Daimler favoured sleeve valves in their engines at the turn of the last century as well.