Re: G5 fans

Andy Hewitt <wildrover.andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[..]
Unfortunately most automotive terminology was created by the
Americans... need I say more?

I think you'll find a surprising amount of it's actually French. But
not that one - calling a pressure sensor an altitude sensor goes along
with an engineering culture that uses `pounds' for pressure and involves
a `g' term in the standard equation used for assessing rocket motor
efficiency.

Aye, some was probably German too.

I can't think of any that is - at least, not in English. What with one
thing and another, a lot of

But most of the misnomers are US.
Shock Absorbers are one of my pet hates.

The springs absorb the shock in order to release it later, and the
damping units dissipate part of the shock energy as heat.

So shock absorber ain't such a bad term all things considered.

(US engineers think that specific impulse is measured in seconds; it's
really measured in metres per second (or other units of the same
dimensions). So it's easy to work with rocket equations from Cranfield,
but bloody hard to understand NASA stuff)

Why am I not surprised.

Specific impulse is `mpg for rockets'. If you measure the parameter in
sane units, the answer comes out in m/s. Units of speed, yes? Yes - it
just so happens that the speed in question is the exhaust velocity of
your rocket jet. So it's all very neat and tidy if you use sensible
units. But the bloody Yanks have to shove a bloody `g' term into the
equation. I'm sorry, but what possible validity can an equation about
rocket motors have - and this equation applies to yer rocket motor
wherever it might be - if it contains a term that indicates nominal
gravitational field strength at the Earth's surface?

One would have thought that rocket scientists would be bright enough to
spot the idiocy of *that* one...

[..]
Aye, I think we ought to stop there... ;-)

Yeah, but the `fantasy garage' game can be fun to play ;-) Anyway, I
like triples. Jotas need to be orange. Vincents generally need to be
black. Kawasaki triples? - mean green or all the colours of the rainbow
if you've got a brace of 'em.

Oh OK then, I'll play :-)

Can't argue with the above.

There are some old MVs that I'd quite like - even though I say I don't
like in-line fours, I think I could make an except for one of them. And
a Honda 400-4 'cos I just love the swoopy 4-into-1 downpipe run.

However, although I've only mostly owned
inline fours, I'd really have loved to own a big V-Twin. The Honda
VTR1000 comes to mind for a modern machine.

I've rarely ridden in-line fours and I don't much care for the breed on
the whole. I've spent my time on singles, twins, and Honda V-fours oh
yes they're lovely they are.

And here's an odd thing: the only three cylinder Hondas I can think of
are two strokes. There was the NS400 road bike (hello Dave), and the
RS500 race bike (hello Ed). Yep, I met both for real, the RS500 in a
suburban garage (/not/ on the public highway, not even when the cops
weren't looking) looking like a 125 but with a full power 500cc GP
engine under the plastic.

NS400s really do sound bad at idle especially. Three gnomes, three
hammers, three empty tin cans, and a supply of nails. One gnome lives
in each silencer. The gnomes bash nails into the tin cans at random
intervals: *that's* what an idling NS400 sounds like.

Yeah, triples do sound weird at idle - chap I worked with had the
Triumph 900 triple, and it sounded like a bag of nails at idle.

NS400s sound a lot worse than most - worse even than the Kwak triples
I've met.

[snip]

See what I mean?

Indeed, although the bikes I had would have required drilling into the
engine to install sensors.

Well, yeah - yer Mac is designed to have bolt-on goodies added very
easily (let's call it software, shall we?), but things ain't so easy in
the world of real hardware.

Rowland.


--
Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorry - the spam got to me
http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk
UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
.