Timing belts vs. timing chains

[the_same_mountainbike]

Ancient thread alert!
Ancient thread alert!
Ancient thread alert!

[asemaster]

@nicksfb

It is in the car manufacturers interest to repair and sell more cars. Designing a car that could actually run 400,000 miles with minor maintenance and wear would mean selling fewer cars

Who on earth wants a car for 400,000 miles? I suppose for fleet or taxi service maybe, but I don’t want to drive the same car for 20 years. I’m 46 years old and have never put more than 50,000 miles on the same car.

@nicksfb

Glad to read belts are on the way out…people are wise-ing up…and competition can work.

The reasons for belts vs. chains are purely technical.

@nicksfb

For example…why don’t all manufacturers make exhaust systems to last by using steel that won’t rot away?

They do. 25 years ago I replaced mufflers and pipes a couple of times a week. I think I’ve replaced 2 mufflers this entire year.

Thanks for bringing back a discussion here that ended several years ago!

[the_same_mountainbike]

@asemaster

Who on earth wants a car for 400,000 miles?

I do.

[asemaster]

@the_same_mountainbik

Who on earth wants a car for 400,000 miles?

I do.

If you drive 20,000 miles a year you’d be in the same car for 20 years. I can’t imagine a car meeting my needs today and 20 years from now. Today I need 3rd row seating to haul half a baseball team and room for catcher’s gear and 5 bat bags. 20 years from now it’s going to be a luxury sedan with calfskin seating and white floormats. Well maybe not that extreme, but you know…

[the_same_mountainbike]

@asemaster

I can’t imagine a car meeting my needs today and 20 years from now.

When I was a younger man with a growing family it was assumed that the car I had would not always be able to satisfy my needs. I call it “growing family syndrome”. But now my kids are long-since grown, I’m a retired senior citizen, and I’d be very happy if my current car were the last I ever have to buy… unless, of course, I win the lottery, which would make me even happier.

Needs and desires change as our lives change.

[Rod-Knox]

The Ford Winsor V-8s had timing chains that often failed by 100k miles in pickups and rarely lasted longer than 150k. Mopar and GM V-8s lasted longer but usually required replacement between 150 and 200k. Manual transmissions significantly shortened the life of all laminated link timing chains compared to automatics. And replacing the timing belt on a V-6 Maza 929 was considerably easier than the chain on a 302 Ford. Belts and chains each have benefits. Americans seem to take trends to extremes then abandon them for another. How soon will we have solenoid valve control?

[VDCdriver]

@Rod_Knox

How soon will we have solenoid valve control?

Wasn’t that used in Cadillac’s V-8-6-4?

Our limo fleet had one of those bombs, and we nicknamed it the V-8-6-4-2-0.
When you hit the gas, you never knew whether the engine would accelerate, or if it would…sag…into nothingness.

The only way to get it to run even half-way decently, was to warm it up for at least 30 minutes, even in the summer!

[the_same_mountainbike]

@Rod_Knox

How soon will we have solenoid valve control?

I don’t know the technical details as regards why it didn’t succeed, but I’ve read a few times over the years that it was being experimented with. One idea that I read about many years ago that I liked was replacing the rockers, valves, camshafts, and all their associated parts with a shaft of rotating ball valves. One engineering company developed a successful working V8 with this system. Why it was never adopted I don’t know.

[Barkydog]

I think the solenoid control valve will be coming soon. It really makes sense to me.