R.I.P Ford V8

[Ace-Garageguy]

And as long as there are more people arguing why it can't be done than are trying to develop ways to do it cost-effectively, well, like the man said...it can't be done.

The part of my career I spent as an "aircraft mechanic" revolved around developing non-factory repair procedures for Cirrus aircraft composite structures that the factory insisted were impossible to implement in the field. We proved them wrong, and to my knowledge, are still the only people who have ever spliced the entire empennage and aft fuselage of one Cirrus to the crashed fuselage of another one (3 times now) and achieved full FAA certification and acceptance for the procedure. I have photo logs of all of the work, should anyone feel like challenging the truth of my statements.

The difficulty developing crash-worthy composite vehicle structures may stem from the fact that the ones tasked to do so haven't spent their entire lives immersed in gathering empirical results, from hands-on experience with the materials and structures, and lack the "feel" to know which way to head. Computer design does not provide solutions where loads of empirical data is lacking.

One of my own vehicle designs, shown in my avatar, has an entirely composite structure. Early computer models indicated its crash performance would be similar to that of a small conventional car, and "back-shop" testing of sample structural elements backed that up.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Matt Bacon]

Who's not trying? Me personally, for sure, but I think you'll find that ALL the major car manufacturers have research and significant investment into designing lighter weight structures using advanced materials and production technologies...

http://www.compositesworld.com/blog/post/leichtbau-ist-hybridbau

for example.

Take a look at the attendees at the "Global Automotive Lightweight Materials" conferences:

http://www.global-automotive-lightweight-materials.com/15/history/83/global-automotive-lightweight-materials-series-history/

Or buy a ticket to Shanghai in March and you could meet quite a few of them and tell them that they aren't working hard enough... ;-P

http://www.global-automotive-lightweight-materials-asia-2015.com

bestest,

M.

[Ace-Garageguy]

And BMW is working hard to bring down the cost of carbon fiber by 90%, as well as developing mass-production methods using the materials. I'm aware of what's being published, and progress is being made.

My point though, which everyone always fails to grasp, is that two of us, working alone in a hangar in Arizona, and with zero outside funding, developed procedures for repairing aircraft a well-funded manufacturer of composite-structure aircraft, with a computer-backed engineering staff, said were impossible.

Meetings and conferences don't get this shitt done. Building and testing to destruction in the back-shop is the ONLY way to compile enough data to build CAD programming that's competent to predict structural crash performance.

I got out of the engineering consulting business because I got so sick of hearing constantly that every advance has to cost millions of dollars, employ hundreds of people, and is otherwise impossible in today's tech-dependent world. BS.

I was introduced to composite aircraft structures in the early 1980s, immediately saw the potential for automotive applications, and have a pretty solid overview of what's been accomplished, and what hasn't, since then. In the mid-1990s, I was attending conferences myself and was very excited about where things seemed to be going. I was one of 5 or 6 companies in the US represented at a conference at Battelle in Columbus, Ohio, in 1996, concerning commercialization of a wide range of composite-material technologies. (5 or 6 companies. Pathetic. That's how little interest there was in developing long-term lightweight solutions back then. It ALL could have been done by now, if anybody with vision and bucks had wanted to do it.) The other attendees included Lockheed, a ladder manufacturer, and a human-prosthetics manufacturer. No car companies. But for whatever reason, the explosion of development I expected in the field never materialized. I guess it was too tempting to go on conducting business-as-usual, pretending that oil would last forever.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[kruleworld]

I remember the following "scare" tactics from back in 1987 :

I've heard all of this before in the '80's.

Ford in Australia is dropping their V8's as they don't sell well. I'd consider this a test-run for usa.

[unclescott58]

beams of pure energy???

what happened to teleportation?.....

I guess I'm way behind. I'm still waiting for Ford's Nucleon. A nuclear powered show car shown in the early 1960's.

Scott

[Maindrian Pace]

I guess I'm way behind. I'm still waiting for Ford's Nucleon. A nuclear powered show car shown in the early 1960's.

Scott

I liked what Hot Rod said about that car recently: "It's extremely impractical, but at least it's radioactive."

[Greg Myers]

[06daytona]

Well, not only Ford.....

http://www.autofile.ca/Article/1129/Small-engines-big-in-GM%27s-future

[Ford guy]

Blah, blah, blah, I remember hearing rumors back in the '70's like this. Then in the '80's etc, etc..........

The Coyote engine, the LS series engines, the Hemis. Get rid of those? I don't think so.

What are the going to power the pickups with? Ok, a V-6 will be ok in an F-150 maybe, (Ecoboost) but what about the F-250? or the F-350?

Don't believe it, cut back on V-8's possibly. Cut down on how many cars in their lineup will get V-8's maybe, but to stop producing them? NOT.

[Joe Handley]

Remember when Chrysler went to almost nothing 4 cylinders, then threw turbos on many of them to get more power? Now, not only do they have 4, 6, and 8 cylinder engines that are all better than 1hp per CI without forced induction, now they also are currently producing two of the most accessable 700+hp, factory supercharged production vehicles, then doing so directly on the same line their V-6 and N/A V-8 equipped siblings come off of without having to rely on an outside vendor (Hurst, Shelby, ECT) to complete the build in separate faciities.

Edited January 30, 2015 by Joe Handley