Topic 21 of 40: cool car URLs and websites
Fri, Nov 21, 1997 (23:58) |
Paul Terry Walhus (terry)
Cool Car URLs.
Post 'em here!
5 responses total.
Topic 21 of 40 [cars]: cool car URLs and websites
Response 1 of 5: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Fri, Nov 21, 1997 (23:59) * 5 lines
http://www.edmunds.com
Publishers of automobile buyer's guides for over 30 years.
Topic 21 of 40 [cars]: cool car URLs and websites
Response 2 of 5: Frank Susca (Cafe) * Sat, Nov 22, 1997 (11:53) * 2 lines
Edmunds is a terrific site.
How about http://www.kitcars.com , shows interesting links to interesting toys. I'll come up with a few more.
Topic 21 of 40 [cars]: cool car URLs and websites
Response 3 of 5: El Sam Blob (Afor) * Sat, Nov 29, 1997 (20:56) * 3 lines
http://www.monito.com/wankel/
is the place to go if you want information on Wankel rotary engines.
Topic 21 of 40 [cars]: cool car URLs and websites
Response 4 of 5: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sat, Nov 29, 1997 (21:24) * 5 lines
Were these written up on the Whole Earth catalog.
El Sam, care to give us an introductory lecture on
Wankel Engines?
Topic 21 of 40 [cars]: cool car URLs and websites
Response 5 of 5: El Sam Blob (Afor) * Sun, Nov 30, 1997 (11:56) * 7 lines
*sigh* O.K.
The Wankel Rotary Engine (not to be confused with the Gnome or Le Rhone aero-engine designes used in WWI, I won't try to explain those) was developed by Felix Wankel and the engineers at NSU (Neckarsulm Knitting Machine Union, maker of bicycles, motorbikes and cars along with knitting machines). It uses the four-stroke principle (intake, compression, power and exhaust), but instead ou using cylinders, the engine has a chamber and rotor of shapes that I can't describe very well without a diagram. Suffice
it to say that the rotor is similar in cross-section to a completely symmetric triangle, but with rounded sides. This rotor is in eccentric orbit...
I am getting too technical here, aren't I? I'll let the site do the explaining! The main thing to remember is that the rotor is constantly moving, that a Wankel is more compact and has fewer moving parts than a piston engine, that inlet mixtures and exhaust gases are controlled by ports instead of valves, that the thermal efficiency of a Wankel is rather less than that of a modern piston engine (probably comparable to an old side-valve engine; oh, why did I mention side-valve engines?) and that only Maz
a makes them for cars these days and they don't export that car any more.
cars conference 
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