Goodnight all :o)

@Ceshion totally agree and yet I’m also now in a mental place where Internet Smellovision is a thing.... 😉

one of my many misbehaving vehicles is now somewhat less misbehaving... The Money Pit (aka my S6) now has a functioning gearbox again - hurrah!

@motosubatsu why do I sense shades of "the calm before the storm"? :)

@Zaid hehe I hope not.. if it decides to escalate from needing a full gearbox rebuild I think I'll have an honest to god nervous collapse

@motosubatsu well now that the gearbox is rebuilt I suspect it isn't the weakest link in the drivetrain. How does it drive btw? Is it communicative like a BMW?

@motosubatsu let's hope it doesn't

@Zaid yeah the 'box is near as dammit like new now - knowing that I've replaced pretty much all the mechanical ancillaries now the only real "big" thing left that would be an area of concern is the engine itself, any sort of significant failure on that is going to write the car off no question. On the plus side it's a naturally aspirated V8 lump and I've done all the belts etc relatively recently so you'd hope it should be pretty solid

the drive is good - as long as you bear in mind that it's nearly two tonnes of 4WD barge

you get surprisingly good feedback about what the car's doing and the combo of 4WD and the not-too-intrusive ESP keeps things from getting too hairy on you

I'm constantly shocked at how effectively the ESC on the sky works without being in the way, like you can drift a little even with both controls turned on but any time you really might get into trouble it kicks in

@Ceshion sounds like my sort of ESC - enough leeway to have fun but not enough to get you into trouble

@BobCross - Shades of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

I know you've got a Golden Ticket, right?

You can pick up a C-175 Caterpillar engine off of eBay for a cool $.5M ... I wonder what the delivery charges are for it. Oh, that's with free standard shipping. It's rebuilt, though.

@Ceshion this is totally a time when I can read the words but they don't mean anything to me. In my world, ESC is on the upper left on the keyboard. Totally useful, yes, but doesn't do anything for me in a drift. ;-)

Can be good for getting out of dodgy situations tho... (they keyboard key)

Electronic Stability Control is what I made of it...

@JPhi1618 is right, it's what it's called on my car

I like ESP - it's like the car knows what you're thinking.

@JPhi1618 - I've thought the same thing, lol!

Yea, it's an easy joke.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2, that Kia Ceed... Looked at it on the UK Kia site, and they have a Diesel that claims 78MPG...

That's crazy!

Everyone is striving for better mileage, so I don't doubt it.

Yea, I just didn't realize any non-hybrid was getting numbers in the 70-80 range.

1.6L, 130 hp, but still... Thats fine for a commuter car.

Actually not bad at all, in my book.

I wonder if it calls for DEF to be used as well. I saw a video of where the newer Ford trucks have a separate DEF tank where you fill it up right next to the diesel tank filler ... I guess I realize it should be there, but still struck me as funny.

I think that's the case on all new diesels, but not 100%.

It was for certain weight/type but now I think almost all have it.

so on "Can tire-road adhesion be measured?"... I guess that's an interesting physics question... Is there any way to tell that you are about to hit the limit of friction?

Seems like you just have to push it until you measure that your static friction force has changed, at which point you're moving.

@JPhi1618 - I have no clue either, other than the seat-o-the-pants-accelerometer we all know and love so much.

Works for me!

@JPhi1618 - I just had to convert an "Answer" over to a comment ... did nothing to actually try and answer the OP, but helps the conversation of the question. No clue if it can actually be done.

amazon.com/gp/product/B01GOUNZ10

A new acquisition I made which arrived today. It even comes with a calibration certificate. The tolerance for this is +/- 1.5% CW & +/- 2.5% CCW. The actual readings were -0.25% CW and +0.29% CCW (Note: These were the worst readings as they test the wrench at five different torque values). These readings are way less than what the tolerance is, so I'm really happy with it. This also measures angles. Seeing as how it's all in one, I like it.

The price had dropped from $232 to $202 (now at $213), so I bought it at the better price. Have had my eye on it for some time now.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Yea, I saw that "thought" posted as an answer.

So does it buzz vibrate and flash all at the same time? Seems like hitting your torque number would be like winning a carnival game!

@JPhi1618 - It would seem so. Haven't had a chance to use it yet, so will report back when I can :o)

I like the fact of how long it is, which means it will be easier to reach your desired torque numbers versus the El-Cheapo Harbor Freight click one I've been using (about 1/2 the length). The HF one works well ... I just have a feeling this one will work better.

The new one came in a really nice padded storage box. I really like it. A lot.

Heh, 666mm. Wrench of the Beast.

Yea, I have a 1/2 and 3/8" that I got at Home Depot... Husky brand that I found on sale since I'm there all the time anyway.

Plastic blow-mold cases. They have a good click, and smooth adjustment.

@JPhi1618 - Sounds great!

I also have an old HF special 1/2" thats all but seized up that I use as a breaker bar, lol.

Got left in the yard, in the rain, and wasn't good for much else after that.

Even before, I only trusted it for lug nuts.

I can't think of anything that would directly measure it at drive time, I could only think of using known properties like COF on the tire based on composition and temperature along with measuring g force and calculating it? but there's no good ways I personally know of to measure while moving, and the only ones I could think of possibly working are both infeasible and not something I've heard of being done before

@Ceshion You could cobble together a set of G-sensors and tire rotation monitors, etc to predict how much traction was available, but it would only ever be a rough estimate.

One small dip in the road or a smooth patch of pavement would throw it off.

And if you can't trust the predictions very much, then what's the point?

@Ceshion @JPhi1618 - I believe some of the more performance oriented car manufacturers out there which include ESC/ESP can accurately measure when the tire starts to break free ... if a person could tap into that and know their formulas for figuring things out, you could have the answers. You'd also at that point need to know all those other factors (tire temp, tire composition, etc).

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2, right, that's I think where it has to be - when the tire spins or otherwise looses traction and then react as fast as possible. I just don't think to can predict when it will loose traction.

@JPhi1618 - I think it could if you had a lot of empirical data to go along with it. It would take a lot, though, lol.

'

Anyways, I gotta get ready to go to work. I'll be back on later, more than likely.

@Ceshion, @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2, well, I threw an answer down on it.

I guess it is just me, but I suppose an escalation would be the right response?

@JPhi1618 - You go boyo!

@Myself - I so wanted to add my two cents worth in on that, but it appears Astralbee covered most of what I wanted to say.

@Myself - I would escalate it up my chain-of-command, that's for sure.