Seldom being one to shy from a silly argument...or a sharply swerving
thread.
Choosing displacement to indicate likely horsepower was perhaps a less
than ideal example on my part. But using displacement to indicate likely
peak torque is a pretty good one. How's this?
Today's normally-aspirated gasoline-burning automobile engines
produce 66 lb-ft of peak torque per liter of displacement.
I'll bet 99% of the cars sold in the US today are within 20% of that
value, with most a lot closer. (WARNING: fodder for data junkies)
So regarding my original claim on using height, ground clearance and
track to indicate likelihood of flipping: it'll be hard to prove or
disprove. I'll do more homework before saying anything further on the
subject. (It sure will be fun to watch the fireworks when the Feds
get around to issuing their ``stability index'' for sports utes,
assuming Detroit's lobbyists don't nip it in the bud.)
BTW, Charlie, I agree with you about running out of suspension travel
being an important determiner of when a vehicle flips. But it's hard
information to use when teching some unfamiliar vehicle and trying to
assess if it's likely to flip. Automotive categories are getting fuzzy
and a quantitative index might help. To pick a couple concrete examples:
you'd almost certainly let an ordinary Subaru or Volvo sedan or wagon
run. But how about a Subaru Outback or Forester? Or a Volvo
Cross-Country? They have the same basic chassis as the vanilla version,
but an extra inch or two of ground clearance. Where do you draw the
line?
Over and out,
/Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael R. Clements [mailto:mrc01@flash.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 5:36 PM
To: Smokerbros@aol.com
Cc: Bill Hamburgen; ba-autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Vehicle eligibility...
Smokerbros@aol.com wrote:
> Using height, ground
> clearance and track to indicate likelihood of flipping is at least as
valid
> as using bore, stroke and number of cylinders to indicate likely
horsepower
> output. >>
>
> Let's see, we have 350's that make 165 hp and others that make 330, so
your
> formula only nets us a 100% variation in results.
Since the 350s that make 165 hp and those that make 330 hp have
different stroke to bore ratios and different valvetrains, the
reply does not address the question. It's a bit harder to find
two engines with the same displacement, # of cylinders, the same
stroke/bore ratio _and_ the same valvetrain actuation (pushrods
or overhead cams), that have significantly different power
output.
Argh. . . I feel the tractor beam. . . I'm being sucked into a
silly argument!
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