[Tigers] Tigers Digest, Vol 5, Issue 250

[Jay Laifman]

Good thoughts.  My dad used to joke about the British and their starter.
On the Alpine, the starter had this great little knob on the back.  It was
there so that when the starter jammed, you could put a spanner on it and
free the starter.  While it seemed like a great idea (and neither the
Germans nor Japanese had such a great thing), the better solution for
jamming starters would have been to fix the jamming problem in the first
place (which the Germans and Japanese seemed to do).




On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 12:55 PM, Tod Brown <todbrown at roadrunner.com> wrote:

> On 7/23/2013 2:00 PM, tigers-request at autox.team.net wrote:
>
>> OFF TOPIC - modern starters and clutches (Jay Laifman)
>>
> Jay:
>
> I don't know all the answers to all your questions, but I do have couple
> of thoughts.
>
> First, I have always understood that alternators are more efficient than
> generators, so repeatedly starting a car whose battery has been charged by
> an alternator may not be such a large demand. Modern batteries really do
> hold a good deal of energy, so the stop and start cycle is probably
> something well within its capability. Follow a UPS truck around for a bit
> for a demonstration. Newer starters are also more efficient, I believe. You
> might have more of a problem with a Tiger, since it (at least mine) uses a
> generator which would have more of a problem keeping up at idling speeds (I
> sometimes see the red ignition light come on at idle - something I haven't
> noticed with the cars I have had with alternators.)
>
> Secondly, I had a VW GTI in the past with the DSG transmission and it
> really is a neat piece. There are really two clutches (and two gearboxes)
> which are controlled electronically, making it possible to engage and
> disengage the (concentric) clutches without the worry of slipping the
> clutch as one would do with a manual clutch. It is my understanding that it
> is the slipping that can quickly do in a clutch but the electronics allows
> for that to be avoided for the most part.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tod
> B382002384LRXFE