What Profound Way Did You Think A Car Worked?

Ilpav

Ilpav

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When you were a kid, did you have some retarded analysis of how a car worked and how it went faster?

I did. I thought there was a man under the car, pedaling, and the throttle pedal was actually a lever that moved a knife closer and closer to the man so he would pedal faster. :lol:
 
No, I wasn't retarded. :p
 
Yeah I learned fairly quickly how the ICE worked. I couldn't understand the gears much but I did grasp the general idea.
 
After I learned how aircraft worked (thrust, conservation of momentum, exhaust out the back, etc, etc, etc) I thought that cars worked the same way. (exhaust out the tail generates enough thrust to move the car)

Times, they have changed.
 
I read lots of books. The only thing I remember is that upon seeing my first diagram of an engine, I was surprised to see the orientation of the pistsons. I would have thought it was upside down :lol: Also I used to think that the more exhaust tips on a car, the more powerful it was. This is obviously not always the case. :)
 
I can always remember having a fairly accurate idea of how the car worked. The engine was fairly straightforward, but transmissions, clutches and differentials remained a mystery. I understood what they did, but now exactly how.
 
When I was a kid I thought all cars had V8s. Too bad I soon found that out to be a lie. :cry:

Also, I thought the 4.0 liter engine in a Jeep Cherokee was mindblowingly massive, when compared to the 3.1 liter V6 in our Chevy Lumina which our dad said was "adequate". Also, the Jaguar XK8 was the coolest car in the world.
 
I used to think cars were all battery powered.
 
Ilpav said:
When you were a kid, did you have some retarded analysis of how a car worked and how it went faster?

I did. I thought there was a man under the car, pedaling, and the throttle pedal was actually a lever that moved a knife closer and closer to the man so he would pedal faster. :lol:
Click to expand...

... what the hell kind of childhood did you have?
 
When I learned most cars were FWD it blew my mind.
 
Prost264 said:
When I learned most cars were FWD it blew my mind.
Click to expand...

It made me
A. Cry
and
B. Understand why I could never powerslide in my mother's Camry.
:lol:

Anyhow, I understood pretty early on that when things explode they create force.
Beyond that?
Hell, I only figured out yesterday EXACTLY how oil cools the engine.
 
I remember the first time I ever saw an automatic car, it was a Mercedes Benz 230E, I always thought the gear lever would move by itself when the car was driving hahaha
 
I knew airplanes before I knew of stick shifts, so when I saw a manual car at an auto show I confidently declared "This car has a joystick to control it". I didn't even need Paul McKenna to hypnotize me, either.
 
My dads a mechanic, I spent my childhood leaning over the hood of camaro's holding the drop light "just a little more to the left."

CraigB said:
Since I grew up at a dragstrip I had pretty good understanding of how an internal combustion engine worked. Now as for an automatic transmission, I still think there is some black magic going on in there... :lol:
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's called the valvebody. Those fucking things give me nightmares trying to figure them out :lol:
 
My grandfather tried to explain how manually shift a army troop carrier to me (he couldn't, and still can't drive a manual) when i was 4 years old. When i found out that all you had to do with a manual is push the clutch in and move the stick around i was rather relieved :)
 
Meh, it's harder than that. :( I still have trouble doing it smoothly and not either stalling it (rarely have that problem) or burning the clutch due to over-revving during engaging (yeah, I have that problem).

Stupid fucking sensitive gas pedal.
 
I knew that cars were propelled by their engines and such, but I thought that they were all RWD and truned on a cernter axis (i didn't really understand the whole front swinging then back following thing) I also thought that Cars' brakes were suposed to squeal. I didn't realise this was the tires in the movies untill later.
 
Viper007Bond said:
Meh, it's harder than that. :( I still have trouble doing it smoothly and not either stalling it (rarely have that problem) or burning the clutch due to over-revving during engaging (yeah, I have that problem).

Stupid fucking sensitive gas pedal.
Click to expand...

Wait so you finally got a driver's license?
 
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