i f*cking hate this car...

[steve_earwig]

This is the one.

Actually, the first time I saw in Haynes about the Lucas EPIC and read the words "drive by wire", I remembered the Frenchman in the vid going "oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no"...

[V6Exec]

Ah yes, I remember the test flight vid where the computer decided the runway was actually in a forest about a mile from the airport...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A320

The "tree crash" flight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_296


The video is available from the Wikilink. There still is a lot of speculation about the crash - one theory was that the pilot requested thrust and the software limited the thrust available.

In cars there is electric throttle control. Image you went to overtake and the car decided that you should not have that amount of power on tap

[steve_earwig]

On the yewtoob one it says the plane was doing a fly-past with landing gear down, the computer decided it was coming in to land and didn't need full power - hello trees. There were lots of similar things in the early days where pilots tried to fly the plane how they were used to and ended up fighting with the computer for control - I saw one film where the plane (full of passengers) was swooping about like a swallow until the pilot had the presence of mind to let go of the controls.

I gather the EPIC system is too stupid to decide what the car's up to (phew!)

BSI, well, like the irqs in your computer, different functions are assigned different values, safety being the priority whereas comfort is low on the list - think about the next time your radio won't turn on/off.

[V6Exec]

like the irqs in your computer

The thing with safety critical features is they should not be on IRQs but on NMIs.

There is more to PCs than just the Intel stuff and in the microcotroller market you find Z80s and 68000s.

There is a thing about safety critical systems being doubly redundant, having two different architectures to ensure that a design flaw is eliminated.

[steve_earwig]

I did say "like" the IRQs. This is getting too technical for me, I'm off to read The Beano in the bog.

I once had an interesting chat with a (pissed) RAF systems guy, did you know a Harrier has not one but two back-up sytems? Although, he said, standing orders are if it goes on to the first back up they're meant to point the thing out to sea and eject.

I also shared row of seats on a flight back from the USofA with another guy who fixed F16s for the USAF, all he did was bitch about his techs making a mess though.

[jameslxdt]

In cars there is electric throttle control. Image you went to overtake and the car decided that you should not have that amount of power on tap

this is major problem volvo had and still do with ETM's, or Electronic throttle modules, it caused a lot of accidents, and as a result there was a huge recall and extended warranty

back to my car, ive transferd my insurance back to old faithful, the D8, its actually so much better to drive than the D9 crap

[V6Exec]

Wings appear to be optional too.

[Pidge]

Well done Steve, I'v just read your observation Re The Airbus 'landing in a forest'. It is probably the best thread ender I have had the privilage to read!!

[philg]

question:

does the 110bhp use a dmf? and does the 90bhp use a normal flywheel? and are they interchangeble (i.e fit a 90bhp gearbag + flywheel to a 110 car?)?

[darrenwall]

.

In cars there is electric throttle control. Image you went to overtake and the car decided that you should not have that amount of power on tap

the 2.1 has got a drive-by-wire throttle and on my old one it used to cut the engine power back to tick over sometimes and i never found out why , it used to make overtaking very scary when your passing something and suddenly you lose the throttle

[steve_earwig]

I noticed on my 2.1 that if I try to give it some revs (poor man's battery charger) by pulling the cable outer and moving the clip further along, it only revs for a short while, then it cuts it down to idle again. I realise this isn't much use to you but it's probably related.

[jameslxdt]

i bought a stage 1 clutch and solid flywheel conversion from techniclutch, it arrived on saturday, so i got the box out today, much more involved than the D8, i found the pressure plate release bearing retainer broken, also the springs were bent, so ive fitted up the new flywheel and clutch, but the light ran out, so ill wait till tommorow to fit it all back up

[TooT]

Nice one James, you keep at her

[jameslxdt]

what a load of f*cking sh*t!!!!

i put the car 90% back together and tried to bleed the clutch, after an hour i still had no clutch, i took a look at the clutch pedal mechanism to find the pedal to master cylinder pushrod snapped
now im completly stuffed, i cant put it back together untill its bled, and i wont be able to get a new clylinder till the 2nd of jan, which is when the insurance has run out on the D8 and when im back at work so i wont even be able to fix it

[V6Exec]

the pedal to master cylinder pushrod snapped

Surely you could weld it up. Pushrod should be carbon steel - nothing exotic.