ot: excitement for the day

[angrypancake]

so i'm sitting here after class, and all of a sudden theres a ton of smoke and i smell something burning... wtf? look out the window, kablam, my neighbors car, that he'd just bought 4 days ago, is engulfed in flames. crazy i say, crazy.

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/7434/floriduhhh0236gf.jpg
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/5465/floriduhhh0251lv.jpg

[Five35]

What is/was that???

[angrypancake]

acura vigor.

[Martin in Bellevue]

What is/was that???
The 5 cylinder acura vigor. That thing, I believe, has an axle shaft running thru the oil pan.

Am I right?

[angrypancake]

not a clue, but it was a real pos... it had a major oil leak that caused the fire, they think.

[Five35]

did they know all this before they bought the car??? If not, i'd hope they go back to the PO about it

[SharkmanBMW]

dude, I thought it was your car at first!
wow, my friend had a brand new civic sir last year that caught fire and burnt to nothing in 10 minutes!

[angrypancake]

he got it from a shady ass used car lot. he called the seller and made a few death threats, and the owner of the lot came over with a truck and had it towed literally an hour after the flames were put out.

[Five35]

didnt they only make the vigor's a couple years??? They must have known something back then ;)

[E34 530]

The 5 cylinder acura vigor. That thing, I believe, has an axle shaft running thru the oil pan.

Am I right?

So does the e30 325ix.

[genphreak]

The 5 cylinder acura vigor. That thing, I believe, has an axle shaft running thru the oil pan.

Am I right?No wonder it got hot, it's missing one cylinder!!

[zygoteer]

No wonder it got hot, it's missing one cylinder!!

Funadamentally, a straight 5 cylinder engine has a slightly worse primary balance than that of a 6 cylinder ... BUT the secondary balance of a 5 is much superior to a 6 - and it is those secondary harmonics that are all important, which is why Audi (first mass-produced 5 cylinder car) had a smoother/shorter/lighter/cheaper 5 cyinder engine than a BMW 6 cylinder.
Smoother means lower rotational losses (not accel/decell mass during vibration), and a 5 inherently means lower frictional losses = more efficient engine.
Adding a mass-balancer to a 6 does smooth things out, but adds a lot to inertial losses.

I guess Acura used a 5 for the same set of reasons, although implementing a good engineering design is quite another matter and maybe should not be assumed.

[Rustam]

The 5 cylinder acura vigor. That thing, I believe, has an axle shaft running thru the oil pan.

Am I right?

Nice to know it has rear wheel drive. But 5 sylinders - yack... I wonder if it uses 6th one as water pump like volvo does.

[Rustam]

Funadamentally, a straight 5 cylinder engine has a slightly worse primary balance than that of a 6 cylinder ... BUT the secondary balance of a 5 is much superior to a 6 - and it is those secondary harmonics that are all important, which is why Audi (first mass-produced 5 cylinder car) had a smoother/shorter/lighter/cheaper 5 cyinder engine than a BMW 6 cylinder.
Smoother means lower rotational losses (not accel/decell mass during vibration), and a 5 inherently means lower frictional losses = more efficient engine.
Adding a mass-balancer to a 6 does smooth things out, but adds a lot to inertial losses.

I guess Acura used a 5 for the same set of reasons, although implementing a good engineering design is quite another matter and maybe should not be assumed.

5 cylinder engines do not have vibration damper? I find it odd that inline 6 has vibration damper in light of the fact of having read plenty on how inline 6 is self balanced. Surely a given piston on the way top TDC has symmetrically placed pistion going to TDC. Same for a cylinder that is on the way to BDC - there is two of those as well - symmetry with respect to transverse axis cutting the engine in 2 pars of 3 cylinders in each.

[Bill R.]

the axle shaft has to go through the oil pan of the motor..The acura legend is the same way.. Not a tranverse motor but still a transaxle and front wheel drive , audi is the same way



Nice to know it has rear wheel drive. But 5 sylinders - yack... I wonder if it uses 6th one as water pump like volvo does.

[Bill R.]

was not as smooth as a bmw inline 6. Also the vigor does have a harmonic damper on the front of the crank.. but most honda inline 4's don't




Funadamentally, a straight 5 cylinder engine has a slightly worse primary balance than that of a 6 cylinder ... BUT the secondary balance of a 5 is much superior to a 6 - and it is those secondary harmonics that are all important, which is why Audi (first mass-produced 5 cylinder car) had a smoother/shorter/lighter/cheaper 5 cyinder engine than a BMW 6 cylinder.
Smoother means lower rotational losses (not accel/decell mass during vibration), and a 5 inherently means lower frictional losses = more efficient engine.
Adding a mass-balancer to a 6 does smooth things out, but adds a lot to inertial losses.

I guess Acura used a 5 for the same set of reasons, although implementing a good engineering design is quite another matter and maybe should not be assumed.

[Bill R.]

years ago my brother in law was working on big block chevy race car for a friend and they were out at the track for testing. This ohv bigblock v8 routinely runs at 8k constant.. They had just built a new motor and were running a small block harmonic damper to save weight /inertial mass etc. After about 45 minutes of constant laps, the camshaft snapped at the front lobe.. They tore it down, found no other damage replaced the cam and went back out on the track.. another hour or so and another cam snaps at the rear lobe
They look over the motor decide the only thing different than the old motor last season was the damper. Went back to a bigblock damper , replaced the cam and no more breakage.. Suprising the damage that harmonics can inflict and where it can occur




was not as smooth as a bmw inline 6. Also the vigor does have a harmonic damper on the front of the crank.. but most honda inline 4's don't

[joshua43214]

Funadamentally, a straight 5 cylinder engine has a slightly worse primary balance than that of a 6 cylinder ... BUT the secondary balance of a 5 is much superior to a 6 - and it is those secondary harmonics that are all important, which is why Audi (first mass-produced 5 cylinder car) had a smoother/shorter/lighter/cheaper 5 cyinder engine than a BMW 6 cylinder.
Smoother means lower rotational losses (not accel/decell mass during vibration), and a 5 inherently means lower frictional losses = more efficient engine.
Adding a mass-balancer to a 6 does smooth things out, but adds a lot to inertial losses.

I guess Acura used a 5 for the same set of reasons, although implementing a good engineering design is quite another matter and maybe should not be assumed.

I was lead tech in an aftermarket MB shop at one point when we hired a Russion "tech". he thought I was playing a joke on him when I gave him a 300D for an oil change. He had an engineering degree from Moscow University where they taught him that a 5 cylinder engine was impossible to balance, and therefore impossible to produce. Nice to know the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the wall....

[mholbrook]

I had a new Vigor about a year after they first came out. I think they did only make them for 3 or 4 years. I thought it was a pretty good car for it's time, like a Honda Accord on steroids. I think it put out about 170 hp in the 5 cyl engine. Necessary to adjust the valves every 15k to maintain good performance as I recall. My wife did not like the back seat since it was too small but she never sat back there. Sold it and drove an old Honda Civic Wagon for 3 years at a cost of zero. From that to a Porsche 994S which really felt fast after the wagon. From there to 5 BMW's.