what is it?

[river1]

what is it? i pulled it off the back end of a ford automatic tranny.

later jim

[Gilles]

Looks like a sort of counterweight to solve a vibration problem. I saw a similar thing on a Chevy Monza tranny. My opinion is : poor inginering!

Gilles

[tomslik]

Looks like a sort of counterweight to solve a vibration problem. I saw a similar thing on a Chevy Monza tranny. My opinion is : poor inginering!

Gilles

that's exactly what it is and what it's for.
poor engineering?
you really want to go there Gilles?

renault wasn't exactly a poster child for flawless engineering over here
i used to work for a dealer around '86...
pukegoats ain't high on my list either, mater of fact, i WON'T work on a french car ever again because of one.


(oh yeah guys, i'm NOT picking on Gilles, just teasing ...)


btw, i see those things on EVERYTHING from motor mounts to exhaust systems

[SKR8PN]

Yup....what Tomslik said. Dodge even used something very similar on the K-cars......inside the steering wheel to "stop" vibration

[Gilles]

that's exactly what it is and what it's for.
poor engineering?
you really want to go there Gilles?

renault wasn't exactly a poster child for flawless engineering over here  
i used to work for a dealer around '86...
pukegoats ain't high on my list either, mater of fact, i WON'T work on a french car ever again because of one.

I drive a renault every day and a SBC powered 32 roadster on week-ends. I also just finished to restaure a 1966 Renault16 because my dad had the same when I was a child.
Renault are made for europeen conditions, twisty roads and expensive gas. In the past not all models were very reliable I agree with you. But here the distances are not like in the US and the average mileage certainly smaller.

American cars are generally reliable, confortable and the parts very cheap.  But small inside for there lengh and they eat a lot of gas! The worst handling car I ever drove was the brand new Chevrolet cavalier I rent during my  trip in the US last year. But the engine runs great and the gas mileage very good too (4 cylinders)

I prefer américan cars (if not I weren't on this board) but for every day driving I can't afford one do to the gas prices here, and the narrow streets. In fact there are very rare and imported only at a few examplares.

Gilles  

[C9]

Vibration is a by product of the mechanical nature and function of most motor vehicles.  These 'mass damper' gizmos are good engineering used not as a fix for bad engineering but to counter the harmonics of the reciprocating mass of your drivetrain or othere elemts of the vehicle that may cause discomfort to passengers simply because they are what they are.  One of these is no different to wheel weights you use to balance the same kind of dynamic vibrations in your car's tyres.

They're used on high voltage power lines as well.
Take a look a little ways out from the tower and you'll see a metal piece maybe 12-18" long bolted to the conductor.

[Pope Downunder]

Vibration is a by product of the mechanical nature and function of most motor vehicles.  These 'mass damper' gizmos are good engineering used not as a fix for bad engineering but to counter the harmonics of the reciprocating mass of your drivetrain or othere elemts of the vehicle that may cause discomfort to passengers simply because they are what they are.  One of these is no different to wheel weights you use to balance the same kind of dynamic vibrations in your car's tyres.

I agree; all structures have a 'natural frequency'.  This is why you see those spiralling fins running up some slender chimney stacks etc.  When the wind blows it generates oscillating (left and right) eddies, and when the frequency cooincides with the natural frequency, or multiples, the stack will oscillate and take up a classic 'wave' form.  The fins break that up.  You can see the same effect at times with a car antenna.

[Fift4fe]

I think its a canootan valve.  Years ago, when I was a freshman in high school (in the 60s) the seniors sent me to look for one of these in auto shop.  I never did find it.











There are two theories to arguing with a woman. . . . . . neither works!

[58 Yeoman]

Pope Downunder wrote:

You can see the same effect at times with a car antenna.

Yep....when I bought my new Ford Ranger in 99, I was driving along and happened to notice the radio antenna. Looked like a cover had come off, or something. It has a spiral made in to it to keep it from vibrating, I guess. When my brother and I used to drive to work together, he had a Bronco II, and always complained about the antenna making noise, but I could never hear it (WHAT'D YOU SAY?).

[phat46]

My daughter gratuated from college this spring and her senior project for her Mechanical Engineering classes was to build a structure to show the effects of vibration and harmonics. They built a 1.5 metre tall framework from 1/8" steel rods to simulate the skeletal frame of a building. The structure was mounted on a vibrating table that they were able to control the frequency of the vibrations. She said that when the frequency was correct the structure would sway six inches in each direction and the movement of the table was virtually inperceptable. She said it was funny to watch professors walk by at the senior exposition and just stare at the swaying structure while they must have been doing calulations in their heads.

[jaybee]

My daughter gratuated from college this spring and her senior project for her Mechanical Engineering classes was to build a structure to show the effects of vibration and harmonics. They built a 1.5 metre tall framework from 1/8" steel rods to simulate the skeletal frame of a building. The structure was mounted on a vibrating table that they were able to control the frequency of the vibrations. She said that when the frequency was correct the structure would sway six inches in each direction and the movement of the table was virtually inperceptable. She said it was funny to watch professors walk by at the senior exposition and just stare at the swaying structure while they must have been doing calulations in their heads.

That would be so cool!

Strangely enough the topic of this thread come together in places.  Once upon a time we had a Renault LeCar (R5 for those in other parts of the world.  It had a branch off its exhaust pipe that was about 3' long and went to a dead end.  I figured it was to deal with some harmonic that could cause an unpleasant exhaust drone.

In the early 60's when my Dad was a shop mechanic someone had a Renault Dauphine towed into the shop.  The owner was just motoring down the highway and suddenly it had no forward drive.  Seems the thing had a "semi-automatic" transmission in which the clutch was activated by the generator.  The thing took advantage of the low output of a generator at low engine speeds to release the clutch at idle.  I assume there must have also been some sort of switch on the gas pedal or other means to release the clutch for gear changes while moving, but I don't know the details.  Anyway, the thing lost its generator on the highway and the clutch released immediately.

Being a rear-engine flat 6 Dad still considers the Dauphine to be a Corvair with poor engineering.  Quite an accomplishment as he considers the Corvair possibly the worst American car ever!  This from the experience of someone who was a Chevy/Olds dealer mechanic '58-'65 and therefore worked on them early and often.

[model a vette]

My first car was a Dauphine. It WAS a poorly designed Corvair, but as Giles wrote it would be ideal for France. It was the right car for me, at the time, because I was commuting thru Manhattan to go to college in NJ. It got over 30MPG with an astounding 32 HP! Best description I ever read about it was that the french designers felt that if a car sat 4 people there should be 4 doors, even if they were the size of ping pong paddles. I had 6 people in it after a drinking bout in a Manhattan pub. When a tire went flat the guys just picked up the end of the car so I could put on the spare.
I upgraded to a '57 Chevy when a depressed manhole cover got the best of the Dauphine's front suspension. The Dauphine's bucket seats were the first interior in my Roadster. I still have the heater from it in the Roadster.