Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 14:19:36 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: VC fluid - take a chance on this
In-Reply-To: <B4944E41-645E-481B-AFDC-E62AFE2FF58F@shaw.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I've not driven a syncro, nor have I ever seen a VC nor studied how it
works - BUT - this is very interesting to me, because there are a lot of
other application for VC like operations to drive different pieces of
machinery. That given - I wonder if there aren't other options that
might one day find their into the syncros somehow as a possible
replacement for NLA syncro VC's. Example - there was a guy named Molt
Taylor who designed and built a small, two-seater airplane he called the
Mini-Imp. It had a VW engine up front driving a shaft that went between
the pilot and passenger straight back through the fuselage to the tail
cone where it engaged a type of lockup box of sorts but with no gears -
to drive a pusher-type propeller mounter on the very tail end of the
little airplane. That box responded to torque pressure and the harder
the engine ran, the greater the locking force in the box to drive the
propeller. When the engine was at idle - the internals of the box
automatically disengaged and the propeller didn't turn, even though the
engine was running. There were no gears in that box. It was filled with
very small, extremely hard ball bearings. As the drive shaft speed
accelerated, the centrifugal forces would load those balls, pressing
them hard enough to cause them to lock tight as if it were one solid
piece of steel, yet when the drive shaft turned slower the balls
loosened and there was slippage that could occur between the drive side
and the propeller side within the box. There were absolutely no gears
inside of this thing, and no fluids to worry with. The box was not some
special design that Molt Taylor built, but a type that was apparently
readily available in industry 30-40 years ago.
My suggestion here is that as Vanagon owners and Syncro Owners drive
into the sunset years of their machines, wondering about parts and VC's
in particular - such alternatives should be looked at sooner rather than
later, in order to have a chance to ponder, play, experiment with the
possibilities, so the sunset years - which can be the best - last a lot
longer.
My $0.02 this day beautiful day before Easter.
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
Alistair Bell wrote:
> This is kinda funny...
>
> German company selling replacement siloxane for VC refilling (they
> also sell gaskets/seals for vc). Not much info on the specs of the
> siloxane, something one would like to see.
> ( And please, lets not get into the problems of refilling the vc
> unless you have successfully done it :))
>
>
> But there is a pic of the bottle here:
>
> http://www.dieselkontor.de/product_info.php?products_id=3022
>
> 69.95 euros for that bottle, which is labelled 16 oz.
>
> Now go look up the name on the label , Majestic Mountain Sage:
>
> http://www.thesage.com/catalog/products/Dimethicone.html
>
> price is $7.20 for same bottle. And only $43 a gal.
>
> funny old world eh?
>
> alistair
> '86 syncro 7 passenger
> '82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94
> http://www.members.shaw.ca/albell/
> http://shufti.wordpress.com
>
>
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