Re: 4wd Mechanics

[steveb@newkla.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

> a little while ago we were having a discussion about differing 4wd technologieDave Eaton wrote:
> a little while ago we were having a discussion about differing 4wd technologies
> with regard to engine packaging.
> 
<<<<< SNIP >>>>>
> and semi-automatic steering.
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Does this keep you from nudging the competition? ;)
> 
> anyway, all contestants have longitudinal drivetrains, front mounted.  
<<<<< SNIP >>>>>
> the opel was interesting because it's drivetrain was initially offcentre with
> the front diff alongside the lh side of the engine and the rh driveshaft
> traversing the sump.  this years racer has the front diff embedded in the
> bellhousing ahead (!) of the clutch and flywheel.  drive from the diff exits
> both sides of the bellhousing and is transferred via 3 transfer gears in a
> "ear-like" housing running on each side of the engine. the front part of this
> housing has the mounting for each front drive shaft.  all in all a very neat
> arrangement which means that the motor can be mounted lower and further back
> which improves the polar moment and the weight distribution and well as
> lowering the c of g.
> 
> seem like a good alternative for audi ?  what do you think?
> 
One of my favorite implementations come from adnoH.  I don't know if any-
one has gotten this drift from my previous comments, but over time I have 
noticed a number of things that make me wonder if adnoH doesn't deliberately 
take engineering cues from Audi.  For the Acura Vigor (in the States), Honda 
used a 5-cyl engine mounted longitudinally with front-wheel drive ... sound 
familiar?  The innavation that they added was that the power was not taken 
from the end of the crankshaft, but rather from the center, allowing the 
engine to be mounted further aft relative to the transmission than Audi.  I 
never looked at the drive train in one of these cars, but it seems amenable 
to quattro-izing.  As a matter of fact, since the transmission has to live 
somewhere next to the crankshaft it seems like it would be possible to put 
the front diff as far forward as you dare.

Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)