Read about this, I THINK, in Car and Driver - had a pic of the fish and the car (or a drawing of the car). Reminds me of Hitler's comment that a car should take it's inspiration from nature...it should have the shape of a Junebug...and we know the story of that one. Chris (thinking a 66mpg diesel would be nifty)
Jeff Zedic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Thought the list might enjoy this story....no pics of the car though.. The Times November 25, 2005 Mercedes goes back to nature for dynamic inspiration By Stuart Birch Our correspondent offers a fishy tale from Germany about the one that didnt get away STORYTELLING fishermen across the world, prepare to hang up your hooks and rods because you will never top this one. The latest Mercedes-Benz concept car was caught swimming in a coral reef. That is a slight exaggeration, but then fishy stories always are. However, Mercedess extraordinary new Bionic Car really does owe its shape and much of its strength to a fish; not a streamlined shark or an elegant ray, but the chunky boxfish. Bionics is all about combining biology with technology, so on one quiet Friday afternoon, Mercedes researchers were thumbing through the Wonder Book of Funny Fish when, on page 94, they saw the boxfish. At once they realised that within its cubic frame was the secret of tomorrows car. * Click here to find out more! The tropical boxfish may not look the sleekest or sexiest of piscatorial creatures, but the Mercedes team knew better. In fact, the boxfish is extremely hydrodynamically efficient and that meant it would be aerodynamically efficient, too, they decided just what was needed for a car. Unlikely though it may seem, they also discovered that its rectangular anatomy was almost identical to the cross-section of a cars body and, because it has to cope with a tough natural environment jagged coral and predators attacking without warning it had a lot more in common with cars. It is able to protect its body in collisions, withstand high pressures, move with low energy consumption but plenty of power when needed and has good manoeuvrability. It also has a rigid skin with interlinked hexagonal plates to give maximum strength for minimal weight. Transferred to the external panels of a car door, this system produces a honeycomb pattern, with up to 40 per cent more rigidity. Apply it to an entire car and weight could be cut by 30 per cent, yet crash safety and driving dynamics would still be excellent: nature had NCAP safety tests sussed aeons before the modern car industry. There you are, the Mercedes team chorused, its a fish that thinks it s a car. It just needs four wheels. So they went ahead and built the boxfish car, although the marketing people decided that Bionic Car sounded better. A four-seat hatchback with a diesel engine and chassis from the Mercedes A-Class, it drives like a conventional car. It is roomy, with a huge glass windscreen extending into the roof. It has lively performance, a top speed of about 120mph and average fuel consumption of almost 66 miles to the gallon. Like some cars, though, the boxfish has a bit of an antisocial emission problem, being able to eject a toxin sufficiently powerful to kill some fish. Not wishing to emulate that, Mercedes has given the Bionic Car a super-clean exhaust system, using a new fluid called AdBlue, to cut by about 80 per cent the nitrogen oxides produced by the diesel engine. Although it is not as slippery as the boxfish, the Bionic Car is remarkably aerodynamic about a fifth better than the slipperiest production cars. The problem, though, is that no matter how much you may like fish, the efficient, clean-living concept car does look odd. And clever though its design may be, will many people really want to buy a fish on wheels? Professor Herbert Kohler, the director of vehicle body and drive research at Mercedess parent company, DaimlerChrysler, believes that aerodynamics will remain an essential element of design, despite the slowing effect of traffic densities and speed cameras. But styling will still be affected, he said, so car buyers may have to change their attitudes and accept what today may be seen as unusual or even weird such as the Bionic Car. Across Germany from Mercedess Stuttgart headquarters, Volkswagen are also bracing themselves for an outbreak of cars that swap pretty for fishy. Professor Wilfried Bockelmann, Volkswagens director of research, said: At high speeds, aerodynamic efficiency is important, but on average, speeds are becoming lower and lower due to regulations and traffic density and I foresee more speed limits. Styling may also be affected by the need to design in pedestrian safety. As a result, cars may not be as attractive as elegant as they are today. Which means that the not quite so elegant boxfish could be about to have its day, not in the ocean, but on the stormy seas of the worlds car markets. It might not be pretty, but it seems to work and that could mean that traditional car design, thanks to the humble boxfish, has had its chips. INTELLIGENT ECONOMY DRIVE FISH do not provide the only inspiration for designers searching for solutions. With environmentalists getting in a lather over motorists who drive too fast and, therefore, use more fuel, Volkswagen have shown that economy and speed can go together. Volkswagen reckons that its EcoRacer can sprint from standstill to 62mph in 6.3sec and on to a top speed of 143mph yet still return more than 80 miles to the gallon. The car has a 1.5-litre advanced technology diesel engine, producing about 140 horsepower, centrally mounted in a carbon-fibre body. The prototype is to serve as a technology test bed. No details yet about possible production but something like it is possible. _______________________________________ For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net Christopher McCann, Squier Park, Kansas City, Missouri -2005 Blue Point Siamese, "Rose" -1987 300TD, 150K, "Rotkäppchen" -1985 300SD, 210K, "Wulf" -1976 240D, ?K, "AKP-Wagen" (Alternativen Kraftstoffs Prüfenlastwagen) -1972 Jacobsen 21" Turbo Vent -1971 Case 222 Hydrive, 12HP Kohler, 38" deck, Snowcaster, "One Banger" --------------------------------- Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Nov 28 19:25:15 2005 Received: from sccrmhc14.comcast.net ([204.127.202.59]) by server1.arterytc1.net with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1Egock-0003dJ-MP for [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:25:15 +0000 Received: from [192.168.1.2] (c-24-3-195-27.hsd1.pa.comcast.net[24.3.195.27]) by comcast.net (sccrmhc14) with ESMTP id <2005112819250801400lvfohe>; Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:25:09 +0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 14:25:10 -0500 From: Marshall Booth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.4.1 (Windows/20051006) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Luther Gulseth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Mercedes mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> References: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Antivirus-Scanner: Clean mail though you should still use an Antivirus Subject: Re: [MBZ] '82 300CD oil loss X-BeenThere: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.6 Precedence: list Reply-To: Mercedes mailing list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Id: Mercedes mailing list <mercedes_striplin.net.striplin.net> List-Unsubscribe: <http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://striplin.net/pipermail/mercedes_striplin.net> List-Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Subscribe: <http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 19:25:15 -0000 Luther Gulseth wrote: > So I've been wondering where my oil is being used/leaked (1qt/250mi) and also > wondering what is causing the light smoke at all times (white/blue smoke). I > had set the valves and flushed the coolant system about 2 weeks ago (with MB > coolant of course). > Took off last Thurs morning for my first road trip in the coupe and filled up > at Flying J in S KCMO. Checked the oil, was showing on dipstick, so not too > low. I glanced at the coolant tank, and noticed it was a bit low. So I > opened the reservoir cap, had no pressure release, and the coolant had a > light amount of black color in it. Could this be just crap that I knocked > loose when I flushed the system (with MB citric powder) or is this a sign of > a head gasket on it's way out? TIA all, > A blown head gasket in a diesel can take weeks or even months to diagnose in the early stages. They commonly only leak when the engine is at the very top end of the normal heat range - may only occur for a minute or two and will NEVER be detected if the engine cools even a few degrees below the temp at which it leaks (as it almost certainly will when setting up to run a compression test). I had one Mercedes diesel that took 4-5 months before my VERY experienced mechanic was willing to pull the head (found the damaged spot on the gasket - replaced it - cured the problem), and a brand NEW '82 VW diesel that ran with a bad head gasket for more than a year (4 different compression tests were done under warranty and all failed to reveal a head gasket problem) before the gasket was replaced and the car FINALLY ran correctly. Carefully fill the radiator reservoir (check for a cracked reservoir or inadequate cap seal) and see if coolant or oil is disappearing. In the early stages this may happen infrequently and intermittently (only when you are NOT paying attention). Marshall -- Marshall Booth (who doesn't respond to unsigned questions) "der Dieseling Doktor" [EMAIL PROTECTED] '87 300TD 182Kmi, '84 190D 2.2 229Kmi, '85 190D 2.0 161Kmi, '87 190D 2.5 turbo 237kmi
