Coal powered Oldsmobile

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">As is usually the case, there's a lot of very knowledgeable people here. They know far more than I do for sure! Also very typical are my posts taking a subject way off course. So sorry, and please don't give General Motors any ideas about a coal-powered Cadillac.</span>

[this post was last edited: 12/12/2018-20:06]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Getting back to the coal powered machine, why would they use a shlubby Oldsmobile for it?  I think the tree huggers need this in something more smaller & economical... At despite the energy usage of some fossils fuels, what's still at a less expense of what is normally mined for or taken out of the ground...

 

The experimental diesel engine designed to run on used deep frying oil (remember Deep Fry?) was used in a Volkswagen Rabbit...

 

Just a thought on how the best vehicle to use is something which likewise meant less trips to the gas pump...

 

As mentioned, I like the idea of this being a government vehicle, however, if something like required to go a realistic distance should suddenly fall into a shortage, a crisis, or just suddenly need a bailout... (Not!)

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[goatfarmer]

Back in the day, Oldsmobile was kind of a "test bed" for GM. V8 engines, Hydramatic transmissions, many started with the Olds brand.

 

[ahab]

Hagerty's published this article yesterday which explains the conversion of the GM 350 gas engine over to diesel and why it failed better much than I could. It goes on to explain the plethora of other reasons why Oldsmobile's effort in the automotive diesel market was such a mess. Good vintage photos too!

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2019/01/16/oldsmobile-killed-detroits-diesel-dream

 

[norgeway]

GMs failures

Included the disasterous diesel, a 350 engine built for 8.5 to 1 compression didn't fare well with over 20 to 1, their Slim Jim Roto Hydra Matic used on 61-64 Pontiacs and Olds was with out a doubt, the worst automatic ever built, the second worse was the Metric 200 built in the 80s, then they tried to make a truck engine ,the 348 into a performance engine, powerful, yes, but if you turned it over about 5000 rpm, 9 times out of 10 it would bend all the pushrods, The fact remains that other than rust problems in the late 50s early 60s and questionable build quality of the 57 models, Chrysler was always wayyyyy ahead,the Torqueflite transmission introduced in 1956, and redesigned in 62, was and still is the best automatic ever built.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I liked the article in the Hagerty’s link, it seems to chronicle accurately how the world’s greatest automaker sadly made in the industry, the world’s worst mistakes...

As it says, cost cutting and expeditation don’t ever fare successfully when it comes to building cars...

Likewise, when GM was building a reliable engine that WAS a true diesel for in its truck line in that very era, anyone that mechanically inclined with the right amount of automotive know-how could have plopped one of those under the hood of what was STILL branded Oldsmobile Diesel, and gotten the tried and true product that should have been rather than something misnamed, powered by the obvious solutions of transplanting a regular gas engine, given the rest of these cars were still redeemably good...

— Dave

 

[kenwashesmonday]

As bad as the Oldsmobile diesel V8 was, it was not merely a converted gas V8. It shared some of the tooling for manufacture, but the block and moving parts are completely different than the Oldsmobile 350 V8.

 

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<span style="font-family: arial black,avant garde; font-size: 10pt;">norgeway wrote:</span>

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"...the Torqueflite transmission introduced in 1956, and redesigned in 62, was and still is the best automatic ever built."

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<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">To be fair,  the big Torqueflite 727, the GM THM 400, the Ford C6, and the cast-iron Borg Warner were all excellent heavy duty transmissions.</span>

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[daveamkrayoguy]

I suddenly just wondered:

Can this coal power actually work well enough to also completely power the electrical system?

A way to eliminate the battery must be another important advantage of this, if it will get beyond this still-experimental stage...

— Dave

 

[cornutt]

The worst automatic I've ever driven

was the ZF 8-speed that Chrysler put into the 200. The least of its problems was that if you tried to drive down the highway at a constant speed, it continuously hunted back and forth between gears, forcing you to keep playing with the throttle to maintain a constant speed. If you tried to use the cruise control, it would vary 7-8 MPH in each direction as the transmission shifted back and forth. Driving around city streets was an exercise in constant jerky shifts unless you were very delicate on the accelerator, and eventually the gearbox would overheat and smell.

But its worst characteristic was when you stomped on it... the gearbox would go through 4-5 downshifts over a period of several seconds, eventually putting the engine up near the RPM redline -- where it didn't make any torque. So when you needed immediate acceleration, you had to wait 4-5 seconds while the engine converted fuel into noise, to little effect. I'm pretty sure this transmission is what killed the 200, which was a decent car otherwise.

 

[tomturbomatic]

This is ancient history, but a forester who managed the forest at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta had a Mercedes Diesel when our botany class was going there in 1970. He told us during one cold snap that he was not driving it because to keep the fuel from turning to jelly, kerosene needed to be added for cold weather operation. The trouble was that when Atlanta's variable winter temperatures climbed back above freezing, there was danger of an explosion with the kerosene mixed in with the fuel and no easy way to get rid of the fuel mixture.