Is there a 50cc diesel engine out there?

Re the TR-7 : The 2.0 litre O-series engine was actually quite powerful for its day (although Leyland were insane for putting it into the SD1) - but sending anything over the states at the time meant it was crippled for power by environmental equipment the same as the US V-8s were... if you cant deal with the performance problem that caused buy a TR-8 simple as that or build one with a UK sourced TPi V8 better still. They even make conversion kits.

Re: OHV/OHC complexity. Have you looked at chryslers latest Hemi? MDS, lean burn, you name it its got it - and thats home made american (well, they nicked the idea off Germany, we've been there before...). Pretty much all of the OHC engines are non interferance designs now so short of taking the valve cover off with the engine running and clouting the valvegear with a hammer the only way the twain shall ever meet is a terminal engine problem, most of which are caused by mistreatment. In point of fact the OHV designs are actually simpler and more robust because they dont have long pushrods within the valvetrain - pushrods are a point of failure, they induce valve bounce at higher revs and they introduce inertia which means the engine is slower to rev. Yes the rated power is at higher revs than with a pushrod motor but since you already know that is the case you just change your driving style accordingly - be in the right ratio at the right time and no problem.

I dont know where you have been the last 15 years on safety equipment. You've got ABS, LSD's, EBD, Stability control, even on some cars lauch control ala formula one. They all add weight, and they are all capable of acting together to massively increase safety. Mind you its an education when you put someone who learnt on a modern car into a 1960's Humber... a servo does not an ABS vented disc system make lol...

Re: the ford fiesta - known over here in many quarters as the Fiasco in later guises - they rust, they handle with all the panache of a plummetting brick andd the less said about the engines the better - although the XR2 unit was actually nice and pretty powerful - still didnt have anything on the K-series from Rover.

Escort - cheap and suffered from many of the same problems as the Fiasco. Its competitor was the Rover R8 200/400 series. The latter handled worlds better, was bombproof mechanically in comparison, was actually built of metal, not tinfoil and in its tomcat form with, I think, the T-series turbo engine of 2.0 litres was both one of the fastest and most attractive coupes of its time. If you want the rarest of the rare as far as Rovers go - just try and find an XX 800 Tickford coupe... I think they made 200 of them

Sierra/Mondeo - Well, apart from the rust (sierra) and total anonymity (Mundane-o) they were pretty good. But basically a Cortina underneath, at least the sierra was and on its release became known as the 'flying jellymould' - latterly fitted with a 500hp engine to become the Sierra Cosworth in both Mark 1 & Mark II/Sapphire forms. Uprated police Cosworths were said to make up to 700hp.

Granada: big, lumbering and reserved for only the most ardent ford-ophile. 2.8/2.9 was fast-ish. Ford committed commercial suicide with the last one. Styling was, to put it bluntly, of the 'I cant believe they did that on both sides..' school of design. Try and imagine a 6ft wide frog thats been slammed into a wall at 60mph - peeled off - and then modelled in sheet steel and you get the picture.

Regarding diluting exhaust by shoving more air into the mixture. That would make pollution actually worse and would fry any modern motor in short order. Most MPI engines have oxygen sensors fitted and you should see the effect one of those dying has on the engine its connected to. My fathers Safrane went from 130mph+ capable to not even being able to move under its own power because that one component failed and it made noises that I didnt know were even possible from an engine.

re fuel prices. UK fuel at the moment for 1 gallon is £6.25 - thats for standard no frills crud-in-a-tank supermarket fuel. That equals in US$ 12.50 - now you see why no-one in the UK drives a 500cui V8 on a regular basis. Putting up the fuel price would be a great way to get people to change habits and if you kept diesel low... you'd get people converting to that and as diesel is more economical to make re energy and raw materiel oil prices wouldnt be such of an issue.

As to Iraq - I am going to say very little. basically Vietnam II. A war based on a lie from a dangerous idiot which itself was a result of a catastrophe that could easily have been avoided (by said dangerous idiot and cohorts). Both the UK & US should get out - they never should have been there in the first place.

(no more politics, I promise)

Jemma xx

The new Hemi is nothing like the old Hemi. They just use the name.

Your right about the revs but the cure are better springs on top. The vette engine was named best engine a short while back and that one is a old push rod. Push rods only need to be of a high quality. Actually everything needs to be high quality when you rev an engine.


LSD? Couple hits of that and you'll be safely 6 feet under

Traction control? For non-drivers

ABS- Another thing to add to the cost of a car. ABS is good for those who stomp on the brake & do nothing more than hold on for dear life. It is also good for the few cars that I've been in where the brake feels like it is either on or off. The older version of the ford explorer seemed to want to send you through the glass at the slightest touch of the brake.


As for the war....there will be another world war. I fear the cause of it will be religion.

Israel and Palestine have been going at it for years. They should get it over with and have it out once and for all. Lives will be lost in the short run but in the long run it will save many. This might invite the rest of the world to join in but nothing else has worked in anyone's lifetime to solve that situation.

The price of oil going up might lead to some countries doing something about it.

Japan went after the USA in WWII over oil. They went after China over resources.
Hitler wanted several things and one of them was land.
Perhaps the next major war will be over materials or land but I think religion could be next.

If a president or Prime Minister went after Hitler before he came to power would he or she be black labeled for the rest of time?

One sad part of history that I often reflect upon is as follows. Winston Churchill was a fantastic leader! His speeches were and are iconic. England was bloody from Hitler. The RAF was few. Love those spitfires and the mustangs. Things at that time looked very dim for America's parent. Churchill through his oratory skill kept the Brit's spirit high. The sad part is that soon after the war was over Churchill went out of office. I really don't understand that. I respect and admire the man for what he did. I would have thought that loyalty to him would have been unwavering. That generation was truly the greatest generation for what they went through and were able to endure.

I advised you to try to get your FACTS straight before you mount your soap box,but I have come to the conclusion that this is a lost cause.You are consistently not in command of the true facts
I said it was "silly" (not to say, also inconsistent),for someone, who is opposed to govt. regulation to propose direct govt edicts as to what car manufacturers ought to manufacture.That is just daft,let the public decide, but set safety rules.
You were wrong about the function of the carbon canister,people who never replace it may live to find out that their car may not idle properly any more.It has a useful function reducing emissions.Again you remain wrongheaded about the use of air injection just after the exhaust valve.If combustion had been perfect in the few milliseconds available for it, there would be no need try to reduce unburned HC's.The govt did not prescribe it's use,all it wanted was reduced emissions,and it helped.That is all ancient history.But it shows your apparent incapacity or unwillingness to think rationally.It would have taken a monstrous pump in any case to dilute the exhaust to any extent,had that been it's intended purpose.
As far as the Wankel engine is concerned, the practice of engineering is one of trade off's,engine designs have their good and bad points,the Wankel engine, pros: light weight,compact design,symplicity &lack of vibration,cons:rotor seals,high heat loading of rotors, inherent problems with combustion and flame propagation.Mazda spent many years getting the bugs out and refine it into a viable design,and to their credit they succeeded,but the market place has not been all that receptive.It is a niche product.I presented some of it's disadvantages,the conclusions you choose to draw are your own.Removing lead from gas was essential for emission controls to work on HC's and NO's,it happens to poison cat. convertors. Reducing the presence of that insidious neurotoxin in the environment was certainly beneficial, but for that necessity we might still have it in our gasoline.Who knows?
As far as the reduction of air pollution in the LA basin is concerned,I did NOT say it was solely due emission controls,all I said was that things had improved, even with a lot more cars on the road.After the cars were cleaned up, other sources were identified and targeted,it took a comprehensive approach,but the main contributor was automotive.What led to the smog (Nitrous oxides& Ozone) increase was ironically, the "improvement" with more powerful high compression OHV engines in the fifties, replacing the old flatheads, they generated a lot more NO's.
Wise govt. regulation instead "laisse faire" has an important role to play in promoting general welfare,otherwise the public is at the mercy of special (usually corporate) interests,which tend have a short term focus.Preferably by setting broad long term goals and using market forces.For instance seeking to improve our overall energy posture,in that respect most advanced industrialized countries are ahead of the US.If this country had been ramping up the gas tax over the past 10 years for instance, we would likely be in a far better position energywise,than we're in now.

I just put in an application to BMW to have their RENESIS Hydrogen Rotary Engine engine put in my kit cobra.

Perhaps nothing will become of it but one never knows.

Have a great weekend guys and gals.


Gotta run.

Back from a fantastic weekend. Nothing like fun in sun.

To top it off. I bought a Kawasaki KLR 650 over the weekend. Actually just put a $200 deposit on it. Pick it up Friday. The bike is ugly as sin but I bought it for the following reasons.

6+ gallon fuel tank
DP = on or off road use
Lots of goodies/Farkles for it
Tons of people own them
Great for camping
55+ mpg
Upright riding position
Durable, people have taken these around the world.

Ugly, is in the eye of the beholder,I didn't think the bike was really bad looking,that apart, the KLR 650 is a great bike and good value,simple &rugged.I rode one all over Europe some years ago,it never missed a beat.At least we agree on something!,wear your helmet,there are dangerous idiots galore out there,JJ

WHat happened to the talk of small diesels? Well I wanted to ad there was talk of turbocharging mopeds over on moped army, so if you had a ti ny diesel you could turbo it.

Of course you would turbo it!

LOL @ a bicycle with an inter cooler on the front.

I think small engine technology and design is going to get better and quickly. A small 50cc turbo diesel engine for these bikes would be a good combination if it didn't overheat.

Most money in the engine market has been spent on car engines. With gas prices going up like Superman there will be smaller engines out there with more research and development behind them. I'd like to get into the development of the engine mentioned above but I lack the resources for such a project. I would invest money into a promising company could make an engine like that.

Did you know that you can run a diesel-engine on cooking/frying-oil! All you need to do is preheat the oil before combustion, as easy as that.
Used frying-oil should work fine if you filter it first, and its CHEAP, count almost as garbage and people pay to get rid of it!

For example.
You can buy 1 liter of Rape oil in a swedish supermarket for about $1. Talk about cheap petrol.

So, if you find a small dieselengine, let me know because i would like to test