From: brooks@mcnc.org (Ted Brooks)
Subject: Re: Oil Priming System
Organization: MCNC Center for Microelectronics, RTP, NC
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 19:35:27 GMT

In article <1992Dec11.152053.22392@mtu.edu> vetter@mtu.edu (STEVEN J. VETTER) writes:
>vbreault@rinhp750.gmr.com (Val Breault) writes:
>>In article <ByzAB1.MCM@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz> deanaj@elec.canterbury.ac.nz (A. J. Dean) writes:
>>
>>   STEVEN J. VETTER (vetter@mtu.edu) wrote:
>>   : dangelo@emmax3.ge.com (john d'angelo) writes:
>>   : > Does anyone know of an oil priming system (they bring up the oil pressure 
>>   _small_ but grunty starter and just putting it in parallel with the std oil
>>   pump (maybe a non return valve too). Is it worth the weight, time and fun?
>>
>>When your engine was ENGINEERED, the engineers took into consideration the 
>>characteristics of the oils of the day.  The bearing journals, the hardness
>>of the piston rings, the size of the camshaft lobes.....  They were all
>>engineered to operate without needing a pre-oiler.  
>>
>>The single best piece of advice that I can give you to extend the life
>>of your engine is to faithfully change the oil and filter.
>>
>>I'm still putting miles on the old Chevy 350 (135,000) and the old
>>Dodge 318 (220,000).  I'm beginning to get tired of the old Dodge.
>>I kinda wish it would wear out so I could justify replacing it.....
>>--
>>-val-
>>
>>Val Breault - GM Research - vbreault@gmr.com - N8OEF            \      /|
>>Instrumentation dept., 30500 Mound Rd., Warren, MI 48090-9055    \    / |
>>The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect   \  /__|
>>those of GMR or those of the General Motors Corporation.           \/   |___
>> 
>
>
>  Beautiful "Blue-Blooded" GM praise (I suppose Chrysler Corp. too in a way)!!!  
>  I should have known all along that all cars are designed to last forever, barring
>  cruel and unusual use by those of us who buy and drive them.  I never realized that
>  there was indeed *no improvements* that could ever be made so as to extend the life
>  of any of those vital parts.  I humbly thank you for showing me where I erred.  
>
>  vetter@mtu.edu
>
>>

Aww, c'mon buddy, give it a rest. I really don't think Val's asking you to 
bow down and worship at the altar of General Motors, and never question any
of their decisions like they were handed down from God. I also don't believe
that the engineers who designed the engine were total idiots.

If you had ever worked as an engineer in a large company, you would know
that a product is designed to meet a given task, to cost a given amount,
and must be completed in a given period of time. The folks who do this for
a living are (generally) smart, dedicated people, even if they _do_ work for
a car company :-). ALL engineers in ALL disciplines in ALL companies must
face these constraints. The end result is they can't fiddle with it forever
and put every nifty thing they can dream up into their design. If they did,
the company would go bankrupt waiting for them to finish their design. As
a result, they have to do a _good_ design within the allowable constraints,
realizing that nothing is ever perfect, and even if you thought you'd done
it perfect, you'll think of something else tomorrow. Val has discussed the
tradeoffs of this topic before here. Basically, there's some ideas that
aren't worth the trouble to implement - the cost vs. benefit just doesn't
balance. So if you want to tinker endlessly to achieve things of dubious
benefit, don't let me stop you. Just don't expect the corporations of the
world to do it for you when you're already griping about the cost of 
their product.

I'm sure glad that in your world, there's always enough time, effort, and
money to make everything perfect.
 
Ted Brooks
 ______________________________________________________________________
| Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are my own, and do not reflect    |
| those of my employer. Advice is free, but you get what you pay for.  |
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Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech