January 10, 2010

Scarry, Oil Change

Gertrude took on two and-a-half liters of fresh 10W-30 today, and Winter's been here for months! (I should've put the thin stuff in back in November at least.) There wasn't any gas in the old oil, which means the new injectors I installed with Colin back in June are working properly. We don't drive much, so seasonal oil changes are probably gonna become the norm around here, as opposed to the every-3,000-miles schedule.

Thinner oil in Winter, thicker oil in Summer, all to keep quickly-moving metal parts from rubbing against each other. There's a little lesson in engines and their parts below, although I don't think the metal parts in ship engines move quite as fast.
Right there, lower right, is a pretty good representation of how a four-stroke engine works. Granted, it's a diesel--that's why no spark plugs, and the fuel oil--but the principles are all there. Quiz question: a prize for whoever can tell me which stroke each cylinder is in, from left to right. Bonus question (I don't know the answer to this one): how does the valve train work on this thing?

(from Cars and Trucks and Things That Go)
Richard Scarry is one of my favorite kids' authors/artists. My parents brought my old R.S. books here on Thanksgiving and I think I like them more than Tater Tot does, though she really likes the story where Abby the bunny goes to the hospital to get her tonsils out. My absolute favorite Richard Scarry book, and possibly my favorite kids' book of all time is his 1974 masterwork, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. The blue car/boat in the picture above is my absolute favorite VW of all time, the WWII-era Schwimmwagen. The "desert jeep" is a Kubelwagen, also built by VW during the War.

It could very well be that my love for CaTaTTG partly inspired my early love for Volkswagens. The story's protagonists, the Pig family, drive their orange Beetle convertible to the beach for a picnic, and back. By my count, there were ten other positively identifiable VWs on the road that day with the Pigs, including a shortened Splitty, a Beetle stretch limo, and a blue Thing. When they got to the beach there were eight dune buggies, which I suspect were VWs as well. There were two bay window buses, the passenger bus above--coming down an unnamed mountain pass--and the green Westy at the campground below.
To paraphrase j+a, good job, Richard Scarry.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, left to right my guess is 1) exhaust, 2) combustion, 3) compression, and 4) intake. As for the bonus question, I would have to agree that I don't have an answer either. It sort of looks like a few parts are missing that might go between the cam shaft and the valve stems. If the prize is tater tot, just let me know where Gma and I can pick her up at :-)

Chris said...

I think it is the standard running order 1. Intake, 2. Compression, 3. Combustion, 4. Exhaust.

Also, the valve train is the magically simplified red dot lifters. No more manually adjusting the valves every 3,000 nautical miles.

Lisa said...

Do you need Richard Scarry's big book of stories with the lion on the cover? I scored an awesome copy that I'll send your way if need be.

Anonymous said...

Gee, I'm afraid Gma Terry(aka mamalynn) was right...I do need glasses. Upon closer examination with my genuine Sherlock Holmes combination magnifier and secret decoder ring, I now see that Chris is correct. Guess I should have used that in the first place or I could have just clicked on the picture and enlarged it but then how would I justify hanging on the the combination magnifier and secret decoder ring? Oh well...the new glasses are supposed to be here by Saturday. Keep on posting. Always enjoyable to hear what all of you and the VW's are up to.

Big Blue's Driver said...

I agree with Chris. The arrows help, thought the illustration is pretty good.

Diggin' all the VW illustration!

whc03grady said...

@everyone: Thanks for playing, and congratulations to Chris. Absent the arrows, we can deduce the position of the cylinders by looking at the valves, and also by noticing the position of the connecting rods in relation to the rotational direction of the propeller shaft. That Richard Scarry didn't leave much out.
Chris, your prize will be forthcoming when I decide what it is and you email me your address.
Alright,
whc03grady.

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