Crafting engines from scratch (tl;dr, no)

[kevin.granade]

I can only assume that you’re implying that since the process has been exercised for a long time, it means it’s a reasonable thing for the survivor to do. It doesn’t make that case at all.

There’s a massive disconnect between the argument that, “Someone did each of the involved steps at some point in the past” and, “The process as a whole is a reasonable thing for an individual to undertake”.

The latter is the argument you need to make if you want engine crafting in the game, and nothing presented here is even approaching making that argument.

[druidniam]

Passive observation on the topic, nothing more. You’ve already marked the topic as not going to happen, but the process of metal working is a subject that’s near and dear to me.

[tstrimple]

You can mix ammonia, bleach and zombie parts to make a serum which can transform you into a mutant, but machining parts and assembling your own engine is somehow too unrealistic for a survivor to accomplish.

[kevin.granade]

Correct: FMS: Frequently Made Suggestions

[tstrimple]

It’s not just lack of consistency between super science items and every day items. Homemade engines aren’t unheard of. The excuse of realism isn’t applied evenly and certainly seems to be used as an excuse to shut down conversation around things you personally don’t feel like should be included in the game.

“We’re not talking about merely getting an aftermarket block and building it up with a unique rotating assembly, or even a custom head that bolts on an existing block. No, we are far beyond that. This is a ground-up, scratch-built, custom engine—as in, everything, including the block, the heads, and the valvetrain are all one-off parts, custom-built in a home workshop (well, a very well-victualed workshop).”

How To: Build Your Own Sheetmetal Engine

[kevin.granade]

It absolutely is unheard-of. If you read the article you linked, you’ll see the engine they’re referencing is a mixture of prefabricated parts, farmed-out work pieces, custom parts, and modified off-the-shelf parts, AND the in-house team is three people working on it, not one, AND they’re using a commercially-sourced workshop and commercially-sourced materials.

It’s laughably far from the scenario we’re discussing here.

All that aside, the tone of the article is, “this is unheard of, but these guys are doing it”.

[ShadowDragon8685]

Sure, it’s not something you’re going to do with an anvil and a hammer, but it is doable. That article is proof thereof; you just need the right machine tools, a fucktonne of time, and 2.5 fucktonnes of Mechanics. The time and mechanics involved can be reduced by using parts looted from extant engines and/or garages.

[druidniam]

Lets look at this from an entirely different perspective: racing simulators. Most of them allow you to modify at minimum the major parts of an engine: block, manifold, flywheel, crankshaft, alternator, air intake, transmission, exhaust. Find a compatible block and manifold, assemble your scrounged or disassembled and lighter to carry parts and wham. Engine. Yes it’s a major over simplification, but it fits two things Theme, and ease of implmentation because you can dump the whole thing to a mod.

[tarburst98]

what about up-modding already existing engines? as in, turn a V12 into a Monster V12 or something? as in, take en existing engine block and after-marketing it into a more beastly machine. uses more gas but is more powerful and all that.

[druidniam]

Like a port and polish or adding a superchager? I’d have to look at the alternator code.

[tarburst98]

was thinking like… how the engine in mad max gets crazier looking as you upgrade it. huge air intakes and shit.

[Aluminumfoil]

Nobody’s going to home-make a Tesla motor, obviously - but anybody with a shovel or a ladder could find all the pristine tightly wound copper wire anybody could ever want without leaving their neighborhood: dig up or pull down power line transformers.

[kevin.granade]

all the pristine tightly wound copper wire anybody could ever want

you’re going to limit your current and efficiency if you’re spooling ordinary insulated wire

Reading, it’s FUNdamental.

[Aluminumfoil]

Transformer wire is magnet wire.

[druidniam]

Not the ones hanging off your light pole. And also not the right gauge. That power transmission line? Steel doped aluminium.

[druidniam]

I think the biggest disconnect here is people thinking about winding a transformer and calling it a motor. No, then you have either a transformer, or a linear accelerator. A motor has at least 9 parts that you can’t get off the shelf at an electronics store unless that store happens to be Grainger or someplace similar that specializes in Industrial applications and actually DOES sell replacement off the shelf specialty parts for things like stators and commutators.

The realistic in-game approach to electric engines is the real-world approach to electric engines: allowing 1 motor per-wheel to be installed, but that would require a re-write on the electric motor to A: eliminate or massively reduce the mechanics required to install extra motors, and B: require the x requires y code like the seat belt to include “electric motor requires wheel”. Which is a change I’d be in favor of actually seeing in the electric motor department. It means your electric powered death mobile could go 984958394/mph if it wanted to, assuming you had enough minireactors to run it. It’d make electric vehicles a little more viable for extremely heavy load vehicles as well. One of the Japanese mods I use turns a cargo rack into an opaque non-moveable tile of triple the storage size and I tend to line my outer walls with 8 of them. My trucks get pretty heavy after a while because I’m a horrible hoarder.

[tarburst98]

actually, the way those (IRL) super massive trucks work is the big engine up front is actually a generator and it powers electric motors on the wheels. except the caterpillar 797F which has a massive 100L V20 and is drive train.

[druidniam]

Do they use torque motors on the wheels to prevent motor damage?

[psyxypher]

Correct: FMS: Frequently Made Suggestions

Am I allowed to refer to use this argument with something that’s supposed to be Super Science-y, though? Such as Bionics or Milspec Items? I’m asking for future reference.

[kevin.granade]

No, then this entry applies: FMS: Frequently Made Suggestions