Why don't cars have V4s under the hood?CHARLIE RIEDEL
This week, Collected Wisdom is turning its famous 1978 AMC Gremlin into a real muscle car by putting a V12 engine under the hood. Trouble is, the new power unit does intrude somewhat into the passenger compartment. And the trunk.
THE QUESTION: Cars often have V6 or V8 engines, writes Wynn Davies of Ottawa. Why no V4s?
THE ANSWER: The main reason is a tradeoff between manufacturing cost and space under the hood. Gregory P. Katchin of Richmond Hill, Ont., says that about 60 years ago, the straight-six (or inline-six) engine, which has six cylinders arranged in a straight line, was ubiquitous in North American cars.
As demand for more engine power grew in Detroit, he says, engineers wanted to add two more cylinders, but a straight-eight configuration would have resulted in an overly long engine and would have used up lots of space under the hood. So, instead, the engineers put two sets of four cylinders side-by-side in a V formation at a 60- or 90-degree angle.
"The resulting engine was only slightly longer than a straight, four-cylinder inline engine," he writes. "However, a V engine was and is more expensive to build than a straight, inline engine. It requires more complicated and costly engine castings, more parts, two cylinder heads, and in some cases a second camshaft and second cam chain, etc." On the other hand, a straight-four engine can fit under the hood of even small cars, so engineers and accountants prefer not to go with a more costly V4, even though it would give more torque.
THE QUESTION: Sean Robertson of Ottawa asked: Do fast-food restaurants reuse packages of condiments (ketchup, dipping sauce etc.) that are left unopened by customers? If not, what percentage of these single-use sachets are tossed into the garbage?
THE ANSWER: Shannon Thomas of Nanaimo, B.C., tells us she works for an extremely high-volume restaurant and says it is against Health Canada regulations to reuse unopened condiment packages, so they must be thrown out. She adds that the restaurant composts as much garbage as it can, but "condiment packages, unfortunately, are not compostable."
HELP WANTED
- When was the last year Canada had zero national debt? Katherine Stuart of North Bay, Ont., wants to know.
- Michael Farrell of Oakville, Ont., says he recently drove through a construction zone on a major highway where the temporary lane markings were painted in bright orange and were much more visible than the standard white markings. He wonders, therefore, why orange isn't used all the time.
- Bruce Cossar of Kingston noticed The Globe and Mail's Jan. 2 report that Eva Violante, the first baby of 2010, arrived at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto "one second into the new year." He says: "The birthing process is not instantaneous. It seems to me that Eva's arrival could just as easily have been recorded in the last second of the old year." He therefore wants to know how the time of birth is determined.
Submit questions and answers by e-mail to wisdom@globeandmail.com. Fax: 416-585-5085. Mail: Collected Wisdom, The Globe and Mail, 444 Front St. W., Toronto M5V 2S9. Please include your name, location and a daytime phone number.