Fun_People Archive
27 Feb
Auto Psychology

Date: Mon, 27 Feb 95 16:57:13 PST
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Auto Psychology

Forwarded-by: elshaw@MIT.EDU (Libby Shaw)
Forwarded-by: rcalhoun@MIT.EDU
From: sfisher@wsl.dec.com (Scott Fisher)
 
In article <180003@hpbbrd.HP.COM> gary@hpbbrd.HP.COM (Gary Tuosto) writes:
>
>  Is it true that the id is stamped somewhere on the block?  I have yet
>  to find anything on my 350.  Where is it?  How does it break down?
 
The id of most American V8s is an integral part of the casting, applied
while the metal is still in a molten state.  The superego is rarely used
these days as a cost-cutting measure; it used to be applied as a hot-vapor
coating just after the casting molds had been removed from the block (though
Hudson had experimented with brushing the superego directly into the casting
cores and pouring molten iron into the hollows; this was one of the keys to
their "twin-H-power" engines having such reliability, because the innate
sense of moral obligation provided by the superego kept them working beyond
the realm of most contemporary psychoplants).
 
The roller-lifter ids in use on modern Chevy V8s are not compatible with
the solid-lifter ids in use  during the Fifties and early Sixties.  Later
Tonawanda blocks (recognizable by a difficulty in approaching ethical
questions without some form of affective neurosis) can use the modern
roller-lifter id due to an effective ego structure in the rocker valley that
enables strong decision-making, effective value judgments and good low-end
torque.
 
It breaks down first by suffering valve seal deterioration, usually in the
#1 cylinder.  After several thousand miles of this, it's not uncommon for
the Chevy 350 to experience minor personality dissociation, followed by
occasional impotence, anticipatory disaffiliation, and a loss of short- term
memory.  In extreme cases, where the motor has been abused while young, it
can suffer from unresolved Oedipal conflicts resulting in a tendency for
the pistons to gall the cylinder bores.  There has been only limited success
with standard treatment (such as cylinder honing, dry-sleeving, and
transactional analysis) but new hope appears to be offered from a
combination of role-playing in a group format and PTFE treatment of the
reciprocating surfaces.
 
--Scott "Have you driven a Freud lately?" Fisher

© 1995 Peter Langston