Power to the Ground: A Drive Train Walkthrough...

[OBXBoost]

OK guys, how about it?

I'm not very mechanical saavy, but I personally think that those with the knowledge of how this whole thing works, piece by piece and the power transfer between each and what that piece does, could do it up so that it's easy to understand what is or could be broken...

Basically, the crank is attached to ______ which does ______ and then sends the power to _____ which does _____ and so on and so forth....

Thoughts?

[futurevr4man]

Starts with fuel and air in the cyl chamber. Spark happens and an explosion occurs. The piston is pushed down to create a rotation in the crank. That power is sent to the input shaft on the transmission. Through the gear selected and the vcu, the torque of the spinning gears is transferred to the input spool of the transfer case. The transfer case then sends the power through your driveshaft to the rear differential, and the differential sends it to each of your axles.

That's about as simple as I can make it

[Zaroth]

Starts with fuel and air in the cyl chamber. Spark happens and an explosion occurs. The piston is pushed down to create a rotation in the crank. That power is sent to the input shaft on the transmission. Through the gear selected and the vcu, the torque of the spinning gears is transferred to the input spool of the transfer case. The transfer case then sends the power through your driveshaft to the rear differential, and the differential sends it to each of your axles.

That's about as simple as I can make it

Should throw in the clutch and flywheel. I usually add that to my explanation when describing this process to people. Very nice and simple though

[Nationalmilkman]

No explosion, it's a controlled burn.

[futurevr4man]

It's a detonation. Combustion IS an explosion, controlled or not.

Yeah I thought about the flywheel after I posted and was too lazy to change it

[OBXBoost]

Well I was hoping for a lot more detail. VCU's, differentials, synchronizers, friction rings, etc.....

[futurevr4man]

lol ill type up something later. i dont know it all though

[IPD]

Well I was hoping for a lot more detail. VCU's, differentials, synchronizers, friction rings, etc.....

howstuffworks.com is a great tool. in the interest of helpfulness, i'll try and help out though.

vcu is a type of differential. it relies on a special type of fluid & a series of plates to insure that output is equalized between both sides. differentials in general (open, locked, vcu, torsen, etc) all have the same purpose--they just execute it in different methods. in laymens terms, you have 1 output shaft and (at a minimum) 2 wheels to operate. a differential is what splits the power between them.

synchronizers are only used in manual transmissions. they are designed to "synchronize" the selected gear with the output shaft from the engine. this is why rpm-matching will provide a longer interval between transmission service on MTX, because it minimizes wear on synchros (among other things).

"friction ring" is a somewhat generic term, and could apply to a variety of things (clutch parts, atx clutch packs, etc). functionally, the idea of a friction ring is that there is sufficient friction between two components to keep them rotating in unison (incidentally, the same principle that makes the vcu work).

the flow-path for engine power you outlined varies depending on mtx or atx transmissions--as they function in different ways. beyond the transmission, all cars will have either a single differential or multiples--depending on drivetrain configuration.

[futurevr4man]

you really should go to howstuffworks.com... pictures and graphics to look at to help learn

thadd is right that what i said is a manual transmission setup, but you can get the jist of it.

some stuff i left out...
- the crank is actually attached to your flywheel. your flywheel is really used to store energy (rotational energy and momentum). its just a big, heavy metal disk. the clutch consists of a disk and a pressure plate (and a release fork, and a throwout bearing too technically). the pressure plate has like 20 "fingers" (made of ~1/8" steel) and when you push your pedal down the clutch fork and bearing push against those fingers and pull the pressure plate/disk off of the flywheel. when you release the clutch, the fingers put clamping force onto the clutch disk which then pushes against your flywheel. thats generally how it works

- inside your transmission you have shift forks, friction rings, synchros, gears, bearings, and some other miscellaneous things (ball springs, gear selector, and like 100 other little things). the synchros, and friction rings have been covered more or less as well as i know them. the synchros physical design is what makes them work though. you should look at some pictures of them. shift forks are kinda neat. they are in a shape of a U and move long-ways through the transmission to select the different gears. all controlled by the gear selector.

pics:
inside of a transmission


gear selector


my broken shift fork


billet shift forks


if you have more questions ill try and help, but you gotta give specifics. its too much to try and nitpick every single little thing