GRMU?

Last night I was noodling about skills/knowledge necessary to be effective at GRM activities.  Just for the hell of it I threw a few thoughts down and then it got more and more interesting.  Let's assume you were going to outline a legitimate academic program for GRM and hot-rodding activities.  There are some areas that would obviously be practical and require the ability to demonstrate a given skill set or capability.  There are others that would be more grounded in academic background yet still useful.  The more I thought about this the more detail that came to mind.  I don't want to drop an enormous steaming pile on everyone so I'm going to list just the basic subject areas that I came up with.  If The Hive wants to pursue specific content and the reason it should be included, that's why I'm posting it.  

Here's my first draft:

1. Skill curriculum

A. Shop Management and Safety

B. Fabrication

Welding

Riveting

Fasteners

Hydraulics

Electronics and Wiring

Composite materials (molds/forms, layup/construction and finishing)

2. Knowledge curriculum

A. Basic Engineering (e.g. the differences in Tensile, Compression and Shear strength)

B. Metallurgy (e.g. the characteristics of relevant metals and their inherent dis/advantages or strength/weaknesses)

C. Vehicle Dynamics and Physics (e.g. how various inertial forces affect a vehicle in motion)

D. CAD/CAM (basic understanding of computer-based resources and how they’re used)

E. Aerodynamics

F. Lubricants and Fuels

G. History of Automotive Design

I think this could be a very interesting ongoing discussion and I'm very interested to hear what The Hive thinks.  Did I miss any Strategic subject matter?

How metallurgy properties are effected when welding a file cabinet to a washing machine to 1958 east german metal?

i don’t know anything about cad and shop management and safety are questionable but i feel like i could teach much of the other stuff:  

I'm in favor of adding things that are headed for "lost art" status, like carburetor tuning and panel forming, for the sake of keeping the skills alive and old school authenticity. 

Practically speaking, a good hands-on engine/transmission build/rebuild lab would be fantastic. I'm embarrassingly unconfident when it comes to engine building. Also paint and bodywork.

Engine tuning theory and practice?

Very cool. I'd also add:

Project management (includes budgeting and planning)

Project documentation (internal communication)

Communication (external communication)

VE theory (e.g. how airflow, volume, valve timing events, ignition timing, piston forces and velocity, bore/stroke ratio, etc.)  I can teach that... at least on an introductory level.  I'm not the big math genius, but I fully understand nearly every aspect of what ticks inside an engine.

Driveline engineering (e.g. driveshaft angles, final drive ratios, transmission designs)

I would love to see a set of courses that is basically the different chapters of Millikens RCVD separated out into different classes.

I think you could easily sneak a 1000 level microeconomics course in there. When building on a budget every part purchased requires a cost benefit analysis. 

You could easily work some physics through the study of suspensions, engines, transmissions.

Chemistry if you want to talk combustion engines, gasoline vs ethanol and the ever polular n2O.

There could be many course options at this prestigious educational institution.

How about a community library. I have most of my ten-year-old engineering textbooks and a variety of car-related how-to manuals published in the last 70 years that could be "checked out" on request. That'd be another way to share knowledge.

I could teach basic engineering and metallurgy (with a self-refresher course), although a bunch of our members are much more qualified to do so than I am.

How about:

"Strange cars and how to find them"

"How to talk yourself into anything"

"What it means when the auto parts store guy won't talk to you anymore"

Why we like the cars we buy.   

Are they engaging to drive, marvels of engineering(or not), hidden gems, just weird, garage art look but don't drive, too cheap to pass up, wait don't scrap that I can fix it, I've always wanted to own, drive, wax one of those.  

A sub course for the northerners in rusty fastener removal, this is for the advanced learners.

 I could also teach the “Do as I say not as I do” course on car buying as well as the “Good and bad reasons to buy cars so rare people turn their head and look at you like a confused dog when you mention the brand or model 101”

I volunteer to teach Korean E36 M3boxes 101-104

Given the ADD that many of us seem to suffer from, I'd suggest "Buying and selling vehicles on the internet" as a course.

Driver training?

also related, driver excuses: how to blame your tires and engine performance 

stroker said:

Here's my first draft:

1. Skill curriculum

A. Shop Management and Safety

B. Fabrication

Welding

Riveting

Fasteners

Hydraulics

Electronics and Wiring

Composite materials (molds/forms, layup/construction and finishing)

 

 

2. Knowledge curriculum

A. Basic Engineering (e.g. the differences in Tensile, Compression and Shear strength)

B. Metallurgy (e.g. the characteristics of relevant metals and their inherent dis/advantages or strength/weaknesses)

C. Vehicle Dynamics and Physics (e.g. how various inertial forces affect a vehicle in motion)

D. CAD/CAM (basic understanding of computer-based resources and how they’re used)

E. Aerodynamics

F. Lubricants and Fuels

G. History of Automotive Design

 

I think this could be a very interesting ongoing discussion and I'm very interested to hear what The Hive thinks.  Did I miss any Strategic subject matter?

I went and checked, and the textbook that covered metals is titled “Mechanics of Materials”, which is a broad enough topic to be able to include Wood, Fiberglass, and Carbon Fiber.

It’s not clear if the numbering implies “order”... but they liked to have us deal with the basics (i.e. the mechanics) before applying it practically (i.e. building E36 M3).

“Basics of Engineering” is what in coursework would be called “Statics, Dynamics, and Deformables... and yes, that Dynamics are separate from Vehicle Dynamics, which could be more than one course after that, depending on major.

There’s probably a general topics of “Data Collection and Analysis”...
which could be used to cover on-track data and post-session vehicle condition data, and engine tuning data and application to tuning.

caveats:  ymmv, iirc, etc

Y’all forgot the course in Challenge Math. 

sleepyhead the buffalo said:

I went and checked, and the textbook that covered metals is titled “Mechanics of Materials”, which is a broad enough topic to be able to include Wood, Fiberglass, and Carbon Fiber.

“Basics of Engineering” is what in coursework would be called “Statics, Dynamics, and Deformables... and yes, that Dynamics are separate from Vehicle Dynamics, which could be more than one course after that, depending on major.

There’s probably a general topics of “Data Collection and Analysis”...
which could be used to cover on-track data and post-session vehicle condition data, and engine tuning data and application to tuning.

Your suggestion of consolidating all materials in one class is logical but I would regard it as so much information it would be unwieldy from a coursework perspective.  I'd think those interested in Metals would prefer a class in metals and those interested in Composites would prefer to focus on them, not metals.   Barring significant contrary opinion I'm going to leave it alone for the moment.

"Statics, Dynamics and Deformables" may be a more precise description of the course content, but I think it would almost always require an explanation of what it means.  "Basics of Engineering" is more understandable to most folks, IMHO.  Again, I'll leave that alone pending significant opinion that it change.

I added "Performance Analysis" for your third point.

I've updated the original list to the following:

Skill curriculum

A. Shop Management and Safety

B. Fabrication

Welding

Riveting

Fasteners

Hydraulics

Electronics and Wiring

Composite materials (molds/forms, layup/construction and finishing)

C. Drivetrain Engineering, Maintenance and Restoration (e.g. drivetrain rebuilds and installation)

D. Internal Combustion Diagnosis and Tuning

Knowledge curriculum

A. Basic Engineering (e.g. the differences in Tensile, Compression and Shear strength)

B. Metallurgy (e.g. the differences in various metals and their inherent dis/advantages or strength/weaknesses)

C. Vehicle Dynamics and Physics (e.g. how various inertial forces affect a vehicle in motion)

D. CAD/CAM (basic understanding of computer-based resources and how they’re used)

E. Aerodynamics

F. Lubricants and Fuels

G. Information Resource Management (e.g. Information and Knowledge Acquisition/Application, Cost/Benefit Analysis, etc.)

H. History of Automotive Design

I. Conceptualization and Modeling

J. Performance Analysis

K. Basic Thermodynamics

Ok, lets write this in short form as a guide with references to the courses.  

I'm ok with making this a required course for all soon to be driving age kids.

Sign me up for the whole lot of it.

On a serious note I can definitely handle the lubricants portion of this. 

I think this is called FSAE and a few of you would make great advisors

We need a GRMwiki.  Like a wiki-how for GRM stuff.  Have the topics you've presented and many more that people can edit and add to.   

You could do model specific stuff too

Like Mazda Miata then have sub sections on all kinds of stuff for Miatas..

nocones said:

We need a GRMwiki.  Like a wiki-how for GRM stuff.  Have the topics you've presented and many more that people can edit and add to.   

You could do model specific stuff too

Like Mazda Miata then have sub sections on all kinds of stuff for Miatas..

 

 

I don't know if we'd get there, but it might be nice if we pick a given subject area and The Hive could suggest either a YouTube video or a book that's exceptionally good at addressing it.  Can't do that with the skill section, obviously.  Oer perhaps, if we have a Subject Matter Expert (aka SME) who could write a short essay containing the essential bits of information.  Dunno, but maybe this could be worthy of a stickie or a page on the GRM website

Sounds very official, and therefore very un-GRM.  My courses would be more like: 

1. Building Cars
   1. How to spot when someone doesn't know what they have and low-ball them
   2. How to ignore rust and sketchy brakes 
   3. Building race-car parts from found objects 
   4. Using Harbor Freight Tools in ways other than originally intended 
   5.  Hiding purchases from your significant other
   6. Using garage items for First Aid 
   7. When to go to the E.R. 
   8. Of course you can turbo that
   9. Duct Tape, Safety Wire, and Sheet Metal: the building blocks of speed 
   10. Electrical troubleshooting for dummies
        
2. Racing Cars 
   1. Making the most of your parent's daily driver on track
   2. Making the most of your pizza delivery beater on track
   3. Racing with a turbo when you should have bought brake pads 
   4. Hiding things from tech inspectors and safety marshals 
   5. Flags can't apply to you if you don't look at them
   6. When in doubt, accelerate 
   7. Your body: a source of income for racing
   8. How to "borrow" tires 
   9. How to beg for parts in the pits
   10. $40 to eat all weekend at the track, by Rachel Ray

How about a painting / bodywork  / rust repair section.

Also selling the cars when one is finished with them is important for budgetary and space management.