WorkLog - 3/10/2011

Should've started the WorkLog yesterday.. but then again, yesterday was kinda tiring.. Yes, I am now working in a top-secret automotive facility, which is located somewhere in Mergong, Kedah.. :)

I guess it's safe to say that transmission seems to be the trend of the week.. Yesterday I helped put together an old, longitudinally-mounted, 4-speed ZF automatic gearbox.. pretty decent unit.. ZF is an automotive drivetrain supplier based in Germany.. Learnt a new word along the way.. Getriebe is German for transmission.. and ZF Getriebe GmbH has their facilities in a place called Saarbrücken in Germany, where the particular gearbox unit handled yesterday was made..

After putting the unit together, we mounted and installed the gearbox to an old Volvo 940.. It's kinda, surreal, you know, having a look and feel of what makes a typical car run, after reading and wondering a lot for all these years.. you can't learn everything from a book..  Seeing and understanding is everything.. Even a simple gear-change requires hours upon hours of scrutinizing and assembling behind-the-scenes, and people often take the everyday, mundane, routine tasks for granted.. but when the crisp receipt with the just amount of zeros is handed over, they start to have a better sense of 'appreciation'.. :)

Came into shop in the morning today finding the 940 running good.. work and sweat duly paid-off.. :)

Today another car came in with a gearbox situation.. The coolant tank cracked, and, real-life-problem as it stands, coolant water got into the gearbox.. Took out the gearbox, which required roughly two hours of wrench-turning and sweat. It's a four-speed transversely mounted unit this time, and it's used to power the front wheels, as opposed to yesterday's longitudinally mounted ZF used to spin the rear wheels. And it's also a smaller unit, made by AISIN AW of Japan.. Not a very famous company, but I found out that AISIN makes the Toyota Prius' tranmission, which is pretty hype.. This relatively unknown establishment is on the Fortune Global 500 list (take that PETRONAS.. ) .. quite impressive..

Relatively unknown powerhouse

To take the front-wheel drive gearbox out of this unfortunate S70, we had to take the front wheels out and also disassemble the drive shafts connecting the gearbox to the front wheels. Long story short, a longitudinally-mounted 'box is easier to handle than a transverse 'box..

Torque-converter and everything

Drive shafts. Yeah.

I guess that's enough rambling for now. Sorry for wasting your time, but my hands are dirty, and I'm loving my mundanely-interesting job. I could live like this for three months. :)

Because you can't put a paycheck on experience;