jon_the_limey

To be fair in a mass production environment it's not the line operators responsibility to install the lock properly (although it would be very useful for them to highlight the problem). It is the responsibility of the engineers involved to make sure that it is nigh on impossible to install incorrectly. Most of the time Ford are shit-hot at this but I don't think you always get the best or most experienced engineers working on door locking mechanisms! No excuse though.

Not for quite a while afterwards because it will cost a fortune to develop the engines and set up the production facility. The move to shut out ITEC is very much for the long term. But I would agree that complicated high value engines like these should be made at the lowest risk plants, where engineering support is readily available, and not the cheapest.

Cologne Germany and Valencia Spain. European Fiesta's are very unlikely to be made outside of Europe for a while because they have a new plant in Romania to fill with a cheap car. As for North America I can't see China being used for production for a while because the supply base in China is extremely undeveloped and usually dreadful!

Ford will not mention anything on diesels because of all the shit with ITEC. But Ford is not behind in diesel tech because they have a research centre full of people with funny accents working flat out on lots of different stuff for all over the world, and as far as I know they're to schedule (whatever that is!)

Bloody hell I didn't know sentiment was that bad against RPJ in FNA! What did he do to create this? I have to admit I haven't met the guy, but I know vehicle calibration guys that have and they've been impressed with him (at least from a tech perspective) but then that might be skewed because the local management is so bad! I would certainly believe that he put unnecessary cost into things and I've never met a manager that isn't prone to a bit of plagiarism! However, I will take issue with the highlighted comment from your former colleague though (although I agree with the sentiment), he got a first in Mech Eng from Salford University. A first is the highest degree grade you can get here, and that grade requires both no social life AND very high intelligence (esp. before all the grade inflation over the last 15 years) As said it's all irrelevant anyway, and Kuzak seems to be really clued-up and Schmidt has a PhD in Stratified Charge Combustion which speaks for itself.

This will piss the hourly paid off! I heard a rumour that when Ford was collaborating with VW on the Galaxy/Sharan minivan that then boss Ferdinand Piech was so impressed by his technical leadership they offered him a job. The job offer was withdrawn fairly abruptly though when they found out RPJ was on more money than Piech!

He may have just had enough and wanted to return to Blighty to race his rally car! Apparently he's a bit a demon behind the wheel. The other option is that he may take some role within the sold JLR, apparently he always maintained an office there despite his tenure in the US.

I would go along with this. Also considering his right hand man, Ford Tech Fellow Dr Tim Davis, was one of the "evangalists" for the popularisation of Statistical Engineering in product development at Ford rather counters this "Mr Good-Enough" accusation. Far more likely he stood on some toes along the way to cause such resentment.

The Cyclone is cracking engine, certainly no issues with it going into JLR. Anyway the Cyclone certainly seems to have some Jaguar "DNA" with it's architecture. The former Jaguar Powertrain Chief Engineer Dave Szczupak must have had some influence on that!

I have no doubts that Ford will do almost anything to sell JLR and Volvo. Despite the thoughts of the (media-only-informed) most vocal on here this is about cash and very little else. It's just the D30 production facilities being offered for consideration (for reasons explained above) didn't make much sense to me. If Ford were to offer another engine line with the JLR sale most logically it would be the Lion V6 diesel engine and it's EU5 replacement. At the moment the vast majority are being used by JLR, as PSA only take a fraction. As far as I know the only blueoval potential is the Ozzie Falcon, which will be low volume anyway. The issues with this are the JV agreement with PSA, and also the fact that Ford will be selling both it's foremost diesel and gasoline engine technology (the new AJ engine). Being on the inside I'm sure you're aware of the specifications of these.

Grow up.

That doesn't make a lot of sense, unfortunately. The 3.0 is only used on very few XJ's, S type and X type. X type will die (US imminently and eventually in ROW), it's not used on LR products (currently using the death-row Cologne V6 in very small numbers) and the only use for the 3.0 will be XJ and XF ROW. Even then the default choice for the non-V8 XJ and XF is the 2.7 diesel (and eventually it's EU5 replacement). Both Jag & LR will use the 3.7 TI-VCT Duratec V6, IMHO, as it will be ready-made RWD engineered, future emissions compliant, more than powerful enough but technologically behind the new Jag V8 to be no real threat to Ford IP.

You're taking it far too seriously! Maybe you have to lose an empire to realise that.

Bloody hell, so your one of the half dozen that actually has an auto 1.6!!! Actually that 1.6 Sigma engine is a little belter of an engine, in the right chassis of course, the Ti-VCT engine makes 12.5Bar BMEP on standard pump fuel. It's also very lightweight but still robust, low reciprocating masses & low inertia bucket-type valvetrain with good flowing ports make it very tunable, and best of all it's cheap. No wonder Caterham went over to it for their 7's. Sort of back on topic, I owned a C170 diesel Focus and it was an excellent tool. But having driven a couple of variants of the C1 (ST and the 1.8 diesel) it does everything the C170 does but with better ride quality, more refinement and more space. It's not a huge jump by any stretch, but more than enough to stay competitive in the European market where C-car is king.

TStag Stop trying to wind our colonial friends up!

Please for the love of god don't give any credit to the French, Ford of Europe designed & developed the Lion V6 and V8 inhouse. The V8 was also outside of the Gemini JV agreement. It's true you know! Scout's honour!

If this diesel tech saves Ford's truck division then IMHO it would have been worth something. Also I would certainly not deny that Volvo has on balance been a good thing for Ford, but it hasn't all been "rainbow skies and rivers made of chocolate" like people like to make out on here. D3 hasn't been a roaring success for FNA (although there are other reasons for that). Also when Ford bought them in 1999 they were a largely finished-article vehicle-maker (i.e. not the work-in-progress like Land Rover or basketcase of Jag), however their sales are roughly the same now as they were then, i.e. ~450000 despite claims of over 600000 by now. Finally you only have to look at their powertrain line-up (new I6 and continued development of the diesel I5) to see that they are still fiercely independent, acting like a fiefdom as people like to use on here. Although their independent streak might have served them well when they get sold.

Actually they're indirectly contributing more technology than you think.

You are joking aren't you? We are not some shithole of a banana republic! The UK is one of the wealthiest nations on Earth and London can arguably claim to be the world's Financial Capital. Then there is the rather obvious notion that we speak the world's lingua franca, English! With that in mind the UK has been old-world immigrant target number one for quite a while now and the levels of immigration we've seen in the last few years is mind-blowing! For example since Poland joined the EU in 2004, there is now an estimated 1 million Poles living and working here. In fact there are so many Poles here that Polish politicians are campaigning in this country for their upcoming Gereral Election! These immigrants are from just one country, then there all the Romanians, Bulgarians, Bosnians, Kosovans, Nigerians, Somalians, Sudanese, Eritrians, Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, Kiwis and those bloody Ozzies. Not forgetting the 25 year immigration wave from the former British colonies after the war. So as Ford Jellymoulds was pointing out we know about the problems of mass uncontrolled immigration. With that glib comment I guess you don't want to hear about the wonderful things that some of these Visa immigrants do. Well tough! The requirements for L1 and H-1B visas means that they're university educated researchers, medical professionals, engineers, financial/business administrators, etc and many who have years of experience in their respective fields. The visa holders that I know of come from UK & Germany (some who have no intention of staying in the US) and are over there are working in the biological research field and others are in automotive engineering contributing in areas that have insufficient qualified & experienced americans available. America has done well out of the "brain-gain" and many of these legal immigrant Visa holders don't deserve the shit that was dished out to them earlier.

Ridiculous! I know people on L1 and H1-B visas that have contributed more in one year than some of the useless indigenous fuckers they have to contend with will in a lifetime. Indigenous being a loose term considering the US is a nation of immigrants.

Yes BMW front overhang is minimal and it does give them better weight distribution within then wheelbase. And not only does BMW's evangelism on MacPherson struts allow them to move the wheels further forward of the bulkhead and small overhangs it also gives them more engine bay width to fit bulky tuned-length exhaust manifolds. However BMW are always prepared to compromise ride quality (or rather vertical suspension travel) with the adoption of MacPherson strut and stiff spring-rates to maintain decent camber control and tyre contact patch geometry. Whereas in the case of the Falcon and DEW variants, with their multilink front suspensions, Ford were not (in the case of the DEW Ford & Jaguar). The other benefit of having the suspension points closer to the bulkhead is potentially increased chassis torsional stiffness, allowing the suspension to it's job and even less spring-rate to maintain acceptable tyre contact patch geometry. There is no right way to do it, just a way.

Fuck you! :slap:

Great British engineering again! It's a neat idea this Mechadyne/Mahle cam good for power or gauging internal EGR rates, but it can't be cheap. Simple dual-equal phasing work's quite well for part load efficiency by making IVC and EVO later. Cylinder deactivation works quite well too for large capacities. It could be a while before more widespread adoption.

Perhaps you shouldn't believe what you read on here, or what you read from "industry experts" in the media, or perhaps even what I'm posting! Land Rover does have crap quality by JD Power and other "Public Domain Quality Report" standards. But what were those reports measuring and also what vehicles they reporting on. Do these publications go into the levels of proper Warranty Data Analysis with full component failure reports that can be used for parametric or non-parametric life data analysis? Also if Land Rover has only had vehicles in the field, which were fully designed and developed under Ford's control and ownership, for less than three years then how do we know from these reports that things have or have not improved under Ford. Well we don't and no one else here or anyone who reports in the media knows either! Also what makes you think that Jaguar going for the retro-designs wasn't a directive from Dearborn? So if someone says Land Rover is doing fantastic without proof then treat it with suspicion. Conversely if someone says Land Rover is doing shit without proof then treat it with suspicion. Nihilism is great, isn't it?

For all of TStag's posts banging on about Land Rover and however much it may annoy others..... TStag does have a point! Land Rover is successful now and has been for a few years, has it's strongest product line up in it's history, and has improving quality (albeit from a low starting base). Most of all it is profitable. Ford has done a great job IN ONLY SEVEN YEARS of taking Land Rover from the fucked up mess BMW left it in. Probably because they applied the lessons learnt from Jaguar about interfering too much and let them get on with the things they are good at and giving guidance when required. Just a shame that Ford desperately needs the cash to fund this VEBA trust they're trying to set up. Needs must when the devil drives, and all that I suppose!