Engineers vs. Designers

Now when it comes to designing cars, it seems both engineers and designers have a say. And I now see why this movement of "Archtiectural Engineers" and "Design Engineers" is becoming popular. #1, its more efficient. If you want to build a building and have the plans made at the "Architectural Engineering" firm, you can side step having to collaborate with the Mechanical, PLumbing, and electrical engineers. Well maybe not all together, but you will cut much of the time out. Another good thing about it is that engineers usually plan things from A to B in the most efficient manner. Designers plan to make it look the best. But neither really are masters of both. My grandfather told me about an older mechanical engineer that was responsible for designing the conduit pipes that went from a nuclear reactor, to the control room. He said the way this guy planned the pipes, it looked like artwork, but it was also very efficient because repair points and access points were easy to get to. You see the "green" engineer would just do point A to point B, without really knowing how someone would go about fixing something if it ever broke down. Its experience and efficiency, form follows function, as they say. This brings me to today. I believe ENGINEERS designed all the electrical business for my civic. The main relay I had to replace was in a pocket of openess under my dash close to the hood pull. They gave me 1.5" to access the bolt that holds it in. They gave me exactly enough space to have to wrangle the relay through an area between the dash frame and some dash plastic. All of this while I am on my back facing up with the door sill eating away at my vertebrae. And with all this thought as to where they put the relay, guess what? These things still get rattled enough that over time the solder on the circuit boards cracks and causes continuity problems. I, as a designer/failed engineer, cannot wait to design my own car that runs on WVO, gets 30+ miles per gallon, and every electronic piece WILL BE ACCESSIBLE! End of rant.

Two pictures, the blurry brown bit is the frame.

Pep Boys, my new favorite auto house

Well last night I was supposed to pick up a relay for my civic. I called ahead, made sure they had one at O'reilly's which was no where near where I live. On the way back from bike riding, we went to pick it up. Now mind you, I had looked up this part several times, to make sure it was the same as mine, and it would be cheaper to pick one up rather than get a OEM replacement from Honda. Everything looked good from the Intraweb end. Well we show up there, I point on this guys computer screen to which part I want, he happily brings it to me. I take it out, guess what? Its the right number, but the wrong part. Someone has probably returned the wrong part to the RIGHT box. So now they have mismatched parts. No telling how many times that same part has been taken, and then returned because its not the right part for the number. The box looked pretty old. The problem is that neither Autozone or O'reilly's had a PICTURE of it in their systems. Out of the 4 different relays in their system for my car, this one being the most important because it breaks more often, there was no picture of it.
Well thank goodness Borg Warner had a picture of their actual product so that I didn't look like an idiot when I went looking elsewhere for the part. Today I found another one at Autozone for 18.00 more than O'reilly's. Same exact part and number. I said screw it, as long as its the right one I will be happy. I started driving to this Autozone 20 minutes away, and saw a Pep Boys. Hmm, maybe I should check these guys out before I keep going. Sure enough they had 1, and it looked correct, and they even have a price match guarantee! So if I had gone to the trouble to find that one at O'reilly's, Pep Boys would have given me the same part at 5% cheaper than O'reilly's price. The other thing I like about Pep Boys is that they seem OVERstaffed rather than UNDERstaffed like all the O'reilly's and Autozones. Plus they have a service center, and bigger store layout.
On a separate note, if you ever have problems starting your honda when its really hot outside, listen for the clicks of your MAIN RELAY, its probably the culprit. They break a lot and don't allow your engine to get gas from the fuel injectors. You can even resolder the joints yourself if you want. Here's a link.

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/mainrelayoperation/badmainrelay.html

BE SAFE!