Chapter 213: If you don't understand the technology and have ulterior motives, you can get lost!

As soon as these words were spoken, Old Zheng's face turned red immediately.

That's right, he has his reasons; he dislikes Qin Miao, dislikes the projects Qin Miao supports, and opposes whatever Qin Miao supports.

But, in Elder Yuan's view, his statement meant something else: this kid has been praising Deutz nonstop just now; could he have taken a bribe from Deutz?

"Cough cough..."

Hearing Old Fang's cough from beside him, Old Zheng finally realized and hurriedly said: "Qin Miao, don't spout blood, I haven't taken any benefits!"

Qin Miao secretly laughed; this old fellow is quite interesting—saying this now is just the thief shouting "catch the thief", covering his ears while stealing the bell.

Sure enough, Elder Yuan's gaze grew more doubtful.

"Oh oh, if it's not for that reason, then your technique is just too poor."

"What? My technique is poor? You brat dare say my technique is poor? Back when I worked on the Old Liberation at FAW, you were still wearing open-crotch pants!" Old Zheng's face reddened further.

"So these years you haven't learned any new knowledge and made no progress?" Qin Miao said.

"You're full of shit; I'm an engineer in the Automotive Bureau—what modern knowledge haven't I studied?"

"Alright, just now before the Steyr climbed the slope, there was an exhaust sound—do you know what that means?"

"Just switching between high and low gears, we're in the high-gear range."

"Do you know what the gear ratio for fifth gear is?"

"3.36!"

"Could you roughly estimate the engine speed and vehicle speed at that time?"

"The engine was around 2000 rpm, and the speed about 50 kilometers per hour."

"Alright, then calculate now."

Old Zheng's face turned pale.

At the time, seeing the Steyr climb the slope so swiftly, he instinctively thought they had tampered with the rear axle's bevel gears, changing the gear ratio to give the vehicle excellent hill-climbing performance, but that would inevitably affect its performance on level roads and reduce its top speed.

But… now a quick calculation shows that this rear axle isn't even the heavy-duty 6.72 ratio, nor the 5.73 that balances heavy load and highway; it's actually the 4.8 ratio mainly suited for highway conditions!

That works out to the vehicle being able to exceed 100 kilometers per hour on the highway!

Of course, whether it can reach that speed still depends on whether the engine delivers enough power; some later automaker fitted a ten-speed automatic transmission to its vehicle, only to find the top gear couldn't even be engaged!

Having figured this out, Old Zheng took a deep breath: "You're doing this, and the power train still doesn't match! Moreover, aren't the earlier test results supposed to be scrapped and retested? You're clearly just messing around! What right do you have to drag so many people into your pointless tinkering? Old Fang, Old Li, what do you say…"

Old Zheng's words trailed off when he saw the two giving him looks; he looked over and saw Elder Yuan's dark, grim face.

"Old Rao, I think Engineer Zheng isn't fit to stay on the project evaluation team—what do you think?"

From the start, Leader Rao didn't want to come; after the cancellation of the Three Automobiles project, the blows to his subordinates were too many, and he already had too much to handle—research work at several other heavy-duty truck manufacturers was enough to keep him busy; besides, this comparison was of military vehicles, not civilian models, and the military had the final say.

But when Elder Yuan shouted, he really had to come along; then he saw Old Zheng constantly voicing opinions—what occasion gives you the chance to speak up? Now look, you've capsized in the gutter, haven't you?

Old Zheng was stunned: "Elder Yuan, I…"

"Lacking technical expertise and yet meddling, we need professionals for the project evaluation." Elder Yuan said: "Old Rao, what do you think?"

"Hmm, Elder Yuan, you're right; Old Zheng, you should go back first."

Old Zheng was completely dumbfounded.

With Three Automobiles gone, they won't let him do this evaluation work either—can he still remain within the system?

Sure enough, when the guard beside him escorted him out, he heard Elder Yuan's voice from behind.

"With improper motives, how can he handle this work? Old Rao, you'd better investigate this person thoroughly!"

"Thud!" Old Zheng staggered and fell to the ground.

"With Old Zheng gone, we're down one evaluator; I think we should let San Shui stay to finish the evaluation before heading back."

Old Zheng's body trembled involuntarily; nearby, two soldiers supportively helped him up and continued walking outward.

Everyone else was stunned too; looking at this… it seems the Steyr is likely to be pre-selected!

Kurt and Horst exchanged a glance, then spoke.

"I don't know how this Steyr was modified—its power is surprisingly strong!"

"Right, what are the specific power parameters?"

"Power 370 horsepower, torque 1320 newton-meters; of course, we didn't bore the cylinders, displacement remains at 9.726 liters."

"A 10-liter engine putting out 370 horsepower? This… how is that possible!"

"How is it done?"

"This is simple—just the usual way: swap the turbocharger, add an intercooler, tweak the oil pump."

To boost power, you need to inject more fuel and force in more air for combustion, which requires developing a more robust turbocharger—this poses no problem for Harbin Institute of Technology, which is currently helping with helicopters; the turboshaft engine of those helicopters isn't all that different from the turbocharger on an internal combustion engine.

When talking about turbocharging, there's always a bunch of experts spouting nonsense, saying natural aspiration is the way, turbocharging just squeezes power, shortening lifespan, requiring turbo replacement every tens of thousands of kilometers, and so on.

Actually, that's all utter nonsense.

During WWII, high-altitude fighters already used superchargers; even one stage wasn't enough, they needed two-stage superchargers. In the Cold War, turbocharging saw widespread use in truck engines—this isn't high tech; as long as you can produce aircraft engines, you can make turbochargers.

Besides the turbocharger, there's also the intercooler: when the turbocharger works it heats up, thermal expansion and contraction reduce air density; the intercooler cools the air, increasing density, thereby improving the quality of air entering the cylinders.

The Steyr's WD615 currently uses only turbocharging, no intercooler; with Qin Miao's help, we've added all these technologies! Power has been raised to the level of the later WD615.94, and we should note that the Steyr engine has ample margin—its pistons, connecting rods, etc., need not be changed to withstand this powerful output.

"How exactly was it modified?"

"Well… well, the weather's nice today, I'm hungry—how about we go get something to eat?"