My visit to the Honda Institute

[Zak33]

yesterday I visited the Honda Institute, and I have to say....what a cool place

Imagine a huge, white tiled workshop, sufficiently large to hold about 30 cars, 50 motor bikes, a dozen lawnmowers, 30 marine engines and lots of desks for PC's plus lots of test beds for engines.

Exhaust Gas extractor pipes hang from huge reels in the ceiling to pull down and place over exhausts, engines tick-over on test beds, and bike frames stand empty of their motive power.

ONE HUGE CLEAN, SHINY ROOM.

One end is glass windowed offices for training, and they look out, from 2 floors, over the assembled engineering

It's just sex. A big white room full of sex.

A cut through Accord, where even the seat, steering wheel, roof airbags, side impact beams and floor sections are cut precisely through, and the edges painted perfect, Honda red

Chrome rails surround the work shops immaculate tiled floor, subtle lights from every direction means you can lie under a car and see perfectly, and you can wander around, touching, feeling and probing.

Sex. in a white clean box

It is of course impossible to get in the place without Honda backing, security tags and appointments. I believe lots of Honda garage staff have visited it.

It's lovely. White clean sharp precise.

I learned stuff. Lots of it.

£10,000,000 per DAY is spent on Honda World Wide Development. That covers your lawnmower and your Interga Type R.

10 million pounds. Per day.

These blokes don't mess about.

Brake pads. The positioning of the rivets that hold the braking material to the backing plates. Inspired. I saw a huge batch of pads yesterday from Delco, Lockheed, etc etc...and a Honda pad too.

No contest. Once you know what you're seeing. Once you understand the principle of rivets being OUT OF LINE to prevent cracking along a weak point, you start to see wisdom. When you see a patent part with 4 rivets in a dead straight line down the centre, begging to crack under heat, and see a Honda pad with 4 rivets in wierd places, it dawns on you.

Honda.

Zakky was more impressed than he wanted to be.

Exhausts. Back pressure. Baffles. Once again, Honda vs Opposition. Cut through, perfect engineering just in the cut throughs.

More baffles, the tubes inside having fluted ends, the welds, the triple layer skins PLUS heatshield. When you heat an exhaust and then drive through puddles they expand and contract at different speeds to prevent them stressing, weakening and rusting too fast. Even the bends in the pipes.

Honda.

Blimey.....DISKS....ventilated disks. I've always used factory disks and pads for my cars, but thats more snobbyness than need.

Until now. Seeing vented disks cut through...beautifull. The vents in the Honda disk was shaped like areoplane wings. They are twice as recurring as the oppostions bargain ones, and the metal castings narrow at the outer edges, but in the centre are thicker and stronger.

Even a humble oil filter. Honda one...smaller in size by quite a margin. bargain-part ones, bigger but so much less filter material. The steel grid inside that supports the filter element from being crushed by the oil pressure, finer holes, better spread out, better supporting. The non return oil seal to stop drain back after you've switched off.

Honda.

Blimey I'm impressed.

Sadly no jobs for me yet. But maybe one day.

[Stringent]

Why do you think I want a Type-R? Theres a new Honda garage going up on the A10 near where I am next to the FOrd dealer. I'll be in there when its done!

[dkmech]

That would be a nice job for me, I'll try and apply for any honda jobs once I am done here. Its much nicer working for a company you respect and agree with ideals of. Another argument for buying the Prelude ahead of the Xsara

[Shad]

Lucky git

[Spunkey]

sounds like a cool place

its a shame they can figure out where to put 4 rivets on a brake pad, but they can't figure out how to stop my missus' Civic Sport rattling like a baby toy after 8 months driving

[Zak33]

oooh its lovely there

kills Vauxhall College stone dead.

[Zak33]

How a cam belt SHOULD be tested (note: Vauxhall.....oihh....LUTON.....prick your ears up guys)

Originally Posted by Honda

70 Hours This is how long our "heat test" for the Honda Timing Belt lasts. First, we heat a belt to 125 degrees for 70 hours. Then we boil in it oil for another 70 hours and finally, it is driven the equivalent of twice around the world. This means you can be confident that your Honda will not let you down when Genuine Parts are fitted

Having been there, seen the place, met the people....they ARE that mental!!

Ive had cam belts on Vauxhall's let go during the first year

[TiG]

I've been to the Nissan Design centre and while you love the physical side of the whole situation, speaking to the guys who do the design and seeing what they have to play with in sheer kit was awesome....

Glad to hear it was a good trip, fingers crossed about a job...
TiG

[Allen]

"£10,000,000 per DAY is spent on Honda World Wide Development."



That's INSANE!



They really make enough money to cover those kind of costs??? Surely they would have to sell around 100 million cars per day to make enough profit to cover that?

[Zak33]

who said just cars? Honda are huge in lots of engine things. Lawnmower market is gargantuan.....as is the Marine Engine market....and the Bike Market...

and chainsaws....etc etc.

Besides who said anything about selling anything new? Parts are a huge component of their market.

They also built Suzuka and Motegi, the race tracks!

If they can't find someone to make the parts to the highest standards, they build a factory, & make their own!

Awe inspiring

[jon bda]

Motegi, what a circuit that is...only Honda could chop the top off a mountain to stick a race circuit on it...lovely!.

[Zak33]

Originally Posted by jon bda

Motegi, what a circuit that is...only Honda could chop the top off a mountain to stick a race circuit on it...lovely!.

ZAKKLY

[Tifosi]

shame they can't sort out BAR's engines then

[Shad]

Originally Posted by Tifosi

shame they can't sort out BAR's engines then

According to ITV F1, BAR have improved immesurbly over the past 3 weeks enabling Button to break the lap record at that circuit I forget the name of... Anyway apparently reliability and performance are both up by huge factors

[Spunkey]

Originally Posted by Shad

lap record at that circuit I forget the name of..

that be Barcelona sir, with a 1:13.552 no less