Grumpy Bear

196,680 Mile Service 8/23/2026 Balance and rotate tires after removing rocks and a screw that didn't make it past the top tread thickness. 4,888 mile interval. I don't use anything but tape weight and one of them had spit its out coming up 3.25 oz out. Also have one rim with a bit of runout. Potholes I expect. Looking for a replacement then I'll have this one straightened and painted and star a wheel restoration. Anyway, it spins no worse than any other. Took a perfect balance and drives fine. I'm not getting lazy; just pragmatic. Road trip tomorrow.

Well that book won't sell many copies. Taking ones right foot off the loud pedal never gets applause. Funny really, It isn't that people don't know what to do...they just don't want to do it. But they will complain about it. About bad craftsmanship, about the cost of fuel, about the cost of part and repairs and mainly they complain that the solution while still possible isn't one they are willing to do. I observe this daily. 'Gas cost to much!", they wail, while they mat it passing at 80+ mpg and scoot down the road like gas cost a dime a gallon. Then complain about the few that will lift and save both fuel and iron like they are owed and own the road. Good thing they haven't an ounce of influence on my equipment. The rest I just laugh at. Stupid is as stupid does, right Forest?

Today I filled up with 4.899 gallons of fuel at a cost of $4.899 a gallon. $24 bucks. 290 miles. 59.2 mpg. After my 4% COSTCO discount just under eight cents a mile.

All the OEM's have taken so many pickles out of the jar they are selling empty jars and we are still buying them. What's to discuss? Your handle and your beliefs seem a mismatch Kidding. There are many failure modes and a few of them do show up early or not at all. Hardness for example. Others like cyclic stress failures, (valve springs not in coil bind but breaking anyway) are baked into the OEM cake. Those take a preset number of cycles which will be reached by different operators (miles). Load stresses are allot like cyclic stress but in the hands of a guy like me may never be exceeded while a guy who bought to use as advertised may get it to tap out on the first tow or haul or excursion into the offroad. There is a whole universe in between. Until the death of the Buick 3800 and Ford 300 I-6 I used to believe that if you got it to 10K without a materials or lubrication related failure then how long it lasted was up to you and not the product. Today....not so much. They are building down to an ever reduced expectation driven by building down and there just isn't anything to be excited about.

@Jsdirt saw a South Dakota plate in town yesterday with your name on it. JSTDIRT

I did the new thermostat after doing a 'flip' for a year. Runs as cool one way as the other in the summer but in the winter there is a bit of a floor. Yellow with the new 70 C thermostat. My data over the life of the unit to date. Still need more cooler. Anyway that floor helped both winter fuel economy and shift quality in the winter. I found it a good balance.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond So pouring the last of a bottle of Evan Williams Black label last night I set off the the state store for a refill only to be denied the by an empty shelf. Rats. What the did have was a bottle of Evan Williams Bottled in Bond. 100 proof. Hum, a few bucks more but a known distiller. Lets have a swing at it. ( I have before ) Cracked it open and pour a serving over ice. Hum.... more heat, yes. More alcohol naturally. But the barreling not the proof brings the taste and this one came up short. Oh is was familiar but the heat ran the barrel over like a Peterbilt runs over a squirrel. Could use a heavier toasting of the oak me thinks or perhaps a longer barreling. Who knows. But what I can say is ice or a water back isn't the answer. What kills one kills them both. Sad. It is a pleasant drink....if you have little to compare it to.

I've had exactly one set of Bridgestone. Lasted five year and 125,000 miles and had I known better 15oK would have been a cake walk. I would have bought a like set had they not tripled in price since the first set. I removed them at said mileage with 5/32" remaining in dead even wear all four. They were fuel efficient, quite, comfortable and predictable. Early on I got a very good alignment checked at least once a year, sometimes twice; kept the tires properly inflated, balanced and rotated. And I've found that many a tire issue can be avoided with great maintenance practices. Lot's of tire dealers will do rotation and balance (simple) for free for as long as you own the tire they sold you so no excuse not to. Bead prep, alloy integrity and stem health have a huge impact on inflation stability. There are more mountings done poorly that perfectly. Finding a good tire guy is gold and as important as finding a tire you like. That 3X price increase now two sets of "other tires' later is starting look like a bargain. Bad maintenance kills more tires than bad tires.

Atlas, you kill me As aggravating as a project like this can be you have been unable to hide your fascination with learning and using that angst against this beast like a Ninjitsu Master. It amuses you, admit it now. BTW, love your writing style.

About that: Once upon a time in a land far far away lived a car company that was shy about taking your money and wanted to be sure that they gave you more that you asked for so that you'd come back. No really, not a fairytale. But after the field got thinned out enough to limit the competition it seemed good enough to give you only what you asked for. Fair enough I say but in such a market you have to give something the others are not or they go to the one who does. Gimmicks or glitz. Oh, fins and chrome. Yea, shinny crow like cars. Yum. Field narrows a bit more and 'brand loyalty' becomes a thing and the minute it does they start thinking to themselves, "Could we make more money if we gave them less than they expect and they will hang in there for brand and comfort with the known?" They gave it a try and da*n, it worked!! Well, what if we teach them, groom them into believing that less is "Normal" and cut some more corners. Will that work? Oh heck yea! I wonder, can we give then WAY less than they expect and make them mad enough to spit nails and STILL get them to pay up? Sure, if we get everyone else to do the same so that the choice is less or nothing at all. How would be do that? Platform sharing. What a concept, right? Steal like there is no tomorrow and it's legal too! Truth is no one is going to give up driving, not for very long. The Gen Z crowd is fine with it and will be as long as someone not Gen Z will haul them around. At some point we all die. Economic voting only works if you cast a NO vote now and again and enough of them to get dumb and dumber to wise up. Well, that's how I was taught anyway. And it should have worked. Would have worked. But the Bail out!! Look, you have another choice if you take that bag off your head. If they dumb it down to some predetermined expectation of how John Q Public will use it then, that is, under design it to failure, then you use it to a lower stress mode. D'ho! A 1950 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 will go anywhere a Suzuki Hayabusa will and for just as long. But you will have to treat it for what it is and not for what you wish it was.

Yes. Absolutely. That doesn't mean I don't like and enjoy a variety of machines. I went for a time with no other vehicle than a 1976 Triumph TR7-V Tiger. Loved that bike and rode it 365 in any and all weather. I did not feel deprived of anything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overengineering Excerpt from the above link: (BTW the above is a 90 second read) [Quote] A story about very precise engineering is given in the 1858 story The Deacon's Masterpiece or, the Wonderful "One-hoss Shay": A Logical Story by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., which tells of a carriage (one-horse shay) Because it had been engineered so that no single piece failed first – no piece was over-engineered relative to the others, and they thus all collapsed at the same time. A similar quote by Ferdinand Porsche claimed "the perfect race car crosses the finish line in first place and immediately falls into pieces."[5] [End Quote} By Engineering's own definition then; the AFM and Torque Converters, 4-5-6 clutch assembly of the 6L80E, and a dozen other common chronic parts and systems failures are "UNDER ENGINEERED". And by their own definition done so with INTENT. Ya can't have it both ways OEM's.

Raven About 2 more weeks and this Mirage will be two years old and already packing 54K miles. The CVT has settled in and is outperforming my expectations. The engine in quite, smoot for a three pot and very economical to fuel. Life time result to date is a stunning 52.44 mpg with a median tank of 52.74 mpg. Given the number of miles I drive and the cost of fuel lately this buy has turned out to be quite the winner in this stable. She is also quite the teacher. Nice thing about a car that gets this type of milage is that you see the results of minor changes with the change instead of having to average a months worth of gas tickets to filter out the tank to tank scatter. Those lesson apply to everything in the fleet and everything I've done to the pack works with this one as well. EPA numbers for this car: This example is running 42% over the government values!!!! I am really enjoying this car. Can't even hear the laughing of those that thought this a 'dumb/disappointing buy".

Just did an oil change on Dizzy. It's first batch of R&P 5W30 and a shot of the new Valvoline Fuel system cleaner. It was the inkiest, stinkiest batch of oil I've pulled out of that motor.

You will share, right?

288,000 Mile Service 8/20/2026 3,020 OCI 5 Quarts Valvoline R&P 5W30 (round #2) Purolator L filter Timing cover seal has moved from a weep to a leak but still not leaving a spot on the ground.

They do. HPL EC30 and EC40. Takes time just like any cleaning ester and it is an ester.

AMSOIL SS is about prevention and it is very good at it's job. I've never seen it claim to be a cleaner however like Valvoline R&P. Almost any oil that has some Ester or Alkylated Naphthalene in sufficient quantity will do a good job at keeping the rings functional. I see the market splint among these types in two groups; those that use the same tech in every weight grade and those that reserve the tech for the EPA (EPA) friendly grades. Mobil 1 for example keeps the Advanced Clean chemistry out of the SAE 40 and up weights. Other like HPL (top shelf group and No-VII), Red Line HP, TORCO, MPT30K use the tech in all grades. Just not something the Wally World oils are into.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/general/what-makes-this-1963-ford-falcon-red-rocket-special/vi-AA2asoRz?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=be9c1b4f79ff4211c526abd60f6da012&ei=16

Common Sense Assembly Your driveline is forgiving of the occasional mistake. It will even often forgive the random serious blunder. But it will not forgive a continuous bad habit. What? Not everything needs to be a five thousand word essay.

We drove about 15 minute east today to visit a friend and saw a steep increase in price in the same county. About 50 cents a gallon steepper.

Sure about that? A degree wheel and a dial indicator would lower your degree of assurance in that statement. It why we have offset keys and dialable timing sprockets. Just say'n.... I've built a few and have never seen one "On the money".

Missing pieces of the Assembly Detergency vs Solvency Not the same thing. Detergency is the mechanism that surrounds solid particulates preventing amalgamation. Usually accompanied by a Dispersant whose job it is to keep those encapsulated particles in Suspension. Solvency keeps things that can be dissolved in solution. Salt is a solid that can be dissolved. Pepper is a solid that cannot be dissolved. A detergent/dispersant is effective on pepper but a solvent is more effective on salt. As long as the solids remain in either state, dissolved or dispersed then they can be be removed with the oil upon change. How many wranglers does it take to herd cats? Depends on how many cats your herding. How much sponge does it take to soak up water? How much water is there to soak up? Point is most oil blends start with some herding ability and next to zero sponge and recently even fewer wranglers are being sent to do the same job. So you start with a dozen cowboys and zero cows but at the drive progresses you pick up cows along the way, but not cowboys. At some point you have more cows that the wranglers can handle and some leave the herd. Deposits. And the API has an acceptable number of cows they are willing to let loose. In the ideal world zero is the right number for he rancher but to the butcher....a few lost is fine. This cow is beat to death. Let's move on.... Solvency isn't something oils on the Walmart shelf care about AT ALL. Problem is, you motor does. Fuels driven varnish sticks rings and only a solvent can keep them in check. The bet is that the solids driven portion that plug the expander rings and the oil drain backs and VVT screens and AFM screens will be an issue long before varnish is. Not that it wont be but if they market well enough the consumer can be kept ignorant enough to either believe it is "normal" (A quart in 1 or 2K is normal) OR is kept at bay longer than the first owner is likely to hang on to the unit. Solvency cost money. Now the OEM's have John Q. Public buffaloed into the belief that the number cows accumulated along the trail is a known and predictable CONSTANT. It isn't. Nor is the rate at which they crossed paths with them. Only the number of wrangles is constant. Or was. Each new generation of oil sees fewer and fewer of them. So what happens when the number of cowboys is lower (lower TBN) with each seasons trail but the trial is longer (OCI) and the number of cows along that trail continues increase? (Conditions that promote deposits). For awhile the blenders were on to something. Better bases are harder to degrade (fewer cows) but that was overtaken by a longer trail (OCI) and improved breeding (More cows) while continuing to reduce the cowboy staffing levels (TBN/Aniline #). Marketing has been successful. We've fired most of the staff, cows breed line bunnies, the trail is ten times longer and we've convinced the boss his ranch is in better shape that it ever was. That kids is just the cleaning side. The side few pay attention to.

Saw Inglewood was in the National New last night for hail. Allot of hail. front end loader level hail.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/is-the-world-experiencing-more-earthquakes-now-than-before/ar-AA2ahYqD