Grumpy Bear

Fella walks into a store and up to the clerk at the counter and says, “I’d like six pounds of Polish Sausage”. Clerk shoots back at him with a wry smile, “Are you Polish?” Fella looks stunned and barks, “I’m offended by that” then continues, “If I ordered six cans of Sauerkraut would you ask me if I was German?” “No”, the clerk giggles. “If I ordered six meatballs would you ask if I was Italian?” “Na” he laughs. “Then what’s with the asking if I’m Polish for ordering Sausage?” Now in a whine. “Because sport…this is a hardware store”!!

Quite by accident I happened upon a loop of road that is from door to door 167 miles. Three trips of which equals 501 miles. A tank or there about. It has a north/south, northeast/southwest and east/west. A triangle. Two legs are Interstate and one US/State highway. Hilly and flat sections. A few small towns and one small city with a few stoplights. In its center and around about is a large wind farm. Lots of signals for wind speed and direction. Illinois 72W to I-39S to I-88W to Illinois 92/34E to I39N to Illinois 72E. Day 1 The object was to drive 60 mph on the Interstates and 55 mph on the primary roads. Follow the limit signs and traffic controls within city/town limits. I had a perfect light and variable wind of under 5 mph and a fairly constant 85 F. Humidity was killer so the air conditioner was mandatory. Traffic was light and the day was good for 28.3 mpg all said and done. Oil temps were moderate 200-208F as I was running in 6th gear AFM active. A perfect initial outing. One of three. Day 2 Day started with a 20 mph west southwest wind and rain hard enough to make most traffic stop and move over. Me? I have Rain-X and good wipers. Good tires and no worries. There was a severe storm warning for the south leg of the trip to my west so I improvised driving the 83.5 miles south and a few miles of that west on Illinois 71 then back again. Sort of. Illinois 251 parallels I-39 and remains within 4 miles or so for nearly it’s full length. As the day progressed the wind shifted to the south southeast and picked up steam as the front moved through. When the wind was against me I ran on 251 and slowed down. As low as 45 mph in the hilly sections. When it was behind me I ran I-39 between 60 and 65 MPH. Tank average managed to settle in at 27.9 mpg. As the trip lengths were identical this means todays trip average was 27.5 mpg. The 25 miles I ran at 60/65 with the wind at my back averaged 31.8 mpg. Wind is huge and playing the wind, terrain and traffic like a fiddle paid dividends. Trip hours were nearly identical both days. Within 6 minutes. Other stuff: I confirm and pay for my Deaver Springs order. Just under $800 in leaves. These are NOT off the self-items. It’s a custom order to Ben’s spec. More and thinner leaves to make the spring much, MUCH more progressive. And a ¾” drop that along with the spacer removal will give a two inch drop leaving the tail 7/16 higher than the nose. That’s my input. Lead time is 5 to 6 weeks. The Honda sold today and I did get my price so the re-gear and Gleason Torsen locker is on again. I still need a few bits of information on the GM processers ability to be corrected for tire and non-factory gearing before I choose the exact gear. All three gear sets mentioned previously are still on the table. 3.9, 4.1 & 4.3. Jason at Deegan’s Auto can fill those gaps. ​I get the wife's 06 Honda to replace my 03 as a salt and city crawler. Love them Honda's.

I've never looked into the LED options as I find the headlamps on this rig more than enough. Fact is I'm down right impressed. So can't help you on that one. Fender trim. Yea I saw some generic moldable somewhere but I can't remember where. On item three this might help. https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-d2042_ds549741

Deaver Springs is Filthy Motorsports go to for leafs. Made first contact today via emails. I don’t speak these fella’s language fluently so this may take a while. In a set back the buyer for one of my cars that was meant to finance this little foray is waffling thinking fifty cents on the retail dollar is too much to pay for a car than needs nothing but a driver. One step forward and two steps in the gutter.

Well it took about a day for the birds to undo two days work. The Mrs. a trip back and forth to work once to cover the front in bugs again. Took under an hour to clean it this time. this Nu-Finish is quite good I opine. Less than ten minutes on the front end. Wow!!

2500 miles in the 4.10 gear/Mobil 1 study now and I’m done looking at this. Comparing the these last six tanks with the previous six tanks I have to say it cost 1.3 mpg at the same road speed and my guess is all the that is due to the AFM is being locked out in 5th gear. 27.3 vs 26.0 mpg. I have a good feel for the temperature deltas and the daily operation in both gear scenarios. (Published in previous posts) This has messed up my OLM study though as I’m running higher rpm at higher temperatures. Meaning I won’t have an actual duration number. That said based on ratio and proportion it is still going match the previous interval which in itself is a win for the Mobil 1 regardless that is no longer a POA. Least wise not the stuff I bought. A match in harder service is just as good as a longer interval at the same service. IMHO anyway. So I’m about 1500 miles or so from the next service and in preparation I made a trip down to Peoria, Edwards actually, and saw Dan at Hoerr Racing. A stocking distributor for about a dozen different high performance oils. Picked up case of Red Line 5W20. Only Neo Polyol Ester I'm sure of. This will be the last oil in the study and it will determine the need for a cooler and how large a cooler if one is needed. Dan is working on the parts list for that regardless. Those guys are good like that. While I’m looking at oil, coolers and a gear change I’m also working some suspension changes and involving Filthy Motorsports in Boulder Colorado. I'm getting a itch. I know, that’s allot on one plate and none of it is cheap so I have to work some angles to finance it.

Spent two days cleaning and sealing the paint redoing part of it. Ran my hand over a section that felt like sandpaper when I thought it done. Strip it of wax then clay, clay and more clay. Nu-Finish liquid sealer followed. My arms are shot. I'm betting this ride has NEVER been sealed or waxed EVER. ​ Even with ribbing in the roof...don't kid yourself; sit a bottle of beer on the roof at your own peril. Pure tin foil. Just like the pickup.

1,688 miles logged in the gear study. 64.27 gallons of fuel for 26.27 mpg. No statistical difference from the lifetime average. Standard Deviation, however, is .846 mpg or about half the lifetime average. That is kind of a big deal. Sensitivity is greatly reduced. Much more tolerant of head winds and hills. Very predictable tank over tank. Pulls a measured 6% grade at 50 mph without a downshift. 7% will induce a downshift. We have both nearby. This gearing is adding sensible heat to the oil running just under 220 F at 65 mph. It also keeps the thermostat fully open with running water temperatures about 4 degrees F higher. 186 F vs 182 F. Note the Yellow line in the graph. It has lost the ‘bow’ in the curve. I opine this means I’ve reached this oils thermal capacity. The water is no longer heating the oil at low loads but rather the oil is heating the water. Not even close to being in trouble, just noteworthy. New data gathered on a 88 F day in nil wind. Neopentyl polyol esters have roughly a 15% greater thermal capacity. I’m not shooting in the dark here. I’ve done this on several air cooled motors to effect some pretty significant oil temperature reductions as a standalone strategy. It’s worth a try before springing for an oil cooler. I will have my 200 F max temperature before this is done at any speed and/or ambient conditions I care to engage. Red Line Oil will be step one at the next service. At 65 mph with slightly worn (shorter) tires, she is tacking 2,000 rpm or 20 fps piston speed. It is still a sloth thanks to the six speeds double overdrive ratios.

This 5th gear thing is working out pretty nice. 829 miles logged using 32.1 gallons of fuel. 25.85 mpg. A quarter of a mile per gallon lower than the lifetime average. Today’s contribution was 461 miles of Interstate driving using 17.31 gallons of fuel for 26.6 mpg. Dead bang 55 mph in 5th gear all day. 208 F oil temp. 184 F water temp. Air temp range 68-76 F. Wind roughly 20-25 mph gust to 33 mph out of the west north west. I split the miles between Interstates 39, 80 and 88. Even coming out of the Illinois River basin there was no need for a downshift. In fact the load meter never went past 65%. And you’re saying, “Well yea, your already in 5th gear”. LOL. Well yea I’d be in 6th gear with a 4.10:1 differential. D’oh! Now a quarter MPG isn’t much difference until you consider. 1.) There is no AFM running like this. 2.) Given the wind and speed…yea it was a good test. Took just under 9 hours averaging 52 mph for the day. That is how we make time. Butt time in the seat not the pedal under the feet. So I’m down to three choices given this initial result. 3.90:1, 4.10:1 or 4.30:1. The consideration is…how do I see this trucks future. Local? Sight seer? OTR? That needs some thought. I’m going to log a few thousand miles to be sure. What needs even more thought is the ride. Road construction today was light but rough. So are Illinois roads and my fillings are loose after today.

Me and tREX with a T-rex. 6 months old. The dog fellas, the dog.

Guess we'll see, eh? I have some moves left. Time is the big thing when your average is based on 30K miles it will take awhile. I'm patient. The 10K average is almost there now. If I’m going to replace the differential I’ll need a new set of gears. Might be a good time to give that a look and maybe actually have a plan in mind. http://www.gmpowertrain.com/2013_pdf/F3_Gen5_4.3%28LV3%29_Truck_020414.pdf Dyno chart on page 2 of this pdf file might be useful. I measured the rollout of the tires and plugged that number into a spread sheet I wrote some equations for that which allows me to play with the gearing, including transmission, and tire to find the rpm for any give speed. I did so twice so I could compare one set to another side by side. I got a shock. There is only about 50 horsepower available at 55 mph with the current setup. Downshifts are the order of the day for even mild inclines especially into a head wind. A bit of playing around and I notice that if I run in 5th gear on these 3.23 gears that it is the exactly the same gearing as the a 4.10 gear running in 6th gear. Fancy that. Lay that on the dyno chart and find that is about a 50% increase in horsepower available. Thing is, doing so deactivates the AFM. I go for a ride to have a look and find it does a few other things as well. It increased the oil pressure and the oil temperature. A side effect of the extra 400 rpm. It reduced the sensitivity to head wind and negated the need to down shift on most common hills. Adds 10 degrees of timing. Limit’s the knock retard. Smooth as a baby’s bottom and quite. What it didn’t do was have a profound effect of fuel mileage over the short term but I’m going to run a few tanks driving like this to nail it down.

That's a nice color and nicely kept too. Pretty sweet Luke. How long did you sit there before you saw another car? Poor Clyde sitting there all alone. Your right, the foot has a great deal to do with it but so does heat management and perfecting the little things; like tire pressures, alignment, stance, cover, tire selection and so on. The Scan Gauge II is cool and a nice tool but the tool between the ears is the most effective one in anyone's toolbox. A truck is a picture waiting to be painted. Most people just stare at it or simply make changes with nothing but there 'likes' or 'wants'. Which is fine too. I like art. I just prefer mine to be functional. I just added a practical goal to the mixing board. Some measure performance in quarter mile times. Some in the amount of weight it can haul or tow. How high it can jump or how hard it can land. How deep the river it can cross or how big a rock it can climb. Some in the speed it can attain. Others in the trophies it can take in show. There are even some who measure it in the amount of abuse it can take before it pukes. They don't really give that allot of thought. No need. It's a thoughtless task. I measure performance in efficiency. All kinds of efficiency. Not just fuel mileage. Like how long I can make it last. How few tires or brakes I need over it's life time. Basic, right? But just as difficult as tuning for a quick quarter mile. I've done that too and quite well. Just not this time.

The greater the data pool the more you can do with it and the greater confidence becomes in the result. It’s the nature of statistics. Add up all the miles driven. Divide that by all the fuel used and you have the dotted line; The life time average. The upper and lower control limits are one standard deviation calculated from the tank to tank averages. For 22,042 miles its consumed 845.4 gallons of fuel for an average of 26.1 mpg. Of the 46 tanks on record 68% of the time the calculated mileage falls 1.3 mpg either side of that average. (Those are the solid orange lines). 95% of those tanks fall within double than variation and 97% fall within three times that number or plus or minus 3.9 mpg. Meaning 97% of the time the actual calculated mileage falls between 22.2 and 30.0 mpg with a central tendency of 26.1 mpg. The red line is the tank by tank sum average of those 46 tanks showing how we got to the broken line. It shows the break in and the fall – winter – spring and now summer variations. We have two months to complete the first years data. The broken yellow line is of great interest. This is the rolling 21 tank average. This tells us where we are headed from where we are now. Each time a new tank is added to the record one is removed from the beginning of the string of 21 tanks. As long as it stays above the broken orange line the orange line will continue to move higher and the entire chart will continue to shift up with slight modifications to the upper and lower control limits. It’s a living document. As the total miles divided by the number of fills equals about 480 miles per tank we have established a tank range. 21 points equals roughly 10,000 miles. That is important because it isn’t a tank or two that comes and goes but it shows an actual pattern in the history that allows for fill variations and traffic and weather that begs confidence in the result. That result is, that over the last 10K miles Pepper has averaged 26.9 mpg, a 3.1% increase. What has me excited about this is that it has come with a 5 mph increase in speed.

Putting what information I have, so far, together in one chart and applying a 3 point poly filter. R = 1. (for clarity) The thermostat information was collected while using Quaker State 5W30 Ultimate Durability Full Synthetic. We will add the Red Line 5W20 to this chart in the future. I love low morning light. I never have trouble finding my truck in a parking lot but you'll have trouble finding it in my driveway. ​Things are so expensive. I'm pricing a Torsen diff and a gear set...OUCH!!!

Oh that's some good information. What do you mean 'fully adjustable', by whom and how? Would love some photo's of Clyde.

Oil change and General Service 30,252 miles. OLM 32%. Tread depth .256 inches. 5K Tire rotation. Mobil 1 5W20 and matching Mobil 1 extended change filter. Replace cabin filter. (First change and didn’t really need to be). Then we tacked on a bit over one hundred miles to gather the data to plot todays chart. Quaker State 5W20 Ultimate Durability Full Synthetic vs Mobil 1 5W20 Full Synthetic. Today’s temperature, 86F. It was a bit warmer when we did the earlier test on the Quaker State. Subjective notes: Oil temperature recovery seemed to be quicker and deeper. Motor seems quicker to warm up which seems counter intuitive on the face of it all. Was a 6 degree air temperature difference between test days having an impact? I don’t think so. There is no air to oil cooler in play yet and the water temperature was modulated; but it’s just a thought. Objective notes: Mobil 1 ran on average 3 degrees cooler with a 5 degree maximum delta T at 55 mph. Terminal temperatures at 70 mph were for all practical purposes identical. Even though the ambient air temperature was lower the load was higher for today’s test due to a stiff head wind. On the return trip we went in to full economy mode (45 mph) to record 34 mpg trip average over 50 miles and setting a new trip record for 50 mile plus rural trips by almost 3 mpg. Fluke? Maybe. Tailwind? Not much of a factor at 45 mph but maybe. The Mobil 1 oil change cost me about $2 extra at Wallmart. The filter was triple the cost of the Pure-O-lator. Conclusions: I’m going to refrain from making any. My gut likes what I see but will reserve judgement until this test cycle is complete. 5K more miles. I do plan on testing the Red Line at the next change. Parting thoughts: Fluids with higher thermal capacity are quicker to reject heat and quicker to build heat. Thus the counter intuitive note in Subjective notes: It really is a win-win. This suggests that the Mobil 1 does have a higher thermal capacity. Ergo Quaker State and Mobil 1 are not from the same base stocks. I know Mobil 1 is a POA. Quaker State is unwilling to say. Hum….. Never the less it is still a major favorite of mine even if it turned out to be a Group III Hydrocracker product.

The Sugar Bear and I were married in this little church in Rockton Illinois 15 years ago on the 22nd of June. Now if I just get my truck to last that long and look this good doing it.

Dead Dog! Crewed the shift lever and the radio knobs. Gez pup!! Replacements being ordered. Just talked himself into a muzzle when unattended. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Good for nuth'n biscuit eater. I love my pup. On another note. 'Wet Look', that's the word I was hunting for in the last post. That certain something...the wet look. Nu-Finish lacks the 'wet look'. There, I said it. Whew. My some timers kicking in.

Finally had a cooler day. Under 80 F anyway. This allowed running 55 mph while maintaining an oil temperature 200 F or below. Also allowed me to complete a few more panels of paint detailing in between thunderstorms. Ever notice how thin the roof section is on these new trucks? YIKES!!! The alloy hood is stiffer than this panel. Doors, front fenders and tailgate left to go for the first coat. ​This morning I wiped down the wife's Honda with clear soft water and a shot of detail wax in the bucket and a micro fiber towel. Done again in Nu-Finish, and was amazed how easy this was to do compared to the other sealers and waxes used to date. Bird and environmental fallout came off slick as you please leaving no ghost marks at all. My ex-Navy supervisor use to have us mop the control room floor until the rinse water came back as clear and it was when ya put it in the bucket. It took one change of water to come up clear. Remarkable. Jim would have been proud. I can see why some don't care for this treatment. It lacks a certain something in shine that people just love but that could be 'fixed' with a top coat of a good show wax I think. Consumer Reports, which I subscribe to, rates Nu-Finish quite highly as part of the testing they did on retail non-professional products. In fact the paste version ranked highest of all products tested. Best marks for durability. Durability is the major knock on commercial products by testers and detailers alike. I have six on the lot plus that many bikes and this feature is indeed important to me. There are likely better professional products. I just don't know what they would be.

I wish I could say I remember with certainty what the remaining oil life percentage was at 5,000 miles the last few changes but I can't. Thermostat change happened a thousand miles ago or so into this 5,000 mile oil change interval. I assume the impact from lower oil temperatures would be something less than fully applied. So…we get to observe a point of interest. Does the OLM simply count ignition on time or miles or does it actually factor some key run parameters and adjust to new conditions? This number would have the oil change interval at 7,500 miles which is about what my other GM’s seem to be keyed to. That's odd so I’m curious. A 20 F degree reduction in oil temperature absolutely will have a major impact on oil life it is indeed calculated. That isn't a guess nor an opinion. Tis a fact. Let’s see.

Meguiar’s NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0 Liquid isn’t really a wax. It’s a polymeric sealer. Question is, is it any better than the Meguiar’s Ultimate Paste Wax or the Turtle Paste Wax I used last year which washed off or rained off with surprising ease. Both looked nice to begin with then Poof! Washed, clayed and a mineral spirits rub on the tar spots. Rewash. Follow with Meguiar’s Ultimate Polish to remove the swirls from this winter’s quick wash rub downs. Now the NXT is applied and removed. Follow with a clear water spritz and wipe down with a hint of detail wax. This is allot of work and so is getting done a panel at a time over several days instead of one back breaker. I don’t use power equipment for this job. I want to run my hands over every square inch of the truck looking for nicks, chips and bruising. I did find a few and repaired them as I found them. Another time consumer. Toss in some dog watching and the occasional neighbor that drops by to add their two cents worth on the job and a day passes pretty quickly if but inefficiently. This took five days on the wife’s Honda. Total detail not just paint. Used Nu-Finish on that one and was very impressed with a product that is held in low esteem by the majority. It was easier to use than the NXT and didn't require it be in the shade either. I just don’t know much about it so I stick with what I know for the better cars and trucks until it proves itself.

It's going to be very close to your original sticker pressure in your door jamb.

Crew Cab Z71 5.3. Deep gears and a 4 X 4 with a lift kit and off road tires. Yea, your K&N has nothing to do with your mileage. Isn't hurting it anyway. I run one too. Replacement type. I'm the a$$hat I believe 'dork weed' was referring to. They put the same sticker on all the Silverado 1500's making one distinction only. 2WD or 4WD. 24 mpg and 22 mpg respectfully. that is highway mileage. Dollars to donuts says the one they tested was similar to mine. RCSB 4.3 WT1 2WD and then guessed from there and guessed WRONG. There is a half ton or more of weight difference between yours and mine. A liter in motor size. Your run a good deal stiffer gear ratio. (Z71) Are 4WD. Run off road tires. Lifted. I run a bed cover. That's the difference in trucks in a nutshell. Drive wise, even if you are prudent, if your trips are under 35 miles in the summer or a hundred in the winter (between trips where you completely cool down) your never fully warmed up. (watch your trans temps as an indicator not the water temp) If those trips are urban then there is a great deal of interruption in those miles. Lots of accelerating the load and even if done mildly they take a fair amount of fuel. Late to initiate stops waste huge amounts of fuel. Scares the crap out of cross traffic too and kills the brakes. Stop lights/signs, trains and traffic patterns kill mileage as well. Weather and terrain have an effect. And lastly I'm here to tell you that the difference between 50 mph and 70 mph is HUGE. Even in my rig. There is a wall you hit about 53 mph where the air over the truck looses the boundary layer and the truck becomes like pulling a fish net though molasses. If I run 70+ into a headwind of only 15 mph I can drag mileage down to under 17 mpg. Same trip at 55 nets 24-26+ mpg. I can run 65 mph with a tail wind on the Interstate and pretty much get 28 mpg at will. Slower speeds have netting a high of 32 mpg for a full tank of over 500 miles on my tiny teeny 26 gallon cell. 30,000 mile average over 10 months is a dead 26.0 mpg. Now, all that said. I an not implying you have all those habits but you know which ones apply. Use what you can and ignore as much as you like. I don't buy your gas.

You have an interesting handle. I like it, It fits perfectly.

It’s a good Oil Cadillac Luke and thanks for your support. I will be trying the other two in this truck though. Different base stocks have different thermal capacities. I’d like to see about another 10 to 15 degree reduction. If I can accomplish that without a cooler…KOOL! 1.) 33% lower tire wear rate. That’s how much the alignment was worth. As far along as this set of tire was before the alignment my calculations over the last 6,500 miles say it still will extend tire life @ 11,000 miles. 2.) Okay on to today’s test session was 60 mph and 90 F air temp. So what do we have. (Lower speeds done and not earlier reported in this thread). 30 mph = 199 F 35 mph = 199 F 40 mph = 199 F 45 mph = 201 F 50 mph = 203 F 55 mph = 206 F 62 mph = 208 F 70 mph = 213 F And graph it. I didn’t check above 70 mph because I don’t drive that fast EVER. (Track time excepted) If you go back over the previous records you will note a shift in the mpg numbers that favor this lower temperature even though the data base sample volume is still quite low. I’m fairly certain this will hold. That may seem odd at first blush but consider, fuel tables are temperature corrected and the CPU is thinking about now that this truck isn’t warming up to full temperature. Not enough to toss a code but enough to richen the mixture a few percent. This often results in a fuel efficiency increase. Dad use to tell me that lean motors are neither powerful nor economical. Yea it runs against the grain of what “they say”. I prefer data over conjecture. Hey, but that’s just me.