Grumpy Bear

Ever peel a soft boiled egg with a teaspoon under running water? Magic happens.

So you don't like oatmeal because your aunt lost her virginity to the milkman behind the barn in a grain field? Yea, sure, that makes sense.

Top Loader is a shift I can get behind. Richmond Gear or Doug Nash have nice variations. The M20 or M21 and BW T-10, nah. . Okay I guess the M21 isn't all that bad.

Pretty sure bad calls go both ways. We could, but do I want to? Is it wrong to miss points and carburetors and good old Top Loader?

-2 here today, -22 windchill, with a stringer of these in the forecast, -10 last night. Next Saturday is supposed to be a day with a few hours over freezing. Maybe I'll change oil.

Rex, our dog, tore an ACL this week. He's eight years old and quite active. Surgery coming this week. This young man is a joy to be around and quite a good teacher. His left rear leg is damaged and he hardly seems to notice. He hasn't a single thought of "what if" or worry about Thursday. Dog's can't contemplate the future. We can and that trait while very useful to us in shaping our lives is also a huge source of suffering over things for which we have no control or if we ever did, is now far too late to be of service in finding remedy. When I talk to my ninety six year old father and observe him; one would never know his cancer has invaded much of his body now. He's not thinking about it or dreading its inevitable outcome. He isn't regretful nor remorseful nor fearful. He's just dad. It's not that he can't feel pain, he just doesn't mind it. When the doctors say they would like to do this or that he laughs at them; " I'm 96, you going to make me 20 again?" He takes Tylenol OTC for his discomfort. Sleeps about 14 hours a day. Enjoys his food and his TV and visit from those of us who treat him like he's just dad. Will joint him on a walk. Not someone to be pitied or hovered over. He'll show ya the door. He smiles at your notice of your own aging process. "Yep, that used to send me to the Doc in a tizzy. Those marks and wrinkles are just what happens. Save your money and your mental health and LOOK at old people". He has an oncologist and a heart doctor and a GP. He heeds his bodies warning signals and sees his care takers regularly. He just doesn't obsess over it. Frankly, I'm jealous. But I'm also paying close attention to every word he says and every change in his being. He says to me the last visit, "Think I'll hang up my keys. My leg is getting lazy to the pedal". My God I admire this guy. He has always known when enough is enough. When he needed help and when he didn't. Life, currently, is 100% fatal and man cannot FIX the root cause of our death. (Romans 5:12). I believe my fathers ability to meet this inevitably with such calm is rooted in his faith is God's promises who has provided a means to remove that causation and his eternal purpose for mankind. (Isaiah 65:17).

About the same as the number of pancakes it would take to paper a dog house if rowing that canoe upstream and the wheels fell off. 13 dummy. There are no bones in ice cream.

Allot of injuries on that team. Borrowed time the last month, don't you think? KC or Bill verses the a healthy Lions squad would be a fun game.

Oh, I hate games decided by Zebra's making horrid calls. They make allot of bad calls that don't end up changing the outcome too, but still.... Commentators can be infuriating. Especially those that second guess the replay booth. The rule is the rule. Anyway, didn't get my wish with the Rams and KC has a tough couple of weeks. Might even end next week. Early odds are KC by about 1.5. Personally, I see the Commanders beating up on the Eagles. The HOGS are scarry dudes. Underdogs but scarry. Good games this weekend. Might have seen the seasons best ball already.

Wife has a Verano that gets used like that. 2014 with 19K on the clock. Will blacken oil quicker than one that sees 25K a year and gets changed every 5K. Oil isn't fond of the elements. I change is ever fall and spring.

Qui moi?

Holley, Autolite, Motorcraft. All ran clean if you had half a clue and few did. I FIXED allot of these after the clueless got their hands on them. And I never had a customer that wasn't a expert. It's why they were in my shop. In our county we had three guys the did carb work. We stayed out of each others sandbox. We had a Rochester guy and a Carter/Stromberg guy. Across the river we had a Euro guy. Weber, SU etc. Oh boy are your right!

Yes, lower AW and AO add packages, Yes more top ring FUEL DILUTION. Nearly double. Thank you GDI. Continued lower "in service' viscosity. Yes reversion to lower base oil choices. They make money and they make expensive trucks. You get to pay for both. The Dexos1Gen2 & 3 oils are not just at the bottom of the viscosity range. Under shear (towing) they are 20 weights when new and W16's used. Will it take it? For a while. How long is "a while"? How long is a rope.

So...not a 6.6 gasser. Not 5W30 gas engine oil. Yea, sure, I see the comparison.

Would it be to much to hope that the Rams win their next two?

You're considering the K&N because it has a nut on the bottom? The purpose of a filter is????? And the nut does what toward that end? I actually like Shell Rotella T6 5W40 in motors than use no or very little oil on reasonable OCI's. But my idea of reasonable for a Group III base oil is a bit shorter than 5K. Yea, even with such a stout AW package and it's nicely balanced acid pack. If you are waiting for the oil to turn black..... ********************************************* Few people buy enough of an oil 'within the same production lot number" to make it worthwhile to run a VOA which might give them enough information to know something to base future UOA's upon to make EDUCATED decisions on things like OCI. So I get a little lost on the idea that anyone can read a UOA or worse a dipstick, and come to some conclusion a hat could be hung on. On what basis are we making decisions? Tea leaves? Thumbs up likes on Facebook? Heck, few VOA/UOA's have enough information or the right information.

In for surgery next week. Blew an ACL chasing a squirrel. Didn't get the squirrel either. Turned 8 a few weeks ago.

Circling Back I wonder about allot of things. People looking to right is wrong and sweet is sour are not among them. For *W30 oils I have advocated using those with certain manufactures or regulating body classifications such as the VW 504/507, ACEA C3 or Porsche C30. Mainly on the requirements of those specifications for a minimum and shear stable HTHS value at 3.5 cP. But I see a few problems. Many of those specs also are mid SAPS oils by requirement. Such as the Porsche spec and not all require Group IV/V fluids. A few even have very low TBN maximums. Last first. I don't have an issue with a lower TBN in principle and lower Calcium levels are helpful towards LSPI abatement but I'm running across several brands that are reaching LSPI by simply cutting the TBN by halving the Ca load. Which shortens the fluids service life considerably. And while I can and do live with that they are being marketed as long service life oils and therein lies the rub. The claim that 'improved' base oils are allowing this is less than truthful. Those bases have been in service for multiple service classes for DECADES and more than one manufacture has made it a practice to actually lower the base oil quality. That is, replace Group IV with Group III. What these move do isn't improve oil but rather improve profit margins and abate regulation. On to SAPS. The industry still does not have a test to quantify phosphorus levels with cat life decline. The requirement is based in chemical theory not in research driven testing. Why does that matter. Simple statement: It only matters IF the power cylinder is not reasonably oil tight. The debate is over what is considered "oil tight". That is, the requirement is preemptive allowing for a lowering of that consideration! It isn't that they can not be made so but rather the path to do so isn't assured. Goes something like this..... An OEM could make a cylinder oil tight and not need to require low SAPS oils but they can't assure that the public will following break in directions nor maintain in accordance with best practice so....they just assume that cooperation will be nonexistent and lower SAPS thus lowering oil life and unit life and meet regulation and let that unwilling public bear the burden of those decisions and gain a large pool of failure mode feedback again lowering my cost and enhancing cost and profits. I have two motors in my fleet that use DLH ring coatings and low tension rings. One with a good number of miles and neither uses oil between changes of moderate length. One other built in this configuration that uses oil at and at times over the OEM limit of a quart in 2K miles. It too has a large number of miles on it. 267K to be exact and it hasn't yet killed the cat. Getting close but well beyond the OEM's liability requirement. I have a pretty good idea of what works and why it does. So....I'm circling back. Oils used in my fleet of non oil burning motors and all future new motors will be Full SAPS Group IV and V based oils with a minimum shear stable 3.5 HTHS and changed at 50% VOA TBN or the crossing point of AN/BN which even is first. And If I have to, I will use a ZDDP additive. IF and when research ever returns to the lab and corruption of information to suit an agenda ever ends, I will reconsider. If not and this trend continues... I'll change oil every 500 miles if I have to. YMMV

Yep.

I don't dust because we are made from dust and to dust we return. Ergo it may be someone I know!

266,450 Mile Service OE Direct Fit wiper blades tipping in at a hefty $56.05

Guys that break these units are running them boosted, on NOS, overloaded, overheated or not maintaining them. And yes, the 3/4 clutch drum is 'usually' the first thing to go. But does not operating within design and failing to maintain make the unit weak? Or the operator..... Yea, this is a well maintained unit that was used 'as designed'. Tip O' the Hat sir.

All we got was cold. Snow north and south of us.

Doc tells me it's okay to forget what it is called. Not okay to forget what it does. Love that show. Ted did good, eh?

Did they tell you that it's the converter killing the transmission and not the transmission failing? https://floridatorqueconverters.com/Torque-Converter-77-JMBXTSD.html https://www.sonnax.com/tech_resources/845-6l80-6l90-transmission-tech-advisory-consider-an-updated-converter-in-your-next-rebuild https://www.sonnax.com/parts/5187-jmbx-performance-converter-kit