garagerog

Up until now Nascar drivers have done a pretty good job recently of self-policing their health before buckling in, e.g. Alex Bowman stepped out of the 48 car for several weeks due to vertigo issues. If Kyle would have stepped back from racing after experiencing symtoms at Watkins Glen and sought aggressive medical treatment he may still be with us today, I guess one could say it was his competitive spirit that was his true cause of death. On a different note, good luck to Katherine Legge, the Englishwoman attempting the "Double" tomorrow. She's more of a road racer rather than a circle track driver. She has attemped some NASCAR road races with rather dismal results as I don't think she's all that used to those heavy cars. I admire her grit and fortitude for even attempting such an arduous task, you go girl!

Local Chev dealer sent me an e-mail with their featured vehicles. Every single one of them was an $80K+ p/u truck and sure enough when we drove by there this am on the way to an early am med procedure for my wife, same ones were lined up front row. I would dehydrate so I wouldn't have to pee for a good while, buy a base Stingray C8, drive the snot out of it and have some fun before they had to use an engine hoist to get my old bones out. I'd rather take the depreciation on a "lightly used" life long dream than pay $80k for a gussied up utilitarian vehicle.

Anybody remember tecumseh small gas engines? Although the company is still in business it's all in totally different product lines, maybe they couldn't compete with B & S and later Honda. Had an old mower at the ranch that had a tecumseh engine, had a rather interesting induction system. The carb air filter drew air from under the engine shroud so the rotating screen above the fan kept out the big stuff and my intial impression was kewl it's mini supercharged! Upon further reflection I'm sure that very hot engine air that it drew more than negated any mini "supercharger" effect. I wonder if tecumseh did dyno testing? Doubt it. Sold my 11 yr. old JD D130 last week, never had any trouble with the B&S 22 hp V-twin, but it didn't have many hours on it. I have no doubt that the V-twin would have outlasted 2 Hydrostatic transmissions however. Small yard, gave up the push mower when I started feeling it in my lower back, a few years later my back made weed whacking and edging a 2 day project so I said the hell with it all, I can afford the $70 every 2 weeks my neighbors son who has a landscaping business charges me, especially with the cash money after waving the Johnny Popper goodbye.

Not to mention that in Y2K not many gas stations had back-up generators of their own, so once your gas was gone then what? In rural areas 100 yr. old windmills were better than gold, even to the point of outright theft of them.

A common affliction among husbands everywhere Donstar, here's my theory and breakdown: 50% of the time wifes expect their husbands to hear what they say when they're in the kitchen or laundry room when you're actually in the garage or can on the other side of the house, 30% of the time they're actually talking to a pet, 15% they're mumbling under their breath about some nonsense (don't mention cognitive testing unless you want Lorena Bobbitt nightmares) and 5% of the time they might have something actually worthwhile to say facing you and within normal hearing distance.

All good examples of average mileage Atlas, maybe I was alluding to vehicles that last into the realm of hyper-mileage. Now beat this one: last Friday I sold my Johnny popper D130 lawn tractor to a guy that pulled up with cash in hand and trailer in tow. His tow rig was an old chevy p/u that badly needed a new paint job as that old black paint was beyond long in the tooth. He proudly says to me, "I have 468k miles on that 4.3." As my jaw was dropping and not knowing what really to say next, I mumble something about the 4.3 being a good motor and then I ask him how many miles he got out of his transmission. One rebuild at about 260K he says. Obviously a guy that cares more about his p/u's maintenance than it's looks, in another words I guess a guy that uses a truck for it's intended purpose. I never got a good look at his p/u's grill area, so I couldn't tell you if it was from the carb or spider injection era, I would guess carb tho. So Grumpy, this is for you: the bar has been set, will Pepper make it to 468K miles with GDI, even with your beyond meticulous maintenance and pampering?

2010 is when GM adopted GDI and since this is a GM forum that's my baseline, 16 years. Tell me do you think that the average owner takes a sniff of the dipstick let alone get a UOA to check for a leaky injector or HPFP? I think not. As an old farmboy I believe that for engine longevity DI belongs on diesels only and I'm sticking with that premise. BTW, I see you drive a diesel p/u, so feel free to share when you have skin in the game.

And this my friends on why GDI has a multitude of wins for the manufacturers. Keeps the EPA happy with emissions and mileage and keeps the average consumers coming back for new vehicles after fuel dilution has killed their engines by the 100K mark. The rust free '05 K1500 that I inherited from by Dad will probably outlast me also. Plenty of gitty-up with the L33 5.3 MPI which has some factory goodies like LS6 heads for starters. Impressive hp for the era, but a little lacking in tq, so not a heavy towing machine.

$4.20 for 87 at top tier stations, dime cheaper at non-top tier, Goose Creek SC

I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't lose much in the mpg dept. with a 3.42 ratio, if you can't find a good used one with the G80 locker and you know somebody with a stick welder, you could always do a Lincoln Locker, lol. I know you probably don't drive Pepper in the snow, but for those that don't know with a nose heavy 2wd you want an open differential on packed snowy roads, a posi-trac or locking rear end will slide your ass into the ditch quicker than snot on anything other than a dead flat road, even the crown on a highway will do it.

What is your rear differential gear ratio Grumpy? I've seen instances of people with low numerical differentials actually gain mpg by going up a notch. Or you could go crazy with the gear ratio, get an E-85 tune and go out and smoke some V-8's!

I sure hope you have a mis-placed decimal point, if not it's time to get a mule or horse and wagon.

Wondering if the manufacturers aren't reconsidering going back to flex-fuel vehicles? First one that does might see a substantial bump in sales, at least in the I states. Maybe the corn belt isn't a big enough market?