garagerog

The first P51's that the US shipped to Britain were equipped with the Allison V-12's. The Brits were quick to realize that they would have a very potent fighter once they slapped the Rolls-Merlin in them. Subsequent P-51's were equipped with the Packard-Merlin. I always wondered what the performance characteristics of the P-38 would have been if equipped with the Packard-Merlins rather than the Allisons. A much higher ceiling for one I would suspect.

Boy, have you ever opened up a can of worms from fans of the WWII warbirds!

Of all forms of automotive racing, F1 is my least favorite by a country mile, the only real race is in qualifying. It does give the smarmy, socialite crowd a chance to be seen tho, probably the only reason they actually attend. Some would say the same applies to the Kentucky Derby, the difference being the outcome is generally not pre-determined.

The talk of getting stranded by a bad starter reminded me of a story from my youth. Not a bad starter but a weak battery. I grew up on a farm with the closest little town 15 miles away. Battery went bad in Dad's "58 Ford p/u, so we used the park on a hill, coast and pop the clutch starting method to drive that p/u around the farm for probably 2 to 3 months before Dad got around to getting a new battery. Also used that starting method on my '71 Chevelle SS a couple of times to get home and effect a repair. Starter went bad on my wife, fortunately there was a slight grade in the parking lot of the store she was at, so she pushed and I popped the clutch. 2nd time on the SS it was a bad ignition switch and it happened to my son, gas station so flat as a table top, so son and a couple of his husky friends pushed while I handled the pedal work. Not much in the way of 3 pedals any more, so a healthy starter is a must!

You haven't lived unless you've had to resort to cheat grass or bunch grass. I grew up on a small dry-land wheat and cattle ranch in e. wash. state. In my preteen years it was often my responsibility to "ride fence" to check on the cattle while Dad was on the tractor. After a couple of episodes of grass in the ass it dawned on me why dad always threw a roll of toilet paper in a saddle bag before he ever left the barnyard on horseback. Now you know where the term "just fell off the turnip truck" emanated from.

If I was a board member of GM I would be insistent that upper management have contingency plans on expanding most all of their US assembly plants. If DJT wins on Nov. 5th, he has threatened 100% tariffs on made in Mexico autos. GM assembles a lot of their mid-size crossovers in Mexico and this would be a major issue for them. Personally I think this tariff issue with Mexico would be a negotiating ploy to get Mexico's cooperation with the border problem, but still GM needs to be ready.

Just came upon this thread this am, sorry for your pain, discomfort, and sleep issues diyer, hang in there and stick with the PT. My wife had rotator cuff surgery after a fall in the kitchen a couple of years ago so I know how painful it can be. My own ortho issues are to extensive to get into.

Not near the chick magnet tho me thinks

I kid you not some 50+ years ago I had a next door apartment neighbor strap a mattress to the top of his car and make the drive from Pullman,Wa. to Ellensburg, Wa. to visit his college girlfriend, a distance of some 180 miles. I'm guessing I was afraid if I loaned him the money "To just get a damn room"! I wouldn't get the money back.

The L48 Chevelle even with a MT and 3.31 gears was bad enough, I'm the original owner of a '71, she's a garage queen these days.

We can take comfort in the fact that most likely his days of adding to the gene pool are over. . .

I once knew a fella that went by the mantra that the only thing 4WD gets you is further to walk out when you do get stuck. Somewhat true in DEEP snow I guess, but 4WD does certainly have it's place.

I'm there with you Stan on losing the OCD on vehicle appearance and maintenance. Easy to do when you have many more years behind you than in front of you and arthritis makes just getting out of bed in the morning seem like a major accomplishment. Although anything that would make a vehicle ride smoother makes my old bones take notice.

How old is the battery? Just because the resting voltage is ok at 12.4V, you'll need to load test the battery to confirm it's copacetic.

Back in the 1990's I had a Cadillac dealer do a brake job on the wife's Sedan deVille. While looking over the bill I noticed that they had charged me for turning brand new rotors. When I questioned this I was told that it was less expensive to the customer for them to use the less expensive aftermarket rotors available and turn them to make sure they were true than to use the OEM Cadillac rotors. I was kinda shocked by this on two fronts, that the dealer didn't ask me which way I wanted to proceed and secondly that GM allowed the dealer to use aftermarket parts when factory were available. I'm guessing that GM has cracked down on this and you won't see this practice any more. In any case, the brakes were fine after the brake job.

Would be my guess it is the 7.5K OCI. The oil that started out as 0W20 would have no where near that viscosity after that long of an OCI, especially if the engine was a GDI.

Could be either. What's the history on the rotors? Did you replace with new rotors with the pads when the brake job was done or just have the original rotors turned? And brand on the new rotors if replaced as well as the pads. OEM, quality aftermarket or cheapos?

Anyone that can quote Roy Rogers is alright by me, and a Happy 4th back at ya.

Here's a thought, use the rest of this week planning on how to have a successful trip and using that check list to make sure you're not forgetting something important instead of wasting time on pondering on something relatively unimportant that you will have the answer to once you hit the road and your OLM drops 1% and you can extrapolate from there. Don't be the Dad of that "Home Alone" kid.

Stan, I empathize with you as I'm much in the same boat with one of my grandsons. I have 3 of them, the two oldest, each around 18 yrs old and their ambitions are light years apart. My daughter's son is my worry as I believe his only ambition is to become an "Island Boy." He never returned to class after the Covid remote learning fiasco and as such is now a HS dropout. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't listen to me as I think he considers me a hardass because several years ago he wanted me to take him to Toys'R'Us to buy a video game. I told him he needed some fresh air thus I would be happy to buy him a football or a ball and bat, but not a video game, he wasn't interested in my idea then, so not much chance he would listen to me now I suspect. My only hope for him is that my daughter lays down the law insisting that he get his GED and then promptly drags his ass into a recruiting office. On the other hand, I couldn't be prouder of the other 18 yr. old grandson, my son's, son. He lives on Kodiak Island, took welding in HS and had his Alaska welding certification before he turned 16. I saw him at Christmas and asked him which he liked the best, stik or wire. He said I can't answer because I like them both. He spent the last 2 summers working on his other grandpa's fishing boat, made enough money to buy a brand new dirt bike, a new Benelli for waterfowl, and a used Tacoma p/u, plus a good sum he's putting towards diesel mechanic's trade school this fall. Last I heard he was trying to get his foot in the door at a boat builder for this summer's job. Pretty sure as employable as he's making himself that he'll have a bright future. Difference I see in the 2 boys is the father. I think my son has been harder on his boy's than I was on him, but I'm sure he would argue that to no end .

Be easy on me here as I'm an old timer more comfortable with a timing light and dwell meter than I am with a code reader. Have you tried swapping out the fuel pump relay with a known good one? If the fuel pump is supposed to pulse on and off, I would surmise that a relay stuck on might possibly be an issue to address?

I ordered the wife's 2024 3LT with the 3.6 and the factory tow package mainly for the heavy duty cooling, if I need to tow anything I would use my 1/2 ton Silverado. Chevrolet seems to like to keep what's included in the heavy duty cooling a bit of a mystery, but by researching part numbers I along with others have concluded that the radiator is the same with or w/o heavy duty cooling but the heavy duty cooling does use a significantly larger fan. I wouldn't be surprised if the PCM isn't programmed to turn on the fan at a little lower coolant temp., just my speculation, not fact. With the towing package you also get a transmission tow/haul mode which when engaged increases line pressure to hold a lower gear longer. Without the tow/haul mode I would suggest your son use the sport mode or manually limit a lower gear when encountering hilly or mountainous terrain. Apparently the owners of the Blazers with the 2.0T even with the factory towing package don't have the tow/haul mode, I've answered a couple of them with this concern on the Blazer forum with my speculation that since turbo motors have a relatively flat torque curve that Chevrolet deems the tow/haul mode redundant for this motor. Hope this helps.

I'm thinking if I had that to come home too, I wouldn't be wasting any time at the pub.

I feel your pain Stan. 75 years of age and osteoarthritis have relegated my DIY to days of yore and a distant memory. Numbness in my thumbs and fingers has me worrying more about being able to button my shirt than pick up that dropped washer off the garage floor. It was hard letting go of something I considered more a hobby than a necessity, must of have been the old farm boy in me. Anyhow I am thankful to still be around, more than I can say for some of my old classmates and friends.

Me thinks the stall on the far right doesn't get a lot of use.