The Car Thread ... !

[quagmire]

I think I’m in love......? (Surprised quagmire didn’t post about this yet.)

Because I am still bitter over them not using the Blackwing V8....

While it may not have been able to fit in the CT4-V Blackwing( given it is just a warmed over ATS-V), it not being in the CT5-V Blackwing is disappointing.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Small Block V8 and all and they probably couldn't get the Blackwing V8 to produce as much power as the LT4 or worth the money to do so given the low volume, it just shows the continued mismanagement of Cadillac outside of the Escalade. The EV's look promising for now......

 

[theSeb]

Whilst I like it, it looks like a total Mercedes AMG copycat to me, but with the spoilers of a BMW M car.

Well, I am big AMG fan and I do enjoy BMW M cars too, so it makes sense.

 

[bunnspecial]

Nice writeup @bunnspecial! It's quite satisfying if, for a change, you can finish some fault without two new ones popping up while doing it ?
Did you do a test-drive?

Yes, it was nice for a change to really, truly have a nice simple straight-forward repair.

Unfortunately, didn't get a chance to test drive-yet. I finished this right before dinner, and afterwards it was dark and I also didn't want to move my wife's car from out in front of the garage. I know, excuses, but hopefully it's gone.

The speedo gear is supposed to be here today, so I'll probably finish that before I take it out for a drive.

 

[Nütztjanix]

Yes, it was nice for a change to really, truly have a nice simple straight-forward repair.

Unfortunately, didn't get a chance to test drive-yet. I finished this right before dinner, and afterwards it was dark and I also didn't want to move my wife's car from out in front of the garage. I know, excuses, but hopefully it's gone.

The speedo gear is supposed to be here today, so I'll probably finish that before I take it out for a drive.

I'm looking forward to you reporting everything works like a charm and you did 100 miles of test drive just because you enjoyed it so much (and had to thoroughly test the speedo at varying speeds, not to mention breaking it in!) ? ?

 

[Allyance]

When I lived in Toronto in the eighties, I leased a Volvo 240 Diesel. It had a Volkswagen 6 cylinder truck engine in it. I really liked the diesel, always started right up, no coughing and sputtering like a gas engine. I remember one winter morning it was extremely cold, like -20, all the gas engine cars in the apartment lot wouldn't start, gas lines frozen. All I had to do was pour some hot water on the fuel filter to melt the gel and it started right up. Drove that thing all over the US, even pulling a small trailer. Love to cruise at 72 MPH, anybody who got too close to my tail, I would just step on the accelerator and it would smoke them out.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

When I lived in Toronto in the eighties, I leased a Volvo 240 Diesel. It had a Volkswagen 6 cylinder truck engine in it. I really liked the diesel, always started right up, no coughing and sputtering like a gas engine. I remember one winter morning it was extremely cold, like -20, all the gas engine cars in the apartment lot wouldn't start, gas lines frozen. All I had to do was pour some hot water on the fuel filter to melt the gel and it started right up. Drove that thing all over the US, even pulling a small trailer. Love to cruise at 72 MPH, anybody who got too close to my tail, I would just step on the accelerator and it would smoke them out.

LOL it also took you near 20 seconds to get to 60 in that thing. Giving a little tap with the breaks in front of you and it would take you another two minutes to get to 72 ?

Agreed bomb proof, and I like the shape although not like a Amazon, but my gosh it was slow.

 

[Allyance]

Not quite that bad, but tolerable, really liked that car, built like a tank.

 

[Richard8655]

I didn't have good luck with my 1976 Volvo 242 DL 2-door stick shift, made in Canada. Frequent break downs, repairs, and expensive parts. Since then, reliable Toyota all the way.

 

[bunnspecial]

Another day with some transmission fun, this time all "bottom" work.

It deserves a proper telling, but unfortunately I didn't take pictures. I got the replacement speedo gear, so ventured under the car to fit that, which was more difficult than it should have been and I still don't have it 100% complete(there's a retaining fork that needs about 4 hands, and with multiple elbows to get around the fixed cross member, but it's tight enough without it).

Basically, though, I've had a transmission leak that I think was coming from around the overdrive since I got it back. The overdrive has its own little mini oil sump, even though oil freely circulates between it and the main box, and there's a tiny screen and gasket that give some degree of filtration for the overdrive parts.

In any case, though, I started by draining the main oil out of the gearbox. MGB gearboxes, whether overdrive or standard, specify 20W-50 engine oil. Many folks want to put gear oil in them, but common GL-5 spec oil is a no-no because the GL-5 additives aren't friendly to the brass synchros. You really need to find a not-so-easy to find GL-4 spec oil if you insist, and really that's not great since 90 wt. on a cold morning is like moving the gear stick through a gearbox full of syrup. The overdrive is even more sensitive, both for not getting along with GL-5 additives and also it being way too thick for the hydraulics to operate correctly.

I pulled the main drain plug, and sure enough my nose got met with the stench of gear oil. If any of you have ever worked with gear oil, you know the smell, and there's really no mistaking it for engine oil. I let it run for about 20 minutes while I did other stuff, including actually getting the car off the ground(there's just enough clearance to get a drain pan under the plug) and getting the speedo pinion fitted. When I pulled the drain pan away, it was still dripping, but I finally just said "good enough."

The O/D unit has its own drain plug, which of course I pulled and only got a little bit of oil out of. Haynes advise

Note that even after removing the drain plug, a small amount of oil will remain in the area covered by the filter screen plate and gasket.

Taking that to heed, I spread newspaper under it, pulled the 6 bolts, and gave the cover a smack to get it to fall. Let's just say that "a small amount of oil" was probably 6-8 oz, or really it just kind of rained oil from everywhere. Thank goodness for the oil absorber. Of course this was dirty, nasty gear oil that was black and tarry aside from stinking.

Whatever was holding the gasket/screen in place, it really didn't want to let go. I spent a while trying to get it loose and got some pieces, but finally used a wire brush and just abraded the leftover gasket material away. I then cleaned a lot of nasty junk out of the pan, which BTW is about the size of my hand.

All buttoned back up, and I was set for the arduous task of refilling the gearbox. This is a "side fill" gearbox-basically there's a bolt in the side that you remove, and put oil in until it runs out the hole. My car originally came with a top fill gearbox(used 68-74, side fill came in 74.5), which has a tiny dipstick accessed by removing a plug behind the center console. It's certainly a lot of fun to try and get oil into that awkwardly placed hole.

With the side fill, however, the easy answer is a pump. The common way it's done is with a hand pump that screws on top of an oil bottle. The pump I have claims each stroke pumps 4cc. That's a lot of pumps to 6.5 imperial pints.

In any case, it was moot since I couldn't get the fill plug to cooperate. I was pretty well done for the day at that point anyway, and needed to clean up oil, so I hit it with some PB blaster and figured I'd come back tomorrow with a 6 point socket and a breaker bar.

Part of me wants to change the rear end while I'm in a fluid changing me, while another part of me doesn't want to touch any more gear oil for a while.

 

[Nütztjanix]

[…]

In any case, it was moot since I couldn't get the fill plug to cooperate. I was pretty well done for the day at that point anyway, and needed to clean up oil, so I hit it with some PB blaster and figured I'd come back tomorrow with a 6 point socket and a breaker bar.

Part of me wants to change the rear end while I'm in a fluid changing me, while another part of me doesn't want to touch any more gear oil for a while.

I'd say, now that you already have made a mess just go the extra mile and change the differential oil, too. If I were you and decided to skip the rear end, I know I'd be unhappy almost immediately after putting everything back together, thinking "Well, you should have just done it right and changed it all!"

Besides that, 6.5 pints (a bit over 3 litres if Spotlight is correct) sounds like quite a lot of oil for a transmission.

 

[44267547]

Because I am still bitter over them not using the Blackwing V8....

While it may not have been able to fit in the CT4-V Blackwing( given it is just a warmed over ATS-V), it not being in the CT5-V Blackwing is disappointing.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Small Block V8 and all and they probably couldn't get the Blackwing V8 to produce as much power as the LT4 or worth the money to do so given the low volume, it just shows the continued mismanagement of Cadillac outside of the Escalade. The EV's look promising for now......

Rumor is Jay Leno’s YT channel is receiving a press release around the time of Barrett Jackson Auction in March (Which I’d bet Craig Jackson has one lined up to show case this year along with a limited C8.).

I have to agree with what some of the authors were saying on these articles I was reading about the Blackwing, is that the price point is too high when the competition is considerably lower. But here’s the thing, this is a sedan, it has its direct advantages over a coupe, not to mention, I don’t think GM expects to sell a lot of Blackwings at $85k for the base model, especially when most of these cars (Well engines...) are made to order in Bowling Green, KY. [Summer 2021 orders go live.]

“Each engine is hand-built by a single technician at the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, who signs each of his or her creations....”

For me personally, this car checks every box and more of what I would want in a ‘performance sedan’. T his car is going to be part of my future at some point. I always love looking at super cars, high-end performance cars, and I just had an immediate connection with the styling and performance with the Blackwing. I actually thought quite a bit about this car today. I’m really excited to see more demos and hands-on with this car towards production.

 

[44267547]

Oooh, more car (Well Truck talk..)

But.....but.....wait for it.........

Confirmed from the source themself:

Huge news.

 

[bunnspecial]

I'd say, now that you already have made a mess just go the extra mile and change the differential oil, too. If I were you and decided to skip the rear end, I know I'd be unhappy almost immediately after putting everything back together, thinking "Well, you should have just done it right and changed it all!"

Besides that, 6.5 pints (a bit over 3 litres if Spotlight is correct) sounds like quite a lot of oil for a transmission.

Good point. I've had the car over 5 years now, and I've been putting it off.

I just need to get a straight answer on exactly HOW the fill plug comes out. Apparently it's a square head plug, and I've heard discussions of grinding down a 1/2" drive extension to fit it. I don't have easy access to a bench grinder at the moment, so if I can avoid modifying tools I will.

I was wrong on the oil requirements-the service manual says 6 imperial pints, and tranlates that to 7 US pints or 3.4L. Yes, it's a lot of oil-the OD soaks up a lot for all of its hydraulic "magic" to work. The OD unit is interesting-to me it's kind of half motorcycle wet clutch and half automatic transmission. The cone clutch that engages the OD is a lot like an oil-flooded motorcycle clutch, while the hydraulic activation of it is similar to hydraulic magic that happens in an automatic box, just engaged/disengaged by a user operated solenoid. The standard non-OD box, BTW, takes 5 1/4 imperial pints, or right at 3 liters. BTW, note in all of this that an imperial pint is not the same as a US pint(as if these measurements weren't strange enough!).

 

[D.T.]

No need to stop for 2 hours on a 400 mile trip, that is an absurd thing to say.

You know, I haven't been much of a proponent of Tesla in the past (see my posting history in this very thread), but my thinking has absolutely changed over the past 12 months or so. Part of that has been from doing a little "trip research" using a couple of tools (apps like A Better Route Planner).

We have a few "regular" destinations, and using a Model 3 Performance (now using the '21 model improved stats), here's some interesting trip/duration/charging/cost ("fueling") stats:

Our place down in The Keys, ~400 miles, one stop for 29 minutes, $14 cost

A location in Atlanta I used to frequently visit, again, ~400 miles / one 29 minute charge stop, interestingly, only $8 (assuming FL vs. GA charging/taxes/etc.)

Universal Studios, we (pre-Covid) did this 3-4 times a year, ~130 miles, no charge, free, valet rotated charging at resorts (could actually just drive back without any charging)

Wife's Dad's house, outside Pittsburgh, ~900 miles, we do one full night sleepover - it's one of two nice places, depending on exact day one travel time, usually about 60% into the trip, full charging, interval charging, ~1h total, $21 cost

Savannah, GA, historic district, one of our visit-once-a-year trips, ~180 miles, one way no charge, however, if I do a round trip (make Savannah a waypoint, between home and home) it's a stop going for 7 minutes, and a stop returning for 10 minutes, so 17 minutes total on a 360 mile round trip (that assumes no charging onsite, we have a couple of houses we rent, one has easy power access).

Of course, availability of a charger (use / maintenance), etc., is a real YMMV, but it's clearly not what the poster you quoted suggested. I'm not currently an owner, just seriously considering it

 

[PatrickCocoa]

You know, I haven't been much of a proponent of Tesla in the past (see my posting history in this very thread), but my thinking has absolutely changed over the past 12 months or so. Part of that has been from doing a little "trip research" using a couple of tools (apps like A Better Route Planner).

I've owned Teslas since 2016 and love them for in-town driving. I also love them for trips. I've driven from Austin to Omaha (800 miles) several times, from Austin to Albuquerque (850 miles), and from from Austin to San Jose (1,700 miles). Trips are both possible and fun!

 

[Apple fanboy]

You know, I haven't been much of a proponent of Tesla in the past (see my posting history in this very thread), but my thinking has absolutely changed over the past 12 months or so. Part of that has been from doing a little "trip research" using a couple of tools (apps like A Better Route Planner).

We have a few "regular" destinations, and using a Model 3 Performance (now using the '21 model improved stats), here's some interesting trip/duration/charging/cost ("fueling") stats:

Our place down in The Keys, ~400 miles, one stop for 29 minutes, $14 cost

A location in Atlanta I used to frequently visit, again, ~400 miles / one 29 minute charge stop, interestingly, only $8 (assuming FL vs. GA charging/taxes/etc.)

Universal Studios, we (pre-Covid) did this 3-4 times a year, ~130 miles, no charge, free, valet rotated charging at resorts (could actually just drive back without any charging)

Wife's Dad's house, outside Pittsburgh, ~900 miles, we do one full night sleepover - it's one of two nice places, depending on exact day one travel time, usually about 60% into the trip, full charging, interval charging, ~1h total, $21 cost

Savannah, GA, historic district, one of our visit-once-a-year trips, ~180 miles, one way no charge, however, if I do a round trip (make Savannah a waypoint, between home and home) it's a stop going for 7 minutes, and a stop returning for 10 minutes, so 17 minutes total on a 360 mile round trip (that assumes no charging onsite, we have a couple of houses we rent, one has easy power access).

Of course, availability of a charger (use / maintenance), etc., is a real YMMV, but it's clearly not what the poster you quoted suggested. I'm not currently an owner, just seriously considering it

So recently went to London. My colleague was in an electric car (I’m petrol). Not sure of the model but it’s a Jag. Anyway he chooses the hotel. So big central London hotel. One charging point. It’s broken. They call a guy to fix it. The fix is a traffic cone lodged under the connector. It works for maybe 20 minutes. We couldn’t replicate the fix despite trying.
Anyway what happens if you turn up and the chargers are all in use? That (and the price!), puts me off.

 

[Nütztjanix]

Good point. I've had the car over 5 years now, and I've been putting it off.

I just need to get a straight answer on exactly HOW the fill plug comes out. Apparently it's a square head plug, and I've heard discussions of grinding down a 1/2" drive extension to fit it. I don't have easy access to a bench grinder at the moment, so if I can avoid modifying tools I will.

I was wrong on the oil requirements-the service manual says 6 imperial pints, and tranlates that to 7 US pints or 3.4L. Yes, it's a lot of oil-the OD soaks up a lot for all of its hydraulic "magic" to work. The OD unit is interesting-to me it's kind of half motorcycle wet clutch and half automatic transmission. The cone clutch that engages the OD is a lot like an oil-flooded motorcycle clutch, while the hydraulic activation of it is similar to hydraulic magic that happens in an automatic box, just engaged/disengaged by a user operated solenoid. The standard non-OD box, BTW, takes 5 1/4 imperial pints, or right at 3 liters. BTW, note in all of this that an imperial pint is not the same as a US pint(as if these measurements weren't strange enough!).

I guessed there were different pints as there are different gallons. I just don't know what Spotlight uses. Using just "6.5 pint" gives "3,08 l". Adding "imp" or "UK" to the search yields no results. I don't know if and how you could distinguish between Imperial and US customary in Spotlight (did I mention I really like SI?).

 

[D.T.]

Anyway what happens if you turn up and the chargers are all in use? That (and the price!), puts me off.

You pop over to one of the dozen or so charging locations in the London area (several within about 15 minutes drive of the center of the city) for about 20 minutes, send a couple of emails, come back and park - or you worry about it later (assuming he didn't coast into the hotel parking lot at like 1% charge ...)

Look, I get it, I've been through these gyrations in my head, I'm a developer/engineer, I tend to overthink everything, find all the particulars where things don't work - and it's no doubt very use case specific, but there are some outlier issues that are incredibly infrequent, so much so, that even given my original concerns, they aren't concerns any longer. Things are also continuously improving, I'd assume a "major hotel" would get their **** together, get some proper maintenance routines, deploy a few more chargers, etc.

 

[Apple fanboy]

You pop over to one of the dozen or so charging locations in the London area (several within about 15 minutes drive of the center of the city) for about 20 minutes, send a couple of emails, come back and park - or you worry about it later (assuming he didn't coast into the hotel parking lot at like 1% charge ...)

Look, I get it, I've been through these gyrations in my head, I'm a developer/engineer, I tend to overthink everything, find all the particulars where things don't work - and it's no doubt very use case specific, but there are some outlier issues that are incredibly infrequent, so much so, that even given my original concerns, they aren't concerns any longer. Things are also continuously improving, I'd assume a "major hotel" would get their **** together, get some proper maintenance routines, deploy a few more chargers, etc.

Well as they charged us £30 a night for parking so yes you’d have thought they’d put a bit more investment in. That said it was a 300 room hotel with 15 occupied rooms, so money is probably a bit tight this year.

 

[D.T.]

Well as they charged us £30 a night for parking so yes you’d have thought they’d put a bit more investment in. That said it was a 300 room hotel with 15 occupied rooms, so money is probably a bit tight this year.

Yikes! Hahaha, wow they should've had 20 chargers and detailed the car overnight

 

[bunnspecial]

Pumped seemingly forever and got the gearbox filled.

The pumps I have will only fit the "older" style quart bottles with a narrow neck, and I ended up having to improvise on a funnel to fill them from a 5 qt jug(or rather the one bottle I have that they would fit). Hopefully it's all tight, leak-free, and I'll get smoother overdrive engagement now.

I'm not sure I have something seated 100% correctly with the speedo gear. Right after I'd installed it, I shoved the end of a zip tie in square drive of the cable and spun the drive shaft by hand(easiest thing to get to under the car) and made sure it was turning. I put the cable in this evening, and then watched the speedometer end while I spun the tire. The cable didn't turn. I'm not 100% sure what could be causing that-it's possible I didn't get the cable seated in the drive correctly, and if that's the case it's an easy fix. I didn't bother to look, but I THINK the driveshaft should be turning even if one wheel is on the ground and stationary, but sometimes differentials can be their own form of black magic (not really)

 

[cyb3rdud3]

You know, I haven't been much of a proponent of Tesla in the past (see my posting history in this very thread), but my thinking has absolutely changed over the past 12 months or so. Part of that has been from doing a little "trip research" using a couple of tools (apps like A Better Route Planner).

We have a few "regular" destinations, and using a Model 3 Performance (now using the '21 model improved stats), here's some interesting trip/duration/charging/cost ("fueling") stats:

...snip

Yes definitely. I go a lot back to the Netherlands and tend to use Eurotunnel (a car train underneath the sea between the UK and France). Well didn't go a lot last year sadly, but anyway. I tend to go business class as the flexibility works for us. But anyway, Tesla are really smart as they've got their fast charging infrastructure right there by the business class building. So you go inside, get your food/snacks/coffee and have you car topping up. Me in my petrol will have to make an additional stop at a petrol station somewhere off site.

So recently went to London. My colleague was in an electric car (I’m petrol). Not sure of the model but it’s a Jag. Anyway he chooses the hotel. So big central London hotel. One charging point. It’s broken. They call a guy to fix it. The fix is a traffic cone lodged under the connector. It works for maybe 20 minutes. We couldn’t replicate the fix despite trying.
Anyway what happens if you turn up and the chargers are all in use? That (and the price!), puts me off.

This is what Tesla has got nailed, their own supportive charging infrastructure. The Jaguar iPace (I actually put a deposit down on one in HSE with some extra toys) is a fantastic car but really finicky in charging, and there is only 2, yes only 2 fast chargers for it in the whole of the UK. Saying that the fast majority of car journeys are easily covered without charging.

In London I would have just gone to an NCP, plenty about with pretty good charging infrastructure. The one underneath Hyde park is just huge. But yes, very bad form of that hotel.

You pop over to one of the dozen or so charging locations in the London area (several within about 15 minutes drive of the center of the city) for about 20 minutes, send a couple of emails, come back and park - or you worry about it later (assuming he didn't coast into the hotel parking lot at like 1% charge ...)

Look, I get it, I've been through these gyrations in my head, I'm a developer/engineer, I tend to overthink everything, find all the particulars where things don't work - and it's no doubt very use case specific, but there are some outlier issues that are incredibly infrequent, so much so, that even given my original concerns, they aren't concerns any longer. Things are also continuously improving, I'd assume a "major hotel" would get their **** together, get some proper maintenance routines, deploy a few more chargers, etc.

There is no doubt in my mind that our next cars will be fully electric; heck with that Tesla S Plaid + even Tesla is starting to look nice for the first time ever. In the mean time I'm just enjoy the last of the V8 Supercharged as Mad Max would say. And that M2 Competition is a keeper regardless what will happen, a future classic.

 

[44267547]

I agree the Plaid/+ is actually looking way more refined (Finally). I think the previous just Model S looks unfinished, and that new front bumper to me on the Plaid sets the vehicle on a different stance (It doesn’t look Kia-ish now). Respectively, I’m not sure I’d want to pay $120,000 though for the Plaid+ , not when I think I’d probably be more content with the Model 3 Perfm (with the 2021 changes) . However, as much as I think Tesla is really in the limelight right now, I still think at that price, someone should seriously consider the Taycan.

At the end of the day, I’d rather have more toys with different options of what I want to drive, I’m still one of those enthusiast that can’t part ways with a V-8. But it doesn’t mean I can’t supplement an EV in the future (In place of the SHO?), especially right now I think we’re in the growing phase where the EV technology is spreading with other partners, pricing in some categories is becoming more affordable, and then you have a GM who will be on board here shortly and then of course the Mach-E as another option from Ford, and the Cybertruck. At this junction too, I’m still curious to see how Apple is in this game, being production is on par, we could be see a potential release in three years.

 

[44267547]

2022 Nissan Frontier debut:

Available in 4 trims/3.8L V6/9-Speed [310HP-281TQ]

2022 Nissan Frontier enters the modern midsize truck world with big redesign

The new and revamped 2022 Nissan Frontier is here and ready to rock the boat in the midsize pickup segment. It brings eye-catching styling, a new V6 engine

www.autoblog.com

 

[Apple fanboy]

2022 Nissan Frontier debut:

Available in 4 trims/3.8L V6/9-Speed [310HP-281TQ]

2022 Nissan Frontier enters the modern midsize truck world with big redesign

The new and revamped 2022 Nissan Frontier is here and ready to rock the boat in the midsize pickup segment. It brings eye-catching styling, a new V6 engine

www.autoblog.com

View attachment 1725418 View attachment 1725417 View attachment 1725419
View attachment 1725423

That’s one ugly pick up.