The Car Thread ... !

[bunnspecial]

Nah. Ford is building some outstanding cars. I don't have a particular allegiance to a manufacturer, so I consider models from any source, and the Mustang is solid. Terrific performance (talking all facets, from straight line to braking to handling), sounds amazing, is great bang-for-the-buck, etc.

I've always been a Ford group man, but will readily admit that all the makers have had their ups and downs. As far as I'm concerned, Ford is killing it these days(except with Lincoln, which IMO they've killed, but that's just me). I've had the opportunity to drive several Fusions and a Focus or two made in the last few years, and they've all be superb. My dad's MKZ is-of course-also a Fusion in Lincoln dress, and for what it is it's a superb car. Its only failing is not being RWD

If only they'd actually gone through with using the DEW Lite platform on the new Mustangs . The DEW-98 was a huge step forward when they came out with it in 2000, although admittedly I'm really biased toward that particular platform. I've almost considered buying a Jaguar XF(or even S-type) just to get a newer DEW-98 car.

 

[MatthewLTL]

hey just a question for you people out there....... The 2000-2005 Impala activates its DRLs once you shift out of park, If you put it in park they shut off. Since I will be getting both fog lights AND LED DRLs for my car once it's fixed, Do any of you know if it's possible to wire up my DRLs to act the same way (turn off when in Park)?

EDIT: How bright is a 800 Lumen bulb for brake/tail light?

 

[lucasfer899]

hey just a question for you people out there....... The 2000-2005 Impala activates its DRLs once you shift out of park, If you put it in park they shut off. Since I will be getting both fog lights AND LED DRLs for my car once it's fixed, Do any of you know if it's possible to wire up my DRLs to act the same way (turn off when in Park)?

EDIT: How bright is a 800 Lumen bulb for brake/tail light?

You question asks if you can wire up your DRLs to act like your DRLs, when reading it properly.
I am going to assume you want to wire up the fogs as DRLs, since they're mentioned. At this point I have to point out that you should definitely not be using fog lamps as DRLs. It's despicable behaviour to drive around blinding everyone. I don't know about the US but here in the UK using fogs when not necessary is illegal.

 

[MatthewLTL]

You question asks if you can wire up your DRLs to act like your DRLs, when reading it properly.
I am going to assume you want to wire up the fogs as DRLs, since they're mentioned. At this point I have to point out that you should definitely not be using fog lamps as DRLs. It's despicable behaviour to drive around blinding everyone. I don't know about the US but here in the UK using fogs when not necessary is illegal.

I think there was a mis-understanding. Let me clearify:

I will get 2 DRL Light strips, These DRLs will be installed right below the headlights and wired up as DRLs using a Dimming DRL Wiring Kit. In the 2000-2005 Chevy Impala it's factory DRLs are wired in such a way that, when you put the car in park the DRLs shut off, If you take it out of park the DRLs turn on. I want to know it it's possible to wire these LED DRLs to function in the same way on my car, (Dim when the car is put in park)

Foglights, is also a aftermarket item I will be adding, The Fogs come as a complete kit with a wiring harness. The wiring harness has a ON/OFF switch that I may or may not use. I will either leave it as it is OR tap into the Car's lighting system where the Fogs turn on with the parking lights. Here in the US, It's rather uncommon (atleast in my state) and is rather unlikely that you get pulled over for running fogs and headlights together, expecially at night. Studies show that Fog Lights are rather useless because they are too dim to even be benifical.

 

[D.T.]

Foglights, is also a aftermarket item I will be adding

...

Studies show that Fog Lights are rather useless because they are too dim to even be benifical.

Sounds like a great upgrade!

 

[bunnspecial]

On a completely unrelated note-I've been noticing a trend at gas stations locally, and am wondering if it's becoming common across the country.

Specifically, "Premium" use to almost always be 93 Octane. I've increasingly been noticing that gas stations are selling 92 octane as "premium." This is just something I've started noticing in the past month or two.

Along those same lines, when I first started driving, mid-grade was 10¢ higher than regular and premium 10¢ higher than mid-grade. Over the past few years, I've noticed those differences creeping up, and it's now typical for premium to be 35¢ higher than regular.

 

[D.T.]

On a completely unrelated note-I've been noticing a trend at gas stations locally, and am wondering if it's becoming common across the country.

Specifically, "Premium" use to almost always be 93 Octane. I've increasingly been noticing that gas stations are selling 92 octane as "premium." This is just something I've started noticing in the past month or two.

Along those same lines, when I first started driving, mid-grade was 10¢ higher than regular and premium 10¢ higher than mid-grade. Over the past few years, I've noticed those differences creeping up, and it's now typical for premium to be 35¢ higher than regular.

In Florida as far as I've noticed, Premium is still 93. I have noticed this variation though when headed north, and up in PA several major stations have 4 grades vs. the typical 3 around here, and I believe the most premium is like 94[?].

I perk of the low compression V8 in our T4R is it's designed to run on 87

 

[2298754]

Specifically, "Premium" use to almost always be 93 Octane. I've increasingly been noticing that gas stations are selling 92 octane as "premium." This is just something I've started noticing in the past month or two.

I guess it depends on where you live.

In Mass, I get 93, but up north in New Hampshire/Maine, the Audi only gets 91 because that's all I can find. It's very hit or miss though. The vast majority of places in CT, I've found 91, but you can find 93 in some spots too.

Those in Colorado can even find 85 octane due to the higher altitude

 

[bunnspecial]

I guess it depends on where you live.

In Mass, I get 93, but up north in New Hampshire/Maine, the Audi only gets 91 because that's all I can find. It's very hit or miss though. The vast majority of places in CT, I've found 91, but you can find 93 in some spots too.

Those in Colorado can even find 85 octane due to the higher altitude

I guess that's what's confusing me-I know that there can be regional variation, but I'm talking about a change in what's sold at the same stations I've been visiting for years.

My car calls for 91+(without looking it up, I think it's 10.5:1). Realistically, it does fine on 89, but I still try to feed it what it asks for. I generally run my tank down to a little over half, and have been alternating between 89 and 93 for a while. At times I may flit below an "average" of 91 and probably over it some too, but at least for the sort of driving I do its fine(I've never had an issue with it knocking on 89).

There use to be one station in town that sold 91 Octane-Swifty, which is a sort of budget chain of gas stations(that will pump it for you at no extra charge). Now, as I said, the same stations I've been going to for years seem to be transitioning to 92.

A while back, I was in Bowling Green, KY and stopped at a gas station that had 110 octane leaded gas . It was explicitly marked "Racing Gas" and "Offroad Use Only"-the pump was padlocked, and it was also $8/gal.

My brother in law is a pilot. He flies full time commercially now, but did it as a hobby back before he was married and had kids . He told tales about one of his friends at the airport who had a 60s Chevelle SS and used to sneak home 100LL to "feed" it. Of course, that's highly illegal(at least for road use) and also has to be used in moderation as even "LL" Avgas has about 4x the lead of what motor gas ever had.

 

[D.T.]

A while back, I was in Bowling Green, KY and stopped at a gas station that had 110 octane leaded gas . It was explicitly marked "Racing Gas" and "Offroad Use Only"-the pump was padlocked, and it was also $8/gal.

Nice. There's one station here that has a set of pumps with a couple of blends of race gas.

I had a 55 gal drum of VP C16 (117 motor octane) in my shed, with a hand pump - I'd move it to smaller portable containers to juice up the Supra. Had an "in" with a local race supplier, so I'd pay the bulk rate.

 

[MatthewLTL]

On a completely unrelated note-I've been noticing a trend at gas stations locally, and am wondering if it's becoming common across the country.

Specifically, "Premium" use to almost always be 93 Octane. I've increasingly been noticing that gas stations are selling 92 octane as "premium." This is just something I've started noticing in the past month or two.

Along those same lines, when I first started driving, mid-grade was 10¢ higher than regular and premium 10¢ higher than mid-grade. Over the past few years, I've noticed those differences creeping up, and it's now typical for premium to be 35¢ higher than regular.

I believe it's still 93 around here. I always get the 87 because both cars call for it as a minmum so i never paid attention. I'll get back to you when I am at a gas station again.

I guess that's what's confusing me-I know that there can be regional variation, but I'm talking about a change in what's sold at the same stations I've been visiting for years.

My car calls for 91+(without looking it up, I think it's 10.5:1). Realistically, it does fine on 89, but I still try to feed it what it asks for. I generally run my tank down to a little over half, and have been alternating between 89 and 93 for a while. At times I may flit below an "average" of 91 and probably over it some too, but at least for the sort of driving I do its fine(I've never had an issue with it knocking on 89).

There use to be one station in town that sold 91 Octane-Swifty, which is a sort of budget chain of gas stations(that will pump it for you at no extra charge). Now, as I said, the same stations I've been going to for years seem to be transitioning to 92.

A while back, I was in Bowling Green, KY and stopped at a gas station that had 110 octane leaded gas . It was explicitly marked "Racing Gas" and "Offroad Use Only"-the pump was padlocked, and it was also $8/gal.

My brother in law is a pilot. He flies full time commercially now, but did it as a hobby back before he was married and had kids . He told tales about one of his friends at the airport who had a 60s Chevelle SS and used to sneak home 100LL to "feed" it. Of course, that's highly illegal(at least for road use) and also has to be used in moderation as even "LL" Avgas has about 4x the lead of what motor gas ever had.

There is 91 and 117 octain gas?

 

[bunnspecial]

Working on memory, but I think pure toluene has an anti-knock index(AKI) of around 110, and the AKI of pure ethanol is around 120. Pure tetraethylead(TEL) is obscenely high, which is why it was used in(small) amounts as an octane booster. Methyl t-butyl ether(MTBE) was used for a while as a replacement, although it's also now falling out of favor. Legislative pressure and the high AKI of ethanol is what is pushing its use in increasingly higher percentages in motor fuel, although its energy content is lower.

I travel enough that I very rarely buy gas in Louisville, as "urban" blends of gas tend to have more ethanol than what's in more rural areas.

It's been a while since I read up on octane ratings, but I think an AKI of 110 translates into a 109 motor octane rating and a 111 research octane rating. The number you see on the pump is the average of these two numbers(look and the pump probably says R+M/2 below the octane number).

A while back, Kentucky had the bright idea of opening a motor fuel testing lab and had-among other things-four octane rating engines(two for research octane and two for motor octane). I was able to tour it shortly after it opened(one of my college's recent chemistry graduates had a job there, and gave a small group of us from the department a one-on-one tour. They would make octane standards from blends of n-heptane(AKI 0), isooctane(AKI 100), toluene, and ethanol, and then compare them to received motor fuels.

Unfortunately, the motor fuel lab never learned to trust the chemist they had hired to actually run the place-instead relying on the politicians-and the lab never actually started pumping out useable results. It was closed two or three years ago. One of my colleagues was hired there straight out of grad school as a PhD Chemist, and ended up leaving for those sorts of problems...

 

[2298754]

I believe it's still 93 around here. I always get the 87 because both cars call for it as a minmum so i never paid attention. I'll get back to you when I am at a gas station again.


There is 91 and 117 octain gas?

I heard that if you put 90+ octane into a Daewoo, it adds 75hp to the engine because the extra octane "unlocks" hidden twin turbos!

For the Impala, you have get some 91 and mix it 50/50 with toluene to get the same effect.

 

[senseless]

I have a vague recollection of premium gasoline being 100.

 

[MatthewLTL]

I have a vague recollection of premium gasoline being 100.

So do I. I think when it was 100 i was too young to even know what it meant.

 

[lucasfer899]

I heard that if you put 90+ octane into a Daewoo, it adds 75hp to the engine because the extra octane "unlocks" hidden twin turbos!

For the Impala, you have get some 91 and mix it 50/50 with toluene to get the same effect.

Wohoo, misinformation!

 

[D.T.]

I heard that if you put 90+ octane into a Daewoo, it adds 75hp to the engine because the extra octane "unlocks" hidden twin turbos!

For the Impala, you have get some 91 and mix it 50/50 with toluene to get the same effect.

Funny enough, when I used to keep ultra high octane/race gas around, I did once use it my mower - out of gas halfway through, old mower, figured WTH.

 

[MatthewLTL]

Funny enough, when I used to keep ultra high octane/race gas around, I did once use it my mower - out of gas halfway through, old mower, figured WTH.

Did the mower go in turbo mode?

 

[2298754]

Did the mower go in turbo mode?

Haven't you tried it on the Daewoo? I heard the pink CF pedals and shifter unlock the over-drive function for the hidden turbo!

 

[lowendlinux]

The pink pedal thing is going to make his head explode and that will ruin a perfectly good eMac. I really don't want this thread to cause the loss of a nice old Mac.

 

[2298754]

The pink pedal thing is going to make his head explode and that will ruin a perfectly good eMac. I really don't want this thread to cause the loss of a nice old Mac.

It's only an eMac.

 

[bunnspecial]

Forget about the eMac-he might ruin the dual 1.25 MDD, and that would be a crime(admittedly, I have over 60 PPC Macs, and I hate the infernal MDDs...)

 

[rdowns]

The pink pedal thing is going to make his head explode and that will ruin a perfectly good eMac. I really don't want this thread to cause the loss of a nice old Mac.

If he ruins it, I'll personally buy and ship him a new Mac, like this one. Which one matches pink peddles best?

 

[MagicBoy]

Right hand drive on a Michigan plate?

It's originally a UK car. UK number plate dates it as Aug 1971 - July 1972.

 

[D.T.]

Did the mower go in turbo mode?

Finished the lawn in 45 seconds.