Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[dysorder]

Did you guys see the Wall Street Journal article about Rivian losing $33k on every car?

 

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/rivian-ev-truck-electric-vehicle-8e8dc124?mod=automatedsubsection_trending_now_article_pos4

[bcredeur97]

6 minutes ago, dysorder said:

Did you guys see the Wall Street Journal article about Rivian losing $33k on every car?

 

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/rivian-ev-truck-electric-vehicle-8e8dc124?mod=automatedsubsection_trending_now_article_pos4

Doesn't surprise me for their first few models. Tesla didn't become profitable until years later, for example. 

When you first start out, sometimes it's just what you gotta do to get buyers. Big risk!

[vetali]

15 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

I really wish I6's were more common

So nice having all your cylinders right on top of the motor where spark plugs, fuel rail, etc. is easily accessible and only 1 cylinder head to worry about, and it's perfectly balanced. Timing chain design can also simpler and easier to deal with.

Really nothing but advantages for the I6 design? It be the best? I mean, it's a little long, but who cares? Just make it a bit smaller and strap a turbo to it. The modern solution to things being too big LOL

Yeah I6 is the greatest design. Though the new Mazda one is pretty meh

[Beerzerker]

52 minutes ago, vetali said:

Don't forget the 30 pound flywheel on manuals.

Which mine happens to be, plus the transfer case too.
Maybe one day, for the helluvait I'll do a test with a glass of water and see just how shakey it is or isn't.

[Vonrottes]

The 4.3 is absolutely unbalanced that's why in 1992 with the introduction of the CPI engine they started putting the balance shaft in them.

(Don't trust the wiki, my 1992 Sonoma with the vin W CPI vortec 4.3 was a balance shaft engine.)

 

But they did have a neat almost V8 lope at idle with a decent exhaust above idle they still sound like hot garbage so it's best to keep them muffled. 

 

Stock manifolds and y pipe, no cat heartthrob 3" exhaust

 

 

Stainless works 1⅞" primary headers with 3"collectors  no cats into a 3" y-pipe to the same 3" heartthrob exhaust 

 

 

 

Balanced or unbalanced they are still not terrible engines, sure the little injector in the aluminum CPI engines was better than the later spider injectors but the fuel block? Idr what its called but it's the internal fuel lines to the injector those would get hard and just split open and were a absolute pita to replace... other than that the only common issue was valve stem seals leaking good cap, rotor plugs and coil make a HUGE difference in how they run, especially copper core plugs on the older trucks.

[vetali]

27 minutes ago, Vonrottes said:

Balanced or unbalanced they are still not terrible engines, sure the little injector in the aluminum CPI engines was better than the later spider injectors but the fuel block? Idr what its called but it's the internal fuel lines to the injector those would get hard and just split open and were a absolute pita to replace... other than that the only common issue was valve stem seals leaking good cap, rotor plugs and coil make a HUGE difference in how they run, especially copper core plugs on the older trucks.

My blazer would throw a smoke grenade in the student parking lot due to valve stem seals. Eventually fixed them before I got rid of it.

 

@Bitter forgot to mention I got a piston ring job this week. Get to test the ultrasonic finally.

[Bitter]

11 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

I really wish I6's were more common

So nice having all your cylinders right on top of the motor where spark plugs, fuel rail, etc. is easily accessible and only 1 cylinder head to worry about, and it's perfectly balanced. Timing chain design can also simpler and easier to deal with.

Really nothing but advantages for the I6 design? It be the best? I mean, it's a little long, but who cares? Just make it a bit smaller and strap a turbo to it. The modern solution to things being too big LOL

That Vortec 4200 got a lot of hate but it was actually a pretty good engine most of the time.

[Bitter]

10 hours ago, vetali said:

My blazer would throw a smoke grenade in the student parking lot due to valve stem seals. Eventually fixed them before I got rid of it.

 

@Bitter forgot to mention I got a piston ring job this week. Get to test the ultrasonic finally.

I'm excited to see how it does for you! You technically can put solvents in them so maybe also give that a go if the water based cleaners aren't doing it for you. Shame you can't buy TCE at the hardware store anymore, that stuff would strip engine parts like nothing else!

[vetali]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

I'm excited to see how it does for you! You technically can put solvents in them so maybe also give that a go if the water based cleaners aren't doing it for you. Shame you can't buy TCE at the hardware store anymore, that stuff would strip engine parts like nothing else!

I am just gonna try simple green.... but yeah. My old shop had that classic unlabeled 5 gallon bucket that was the good stuff.

[DANK_AS_gay]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

I'm excited to see how it does for you! You technically can put solvents in them so maybe also give that a go if the water based cleaners aren't doing it for you. Shame you can't buy TCE at the hardware store anymore, that stuff would strip engine parts like nothing else!

Looked it up, apparently it was used for anesthesia (until 1977) as well as an industrial degreaser? It also says it was primarily used to make Hydrofluorocarbons (Refrigerants). The more you know.

[Bitter]

3 hours ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

Looked it up, apparently it was used for anesthesia (until 1977) as well as an industrial degreaser? It also says it was primarily used to make Hydrofluorocarbons (Refrigerants). The more you know.

I used it to clean engines and carbs. Soak a varnished part in it for about 15 minutes then wipe away to bright clean shiny metal. So one day I had the bright idea...well if it cleans parts this good I'll put it in my lawnmower gas to clean the cylinder and head while I mow. So burning it creates Phosgene gas which was used in the trenches of World War One. So that's how that went.

[Beerzerker]

35 minutes ago, Bitter said:

I used it to clean engines and carbs. Soak a varnished part in it for about 15 minutes then wipe away to bright clean shiny metal. So one day I had the bright idea...well if it cleans parts this good I'll put it in my lawnmower gas to clean the cylinder and head while I mow. So burning it creates Phosgene gas which was used in the trenches of World War One. So that's how that went.

That's some really NAST-"T" stuff....
At one time I was trained on these kinds of gasses and what to do in the event of a chemical leak, HAZCON training was required for atmittance to the plant I was working at as a contractor (G.E.) and things about gasses like Phosgene were layed out to us in this training.

Phosgene:
Smells like fresh lawn clippings..... And if you ever get the scent of it, it's already too late.

There is no other way to put it - Fucks up the lungs and you'll be gone before long.
Longest case of survival to exposure I'm aware of is about 2 hrs after contact with it.

While there may be a difference in the purity/concentration of the gas between what the two of us are talking about, Phosgene gas is NOTHING to play around with in either case.

I was also around another WWI classic fav: Mustard gas.
I dunno about it being great on sandwiches but best used along with a gasmask & suit. It not only messes up the lungs but also causes severe chemical burns to the skin too upon contact with it.
I had to be around some other nasty gasses too like chlorine gas and pure ammonia gas too, that stuff if you get a whiff of it will burn your lungs instead of just being really repulsive to smell.
Chlorine gas is a no-go for sniffing as well of course.

Basic shop safety:
Be careful with what you do with shop chemicals - You may create a real monster you don't want any part of.
Had to say that because even though you and I know, others here reading may not know or even think about it until it's already too late.
We don't want that.
 

[Bitter]

6 hours ago, Beerzerker said:

That's some really NAST-"T" stuff....
At one time I was trained on these kinds of gasses and what to do in the event of a chemical leak, HAZCON training was required for atmittance to the plant I was working at as a contractor (G.E.) and things about gasses like Phosgene were layed out to us in this training.

Phosgene:
Smells like fresh lawn clippings..... And if you ever get the scent of it, it's already too late.

There is no other way to put it - Fucks up the lungs and you'll be gone before long.
Longest case of survival to exposure I'm aware of is about 2 hrs after contact with it.

Well the smells like lawn clippings is pretty useless when it's in a lawnmower. I didn't add a lot, a few ounces to a gallon of gas in the push mower so the PPM was probably fairly low once mixed with 13 parts air to further dilute it and mixed with atmosphere around me. Gave me a wicked very specific headache that I still remember to this day. It was a different kind of pain, hard to describe but sharp and fuzzy at the same time with a distant confusion and a slight stumble. Very unpleasant.

[cheese_09]

Check the ride

1965 pontiac tempest 

Estimated 500 bhp 

Nitrous kit soon maybe?

[vetali]

@Bitter Ultrasonic results

 

[djksm]

do any of you have teslas? would you recommend me to stay away or to buy them?

[Bitter]

2 hours ago, vetali said:

@Bitter Ultrasonic results

 

Would you consider that success? How much pre and post cleaning did you do?

[vetali]

6 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Would you consider that success? How much pre and post cleaning did you do?

None and a little on the top ring groove and valve reliefs. Oil rings and drains were completely clean.

[Bitter]

28 minutes ago, vetali said:

None and a little on the top ring groove and valve reliefs. Oil rings and drains were completely clean.

Awesome, glad that's a winner for you. I assume that saved some time and effort, how long were they in for?

[vetali]

12 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Awesome, glad that's a winner for you. I assume that saved some time and effort, how long were they in for?

It was a 15 minute pulse, with a 2 minute degas. 75 degrees c. About half a quart of simple green concentrate with the rest water. It allowed me to clean the oil pan surface and prep for reseal while it was going. I think overall because how long it took to clean pistons it will save me 1-1.5 hours. I did one piston at a time because I don't have a stamp, and paint pen would likely be erased by it.

 

Not so fun, the threads on the cat got messed up. Tried to use a thread chaser through the backside of it, and it would bind up hard. Tried drilling it out one size lower and still binded up. Tried a tap and it would not bite at all. Eventually tried to send an extractor and it broke off... so the cat is at a machine shop otherwise I would have the cylinder head back on.

[Bitter]

45 minutes ago, vetali said:

It was a 15 minute pulse, with a 2 minute degas. 75 degrees c. About half a quart of simple green concentrate with the rest water. It allowed me to clean the oil pan surface and prep for reseal while it was going. I think overall because how long it took to clean pistons it will save me 1-1.5 hours. I did one piston at a time because I don't have a stamp, and paint pen would likely be erased by it.

 

Not so fun, the threads on the cat got messed up. Tried to use a thread chaser through the backside of it, and it would bind up hard. Tried drilling it out one size lower and still binded up. Tried a tap and it would not bite at all. Eventually tried to send an extractor and it broke off... so the cat is at a machine shop otherwise I would have the cylinder head back on.

Could you use a pointed punch and make some small dots on the connecting rod beam to indicate which cylinders? Not that a numbered punch set is expensive.

That unit sounds like it's got a lot more functions than my tiny one. You'll be throwing EVERYTHING in it to clean eventually. It'll make your sockets look brand new, and you can run the same cleaner multiple times, filter the solids out and keep going with it.

[AlwaysFSX]

1 hour ago, zuglug77777 said:

Yeah I test this concept every now and then.

At 82 miles per hour I get 32mpg

at 62 miles per hour I get 36mpg  maybe 38

 

All by report of trip computer of course.

 

700 mile drive at 82 mph = 8.5 hours

700 miles at 62 = 11.3 hours

 

Say you save 3 gallons of gas at 3.50$

 

So is nearly 3 hours of your time worth 10$???

 

Yeah, after over 8 hours of driving .....You would have to pay me a great deal more than 10$ to drive 3 more hours down the road.

 

So, long story short....NO ONE drives 55mph any more.

And since we were talking about a truck we're going to use a truck as an example, ya know, to be grounded in the discussion:

75mph = 16mpg

65mph = 24mpg

 

700 mile @ 75mph = 9.33 hours , 43.75 gal @ $3.50 = $153

700 mile @ 65mph = 10.77hours , 29.17 gal @ $3.50 = $102

 

Is an hour and a half worth $50? Sometimes kinda, yeah.

*But why 75!? I said 82! -> Average Interstate speed limit.

[vetali]

28 minutes ago, Bitter said:

Could you use a pointed punch and make some small dots on the connecting rod beam to indicate which cylinders? Not that a numbered punch set is expensive.

That unit sounds like it's got a lot more functions than my tiny one. You'll be throwing EVERYTHING in it to clean eventually. It'll make your sockets look brand new, and you can run the same cleaner multiple times, filter the solids out and keep going with it.

Don't really like punching into the rods honestly. I have a nice Japanese made auto center punch (went full out on that one because its impossible to find a center punch that works well). Still don't like doing it.

 

I have been looking around the shop to see what I can throw in it. Unfortunately a cylinder head or oil pan wont fit. But I do need to clean a lot of my sockets. People don't like the sound, which is a plus in my books.

[bcredeur97]

8 hours ago, AlwaysFSX said:

And since we were talking about a truck we're going to use a truck as an example, ya know, to be grounded in the discussion:

75mph = 16mpg

65mph = 24mpg

 

700 mile @ 75mph = 9.33 hours , 43.75 gal @ $3.50 = $153

700 mile @ 65mph = 10.77hours , 29.17 gal @ $3.50 = $102

 

Is an hour and a half worth $50? Sometimes kinda, yeah.

*But why 75!? I said 82! -> Average Interstate speed limit.

Lesson learned:
Econobox: speed all you want
Big truck: go as slow as possible

Result: Econoboxes weaving between slow trucks on the freeway please send help

[DANK_AS_gay]

45 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

Lesson learned:
Econobox: speed all you want
Big truck: go as slow as possible

Result: Econoboxes weaving between slow trucks on the freeway please send help

What about trucks with camper shells? I'd be interested to see the results, although realistically the equation for drag has cross-sectional area in it, so it probably won't do too much.

Also hell yeah, gotta have those nissan Altimas weaving around at 95 mph. My Highlander does about 25 mpgs at 70-75, and 20-22 at 80-85 mph. Mostly because the gearbox runs out of gears at about 75. 5 speed auto in 2013