Category: Cars

I am a “car guy”… I love old cars.

Finally… result of my mileage test.

Several weeks ago I drove our rarely used pickup truck to work. It is a Dodge RAM 1500, so it makes a reasonable substitute for your average SUV; lumbering brick-shaped, V8 powered, gas-guzzling Detroit stupidity. Fine for hauling lumber, hay, and horses (what we use it for really) but about the worst vehicle imaginable for commuting. Oddly enough I see plenty of them, and like machinery on my daily commute. I drove to work, around the area a bit, and back home, and ended up spending a LOT of money in gasoline to do it. Mind you, my commute is long… probably over 2x what the average american commuter drives. The pickup managed a truly terrible 11 MPG and that was with me driving it very conservatively… staying under 2000 RPM, using the cruise control, mostly obeying the speed limit, smooth starts, etc. You can read about it here, but here’s the executive summary: “I did not run the tank dry, but just down to half. When I refilled the half-empty tank last night, it cost me $54.10(!) and I had only run it 165 miles. Just over 11 MPG.

I’m sorry but that is truly dismal.

As many of you know, I drive a Diesel powered car. It is a 2002 VW Jetta TDI. I love it. Sits four comfortably, has a huge trunk (you could hide dead bodies in there… several of them!), it is in no way slow… turning a respectable 0-60 in 11 seconds and can comfortably cruise at Autobahn speeds – it can make, and hold “a ton” for hours on end. Best of all, it will get in excess of 45 MPG while running that 100 MPH. I decided to test my patience and driving ability and see what sort of mileage I could wring out of it by REALLY watching my habits. Again, keeping the revs low, using the cruise where possible, measured starts, mostly staying within the speed limits, etc. So for the latter half of last week, and into today, I drove like a sedated Volvo owner. It was in no way an ideal test… I ran into traffic jams, had the A/C on at times, dealt with Seattle’s inevitable stop-and-go, I lost my discipline a few times and went 80 MPH, etc. My wife and kid also drove the car a little bit, so I have no idea what happened during those miles.

I was also running on a 50% mix of my home-brew fuel… which means I’m running on the cheap. Keep in mind I paid less than $12 to run the following distance:

458.2 miles

7.8 gallons (just over half a tank in the Jetta)

That means I pulled off 58.74 MPG!

OK, so somebody tell me why the hell Americans choose to drive big honkin glorified station wagons tarted up to look like trucks that get less than 20 MPG when they COULD be driving vehicles that can more than DOUBLE that figure?

I have some photos of my odometer and gas gauge on my cell phone, as soon as I can grab them from the phone and upload them, I’ll post them here.

I’m with Stupid, part 28.

So once all the family and household obligations were met this weekend, the family went off to see some moving pictures involving a pirate or something… and I spent some quality time in the barn with the car up on the lift. The point of the exercise being addressing some ongoing alternator problems. The exact issue isn’t relevant so much as the foolishness of doing some things by myself while working on on object that weighs thousands of pounds.

I disconnected the Jag’s bonnet in order to get some more space to work in the area up by the front of the engine. The bonnet seems to be a lightweight object when you manipulate its sprung bulk on the hinges. It is anything BUT however once unbolted from its brackets! I had strung it up to the barn’s hay lifting block & tackle, but did not have it under enough tension. When the last of the two bolts was removed it went for a little trip along the arc of its hinge. Thank goodness I DID have it attached to something as it could have resulted in a very expensive damage otherwise! Through some miracle of reflexes I managed to make some truly remarkable and swift maneuvers and catch it before it broke loose. (I’m still stiff and sore however!) I finally secured it, and carried on with the repair.

I will say that I’ll have to do this yawning bonnet trick again, as it does make for a nice, convenient work area. The damn thing just weighs a ton, so care needs to be taken when unbolting. For all the grief we give, I will say those British Engineers managed a neat trick with the E-type’s bonnet. The hinge and bracket are very easy to work with, and remarkably minimal, but do an awesome job of managing the massive bulk of the bonnet itself. Very well balanced and easy to operate given the size and weight. I’m impressed.

I did learn that my replacement/spare alternator turned out to be too large, so I’m going to return it to NAPA for a properly-sized Hitachi.

Good thing I found out before some road-side swap was required!

Here we go again.

Roger says “Actually, a photo of just about any late model German or Japanese car will stump me.” OK, so it doesn’t qualify as “late model” but there’s no doubt as to it’s origin! Hai!

To be honest, I don’t remember what it is. So after I go eat some sushi for lunch (Nigiri Lunch Combo, a Bomb Tuna Roll, and a Blazing Godzilla please… oh yeah, and a large Kirin Ichi Ban.) I’ll look up my notes from when this photo was taken. I remember the marque (and it is even somewhat readable on the sign) but the exact model escapes me.

Guess the make/model/year, and maybe I’ll buy you sushi. 🙂

–chuck

YA-round of “Name that car”

OK, so the marque is a dead giveaway, but the model, that could prove a bit tough.

I’m not a huge fan of the marque, and I honestly believe those who purchase them raise masochism to a stratospheric level… one that makes owning an E-type seems sensible by comparison. BUT, this little car caught my eye and really made me WANT it. BAD. I’d trade a fleet of E-types for one of these (and likely live to regret it), but once revealed, I think you would agree the lust is justified.

What could it be? (I love this photo because it shows JUST enough to hopefully make a good guessing game, but not enough to be a dead giveaway… I hope)

Guess away.

Name that tune^X^X^X^X car!

A lifetime supply of some useless condiment awaits the winner of today’s contest!**

Name that car. Nice dashboard. Should be easy to guess.

Bonus point for naming the car parked just behind it (even easier than the car in the foreground honestly)

HUGE bonus if you can correctly identify every car in the photo.

**Not really. All you get is car-geek credibility.

I’m with Stupid, part 27.

The purpose of my life is to serve as a warning for others.

I spent the day today trimming various out of control green growing things back to where the wife wanted; assisting my teenage son in various other yard chores; attending to the never-ending home brew fuel system needs; making an attempt at building a box blade drag to keep my gravel driveway looking reasonable (which at the moment, it doesn’t!… too much vegetation and too many big gouges from where I play pseudo-WRC driver doing fun handbrake turns in the Jetta {sssshhh, don’t tell the wife!})

After all was done, I grabbed my youngest son, hopped in the Jag and went into town to the Burger King where the “car guys” hang out on Saturday evenings for an impromptu show n’ shine and general BS session. There is a very nice couple with a Nash-Healey that is fun to talk to, and I met a guy restoring a 1951 (Plymouth or Pontiac… I can’t recall) with a straight-eight side valve engine… hope to see it next week. Anyway, once done there I asked my son if we should swing by the airport and check on the Arlington Fly-In. As we’re about halfway between the BK and the Airport my instinct tells me “something is wrong”… I can hear a knocking sort of rattle, and give the car a sort of once-over look – the temp gauge is rising fast, and the car is starting to overheat. whaaaaa?? This car *never* has cooling problems!!

I immediately pull over and have a look. Sure enough, it is puking coolant via the overflow. Sigh. I run the fan and let it cool down for a while, and start making my way home. My instinct is to get it off the road and into the garage at home to have a look and see what is going on. Every time the temp gauge exceeds 100°C, I pull over and let it cool off. Thankfully I’m not too far from home… maybe 6 miles. The second time we stop, it is at a gas station so I buy a gallon of distilled water to replace what has boiled off. I call home and let them know we will be late. Once it cools I open the tank and pour the water in – it takes about half of the bottle. Nick & I play some turn-based games on my Treo phone to keep ourselves entertained. Take another run and get “almost” there. Maybe two miles now. This time we’re parked along SR 530 with a nice view of Three Fingers Mountain and a rising waxing moon. It is starting to get dark. Nick is trying to catch moths and I’m keeping myself entertained by removing the legend from my dash and inserting the metal strip that goes in between (I found it in the boot under the spare a few weeks ago at the slalom in Vancouver.) It is dark enough that I need a flashlight to do the job. After that is done, I take the flashlight and have a look under the bonnet and what catches my eye but a BRIGHT SHINY pulley at the front of the alternator.

D’oh!

I slap my forehead, and yell to Nick to tell him that his father is an idiot. Run to the boot and grab a spare V-belt (which drives the alternator & the water pump) and a wrench and tell him to come hold the light for his dumbkopf Dad. Less than a minute later the belt is back on and the car fires right up and we’re on our way home – temp gauge looking exceedingly normal again.

I really need to get that “I’m with stupid” shirt, with the arrow pointing up at my face. =P

On the bright side, my old belt was obviously near the end of it’s life, as the new one has the alternator much father away from the frame rail.

I have no idea where it came off… we never heard anything unusual. Weird.

Time to order another one I guess.