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Old 08-31-2012, 02:57 PM   #21
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Landshark, I think I love you, LOL. Buy you a beer!!MPJ
MPJ, we're inTX now instead of home in ID, but still too far to go for a beer, much as I would like to take you up on it! Drink a beer for me, and I'll drink one in your honor tonight! And remember, great minds think alike!

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Old 08-31-2012, 02:58 PM   #22
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Physics

It's hard to cheat Newton.

You want a car that gets 100mpg? No problem. I can build you one. Really. It's a piece of cake. I'd use a 30hp diesel, it'd have three wheels (one in the back to drive and two in the front to steer) and it'd be a two seater, tandem configuration. All up weight would be about 1300lbs.

Would it meet CAFE crash standards? Heck no! Don't even think about running it into an F350 and surviving. But, it'd get great gas mileage.

Electronic Fuel Injection has done a lot for the internal combustion engine. Combine that with forced induction (aka super charging or turbo charging) and you've got a winner.

I recently test drove a Chevy Cruze Eco. I will probably buy it. It was a nice little car. Drove nicely, handled nicely, and they sticker it at 42mpg on the window. In talking with several folks that own one, they routinely get better than 47 mpg with them on level ground. But the car has thin sheet metal to get the weight down, active aerodynamics, and a tiny 1.4L 4-cylinder with a turbocharger. When you need the power, spool the turbo. When you cruise on flat ground, it's about the size of the motor in my Harley.

Just don't go head to head with an F350. Something's gotta give.

Why does a 2012 Dodge Challenger weigh 800lbs more than a 1970 Dodge Challenger? Primarily it's CAFE safety standards. I'd much rather be in a wreck in the new one than the old one.

Anyway, physics are physics.

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Old 08-31-2012, 03:14 PM   #23
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No, it's not a govt plot that a market demand has been responded to by business in re truck rentals, but the direction is clear: for example, tax on diesel fuel is much higher than on gas although diesel is actually cheaper to produce than gas. The tax functions as an indirect way to "encourage" us to not use diesel pick- ups.
So let's look at that. I averaged the 50-state numbers from gaspricewatch which they attribute to the American Petroleum Institute as of April 2012 and on average the total tax on gasoline is 46 cents/gallon, and on diesel it's 52.2 cents/gallon. In Texas it's about that same 6-cent spread between gasoline and diesel taxes, yet diesel costs 35 to 40 cents more per gallon than regular unleaded around here. Clearly that difference is not even mostly from tax. I'd also point out that less than half of the tax is federal, and the delta between gasoline and diesel in the federal excise tax is that same 6 cents per gallon.

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What I rant about is the removal of our CHOICE, and the Big Brother Knows Best attitude of DC. Sorry if I came on too strong and offended, but I just feel so helpless as I see the juggernaut of Big Brother crunching on over our right to choose. Why is it not OK to choose to use an incandescent bulb or continue to use my rig's fridge that uses freon? Surely it is more "green" to continue to use something than throw it into the landfill (anti-green) and buy new (energy and materials used in manufacture are anti-green). OOOps, sorry, I'm ranting again.

Vivian
So we've established that incandescent bulbs are still available, and now they're less inefficient, but you feel someone's telling you it's not OK for you to choose one?

And if your fridge uses freon (it probably wasn't R12 in the first place, though I know other working fluids have been phased out since The Big One) and is still working, who's making you quit using it again? If it's not working, are you SURE you still want to use it?
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Old 08-31-2012, 03:16 PM   #24
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CAFE = Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. Nothing directly to do with safety.
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Old 08-31-2012, 08:37 PM   #25
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At the risk of having this thread shut down (after all, I started it), I'd like to point out that this regulation was done by executive order with support from the EPA I believe that my original premise that this was done to pander to the environmental vote is supported by the above post.
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Old 08-31-2012, 08:40 PM   #26
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At the risk of having this thread shut down (after all, I started it), I'd like to point out that this regulation was done by executive order with support from the EPA I believe that my original premise that this was done to pander to the environmental vote is supported by the above post.
Amen brother.

Now let's talk mpg again. All I want is 28 mpg with my 5.7 litter v8. Is that to much to ask for.
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:35 PM   #27
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So let's look at that. I averaged the 50-state numbers from gaspricewatch which they attribute to the American Petroleum Institute as of April 2012 and on average the total tax on gasoline is 46 cents/gallon, and on diesel it's 52.2 cents/gallon. In Texas it's about that same 6-cent spread between gasoline and diesel taxes, yet diesel costs 35 to 40 cents more per gallon than regular unleaded around here. Clearly that difference is not even mostly from tax. I'd also point out that less than half of the tax is federal, and the delta between gasoline and diesel in the federal excise tax is that same 6 cents per gallon.

OK, last post: dunno on this one, other than diesel IS cheaper to make than gas.

So we've established that incandescent bulbs are still available, and now they're less inefficient, but you feel someone's telling you it's not OK for you to choose one?

Actually no, incandescents are not still available because the last manufacturer closed shop. People have been talking about stockpiling them from stores who still had them.

And if your fridge uses freon (it probably wasn't R12 in the first place, though I know other working fluids have been phased out since The Big One) and is still working, who's making you quit using it again? If it's not working, are you SURE you still want to use it?
Freon has to be replenished from time to time due to leaks or whatever to keep the fridge working. The fridge is otherwise functioning, but needs more freon. Since freon is no longer available, the only solution is a new fridge, or at least a different fridge, that uses the new stuff. So a working, perfectly good fridge that only needs more freon is junked. Seems wasteful and definitely anti-green to me. Just sayin'. IMHO.

I'm done on this thread.
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Old 08-31-2012, 10:08 PM   #28
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I can't resist, one last post and I'll quit because it has definitely gone beyond fact-vs-fiction into left-vs-right.

Incandescent doesn't mean 37-cent imported 60w soft-whites, it means any light bulb that produces light by heating something to a temperature high enough that it radiates light, as opposed to fluorescing or using some other process to generate light. There are still incandescent bulbs available at Home Depot, they're just not the ones you're looking for, and they're more efficient.

Finally, from some other things you've said, I think the truth about the price of diesel is going to stick in your craw. It's the free market that's causing that price difference, supply and demand. While there is less refining required to make diesel, refiners prefer different feed stock for the 2 products and they tailor their facilities for what they sell most of, and what they sell most of in the US is gasoline.

It's clear that facts aren't effective in this instance and I'm not going to talk politics, so I'm done.
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Old 08-31-2012, 11:00 PM   #29
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The cost to convert an older Harrison AC in a GM product to the politically correct stuff is about $400. Again, unintended consquences to appease environmentlists.
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Old 09-01-2012, 12:32 AM   #30
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Late to the game.

Hi, I guess I that I'm late to this game, but I will add a few things of my opinion. Removing lead from gasoline ruined my 1959 Ford Galaxie's engine. New fuels will ruin the fuel system and possibly the engine in my 2000 Lincoln Navigator too. Sure your future car might get fantastic fuel mileage, but what do you think gas/diesel will cost then? In my older years, actually I have never liked driving what I call $hit Boxes. Little tiny cars that could become your coffen because of an accident; Your car and you will become one and the same.

This is an old true story and I will let you figuer it out on your own. This story is repeated by many people still today who can't and/or won't do the basic math. A friend of our's bought a brand new Datsun B-210. When asked why he bought this car new car, he said that his monthly gas bill was too high. His old Oldsmobile was paid for. He had the pink slip in his hand. Yes, his Datsun got great gas mileage. Now he has a monthly financed car payment, higher insurance payments, and a $50.00 a month lower gas bill.
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Old 09-01-2012, 01:13 AM   #31
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Gee, maybe now we might actually get the V-6 Turbo diesels in a 1/2 truck...
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Old 09-01-2012, 06:39 AM   #32
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Gene, I don't think pick-up trucks were included in CAFE until just recently. And trucks used to be for work not pleasure driving. But, that changed with the advent of the SUV. People wanted trucks that drove and rode like cars. Manufacturers began to build them and it is competition , not government mandates, that your Tundra is so nice and pleasurable to drive. Even women like to drive them now. When the gas spike happened a few years ago, car companies got screwed with those trucks because people who didn't actually need them quit buying them because , by comparison, they got crappy mileage. Now you see better mileage in trucks because they don't want to get caught with their pants down again. Manufacturers are driven more by demand, less by gov't even with safety issues which explains why many foreign companies exceed gov't safety and crash standards. Gov't is necessary here but it's competition that forces car companies to build cars and light trucks that people want to drive. Ford used to paint all vehicles black until GM started offering colors. If the government ever gets involved in colors we might all be driving safer colors like blaze orange.
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Old 09-01-2012, 06:44 AM   #33
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Kosm, 1/2 tons have always been included in CAFE, just at a less aggressive figure. 8600 lbs GVW is the cutoff. (3/4 ton and up, basically haven't and still won't be included in CAFE)
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Old 09-01-2012, 07:52 AM   #34
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I thought this thread might be informative. Too bad, as the title suggests any of a number of directions this could take. Any piece of the below would have been worthwhile:

Better weight & aerodynamics on the A/S trailers hitched to multi-speed transmissioned, high-efficiency engined and aero-optimized tow vehicles.

In re this forum, that is the future worth looking upon.

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Old 09-01-2012, 08:07 AM   #35
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Yah you're right...I had the acronym stated wrong; NTSB sets the safety regs; CAFE sets fuel efficiency. Whatever. They work sort of together though opposed.

My post stands: As you keep making cars heavier to make them safer in a crash, it takes more energy to move them. F=MA always. At least in this universe.

Colin Chapman had it figured out at Lotus in the 60's. You get the mass out, you don't need much horsepower. Lotus cars aren't that much slower than a muscle car in a straight line, but will outhandle them to heck and back, yet get very good gas mileage.

As to 28mpg with a 5.7L V8, I've talked to several modern Camaro and Corvette owners that have achieved that cruising steady state on level highway. With cylinder deactivation and fuel injection, you can do it.

VW engineers built a car a couple years ago that got over 100mpg. They basically did what I said above. It basically looks like a stretched BD-5 fuselage so two people can sit tandem with two wheels up front and one out back. Looked like a little fighter canopy on it. It really is a neat little car.
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Old 09-01-2012, 11:40 AM   #36
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I love these threads... how they devolve into the '50 years ago, Mr Widget invested a carb that got 250 miles per gallon! And then he was murdered by the big oil companies!'

Or, 'The government screwed everything up!'...

If a company could come to market with a game-changing technology, they would... because they all want to make billions of dollars. Oil companies don't care, because despite all the technology advances in the last 100 years... oil consumption has never trended DOWN.

Government is involved the way they are, because Americans still have relatively cheap fuel. So, the incentive to switch to a more fuel efficient car isn't as great as say where I live, where gas has been as high as $1.60 a litre ($6 a gallon). We don't have as many government interventions, because we have carbon taxes, tax incentives on high MPG cars... that are creating a faster shift in car-buying habits.

As long as America has cheap fuel, you are going to see the other way of promoting efficiency... FORCING it on people.
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Old 09-01-2012, 02:05 PM   #37
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Political posting

This thread has had quite a few posts removed due to political content. Moderators' actions are guided by our experience with the irreconcilable arguing that ensues. We will act to keep matters from spinning out of control.

The Community Rules state, "Discussions about politics, weaponry and religion are permitted only in association with the topic of this forum and will be closed or removed if they become disruptive." Advocacy that overtly or indirectly endorses a political view will get our attention. Examples are naming names of political personalities or suggesting intentions in a political direction.

Moderators do not wish to edit within a post and thereby attempt to interpret a member's intentions. So please, make those well-considered posts but don't put a hook on the end of them. Please direct any questions on this matter to a moderator. Thank you.

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Old 09-01-2012, 04:12 PM   #38
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And please, let's stay on topic and not pick out sensitive issues of government. Confrontation on such matters can only be political.

Aluminum side up,
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Old 09-01-2012, 09:56 PM   #39
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This thread reminds me of the song Red Barchetta by Rush.
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Old 09-03-2012, 05:12 PM   #40
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I use far less gas every week in my pickup than my "green" buddy and his wife, who relish this regulatory garbage but drive 2 Beemers separately to work, and commute every weekend to their vacation home. They are agast that I "drag" an RV across the country with my "gas guzzler", while they do not think twice about boarding a jumbo jet for a European get away,
I have coworkers just like that. I just show them the engine block heater plug in the front and tell them the truck is a hybrid and they feel better.
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