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From: phaeton on 3 Jan 2010 13:16 On Jan 3, 10:55 am, Don Stauffer <stauf...(a)usfamily.net> wrote: > Oils are better today too. I can remember a few years ago when they > would come up with a new service grade about every year. > > jim wrote: > > But there are > > > other things that are different today than back when cars had points. Lowering > > the sulfur content of fuel has eliminated much of the corrosion wear to rings > > that was mostly present when sulfur combined with water vapor during engine warm > > up. Removing lead from gasoline has also been shown to increase life of engines. > > The wear cause by lead in gasoline I believe was also mostly blamed on corrosion > > also. > > snip > > -jim Well, one thing I notice is that even if the engine is warmed up, other things aren't. The power steering system will almost kill the engine if I turn the wheel too hard. Also I have to double clutch every shift for a mile or so because I'm guessing the oil in the transmission is thick enough to almost stop the countershaft as soon as power is removed from it. Granted, many manuals these days are filled with ATF (like mine) which IIRC is approximately 20W. My dad used to tell me stories of when he was in High School in the 1960s in Pennsylvania. During the winters he would have to park his 1957 Plymouth (or maybe it was the 53 Crown Vic) in second gear because it never warmed up enough to be able to shift on the way to school. (Uphill, both ways, etc). I'm guessing those old manuals had 90W in them. Also there's the joy of breaking the tires loose from the ice, and on some days (like today) all 4 tires have 'flat spots' on them that take a long time to knead out. Some vehicles with small engines but full- sized radiator profiles will actually stay below operating temp while driving. This time of year you see a lot of small trucks (like mine) and vans with the cardboard bungeed to the grille. Nothing like driving for 10 miles, getting off the highway and having your engine return to fast idle when you hit the stoplight. I agree that living in places like this is completely asinine. I don't know how (or why) people bothered with this before the industrial revolution, and things like fiberglass insulation and gas boilers became available.
From: hls on 3 Jan 2010 14:21 "Scott Dorsey" <kludge(a)panix.com> wrote in message news:hhqi45 > Dunno what the story is, but my (manual choke) carburated car starts up > nicely on the first try in cold weather. It probably didn't do so thirty > years ago, which implies something in the meantime has changed and it's > probably got more to do with the fuel than the car. > --scott A lot of people replaced the automatic chokes with manuals, some years ago, because they could get them to start better that way. Automatic chokes got better with time but, thank God, with modern FI systems we dont have to worry about it. I dont know if gasoline is any better now. Motor oils certainly are.
From: Tegger on 3 Jan 2010 14:43 "hls" <hls(a)nospam.nix> wrote in news:d6KdnaDSaanJc93WnZ2dnUVZ_uudnZ2d(a)giganews.com: > > "Scott Dorsey" <kludge(a)panix.com> wrote in message news:hhqi45 >> Dunno what the story is, but my (manual choke) carburated car starts >> up nicely on the first try in cold weather. It probably didn't do so >> thirty years ago, which implies something in the meantime has changed >> and it's probably got more to do with the fuel than the car. >> --scott > > A lot of people replaced the automatic chokes with manuals, some years > ago, because they could get them to start better that way. Automatic > chokes got better with time but, thank God, with modern FI systems we > dont have to worry about it. > > I dont know if gasoline is any better now. Motor oils certainly are. Today's gasolines are certainly a lot more volatile than they used to be. That volatility would help with cold-starting. -- Tegger
From: hls on 3 Jan 2010 15:36 "Tegger" <invalid(a)invalid.inv> wrote in message news:Xns9CF595D4FF494tegger(a)208.90.168.18... > "hls" <hls(a)nospam.nix> wrote in > news:d6KdnaDSaanJc93WnZ2dnUVZ_uudnZ2d(a)giganews.com: > >> >> "Scott Dorsey" <kludge(a)panix.com> wrote in message news:hhqi45 >>> Dunno what the story is, but my (manual choke) carburated car starts >>> up nicely on the first try in cold weather. It probably didn't do so >>> thirty years ago, which implies something in the meantime has changed >>> and it's probably got more to do with the fuel than the car. >>> --scott >> >> A lot of people replaced the automatic chokes with manuals, some years >> ago, because they could get them to start better that way. Automatic >> chokes got better with time but, thank God, with modern FI systems we >> dont have to worry about it. >> >> I dont know if gasoline is any better now. Motor oils certainly are. > > > > Today's gasolines are certainly a lot more volatile than they used to be. > That volatility would help with cold-starting. > > > -- > Tegger I cant even comment on it. Essentially all the gasolines of that day used tetraethyl lead or tetramethyl lead as octane improvers. Now none of the US gasolines have them. That might be a clue as to how and why gasoline formulations may have changed.
From: Tegger on 3 Jan 2010 15:57
"hls" <hls(a)nospam.nix> wrote in news:gtidnZLlm81GYt3WnZ2dnUVZ_sidnZ2d(a)giganews.com: > > "Tegger" <invalid(a)invalid.inv> wrote in message > news:Xns9CF595D4FF494tegger(a)208.90.168.18... >> >> >> >> Today's gasolines are certainly a lot more volatile than they used to >> be. That volatility would help with cold-starting. >> >> >> -- >> Tegger > > I cant even comment on it. Essentially all the gasolines of that day > used tetraethyl lead or tetramethyl lead as octane improvers. Now > none of the US gasolines have them. That might be a clue as to how > and why gasoline formulations may have changed. > > The only reason I "know" this is because I see it mentioned all the time in the classic car magazines. It seems modern fuels have a tendency to cause vapor lock in classics, which were designed for use with much less volatile fuels. -- Tegger |