Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

LeVeL;n3554855 said:
Europeans have the crappiest cars but the best drivers. Every time I'm on that side of the ocean I notice it. Just had a Renault Megane wagon for a week in Portugal. Reasonably comfortable, had some nice tech (the speed limiter function is brilliant), and faster than my last rental, a Fabia... But good G-d was I happy to climb back into the Jeep at the airport. 99% of the cars in Europe are little slow diesels and there seem to be fewer "middle class" cars (saw one BMW 340i and two Miatas) than high-end ones (AMG Mercs, Bentleys, Alfa 4Cs, Porsches, etc).

All y'all are great drivers though. Everyone seems to pay attention and no one ever hogs the left lane. Fog light discipline is also on-point. Well done. Now figure out how to get cheaper gas so you can buy fun cars :p




Edit: speaking of fog light discipline, as if on cue this morning:

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It’s not just gas prices it’s also massive ass taxes. I can venture a guess as to lack of “middle class” cars. They are too expensive to buy/maintain for common folks and too pedestrian for those with money.
 
When I rented a Toyota Aygo in Isle of Skye, I used 2/3 of a tank, or about 22 liters (just under 6 Freedom Gallons) - it cost nearly 40 GBP to fill it up (about $52 US). That's more than filling up my Xterra from empty.
 
Blind_Io;n3554866 said:
When I rented a Toyota Aygo in Isle of Skye, I used 2/3 of a tank, or about 22 liters (just under 6 Freedom Gallons) - it cost nearly 40 GBP to fill it up (about $52 US). That's more than filling up my Xterra from empty.
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I'm not saying that fuel is cheap there, only saying that there are other factors that control the types of cars being bought.
 
TIL Volvo used a Chevy Citation to test the 5cyl engine and M55 gearbox destined to go into the 850.

When the 5-cilinder engine (the first version had 114 bhp) and M55 gearbox were ready Volvo purchased a Chevrolet Citation. Reason for this car was the size of it: it had exact the same measures as the Project G2-car and was a frontwheel-drive. Volvo putted the M55 gearbox and 5-cilinder X-100 engine into it and started testing. During the first tests it seemed that the engine and gearbox were really good and completely matches the requirements and expectations Volvo had of it. The designer-team had decided the G2-car should have a 5-cilinder engine!
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http://www.volvotips.com/index.php/850-2/history-volvo-850/
 
narf;n3554868 said:
Almost two gbp per litre sounds like you got ripped off :p
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When there is only one gas station for 45 miles in any direction, you pay what you pay.
 
Blind_Io;n3554884 said:
When there is only one gas station for 45 miles in any direction, you pay what you pay.
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:eek: where have you been on the Isle? If you found such a remote place, only fair to compare it to Furnace Creek or something like that.
 
LeVeL;n3554888 said:
Where is _HighVoltage_ anyways?
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"It's almost the end of the first year of vB5, and only the loyalists remain..." :p
 
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Spectre;n3554913 said:
Blinding oncoming traffic with his fog lights when there is no fog or other precipitation and driving in the oncoming traffic lane? :p
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To be fair, fog lights should never blind oncoming traffic because they're supposed to be aimed pretty low. I use mine at night on tight backroads sometimes to illuminate what's really close in front and off to the sides.
 
So.

Went to prepare the spare EJ22 for swapping into the Legacy.

Wrong heads. Single-port exhaust. I didn't even know that was a thing!

Ain't puttin' that shit on. So mix and match the heads from the '90 engine to the '98 block.

Pull the heads off the donor engine and....

The coolant system has at least 3 different kinds of weirdassed sludge in it. Some white creamy stuff. Some yellow snotty stuff, and some yellow gelatin like stuff that I'm pretty sure is Stop Leak. Sigh.

Shouldn't be too hard to flush out, since open deck....

Went to drag the Legacy down to the garage to pull its engine out, and the damn rear brakes were locked up solid.

Removed both rear discs (they were hung up on the parking drum). Finally got it dragged down to the garage at the end of the day.
 
I also can't find much information on the combination I'm going to be building (phase 2 block with the high-compression pistons and phase 1 heads with the small combustion chamber)... And since I'm going to be trying to run the factory computer from the damned 80's, fuck knows what's going to happen with the wonky high compression ratio I'm going to end up with.

Maybe I should put in a wideband....
 
LeVeL;n3554925 said:
To be fair, fog lights should never blind oncoming traffic because they're supposed to be aimed pretty low. I use mine at night on tight backroads sometimes to illuminate what's really close in front and off to the sides.
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IIRC, he put HIDs in his - so the projection and cutoff are trashed.
 
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