Mid Grade gas makes noticeable difference on my Ranger

[Eddo Rogue]

I used to detail high end cars as a kid. As I was polishing his vintage 911 for the porsche parade (he got 1st place!), a wealthy man told me "float,fly or f*ck, its cheaper to rent"

I guess cars were the only thing worth owning lol

Years later my buddy got his pilots license, and his dad got a little cessna and rented a hanger. $180k for the plane, and $1100 bucks/mo for the hanger. Ended up selling the plane, we just rented as needed.

We flew a short trip north to visit my buddys brother around that time, and renting the plane was so much cheaper. Rental fee, fuel ins etc for the 3 day trip was around $500 bucks. Way better

Same with boats...we rented a pontoon boat in Havasu once and left the speedboats behind. It was around $250 per day including delivery, launch and pickup. It was way easier.

I think it only pays off if you use it very often. Like live near the airport or water.

 

[sgtsandman]

Yeah, but those are not street vehicles and I'm pretty sure they are emissions exempt. Whole different set of rules there.



That's echos something if been saying for a while, but people just treat it like crazy talk.

I keep hearing "people" say don't worry, they won't ban your gas cars and toys. They don't need to ban them, they only have to make it difficult or impossible to buy them right fuel. They're already getting close with the low sulfur diesel being bad for the older trucks.

The powers the be don't care, they can afford new stuff that works with the new fuels, or to upgrade their old stuff to work. For the rest of us its another form of control and way to increase their elitism.

Yep and the 2A community is having the same problem because the Fudds refuse to see what is going on and let bad laws get passed because their favored part of the sport and the firearms they like aren’t being effected.

Politicians are pushing what they want on us one way or another. Direct legislation or via the death of 1,000 cuts as they incrementally infringe more and more on the population.

 

[JoshT]

Yep and the 2A community is having the same problem

I know, well I know.

That reminds me, I need to get some.forms submitted this week, today if possible.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

That’s going to be a problem for the private aviation community since so many of the single owner planes are so old. New planes are so expensive the average person can’t afford them.

The replacement avgas is supposed to work without problems in older light aircraft.

Frankly, a lot of the aircraft-engine manufacturers have been stonewalling on this since 1980, when the EPA first brought up phasing out leaded avgas. The manufacturers kept building engines as always instead of developing replacement engines that could run on unleaded fuel without special additives. That's why it's taken so long to get replacement fuel.

 

[JoshT]

The replacement avgas is supposed to work without problems in older light aircraft.

Frankly, a lot of the aircraft-engine manufacturers have been stonewalling on this since 1980, when the EPA first brought up phasing out leaded avgas. The manufacturers kept building engines as always instead of developing replacement engines that could run on unleaded fuel without special additives. That's why it's taken so long to get replacement fuel.

It's been over 15 years since avaition maintenance school, so I may be remembering things wrong here. IIRC the main issues with having lead vs not having lead are detination and valve seats. I seem to recall that most of your avaition piston engines at that time still weren;t running hardened seats so it was the same issue as an older automotive engine without hardened valve seats. I think the lead also allowed higher compression ratios and better timing.

Higher quality gas can probably take care of the timing and detination issues. I would think if the valve seats are one of the major issues they could do a mod on the engines that allows for installing hardened seats at overhaul. Like I said it;'s been 15 years and I haven't dealt with that side of avaition since.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Yep and the 2A community is having the same problem because the Fudds refuse to see what is going on and let bad laws get passed because their favored part of the sport and the firearms they like aren’t being effected.

Politicians are pushing what they want on us one way or another. Direct legislation or via the death of 1,000 cuts as they incrementally infringe more and more on the population.

Idk if you drive around here it may appear as another problem they are trying to solve.

There is no possible way the the infrastructure can support the amount of traffic and cars that is here, factor incompetent driving, and nobody is getting anywhere.

The main problem is humans seem to prefer parallel over single file, and refuse to let anyone pass. Usually the far right lane is the only passing option (around the big rigs). I dont know how people even get speeding tickets anymore. 99% of the time I am stuck behind 2 or 6 lanes of Prius, going half the speed limit or less. Sometimes there will be miles of open highway in front of them, but they refuse to move, in any direction.

Also the fact that any jackass can get a POS vehicle for less than a bicycle means too many idiots with cars out there.

Imagine if back in the days horses were cheap, and everyone including those that cant ride had one or two or more....I'm sure it would cause problems.

Maybe not the best solution, but I think their approach to banning ICE and making EV's self driving is that it will bring vehicle ownage/usage back down to something modern civil engineering can sustain.

No joke, it takes me 1.5-3 hrs for a 13 mile commute any time of day besides late evening like after 3am, or late morning like after 930am but before lunch time rush...then schools get out the its work clock out...then you're screwed. But those few golden hours its like a 20 min drive, there is few enough idiots that one can lane change around them. Otherwise, Ride a motorcycle if you wanna get anywhere, maybe a horse.

It wouldnt be so frustrating if 99% of the traffic jams all the time wasn't due to simple incompetent driving.

 

[JoshT]

Idk if you drive around here it may appear as another problem they are trying to solve.

There is no possible way the the infrastructure can support the amount of traffic and cars that is here, factor incompetent driving, and nobody is getting anywhere.

The main problem is humans seem to prefer parallel over single file, and refuse to let anyone pass. Usually the far right lane is the only passing option (around the big rigs). I dont know how people even get speeding tickets anymore. 99% of the time I am stuck behind 2 or 6 lanes of Prius, going half the speed limit or less. Sometimes there will be miles of open highway in front of them, but they refuse to move, in any direction.

Also the fact that any jackass can get a POS vehicle for less than a bicycle means too many idiots with cars out there.

Imagine if back in the days horses were cheap, and everyone including those that cant ride had one or two or more....I'm sure it would cause problems.

Maybe not the best solution, but I think their approach to banning ICE and making EV's self driving is that it will bring vehicle ownage/usage back down to something modern civil engineering can sustain.

No joke, it takes me 1.5-3 hrs for a 13 mile commute any time of day besides late evening like after 3am, or late morning like after 930am but before lunch time rush...then schools get out the its work clock out...then you're screwed. But those few golden hours its like a 20 min drive, there is few enough idiots that one can lane change around them. Otherwise, Ride a motorcycle if you wanna get anywhere, maybe a horse.

It wouldnt be so frustrating if 99% of the traffic jams all the time wasn't due to simple incompetent driving.

EVs aren't the solution. Even if all of them were self driving and communicated/coordinated with each other there is only so much room on the roads. Their self driving algorithms are designed to react definsively, not offensively. They are going to react to stimuli and other vehicles nearly the same way a human driver would, they're just going to do it quicker and have more awareness of their surroundings. They also aren't going so slow down to gawk at something inthe other lane.

Your real problem is congestion. Too much traffic for the roads and at this point making the roads bigger isn't really an option. The solution is a SAFE, reliable, quick, public transportation system. Something that can carry enough people to take the load off the road way. Saves enough time that it is worthwhile to use. Has a good enough network that stops are convenient on both ends. It has to run like clockwork with almost no down time, or with redundancy built in. Most importantly the system and its statioons have to be safe. Doesn;t matter if it's the greatrest transportration system in the world if people won't use it because they are affraid of being robbed or worse, and have to deal with vagrants at every stop.

It, the whole country really, needs is high speed elevated rail and/or subway systems. It'll also need people to be willing to walk more than the length of a foot ball field. Of course if you get the congestion off the road, you could have an effective road based support system between the stations.

They've talked about doing a passenger rail system between a few of the major cities here in GA, possibly extending into neighboring states, and I think it would be a great move. I'd go to Atlanta or Savanah a lot more if it was as easy as hopping on a train and riding. Atlanta has the Marta transportation system that will get you within walking distance of almost anywhere you want to go. Savannah has public transportation too and is largely a walking town for the touristy areas. Heck, it would make it a lot easier to travel further as well. Hop a train to Atlanta, ride marta to the airport, hop a flight to wherever.

 

[sgtsandman]

A well designed and operated mass transportation that is safe to travel on might help but I don’t think it’s the entire solution.

Having people get out of the cities and immediate suburbs and just plain spread out would help too. But then you run into the road capacity problem again.

I think, not that will get you much, is too many people are crammed into too small of an area and the same goes with the places of employment.

The amount of time people are willing to put up with while trying to get from point A to point B in order to live in a metroplex is astounding. I live north of Pittsburgh. Not a large city compared to many and I avoid driving in to there like the plague. And the commute times are no where near as bad in places like California. Heck, if it wasn’t for my current employment, I would move out into the sticks in order to get away from it all even more. That will happen soon enough.

God bless you people who deal with city traffic everyday.

 

[John97]

The Shell station I normally go to has 87, 89, and 93. The 89 octane is ethanol-free, and marked as "recreational" gas.

 

[superj]

i hate going to any large city because of the traffic. i hate sitting there wasting my life. i would rather be out and away and drive some than sit in traffic

 

[Blmpkn]

i hate going to any large city because of the traffic. i hate sitting there wasting my life. i would rather be out and away and drive some than sit in traffic

I'll take the long way home if it means avoiding traffic.

Takes more gas, and takes a little more time... but at least I'm not stuck in damn traffic lol.

 

[RobbieD]

i hate going to any large city because of the traffic. i hate sitting there wasting my life. i would rather be out and away and drive some than sit in traffic

I'll take the long way home if it means avoiding traffic.

Takes more gas, and takes a little more time... but at least I'm not stuck in damn traffic lol.

Damn, this traffic jam
How I hate to be late
Hurts my motor to go so slow
Damn, this traffic jam
Time I get home my supper'll be cold

Damn, this traffic jam

So, I left my job 'bout five o'clock
15 minutes to go three blocks
Just in time to stand in line
The freeway looking like a parking lot

Damn, this traffic jam

So I almost had a heart attack
Looking in the rear view mirror
I saw myself the next car back
Looking in the rear view mirror
About to have a heart attack, I said

Damn, this traffic jam

Now when I die
I don't want no coffin
Thought 'bout it all too often
Just strap me in behind the wheel
And bury me with my automobile

Damn, this traffic jam

I used to think that I was cool
Driving around on fossil fuel
Then I found what I was doing
Was driving down, baby
I wasn't drving down the road
Just the road to ruin

- "Sweet Baby James" Taylor

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Around here the long way is also traffic jammed. Pedestrians and bicycles are able to move faster than vehicles.

 

[superj]

thats why i ride my mountain bike to work when the weather is ok. it takes 12 minutes to ride to work and sometimes takes 25 to drive the 2 miles from my house to the door of the building i work in

 

[sgtsandman]

Around here, it is the opposite. The 14 miles it takes about 30 minutes to drive to work. Riding a bike the same distance takes about 75 minutes to start until I build up enough strength and can whittle it down to less than an hour.

I do it for the exercise, weather permitting. Not out of necessity.