Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[KD]

Awesome. Those look really pretty sleek

Yeah, they're airfoil in shape so there shouldn't be too much wind noise with them.
I got them to mount the Kayaks on - there's another attachment for that yet to do.
Railton

 

[Bubba]

Awesome. Those look really pretty sleek

Yeah, they're airfoil in shape so there shouldn't be too much wind noise with them.
I got them to mount the Kayaks on - there's another attachment for that yet to do.
Railton

Careful.  They produce 5,000 lbs of downforce at 100 km/h. 

[Gurgie]

Put a new battery in the 951, old one wouldn't hold a charge anymore. Was weak when I took it outta storage & only got worse. $175 out the door



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[ArticSteve]

When the FEDs feed us their BS relating to the Consumer Price Index they certainly haven't been including vehicle batteries.  Wicked inflation on those things.  Try replacing an AMG primarily required because of stop/start. 

[Firm]

More progress on the yellow MGB. Plus catching up on a few cosmetic things on the home fleet:

Finished up the re-finishing on the XKR calipers by replacing the 'R' decals with fresh ones:




And replaced the grille emblem on the Escalade with a new-ish one. These are super hard to come by, unless you want to pay big $ at the dealer. Awhile ago I was lucky enough to find a nearly new grille (the whole thing) on FB marketplace and got it for a good price. The grille was black though, so I swapped the emblem onto my original grille....Pained me a bit to take it off the perfect black grille (it's nice enough that the seller had it hanging on the wall in her apartment downtown), but whatever.

BEFORE:



AFTER

[Scaerio]

 

It's all about the accessories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK0W1GYUPmg

[BWII]

Took the truck in for its second timing chain/phasers...yay!  At least it was within warranty this time, no arguing there and no special favours.

Brought home this...



It's actually a good looking car.  And it's a hybrid.  On the way home set the cruise at 100, tailwind...

Settled at 5.4...impressive!!

Southbound there's some construction and I was about to hit the - button on the cruise and all of a sudden the car just drops to 80 kmh...nice! I would've gone 90+, there's no one around anyway, but as if my magic, it dropped right in line with no ticket time speeds.  Interesting.  Gave me a minute to look at the other buttons...even has radar cruise, couldn't tell if it had lane assist, but probably not since I drifted across the center line a couple of times and it never told me not to.

Interior's not horrible. Nothing spectacular...heard a buzzing coming from the right side...would get annoying.  Might have been nothing. Might have been the dealer crap on the seat.




This was my final score when I got home from the dealer.


Now...what sucks...I'm sitting all the way back in the seat, no slouching.  Quit trying to find my junk!     The seats only come halfway (if that) down my leg, and I'm like Straightpipes Jacob - 5 feet 11 and a half inches.


Holy fack are they short!  Back rests are OK, my wife of course said they were great, much better than the seats in my Fusion (I made her go take it for a drive).
So I measured the 2019 seats vs my 2011.
Mine - seat back to knee joint - 20"
2019 - 18.5"

Width of seat - 2011 - 19" seam to seam
2019 - about 20" seam to seam, but the side bolsters are much more pronounced so the seat cushion is more like 16" where mine is 19".

Rear seats in the 19 were about a half inch deeper, but the seat bottom was narrower again. 

Rear seat knee room in the '11 was 9" behind me as the driver...and I forgot to check the 2019.  Was much the same, just the seats felt like I was sitting on a short chair for little kids or the narrow one for skinny people.  If only I hadn't grown...up.  Or out. 

[dkaz]

I like those Fusion Hybrids.

What the heck are phasers anyway? To me, it sounds like they go pew pew.

[BWII]

Cam phasers...I don't know what they actually do, all I know is Ford apparently has no idea how to do them.  And the timing chains stretch, which makes it sound like an old diesel on startup.  Probably all Chinese made shyte, just like the gearbox in a Mustang.  It (phaser issue) even affects the 5.0 but there's a phaser delete kit you can get, but for whatever reason, there's none for the 3.5 (I couldn't find one and the warranty guy said he's never seen one either).  Not sure it fixes the timing chain problem.

I get to be the first one they get back for a 2nd kick at the can.  Probably because everyone else sells their truck as soon as they can after the first time...   Should get a '19...on a 4 yr lease. 0% right now on leases.  If only they weren't 2X the $.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

The cam phaser is the gear at the front of the camshaft, it's basically the sprocket over which the timing chain passes.  On a non-VVT engine, it would be a simple sprocket that is fixed to the camshaft.  But on a VVT engine, the phaser allows the sprocket to be adjusted relative to the camshaft, in order to advance or retard the valve timing. 

[Arthur Dent]

Seems like Ford has had issues with them for forever.

[Bubba]

Good looking car. 

[Fobroader]

Funny that VTEC has worked since...well forever, but Ford can't figure it out.

[BWII]

The cam phaser is the gear at the front of the camshaft, it's basically the sprocket over which the timing chain passes. 

Like...duh! Right?      Sometimes BW...just think about it. 

So is there any harm in disabling the VVT on an engine?  Better power? Worse mileage?  Pinging?  Or just straight up work like an engine should? 

Funny that VTEC has worked since...well forever, but Ford can't figure it out.

I know, right?  Too bad Chevy/GMS's are so fugly, and RAM...well...still a Dodge (such a pretty Dodge... )... 

[Fobroader]

No no, Dodge is still just a shipping container for the 6BT diesel. As for GM, I would still get a power programmer and shut off all that variable displacement . Once its out of warranty you can get all of that stuff pulled and stick a cam in it that is worthy of an LS 

[Great_Big_Abyss]

The cam phaser is the gear at the front of the camshaft, it's basically the sprocket over which the timing chain passes. 

Like...duh! Right?      Sometimes BW...just think about it. 

So is there any harm in disabling the VVT on an engine?  Better power? Worse mileage?  Pinging?  Or just straight up work like an engine should? 

Funny that VTEC has worked since...well forever, but Ford can't figure it out.

I know, right?  Too bad Chevy/GMS's are so fugly, and RAM...well...still a Dodge (such a pretty Dodge... )...

Yes, there are disadvantages.  Many people actually do a Cam Phaser delete, which just locks the cam phaser in at the base valve timing.  The biggest disadvantage is that you won't get the benefits of VVT, i.e. at higher RPM's, you going to lose out on power and torque.  This isn't a big issue if you just toodle around using your truck as a daily driver, but if you do lots of towing and your engine spends a lot of time at higher RPM's, you're going to lose out on available power when you need it the most. 

The lesson learned here?  If you have a Ford and your engine has cam phaser issues, just sell it and buy a Tundra instead.  The 5.7L has 4 camshafts, each with VVT, and Toyota has never had an issue them. 

[BWII]

Oh but for the lack of power...an unboxed frame...and the horrible fuel mileage.  I think with a trailer like mine, it would suck a Tundra down to 4 mpg.  Then again...my BIL has had his for oh it's gotta be 10 yrs now, engine was replaced under warranty early on...and it's an ugly sandstone 2wd and he tows a 34' (!!!) monster with it all over the place.  BC, Ontario, Wyoming, Texas...and yet it still does it.  Next time I see him - could be years from now, now, who knows, despite them being in Niverville - I'll have to ask.  He should really have a 3/4 ton for his trailer, but somehow it does it without breaking.  Not that mine's broken per se...and I love the turbo pull compared to an NA 8, no comparison, but this is kinda stupid on Ford's part.  It's as if Apple owns most of the shares...made to die.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

Oh but for the lack of power...an unboxed frame...and the horrible fuel mileage.  I think with a trailer like mine, it would suck a Tundra down to 4 mpg.  Then again...my BIL has had his for oh it's gotta be 10 yrs now, engine was replaced under warranty early on...and it's an ugly sandstone 2wd and he tows a 34' (!!!) monster with it all over the place.  BC, Ontario, Wyoming, Texas...and yet it still does it.  Next time I see him - could be years from now, now, who knows, despite them being in Niverville - I'll have to ask.  He should really have a 3/4 ton for his trailer, but somehow it does it without breaking.  Not that mine's broken per se...and I love the turbo pull compared to an NA 8, no comparison, but this is kinda stupid on Ford's part.  It's as if Apple owns most of the shares...made to die.

381hp and 401ft-lbs of torque aren't enough for you? 

And who says that a fully boxed frame is a necessity for a half-ton truck?  There is so much more to it than that.  Type and thickness of steel, the dimensions of the frame, number/size of crossmembers etc.  Just saying 'fully boxed frame' means squat without all the other information.  A great example to support my argument is that most commercial trucks use open C-channel frame, including Ford's own F-550 truck.  Fully boxed frame is just a nice thing to say when marketing the truck.  Ultimately, as long as the frame is designed to resist the forces placed upon it, who cares whether it's fully boxed or open C-channel, as long as it does the job that is asked of it.

Fuel economy...don't use my truck's numbers, they're skewed by short trips.  Overall the Tundra isn't that much worse than your very own F-150 with the older 3.5EB.  And it certainly won't need to go into the shop for cam-phaser maintenance every second year. 

[Fobroader]

Oh but for the lack of power...an unboxed frame...and the horrible fuel mileage.  I think with a trailer like mine, it would suck a Tundra down to 4 mpg.  Then again...my BIL has had his for oh it's gotta be 10 yrs now, engine was replaced under warranty early on...and it's an ugly sandstone 2wd and he tows a 34' (!!!) monster with it all over the place.  BC, Ontario, Wyoming, Texas...and yet it still does it.  Next time I see him - could be years from now, now, who knows, despite them being in Niverville - I'll have to ask.  He should really have a 3/4 ton for his trailer, but somehow it does it without breaking.  Not that mine's broken per se...and I love the turbo pull compared to an NA 8, no comparison, but this is kinda stupid on Ford's part.  It's as if Apple owns most of the shares...made to die.

381hp and 401ft-lbs of torque aren't enough for you? 

And who says that a fully boxed frame is a necessity for a half-ton truck?  There is so much more to it than that.  Type and thickness of steel, the dimensions of the frame, number/size of crossmembers etc.  Just saying 'fully boxed frame' means squat without all the other information.  A great example to support my argument is that most commercial trucks use open C-channel frame, including Ford's own F-550 truck.  Fully boxed frame is just a nice thing to say when marketing the truck.  Ultimately, as long as the frame is designed to resist the forces placed upon it, who cares whether it's fully boxed or open C-channel, as long as it does the job that is asked of it.

Fuel economy...don't use my truck's numbers, they're skewed by short trips.  Overall the Tundra isn't that much worse than your very own F-150 with the older 3.5EB.  And it certainly won't need to go into the shop for cam-phaser maintenance every second year.

The fact that the Tundra is such a known quality product would make it my no brainer 1/2 ton choice. Even being a GM guy, I know that the Tundra will be buried with me which for a truck, is my main concern.

[bridgecity]

I've said many times on here what I get towing my 31' trailer, and I don't think its any worse than you BW.  Typical day would be 25-26l/100km, with a range from 22-32 depending on the wind.