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Scavenger

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  3. Happen to anyone else?

    in Maintenance & Modifications

    Posted

    There are a lot of Winter things to learn around here, even though DC doesn't really have harsh Winters compared to just a bit North, MD, PA and Northward, we get our share.

     

    There always a lot of discussion at this time of year about tires, and a general consensus that summer performance tires aren't exactly satisfactory once December arrives.

     

    I, like many others, have a second set of wheels with all-seasons on them, once they wear out, I may switch to actual winter tires, and that's been an ongoing debate, but, bottom-line, most agree Summer tires are hard and slippery in the cold and sometimes icy DC winters.

  7. Interesting Finding

    in Maintenance & Modifications

    Posted

    A couple of points about automatics...

     

    1. WOT kick-down has been around forever. Older cars, 1960's, 70's.. possibly 80's too, were cable actuated (well, most everything was... that or vacuum). At wide open throttle, they'd drop a gear, so for a Powerglide, it would drop from 2 to 1 (only 2 speeds), for a Turbo-Hydramatic, it drops from 3 to 2 (three-speed). Of course, with later tranny's with more gears, such as a 700R4... gear numbers increased.

     

    2. One trick often used with automatics is to increase the "stall speed" of the torque converter. I believe this involves changing the viscosity of the fluid, but may also involve changing the number or shape/size of the internal vanes, so that the engine revs higher before power is transferred through the drivetrain. This has further been augmented with the introduction of lock-up torque converters (1980s'?) which provide an actual mechanical connection through the tranny.

     

    Automatics do have a tendency to mute the driving experience, but this is less pronounced on large engines that can produce decent torque at low RPM's. Little 4-bangers don't cope quite so well, although, todays automatic transmissions are super good compared to those of decades ago.

     

    :biggrin: (This is a double-post because it seemed fitting to two different threads!)

  11. DC Area Photo Spots

    in Photography

    Posted

    All, I'll really like to get some updated artwork / pics to dress up our forum, so if you have something, let me or one of the board members know. Those banners at the top are quite old :laugh:

     

    Especially some stuff with a "DC" theme to them... but, any DCMM MINI stuff is cool. ...also, notice the width to height aspect ratio.

  19. Check Engine Light?

    in Maintenance & Modifications

    Posted

    Cricket's CEL came on this afternoon. It's yellow, nothing is blinking and the car runs fine. I called Sterling and they aren't taking appointments until September, but can do "emergency service" next week. My SA didn't think it was a big deal, probably "just a sensor".

     

    Is it ok to drive?

     

    Oh, and I did check the gas cap. :itsme:

    WOW!, That's why I can't wait for MoA to open! :top:
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