Useless Information

[avalonandl]

Didnt want to mesd with wire haness and bolts. The job i did was adequate. Not top notch but it idles smooth now.

 

[George B]

Didnt want to mesd with wire haness and bolts. The job i did was adequate. Not top notch but it idles smooth now.

I always take ours off to get at the back. If you do be careful that back lip is really sharp!

 

[avalonandl]

The Denali is next. After i get up north to Lockdown Central aka/ Michigan....

 

[mountie]

The Denali is next. After i get up north to Lockdown Central aka/ Michigan....

Careful with the razor wire

And hurry back !!

 

[swathdiver]

Just completed a run to our state's capital to visit with family. Filled up with E15 and some E85 for a 16% alcohol content. Set the cruise for 73 mph and the average mpg crept up to 18.3 until we hit the end of the Turnpike and started climbing and going through the hill country to Ocala. Soon after passing the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing (did I tell you I've been trying to stop by there for thirty years?) we hit a torrential storm with lightning strikes turning night into day for about 90 miles.

Speed went down to 55-60 but some of those big rigs were mighty rude, one came down a hill in the left lane and expected me to move over and then rode my bumper and tried to hit me with his trailer when he passed us. With all that water on the ground and the truck occasionally slipping, I wasn't about to start changing lanes to appease some mad man. We then headed west on I-10 and around Live Oak, the storm began to abate and we slowly resumed our cruising speed again. By the time we arrived at the hotel the average mpg was just above 17. A couple back and forths to a relative's home through the steep hills on the back roads, idling while my wife ran into the stores for "just one thing", the mileage was down to 16.6 on the DIC when I refueled.

Average speed for that tank was 47.62 MPH for 16.26 MPG. Even with the price of fuel going back up, we still broke a record, eleven and a half cents a mile cost to drive. Fuel consumption was 2.93 GPH over 8.46 hours.

Late last year we had another tank very similar to this, 47.61 MPH average speed for 17.46 MPG with an alcohol content of 6%. That run lasted 8.8 hours and burned fuel at 2.76 GPH.

While there are a few stations in our state's capital that carry E85 and E15, they were not close to where we were driving. So I refueled at a Chevron with 93 octane gasoline that has an alcohol content of 5%. The DIC MPG sits at 17.6 MPG. It almost hit 18 mpg until we pulled into a rest area just north of the Turnpike, then went downhill from there. The opposite of what happened on the way up! Not bad come to think of it since the GVW coming back was easily 7400 pounds! LOL

For about an hour, a barn door Suburban and I stayed in formation with the cruise control set and I didn't touch it while we went up and down hills and passed other vehicles. Thought that was cool since we had different engines, transmission and probably gear ratios and aerodynamics. About a bazillion K2s of all kinds flew by me, along with about everybody else both coming and going. Lots of Terrains and Acadias too, more numerous than Chevys even were seen on the highways.

The mode door acted up on the trip north. The Tech-2 was plugged in and my wife could not get that one to move. So we pulled into a rest area, shut the motor off for ten seconds and it never bothered us again. Will order up a new one after finishing up here.

Let's see, another observation is that the full length truck proved its worth once again. We headed up with three souls and came back with 5 and all of their luggage plus the tools and towing gear and oil and such ALL fit in the rear leaving the passengers unencumbered with luggage. While in town, we took six to dinner and flip and folding the captain's chair up allowed my elderly mother to climb aboard and sit in the 3rd row so more infirm passengers could sit in the 2nd row. The former and probably the latter would not have been possible with the shorter wagon.

One last thing, on level ground at 73 mph the engine load was about 61%. Don't have anything to compare it to so the next time you guys are out driving around bored with your Tech-2s and Torque Pro apps, fire them up and run a comparison OK? LOL

 

[mountie]

Swathdiver...... Plan to visit the Garlit's Museum early in the day so you can see everything in both buildings, without feeling in a hurry. Also.... As you stand at the front entry, look to the left and there is another building across the pavement. That is Don's race shop..... if the doors are open, maybe Don will be inside.

 

[avalonandl]

Wasn't "Big Daddy Don" the first to go 200 mph in the 1/4????

 

[tom3]

One last thing, on level ground at 73 mph the engine load was about 61%.

That seems really high. Our Tahoe drops down to four cylinders in similar conditions. That big V8 running on all cylinders should be about 30% I'd think. Interesting post, good reading.

 

[mountie]

Wasn't "Big Daddy Don" the first to go 200 mph in the 1/4????

Garlits made the 200 MPH speed "official" by also backing it up on his next run " as per rules".... in 1964.

But in 1960, 2 guys made the FIRST 200 mph runs. But could not back them up "officially".

( I would imagine the more exciting part of a 200 mph run was trying to STOP.... Considering the type of cars' technology back then. !!)

 

[swathdiver]

That seems really high. Our Tahoe drops down to four cylinders in similar conditions. That big V8 running on all cylinders should be about 30% I'd think. Interesting post, good reading.

Maybe so, the GVW was at least 7400 pounds, maybe 7500. During the time AFM was active, it rarely worked on level ground, the motor just didn't make enough power with all that weight to let AFM work. It would need at least another 5 horsepower per cylinder.

A couple of years ago the load was 28% at idle and now is 26% at idle on average, it fluctuates at idle of course.

Just found some notes...

A couple of years ago I was doing MPG tests, 2-way averages and also recorded the high and low engine loads and then averaged them out on this chart I forgot about.

So, at 35 MPH the average load was 36.75%, 43.5% @40 MPH and 40% @ 45 MPH. At 50 MPH it was 45.5% and at 60 MPH it was 47%. This was just me in the truck if memory serves, GVW of around 6300 pounds.

Mountie, thanks for the tips about Don Garlits' place. I know he's getting on in years and want to go there before he passes. I missed the Roy Rogers museum! Would be cool to meet him and have the children meet him. When I was a boy, I met Ensign George Gay, the only survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8 during the Battle of Midway. My children got to meet several of the Tuskeegee Airmen and the crew of the Enola Gay; General Paul Tibbets dropped the first Atomic Bomb on Japan and more recently a survivor of the Bataan Death March. All made their mark in history as has Garlits.