Welcome to the IHoP

[///M5 2,833]

It just seems to me that GM and Ford are building these proof-of-concept vehicles that may be great technologically, but Toyota and Honda are laughing their way to the future in a Camry/Civic.

To be sure, I think there are major problems with the way Toyota has been pushing hybrids, but I'm just shaking my head at how GM is thinking they can be profitable with what they're doing.

GM's first decent 4 door car came out this year though, the Malibu is finally not a huge POS. The new Ford Taurus/500 & Fusion are nice as well. I actually think that Detroit finally understood the err in its ways and now if they can just get out from under the union crap the tables may turn.

[///M5 2,833]

Eff the bio fuels. They all just need to come together and get the hydrogen thing done. IF everyone does it, it will be easy and less expensive not to mention the effect it will have on the environment, although I read that water vapor is a dangerous greenhouse gas? How the fuck is that possible?

I stopped by a company making a green diesel this week. Rather cool technology that could easily yield pickup truck mpg in the 50-60 range.

[///M5 2,833]

ok, I'll type this out

Cause Du Jour

Thank you for the thoroughly enjoyable article on E85 in the Jan. '08 issue. You are to be lauded for refraining from the political environmental scaremongering from the far left and the denial from the far right. Biofuels are only the latest cause du jour that our nadless politicians use to appease the enviro-extremists among us and to extract lobbyist funds for their next re-election efforts (I call is criminal bribery). Energy independence from Middle East tyrants comes from only one decisive initiative - drill here at home for our own 20-plus trillion barrels of oil reserves, within and off our shores. Period.

It is well accepted that alcohols as racing fuels are superior to gasoline. So is nitro in any blend, and hydrazine. But none of those fuels is readily available, acceptable, or economically viable as everyday motor fuel. There is only one cheap, available, clean, and powerful liquid at our current state of scientific maturity: gasoline.

I have a flex-fuel vehicle that gets 32 mpg on gas but only 21 mpg on E85. Moreover, it runs poorly until warmed up a bit. Your admission that the Btu content (two-thirds) and volumes (almost double) of alcohol fuels required for the same power output are mostly correct. As for E85 costing $2.80 versus $3.15 for regular gas, that is the result of deep subsidies extracted from all of us taxpayers. Without those subsidies ethanol would retail for around $4.00 per gallon. At two-thirds mpg, that is about $5.25 per gallon. Economical? No to mention that the cost of corn has risen about 350 percent in the last 18 months. Some food prices have doubled, And at this level, plans for new ethanol distilleries are now on hold, with others cutting back production. Today's fat subsidies can't cover the losses at current corn prices. Yet our government still subsidizes sugar, a better biofuel stock.

The by-products of burning gas are known to us all: CO2, CO, water vapor (the most massive greenhouse gas), and NOx. All are currently treated by catalysts to a neraly imperceptible level per mile, reduced to about a hundredth of what my '58 Chevy emitted, and there are about 10 times more cars today. Do the math. Can you say clean air today? Biofuels also produce the same pollutant volumes per pound burned, plus the compound acetaldehyde, a respiratory irritant, a potential carcinogen, and the major contributor to photochemical smog. Here is some research data for you to digest. For the total production cycle to produce a gallon of liquid fuels, it takes 9 to 12 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol, versus 1 to 2 gallons to produce a gallon of gasoline. Ethanol requires 10 to 12 gallons of petroleum crude (or 1 ton of coal) per gallon in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, cultivation, transportation, distribution, and storage controls. Gasoline, on the other hand, comes directly from crude. As for by-products of production, there are 19 gallons of recoverable liquid fuels from a standard 54.5 gallon barrel of crude. We get plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, medicines, and a diverse lubricants spectrum from the remaining 35.5 gallons of petroleum. And the dregs left over we use to pave our roads. In fact, petroleum is nearly 100 percent usable in a wide variety of industries, with little to no waste products. Biofuel production by-products have little value beyond maybe animal feed additives or bulk toxic landfill mass.

Finally, for us humans to supplant all our global liquid fuel needs with biofuels would require the conversion of about 40 percent of the total global arable land area to corn and/or sugar cane, which would not leave enough land to feed humanity. Nor can our planet accept the drawdown of CO2 these plants would absorb in the quantity required. Remember, CO2, is a plant food, not a pollutant that the environmentalists would have you believe. And, at only 320 parts per million in our atmosphere (0.032 percent), the drawdown of this crucial gas would be as, or more, environmentally catastrophic to all life in our closed biosphere as humanity (allegedly) is increasing it too much. This is the "duh factor" of using biofuels as our primary motor fuel.

Funny, I stopped by HPD (Honda IRL Engine division) today. Cool projects upcoming!

[///M5 2,833]

chit i wish i could get a federal job, or at least a city job..the kind where 8 people stand around and only 1 is working and the other 8 are just watching him..

Sounds like my job. I am only a work study at a college though. Summertime I mow lawns and take long cigarette breaks. That's about it besides the occasional landscaping.

which college?

[denalilvr 0]

what does everyone think of the new trucks taking e85 fuel? i noticed its cheaper then regular gas by about $0.50 a gallon

[dem beats 1,223]

i'm against all corn based fuel.

[dem beats 1,223]

I want my back yard back, I want to grill....

[///M5 2,833]

chit I'm off to Kwik Trip for a bit.

BTW while i'm gone. Does anyone know what a Kwik Trip is besides me?

Uhh, ya. I don't frequent them though. Shell ftw.

[topgun 262]

E85 doesn't have as much energy in it, so it isn't worth it to me. Plus we don't own any flex fuel vehicles.

[topgun 262]

Hopefully my friends mom is staying late tonight in town, if she is we are all partying with her.

milf?

Naaa, she is just pretty cool, no milf though.

Doesn't look like she stayed in town long enough either.

[topgun 262]

Ryan, is your new IBM a thinkpad?

It is, I fricking love this thing. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is in the market for one that doesn't need a flashy fashion statement and can spend the little extra $$$.

I can go more indepth if you like too.

[Acidburn 10]

video of the 2010 Camaro at Nurburgring:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Gener...photopanel..2.*

The first 2010 camaro drag racing car has also been built, can be seen in gm hi-performance magazine iirc.

GM High-Tech Performance or Chevy High-Performance?

and which issue?

June CHP and pretty useless as it is all glass anyways.

wtf, why can't I find this

[///M5 2,833]

Of course, I've got a fucking toolbox full of shit but the one size jeweler's screwdriver I need to tighten down the cartridge is missing...probably out in the van somewhere

Times like this that CDs seem so much easier

Exactly why I always buy at least two of every hand tool. I fucking can't keep track of shit.

[topgun 262]

Ryan, did you just drill a hole in the internal baffle or found a way to get it around the bottom of it?

Yep, easiest way i found to do it was put the wire in before i glued the last side on, then I just duct taped the wire where I wanted it on the baffle.

I'd probably just drop it down the hole in the front, then tip it over on the side, then fish it out that way though the opening.

[Acidburn 10]

ok, I'll type this out

Cause Du Jour

Thank you for the thoroughly enjoyable article on E85 in the Jan. '08 issue. You are to be lauded for refraining from the political environmental scaremongering from the far left and the denial from the far right. Biofuels are only the latest cause du jour that our nadless politicians use to appease the enviro-extremists among us and to extract lobbyist funds for their next re-election efforts (I call is criminal bribery). Energy independence from Middle East tyrants comes from only one decisive initiative - drill here at home for our own 20-plus trillion barrels of oil reserves, within and off our shores. Period.

It is well accepted that alcohols as racing fuels are superior to gasoline. So is nitro in any blend, and hydrazine. But none of those fuels is readily available, acceptable, or economically viable as everyday motor fuel. There is only one cheap, available, clean, and powerful liquid at our current state of scientific maturity: gasoline.

I have a flex-fuel vehicle that gets 32 mpg on gas but only 21 mpg on E85. Moreover, it runs poorly until warmed up a bit. Your admission that the Btu content (two-thirds) and volumes (almost double) of alcohol fuels required for the same power output are mostly correct. As for E85 costing $2.80 versus $3.15 for regular gas, that is the result of deep subsidies extracted from all of us taxpayers. Without those subsidies ethanol would retail for around $4.00 per gallon. At two-thirds mpg, that is about $5.25 per gallon. Economical? No to mention that the cost of corn has risen about 350 percent in the last 18 months. Some food prices have doubled, And at this level, plans for new ethanol distilleries are now on hold, with others cutting back production. Today's fat subsidies can't cover the losses at current corn prices. Yet our government still subsidizes sugar, a better biofuel stock.

The by-products of burning gas are known to us all: CO2, CO, water vapor (the most massive greenhouse gas), and NOx. All are currently treated by catalysts to a neraly imperceptible level per mile, reduced to about a hundredth of what my '58 Chevy emitted, and there are about 10 times more cars today. Do the math. Can you say clean air today? Biofuels also produce the same pollutant volumes per pound burned, plus the compound acetaldehyde, a respiratory irritant, a potential carcinogen, and the major contributor to photochemical smog. Here is some research data for you to digest. For the total production cycle to produce a gallon of liquid fuels, it takes 9 to 12 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol, versus 1 to 2 gallons to produce a gallon of gasoline. Ethanol requires 10 to 12 gallons of petroleum crude (or 1 ton of coal) per gallon in the form of fertilizers, pesticides, cultivation, transportation, distribution, and storage controls. Gasoline, on the other hand, comes directly from crude. As for by-products of production, there are 19 gallons of recoverable liquid fuels from a standard 54.5 gallon barrel of crude. We get plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, medicines, and a diverse lubricants spectrum from the remaining 35.5 gallons of petroleum. And the dregs left over we use to pave our roads. In fact, petroleum is nearly 100 percent usable in a wide variety of industries, with little to no waste products. Biofuel production by-products have little value beyond maybe animal feed additives or bulk toxic landfill mass.

Finally, for us humans to supplant all our global liquid fuel needs with biofuels would require the conversion of about 40 percent of the total global arable land area to corn and/or sugar cane, which would not leave enough land to feed humanity. Nor can our planet accept the drawdown of CO2 these plants would absorb in the quantity required. Remember, CO2, is a plant food, not a pollutant that the environmentalists would have you believe. And, at only 320 parts per million in our atmosphere (0.032 percent), the drawdown of this crucial gas would be as, or more, environmentally catastrophic to all life in our closed biosphere as humanity (allegedly) is increasing it too much. This is the "duh factor" of using biofuels as our primary motor fuel.

Funny, I stopped by HPD (Honda IRL Engine division) today. Cool projects upcoming!

nothing you can talk about, I assume?

[///M5 2,833]

I can't find anything wrong with the brake system with out completely tearing apart the front end...must have have been one of those acts of god...or cthulu..or FSM...or something...

Is it a Chevy?

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

I can't find anything wrong with the brake system with out completely tearing apart the front end...must have have been one of those acts of god...or cthulu..or FSM...or something...

Is it a Chevy?

2001 Ford Ranger

[Acidburn 10]

what does everyone think of the new trucks taking e85 fuel? i noticed its cheaper then regular gas by about $0.50 a gallon

read that big thing that ///M5 just quoted

[topgun 262]

Funny thing is, even I think those are overkill and I am usually the king of overkill.

Damn, I was hoping we could convince you to go overkill on full range horns.

I need to hear more, but not my thing atm.

I dearly loved the Cain & Cain stuff at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. It just sounded right to me, the second best thing that I liked there was the B&W room setup using their diamond signature series 2-way stuff. The cain and cain room was also the most laid back best atmosphere room, none of the big word BS like some of the companies. *They didn't like it if you called them out on it either. *

[///M5 2,833]

Crap, gotta catch a plane

(marks spot 12809)

[topgun 262]

Put my Maggies up on craigslist for 350$, hope someone wants them because I could reallllly use that cash.

I would SO love those things, but damn on shipping and just wasting all my money on a new TV.

200$ +shipping and they are yours.

If you were coming up, I'd send you the cash now and you could bring them when you come....but your not coming

I'd like to come, but not sure if I can yet, I'll know closer to the date, but my guess is not.

[dem beats 1,223]

is there some MN event going on?

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Enjoy Acidburn

[Acidburn 10]

Ryan, is your new IBM a thinkpad?

It is, I fricking love this thing. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is in the market for one that doesn't need a flashy fashion statement and can spend the little extra $$$.

I can go more indepth if you like too.

Werd

My sister is currently looking to replace her 5 year old Thinkpad and just wants something reliable, light, and bullshit-less.

It's funny you mention the fashion statement part though because she definitely is trying to avoid a Mac.

[Acidburn 10]

Enjoy Acidburn

seen it before and