In reply to NickD :
City service vehicle. I have a refrigeration service company as a client, and at one time they had a whole bunch of 4.8 2500 Express and Savana vans. Quite adequate around town, and I bet the new 4.3 is pretty close in power to the 10 year-ago 4.8.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
300hp, by recollection.
One could get 4.2 V6s in the Econoline E250s. What is interesting is that the highest GVWR was with a 4.2, higher than the 4.6/5.4/6.8 models.
AT&T used them, so they probably were a large enough fleet to get their own special option package. And I think GVWR was just someone else's opinion, given the way they were loaded.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
TIL that apparently my battery charger has not been plugged in for some time- which means that it's possible that the E46's original battery that I thought wouldn't take a charge might still have been good, but the charger was unplugged and therefore wasn't trying to charge it up when I thought it was.
Oh well... the car likely needed a new battery, and thanks to getting that battery I now have a Costco membership which is proving to be quite useful as well.
NickD
MegaDork
11/12/22 12:41 p.m.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
300hp, by recollection.
One could get 4.2 V6s in the Econoline E250s. What is interesting is that the highest GVWR was with a 4.2, higher than the 4.6/5.4/6.8 models.
AT&T used them, so they probably were a large enough fleet to get their own special option package. And I think GVWR was just someone else's opinion, given the way they were loaded.
My coworker's remark was "At least they got the 3/4 ton chassis." He had worked for Chrysler and the power company kept ordering Dodge vans with the 3.9L but in the 1/2 ton chassis, the loading them up like a 3/4 ton. He said they would come in for service with the rear springs bent right flat from being overloaded
TIL ancient Mayans' fingers were all the same length. Don't know what this trait is called, but Kate the Duchess of Cambridge has the same gene/anomaly.
TIL that ford made a big block of the 2.3 OHV tempo/opaz engine and used it in the taurus/sable. Made 105hp
bobzilla said:
TIL that ford made a big block of the 2.3 OHV tempo/opaz engine and used it in the taurus/sable. Made 105hp
Was that the Taurus MT5? If so, I did not know there was a Mercury version.
mtn
MegaDork
11/16/22 4:14 p.m.
In reply to eastsideTim :
I've seen a 4 banger, 5 speed manual Mercury Sable wagon before. No clue if that was a normal option or some sort of factory special. Also no clue on the HP or what the engine actually is/was. 80's Fords are not in my wheelhouse whatsoever.
In reply to mtn :
You should get some 80s ford in your wheelhouse. E36 M3s good. Not like good good, but more shameful kink good. You know it's a bit dirty, and you definitely can't tell anyone, but you'll keep going back.
mtn
MegaDork
11/16/22 4:43 p.m.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
I like 7th/8th/9th gen F-150s, and my dad had an '87 TurboBird from new until 1996 when I was 6 years old, so I don't dislike them... I just don't know much about them other than I like the Fox T-Birds and MKVII, as well as the MN12 T-Bird and MKVIII.
Actually at one point my Dad had the T-Bird, his brother had a Cougar, and their mom (my Grandma) had the MKVII. I never cared that much for the Cougar's design when compared with its siblings.
barefootcyborg5000 said:
In reply to mtn :
You should get some 80s ford in your wheelhouse. E36 M3s good. Not like good good, but more shameful kink good. You know it's a bit dirty, and you definitely can't tell anyone, but you'll keep going back.
No. Just .... no. FWD 80's fords are a aw hell nah.
In reply to bobzilla :
You'll see the light one day. You just need to get out here where they don't rust away.
Mr_Asa
UltimaDork
11/17/22 11:53 a.m.
YIL
So I found out that this guy at work, unbeknownst to me, is a E36 M3ass to most everyone at work except me and like two others. Like, such a E36 M3ass that an entire section of the business was ready to quit over the E36 M3ass things he did. (Whole business is like 20 people, so this would have been 10-12 people quitting.)
I say he wasn't a E36 M3ass to me, but he made more work for everyone in the business because he isn't playing ball.
I kinda liked this guy, and now I just feel disappointed in him.
The DBAD rule needs to be in effect IRL
eastsideTim said:
bobzilla said:
TIL that ford made a big block of the 2.3 OHV tempo/opaz engine and used it in the taurus/sable. Made 105hp
Was that the Taurus MT5? If so, I did not know there was a Mercury version.
The MT5 was (surprise) the manual trans model.
They made 4cyl auto Tauruses.
CAinCA
HalfDork
11/17/22 1:28 p.m.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Sorry man. I'm dealing with a similar situation. It is not fun.
Peabody
MegaDork
11/17/22 3:55 p.m.
TIL: That if you are brain dead and accidentally put the directional (front) tires on the wrong side, meaning the wrong direction, it can make the car pull.
I figured while I was doing the oil change, which was turning out to be a disaster, I may as well screw something else up, and put the snows on while I'm at it. Took it out for spin after and it pulled hard to the left. Brought it back, looked it over and discovered the mistake. Thought I'd better fix that first and see if I can see anything wrong with the wheels off. Swapped them over, saw nothing wrong in the process, took a drive, pull gone.
Have I mixed and matched directional's before with no ill behaviour? Yes.
Would I have believed it if somebody had told me? No.
In reply to Peabody :
Directional tires can make a car pull when mounted the "right" way, too. My Golf did not tolerate any kind of directional tire.
Or you could just have a bad tire.
The other interesting thing is that tire pulls can be directional - a tire that pulls hard one way will be fine the other way, or at least pull less hard.
Peabody
MegaDork
11/17/22 4:00 p.m.
Well, that's a new one on me.
It was a hard pull too, like I had to turn the wheel about 25 degrees to the right to keep it going straight, and it would have gone off the road if I'd let go. Put them on the correct side, perfect.
In reply to Peabody :
Sounds like how I had to drive the Turbo Rampage when under boost due to the torque steer!
In reply to Peabody :
not hugely surprising that it would be more noticeable with winter tires, as both the rubber compound and the tread blocks are squishier.
Peabody said:
Well, that's a new one on me.
It was a hard pull too, like I had to turn the wheel about 25 degrees to the right to keep it going straight, and it would have gone off the road if I'd let go. Put them on the correct side, perfect.
Following rant not directed at you, but it has come to mind -
That is what a pull is - it fights you for direction. If it just sort of leads a little, that is a drift. If the steering wheel is off center and you make the car go off to the side by straightening the wheel, that is a left (or right) turn.
Pulls are almost always caused by tires.
/peeve have had for 25 years
/i just drove your car a half mile with no hands, it does not "pull left", the steering wheel is off center
One of my personal "Brake pull" situations took me a minute to figure out. Early xc90 Volvo. Step on the brake and hold the steering wheel straight, it heads for the ditch. Step on the brake and let go of the wheel, wheel turns and it stops straight. Took a minute (or eight) to figure out that one of the control arm bushings was worn more than the other, which made perfect sense, but the front bushings on the control arm are so stiff that you can't feel the slack, you can't kick the wheel hard enough to make it move. I ended up hooking a come-along from the control arm to the jacking point and cranking each side back to see how far each moved. I've seen lots of worn rear aframe bushings, but never worn that differently across a vehicle. The angle of the tie rods cause a pretty dramatic toe change on one side.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
I knew a couple of people like that. Ignore the bullE36 M3 cause we were on the level. It's fine until the bullE36 M3 starts to roll your way. Then you realize that all that E36 M3 was never cool and you should have cut any ties sooner.
Honsch
Reader
11/18/22 1:40 a.m.
Peabody said:
Well, that's a new one on me.
It was a hard pull too, like I had to turn the wheel about 25 degrees to the right to keep it going straight, and it would have gone off the road if I'd let go. Put them on the correct side, perfect.
That is weird.
We run directional tires the wrong way all the time on the racecar in the dry and haven't noticed any difference.