Automotive "chip"

[kwired]

In the mid '60s (high school) and again in the early '70 (college) I was working summers for petroleum piping contractor.

One of the jobs I recall was cleaning leaded gasoline storage tanks for an oil company major. The owner was no slouch. We had a class on waste disposal, we had all the equipment, respirators, airline masks, chem suits. The sludge was buried in the tank yard, in a fabric lined pit, with steel post markers at each end - all right in accordance with the law.

Fast forward 10+ years, mid '80s. I'm bored working for engineering outfits so I go back to work for the same petroleum piping contractor. And we get hired to go back in a clean up the leaded gas sludge pits. Laws have changed - the pits are now considered illegal dumping. New classes, called Hazmat classes now. New equipment, looks about the same, updated, and a few new pieces. We are digging up the pit, testing the dirt for tetraethyl lead, loading into over-pak drums and arranging for transportation to a waste disposal company.

It's a small town, everybody knows what is going on. We are at a Saturday night gathering (alcohol involved) and I gravitate to clump of young ladies. One of them tears into me with, "How could you be so terrible and crap up the earth with this disgusting poisonous sludge?" Good heavens lady. In the '70s we disposed of the sludge exactly in accordance with the law. The laws have changed and we are now hired to clean it up and dispose again in accordance with the current law. So tell me Snowflake, What would you suggest?:?

I didn't get lucky that night either.:weeping:

She probably had no bad thoughts when it came to putting fuel in her car either, then or prior to then.

 

[iceworm]

Growing up in the country, we didn't waste much drain oil by just dumping it. .... Dust abatement was where most of it finally made it's way back into the environment. There are actually trailers with a tank and pump and spray head designed specifically for spraying oil on dirt and gravel roads to keep the dust down.

Yes, I remember one outfit with a special built 3000gal tank truck with a PTO reversible air pump (vac or pressure)

The company got hired to pick up waste oil at service stations - they charged $1/g. For $0.50/g they would spread it back on the gravel roads.

 

[sameguy]

They sprayed pcb too, to kill the weeds on the side of the roads.
They also drove around spraying? for mosquitoes.

 

[romex jockey]

I miss what, at least in the automotive sense, were simpler times.....:happyyes:

~RJ~

 

[iceworm]

...For correcting the mistakes of the past, I don't have a better suggestion.
For the future, maybe discontinuing the use of tetraethyl lead altogether? Oh, wait ...
....

The last system I worked was in 1990 (maybe 1991?) The system was flushed, disassembled, bagged and shipped to a waste disposal. I don't recall what was done with the tank.

At that time, the dye used in regular low lead was orange.

Somebody (or multiple somebodies) in the US are still making leaded 100LL for general aviation. You can buy it at your local airport. I don't know where they are getting the tetraethyl lead. I have heard it is still being made and used in automotive applications in a few countries.

 

[iceworm]

They sprayed pcb too, to kill the weeds on the side of the roads.
They also drove around spraying? for mosquitoes.

As I recall, Fairbanks in the '70s, there were DC-3s spraying at night. One story (I can't vouch for truth or not) was they were spraying a biodegradable organic oil. Supposedly the oil covers the wet area ponds with a one molecule depth and that is enough to plug the mosquito larvae breathing tubes. Larvae die, oil degrades and goes away.

I can tell you for a fact there were a lot less mosquitos then than there were in the 2000s

 

[iceworm]

I miss what, at least in the automotive sense, were simpler times.....:happyyes:
~RJ~

Yes, 1966, Carter AFBs, Kettering ignition. Gas at $0.32/gal. Driving a 1956 Ford Crown Vic, with the Thunderbird Special 292 engine, don't you know. My Dad was usually good for $5 and that was enough for gas and a date at the roller rink.

However, I really like my current F150. I can't say much for the 5'-6" bed, but the 4 doors and 375hp are really nice. First time I ever had a PU that would bark the tires going into second gear.

 

[drcampbell]

I miss what, at least in the automotive sense, were simpler times. ...

Ugh. Not me. I remember people having relatively-low-speed car crashes and ending up with life-threatening injuries and extended hospital stays ... or worse.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cgNPvNulgU

 

[retirede]

I was drafted in 68. They were still dusting the barracks with DDT for whatever bug infestation they needed to control.

DDT is classified as only mildly toxic to humans with direct exposure - about the same as the Raid you can buy at HD. It was banned largely because of its negative effects on bald eagle reproduction - not humans.

I, too, used to follow the mosquito trucks on my bike as a kid. I may pay the price someday, but it’s been 50 years. I like my odds.

 

[olsondavidj]

Yes, 1966, Carter AFBs, Kettering ignition. Gas at $0.32/gal. Driving a 1956 Ford Crown Vic, with the Thunderbird Special 292 engine, don't you know. My Dad was usually good for $5 and that was enough for gas and a date at the roller rink.

However, I really like my current F150. I can't say much for the 5'-6" bed, but the 4 doors and 375hp are really nice. First time I ever had a PU that would bark the tires going into second gear.

Inflation adjusted, $0.32/gal is equivalent to about $2.50/gal today.

Also $5 in 1966 is equivalent to about $39 today.

"The good old days" weren't nearly as good as we remember them.

 

[ptonsparky]

Seeings as we have strayed a bit...

My Grandson needed some black spray paint to touch up a spot where the spray on bed liner didn’t stick. He can’t buy spray paint. Underage. He bought the bed liner stuff and can buy any knife he wants for his collection, just not spraypaint. Times have changed.

 

[rambojoe]

My grandson chipped his gas burner Dodge Dakota and wasn't impressed with the change, if any. They allow a full refund if he wasn't happy so it goes out in the mail today. High dollar unit of about $29 IIRC. I won't hold my breath over that refund.

I could not see how it did anything at all because it was hooked in parallel with the engine block temperature sensor. ??

Someone enlighten me if possible.

putting on over sized rims and tires is a great way to kill performance... the long and short of it is the factory already did the homework on max power vs efficiency. what would work good is re-gear the differential to bring it back where it should be... you can reflash the PTM/ECU but it needs a whole list of changes to be close to better than stock. and when you do all of that- sure, it will run like a bat outta hell but then it just starts usibng way more fuel all over again!

 

[ptonsparky]

putting on over sized rims and tires is a great way to kill performance... the long and short of it is the factory already did the homework on max power vs efficiency. what would work good is re-gear the differential to bring it back where it should be... you can reflash the PTM/ECU but it needs a whole list of changes to be close to better than stock. and when you do all of that- sure, it will run like a bat outta hell but then it just starts usibng way more fuel all over again!

Yes, but it wouldn’t look as cool. That dates me.

 

[rambojoe]

im not saying ditch the rims, although, the rubber for those things are a song and dance! look into changing the gearing- it will make a huge differance... bigger tires= higher top speed but.. absolutely kills take off and hills and mpg and towing and the tranny but the chicks dig it. (ithink)

 

[drcampbell]

... bigger tires= higher top speed ...

Only if the top speed is determined by the engine-speed governor (aka. "rev limiter") or the vehicle-speed governor, which isn't likely.
If the top speed is determined by the aerodynamic drag becoming equal & opposite the available horsepower -- much more likely in a pickup truck, with all the aerodynamic elegance of a brick -- bigger tires will decrease the top speed a smidgen by increasing aerodynamic drag.

A bed cover, or better yet, a tapered-wedge bed cap, will increase both top speed and fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag.

... absolutely kills ... tranny ...

Has no effect in a modern car. The brain box limits the engine's torque to an amount the transmission can tolerate.

... chicks dig it. ...

If that's true, (which I can neither confirm nor deny) he might consider setting his sights a little higher and pursuing a better caliber of woman.

 

[ptonsparky]

Friend of grandson bought a chipped ‘15 Dodge diesel. Tranny failure. Whoops. No warranty coverage.

 

[kwired]

Only if the top speed is determined by the engine-speed governor (aka. "rev limiter") or the vehicle-speed governor, which isn't likely.
If the top speed is determined by the aerodynamic drag becoming equal & opposite the available horsepower -- much more likely in a pickup truck, with all the aerodynamic elegance of a brick -- bigger tires will decrease the top speed a smidgen by increasing aerodynamic drag.

A bed cover, or better yet, a tapered-wedge bed cap, will increase both top speed and fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag.


Has no effect in a modern car. The brain box limits the engine's torque to an amount the transmission can tolerate.


If that's true, (which I can neither confirm nor deny) he might consider setting his sights a little higher and pursuing a better caliber of woman.

Those women typically change their minds on what is cool as they age. There is a difference between a 16 YO trying to get the attention of another 16 YO vs making grandma think it is cool

There are many grandma's out there that will still claim they once thought it was cool, and probably some that still do.

 

[norcal]

I have a F250 Superduty with a 7.3L diesel, when originally got it the truck had a programmer, & it did have some oomph & would get around 19 MPG, needing a smog certificate had to restore it to factory settings got smogged & driving it the next day a high pressure oil hose ruptured, shutting the engine down after loosing about a gallon of oil (14 quart cap), after getting new hoses & getting a very cranky engine restarted it uses a lot more fuel plus it's gutless now. Someone I know deleted the entire exhaust system on a 6.7L Ford including the DEF, later he put a hole in the block, if the engine had not been destroyed, every 2 years would have restored the exhaust system to get smog cert, in CA diesels from 1998 to present, have to be smogged every 2 years.


Have to say my Dodge with a 5.9L Cummins has been much more reliable & gets better MPG + no need to smog it.