Tag Archives: Cold inflation pressure

Mustang Carpeting – Who knew!!??!

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As part of the mods and upgrades for my 70 Mustang,  I plan on replacing all the carpet.  Before I do that however, I’m going to lay down some heat and sound proofing (but that is another post).

As I start project planning, I’m  looking around for parts and materials, as well as any helpful hints. (If you have any at any time, drop me a comment.)  Although certain portions of the restro-mod will have to be done together, like carb and intake or heads and cam (yes I’m all four will be done at the same time), many can be accomplished separately, like adding the  heat/sound proofing and the carpeting, before upholstery of the seats.  In the Mustang getting the seats out are easy enough (keep in mind my goal is to not have the car tied up too long between stages) so replacing the seats after the carpet installation, isn’t a problem.

As a reminder, the mods will be done in adherence to budget, time and events. So there maybe a need to move between different phases to accommodate either 3 of those factors.

O.K., so where was I, oh yeah..carpet shopping.

As I looking on-line for the best place for ordering carpeting, began to notice a lot of choices.  I start thinking “I’m going to have call up on deck my personal award-winning interior designer (that would be my wife – by profession…no not wife by profession although I’m sure thinks it’s her 3rd career, but Interior Designer by profession).   Here is a little bit of what I found:

Plush Cut Pile

Ultra-Plush Cut Pile

Neon Cut Pile

100% Nylon Loop

I’m thinking, “holy cow!!!…What the heck is this?!!  Ultra-Plush Cut Pile?  I’m not building a ’60 Love Van!!!  Oh it gets better..yeah.. you guessed it samples!!!!!

 

Misty Gray

BuckSkin

My favorite - Cinnabar

 

Oh..come on!!!  Cinnabar!!!!  Really!!??  Um..yup.  Oh and there were many more, like Medium Gray and Silver Mist and Nutmeg and Fire Thorn!!!! I’m not kidding.

So I’m looking round to make sure know one’s looking over my shoulder (as I’m doing this over my lunch at work..on my personal smart phone…just in case “they” are reading!!!)  All the time I thinking…”It’s black..all I know is that it’s black!”

Who knew that there was that much to look at?  Not this Average Guy.

Luckily I found this snippet on one site and it all became clear:

Plush Cut Pile

Our nylon cut pile is constructed from 100% first quality yarn and is similar to what is found in most cars since 1974. It is tufted on a 1/8 gauge machine with 14 ounces of yarn per square yard. It is dyed using the finest dyes available and tested for ozone humidity fading & light fastness.

Ultra-Plush Cut Pile

This carpet is a super plush upgrade to our standard Cut Pile. A 100% nylon cut pile manufactured with over 40% more nylon fiber than our standard cut pile. It is dyed using the finest dyes available and tested for ozone humidity fading & light fastness.

Ok..still not sure here!!!

Neon Cut Pile

Our Neon Cut Pile colors are a great look if you want to make a statement! Although these are not stock colors, they would be appropriate for all applications. There is an additional 15% charge for all applications made with Neon Cut Pile.

What…not stock colors!!!??!!!   What?  Are you sure that is color

wasn’t stock?   It’s Pink!!!!

And the clouds parted and it all became clear.  The very last one was this:

 

100% Nylon Loop

A 100% nylon loop. This material is appropriate for pre-1975 applications only, and was the original type construction used in 1969-1973 Mustangs.

And it came in …………..Black!!!”

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

Auto Factoids for 11/7/2010 and Beyond

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Catching up and finishing up Nov. 2010

11/10/14 – The first Dodge is produced and on the same day 11 years later Ford built its first Tri-Motor airplane.

Not the plane:

1914 - 4 Door Dodge Touring

This is the plane:

Fords 1925 Tri-Plane

11/11/1940 – The first Jeep

1940 Jeeps

11/12/1908 – GM takes over Oldsmobile.

11/25/1844 – Mr. Benz was more in Karlsruhe, Germany (Been there, the wine is excellent, the beer is better and the food is OUTSTANDING!)

11/26/1966 -The DeTomaso Mangusta debuts

1966 DeTomaso Mangusta

11/27/1870 – Joe Mach’s birthday. Yeah…the guy that started MAC trucks.  The company started when Joe and his brothers purchased a carriage and wagon company in Brooklyn, N.Y.  The first vehicle they produced was a tour bus. (1900)  Next up was rail cars and locomotives. At the time they used the name Manhattan.  Somewhere between 1910 and 1911 the name changed to Mack at about that time the Mack brothers bought a truck company.  Oh..in case you are wonder the Bulldog became their logo in 1922 and the name was changed to MACK Truck.  When I was a very young, we called all tractor-trailer Mack Trucks.

1910 Mack Hook and Latter firetrucks

New Auto Factoid format.

The Ford Mustang sold 419,000 cars in the its first 12 months on the marked. That number trumped the 417,000 cars set by the 1960………………Ford Falcon!!!!

1960 Falcon - 417,000 Sold First 12 months

Ford Mustang II Concept.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Car Technologies U.S. vs. Others.

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Just recently I started comparing technology in cars that we own.  A couple of months ago I purchased a 07 Corvette that has a lot more technology then the 84 Corvette I owned and a lot more than my 70 Mustang.  We have also owned two newer vehicles a 2008 Lexus GS350 and now a 2011 Lexus RX 350.  I’m not going to compare the technology between the two Corvettes nor would there be any reason to compare the Corvettes to the Mustang.

But what I have compared is the level of technology between U.S. cars and the two Lexus (Toyota) vehicles we’ve owned.

First up is the 2008 Lexus GS350.  We purchase the car in late 2007, which, as far as a technology time line would be concerned, is smack in the middle of digital music, video and touch technology era. To better frame the time line 3 years ago while attending the Fords on 4th Ave Car Show, here in Tucson, I meet up with a couple of Microsoft guys (one of them I knew from a previous contract I worked) doing the first demo of Sync in a Lincoln.  They gave me quick demo and it was excellent technology which is now about 3 years old. Yet this luxury Toyota only managed to have a horribly  located, headphone port to headphone port connection for your IPOD or MP3 player. Compare this with the technology in my 2007 Corvette, it at least plays MP3 formatted CDs as well as standard CDs.

Next is the 2011 Lexus RX350, three years further into the mobile data revolution and it still seems lacking in technology.  The GS350 had a touch screen information center, the RX350 does not. What replaced that is a joy stick/mouse type device.

From my wife's Rx

It seems a like a step backward.  It’s much easier for you to touch the screen while driving.  The RX’s device requires the moving around of a cursor, centering it on an icon and clicking the mouse-like buttons. ( Don’t get me started on distracted driving, phone calls vs. eating McDonald’s fries.)  The RX is limited to a USB connection for music and that is it.  Sure it has options for  satellite and blue tooth (as did the GS) , but techno-backtracking from a touch screen is a bit odd and no music storage is nearly pre-historic.

Just comparing  technologies for music availability the U.S. cars are ahead.  Take the  2011 Buick Lucerne, it has a 60 Gig hard drive for storing music.  This particular car can even record radio station you are on for playback.  Ford has a host of technology to store music and using Microsoft’s Sync technology, their Fords and Lincolns brands (the dash of the new Lincoln MKX will blow you away) are far superior to the what I’ve found in the Japanese cars. Even a tone-downed Chevy Cobalt has tire air pressure sensors.

While we were test driving the RX a week ago, I asked the salesman about the missing technology and he agreed that Lexus does in fact lag behind in offering  this type of technology.

Don’t you think that’s odd?  Are American car manufacturers that advanced?  Are our car companies just toss in everything, even the kitchen sink to sell cars?  Hey..neither of those are  a bad thing!!! I’m sold!  Besides it a lot easier to eat fries while driving if you have a touch screen to change your music!!!

Your thoughts?

Thanks for reading and drop me a comment.

Tim

Comment from Bill

This reminds me of a co-worker who bought a new Chrysler minivan recently. He was excited to tell me about how big the harddrive was, the DVD system, the ‘info-tainment’ bus, the ability of the ‘my gig’ to link to the satiellite,and on and on. I asked what engine he had-he paused- gave me a dazed look-and said he didn’t really know?

I think Lexus does what US car manufacturers used to do; they build a car that will travel 100K miles with just a few oil changes and one set of tires, and a resale value that is 65% of the orignal sales price 10 years later. The lag of technology does not errode the MSRP sticker prices Lexus still demands for their products while Government Motors still discounts their Buicks $5,000 off MSRP to gain a sale. Then five years later that Buick has a market value of $2,200, and the poor upside down owner is looking for his own ‘bail out’.

Me personally, I’d like to see any car manufacturer ‘de-content’ their cars a bit. It not only reduces the sales price, the weight of the car (some cars have six miles of wire in them now days), but actually increases reliability (less to fail) and performance. That original formula of the Boss 302, or Plymouth Roadrunner where you got roll down windows, a bench seat, and for a few dollars you could get a tach, AC, or tinted glass as the only options is my dream come true. Don’t forget a LARGE V8 powering the rear wheels STANDARD! I’d buy a new 2011 car tomorrow if I could get a taxi cab interior with a 300HP V8 for under $25,000. I looked at the 2011 Boss 302, but it still is techno-overloaded for me to call it a true muscle car.

Can you tell now why I replaced our grocery-getter-always-repair-proned Impala with a Grand Marquis? It is (or was-Ford stopped production in September) the closest car out there that meets my formula: no navigation-no harddrive-no MP3-no Sirius-no 8 speed automatic. Bench seat-4.6l police V8-4 speed automatic-RWD; thanks, thats all I need! I’m used to the blue hair jokes and still happy with my taxi cab, hopefully for the next 20 years and 200K miles.

I have often wondered if Dodge introduced a Challenger with Hemi V8, roll up windows, AM FM radio, and the minimum government mandated equipment for around $25,000 if they would sell, or does our generation require several thousand microprocessors to be interested in their cars?

Thanks for letting me sound off! Take care, Bill

Tires: Nitrogen – Winter Air – Summer Air

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If you’ve read my blog or found me on Facebook or MySpace or various forums you know that I recently picked up a 07 Corvette, which I love.

One of the things I notices was that the tire valve stems and a little “N2” them.  This was done to suggest that Nitrogen at one time filled the BFGs.

Valve Stem Caps

I wondered if any one (Average Guys) really put Nitrogen in their tires and really how much difference could it make.  When I asked a few guys at my vette club Arizona Corvette Enthusiast (ACE), we had lot of “Winter Air and Summer Air” discussions.  It stems from an old joke about a service attendant’s answer when asked by a customer why their was an extra charge on his bill when he had is tires rotated.  The attendant stated is was for filling them with winter air.

Of course there’s no such thing,  Nitrogen is used in tires, but is there really any benefits?

So what does GM say about the use of Nitrogen in tires?

From GM’s document #05-03-10-020C: Use of nitrogen Gas in Tires – (Apr 27, 2010)

GM’s Position on the Use of nitrogen Gas in Tires
General Motors does not oppose the use of purified nitrogen as an inflation gas for tires. We expect the theoretical benefits to be reduced in practical use due to the lack of an existing infrastructure to continuously facilitate inflating tires with nearly pure nitrogen. Even occasional inflation with compressed atmospheric air will negate many of the theoretical benefits. Given those theoretical benefits, practical limitations, and the robust design of GM original equipment TPC tires, the realized benefits to our customer of inflating their tires with purified nitrogen are expected to be minimal.

The Promise of Nitrogen: Under Controlled Conditions
Recently, nitrogen gas (for use in inflating tires) has become available to the general consumer through some retailers. The use of nitrogen gas to inflate tires is a technology used in automobile racing. The following benefits under controlled conditions are attributed to nitrogen gas and its unique properties:

• A reduction in the expected loss of Tire Pressure over time.

• A reduction in the variance of Tire Pressures with temperature changes due to reduction of water vapor concentration.

• A reduction of long-term rubber degradation due to a decrease in oxygen concentrations.

Important: These are obtainable performance improvements when relatively pure nitrogen gas is used to inflate tires under controlled conditions.

The Promise of Nitrogen: Real World Use
Nitrogen inflation can give some benefit by reducing gas migration (pressure loss) at the molecular level through the tire structure. NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has stated that the inflation pressure loss of tires can be up to 5% a month. nitrogen molecules are larger than oxygen molecules and, therefore, are less prone to “seeping” through the tire casing. The real obtainable benefits of nitrogen vary, based on the physical construction and the materials used in the manufacturing of the tire being inflated.

Another potential benefit of nitrogen is the reduced oxidation of tire components. Research has demonstrated that oxygen consumed in the oxidation process of the tire primarily comes from the inflation media. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that oxidation of tire components can be reduced if the tire is inflated with pure nitrogen. However, only very small amounts of oxygen are required to begin the normal oxidation process. Even slight contamination of the tire inflation gas with compressed atmospheric air during normal inflation pressure maintenance, may negate the benefits of using nitrogen.

GM Tire Quality, Technology and Focus of Importance
Since 1972, General Motors has designed tires under the TPC (Tire Performance Criteria) specification system, which includes specific requirements that ensure robust tire performance under normal usage. General Motors works with tire suppliers to design and manufacture original equipment tires for GM vehicles. The GM TPC addresses required performance with respect to both inflation pressure retention, and endurance properties for original equipment tires. The inflation pressure retention requirements address availability of oxygen and oxidation concerns, while endurance requirements ensure the mechanical structure of the tire has sufficient strength. This combination has provided our customers with tires that maintain their structural integrity throughout their useful tread-life under normal operating conditions.

Regardless of the inflation media for tires (atmospheric air or nitrogen), inflation pressure maintenance of tires is critical for overall tire, and ultimately, vehicle performance. Maintaining the correct inflation pressure allows the tire to perform as intended by the vehicle manufacturer in many areas, including comfort, fuel economy, stopping distance, cornering, traction, tread wear, and noise. Since the load carrying capability of a tire is related to inflation pressure, proper inflation pressure maintenance is necessary for the tire to support the load imposed by the vehicle without excessive structural degradation.

Important: Regardless of the inflation media for tires (atmospheric air or nitrogen), inflation pressure maintenance of tires is critical for overall tire, and ultimately, vehicle performance.

There you have it.  But the experiences of the Average Guys I’ve asked, detected no difference for daily driving or when we take our toys to the track.

Thanks for reading

Tim.

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The Family and the Cars

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So I’ve “blogged ya” some history, now it’s time for some current stuff.  Of course my Dad is a car guy and my brother is pretty handy with a set of wrenches, but 24.2 years ago I married into a family that pretty much made most of the car guys I had known in my adult life (ok the adult part is debatable) mere tinkerers.

I have three brother-in-laws that were raised in the car business and not just a little bit of a car business, but a full-blown mechanic shop, engine building, stock car sponsoring, car show restoration, towing type business.  These guys knew more about cars by the time they were teenagers, then I did when I was 30 (yeah..I’m over thirty..and not just a little).  This guys know their stuff.  I now have nephews (their kids) that are even giving me a run for my money.

So I’ve set this up, pretty well, and keep it in mind because when I get to the physiological hurdles of restoring a car, you are going to understand my particular issue and you might relate.

(I seem to start a lot of sentences with the word “So”.  So I’ll try to limit the use of it.  You might also notice that I use ‘…..’ between words.  I do that for to give emphasis on a larger more dramatic pause the you get from the run of a mill comma. Nope not grammatically correct…but a habit I might break….if I get enough comments about it from the readers of this blog.)

So here is a quick introduction to my cars.

1.  1970 Ford Mustang Coupe.  I’ve owned it for approximately 4 years and I love it.  This is my first real restoration.

2. 1984 C4 Corvette. First year for that generation, everything is unique.  Although not my dream generation of corvettes, I love this car.  Ever since my uncle put me in his Corvette, I’ve wanted one.  When I joined the Air Force my goal was to finish up by second degree become an officer and by a Corvette.

Ok enough for this evening.  Tomorrow I’ll give you the run down on each.  I have a great story on how I got the Corvette.

Thanks for reading.

Tim