Random Thoughts or Whatever

[Te-Te]

I always used a road atlas for long trips and then for documenting my travel by highlighting the routes I took. Thinking back, manipulating a map while driving was probably as distracting as using a phone is today. If I was still doing long distance trips, I would buy a road atlas for recording them, I think (and also getting a quick look at the next day's plans in the motel room).

I still use map books. I have a New Hampsire book and a Massachusetts book in my car as these are the two states I drive in the most. I like having a visual in my head of the route I'm about to take before I go somewhere.
I loved getting the Trip Tiks from AAA when doing cross country trips with all the state maps they would give you too.

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

I still use map books. I have a New Hampsire book and a Massachusetts book in my car as these are the two states I drive in the most. I like having a visual in my head of the route I'm about to take before I go somewhere.
I loved getting the Trip Tiks from AAA when doing cross country trips with all the state maps they would give you too.

The AAA maps came in mighty handy moving from NJ to TX in '02.

 

[SolderIron]

A thought triggered by the news on autos and electronic history. If I can think of it, many others probably thought of it already.
My experience is electric/electronic things will go from hot item to obsolete in a few years. A 5-year-old computer is worth hardly anything today. So if autos are going to more electrical/electronic based than mechanical, I will see a 5 years old electric car won't worth much. I will see new electric car priced low because electric/electronics are cheaper to make. They are nothing more than a big motor run by a PC housed in a steel/ plastic case. A thing bigger than my desk top puter.

 

[Quadman2]

... I like having a visual in my head of the route I'm about to take before I go somewhere....

On the same page here, TT. (pun not intended)

I suppose if you have the huge screen available in the newer vehicle, this might come close to the same as gazing down at the paper map.

Guess it's "old school" thinking; using the folded maps. But you really had to be aware of the "scale" at the bottom to be used. A couple of times I messed up on the actual road times!


Q

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

A thought triggered by the news on autos and electronic history. If I can think of it, many others probably thought of it already.
My experience is electric/electronic things will go from hot item to obsolete in a few years. A 5-year-old computer is worth hardly anything today. So if autos are going to more electrical/electronic based than mechanical, I will see a 5 years old electric car won't worth much. I will see new electric car priced low because electric/electronics are cheaper to make. They are nothing more than a big motor run by a PC housed in a steel/ plastic case. A thing bigger than my desk top puter.

Seems to me, that a lot has to do with how fast technology develops. A few years ago, someone referred to the smartphone as "an under powered computer". This was definitely true at the time. Now, I would say that it's still true, but not to the same degree. A lot of advances have been made. Apart from screen size, necessary to keep it small to maintain portablity, it might conceiveably catch up to the PC someday.

Just like the gas powered car, the EV is an ever evolving technology. It would seem that you're right about how things will go with it. Chances are, a 5 year old EV won't retain much resale value regardless of how good of shape it's in and the only people who will be willing to buy them will be those who can't afford anything newer.

 

[highvoltage_]

I suppose if you have the huge screen available in the newer vehicle, this might come close to the same as gazing down at the paper map.

Difference being though is that car based navigation systems can talk to you, paper maps can't.

 

[Quadman2]

Difference being though is that car based navigation systems can talk to you, paper maps can't.

On the other hand, paper doesn't require batteries/bad glitch/blown fuse to work, eh?

Just another POV is all.

Q

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

I hope I haven't posted about this before. Please forgive me if I already did. Why do the words "unleaded fuel only" still appear on cars? Why do gas stations still have the word "unleaded" on their signs? How long has it been since leaded gas was available? A young man I know got yelled at by the head technician at his job. He was driving a company truck and he put diesel fuel in it because he didn't know what "unleaded" meant. Of course, he should have asked someone first, but it should have said "Gasoline only". His boss stood up for him and asked the head tech why the yellow sticker on the dash said "unleaded" instead of gasoline. Makes me wonder how many issues this might cause for Gens Y and Z. Not their fault. Thankfully, this happened in the yard and the diesel fuel was removed before it caused any problems.

 

[init4fun]

A very interesting article on lead's continued use in transportation fuel (Yes, it's still used to this day, , , , just not in road bound vehicles);

https://www.hagerty.com/media/maint...-lowered-americas-iq-and-were-still-using-it/


From a different article, the numbers of airports / and airplanes involved;

"leaded fuel is still sold at roughly 13,000 airports across the US and used regularly by an estimated 170,000 small aircraft, the residue from which has been measured in surrounding communities (as originally reported by the EPA and FAA)."​

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

A very interesting article on lead's continued use in transportation fuel (Yes, it's still used to this day, , , , just not in road bound vehicles);

https://www.hagerty.com/media/maint...-lowered-americas-iq-and-were-still-using-it/


From a different article, the numbers of airports / and airplanes involved;

"leaded fuel is still sold at roughly 13,000 airports across the US and used regularly by an estimated 170,000 small aircraft, the residue from which has been measured in surrounding communities (as originally reported by the EPA and FAA)."​

Okay, but if you drive a vehicle on the road and go to a gas station, they don't have leaded gas. At least I haven't seen any that do since 1988 and that one that did was probably the only one in the northern 3rd of NJ. So, unless you're driving an off-road vehicle and gassing it up somewhere well off the beaten path, this would be irrelevant. The off-road situation is the only one where one would need to know whether or not the vehicle needs leaded gas, unleaded or either one. This depends on a couple of factors. If the vehicle has a catalytic converter, the lead will clog it. If it has iron heads and the old style valve seats, it needs lead, lest the valves weld themselves shut. If it has steal heads and the newer valve seats, but no catalyst, it can run on either one. Of course, avoiding leaded gas when possible is the best practice.

As for the airport and airplanes. Ground use vehicles should be able run lead free. It's a pretty disturbing idea that the are not doing so. An airplane, should be designed and built so that it doesn't require lead. However, for safety reasons, it's probably not feasible to attach catalytic converters to them unless they are designed to allow the exhaust to flow through as if they weren't there. The first gen of CCs took a lot of power away from the engines in cars. Better, less limiting CCs have been developed since, but last I heard, they still limited the power to some degree. This would be dangerous for planes, especially during takeoff.

 

[geezin']

Must not limit it much. You can buy a street legal 1000 HP car.

It's my opinion (backed up by following) that EPA regulations gave us performance you'd never have seen without them. Super hot ignitions. Precise electronic fuel injection. The aforementioned 1000 HP on the swill laughingly referred to as gasoline today. Reliability is the big one. The was (is?) a federal law mandating certain parts have a minimum 5 year lifespan or else manufacturers replace on their dime. They didn't want to have that expense so they found ways to improve the parts. Look just how good many cars are regardless of brand.

I use my WRX as an example. 268 HP from 2 liters (122 CI) on pump gas. I've seen an honest 35 MPG from it @80 MPH in the Midwest on those long flat stretches of interstate.

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

Must not limit it much. You can buy a street legal 1000 HP car.

That's measured using a dynometer? Any idea how many hp the engine would produce sans cat converter?

 

[geezin']

That's measured using a dynometer? Any idea how many hp the engine would produce sans cat converter?

Man the info is out there go and look. I'll not do your homework for you. Don't want to buy it don't no skin off my back I'm done arguing online.

TTFN.

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

Man the info is out there go and look. I'll not do your homework for you. Don't want to buy it don't no skin off my back I'm done arguing online.

TTFN.

Arguing? Who's arguing? It was a simple question with interest in getting the complete picture. That's a totally uncalled for response.

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

Difference being though is that car based navigation systems can talk to you, paper maps can't.

Imagine if a paper map starts talking!

 

[init4fun]

Imagine if a paper map starts talking!

That'd be a Woodstock thing; "Don't take the brown acid"....

 

[init4fun]

Man the info is out there go and look. I'll not do your homework for you. Don't want to buy it don't no skin off my back I'm done arguing online.

TTFN.

Arguing? Who's arguing? It was a simple question with interest in getting the complete picture. That's a totally uncalled for response.

To be fair to James here;

I didn't see James' questions about the Dyno or the Cat Converter to be any kind of challenge to geezin's info that would warrant such a terse response. To me, it appeared James was simply making friendly small talk around the subject of the car's performance capabilities

 

[SolderIron]

I hope I haven't posted about this before. Please forgive me if I already did. Why do the words "unleaded fuel only" still appear on cars? Why do gas stations still have the word "unleaded" on their signs? How long has it been since leaded gas was available? A young man I know got yelled at by the head technician at his job. He was driving a company truck and he put diesel fuel in it because he didn't know what "unleaded" meant. Of course, he should have asked someone first, but it should have said "Gasoline only". His boss stood up for him and asked the head tech why the yellow sticker on the dash said "unleaded" instead of gasoline. Makes me wonder how many issues this might cause for Gens Y and Z. Not their fault. Thankfully, this happened in the yard and the diesel fuel was removed before it caused any problems.

People make mistakes which will be thought as funny much later.
I remember one time the shop spends much time and $ (couple months, NRE, and parts) to make a sample, had a junior person to run the temperature test. He mistakenly set to °C instead of °F, and the sample got discolored with parts melted and fell out. As he was new, we did not give him a hard time. Only told him to read instructions, make no assumptions, and ask questions next time.

 

[spicer]

Imagine if a paper map starts talking!

Paper maps do talk, they use the language of symbols and relative distance while providing a large overview, just have to know the language. I am quite sure you know the language. I use GPS, have it on for cross county driving, it provides near vision but I always have a road map folded just so for easy full scale access. For city driving it's GPS all the way.

 

[SuperjazzyJa]

Paper maps do talk, they use the language of symbols and relative distance while providing a large overview, just have to know the language. I am quite sure you know the language. I use GPS, have it on for cross county driving, it provides near vision but I always have a road map folded just so for easy full scale access. For city driving it's GPS all the way.

As long as there never comes a day when I stop at a convenience store, travelling "alone" or so I think and the map says as "Hey James, mind grabbing me a coffee while you're in there?"