[Shotimes] High Milers.....Stand and be Heard

[George Fourchy]

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 17:27:31 EDT, Bobbonnit1@aol.com wrote:

>So all you 150k plus  SHOMEN and LADIES, step up to the 
>plate and be heard!

I lugged Lowrider before its bearing swap more than I do now, but never below 1500
RPM, and then never for more than 20 or 30 seconds.  It might ping a couple of times
to let me know it was going too slow.  I might have kept it in a gear too low on
city streets once in a while.  It had 1 more thousandth clearance than specified in
the bad rod, #5, by the time I got them changed, at 201,000  miles.  

Now I run STP in it, along with 10-40 oil, and don't use synthetic.  It gets changes
at 3,000 miles ALMOST every time....last change it went 6000 miles, but I watched
consumption and appearance on the dipstick.  It stayed clean, and never went below a
quart low.  Almost all its miles are freeway, at speed.

I try to never continuously run it below 2000 RPM now.  I've found that each gear
gives me that many tens of mph at 2000 RPM, so I use that as a guide.  So if I want
to go 30 mph for an extended period, I'll leave it in 3rd gear.  That gives me
exactly 2000 RPM (on my tach, which is off by 200 RPM).  If I need 40 mph, it will
stay in 4th gear.  Traffic jams on the freeway are the hardest thing....I have to
work my feet pretty hard to not lug it for more than a second or two when going less
than 5 mph, when starting and then stopping after moving just a few feet.  That is
DEFINITELY hard on the engine AND the clutch, especially when going uphill.  The STP
and the thicker oil help me here.

The new car with the new 3.2 block will get the same care, but will use thinner oil,
until it gets high in mileage.  And it won't see near the amount of jammed traffic
that Lowrider has seen.

George