Are you sure about that acetone thing??

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/acetone.asp

 

I miss my old 86 F250 HD. 351W, no emissions, just edelbrock intake, carb, flowmasters out the side, no cats or anything to deal with. Barely a vaccum hose on that thing. I could sit on the fender with my legs inside the engine bay with room to spare to do whatever work I needed to. Of course the lift helped to clear up some room I'm sure! But man, those were the days when a truck was that, a truck, it didn't matter if the seat got torn, or the paint got scratched, it was a working vehicle. Sure today's are working too, but I hate seeing even the tiniest spot on my seats, and don't get me started about all the road salt on my truck right now!!!

 

While this isn't staying with the subject matter, our fuel situation is strictly political and for greed. How about the technology is already available for your vehicle to run on a fuel that has few emmissions. The fuel mileage per HP is greater and it can be readily made............at home.............and you throw away the ingredients everyday. But you can't have it unless you make the system yourself. Why? Because the States wouldn't have the tax money from the fuel you make. The oil companies would lose Billions overnight and they would lose all of the political power they have. There is no fuel shortage folks. There is greed on a worldwide scale and you are the financial partner in their scheme.
Now staying with the subject matter, todays engines are far better than the ones from the 60's and 70's. They are cleaner, far more dependable, require far less maintenance, and use a lot less resourses per mile. Anybody remember having to tune the engine every 15-20,000 miles. Points, plugs, condenser, cap, rotor, and then you had to have a timing light and a dwell meter. Remember when a car with 60,000 miles was considered high mileage and would soon be needing an overhaul. Remember how you didn't drive thru high water or the dizzy would get wet and you had to get out in the water to push the rig out and then dry it out. How soon we forget those "good ol days".

 

I'm all for Ford going back to the basics, The now old moduler engines don't have the life span of the cast iron blocks, 302 351, 460, ect, Chevy has kept the old 283 alive with reasosnable up dates for the times.

I have excellant luck with the 4.2 in my 97 F-150, I think the 4.2 was a revised 3.8, my dad has a 94 F250 with a 460, walks all ove the new 3V 10 ( but so dose my hemi )

The old mans 460 kills my truck.

 

I would only say they're far better in certain categories. In other categories I'd make an argument their far worse. The engines/cars of today are very complicated and costly to repair when compared to yesterday's engines/cars. Gas mileage is only one aspect of it. IMO....the big factor of whether one gets good gas mileage or not is directly related to driving habits. I had one exhaust guy tell me when people get duals put on, the gas mileage will go down because people consciously like to step on the pedal to hear the rumble. After a while hearing the rumble becomes part of your subconscious driving habit. You pedal it without thinking about it. As crazy as it sounds, I think that idea has merit.

It would be nice to put my OBDII scanner back in storage.

John

 

In over 30 years of owning cars, I've never taken one to a repair shop (other than for tires and smog). One of the ways I've accomplished this is to only buy basic vehicles. I'm all for things like modern fuel injection and computerized ignition which seem to work well for a long time with minimal problems. I'm not so sure about things like overhead cams and COP's which seem to cause problems with minimal benefits (the main reason I bought a 4.2). In my opinion, what has really burdened newer vehicle is all the 'stuff' which comes on most of them. Power windows, seats, locks, mirrors, pedals, climate control systems, etc, etc, etc ... all add cost, weight and trouble (the main reason I bought a XL). I'm not a rich guy .. I've only bought two new cars and I've owned a lot of '$500 wonders', but my cars are always clean, straight and in good mechanical condition.

 

I can post some spread sheets later today for you to review. I don't have anything to gain. I have been testing for 18 months now. The only control I really don't have is what the tankers poor into the gas wells at the pump. I have used the same Texaco gas station by my house for these past 18 months unless I was away from home, then obviously it was a fill up elsewhere. The spread sheet will note that for you. Like I said, it is not a huge gain, but it is noticeable. I watched the myth busters "dis-prove" the acetone scenario. I really enjoy those guys and that show, however I was a bit unimpressed by their results. I do not recall the use of a scan gauge, nor do I recall that the vehicle was inspected to be running at peak efficiency. That being said, you will see from my records that the mileage increases do not appear until the third and fourth tanks.
BTW, I really dig the snopes website. Here is a link to another one called the "no brainers think tank" I think you will enjoy:
http://neubranderinc.com/blog/2007/0...soline-busted/
Anyway, the first two tanks of acetone i used didn't seem to make a difference, but that third tank really shocked me. Anyway man, I encourage anybody to give it a try. It's a whopping $8 from Wal Mart for the Klean Strip brand. You are not going to ruin any components of the car trying it out.
Let me know what you find after a few tanks if you do try.

 

Its so true its scary.

 

I'm with ya there, Fairlaner!

I don't do my own work any more, but I think having a basic vehicle is keeping my maintenance expenses in reasonable check. My truck is almost a clone of yours - it's only a 4x2, but it's a 4.2, manual trans, XL, and the only creature comforts that aren't standard are a stereo, cruise, AC, and tilt wheel. It's even the same dirt color!

I am fortunately in a position for the first time in my life to buy any vehicle I wanted, but I like my basic truck!

 

I would like to post the Acetone Log (excel file) I have but I don't know how.
Also I would like to post a picture of my truck in my sig. Can anyone help?
Thanks
p.s. I created my gallery today.

 

^^ I remember when MythBusters did the Acetone thing. They came back with little to no improvements as I recall.

It would be interesting to see how your results compare/differ