Well just a few more days to go. Me, my cousin, and friends make way to Monterey. While it has been a known issue that I despise car shows I attend this one with a usual glass half full (as I can be) attitude. Actually the Pebble Beach part of the show is the low point for me. I an not too interested in many of the cars that show up (I do enjoy the cheese and wine part). The one with the Ford marquee was a notable exception since a ton of GT40’s were on display. The weekend starts early as we all leave Thursday morning for the drive up out of Los Angeles area. My luck has it I have a dentist appointment that morning, seems I’ll have to hold off on the beef jerky for a while into the trip, but please be assured that it is a meat weekend instore. Back to the trip, the high point for me has almost always been the Historic races. I just love poking around the pits and chatting with a few folks that I know (Sunbeam Tiger guys, Shelby Guys). Another nice part of the trip is the Italiano Concorso. One of the only, and I use the term carefully shows that I ‘Enjoy’. I hope to have a bunch more photo’s and possibly video for those not in attendance. If anyone sees me walking around, please stop and say hi, I will be wearing a hat as ususal.

It seems to never end. Every time I pass a magazine rack you check out the cover car and they boast something like 590hp Civic, 670hp WRX, 800hp (YOUR BRAND HERE), etc. That’s cool, someone modded up a car and made some big hp. But now those numbers are starting to climb for the production cars. No big deal, but too many knot-heads driving them around and showing up at car gathering showing off their pride and joy. Fine, but make sure you know how to drive your car. Just because you have the bread to pick up a Veryon, Porsche GT, etc, learn how to drive your car so I don’t have a nice laugh when I see your car on the Wrecked Exotics Site. It is a bummer when you check out the carnage on that site. And it is not getting any better, cars are getting faster and have more HP every year. And people aren’t getting any smater or better drivers it seems. If you have one of these cars (you know who you are) and think you can drive fast because it handles like a dream, let me know when the pictures are going to be up on the Wrecked Exotics Site. Simple solution, take a high performance driving course where they let you drive YOUR car. Or find out about track event that offer the HPDE (High Performance Driving Event) where you can get an instructor and hit the track and drive as hard as you feel safe AND don’t endanger me. By the way, you can use BLUE tape to keep any rock chips from messing with your paint and I can assure you that the damage from that will be less they you plowing into my Excursion (You will lose).

Seems being slow to finish my Cobra might land it on TV. Not that I really give a crap about that, it was funny coming across this while reading a blog about Top Gear USA Style. Looking and going well at least the car has some good company as I do like Adam’s Challenge Stradale (with the exception that it has a stereo) and his nice collection of odd cool cars. I have not included this in the VSE Cobra build thread but if you want to see about it, that thread starts HERE or if you want to see the more static site Shift Here.

All this chatter about miles per gallon… You only hear about it when the price of gasoline goes up. Once it stabilizes we are back buying performance cars and SUV’s. On with the discussion…

I want to create a couple of new acronyms, “EMPG” and “AEMPG”
Effective

Miles

Per

Gallon

And what that means is this-

The EMPG of your vehicle is determined by the capacity of Licensed Drivers. Commercial vehicles are excluded and do not carry an EMPG rating since they are for work. For example, my Ford Excursion Diesel has a capacity for 7 Adult Licensed Drivers, if it averages 15MPG the range of the EMPG can be as follows:

Driver Only, EMPG = 15

1 Passenger, EMPG = 30

2 Passengers, EMPG = 45

3 Passengers, EMPG = 60

And so on until my Excursion’s maximum EMPG at 105 when fully loaded.

You will have to undersand the Min and Max ratings of your EMPG to most effictivly use this to your advantage. For example if your have a 2 seat car that gets 25MPG you Min EMPG = 25, and Max EMPG = 50.

So now you can see that the best way to save fuel and traffic is to increase the mean EMPG of drivers. Yes, increasing your EMPG involves, dare I say it, the L.A. dirty word of carpooling.

A few side notes while bragging about your EMPG and Acutal EMPG (AEMPG), the following does not apply when calculating the (A)EMPG

• Animals (Dogs, Cats, etc)
• Non-licensed drivers
• Children
• Licensed Drivers that are passed out due to drinking or other chemicals
• Joyriding with Licensed Drive (AEMPG = 0 always)
• Stolen Vehicles (AEMPG = 0 always)
• Dead Bodies in non-commercial vehicle (i.e. Stiff in the trunk)
• Motorcycles (Min/Max always the same)

So maybe the better plan is get larger cars and carpool? Might be worthy of a government grant (sponsored by the larger Automakers) to sort this out…

One thing is certain, you can do very well at increasing your maximum EMPG without any magic JC Whitney parts… no magnets near the fuel lines, no secret fuel additives, special fuel catalysts, no platinum 4 prong split sparkplugs, special vortec air intakes, or my new favorite which is selling (and losing money) a good car to get a few more MPG, only to find out that it will take an additonal 12 years for the payoff to happen.
Just good old fashioned math can save you a ton of money, don’t get caught up in the “Trade up to Green” ploy that are floating around. So keep you large gas guzzler just pack in a few more qualified people to raise your EMPG and all will be well.

Almost like runing over 2×4’s. Pretty bad. So I did the Autozone order for some Rotors and PFC Carbon pads. Total cost was about 190 bucks. The nice thing is the truck is 4wd and the rotors just come right off. The operation went smoothly except for these messed up spring clips that keep the pads from ratteling. These were the things that could make someone crazy, but after calming and thinking about how it all goes together I figured out the trick. Easy after that. All you will need to do the entire job is a 21mm socket, a breaker bar/torque wrench, and a screwdriver. One other trick since I was tossing out the rotors was to just wedge a screwdriver into the pads and rotor to force the piston back into the caliper. No need to mess with a clamp! When all done said and done took about an hour to do it with most of the time figuring out the pad springs. Brakes so far feel much better, no pulsing and braking seems much improved. One thing to note, lots of folks using the Cryo-treated rotors that are like 3x the cost, and I can’t quite figure that out. My application is not hard towing so might not affect me the same way, but I can be happy tossing out a bad rotor at $60 each…

At first I thought that the new DMV laws that are to go into effect July might be something that is really good. I’m still a bit torn as the question of safety while using a cell phone is obvious but expecting this to really be policed is another story.

Focusing on driving is important as I mentioned above, but do we really expect the Highway Patrol and Police to waste their time pulling someone over because they are talking on the F’n cell phone? No, I’m sure it will be a law that gets treated much like the seat belt law. If they need to pull you over and your not wearing it, add another violation to the ticket, which I’ll be adds to the fees that need to be paid. The effect will be similar I’m guessing and for the DMV Cell phone Laws have baseline fees at $20 first offense, $50 subsequent. So California may quickly make some good dollars off of this deal.

From some of my prior posts here on the FLog you know I HATE (Yes that is a strong word) people that are not paying attention and clogging up traffic while yakking on the phone. Nothing personal, just drive and stop clogging the road, I don’t care if you on the phone or not. The yakking and not paying attention will still happen just as bad, except you will have a free hand to drink coffee, put makeup on, smoke a cigarette or other tasks.
And yes, I have a cell phone, and I talk on it while driving. Will I use hands free or get a head set… probably not. I’ll make fun of the blinking blue light ear piece people at a later date, but I guess they may be better then me since they will not be a law breaker.

Last comment from the peanut gallery, I can only wait to hear the slogan on the multi-million dollar ad campaign we soon will be subjected to, does “Click it, or ticket” ring a bell? How about my catchy slogan “Shut up and drive” (C) 2008 GTSparkplugs

Here is the Q&A section as taken from the DMV, some laws are modified if your under 18, they have been omitted…

And I Quote…
Q: When do the new wireless telephone laws take effect?
A: The new laws take effect July 1, 2008.

Q: What is the difference between the two laws?
A: The first prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle, (Vehicle Code (VC) §23123). Motorists 18 and over may use a “hands-free device.” Drivers under the age of 18 may NOT use a wireless telephone or hands-free device while operating a motor vehicle (VC §23124).

Q: What if I need to use my telephone during an emergency, and I do not have a “hands-free” device?
A: The law allows a driver to use a wireless telephone to make emergency calls to a law enforcement agency, a medical provider, the fire department, or other emergency services agency.

Q: What are the fines(s) if I’m convicted?
A: The base fine for the FIRST offense is $20 and $50 for subsequent convictions. With the addition of penalty assessments, the fines can be more than triple the base fine amount.

Q: Will I receive a point on my driver license if I’m convicted for a violation of the wireless telephone law?
A: No. The violation is a reportable offense, however, DMV will not assign a violation point.

Q: Will the conviction appear on my driving record?
A: Yes, but the violation point will not be added.

Q: Will there be a grace period when motorists will only get a warning?
A: No. The law becomes effective July 1, 2008. Whether a citation is issued is always at the discretion of the officer based upon his or her determination of the most appropriate remedy for the situation.

Q: Are passengers affected by this law?
A: No. This law only applies to the person driving a motor vehicle.

Q: Do these laws apply to out-of-state drivers whose home states do not have such laws?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I be pulled over by a law enforcement officer for using my handheld wireless telephone?
A: Yes. A law enforcement officer can pull you over just for this infraction.

Q: What if my phone has a push-to-talk feature, can I use that?
A: No. The law does provide an exception for those operating a commercial motor truck or truck tractor (excluding pickups), implements of husbandry, farm vehicle or tow truck, to use a two-way radio operated by a “push-to-talk” feature. However, a push-to-talk feature attached to a hands-free ear piece or other hands-free device is acceptable.

Q: What other exceptions are there?
A: Operators of an authorized emergency vehicle during the course of employment are exempt, as are those motorists operating a vehicle on private property.

End Quote.

New Cell Phone Laws from the California DMV Site

As always Happy Motoring…

P.S. I wrote this on my Samsung Blackjack Phone while driving home tonight…

Here is the information on the Tiger United 31, which is being held at Big Bear Lake.

It is a quick drive out of Los Angeles, and if you have any interest in Tigers this is where you will possibly find the largest collection of them. Seems people are coming from all over the country. I don’t think I will be driving the Tiger up, but I’m going to try to head on up Saturday morning which also is the day of the autocross. I hope to snoop out some interesting ideas on cars and chat with a lot of the folks I have met online. Starts Thursday June 26th, and ends Sunday June 29th. Below is a blurb from the California Association of Sunbeam Tiger Owners (C.A.T.)

Jun 26 - 29 Tigers United XXXI will be held at Big Bear Lake, California.  The Northwoods Resort, 800 866-3121 for reservations, is the place.  Darrell Mountjoy is the Chair and has much work done and much to do.  Darrell has chosen a theme for this Tigers United,  Rootes Race Cars.  Darrell has commitments so far from five Tiger and two Alpine race cars including a Bonneville Sunbeam (photo above) that is planning to break 200 mph.  Click here  for Registration Form (Not sure how long it will be active).

I just added a Garage Sale page. Time to get some workin’ room in the garage. Check out the page at GtSparkPlugs Garage Sale

I have some of my 1965-1966 Mustang parts, some small block Ford stuff, some fiberglass parts, some big block chevy parts (just a bit, more coming). And other odds and ends.

Not such a big deal, but I did my first web tool. It is a Tire calculator. Given the tire specifications it will calculate the dimensions of the tire as well as revs per mile, etc. This is the start of the tools section on GTSparkPlugs site (not set up yet). The goal is to do a tire size, gear and shift point tool set, next will be to add the data entry for rear end gear ratio, and trans gear ratios. Then calculate the speeds per RPM and shift points. The tool that I have been using and is very good is called GearCalc. It is a simple windows tool and very handy, but wanted the functionality on a a web based tool. So good for a couple of things, one is I use it all the time and nice to have it on the web, the other is good practice learning JavaScript which is a cool language.
Here is the link to the Tire Size Calculator Page

GTSparkPlugs Tire Size Calculator