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Thread: TSG's Unified Fleet Thread

  1. #1201
    mAdminstrator Random's Avatar
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    Remind me what the problem statement was for this?
    Whoomah!

  2. #1202
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    Living the dream?

    I swapped the '85's fuel injection to '90+, which is faster/more accurate/easier to service. It requires a road speed input to work properly.

    To get the road speed input, you need a speedometer from a '90+ car that converts the factory cable drive to a digital signal for the fuel injection. So I did that too.

    The problems:

    1. The speedo comes in two flavors - 1990 and 1991, or 1992 and 1993. The difference is only cosmetic, but obviously you want them to match. In any case, we're talking four years of instruments from 25 years ago.
    2. Like a lot of European cars, the stupid gear that drives the odometer fails, so in addition to normal obscurity finding a functional odometer is tough. The repair is cheap, but it's still a continual point of failure.
    3. Because everything is brittle and old, changing the odometer is increasingly difficult, so my 250,000 mile old SPG shows 96,000 miles on the odometer... and that gear is starting to fail. Almost no longer working.

    TL;DR, what I am trying to solve in the most roundabout way possible is a broken & inaccurate odometer.

    I could spend ~$200 and send it off to a repair shop and be done, but as always, I'm trying to address a current failure, an ongoing weak point, and add some functionality all in one pass. It's kind of a neat project, so even if it's not the most cost effective approach it's fun.

  3. #1203
    mAdminstrator Random's Avatar
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    Oh, ok.

    Here's the hardcore!!!!1!one option: http://www.roadraceautox.com/showthr...DASH2-and-DL-1

    I do like this option:


    ...but only if you actually put nine (9) gauges in the dash. (four of which are redundant...lol)
    Whoomah!

  4. #1204
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    I have not entirely ruled out the possibility of a fully digital dash... when you start adding up $200 gauges you get to $1500 very quickly.

    I can live with most info via digital, but I really want an analog, dial-type tach. I've been looking at multifunction displays like the DASH2 to work in combination with a dial-type tach... That's definitely on the table, and what was appealing about Koso's motorcycle offerings... they are exactly that!Failing that option with no way to drive the speedometer I've tried replicate is VAG's great tach|display|speedo setup but I can't find a small, vertical data display.

    I've got months to work this out - May or June - but I like having all the options in front of me for a good long think.

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  6. #1206
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    They also make a stepper-based tach w/ speed display that's very close to what I'm looking for...



    I wish it was 0-7k or 0-8k and <3k wasn't buried at the bottom, but it's bloody close and beggars can't be choosers.

    That and a pair of dual-function digital gauges flanking is not a bad approach..



    ... Although at that point it's a grand, and why not do a DASH2...
    Last edited by thesameguy; April 1st, 2016 at 03:56 PM.

  7. #1207
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    Especially a used one.
    Whoomah!

  8. #1208
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    Realized the flaw in my tach w/ speedo plan somewhere around Atwater Friday night... no odometer function. It's less of a concern now given what was spent this past weekend.

    On the upside, 20 year old F150 had no problems with the 450 mile drive to SoCal. It was remarkably comfortable and easy to drive, actually, which was a little unexpected. In fact, TBH, I think it has better road manners than the Suburban. I made a little platform to extend the back "seat" all the way to the front seat backs so the dog would have enough room to move around, but unfortunately the lack of her own windows meant keeping the front windows down the whole time. She of course went right to sleep (she is such a good traveler) but the second we'd put the windows up she was whining for fresh air. Oh well, we drove windows down and stereo off and it wasn't bad at all.

    Truck averaged an unimpressive 18mpg. I honestly expected better from the six & five speed since I can do that with the Suburban, but I'm betting 65mph (indicated, I think faster since the tires are oversized) isn't where the six is really happy. Windows down doesn't help, either. The Grapevine was less of a challenge than I thought it was going to be, but did require a downshift to 3rd to keep 65mph (at 3000rpm) - neither 4th or 5th could hack it. Not a big deal, the 300ci can run at 3000rpm forever. Literally.

    Made some new discoveries about the idle issue... after 2-3 hours of cruising at 1800rpm and coming to a stop, the engine just kept running at 1800rpm for a while, sometimes even increasing speed a little bit. Over a few minutes idle would creep back down, or killing the engine & restarting would reset it immediately. This smacks of idle control valve problems, so I think I'll probably pull it off and see what it looks like, clean it, maybe replace it. At some point.

    900+ miles in two days sucks no matter how you slice it, but mission accomplished. Fridge delivered, Benz got an oil change, new O2 sensor, and a wash & wax, and I was reminded yet again how much I really, really, really don't want to live in the Inland Empire. Blech. Now, onto a lot of v GTAV for April, 'cause I'm too poor to do anything else.
    Last edited by thesameguy; April 4th, 2016 at 09:00 AM.

  9. #1209
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    Quote Originally Posted by thesameguy View Post
    Truck averaged an unimpressive 18mpg. I honestly expected better from the six & five speed since I can do that with the Suburban, but I'm betting 65mph (indicated, I think faster since the tires are oversized) isn't where the six is really happy. Windows down doesn't help, either.
    Don't forget that a pickup, especially one with a fridge sticking above the roof, is just going to be inherently more aerodynamically crappy than a suburban due to the sharp drop off from the roof into the bed and then whatever the tailgate might do.
    -Formerly Stabulator

  10. #1210
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    True, true. It is interesting to note that with fridge was *barely* worse than without. 17.2 with, and 17.9 without. I'm betting if I had made the airfoil I was originally considering it probably would have been even worse. Although, had I made that airfoil I might not have sacrificed my $15 Harbor Freight furniture blanket, which got torn the fuck up by wind abuse. It looks like the sail on a pirate ship.

    Edit: Also, the Vortec 350... excuse me... 5700... does benefit from being quite a bit newer than the fuel injected I6 (nevermind the non-crossflow I6 in general!). A similar-generation 350-in-a-Suburban definitely doesn't get the almost-20mph the '99 does. My TBI Suburban was 15-16 max, making the 300 a solid 12% improvement. Still, I was hoping for low 20s, but that probably isn't achievable with a long bed extended cab F150 with the uprated weight capacity.
    Last edited by thesameguy; April 4th, 2016 at 09:49 AM.

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