Christopher Tidy wrote:

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Slowly????

For the last couple of weeks it's been rising like it was
hydrogen already, and without a container around it...G

Jeff


Ah, but what is the actual price? Ours is about 95 pence per litre
here. If I've done my calculations correctly that's $7.47 per US
gallon. I'm sure yours is still cheaper than that. If I remember
correctly, a guy I was working with in the US in 2002 was
complaining he was paying $1.80 a gallon :-).

It's at about $3 a gallon and will probably be around $4 by the end of
summer. That'll be about 100% above the price two years ago. What do
you think doubling the price YOU pay would do to your household budget?

David

On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:32:15 -0700, "Glenn"
wrote:

Then there are the chebby trucks with dual tanks and a filler on both sides
.. how handy is that??

Not very handy at all, considering that in the USA crossovers
between separate gasoline tanks are AFAIK illegal, and Fire Marshalls
have been requiring shorter and shorter hoses on gasoline dispenser
pumps - long gone are the 16 and 20-footers that would easily go
around (or over) to the other side. You fill the left tank, then you
have to turn the truck around to fill the right.

Been there, done that...

They have had a lot of problems over the years on heavy trucks with
them running a tank-to-tank crossover under the driveshaft down low,
and occasionally the driver would snag the crossover pipe on debris
and leave a 10-mile diesel fuel slick. (They sometimes didn't notice
till the tanks ran dry and the engine quit.)

Now imagine that with Gasoline pouring out, and the fitting or hose
clamp on the end of the dragging fuel line makes a big enough spark...

"Better call the boys at the firehouse and have 'em bring lots more
marshmallows, Cooter - We's got us a big ol' Car-B-Que here..." ;-P

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

Jeff Wisnia wrote:
Metal content. Whatever's still made out of metal in today's cars.

Probably hearing and seeing all the news buzz about gasoline prices
triggered this question, and I wonder if there IS a single good answer
to it?

My inquiring mind wants to know....

Why my last car had it's gas filler on the left rear fender, and my
latest one has it on the right rear fender? Glancing at cars around me
in traffic, it seems the distribution of right and left seems about equal.

Is there a method to this madness? I can't thing of an engineering
reason for the seemingly arbitrary right-left location of the fill caps.

It mostly has to do with the exhaust pipe. And the routing of the pipe
and muffler depends on the engine, where is a good place to get past
the transaxle and bring the pipe back, etc.
So far I've had these thoughts about the subject:

In the USA, almost all passenger cars are left hand drive and I expect
that the majority of self serve gas pumping is performed by the driver.
Thus, a gas filler location on the left side of the vehicle gets the job
done with the fewest footsteps, so why does my latest car have it on the
right?

Right. Because the pedals, brake lines and throttle cable are on the
left, you don't want to run the exhaust too close to them and risk the
heat from the catalytic converter melting or boiling any of those parts
(or the driver's feet). So, the exhaust almost ALWAYS ends up on the
right, on cars for US sales, at least. So, if you already have a bunch
of sensitive cables and brake lines running up the left underbody, add
a fuel line, and maybe a mechanical gas door release cable, too.
Now, it makes perfect sense to put the gas tank on the left, and the
muffler on the right - or the muffler can cross over behind the gas tank.
A car population with a roughly equal left-right distribution should
improve the chances that you'll find a gas station lane with a pump
available on the side your car's filler is on. (That ignores the
possibility of pulling the nozzle and hose across the car to reach a
filler on the other side. I remember doing that years ago, but don't
recall seeing it done anywhere recently, and don't even know if today's
typical hoses are ong enough to do that anyway.)

I suspect the "behind the rear license plate" filler is fasy becoming a
relic of the past.
That only makes sense with completely separate dual exhaust systems, or
with the muffler in front of the gas tank, and the tank RIGHT ahead of
the rear bumper. Hmmm, not the best place to put a crush hazard, is
it?

Jon

RAM³ wrote:
"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...


I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris



I wish that the Mk. I MG Midget/Mk. II A-H Sprite was still available: I
enjoyed getting 55+ MPG from my '62.

Now considering a Mini-Cooper "S". grin




I just got back from the NAMES show, and got about 39 MPG over the trip.
That was in a 1989 Toyota Corolla station wagon, and I had a fair bit of
stuff (big computer monitor, mini mill, and etc. in it.)

Oh, it has a 5 speed stick shift.

My 1976 Vega had a 4 speed and apparently they sold so few, they just
put in the same final drive ratio as on the automatic version. I used
to joke with people that the gears were 3rd, 4th, half-grumble and
full-grumble. But, it got GREAT gas milage, especially for a 2300 CC
engine. Definitely got over 40 MPG with 4 people and the air
conditioning on.

The Toyota has a 1600 CC engine, seems like it ought to do better than
the Vega.


In between, I had an MR2, with the 5-speed, and it got an APALLING
19 MPG, due to insane performance gears. Made a huge racket, too.

Jon

"Gunner" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:35:37 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:39:13 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Proctologically Violated©® wrote:

SNIP
I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris

No. What they want is Fast.

Gunner

So .. why is it that one of the biggest fastest car is made in England??

Glenn

"Brent Philion" wrote in message
...
Didnt one side fill tank a and the other fill tank B?


Yup .. you missed the sarcasim

On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:32:15 -0700, "Glenn"
wrote:

Then there are the chebby trucks with dual tanks and a filler on both
sides
.. how handy is that??

"RoyJ" wrote in message
nk.net...
I've heard that the filler is on the left to make gas station operations
the same as the road, ie keep right. The problem with that is that
there
is a higher probability of damage to the left side of the car via
sideswipes and damage to the filler on that side.

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Metal content. Whatever's still made out of metal in today's cars.

Probably hearing and seeing all the news buzz about gasoline prices
triggered this question, and I wonder if there IS a single good answer
to
it?

My inquiring mind wants to know....

Why my last car had it's gas filler on the left rear fender, and my
latest one has it on the right rear fender? Glancing at cars around me
in
traffic, it seems the distribution of right and left seems about equal.

Is there a method to this madness? I can't thing of an engineering
reason
for the seemingly arbitrary right-left location of the fill caps.

So far I've had these thoughts about the subject:

In the USA, almost all passenger cars are left hand drive and I expect
that the majority of self serve gas pumping is performed by the driver.
Thus, a gas filler location on the left side of the vehicle gets the
job
done with the fewest footsteps, so why does my latest car have it on
the
right?

A car population with a roughly equal left-right distribution should
improve the chances that you'll find a gas station lane with a pump
available on the side your car's filler is on. (That ignores the
possibility of pulling the nozzle and hose across the car to reach a
filler on the other side. I remember doing that years ago, but don't
recall seeing it done anywhere recently, and don't even know if today's
typical hoses are ong enough to do that anyway.)

I suspect the "behind the rear license plate" filler is fasy becoming a
relic of the past.

Thoughts or answers guys?


Jeff (Whose first car had its gas filler a couple of inches in front of
the center of the windshield. It was a '31 Model A Ford. G)

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 16:49:24 -0500, Rex B
wrote:


Gunner wrote:
On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:35:37 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:
I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris

No. What they want is Fast.

Gunner

Big fast Cheap

Pick any two


As my buddy the speed shop guy asks..How fast can you afford to go?

Gunner

"I think this is because of your belief in biological Marxism.
As a genetic communist you feel that noticing behavioural
patterns relating to race would cause a conflict with your belief
in biological Marxism." Big Pete, famous Usenet Racist

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 17:05:52 -0700, Eric R Snow
wrote:

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:44:21 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:35:37 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:39:13 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Proctologically Violated©® wrote:

Get an old jag xjs. Gas caps on both sides. Exhaust on both sides as
well??

There is something appealingly excessive about have two filler caps and
two exhausts. It reminds me of some of the big, bad American cars which
sadly seem to be going out of fashion. I always thought the Americans
knew how to design cool cars, but now they're turning out little dull
rounded cars just like the Europeans and the Japanese. It's a pity. Long
live the Lincoln Town Car :-).

Chris


They're still here - it's just that nobody can afford to feed the
beasties anymore. See the origin of the term "Giving them a gift of a
White Elephant".

The only people buying Crown Victorias and Town Cars are limousine
companies, police and sheriff's departments and octogenarian retirees
that want BIG.

I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris

No. What they want is Fast.

Gunner

"I think this is because of your belief in biological Marxism.
As a genetic communist you feel that noticing behavioural
patterns relating to race would cause a conflict with your belief
in biological Marxism." Big Pete, famous Usenet Racist
Americans want it big and fast. It just depends on the sex. Women want
big men. Men want fast women.
ERS

True enough

Gunner

"I think this is because of your belief in biological Marxism.
As a genetic communist you feel that noticing behavioural
patterns relating to race would cause a conflict with your belief
in biological Marxism." Big Pete, famous Usenet Racist

Bruce L. Bergman wrote in
:

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:39:13 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Proctologically Violated©® wrote:
Get an old jag xjs. Gas caps on both sides. Exhaust on both sides
as well??

There is something appealingly excessive about have two filler caps
and two exhausts. It reminds me of some of the big, bad American cars
which sadly seem to be going out of fashion. I always thought the
Americans knew how to design cool cars, but now they're turning out
little dull rounded cars just like the Europeans and the Japanese.
It's a pity. Long live the Lincoln Town Car :-).

Chris

They're still here - it's just that nobody can afford to feed the
beasties anymore. See the origin of the term "Giving them a gift of a
White Elephant".

Hold on there a minute.. My crown vic with the 4.6L V-8 still gets 24
mpg in mixed city/hiway driving, even with 167,000 miles on it, which is
about the same or better mileage than a lot of the much smaller 'mid
sized' cars on the road.


--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email

David R. Birch wrote:
Christopher Tidy wrote:

The only people buying Crown Victorias and Town Cars are
limousine companies, police and sheriff's departments and
octogenarian retirees that want BIG.



I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris


Wrong twice. You didn't think, and not every American wants a big car.
My requirement is room for two deer and gear and a Subaru Outback
Sport handles that just fine.

David

My original comment was meant in jest :-D.

Chris

Glenn wrote:
"Gunner" wrote in message
...

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:35:37 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:39:13 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:



Proctologically Violated©® wrote:


SNIP

I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris

No. What they want is Fast.

Gunner


So .. why is it that one of the biggest fastest car is made in England??

Glenn

If you mean the Rolls-Royce Phantom, I hate it. All the craftsmanship of
a traditional Rolls-Royce has been lost. Essentially you're buying an
insanely expensive BMW. And the '80s Town Car beats the Phantom in looks
any day. The Phantom really is ugly.

Chris

Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin? Take your pick.

The best mpg I've achieved recently has to have been in a transit van.
Even fully loaded and around town we were getting about 40mpg all
weekend, fantastic. We hired one from www.rewardvanhire.co.uk, seems
it's Fords new duratorque engine, it's a dream.

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:32:15 -0700, "Glenn"
wrote:


Then there are the chebby trucks with dual tanks and a filler on both sides
.. how handy is that??


Not very handy at all, considering that in the USA crossovers
between separate gasoline tanks are AFAIK illegal, and Fire Marshalls
have been requiring shorter and shorter hoses on gasoline dispenser
pumps - long gone are the 16 and 20-footers that would easily go
around (or over) to the other side. You fill the left tank, then you
have to turn the truck around to fill the right.

This photo gives you an idea of how short the gas pump hoses have become:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/temp/hosing.jpg

Methinks a longer hose wouldn't have helped much though...


Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

In article ,
Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:32:15 -0700, "Glenn"
wrote:


Then there are the chebby trucks with dual tanks and a filler on both sides
.. how handy is that??


Not very handy at all, considering that in the USA crossovers
between separate gasoline tanks are AFAIK illegal, and Fire Marshalls
have been requiring shorter and shorter hoses on gasoline dispenser
pumps - long gone are the 16 and 20-footers that would easily go
around (or over) to the other side. You fill the left tank, then you
have to turn the truck around to fill the right.

This photo gives you an idea of how short the gas pump hoses have become:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/temp/hosing.jpg

Methinks a longer hose wouldn't have helped much though...


Jeff

That's what you get for using too short an extension cord -- er hose.

At current gas prices and rate of price increase, we'll all soon need
extension hoses so as to buy it a gallon at a time.

That'll minimize having to buy it in large quantities and watch the
price rise before we can fit more in the tank. So far I haven't had the
price change while pumping, but I did once watch it go up 5 cents soon
as I put the nozzle back on the pump.

Nearly fainted with relief.

--
Bring back, Oh bring back
Oh, bring back that old continuity.
Bring back, oh, bring back
Oh, bring back Clerk Maxwell to me.

"Anthony" wrote in message
...
Hold on there a minute.. My crown vic with the 4.6L V-8 still gets 24
mpg in mixed city/hiway driving, even with 167,000 miles on it, which is
about the same or better mileage than a lot of the much smaller 'mid
sized' cars on the road.

Do you drive your age? ;-)

Regards,

Robin

"Robin S." wrote in
:



Do you drive your age? ;-)


I drive usually 5-15 mph over the speed limit , but if you don't gap
it when you take off from stops...it'll get good mileage.



--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email

"Christopher Tidy" wrote in message
...
Glenn wrote:
"Gunner" wrote in message
...

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 19:35:37 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:


Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:39:13 +0000, Christopher Tidy
wrote:



Proctologically Violated©® wrote:


SNIP

I thought every American wanted BIG?

Chris

No. What they want is Fast.

Gunner


So .. why is it that one of the biggest fastest car is made in England??

Glenn

If you mean the Rolls-Royce Phantom, I hate it. All the craftsmanship of a
traditional Rolls-Royce has been lost. Essentially you're buying an
insanely expensive BMW. And the '80s Town Car beats the Phantom in looks
any day. The Phantom really is ugly.

Chris

LOL Didn't say it was purdy Just big and fast. I don't think it was a
Rolls though. Some other thing that you have to order about 2 years in
advance and armor plating is an option. It was big and fast and they said
if you were even thinking about it's gas mileage you couldn't afford one.
Glenn

no, not 59 cad, I have one (see my web site) - the filler is behind
licence plate - you are thinking of a chrysler product

On 24 Apr 2006 05:27:06 GMT, (DoN. Nichols)
wrote:

According to ff :

[ ... ]

As a former full service filling station attendant I saw every gas cap
location.
My favorites were the old VW beetle--inside the front trunk and the '56
Chevy--the left turn signal folds down.

What about the Caddys -- 1959 was it -- which had the filler cap
under one of the tail lights up on those big fins? It was hinged to
give access to the filler cap.

Enjoy,
DoN.
Bill

www.wbnoble.com

to contact me, do not reply to this message,
instead correct this address and use it

will iam_ b_ No ble at msn daught com
*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

What about the Caddys -- 1959 was it -- which had the filler cap
under one of the tail lights up on those big fins? It was hinged to
give access to the filler cap.

57 Chevy's had them. I enjoyed it when the gas attendant had to ask
for help. :-)


--
Sending unsolicited commercial e-mail to this account incurs a fee of
$500 per message, and acknowledges the legality of this contract.

"William B Noble (don't reply to this address)" wrote:

no, not 59 cad, I have one (see my web site) - the filler is behind
licence plate - you are thinking of a chrysler product

On 24 Apr 2006 05:27:06 GMT, (DoN. Nichols)
wrote:

According to ff :

[ ... ]

As a former full service filling station attendant I saw every gas cap
location.
My favorites were the old VW beetle--inside the front trunk and the '56
Chevy--the left turn signal folds down.

What about the Caddys -- 1959 was it -- which had the filler cap
under one of the tail lights up on those big fins? It was hinged to
give access to the filler cap.

Enjoy,
DoN.
Bill

www.wbnoble.com

to contact me, do not reply to this message,
instead correct this address and use it

will iam_ b_ No ble at msn daught com
*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***

It was an earlier year Caddy... I think about 55. Our neighbors had
one, the one with the dagmars.

John

no, not 59 cad, I have one (see my web site) - the filler is behind
licence plate - you are thinking of a chrysler product

No, he s thinking of a '58 Caddy

Jeff Wisnia wrote:
Metal content. Whatever's still made out of metal in today's cars.

Probably hearing and seeing all the news buzz about gasoline prices
triggered this question, and I wonder if there IS a single good answer
to it?

My inquiring mind wants to know....

Why my last car had it's gas filler on the left rear fender, and my
latest one has it on the right rear fender? Glancing at cars around me
in traffic, it seems the distribution of right and left seems about equal.

Is there a method to this madness? I can't thing of an engineering
reason for the seemingly arbitrary right-left location of the fill caps.

So far I've had these thoughts about the subject:

In the USA, almost all passenger cars are left hand drive and I expect
that the majority of self serve gas pumping is performed by the driver.
Thus, a gas filler location on the left side of the vehicle gets the job
done with the fewest footsteps, so why does my latest car have it on the
right?

A car population with a roughly equal left-right distribution should
improve the chances that you'll find a gas station lane with a pump
available on the side your car's filler is on. (That ignores the
possibility of pulling the nozzle and hose across the car to reach a
filler on the other side. I remember doing that years ago, but don't
recall seeing it done anywhere recently, and don't even know if today's
typical hoses are ong enough to do that anyway.)

I suspect the "behind the rear license plate" filler is fasy becoming a
relic of the past.

Thoughts or answers guys?


Jeff (Whose first car had its gas filler a couple of inches in front of
the center of the windshield. It was a '31 Model A Ford. G)

Probably the car makers design for a world market, where right & left
drive are about equally represented. My family have 2 cars, both Holden
(GM rebadged in Australia), with the gas filler on different sides.
Far more annoying (imho) is having the secondary control stalks on the
steering column on the opposite sides, too. Very easy, after driving one
car for a week, to hop in the other, & flash the lights when I want the
wiper. I wish the Australian Design Rules would stipulate which side
they should be.
The Apollo (local model name) is a Toyota copied here, while the Barina
is a bitza: German engine, Spanish body, & who knows what else...

Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:32:15 -0700, "Glenn"
wrote:


Then there are the chebby trucks with dual tanks and a filler on both
sides .. how handy is that??



Not very handy at all, considering that in the USA crossovers
between separate gasoline tanks are AFAIK illegal, and Fire Marshalls
have been requiring shorter and shorter hoses on gasoline dispenser
pumps - long gone are the 16 and 20-footers that would easily go
around (or over) to the other side. You fill the left tank, then you
have to turn the truck around to fill the right.


This photo gives you an idea of how short the gas pump hoses have become:

http://home.comcast.net/~jwisnia18/temp/hosing.jpg

Methinks a longer hose wouldn't have helped much though...


Jeff

I wonder if there's a market for a gascap that looks like a gas nozzle
with a yard or so of hose? :^)

David