Joshua Ho

@dieworkwear @AndreDeToth @MattBMartin Please understand that while 3k a year is probably a fair average depending on the car you buy there is a lot of variance hiding in that number and even the same car year to year can have dramatically varying maintenance costs

@AndreDeToth @MattBMartin 3k a year isn't too bad. i can handle that.

starting to think that buying a home in a walkable neighborhood is simply not attainable, so i've been looking at vintage cars. do car nerds have opinions on these? — Mercedes-Benz W123 — Toyota Land Cruiser 60 — Mercedes-Benz 300TD — Mercedes-Benz W113 Pagoda SL

@offgridPorter @CohenSite Achates opposed piston is able to meet the standard with conventional aftertreatment. Alternatively close coupled SCR. The opposed piston engine is likely cheaper, not more expensive and gets better fuel efficiency too.

@CohenSite The single biggest cost is the engine. It’s going up next year $50k because of new emissions regulations. That’s just the increase for the diesel engine. Not inflation.

American fire departments could resolve this by buying smaller, cheaper European fire trucks

@Neondancer Agedashi tofu or something similar is great. It can be a meal if you want it to be.

This probably sounds insane, but I've realized one of my longest held dreams is just to sit down and eat an entire block of raw tofu for dinner. I've wanted to do that since I was a kid and for some reason have never done it as an adult.

@OGsimulant @suchnerve @Junelikesrobots @guywhoiswoke This is easily tested. Dishwashers are not running at constant power the entire time. Most energy consumed is from heating water. Unless you are measuring out exactly 4 gallons of water and making do with that amount you are likely using more energy and water handwashing.

@JoshuaHo96 @suchnerve @Junelikesrobots @guywhoiswoke Modern dishwasher take like 2.5-3 hours to complete their cycle They consume electricity that entire time More efficient and cheaper to half-fill bathtub with hot water and do all dishes at once

@OGsimulant @suchnerve @Junelikesrobots @guywhoiswoke Heating up water takes energy. Often in the form of electricity.

@suchnerve @Junelikesrobots @JoshuaHo96 @guywhoiswoke I asked about electricity use not water

@OGsimulant @suchnerve @guywhoiswoke A lot, because washing anything that justifies a dishwasher also should be washed in warm or hot water.

@suchnerve @guywhoiswoke how much electricity does handwashing use ?

@ChronicChron @guywhoiswoke It uses less water than washing by hand and the maintenance boils down to not buying a terrible one to begin with and cleaning the filters and nozzles of debris.

@senorguar @FlourrisPr00t @AleksKalashnkov It’s not, it’s just that small cars aren’t seen as valuable. Why deal with a tiny Yaris or Fiesta when a Civic gets the same fuel economy and has far more space? Or why not get the CRV instead?

@FlourrisPr00t @AleksKalashnkov it's more regulations making it such that large vehicles are the most profitable and easiest to build to emissions standards I think

@FioraAeterna x.com/k_r_r_l_l_/sta…

@AnnatarTheMaia @yousirname1338 Modern automatics can leave the lockup clutch engaged for engine braking in gear. Part of how they achieve better fuel economy. Even without lockup backfeeding power in the torque converter will cause light engine braking depending on vehicle speed.

@yousirname1338 Considering that I've driven nothing but automatics for ten years when I still lived there, that's not how it works at all, or was at all. I could lift my foot off of the gas pedal all day long and the car would just keep on moving without any engine braking.

Random question for the Americans. Does the “No Engine brake” apply to cars or is it just for Jake brakes ?

@patinaresearch Why bother when the R-chassis GTR exists and is almost the same car but with more room in the engine bay, more stable under power, and has comparable weight distribution?

Can someone explain to me why did the Z32 never take off like the rest of the Z cars? they look so good when done right

@fgx195 @pmtiegs Not really. It’s a pentroof usually. Modern “hemis” are also pentroof.

@pmtiegs I mean most engines have hemispherical shaped combustion chambers these days...

Yes. A Hemi.

@parring_bad @poppy_haze It has been cracked for a long time. Cobb, ecutek, etc are all options.

@poppy_haze Aren’t there ecu encryptions have still gone uncracked?

the Nissan GT-R has a special GPS where if it detects you're at a racetrack, it turns off the speed limiter and lets you go hog wild.

@poppy_haze Only in Japan which has a mandated 180 kph limiter. 110 mph is crazy fast on Japanese roads.

@youdontpost @poppy_haze Pretty much yes. Priuses survive taxi duty just fine which is also high intensity fleet use.

so consumer cars can last a while but are only expected to drive a few hours a day and spend 90% in a garage fleet vehicles work much harder and are expected to last 5-10 years depending on duty USPS wanted a truck to do hard stop n start and last 20 years, and Grumman did it

@mccue @SwiftOnSecurity dis.epa.gov/otaqpub/displa… They load the car as specified on the payload weight sticker and let it coast in real world conditions down from a specified speed on flat ground. From there they can derive the road load that the dyno needs to provide.

@JoshuaHo96 @SwiftOnSecurity I was under the impression that it was some constant measure of wind resistance, but not one unique to the specific car (i.e. more aerodynamic cars have no advantage on the test). Do they base it on a wind tunnel or something? fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested…

Something that bothers me a lot mentally is what algorithm cars use to calculate MPG. Do they all do it the same internally? Differences in implementation? Distance side do they calculate every revolution, or use an intermediary value? How precise is fuel, how does that work?

@mccue @SwiftOnSecurity EPA dyno testing requires road load setting which is experimentally determined and factors in aerodynamic resistance.

@SwiftOnSecurity Last I checked they do it on a treadmill too so wind resistance (which varies widely between cars!) isn’t correctly taken into account.

@SwiftOnSecurity @GFSAR16 They know about how many ccs of fuel is injected for each pulse of the injectors. Integrate over distance to get mpg. The main challenge is all the unknowns like fuel system aging.

@GFSAR16 Due to the insane precision of engines I anticipated it would be precise but how functionally it acquires/calculates and it's deviancy from true after 10,000 gallons I'd love to understand.

@trashjuicebox @MintySnep What Honda Civic is running 16:1 compression on 87 octane? Even Toyota’s 14:1 compression hybrid engines only get there by substantially reducing cylinder filling and thus power.

Variable compression has been a thing for a few years now, but it’s still cool to see…

@sionhudson If it’s not a bad sensor you’re probably about to spin a bearing.

After about 15 mins of driving in the Cavalier, the oil light starts to flicker at idle. I’ve done an oil change, cleaned up the engine earths, and still it persists. It goes away with some revs. Any bright ideas what I should look at next?