I bought a 2008 Bullitt largely for the color—Dark Highland Green—the ‘Torque Flight’ wheels, the shorter rear end and general lack of bling. If the 2018 Bullitt is indeed a thing, this doesn’t leave much room for any upgrades (except for the color and wheels). Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Ah, neglected to mention the knock on Frantz filters was that they filtered so well they removed some of the beneficial additives (but I have no data). I do know that if the oil sits on the shelf for a long time some stuff, which I presume are some of the additives, deposits on the bottom of the bottle. So, it’s a…

Analysis is fine, but if you really care about an engine you’ll cut the filter open and inspect the media carefully. A good analysis may make you feel warm and fuzzy—and is particularly useful for additive depletion analysis—but if there’s a chunk of a cam lobe or lifter, piston skirt or conrod, etc. in the filter a…

I’ve always appreciated engine designers who had the sense to design the filter adapter so the inlet and outlet were on the top. ‘Anti-drainback’ valves notwithstanding, the oil will drain back through the media and inlet hole—which isn’t valved—when the oil in the top end of the engine drains down and the car sits…

I believe those are a bypass type—as opposed to full flow—and I think you want to keep the full flow. Side note: I went to high school with the son of the Frantz that invented it.

Fram has a bad rep, but my dad’s used them for years on many cars, trucks and tractors with no problems. The low-end ones are built kinda flimsy—and the burst pressure might be lower than some—but if the engine has a pressure release valve—it should—you aren’t likely to blow one up.

That Ford filter is used on a lot of cars and trucks, like my Mustang GT; less than $4/per at Wally World. The older Fords—including tractors—used a Fram PH-8 or equivalent.

5th Gear: American Dealers Aren’t Making As Much Money As They Used To

Yep. And whether or not the diff oil is synthetic. Always use synthetic in diffs.

“... most people, regardless as to what they are spending, want to feel like they got a good deal”

I used to ride, but it got too risky here in the SF Bay Area (dedicated green bike lanes notwithstanding). There’s usually at least a couple fatalities every month around here.

Me too, though I bought the first when I was 31. My dad, an expert mechanic who always disliked foreign cars, bought the second after driving mine. When driving mine, I always get a lot of waves and ‘peace/victory’ signs from bikers; maybe because my old British sports cars aren’t much safer than a bike.

Sort of the inverse of how ‘screw the pooch’ evolved from ‘fuck the dog.’

2nd Gear: Does Tesla Have A Welding Problem?

“... how do you make airliner building more accessible to startups?”

“... The engine is slow to respond and wooden, and it’s connected to the accelerator pedal via twitter.”

Sort of like the Blackbirds max speed and altitude—we’ll never really know.

I was furious at Toshiba for selling the milling equipment to the Soviets, and vowed to never buy any of their products if I could help it (don’t get me started on Walker; I believe he gave launch codes to the Russkies). Unfortunately, for a while they made good, if not the best laptops and I bought a couple. Still…

I worked a contract at Yahoo for a while. My supervisor there was a scrawny, wild-eyed ‘kid’—who apparently had taught himself computers and programming—who was one of the most brilliant people I met in a 30+ career in the Silicon Valley. Come to find out he joined the Navy out of high school; they gave him an…

My late uncle was Chief of the Boat on a USN sub—and the youngest noncom to be nominated for Chief of the Navy at the time—and contracted with the Navy to train crews on boat safety after he retired. He obviously couldn’t tell me a lot, but he said the Russians believed in automating everything they could, while the…