SoonerLS

The car magazines reported a lot of things that were never going to happen.

I’m not talking about drivability, I’m just thinking that an engine that’s designed to work higher in the revs is going to work more efficiently at a higher RPM than one that’s designed to earn its pay lower in the revs.

That’s largely because Ford’s “modular” referred to the engine assembly line being modular, not the engines themselves being modular. I suppose you could say that Ford did the modular thing when they married two Duratec 3.0 V6 blocks to make the V12 for Aston-Martin back in the day…

The DOHC 5.4 was a different animal than the Triton 5.4 in the trucks (and, apparently, Falcon). The DOHC 5.4s, whether they went into GTs or Falcons, were all hand-built at the Romeo engine plant, if memory serves.

The Coyote part doesn’t really make much sense to me, especially when they have the 6.8 available. The Coyote is a big package and it’s more complex than the baby Godzilla, plus the 6.8 is already in the Super Duties, so you wouldn’t be adding more logistical complexity. Also, the 5.0 doesn’t really come alive until it’s up in the revs, and you’d think you’d want something that’s happier at lower revs, like a big ol’ pushrod V8.

As I understand it, “modular” isn’t really about the engines themselves as much as it is the manufacturing process for the engines. Any engines made using Ford’s modular engine building system could be considered a modular engine. The 4.6 was just the first engine made using that process, so it and the 5.4 got the Mod Motor tag.

Too bad I needed to fill up today rather than then. It was back up to $2.56 this evening.

I was just told that the Sam’s where I bought gas at $2.58 on Monday is down to $2.50 today. It was $2.64 on 9/4, so that’s a $0.14 drop in a week. According to someone on a local forum, the place where I normally get gas in Norman is down to $2.48 and some stations in OKC are down to $2.35.

Tulsa’s gas prices used to be among the lowest; back in the ‘90s, they were a good $0.20 lower than in central Oklahoma, but these days they’re usually a good bit higher. I would say that it’s because they shut down the refineries in/near T-Town, but Ponca City has the biggest refinery in the state, and its gas prices are usually close to Tulsa’s.

Gas price at Sam’s was steady at $2.58/gal for E10 87 when I filled up last night.

Tomorrow promises to involve a lot of driving, so I stopped by Sam’s for gas on my way home. I paid $2.58/gal for 87 E10.

I just paid $2.64/gal for 87 E10 at the east side Sam’s Club in Tulsa.

Meh. Looks like a poorly-executed knock-off of an Explorer or Land Rover.

Maybe the Expedition is getting the split hatch like the Navigator, and that’s just the unpainted upper half or from a different color vehicle.

Yes, that would rank high on the list of priorities. There are plenty of reasons that they could discount a Mustang sedan, I just don’t think an uncomfortable back seat would be among them. Most of the cops I know would say the perp should’ve thought about that before they did whatever it was that got them stuffed into that uncomfortable back seat.

But the point is that the vehicles they’re currently driving show that a lack of back seat room isn’t going to be a consideration, or if it is, it’s going to be waaaaaaay down the list.

I see a metric boatload of Broncos around here. Not quite as many as Teslas (I’ve even seen some Cybertrucks), and I’ve seen so many Porsches that they’re no longer exotic. I’d say I’ve seen about as many Broncos as Mercedes, and those things are common as dirt around here.

That actually looks like a worthy successor to the original Explorer.

Have you seen the back seats of the vehicles they’re using now? My best friend’s son just graduated from the academy, and he gave me the guided tour of his duty vehicle, a late model Dodge Durango. Let’s just say that prisoner legroom (or comfort in general) isn’t exactly a priority. I’ve also seen video footage of the rear seat of a late model PIU, and I think it’s safe to say that I don’t want to be transported in the back of one for any reason…

I’m not a fan of the big ol’ sail panels under the headlights. They’ve done the same thing on the Maverick; to my surprise, I didn’t hate it in one of the colors on the Lobo, but I haven’t seen it in a color on the Navigator that I don’t dislike.

I paid $2.65/gal for E10 87 at the east side Sam’s Club in Tulsa on Wednesday evening.

I paid $2.73/gal for E10 87 in Norman yesterday, then $2.70/gal for E10 87 in Sapulpa later that evening.

Durability testing used to be 150K miles for cars and 250K miles for trucks, per our mutual friend.

I paid $2.88/gal for E10 87 on Tuesday at the east side Sam’s Club in Tulsa.

I thought all along that the 6.8 was an ideal entry point for a hybrid Super Duty. It’s enough engine to carry the mail on its own, but if you pair it with some torquey electric motors, you’ve really got something.