Fifty150

Here in Cali, daytime running lights are not required by law. But, on some roadways, there are signs that advise that headlights should be on. My personal preference is for me to be able to turn the lights on and off manually. I don't want a car with lights that turn on, and I can't turn them off.

At my job, we had Astro & Econoline in our fleet. The Astro was phased out. The accountants looked at the cost of ownership, and decided that the Econoline was more cost effective. It's arbitrary at best. There was no real way to compare them otherwise. On one of the Astros, road debris punctured a hole in the differential, all the fluid was lost, and the entire rear end was replaced. Just bad luck to strike a bouncing piece of metal at 70 miles an hour. Another Astro was always getting flat tires. That didn't make it a bad vehicle, but tire repairs added into cost of ownership. The Astro I drove had paint peeling off the hood. A lot of exposed bare metal. I noticed that on other Astro Vans on the road. Was there a paint recall, or bad batch of paint during certain production lots? I didn't care. I'm just an employee. It's not mine. One of our Econolines had a slipping transmission. But that was due to lack of maintenance. Turns out the assigned employee never got the transmission serviced, and 1,000 miles a week of overloaded vans didn't help. But he was just an employee. He didn't care. It wasn't his personal vehicle. And in all fairness, every Econoline in our fleet gets a new windshield about once or twice a year. Was there a defect in the design? Were aerodynamics improperly factored, thus allowing for more rock strikes? It's only the cars at work, that I see getting cracked windshields all the time. That rate of failure just doesn't happen to private vehicles. We're employees and don't care. But there is no way to carelessly allow more rocks to strike your windshield.

What I miss about those early Explorers was the ladder frame and rear leaf springs. But I get it. The market has evolved. Technology has changed the way cars are built. We now depend upon impact sensors and air bags for safety. It's no longer a game of the biggest, heaviest car wins in a crash. Times change. People change. I'm now in a little Transit Connect with more seating and an anemic engine. ....................and running OEM tires @ 50 PSI.

Isn't that what "custom order" means? You're willing to pay full price, for whatever you want, and they are willing to sell it to you?

I have seen wagons on the lot with both door styles.

And apparently, Ford does not see us buying the Ranger. So that was taken off the market. Bad move. People bought little trucks like Tacomas instead. Now, the ranger is coming back. But given the choice, I would still drive a little "City Van" like a transit connect, as opposed to those long station wagons of The 70's. The only reason I ended up with this wagon, was because in my local market, Nissan, Chevy, Ram, & Mercedes are all cargo vans without seats. That will be changing. I expect to see the other manufacturers offering city vans with seats shortly. They must see the market potential since all these Ford wagons are being sold. Mercedes will have to offer a version that is a lot more luxurious. I may move into one of those if the interior is more comfortable, and I can get a Mercedes diesel under the hood.

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The POTUS has a mobile deep fryer for his fried chicken?

You can buy them from Amazon.com or eBay. The Harbor Freight version is okay. You will be able to use it for a couple times before you wear them out and break them. I have a set where some of the ends started to bend because the low cost plastic was not strong enough for the job.

You will probably want a set of these tools.

Document your build with plenty of photos.

I don't think I'm going through the trouble to install OEM lights into those cut-out locations. Funny how people who actually live in Fog Town, have gotten by all these years without those little cornering lights. If I add lighting, it will probably be more along the lines of LED.

I remember growing up in one of these.

Ah, yes, the Firestone on Explorer debacle. Does anyone need the backstory on this? Part of the problem with the Ford Explorers was ownership. People simply didn't check their tire pressure, and tire pressures were already low to begin with. From what I recall when I owned an Explorer, the door sticker said 26 PSI. So if you can imagine, all of those Explorers out there with about 20 PSI, being driven by (at the time) everybody. The explorer was probably one of the most popular SUV's ever sold. My dad used to say that manufacturers have different reasons for setting the number on the sticker. In some cases, the number is where they find the most effective amount of tread surface for the tire to have optimal traction. Doesn't anyone remember the old adage about letting a little air out when you're trying to get more traction? In other instances, it creates for a smoother ride. Obviously, the more inflated the tire, less tread surface makes contact with the road, you have less rolling resistance, and achieve better mileage. You also get a much bumpier ride because just like a fully inflated ball, it's bouncier. Another negative is decreased traction. Do you really want less traction? I have always tried to air up to whatever the tire manufacturer labels as the maximum psi. The stock tires on my van say 51. Why 51? Why not 50 or 52? I'm aired up to 50. Noticeable difference from when I drove the car off the dealership lot.

A major factor effecting mileage is traffic. Sit in traffic with the engine idling, A/C on, and let the fuel burn. If you can idle and burn a gallon of fuel per hour, how much fuel did you burn in an hour raveling 5 miles across town? I tend to leave the engine on so that the A/C can keep the interior cool when I make stops. If I'm inside for 10 or 20 minutes, then it's idling the entire time.

Notice that the current Gen 2 vehicles don't even have a dipstick to check the fluid?

Let us know what you thought of Magnificent 7.

A good muffler shop can simply cut off section 6 & section 11, then weld in a couple of glasspacks.

But did you actually do anything with the exhaust?

mrtn is probably going nuts over all the screws and the holes that they made.

There are seats all over eBay.

I don't think the market would ever be there. Anyone who is interested in a tow vehicle, would look at a pickup truck. How nice it would be to have a multipurpose tool. The Leatherman or Swiss Army Van. Fuel economy. 3 rows X 3 passenger bench seats + 9 passenger seating. Large payload. Nimble handling characteristics. 4 wheel drive. LED lighting all around. Low profile roof mounted refrigeration system for crisp air conditioning. Individual climate controls for all passenger positions. 12 volt power, USB ports, and 110 inverters for all passengers. Individual flat screens at all passenger points with onboard in-vehicle high speed WiFi. Massage seats. Enough HP & torque for 12 second quarter mile times with a trailer in tow. Helicopter rotors for vertical takeoff to skim over traffic congestion. 50 caliber machine guns mounted at each sliding side door. Built in loading ramp, strap down points, and higher roofline for motorcycles. Amphibious rudders and props for water crossing. And last, but not least, a deep fryer because I really enjoy chicken wings.

In my local market, all vans have doors, and wagons have the option lift gate or door. I personally feel that doors allow for better access for loading and for roof access. My dad likes the lift gate because it's what he is used to with SUVs.

I don't know what "invoice" really means. It sounds like everyone is buying "below invoice". How can it be that dealers are losing money? And I doubt it that everyone is such a great negotiator that we're really beating the dealership. That's like marking everything at the ninety nine cents store to five dollars, then letting you think you got a deal for two dollars.

Ford must have figured out that the extra money spent on a smaller turbo engine, did not merit such a small and seemingly insignificant net in performance. I wouldn't mind spending more, if it actually made a difference. But 9 HP?