Fifty150

Interesting. In this state, I specifically want commercial plates so that I can park in commercial zones, and drive on streets with signage as "commercial vehicles only". No insurance company hassle at all. Commercial license plate. Private person, non commercial insurance. I've done this since high school. 16 year old kid, with commercial plates, driving a car with a motor cycle license. Insurance company only cares that I pay.

Interesting that higher temperatures lowered your mileage. I suppose if you ran the van on a dyno, with cruise control set for 55 mph, you would great results.

With the cargo vans, you force yourself to trust the mirrors. No choice. You learn to use more reference points. You learn to look for lines painted on the ground as a guide to back up straight. You also learn to take you time slowly backing into parking spaces, so that you don't have to back out blind. A lot easier to back into a parking space once you learn to pull up next to it, turn away from it so that your rear is lined up at a better angle, then back in using the lines on the floor and the vehicles on either side as reference points. The new vehicles with back up cameras are so much nicer. I even added a backup camera to my pickup truck.

In case you decide to call Ford, let us know how that works out. I've always been able to get warranty issues resolved at the dealership level. But I also know that you can go above the dealership level. Just never needed to. Ford United States +1-800-392-3673 Monday-Friday, 8:00AM-11:00PM EST Saturday, 8:00AM-8:00PM EST

You bought the car, you don't have use of the car. Ask them to make the 1st payment on the car. No reason for you to pay for a car which you can't drive.

It sounds like you got problems. More than just a little red strap failure. I'll say it. Honda Acura has great service. At least my local dealership has great service. All cars have issues unique to certain models. But overall, Subaru & Honda make pretty good small cars. I would buy a Honda Civic or Accord. Subaru would be my first choice if I wanted something smaller, nimble, with AWD for inclement weather. I wouldn't buy a Honda pickup truck or tow a boat with a Honda Pilot. Nor would I rock crawl with a Subaru. Same way that you don't put stickers on a Civic, and race a Mustang. I hope your local dealership fixes up the van to work correctly. When operating properly, Transit Connects fill a certain niche that other cars can't.

Just a little daydream of mine. Imagine being able to fill up the back of your van with BBQ fuel canisters and then driving all over the continent without worry of fluctuating pricing, no fuel availability, or just running out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. And anytime you get hungry, you can hook up your portable propane grill or stove.

Solar recharge electric is a distant dream away. Technology is not there yet. Electric motors may be our future. Or the future may hold different technology yet to be invented. I'm not a fan of current electric cars. They fall short of what my needs are. My viewpoint is biased by life experience. Propane is interesting. It would be nice to drive around and refuel by switching BBQ tanks. You can go camping, and fry a turkey, also.

Environment footprint is not decreased. All of those environmental harmful batteries being produced. Fossil fuel producing electricity. Delivery of electricity. Different waste and pollution at the end of vehicle life. You think Prius batteries are beneficial to the environment? It's just shifting the pollution point. A perfect world option is not yet on the market.

1st time I have heard about this. You shouldn't bother trying to fix it. You have a warranty. Let them install a new seat if need be.

Ween yourself from driving. Take public transportation. Ride a bus. Ride a bike. Walk.

Not much of a push. When I get out onto the open road, where cops know everyone goes a little faster, my cruising speed is 80 in the slow lane. Yes. California still has highways with a 70 MPH speed limit. And yes, cruising at 80 is normal on those roads. You don't want to hear about how fast I used to drive on those roads when I had my 5.0. The Transit Connect easily cruises at 80 MPH. But the mileage isn't very good at that speed.

I think that with CNG, it's safer to replace whatever parts have suffered corrosion. I wouldn't feel so good about spray foam, versus replacing a seal.

For most of the cars out there, modifications are for aesthetics. As you know, from lifting Jeeps, half the lift kits on the market are for looks. Unless someone is willing to spend more on a performance suspension lift - people do body lifts and spacer lifts on trucks because they like the look of a lifted truck with big tires...... Never mind that the body lifts & spacers cause excessive stress on OEM suspensions and steering components, the trucks handle worse than OEM, are bad for the transmission, and the speedometers are off calibration. Most of those are simply bling for mall cruising. But that's the whole point. People want their cars to look a certain way. Be different. Stand out. Your van looks good! There's a thread about me driving a "bro truck". But as it turns out, my pickup isn't lifted high enough, or I don't have bling bling rims......my truck is not a "bro truck". I'm waiting for someone to build what we can call a "bro van". You've already lowered your van. Let's see if we can get someone to lift the van, add big wheels, and do whatever else to make it a "bro van".

Your real issue will be planning refueling stops. You can't go somewhere where CNG is not available. Technically, you can go there. You just won't be able to turn around and come home. CNG vehicles require expert maintenance. Not every corner mechanic will know their way around a CNG system. There are probably different seals which need to be serviced, along with a pressurized system, which most mechanics simply are not trained in. I would personally not choose a vehicle with a fuel system, where the fuel is not widely available. It's not like an alternative fuel, such as E85 or bio-diesel, where you can always use gas or regular diesel. You must use CNG. And with CNG, you can't simply get as couple of Jerry cans, and carry extra fuel for long trips.

This is also the same platform for the Escape. You may be able find use for Escape parts on your Transit Connect. What kind of mods are you dreaming up?

You can buy pipes, elbows, and bends from Summit Racing. Then either use clamp on couplings or weld. Custom exhaust can be DIY. That is a really big muffler, which also appears to restrict the exhaust flow. Deleting the muffler will just sound bad. Maybe replacing the resonator with a glasspack unit may sound okay. I just don't think there's much to gain, performance wise, from exhaust work on this car. But it would still be fun to try something out. How about removing everything from the catalytic converter back? 2 bolts will disconnect the flange in front of the resonator. Then you could use a glass pack, and turn down. Maybe even use a Y-Pipe, route the exhaust out the sides, in front of the rear wheel. From the best of my recollection, MagnaFlow is a responsive company. Try contacting them. Maybe send that OEM exhaust diagram, and see if they have any recommendations.

Why would you order that from Poland? For parts like that, I have a local speed shop. What I'm finding out is that most of the country does not have small, independent, speed shops. Most of The USA is buying auto parts over-the-counter, from a chain like AutoZone, Pep Boys, O'Reilly's......or ordering online from Summit Racing. I will buy from Summit Racing, 4 Wheel Parts, Amazon, Jegs......whoever has the lowest pricing. But if I need something immediately, and can't wait for shipping, then I am at the local speed shop, paying whatever the mark-up, because they have it in stock.

Get it custom made. Go to a metal shop. Give them the piece off the bottom of your van. Today, they could use AutoCAD to produce a piece in exact dimensions. I don'[t know if it will be worth the cost. But you'll have what you want.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-640022-1?rrec=true Summit Racing® Exhaust Tubing SUM-640022-1 $12.99 https://www.summitracing.com/parts/svr-xtd214/overview/ Silverline Exhaust Tips XTD214 $13.99

I'm looking at that diagram. Part 6 & 8 could be deleted. Replace it with a straight pipe. No muffler. A turn down tip, just like the OEM design, would direct the noise at the ground, so that you bother people with a lot of noise. If you did not have the spare tire, you could install a glass pack to make the exhaust note sound nice.

The North American market is dominated by gasoline. Politics. Money. Probably a combination of both. There's probably a very good reason why it's so difficult to sell diesel engines in The USA. Ever notice how many gas stations don't even sell diesel? Then there's the clean bio-diesel option. I live in a major metropolitan area. I can't find any within city limits. And it's just not an option for me to drive 25 miles to the nearest bio-diesel seller, then 25 miles back home. Who goes 50 miles out of their way to buy gas? I would buy diesel if it didn't cost more, and bio-diesel fuel was more widely available. Same reason why I don't own a car which is capable of E85. It cost more, and you can't buy the E85 anywhere.

Obviously, you guys don't like stickers either. I want to believe that some of these kids know that stickers, wider wheels & tires, a spoiler........none of those things add horsepower. I think most of them do it because they like the way it looks. I remember when people installed body kits to make their car look lower to the ground. Then every steep driveway and speed bump destroyed the expensive body kit. Same way kids do "home made" lift kits which are just plain stupid & dangerous. Despite what a lot of people think is stupid, dangerous, useless.............there's a huge aftermarket for auto parts which are stupid, dangerous, and useless. Mind boggling. Unless that teenager is an engineer and able to manufacture his own parts - he's buying those parts. And somebody is producing them in volume.

That is excellent mileage.

I think it's 2.25". Although I haven't crawled underneath to measure it either.