The EPA just announced.....

[Onefast99gsx]

That they are going to waive the clean air act until Sept. 15th for the affected 4 states. He's also sending letters to the other 46 states to do the same as well. This will mean they will be able to get fuel to us faster. I think what they said is that they won't add any sulphur or anything of the other environmental things that could slow the process.

If you read the newest headlines... $4/gallon is coming VERY soon. Already at $3 as of yesterday about 4pm here. That would mean about $68 to fill my daily car! Wow! Just south of here not too far i heard it was $3.34 already. I'm in no hurry to even run my Eclipse anymore after i get the turbo back. There's more important things to worry about like what winter heating is gonna be like.

[Khadgar]

Yeah I've been waiting on pistons since like May, if gas was as cheap where driving was a fun way to waste time I'd be really pissed about it but right now I'm cool and patient with taking my time.

[niterydr]

Its just gas, budget it in.

[Onefast99gsx]

Only can budget so much though. I mean people only have so much money in their pot. Every gallon of gas i pump is completely paid for. I do not use credit cards whatsoever like some people. I didn't say i was going to stop driving but i am going to drive much less than i ever did and racing Eclipse is definately not a priority. Using that wasted money would better benefit the victims of the hurricane.

[CVD]

Gas prices do hurt, but it still only costs me about $6 for my round trip to work. Only my long leisure trips are affected. Things like driving all the way up to Maple Grove or Plymouth just to hang out.

[Onefast99gsx]

Why can't automakers make transmissions that have more gears? The average automatic tranny has 3 gears right? Why can't they have like 7 or 8 gears? Sure you wouldn't have any power at pass time, but that's what computers are for, downshift/upshift. I think of it like a mountain bike having 24 speeds. When you're in that 24th gear you can go for miles upon miles but if you stop and start out again in that gear, you wouldn't have much power. Why wouldn't this idea work? It would be like multiple overdrives.

[Swifty1638]

because there are only soo many gears one can cram in a tranny like that? If you try to make the gears ubber small, they will break super easily. Also, that would only go into production for new cars..not dsm's..not a bad idea though.

-A. Swift

[Shane@DBPerformance]

Just get an AEM, run your A/Fs at 16.0-17.0 and use 87 octane. :)

[CVD]

Why can't automakers make transmissions that have more gears? The average automatic tranny has 3 gears right? Why can't they have like 7 or 8 gears? Sure you wouldn't have any power at pass time, but that's what computers are for, downshift/upshift. I think of it like a mountain bike having 24 speeds. When you're in that 24th gear you can go for miles upon miles but if you stop and start out again in that gear, you wouldn't have much power. Why wouldn't this idea work? It would be like multiple overdrives.

At some point your revs drop low enough that your car simply does not have the torque to fight wind resistance.
My VR4 has a very long 6th gear. So long that its really not worth using it unless I'm sustaining speeds of over 65mph(as in, no gas mileage benefit). Even then I still only get 25mpg.
Its not about more gears, its about having the right gear for your speed. Do you think you can save gas mileage by using 5th gear when you are only going 20mph?
It works with bycicles becuase it is easier for us to push harder (torque) than pedal faster (horsepower). Cars are the opposite, especially 4 cylinders. Semis on the other hand, already have nutty amounts of gears because they have nutty amounts of torque.
Now, which would you rather drive to work? A fuel efficient 4cyl revving to 4k, or a diesel truck with lots of gears. All of this is probably why 4cyl turbo diesels are so fuel efficient.

[dsm10sec]

Even if you had 7 gears, it makes no sense. Every engine has its peak efficiency point, any rpm below or above gets worse gas milage. And I can garuntee you that a DSMs peak efficiency point is NOT 1000 rpm. Lower RPM does NOT mean better gas milage.