Diesel Directions
MOTOR PRESS GUILD Luncheon Meeting with Bosch and Banks. Listen to the audio! Photos: By Pete Lyons and Albert Wong courtesy of MPG Even though it was
September 18, 2009
Destination: Capitol of California
I’m writing this from my hotel room in Sacramento, Ca. See, Gale and I were invited to participate in an event Bosch is putting on here at the state’s capital called California Diesel Days. The intention of this outing is to raise the awareness of the legislative group in the toughest and most mandated “Green” state in the Union…
April 2, 2009
Speed Addicts or The Cool Factor
Power is an interesting and cruel mistress: Get a taste of it and not only do you want more, but you often spend valuable brain cells and neurons scheming of a way to get it. Call it lust — and an addiction if you will. Power can come in many forms, but I’m of course thinking of horsepower. Being who I am, where I’ve worked and what I’m surrounded by on a daily basis, it’s no wonder I have these thoughts fermenting in my skull. Be it for work or for personal gratification, I can’t stop thinking about the mechanisms that can bring about “more.”
June 13, 2008
Diesel Roundup or Boschs Armada
Howdy thar, partners. A couple of blog entries back I gave the lowdown on Gale’s and my venture with Bosch in Las Vegas during the Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference, but I didn’t get to write much about the demonstration vehicles we had there for our Ride & Drive event. Bosch has corralled a pretty impressive array of diesel steeds for the press to drive and write about. The idea is to get out not only the word but also the feeling one gets from driving any one of the examples of modern-day diesel – and to let people know that they’re available on the market today.
June 2, 2008
Rampage Jackson’s ’08 Ford
Mixed martial arts hero, Rampage Jackson, took his ‘08 Ford Super Duty to Banks Engineering and had it fully worked over from head to tail. QUINTON “RAMPAGE”
May 31, 2008
Sidewinder S-10 Drag Truck Update
It’s mid-May 2008, and we are now at a power level with the Banks Sidewinder S-10 that is reminding me of all the nitromethane-burning engines I raced back in the day. We are using up pistons like a good thing. We’re not changing them every run like I did with my nitro-burning rails and drag boats, but we’re changing them too damn often for a diesel. We’ve been doing it for a while, and it’s only gotten more problematic as we’ve made more power and gotten down into the 7.70s. Now we are too close to “running on kill” for my liking.
May 14, 2008
What’s my motivation? or Trucking in Tampa
For the plane ride back, I’ve got to remember to at least try for a window seat. It was bad enough being the middle child in my family, but it was torture being in the middle on a plane ride across the country. Heck, I even ran out of mints! At least sitting by the window on the plane trip back I can spend the hours looking for the gremlin that crawls on the wing and jacks around with the engine. I’m going to get that little jerk some day! Some day!
Anyways…
May 6, 2008
Customer Q&A #3 (with Peter Treydte, Banks’ Director of Technical Communications)
QUESTION #3:
Your information has been most helpful. A couple of more questions.
1. How does Ford treat the “Six-Gun and Speed-Loader” re warranty issues?
2. Are any of the 6 settings optimized for Towing and or Economy? If not, which one’s would be best for those applications?
3. Since I think you are getting more power by increasing the fuel, how are you getting better mileage at the same time?
Read on for the answers…
January 16, 2007
Customer Q&A #2 (with Peter Treydte, Banks’ Director of Technical Communication)
QUESTION #2:
My situation is that I don’t have a problem with my power output once the engine downshifts and the RPM’s go up, but I want more power low down (1750 RPM) so that the engine does not have to down shift as often (and use more fuel). (One thing that I have noticed is that it downshifts when the turbo boost reaches 20 psi., is there any way to raise that figure?) This is why I am looking for figures in that range, apples and apples you know, which I understand you are unable to provide. I guess the factory figures that show lower power curves must be done on an engine dyno, instead of a chassis dyno. Speaking of the figures with a manual transmission, at least that would provide a reference point. Right now I am in the “dark”, so to speak…
August 23, 2006