On the spur of the moment, I decided to drive Pearl to a HUGE car show last Sunday over near Boston (about 500 cars - That's Wicked-Awesome-Huge for New England). That meant driving along the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90 to you non-Red Sox Nation folks) and then doing about ten miles on the infamous Boston inner-ring of Route 128 (where all of of the high-tech firms settled since about 1947) for about an hour of turnpike driving - All in 90+°F heat.
The traffic was AWFUL, but all that awful-ness was going the other way and I was flying along, keeping up with traffic and turning 3,000-3,100 rpm. I instantly loved my newish, 3:88 final gearing. Once in a while things would accelerate to 3,250 or so, but then would settle back down again with everyone doing 65-70 mph.
On the way home I needed a nature break, so I stopped at a rest area on I-90 and immediately jumped out and tested the oil temp (while running) with a dipstick thermometer and it was running 190-200°F at turnpike speed (Natick, MA temps were at about 92°F from my phone). This is with a relatively sealed, CMC engine cover, an 8" hole in the firewall right in front of the fan inlet, all of the proper engine tin, air vanes, thermometer, etc., and all of the heat shields in place and sealed.
THIS IS FRIGGIN AWESOME!!!!!!!
I love it when you listen to what others are doing, see their success (and occasional failures) do the good things and they work!!
I'm not quite ready to tackle "Death Valley", but I'm certainly ready for anything New England can throw at us.
