Hey all! Do you think we should all put "Team Leftover Bananas" as our "Custom User Title" in "Edit Profile"? Kinda show some team pride and all that :)

Excellent idea!

Got my oil changed last night. 5w20 Royal Purple Full Synthetic or something like that... Huge diff, on the drive in I didn't struggle to hit my targets like I have been for the last month or so.

Only problem is I have a few MTB races this month, which means I'm gonna be driving around with the bikes on my car, and a lot of extra load.

Cool. Maybe I can get my numbers up again...

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I'm changing oil and swapping another 2.5 qt of dino tranny fluid out for new synthetic Mobil 1 tranny fluid. Am changing out 2.5 qt. tranny fluid at each oil change now.

Sunday I REALLY REALLY want to put the new front face on. Been driving with no grill, no grill block, nothing. Bad for FE, I'm sure of it. Looks ugly too!

Zounds, foiled again.

Didn't change oil or tranny fluid.
Put my attention on the new front face because I'm planning on visiting my parents this coming weekend - car shouldn't look ugly AND messy inside.

I made good progress on the front face. Got the critical outer corner mount points established, cut and drilled the thin plywood panel (2.7 mm!) so it can fit on. Not installed yet as it needs holes for headlights plus slot for radiator air.

Then I found the source of my coolant leak. Heater hose, a bugger to get at. Four hours this morning, got to work late but the hose is replaced.

Then I discovered the radiator is leaking. No sign of that earlier, and it would be clearly visible due to the engine bay layout. I think that with the system sealed now, probably for the first time in a month or two, the pressure popped the radiator. Hopefully I can pull off that job tonight. Got two spare rads on the shelf!

Good thing I like working on my car.

Zounds! You guys have been busy!!! :D I'm not gonna be on much, no PC at home still, got the problem fixed, but have to re-assemble, hopefully this weekend. No PC at the place I'm staying either, just here at work (I'll get in trouble if I'm on too much :( ) Gas mileage dropped but usage also went down. Instead of a 1 1/2 hour drive to work, now it's about 5 minutes! I'm staying at a friend's place for now.

Keep up the good work! And remember...

GO BANANAS!

I'm back! How much did I miss?

Welcome back. I hope this means you got your computer/Internet access problems squared away.

Precious little, as far as I know. Be sure to check in on the FETC thread -- there's talk of shortening cycles, not running them in the Spring/Fall or maybe not even in the Winter, and also one comment about not seeing enough interest to start again.

I guess I jinxed it by signing up. :p

Seriously though, I'm fighting hard to even get close to my numbers from a month ago. I'm hoping it's just the weather but the temperatures haven't dropped that much yet. If that's what it is I'm gonna be turning in some sucky numbers when it gets down around freezing. :(

I'm really not sure what to try next. I was thinking about rear wheel skirts and a belly pan, but I've been driving like a snail to get the numbers I have so far, which means aero mods aren't going to help much. (They'll maybe let me drive a little faster and keep the same numbers -- which would be nice, I'll admit.)

I'm still taking note of where all the large election signs are near my home, though. ;)

Rick

Somehow it's tough getting good numbers these days. I'm lucky to see 29 where in the heat of summer I saw 33 at least once. Couple times recently I had to drive 70ish for several 60-mile trips and ended up with 24.x mpg for the tank.

BUT I'm on new tires that I'm running at about 47 psi. Wheeee!

I'm in New England, we'll get some nasty weather sooner or later. It's going to kill the FE. One 70-mile trip home last winter in 5" snow, I got only 19 mpg!

Also my job is changing. Don't know where the new one will be yet but could be a much shorter ride.

Anyway, I'm game if y'all are.

Don't get me wrong. I think it can be a good thing to run the challenge in tough conditions - like winter. So what if it more difficult to get good FE in bad weather. It happens to all of us. Just like maintenance issues, people needing rides, whatever.

When I first signed onto the challenge, I figured it might run year round, good weather and bad. It hits all of us, and by requiring each team to have a member north of Mason-Dixon, it hopefully hits us all more or less equally.

My two cents.