That actually is a 37 Ford!

You are forgetting about keeping the cat warm - at high coasting speed the cat is being cooled off and the engine idles faster to warm it up. If you stop it warms up - I think this is what happens to my xB - I stop at a stop sign for about 20 - 30 seconds and the idle drops to 650rpm from 850rpm.

Well, that explains more thoroughly why it would second-guess the driver for that type of shift at that speed, but my question remains...why wouldn't it second-guess the driver for the sake of smooth shifts during OTHER types of shifts?

If the ECU programmer had the foresight to know that the driver would neutral-coast at 65mph and then shift into 5th...he would also know that the driver would neutral-coast at 30mph and then shift into 2nd or 3rd. Sound weird? Well, so does neutral coasting at 65mph, if you're not a hypermiler. Much more normal, very common and done by everyone, is downshifting from 5th to 3rd to accelerate (often for a pass); I would expect it to second-guess the driver that time if it's going to do so for other times. Why put in special programming for something people will never use, but then not put nearly the same program in for something everybody uses?

The question of keeping the cat warm, that one makes the most sense yet; it's essentially a "cold idle" behavior. Let's compare it to cold idle... Does the car idle higher for a few minutes when it's first started (but not driven away), or just for a few seconds?

Here is a picture of mine, sold it 3 years ago. Got better mileage than my Tundra with a V6. All original 50,000 miles, still 6 volt. Adjusted the mechanical brakes with a digital thermometer, measuring temps at each wheel.

I could stop the car with my thumb.

regards
gary

HeHe the coil is not original.

regards
gary

mechanical brakes are a wonder, misadjsted and u cant stop worth a crap, spot on and wowza can they lock em up and stop quick!!!

shoulda kept it! people instantly disregard old cars as having decent fuel economy because well thier old and not all computerized with fancy sensors. i for one would rather have an old car anyday!

VO I have found sentimentality to be a burden at times. It was fun at the time, but after 3 R&Rs of the tranny to find out old NOS parts are usually crap, I got tired of doing things more than once.

You should have seen the 49 Plymouth Businessmans Coupe on a Nissan pickup truck frame, sectioned and channeled, with a 240 Z engine and 4 speed transmission.

regards
gary

That is too cool!

I guess they didn't vary between cars and trucks under the hood. The picture I posted was from a truck. I'm wanting to take one of those flat-head v8 Ford engines and slap it onto a motorcycle. Sounds cool and not a suicidal amount of power.

idles near 2000 when cold and takes a good minute or two before it will start coming down and 5-8 minutes before it's at 500rpm. I agree keeping the cat warm is the best hypothesis yet.

I had a flat head 6 in my first car - 1965 Rambler American - talk about a smooth running torque generating engine only mine had a rebuild after my first summer and ended up with slightly higher compression(195psi), head polishing, SU carburation and water injection to keep the carbon from building up.