Herman and Operation 30MPG

[abscate]

It’s a cool physics exercise

You need to know the mass of the car and have. A stop,watch

To find how many HP are needed to cruise a trip 65 mph...

Speed up to 70mph,Start the start watch as you go into neutral or declutch and coast. Stop the watch when you have reached 60 mph.

Power is the energy created or used per unti time, so now you know the energy at 70 mph, the energy at 60 mph. And how much energy was dissipated at 65 mph roughly, as the difference of these two divided by the time elapsed

Energy of speed is 1/2 *mass *velocity^2

The power lost during coast is exactly what your engine needs to produce to maintain that speed. There is a slight correction for the power used by the engine to generate the power to move the car, thats Physics 102

[WhatAmIDoing]

Strange question, has anyone else ever noticed that 850's feel a little jittery around 65 mph? Light in the steering and like it gets blown around a lot? But once you hit 85 - 90 it feels really planted and smooth? Both my wagon and sedan are like that. My wagon liked to cruise at 105 and my sedan is really happy around 95... Not that I would ever drive at such reckless speeds mind you... Never...

I've noticed above 60mph, my T5 feels really floaty and get blown around by trucks a lot. It feels like it started to smooth out over 90mph...but I'm not one for speeding down highways notorious for speed traps. i just always thought this was my car telling me to service the front end suspension and steering. On the other hand, at 50mph it corners like it's on rails.

[callahanoffroad]

Well I've been pretty aweful at updating this thread. Long story short my wife is now driving Herman, delivering pizzas. Lol. I'm driving an old Toyota pickup, delivering pizzas. So I've been working with that lately. Boy is it horrible to work on. I've never appreciated how easy Volvo's are to work on until I bought this truck. Every single bolt on the Toyota is a fight. On the Volvo? Just a slightly larger wrench now and then. Replaced the control arms in the Volvo, only took about an hour. I think I'm going to sell the truck and pick up another Volvo.

Now, I have been keeping track of my mileage over the summer into fall and we've been holding steady at the 21 mpg mark.

Still running 10w-30.

Water pump has started leaking which means it's time for a new water pump and timing belt. I've been keeping an eye on the junk yards near by for a head. I'll probably R&R the head while I'm at it.

Believe it or not it's actually time for new tires again.

That's it for now!

[ZionXIX]

Well I've been pretty aweful at updating this thread. Long story short my wife is now driving Herman, delivering pizzas. Lol. I'm driving an old Toyota pickup, delivering pizzas. So I've been working with that lately. Boy is it horrible to work on. I've never appreciated how easy Volvo's are to work on until I bought this truck. Every single bolt on the Toyota is a fight. On the Volvo? Just a slightly larger wrench now and then. Replaced the control arms in the Volvo, only took about an hour. I think I'm going to sell the truck and pick up another Volvo.

Which Toyota pickup are you driving? I owned a 1996 4runner which is similar to a Tacoma of the same era for about 3 years and I found it to be quite conducive to the DIY'er.

Nice hearing an update on herman.

[WhatAmIDoing]

Well I've been pretty aweful at updating this thread. Long story short my wife is now driving Herman, delivering pizzas. Lol. I'm driving an old Toyota pickup, delivering pizzas. So I've been working with that lately. Boy is it horrible to work on. I've never appreciated how easy Volvo's are to work on until I bought this truck. Every single bolt on the Toyota is a fight. On the Volvo? Just a slightly larger wrench now and then. Replaced the control arms in the Volvo, only took about an hour. I think I'm going to sell the truck and pick up another Volvo.

Which Toyota pickup are you driving? I owned a 1996 4runner which is similar to a Tacoma of the same era for about 3 years and I found it to be quite conducive to the DIY'er.

Nice hearing an update on herman.

I thought the point of owning an old Toyota pickup was so that you never "have to" work on it.

[callahanoffroad]

Well I've been pretty aweful at updating this thread. Long story short my wife is now driving Herman, delivering pizzas. Lol. I'm driving an old Toyota pickup, delivering pizzas. So I've been working with that lately. Boy is it horrible to work on. I've never appreciated how easy Volvo's are to work on until I bought this truck. Every single bolt on the Toyota is a fight. On the Volvo? Just a slightly larger wrench now and then. Replaced the control arms in the Volvo, only took about an hour. I think I'm going to sell the truck and pick up another Volvo.

Which Toyota pickup are you driving? I owned a 1996 4runner which is similar to a Tacoma of the same era for about 3 years and I found it to be quite conducive to the DIY'er.

Nice hearing an update on herman.

I thought the point of owning an old Toyota pickup was so that you never "have to" work on it.

Zion: I have a third gen pickup. It's a '93, so it's got the old 22re motor in it. It's pre-tacoma so it's just called a "pickup" in the US. Abroad they called them the HiLux. Which I think is a great name.

It's not so much of an issue of parts being difficult to access, more of an issue of removal. The interior, body and engine bay parts are easy to remove fix because they've been changed recently. The suspension components on the other hand have been fused INTO each other and into the frame (which is super rusty). So basically they've all rusted into one big lump of solid metal. Which is why I bought me an angle grinder with a diamond cutting blade!

WhatamIDoingHere:
I think that's actually the issue here, with regular replacement of parts this truck would be stupid easy to work on. But with that imo dangerous reputation of over-reliability people buy Toyotas with no intention of ever replacing anything. Which as you can see above is my current issue.

But that all being said the drivetrain is rock solid and doesn't need any work at all. But the frame and suspension are just shot. If I had a spare frame and some time it'd be a great truck. But I don't think the truck is worth salvaging. I might just part it out sometime down the line.

Interestingly, it turns out a did a bad job on my PCV repair and get to do that again this weekend. Herman decided to explore rocketry by using his dipstick as a missile. Hahaha. So, new parts on rush order and I'll have that done this weekend. With pics I'm sure.

[abscate]

The dipstick Missile is the cheap symptom of PCV service required

The RMS or cam seals are much pricier warning flags!

[callahanoffroad]

The dipstick Missile is the cheap symptom of PCV service required

The RMS or cam seals are much pricier warning flags!

You better believe that as soon as I knew we had a dipstick missile, I immediately checked for leaks around the cam seals. RMS, isn't so easy while at work, but I'll check it this weekend. In large friendly letters "Don't Panic."

[callahanoffroad]

Well I've done a terrible job updating this thread.

Fixed the pcv, no oil seepage from rms, head, oil pan etc. So that's all fine and dandy. I replaced the cheap rubber hose with a heavy duty fuel line hose and that's working quite well actually. Been on there a few months now.

Front struts are going out so I'm going to buy some Sachs quick struts from fcp in the spring AFTER they fix the potholes around town.

Water pump decided that it wasn't interested in holding water anymore so we replaced that and did a timing belt job at the same time. New belts and tensioners have a very different sound than old ones...

Replaced the cap and rotor, plugs and maf looking for a rough idle. Also cleaned the ECT connections. Still rough so when I have some actual time to work on the car I'll triple check the mechanical timing again.

Thermostat has failed in the open position, and as I cannot get the thermostat bolts out of the housing I'm kinda screwed there. No pun intended... I do have some stripped bolt extractors and an impact wrench and I will order thermostat bolts with my next parts order and give that the ole college try.

Power steering is leaking pretty bad now. Looks like I need a new rack but the prices are insane. So I'm trying some Atp at-205 for a week to see if that helps at all ($10 vs $500)

There's a black c70 coupe (non convertible) manual hpt down the street for sale and if genuinely considering picking that thing up as a second car..

[callahanoffroad]

Okay time for a quick update. I'm up to 220,000 miles. Herman in still trucking along. Because the winter cold finally broke I've been averaging between 23-24 mpg.

Switched delivery companies. I'm now with Doordash and I have to be honest the money is a lot better.

Did not end up picking up the c70, someone beat me to it which was a bummer.

Struts still need replacing as do the tires now. I'm going to wait for the potholes to get filled before I repace those. Hahahaha.

Used ATP AT205 in the power steering system and now there are no more leaks which was extremely surprising. Tried it in the oil and oil consumption was reduced by half from 1 qt every 1000 miles to 1/2 quart every 1000 miles. Which was also extremely surprising. I honestly did not expect it to work. But it does. So I'll be adding that every oil change. Of course it's also a pretty good indication that I need to replace some engine seals.

Still have yet to go at the thermostat. I'm frankly terrified to do it. I have this nightmare scenario in my head where the bolts break and I have to buy and install a new thermostat housing which quite frankly looks like a hassle.

Fun story my glove box finally broke! My wife broke this one and the one on my last Volvo. Luckily there's really nothing in there of value besides a 20 year old multi-tool.

That's the update for today!