So what happens when 100LL is gone anyway?

Maximal, 116, 118, 114, red, $389

Just the stuff for the Cub.

Life hasn't been the same since the gas turned blue.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

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On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 03:00:27 -0700, Sylvain wrote:

I wouldn't be so sure about that; some of the european manufacturers
who make the best diesel engines don't even bother to export to USA
(e.g., Peugeot),

Ah well, our loss is France's gain!

We had a Peugeot / Citroen dealer down the road. He ended up as a
used-car lot with all the pancakes etc lined up against the
embankment, immobile. Two or three New Hampshire winters and they were
dead metal.

Then there was Renault. Are they still in business? My brother bought
a Renault in Washington and drove it home, and shortly thereafter the
gear shift (on the steering wheel!) broke and there was no part in
North America to fix it, nor evidently in France either. It was towed
away for scrap at 1,600 miles.

After that we learned to specialize. We drank the wine but let the
French keep their automobiles.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

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Cub,

We drank the wine but let the
French keep their automobiles.


You must really like the perfection of your Neon...

ROFL!

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

Hmmm... the FAA ramp-nazis would love to hear that

No doubt. We have some private airports here where the FAA goes only
in groups - and they very pointedly stay away from any airplanes
they're not directly involved with. I hear rumors that some FAA
inspectors disappeared, but I'm sure they're only rumors.

I tend to be
pretty conservative about my flying - probably because the margin for
error is much less than driving.

I'm really not convinced that's true, but in any case it's irrelevant
here. I worked for quite a while in the refinery insdustry
troubleshoting the distillation towers, and I learned a lot about how
fuels are made. I still design instrumentation for that industry. I
can tell you with a high level of confidence that while you may pay for
a high level of quality control in avgas, you aren't getting it. The
specs on that stuff are obsolete, it's a pain-in-the ass customer
special (not a high-margin product like automotive premium), and it's
the first thing they screw with when the main frac goes wonky. And the
lead additive is 1940's technology. They don't even maintain a
constant amount - they just add it until they make octane on the test
engine.

So what I'm telling you is that when you switch to a boat-engine lead
additive and premium autogas, you're actually being more, not less,
conservative.

Mcihael

Cub Driver wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 03:00:27 -0700, Sylvain wrote:


I wouldn't be so sure about that; some of the european manufacturers
who make the best diesel engines don't even bother to export to USA
(e.g., Peugeot),


Ah well, our loss is France's gain!

Peugeot, Renault, etc. have not been selling cars
in USA since when, the 70s? if your idea of what it
looks like is inspector Columbo's 403, I understand
your prejudices :-) (but then, remember the kind
of junk that came out of Detroit during the same
time; not sure you *could* even drive back home
from the dealership without a major failure :-)

--Sylvain

"Darrel Toepfer" wrote in message
...
Mike Rapoport wrote:

They become worthless. The problem isn't just octane it is also vapor
pressure. The octane problem can be solved but there doesn't seem to be
an economical solution to the vapor pressure problem. The pressurized
piston twins are probably toast if TEL becomes unavailible.

There is a guy (in NC I believe) cutting the engines off (3' on each wing)
the Barons and sticking a turboprop on the nose. Working on his second
conversion now...

Higher fuel per hour burn, but flys faster and higher so it actually burns
less...

And the engine is worth more than the airplane. Sure you can do this but
the airframe isn't going to be worth anything before you put the new engine
on (ie pressurized piston twins are toast). They arn't going to be flying
higher than pressurized twins so I doubt that you are going to be able to
save fuel in the real world.

Mike
MU-2

"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
Mike,

You obviously haven't been the Europe in the past ten years.


I'm missing your point. What is it?

That modern European deisel automobile engines are not seen in the US and
that, if the poster that I was responding to thinks that they don't exist,
then he hasn't been to Europe (where they do).

Mike
MU-2

Hey, no argument here. If a TEL substitute added to autogas keeps the
Lyc (or Cont.) happy I'd use it. I'd just feel better knowing it was
approved by the federales aeronauticos... Interesting how avgas
formulation sounds more like an afterthought than a science.

When I said the margin for error is less than when driving, what I
meant was an engine failure on the highway means you coast to the
breakdown lane and call AAA on the cell. If the same situation happens
in a plane, you become a (heavy) glider pilot. The consequences of this
can be disastrous (obviously) if the failure happens during a critical
phase of flight or over water, mountains, etc. With that in mind, I'm
very careful about what goes in the tanks. The service manager of the
shop that annuals my Lance tells me about guys putting Mystery Oil in
the crankcase. It's not approved but these guys swear by it.

Cub Driver wrote:

Then there was Renault. Are they still in business?

Well, they are in the top 4 of the biggest automotive companies in the
world. They own 44% of Nissan among other interesting investments and
are highly profitable.

It was probably clever of them to sell the US french cars disguised as
japanese cars built in the US. ;-)

--
This signature now under new management!
Reply-to address new and improved! And Valid.

Mike Rapoport wrote:

I'm missing your point. What is it?


That modern European deisel automobile engines are not seen in the US and
that, if the poster that I was responding to thinks that they don't exist,
then he hasn't been to Europe (where they do).

the confusion was that you were replying to a message that was
precisely making the same point.

--Sylvain