Gave me the poorest excuse for a rental car ever.

--doors smaller than a hobbit
-rear view mirror blocks 100% of vision in any right hand turn. But.....gives an awesom excuse to run over bicyclists and pedestrians, should you get caught (in minecraft).
-infotainment system doesnt dim, and is about twice as bright as the cars headlights
- causes suicidal thoughts

 

I'm also in Western NY. My 2006 is just ruined with rust but since I didn't know about salt usage on the roads, I never got it treated. Learned my lesson on that one. My 2026 is woolwaxed everywhere except inside the cab and the visible exterior panels, even the exhaust pipe and engine / transmission. I even took the wheels off and did the brake components (not the rotors....) and the wheels including the spare. It's been 9 months and one winter and not a speck of rust anywhere and it's been washed once or twice. Cost to treat was 300 which is not a lot considering the alternative. I'll re-up it in 3-5 years depending on how washed off it is. Don't do a lot of miles (3k so far) so I don't expect it'll wash off fast

 

Does it really matter what the body looks like when the frame rusts out?

 

Well, sure. Toyota "just" replaced the rotted out frames...

 

I have had a small fleet for 30+ years; most of our trucks (all three brands) are run until they are "retired" to the autowrecker.....usually a combination of high mileage and body rust. Never had a frame rust issue cause a problem

2 cents,
Dave

 

alot of you guys keep blabbing rust this and rust that. for the most part i think its a moot point. the last time i saw a rusted out vehicle of any kind must of been years ago. and lets face it , most you guys wont ever keep the truck long enough to rust even if it were steel

 

Got to drive an L8T gas 2500 yesterday, man that thing was pretty disappointing. Feels like it has no ***** until almost 3,000 RPM where the 7.3 Godzilla pulls just fine from idle on. Once the 6.6 revs up it felt ok, but a lot more pedal input to get the level of pull I’m used to from my 7.3.

 

That's the way my 2011 Chevy 6.0 is. Need to rev it to get into the power. No low end compared to my 7.3. How was the transmission?

 

I don't think the GM 6.6L gas has the power the Ford 7.3L does, but one factor is the only rear axle ratio GM offers on the L8T is 3.73. A lot of 7.3L's have a 4.30 rear axle. The L8T has been very reliable though and once again GM created a really great platform for aftermarket 'crate' engines. The L8T's iron block is very heavy and has thick cylinder walls, it's very close to the LSX block except it's missing the extra head bolt bosses.

GM's is rumored to be working on a new HD gasoline engine. I am sure Ford is up to something too, I was hearing the 7.3L would get direct injection at some point.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they switch to direct injection. Port injection on the 7.3 was a selling point for me.

 

Dual injection, was the rumor. Direct injection doesnt have the chops to be a work truck engine yet.

TPI, and direct, with indirect ignition (yay $120 spark plugs). Basically, new heads for the 7.3l.

 

They did put the dimple in the head in case, but I’m not sure they need or want to do it right now. The whole point of landing at the 7.3 displacement was reliable stoichiometric combustion with no spark retard even under heavy loads. Take the 5.0, EcoBoost, 6.6 L8T and they are all running non-ideal combustion with spark retard under load and in high heat. The 7.3 can keep the most efficient combustion in every cylinder literally in any situation and landed at its torque per cubic inch value for that reason. I supposed you could up her to 11:1 and add DI to increase power, but now you may be in a spark retard situation depending on load and heat. DI helps with detonation, but doesn’t exactly solve it without ignition timing help still.

There was a good interview with the chief engineer on YouTube where he explained the 7.3 can maintain its full 430 horsepower rating in any given situation where the EcoBoost and smaller V8 have to de-rate to avoid detonation.

 

Higher compression with a cam phaser that can retard all the way down to miller cycle, in combination with knock sensors and spark retard could be handy........with an oem supercharger.

But expensive. And the last thing ford needs, is more complexity.

This is what we're doing at NG powerplants with piston engine generators. With massive turbos, not superchargers.

 

For a constant output engine a turbo makes more sense than a supercharger, as you have nowhere near the parasitic loss. For an automobile, a turbo makes more sense from an economy standpoint for the same reason, but a positive displacement supercharger will give more consistent, and instantaneous, power. That said, variable vane turbos go a long way to solving the lag problem, especially if paired sequnetially with an even larger one. But now you are talking extreme complexity compared to a supercharger.

 

I don't know about that, the L8T has been used for years in Isuzu LCF medium duty trucks and Freightliner stripped chassis. Around here just about all the newer UPS and FedEx vans have the L8T in them.