joe, how big was that grade u pulling in first? What rpms where u doin?

 

Matt,

It was not your everyday grade. It tops out at 9666' and is called Powder River Pass in Eastern Wyoming. It is part of the Big Horn Range. Not sure about the grade...but it is fairly steep and has lots of switchbacks and curves...so running flat out isn't an option for me...but when you lose momentum by those darn Honda Civics in your way...well you have to get it back somehow while climbing...I tend to try and 'figure things out'...and I hit on a winner...

If you click on the link above in post from 7:45am yesterday...It has all the details...but the short answer (as I usually don't type small responses LOL) is that I HAD to experiment...the winning combination I came upon with the 3.73's and altitude and grade was that you had to manually shift to 1st and run her up to just BEFORE the fuel cut-off. So that meant I would run her up to 5000RPMs which is actually above the peak and on the falling edge...but with the 4 speed 1st and 2nd are spaced REALLY far apart...and I had to bring her up that high (5000) so when I shifted into 2nd...I didn't slide backwards on speed...remember we're talking SERIOUS altitude here...

Does that help?

joe.

 

Joe, how big was that grade that u where pullin in first? Also what rpms where u pullin?

 

Even if fuel prices were the same I'd still take the cheaper oil , air filter and fuel filter changes.
I'm actually hooking up to my enclosed car trailer right now, I'm taking off on a quick trip (400 miles), to return the sprint car for winter storage and visit my dad while I'm up his way. By the way you're right, the ISRL site is a little out of date.
I'll let you know if the Ex does any better with my accidental cat back system, (read exhaust pipe cracked at muffler inlet and the Gibson cat back I ordered hasn't arrived yet).

 

gojoe, my exhaust i the same exact thing. I kin of like the change in tone.

 

I'm half tempted to just put a turn down on it and call it good, but since I like to spend half my time off-road I guess I should have a muffler to act as a spark arrester.
By the way, I only got 7.5mpg this trip, love that winter blend fuel.LOL

 

winter blend fuels are terrible. Im getting a little better gas mileage compared to what i got last winter from winter blend fuels