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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:5331 comp.os.linux.misc:35075 comp.os.os2.advocacy:78716 alt.folklore.computers:73109 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!uwm.edu!news.alpha.net!solaris.cc.vt.edu!news.duke.edu!eff!news.umbc.edu!not-for-mail From: rdavis4@umbc.edu (R. D. Davis) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.os2.advocacy,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld! Date: 11 Feb 1995 01:15:35 -0500 Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County Lines: 80 Message-ID: <3hhkm7$mmi@umbc8.umbc.edu> References: <950116203411@lambada> <D3Mvy7.1Kq@csc.liv.ac.uk> <3heh7u$scl@umbc8.umbc.edu> <3hh5qc$6k8@blackice.winternet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: f-umbc8.umbc.edu In article <3hh5qc$6k8@blackice.winternet.com>, Jeff Dege <jdege@winternet.com> wrote: > I've got one of those 351 Clevelands, in the '79 Econoline I bought >a few months back when my '86 Escort blew a head-gasket. 230,000 miles, >rusted to hell, starts easier and drivers smoother than the Escort did ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ But this didn't happen within 3 or 4 years as happens with many Japanese cars... it most likely took much longer to happen. Ah, a voice of reason from someone else who has good taste in transportation, and recognises a good engine (just watch out for those main bearings and the oil light... it really pays to keep the oil changed and to use good quality oil... and replace those plastic timing chain gears with double-roller steel ones!) :-) In one of our cars with a once smog-control laden 2-barrel 351C, the engine is very easy to start with a normal sized battery, and seems to prefer extremely cold weather; an excellent cold-weather engine. Another car, with a 4-barrel 351C (for those who don't know, the 4 barrel version is designed slightly differently, particularly the heads which have huge ports) with over 10.5:1 compression, requires a 1000 CCA battery to start properly (less powerful batteries don't last long); this also runs best in cold weather. These older cars and engines were probably better since slide rules and real computers were used to help design them instead of today's smaller "no-iron" computers. >new. The master cylinder went bad, and I discovered that the parts >are more reliable, more widley available, much less expensive, and >enormously easier to install. On the other hand, it's a pain to park >and I spend just about 4x as much on gas. Yes, they're much easier to work on, and with the lack of electronics under the hood, it's easier to safely keep the engines clean to work on without getting dirty. The parking problem is due to so many parking spaces being made smaller, and if gasoline wasn't taxed so heavily, 6 - 12 MPG gas mileage wouldn't be so expensive... and we'd get better gas mileage if we didn't have to use that "reformulated" unleaded gasoline. Leaded aviation fuel should be available to the owers of older cars, just as electricity needs to be cheaper so that we can afford to let our real computers, like PDP-11/44s, run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if we want to. I suspect that the only real reason for high taxes on energy and high electricity prices is to coerce people into buying new small cars and new toy computers to replace real computers. It's all marketing gimmickry; a demented plot by evil marketroids to reduce the quality of our lives and is an attempt to make us all into brainwashed Orwellian clones who will do whatever big business and big government want us to do. > I purchased this thing because I'm finally finishing paying off some >old bills and I didn't want to take on car payments till summer. I'm Why buy a new vehicle when one can buy a real one that costs less? :-) That was a very wise purchasing decision. Our economy would be much better off if we employed more people to repair things instead of selling new things. >beginning to think that it might be nice to keep the van around even after >I buy myself something new (and cheaper to drive.) Keeping it would be vary good idea. :-) If you want a nice, relatively new, car that gets great gas mileage, look at the two-year-old Lincoln Town Cars sold by the dealers as "program cars"... you still get a great warranty and the price is cut in half. These cars actually get almost 25 MPG on the highway and have trunks big enough to haul a nice amount of computer equipment around in (no, I don't own one and I don't have any financial interest in recommending them). -- R. D. Davis * Eccentrics have more fun! :-) * http://access.digex.net/~rdd rdavis4@umbc.edu, ...uunet!mystica!rdd > "Today's busy world" isn't "busy"; Home telephone: 1-410-744-7964 > it's just grossly mismanaged by Work (play!) telephone: 1-410-744-4900 > idiots, businesses and governments.