Gasoline: How low will it go?

[Thor]

Where are you getting temps like that from? Barstow?

San Diego's right on the border with Mexico, and doesn't seem to go above 80 F=27 C (according to Weather.com's average weather graph). About the same with Los Angeles.

Oh. Fuel was 2.71 last night.

I've sen San Diego at 108 during the Santa Annas.

Gas was $2.499 in Durant, OK last night. It's $2.549 here in Sherman/ Denison, Tx.

[slingshot]

Gasoline prices do tend to drop prior to the Nov. election.  But I think it is also a period following the traditional summer driving season when use is at its maximum.  So, supplies should be up coupled with the economic situation which has just about everyone with a brain nervous about the future.

Not sure about Fuel, but I have info from some reliable sources that oil is going down to the $35 per barrel area.

I can't see that happening.  I could see $70 oil however.  If the price dropped to the $35 area, it would be entirely due to price controls at the source in order to push public opinion away from alternative energy development which will take years to get moving.  I still feel we should subsidize the development of coal gasification and oil shales technology for the future security of our country.

All that needs to happen is some world wide event and oil spikes.  What if no oil was flowing except our domestic product?  The USA and the world runs on petroleum and we need to ensure that we have alternatives should the worst happen. The recent stock market woes in the last month would be nothing if there was no oil.  We need to protect ourselves.  I also see no problem with buying worldwide as long as there is a regular supply and saving some of our resources.  That is pretty much where I believe things have been for the last 20 years.  It was only when world prices spiked above $100 a barrel that we heard this talk about transferring our wealth to other countries. 

[AZRedhawk44]

Gasoline prices do tend to drop prior to the Nov. election.  But I think it is also a period following the traditional summer driving season when use is at its maximum.

Yeah, but only during even numbered years.  And especially so in even numbered years divisible by four.

Not so much at all during odd numbered years.

[slingshot]

I'll give you that one.  My indoctrination is coming out on the traditional "why".  During the old years, you hear that gasoline production is being cut in favor of the refineries producing heating oil for the winter months.  I guess I fall back on my general suspicion of the fuel market at the retail level which is buyer beware for the most part.  It was not so long ago that gasoline prices were in the $1.00-$1.20 area  Then they hovered in the $1.20-$1.40 area until 1999. 

[Tallpine]

It'll go back up in December or January after we've all been duped.

Duped into what ...

Voting for a Republocrat ? 

[AZRedhawk44]

Duped into what ...

Voting for a Republocrat ? 

Voting for a Republocrat that isn't campaigning under a mission statement of "doing something about gas prices."  You notice that the noise about that has died down?  "Drill here drill now" isn't so prominent, even on the talk show circuit right now.  Let alone in the nooz.

If it's not a campaign promise, neither Republicans nor Democrats can REALLY be held accountable for what happens, in their minds.

If it's high near the elections though, the first politician to make a vacuous promise will get elected over another, and he'll do something to muddle with the flow of goods.

So, the industry and speculators leave it alone around election time, and ramp it up in odd years.

I think oil futures will be a hot commodity in 2009.

[KD5NRH]

I cut my automotive teeth on air-cooled 1964-1972 VW Bugs. I got so familiar with them that my best engine-change time for a Bug was 30 minutes!

I've known people with VWs that carried spare engines, and would swap engines and rebuild every time oil-chnge time rolled around.

[Tallpine]

I've known people with VWs that carried spare engines, and would swap engines and rebuild every time oil-chnge time rolled around.

I can understand why.  My wife had a VW, wrecked it, and I bought her another.  I think I spent more time working on them than we did driving them.  I've had a valve adjustment last all of maybe 30 minutes ...  :rolleyes:

I finally traded the surviving one for a bunch of logs.  The guy I traded it to loaned it to somebody who promptly left the state with it, and was never seen again.

[mtnbkr]

I've known people with VWs that carried spare engines, and would swap engines and rebuild every time oil-chnge time rolled around.

Whatever for?  I drove a VW Beetle for 6 years and never needed to change engines like that.  In fact, I only rebuilt the engine that came with the car after about 2 years, then again when I burned a piston by accidentally setting the timing way too high.

I think I spent more time working on them than we did driving them.  I've had a valve adjustment last all of maybe 30 minutes ...  :rolleyes:

VWs were definitely labor intensive.  Those little engines expanded and contracted a lot being air-cooled and with very simple systems needed more frequent tune-ups and adjustments.  Mine never had a valve adjustment go out that fast, but I did adjust my valves every 5k miles (about every other oil change).

I drove mine to and from college every 2-4 weeks and to/from my parents house after college every 4-6 weeks.  Those trips were about 4hrs each way.  I also frequently took it on longer road trips fairly regularly.  In the end, it wasn't the mechanicals that prompted me to sell it, but a rotting floorpan and a need for AC (NoVa summers and suits don't go well without AC).

Chris

[K Frame]

"never needed to change engines like that."

Agreed.

A friend of mine in Pennsylvania is very into Beetles, has been for many years. In 1985 I helped him go a "ground up" rebuild on his one bug, including the engine, new stainless steel floor pans, transmission, etc. (he knew what he was doing, I knew how to hand him tools and hold things!).

He's still driving that car on that engine, without another rebuild. At this point he's put nearly 85,000 miles on it.

[mtnbkr]

Also, you had to build the engine like a "Bug engine", not an American V8.  That meant keeping the compression ratio lower (Gene Berg, the VW drag car guy, advocated ratios less than 7:1 for daily drivers), paying more attention to oil cooling, fuel ratios (lean is bad mmkay), etc.  So much of what you see in magazines is totally unsuitable for daily drivers (c'mon, chrome on an aircooled engine?).  Getting 100k out of a Bug engine isn't all that hard.

Chris

[K Frame]

But chrome is so bitchin' looking!

Don't make him unpimp his VW! 

[PTK]

$3.19/gal for low test here in Denver.

$3.06/gal for low test, now. 

Not too bad for four days.

[Gewehr98]

I dunno, I was always hopping up my Bug engines, from my 1100cc 6v versions to the 2100cc monster I stuffed into my Bradley GTII kitcar. 

My '72 flat-windshield Super Bug was a milder 1600 Dual Port, it started life as an Auto Stick (and folks somehow think that's a new concept...) which I switched over to a standard 4-speed manual.  I drove it for several years before I gave it to my sister in 1986.  She had it for a long time before the Wisconsin winter salt ate through the front McPherson strut subframe.  Then it was sold to a fellow VW enthusiast, who rebuilt the front end assembly - it's still buzzing around Sauk City, last I heard. 

The 2100cc Bradley was a real terror, with dual Weber IDF 44mm 2-barrel carbs, high-lift, long-duration camshaft, ported heads, lightweight flywheel, Bosch 009 non-vacuum distributor, Kennedy pressure plate, oversize external oil cooler w/fan, you name it.  In the lightweight kit car, it just plain boogied, and reminded me a lot of my old Porsche 914/6.

I've been jonesing to do another air-cooled Bug one these days, just because I found them fun to play with, and so easy to work on. Alas, there aren't as many Bugs out there these days for project cars...

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

bought a 70 camper in 74.  not good car for a kid. i went through some motors. after first fire i did onboard extinguisher. gave a pa trooper some chuckles outside york

[mtnbkr]

My Bug was hardly stock either (1700cc engine with rejetted and tuned Weber Progressive carb, header exhaust, Bosch 009, "bunch of cosmetic mods", etc), but you still had to keep in mind the constraints of the design.

Always got a chuckle out of the V8 guys who wanted to build a 2L bug engine with 10:1 compression, advanced timing, factory cooling, and run it off pump gas, yet wonder why it didn't last long.

Chris

[mtnbkr]

Oh, and we were contemplating buying another Bug just before we found out Thing 2 was on the way...

Chris

[K Frame]

Gotta love this...

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. - Sure, gas prices have come down lately. But to 34.9 cents a gallon? That's what Kelly Joosten and dozens of other motorists paid at a Citgo station Monday. The sign advertised $3.43 for a gallon of premium fuel, but the pump cost read $0.349 a gallon.
 
"That was amazing," said Joosten, who normally spends about $100 to fill up her 1998 Ford Expedition.

Joosten proudly showed off her receipt for 25.36 gallons at $8.85. She said she saw other motorists filling gas cans, too, at the discounted price.

Station owner JP Raval says the attendant on duty couldn't figure out why the station was suddenly so busy.

Raval estimated 30 to 40 customers fueled up at the incorrect price — between 200 and 300 gallons worth — for about 90 minutes.

"People kept coming, so fast," Raval said. "Everything was crowded; it was like a fairground."

[Gewehr98]

Yup.  And folks who forgot to add a little bit of extra valve lash for the #3 cylinder sitting directly underneath the stock pre-doghouse oil cooler learned fairly quickly why that was needed. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Yup.  And folks who forgot to add a little bit of extra valve lash for the #3 cylinder sitting directly underneath the stock pre-doghouse oil cooler learned fairly quickly why that was needed. 


[
that brought back a memory    and was why the big aftermarket oil cooler got mounted in the right airscoop of the van

[mtnbkr]

Yup.  And folks who forgot to add a little bit of extra valve lash for the #3 cylinder sitting directly underneath the stock pre-doghouse oil cooler learned fairly quickly why that was needed. 

I had forgotten about that. 

I still have my Muir Idiots' Guide.

Chris

[Gewehr98]

Classic book.

Mine went with my last Bug.  I should go to Amazon.com and get another copy. 

Thanks for the reminder, Chris!

[mtnbkr]

If I can find mine, I should take a picture of it.  It's in rough shape, held together with duct tape, covered in greasy fingerprints, and overall abused.  :D

Great book though, not only useful as a reference, but entertaining to read.

Chris

[Tallpine]

Well, I must say we had a lot of "fun" with VWs ... 

The one I bought to replace the wrecked one had a rusted out undercarraige - jacked up the front end one time and the wheels/axle stayed on the floor.  I put some big bolts and multiple layers of big washers to hold it together - for a while.  One evening a few months later we ended up out in a field after the steering gear parted company. 

So - I un-wrenched all 9000 or so bolts that hold the body to the pan on both cars, and put the still good pan from the wrecked one under the one with good body and glass.

Before I bought the replacement car, we drove the wrecked one minus doors and windows all over the national forest for a summer 

The one thing VWs are really good for is making dune buggies.  They run cooler and it is easier to constantly work on them that way.  If you get stuck, you can just pick it up and carry it for a while 

I had a neighbor that replaced a clutch (or something?) on their dune buggy, and when he got done he had four speeds in reverse and one forward  :rolleyes:

[AZRedhawk44]

I had a neighbor that replaced a clutch (or something?) on their dune buggy, and when he got done he had four speeds in reverse and one forward  :rolleyes:

French conversion, huh?