Re: The Draft Effect

[jlandry@domain.elided (John A. Landry)]

The aliens commander decided Howard R Pletcher <n9ads@domain.elided> would make
a perfect specimen for dissection, and he yelled...

>the
>Scout would absolutely leap ahead as the air pulled the trailer along and

I can attest to this exact effect on my recent trip... even with the new
392.  Something interesting to mention: The typical 60 mph level cruise
vacuum reading on my 392 is about 18" Hg.  I get about 20" Hg at idle in
neutral.  When pulling the travel trailer at 60 mph level cruise (no wind),
the vacuum is about 10" Hg.  A 20 mph head wind on level terrain will cause
the need to pull a steady 8" Hg.  Any sort of hill combined with or without
a head wind causes an even lower vacuum reading.  It was not uncommon to
have to drive for hours on end at less than 5" Hq.  On some steep grades I
had to drop to 2nd gear and still had vacuum readings down around 4" to 5"
Hg.

When you combine those high power modes of climbing mountain passes with
the high altitude (less oxygen), the air / fuel mixture gets rich and fuel
economy *really* suffers a double whammy..  Depending on how the carb is
set up, you're operating in the richer "power mode" all day long.

>I had to be quick on the hand throttle or I would rear end it.  Anywhere
>within 1/2 mile--not just a couple of car lengths--behind a semi (without
>a cross wind), I could run 65 to 70, catch the semi, and pass it as far
>as the tractor.  Once I caught the wind blast off the front of the
>tractor, I was down to 60 until he pulled ahead a bit so that I was out
>of the blast.  Interesting experiences.

Ditto!

John L.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
jlandry AT halcyon DOT com      | 
Conservative Libertarian        |  "The road to  tyranny, we must never
Life Member of the NRA          |   forget, begins with the destruction
WA Arms Collectors              |   of the truth."
Commercial Helicopter - Inst.   |                     William J. Clinton
http://www.halcyon.com/jlandry/ |    10-15-95, speech at the Univ. of CT