HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bpita@ctp.com (Bob Pitas)
Subject: Re: '79 Mustang
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 14:12:11 GMT
Organization: Cambridge Technology Partners

In article <1992Aug20.091903.27536@mr.med.ge.com> bednarek@picard.med.ge.com (Dennis Bednarek Mfg 4-6971) writes:
>F O R D
>i r e a
>x   p i
>    a l
>    i y
>    p   <-  You know, I don't think I've ever had to 'repaip' my car...
>            They must have 'paip'-ed it right the first time!

If you're going to make fun of Fords, at least get the saying right!  :^)


>Thats your problem I bet try a GM product.
>
>--
>
>  
>###############################################################################
>###NEVER - NEVERMORE###########################################################
>###############################################################################
>####################################What are the contents of the oblong box?##
>###############################################################################
>  The usual disclaimer of self and employer applies to all above comments.
>#


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
        ___          
       / _ \                 '85 Mustang GT                        Bob Pitas
      /    /USH              14.13 @ 99.8                      bpita@ctp.com
     / /| \                  Up at NED, Epping, NH           (Cambridge, MA)

"If you go fast enough, driving in traffic is like driving in a parking lot"
Disclaimer: These opinions are mine, obviously, since they end with my .sig!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dos@major.panix.com (Dave O'Shea)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Insurance Problem :(
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 18:28:15 EDT
Organization: Hurts rent-a-dungeon, Inc.

chitwong@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (wong chit) writes:

> 
>   About half year ago, I have a car accident.  In which my insurance company
> has already declined the claim of the other party.  However, he tried the
> second time and again declined by my company.  Now this is the third time
> he is pushing me.  I am very angry since I think it was his recklessness that
> caused the accident.  I paid more than $1000 to repair my car and he has 
> obviously his bumper to repair only.  I have let the matter finish after my 
> first claim. But, Jesus!                     
> 
>       Here are my questions:
> 
> Is the matter already finished after my company declined him the first time?
> Otherwise, doesn't it mean that he could keep claiming against me as many 
> times as he want?
> The paper from his insurance company ask me to give my insurance company's
> name which I have given them already.  Otherwise I have to pay the amount
> they want.  My insurance just expired this month.  If I change a new comany,
> Should I go to the new insurance company or the old one?

I'm going to assume that the policy you had included liability insurance. 
If that is the case, this person is wasting his (and, unfortunately, 
your) time. If they are filing for the same damages, I don't think you're 
even obligated to respond.
 
And yes, you should report this to the insurance company that had the 
policy in effect at the time of the accident.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto)
Subject: "Failure to control speed to avoid collision"
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 92 03:39:52 GMT
Organization: College of Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park

What is it with the MD state police and the charge of "Failure to
control speed to avoid collision"?  Is that just their catch-all to
avoid having to do a real investigation?  For instance, the Washington
post had a story on a recent Beltway accident involving a tractor
trailer.  The tractor trailer driver saw a backup ahead of him,
applied his brakes, jacknifed, and hit both a car driving to the left
of him, and a car on the other side of the concrete divider--- but not
any of the cars ahead of him.  The police said "Obviously, he was
going too fast... The roads were wet. He couldn't stop. He was going
too fast."

(Yeah, I was hit with that charge once, also.  I suppose any speed is
too fast once one of your tires blows rounding a >90 degree curve)
-- 
Matthew T. Russotto	russotto@eng.umd.edu	russotto@wam.umd.edu
Some news readers expect "Disclaimer:" here.
Just say NO to police searches and seizures.  Make them use force.
(not responsible for bodily harm resulting from following above advice)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: paul@xcluud.sccsi.com (Paul Hutmacher)
Subject: Runaway Truck Lanes (was Re: Mountain driving and brake failure)
Organization: Greater Montrose UFO Appreciation Society & Data Haven
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 02:15:26 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.231040.29462@PA.dec.com> klee@wsl.dec.com writes:
>Remember that any error on your part will likely be fatal.  Above
>12,000 feet, roads are usually pretty steep.  If you discover the hard
>way that your brakes aren't working, you'll probably already be going
>too fast for downshifting or parking brakes to do any good.

Speaking of high altitude driving...

We were in Nevada this summer driving around the Lake Tahoe area and on some
of the twisty-turny downhill runs there were signs indicating "Runaway Truck
Lanes."  They appeared to branch off the main road and into a lane full of 
gravel.

How does this work?  Is it a pit of deep gravel designed to make the truck
sink or is that 30 to 50 feet of gravel supposed to stop a runaway vehicle?

We're flatlanders.  It was a novelty to us :)
-- 
"There is nothing to history.  No progress,          | Paul Hutmacher 
 no justice. There is nothing but random horror."    | Houston, Texas
"Jupiter" in _The Difference Engine_ Gibson/Sterling | paul@xcluud.sccsi.com
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: bednarek@picard.med.ge.com (Dennis Bednarek Mfg 4-6971)
Subject: Re: tires
Organization: GE Medical Systems, Magnetic Resonance
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 07:58:05 GMT



I'm sold onn GoodYear Eagles,  I have had them on my Turismo, Chevy Van,
and Corsica.  They repeatedly last over 40,000 miles improve cornering
ability, and traction.  I ocassionally stray away from the Eagles but so
far have been disappointed every time.
--

  
###############################################################################
###NEVER - NEVERMORE###########################################################
###############################################################################
####################################What are the contents of the oblong box?##
###############################################################################
  The usual disclaimer of self and employer applies to all above comments.
#
From: Sstevens@oregon.uoregon.edu (Shirien Stevens)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: What is a "jake brake"?
Keywords: brake
Date: 23 Aug 92 17:14:47 GMT
Organization: University of Oregon

Since the definition of a jake break has already been offered (good 
definition, by the way), I just wanted to add a point in favor of them.  
Sure, some drivers may use them and try to seem cool, but as a driver, I 
have to say that without them, you would see far more instances of run away 
trucks from overheated wheel brakes.  Jakes work either alone or combined 
with the air brakes on the trailor and tractor, and have saved many 
situations, especially in the west where we have real mountains.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: jimb@access.digex.com (Jim Brooking)
Subject: Re: What is a "jake brake"?
Keywords: brake
Organization: National Commitee to Keep Slower Traffic Right
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 17:09:06 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.144306.28162@berlioz.nsc.com> alan@lancaster.nsc.com (The Hepburn) writes:
>In article <1992Aug22.170200.11207@access.digex.com>, jimb@access.digex.com (Jim Brooking) writes:
>|> 
>|> 
>|> They should outlaw those damn things EVERYWHERE...
>|> 
>|> Jake brakes are devices typically used (by my observation) by large
>|> dump trucks (and others of that size, like cement trucks.)
>|> 
>|> 
>
>...and when a cement truck hauling 10 yards of wet cement rolls over your
>little putt-putt at the bottom of a loooooooong 6 1/2% down grade because
>his wheel brakes have overheated and faded you'll be saying "why didn't you
>use your Jake brake?". 

No... I'd say, "Why don't you get a good lawyer, 'cause you're gonna need 
one."  (Assuming I survived)  I'm sick & tired of seeing idiot
truck drivers hauling ass with a full load and driving like general
morons...  Every couple of months around here one of those
dump-truck-driving Mario Andretti wannabes gets into a (usually) fatal
rear-end collision with a 4 wheeler.  Not bright.

My problem with jake brakes is purely the fact that they can be heard for
several miles.  I don't believe noise is necessary for good braking...

-- 
jimb@access.digex.com  | (Cage) 1991 323se     ZCP-710   |     Comus Road
Merry Land (MD) U.S.A. | (Bike) 1986 GSXR750    (sold)   |     ClarksBURG
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But of course, I have three eyes.  I have clairvoyant paranoia.  -King Missile
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: dtasman@dante.nmsu.edu (Dan Tasman)
Subject: Re: On the metric system...
Organization: New Mexico State University
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 00:08:06 GMT

Speaking of metrification, about three years ago I was driving eastbound on  
I-90, traveling from Buffalo to Albany, New York.  Outside of Syracuse, the  
interstate exit signs suddenly went metric ... something like

			  I-87  
			Watertown
		       Binghampton
  			Exit 2 KM

It wasn't exactly that, but for about five miles ... ahem, eight kilometers,  
all the signs were metric, wioth the exception of the very small Thruway  
emergency designator signs.  Just as quickly as it started, the signs were back  
in the old English system again.  Anyplace else like this?

In certain parts of El Paso, both the square US style "SPEED LIMIT" sign and  
the European metric-speed-limit-in-a-little-red-circle sign coexist on the same  
pole.  Really the only neat thing about El Peso ... 

--
   Dan Tasman                                       dtasman@dante.nmsu.edu
                                                     molson@rever.nmsu.edu
   -----------------------------------------------------------------------
   "I think that I shall never see a billboard lovely as a tree
    Indeed, unless the billboards fall, I'll never see a tree at all."
                                                                Ogden Nash
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: klee@wsl.dec.com (Ken Lee)
Subject: Re: Mountain driving and brake failure
Reply-To: klee@wsl.dec.com
Organization: DEC Western Software Laboratory
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 23:10:40 GMT

|> Let's say you're driving in the mountains, up some moutain passes.
|> We're talking real mountain passes, above 12,000 feet,
|> that may involve 4wd-only, single lanes and no guard rails, that aren't 
|> open every year because some years in August they still have a 5-10' 
|> snow bank on top.  One side will be rock, the other a nice long freefall.

Remember that any error on your part will likely be fatal.  Above
12,000 feet, roads are usually pretty steep.  If you discover the hard
way that your brakes aren't working, you'll probably already be going
too fast for downshifting or parking brakes to do any good.  I would
immediately consider driving into the rock wall.  If you're going so
fast that you'd be injured by steering into the wall, you'd likely be
dead using any other technique.

-- 
Ken Lee
DEC Western Software Laboratory, Palo Alto, Calif.
Internet: klee@wsl.dec.com
uucp: uunet!decwrl!klee
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: mds8539@tamuts.tamu.edu (Michael David Slater         )
Subject: Re: left lane for big trucks
Organization: ~/lib/organization
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 20:11:46 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.183901.25934@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> jern@visual1.jhuapl.edu (Bob Jernigan) writes:
>
>I'll try again.  Left lane, no passing, 85 mph speed limit, pro drivers only.

MMMM..., Was your idea taken from a "this is your brain on drugs commerical?"  
A hopelessly and patently ludicrous suggestion. 

 



Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost)
Subject: Re: On the metric system...
Keywords: metric system
Organization: CenterLine Software, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:33:32 GMT

ham@wam.umd.edu (Scott Richard Rosenfeld) writes:
>Yes, it will be a difficult transition.  I'm only 23, and I don't know if I
>will ever be able to gauge how heavy a 1-kg bag of flour is, other than,
>"This weighs about TWO POUNDS."
[...]
>The United States and Liberia (a U.S. colony for freed slaves, started in 
>the late 1860's) are the ONLY countries in the whole world still using the
>English system - even the English have abandoned it!

I don't know how many of you remember this, but there was a *major*
push towards the metric system in, oh, 1975 or 1976 -- at least to
children in elementary school.  I know because I was on the receiving
end of this push.

There were even a lot of Saturday-morning TV shorts on the metric
system with cute jingles telling you simple ways to convert between
English and metric units.

Most of the people in my classes at the time didn't have a
particularly hard time picking up the concepts.  I guess it's harder
for older, more established people, but we could metric-ize everything
in less than a generation by merely teaching our youngsters metrics
exclusively and having packaging lean towards metric measurements
(which it already is for some products).  It wouldn't be any harder
than the cutover from quarts to liters of soda was.

What this has to do with cars I don't know, nor do I know where to
send the discussion....

jim frost
jimf@centerline.com
From: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov (JOSEPH T CHEW)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Runaway Truck Lanes (was Re: Mountain driving and brake failure)
Summary: "But he missed a shift on that long decline..." etc.
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:17:29 GMT
Reply-To: jtchew@csa3.lbl.gov
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory - Berkeley, CA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.198
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

>>Remember that any error on your part will likely be fatal.  Above
>>12,000 feet, roads are usually pretty steep.  If you discover the hard
>>way that your brakes aren't working, you'll probably already be going
>>too fast for downshifting or parking brakes to do any good.

In mountain driving, Darwin scrutinizes both your driving habits and
your equipment.  There are limits to what you can do and live to tell
about it.  Some tips (most mentioned here already):

* Downshift.  If one of your synchros is buggered, learn to double-
  clutch, if only to maintain your sanity in normal driving.

* Try judicious application of the parking (aka emergency) brake. It
  works by a cable, not by hydraulics.  Don't try to pull the handle
  out by the roots except as part of a bootlegger turn, though.  

* When all else fails and you need to scrub off some speed or die,
  look for things to sideswipe, sacrificing the side of the car
  (NOT the front of the damned thing!).  

* Throughout, MAINTAIN.  Cars can go around curves faster and recover
  from skids more cleanly than most drivers believe. If you can't
  think of anything to do on this turn, try to stay on the road and 
  live to see the next one.  Panic and you're lost.  So:  both hands 
  on the wheel, eyes looking out the windshield.  If you're going to
  die, die at the controls trying one last thing -- that's the spirit!

Then when you get down on the flats and your heart rate returns to the
two-digit regime, try and figure out just how you got into such a 
multifaceted mess in the first place.  There _is_ such a thing as bad
luck, but it seems to happen more when you take certain attitudes...

>We were in Nevada this summer driving around the Lake Tahoe area and on some
>of the twisty-turny downhill runs there were signs indicating "Runaway Truck
>Lanes."  They appeared to branch off the main road and into a lane full of 
>gravel. How does this work?  Is it a pit of deep gravel?

Basically.  The idea is that when you're running out of road and ideas at 
the same rate, you sling 'er off into the runaway truck lane, where a 
trough of increasingly deep gravel bogs it down.  Your rig has to be
extracted with tow trucks, but that beats extracting you with a hose...

--Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
From: pwu@oreo.ai.mit.edu (Peng Wu)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: what is a "jake brake
Date: 28 Aug 92 20:28:10 GMT
In-reply-to: ag@hpopd.pwd.hp.com's message of 28 Aug 92 10:32:25 GMT

This is my guess.  It might be opening the exhaust valves at the dead center
in the compression cycle.  This will explain the laud noise.  By releasing the
pressure at the dead center, the car/truck will not be propelled in the
cylinders' downward trip, while braked by other up moving cylinders.  A more
aggressive version for gas engine could be turning the exhaust cycle to
compression cycle too so that each cylinder breaks once for each crank
revolution instead of two.  In any case, it involves changes in the valve
timing, more complicated than shutting down the fuel, which my car
(tempo/topaz) supposedly does without much noise.
From: antoniou@buitc.bu.edu (George Antoniou)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: Illegal Acceleration?
Date: 28 Aug 92 17:37:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: bu.94862
Organization: Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

>>>>that you can get under 4 seconds...  (I don't think most motorcycles can
>>>>hole-shot that fast!)
>>
>> Dude my 600 CBR does 0-60 in 3 seconds... what planet do you live on???
>
>8^)  Yeah.  And my (slightly trick) GSX could easily break 3 seconds.
>I wanna CBR1000...  Hmm..  If the 600 does it in 3...  Argh...  >8^)
>
You don't want a 1000CBR,  get the 900RR or stay with GSXR but the 1100.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: jimb@access.digex.com (Jim Brooking)
Subject: Re: Tailgaters abound!
Organization: National Commitee to Keep Slower Traffic Right
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 18:14:06 GMT

In article <jimf.714754185@centerline.com> jimf@centerline.com (Jim Frost) writes:
>
>The scary thing to fall off a truck is a lightweight rigid object such
>as a 1" plywood panel.  Wind resistance alone can stop it very
>quickly, and hitting an edge would be really dangerous.

How about a wheelbarrow?  Heh.  I saw one of those whip out of the back
of a pickup at highway speeds.  It flipped several times, once
reaching an amazing height, and came to rest in the middle of the
interstate, upright, and intact.  This all happened during
Metro-D.C. rush hour.  Amazingly, nobody connected with the thing.


>
>200 feet is a medium weight truck distance.  Most autos are under 140
>and minivans under 170.  It is a good point though.

As a motorcyclist, I should add:  Don't get NEAR the back of a sportbike.
We can outstop just about anything.  (JUST ABOUT...  Don't start arguing.)
-- 
jimb@access.digex.com  | (Cage) 1991 323se     ZCP-710   |     Comus Road
Merry Land (MD) U.S.A. | (Bike) 1986 GSXR750    (sold)   |     ClarksBURG
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But of course, I have three eyes.  I have clairvoyant paranoia.  -King Missile
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
From: thos@suite.sw.oz.au (Thomas Cohen)
Subject: Re: What is a "jake brake"?
Organization: Softway Pty Ltd
Date:  1 Sep 92 03:18:03 GMT
Keywords: brake

In <29aaqB4w165w@fringe.rain.com> dean@fringe.rain.com (Dean Woodward) writes:

>jimb@access.digex.com (Jim Brooking) writes:

>> In article <1992Aug26.144306.28162@berlioz.nsc.com> alan@lancaster.nsc.com (T
>> >...and when a cement truck hauling 10 yards of wet cement rolls over your
>> >little putt-putt at the bottom of a loooooooong 6 1/2% down grade because
>> >his wheel brakes have overheated and faded you'll be saying "why didn't you
>> >use your Jake brake?". 
>> 
>> No... I'd say, "Why don't you get a good lawyer, 'cause you're gonna need 
>> one."  (Assuming I survived)  I'm sick & tired of seeing idiot
>> truck drivers hauling ass with a full load and driving like general

>As far as Mario wannabes, I don't know how many times I've seen a truck 
>trying to follow a car at a safe distance, only to have car after car
>cut into his cushion, forcing him to back off farther.  

I  am constantly amazed at the number of times I see a truck leave
a nice gap in front coming up to traffic lights, only for some moron
in a car change lanes into the truck's braking area. It would not be
uncommon for a truck to lose 10 or 15 metres of braking area this way.
People don't seem to realize that all that kinetic energy cannot be
just thrown away. Having a truck license (not often used) I know of
what I speak, and the temptation to ram the car that does it is very
powerful - as in NSW you are almost certain to get away with it.

thos
-- 
thos cohen  				       |Softway Pty Ltd
 The best way to make a Japanese engineer wince|ACSnet:         thos@softway.oz
 is (when talking about an NSX) to say slowly  |UUCP: ...!uunet!softway.oz!thos
 'but its _not a Ferrari_ is it?' R.Bulgin, CAR|Internet:    thos@softway.oz.au
From: yhcrana@intelhf.hf.intel.com (Karl Brown)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
Subject: Re: How to shift without depressing the clutch?
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:03:31 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon

dicleli@trix.genie.uottawa.ca (Samuel Dicle) writes:

>I am a new driver. I don't know how to shift gears without depressing
>the clutch. Does this hurt the car? Anyone could help would be
>appreciated.

I'm not sure how much it hurts the car, but I know that it must by
definition put more wear and tear on the gears.  To shift without
using the clutch, just try to shift from second to third while going
an appropriate speed.  Use some force on the shifter nob both to pop
it out of second and push it into third.  When I do it on my car, it
doesn't even make a grinding sound.  Just try it.  Make sure you move
quickly, though, because if you hold back you will grind the gears.

--Karl
-- 
yhcrana@hfglobe.intel.com          | "I am as free as nature first made man
-----------------------------------|  Ere the base laws of servitude began
 "Do or do not.  There is no try." |  When wild in woods the noble savage ran"