Dadhawk's FR-S (6AT Firestorm)

[Dadhawk]

Another year, another 21,000 miles!

At the end of year 3 I said I expected the fuel economy to drop since I was changing over to all-seasons. In reality it actually went up slightly for 32.64 for the first 3 years to 33.34 for year 4. Probably not a material difference but I did expect it to drop.

Other than that, an uneventful year with Olivia. No visits to the shop except for the periodic maintenance service. I did have condensation in one tail light that has cleared with the less humid Spring. I plan to pull them off now and add the new gaskets while they are "dry".

The paint continues to disappoint, and really needs some touch-up on the front. Adding that to the list of things to do.

The driver side window has developed a habit of always not returning to its full, upright and locked position after the door is closed. Its not enough to leak but it is enough to cause some wind noise.

Other than that, she still continues on strong, and I still need to get to the few (primarily cosmetic) changes I have in my OP of this thread.

On interesting fact is my lifetime daily average miles is exactly the same (57 miles) as it was at the end of Year 3. That means my "Milestone chart" hasn't changed since I posted it a year ago. That means by year 5 I'll be on the other side of 100,000 miles.


Purchased.......................7..05/11/2012
Once Around The Earth......24,901..09/04/2013...Complete!
Warranty...................32,000..01/06/2014...Complete!
PowerTrain.................60,000..03/30/2015...Complete!
..........................100,000..02/28/2017
..........................200,000..12/19/2021
Distance to the Moon......238,857..10/31/2023
Astro (Previous DD) Miles.289,000..03/29/2026
..........................300,000..10/08/2026

[Dadhawk]

MomHawk and I were going through some shoeboxes of pictures that had been stowed away in the top of closet in one of our son's room. Finally found a picture of not only the original Oliva (my '85 MR2), but also you can see my '83 Z28 Targa behind it.

And yes, that is my stupidly sitting on the hood but I did at least have my shoes off. By the point this was taken it already had around 100K miles on it anyway so was definitely not a garage queen.

Hard to tell but what looks like t-tops on the Camaro is actually a soft top cover for the targa. Didn't have a hard section for that. The Z28 met its fate about 3 years after this when it got rammed from behind by a dump truck and pushed into the back of a pickup. Fortunately no one was in it at the time. The frame bent up right behind the driver's seat.

The MR2 most likely met its fate at a junk yard. it had over 150,000 miles on it when I traded it in on a "family car" in the early 90's, was more pink then red and the A/C was warmer than the heat. Still, should have mothballed it.

[darthpnoy1984]

Thanks for sharing Dadhawk, I've owned many Toyota coupes over the years and have great memories on many of them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dadhawk]

For those that may not have noticed, I have been tracking my fuel economy, by tank, in the OP Post of this log since purchase. I just caught it up today.

One thing I find interesting is the average lifetime fuel economy keeps creeping up, even though I basically still drive the same way, and 90% of my driving is done on the exact same route. It's not a huge change, but it can be seen if you look at my MPG average by month (below).

Some of it could be due to the tire change at 60,000 miles but not all of it since it is a consistent trend.

If you do it by 12 months (May - April) the average has been:

2012-2013: 32.38
2013-2014: 32.51
2014-2015: 33.02
2015-2016: 33.23
2016-2017: 34.00 (Partial year)

I wonder if anyone else has been paying close enough attention to notice that trend?

[darthpnoy1984]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

For those that may not have noticed, I have been tracking my fuel economy, by tank, in the OP Post of this log since purchase. I just caught it up today.

One thing I find interesting is the average lifetime fuel economy keeps creeping up, even though I basically still drive the same way, and 90% of my driving is done on the exact same route. It's not a huge change, but it can be seen if you look at my MPG average by month (below).

Some of it could be due to the tire change at 60,000 miles but not all of it since it is a consistent trend.

If you do it by 12 months (May - April) the average has been:

2012-2013: 32.38
2013-2014: 32.51
2014-2015: 33.02
2015-2016: 33.23
2016-2017: 34.00 (Partial year)

I wonder if anyone else has been paying close enough attention to notice that trend?

Mines is a 15 model at tender 32k miles I've been consistently been averaging 31.2 to 32 MPG. Your blog and Motos thoughts on AT is a solid reason I stuck with going AT and absolutely no regrets.

[Dadhawk]

(Fuel log updated in Post 1)

Thanks to the one-two punch of the Colonial Pipeline break and the "great gasoline panic" of 2016, I had to fill a half tank of 87 Octane today. (It's what I could find on my commute). I guess technically that means I'm running at 90 Octane now.

I'm sure that means my car will completely stop running any second now!

Oh well, won't be the first time she has had 87. The first full tank (provided by the dealer) was 87.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

(Fuel log updated in Post 1)

Thanks to the one-two punch of the Colonial Pipeline break and the "great gasoline panic" of 2016, I had to fill a half tank of 87 Octane today. (It's what I could find on my commute). I guess technically that means I'm running at 90 Octane now.

I'm sure that means my car will completely stop running any second now!

Oh well, won't be the first time she has had 87. The first full tank (provided by the dealer) was 87.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Probably more likely this....

[darthpnoy1984]

Oh no, it'll make the engine sound like a Diesel engine jk 😂😂


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dadhawk]

(Updated Fuel Numbers in First Post)

Well, interestingly enough, I didn't notice a increase or occurrence of crickets but I did see a slight drop in fuel economy. I burned 7.1 gallons of a 87/93 mix, all of it on my standard commute with no unusual driving and the MPG was 30.9 well below my average of around 33.

Because the refill after that was used on a road trip at highway speeds, and I got 36.3MPG, I didn't get a second reading to compare it to but it is at least anecdotally interesting.

Also, I added the information below to the original post where I show gas mileage since we were talking about some of this in another thread. I'll update the second line when I update other information.

As an aside, returning from our roadtrip to Gulf Shores, AL we filled up at a new Racetrac superstation in Newnan, GA. It had pumps with E85 and pumps with non-ethanol fuel. First time I've seen a station with both. Hope that's a trend. Our Suburban is flex fuel and the E85 was 20 or more cents cheaper than 87, so I know which one I'd be using if it were available!

OEM (Primacy) Tire Average: 32.64MPG over 62,918.70 miles
Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus Average: 33.55 MPG over 28,967.30 miles.

[Dadhawk]

I had the opportunity to use the spare tire on the way home yesterday.

Still not sure what happened but it sounded like I hit something which banged around in the wheel well for a couple of seconds then the pressure monitor came on. Flat tire on the passenger rear.

10 minute change on the side of the road. I had forgotten how well organized the tools are under the trunk floor, that's a nice touch. Also, the trunk floor makes a decent ground cover to kneel on when working. The Scissor jack made pretty short work of it as well.

She's now parked in the garage until I can deal with the tire this weekend. At first inspection I didn't see anything wrong with the tire, but I really haven't done a full inspection yet. Going to look at it again tonight.

Speaking of the scissor jack, some of you old timers probably remember bumper jacks. Geez, what a death trap those things were. Another "how did we ever survive it" thing.

[darthpnoy1984]

Hi Dadhawk, how is the overall suspension holding up thus far? Any plans of upgrading it perhaps with 17+ sway bars or struts/springs as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by darthpnoy1984

Hi Dadhawk, how is the overall suspension holding up thus far? Any plans of upgrading it perhaps with 17+ sway bars or struts/springs as well.

Just passed the 94,000 mile mark and holding strong from what I can tell. No real plans to upgrade at this point. The 86 really has settled into being my daily driver, and the current setup works fine for that. When it comes time to replace stuff I'll consider what I do then.

I will say I came within seconds of pulling my wallet out on the Edelbrook supercharger deal they have (or had) going on for the "visually imperfect" ones at $1,500 off with rebate.

[Dadhawk]

Not sure what I ran over but it did a serious number on the tire. Was able to get to the shop last night before they closed.

At first glance it looked like a relatively small puncture that would have been repairable. Then they took the tire off the wheel and the inside had a 3 inch slice in it where the "exit wound" was. It did not quite extend to the outer tread (came within about a 1/4 inch).

Replacement tire on order and will be picking it up tonight.

I will say that the car is definitely squirrelly running on the doughnut on the rear. Not undrivable or dangerous but you do have to be careful (as you would expect I suppose).

Also, not sure how those of you that run without the pressure sensors tolerate the idiot light. it is very bright at night, and just in your face. I suppose a piece of electrical tape would fix that!