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Another Aluminium Thread

J

JayTheCPA

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So, GM bit at the bait and decided to press more aluminum into the light truck line-up. So much for those commercials touting steel . . .

https://www.reuters.com/article/gm-...ack-fords-pickup-profit-machine-idUSL1N1UX14N

In a few years, it is likely that the only differentiator will lie in the motor. GM appears intent to stay the course of squeezing economy out of a N/A v8. We already know that Ford gave-up on that idea with its blown v6 (even though they still offer a N/A v8).

Makes me wonder whether GM's next set of commercials will attack the lack of 2 cylinders only to follow the cycle by investing another couple $Billion to re-tool their plant a couple years later and join the crowd . . .


And in semi-related news . . . I recently heard a radio ad for the Dodge Ram where they touted real wood for their interior trim and ". . . the largest touch-screen in its class." Really . . .??? The best feature of a pickup is its bling-bling touch-screen?!?!?!?!? Geeze . . . What is next? That it has a caddy for your lunchbox (with your favorite Super Hero's on it) too . . .???? Too bad they overlooked the fact that they are building the *ONLY* 3/4 ton+ pickup line in the US that still offers a MANUAL transmission!!!
 
I been waiting for more to use aluminum. So my hummer is an open top, cloth roof with steel pipes to support it. The hood is a special kind of fiberglass (seems like normal fiberglass to me). Doors are steel, but the rest is aluminum.

The roofs on 2 and 4 door hardtops are steel. There are a couple guys making aftermarket roofs from aluminum gone in particular wish I could afford- AMAZING work) the factory hummer roofs are known to have some rust or cracking locations and many complaints saying why didn’t they just use aluminum there too.

Compared to your current pillars: a simple 1” dom tube in place of them would add the much needed rollover protection that NHTSA and others (me included) would like to see. Pickups we all think are so strong and safe are crap in crashes. It would add a little weight, but then simple overlay aluminum over the tubeing and entire roof out if aluminum would save massive amounts weight- and how rare is it to dent a roof?

My hummer btw, I have 1 dent. A small one in 1 of the steel doors that I got opening the door into a WOOD porch handrail at my Mom’s home when I first got it. The all aluminum bed- I throw crap into it all the time just like I did my old trucks. Throw in my 60” handyman jack, then after needing stitches in my chin, but found superglue instead, now throw a 3 ton floor jack into the bed. Granted I never had a forklift load cinder blocks into the bed from 10’ in the air yet! Haha. But never been soft with it. It’s the bed of a truck and I treat it as such. Holes? Big dents? No. Just the dime size one from a piece of friggin WOOD in the STEEL door.

Remember everyone making fun of plastic Saturn cars- me included? Turned out to be amazingly safe cars, lightweight too. Yeah later I owned one and my wife got hit drivers door and front fender by an Olds delta 88 doing over 60mph. Thank God she was in that car. The window (?) cut side of her head, needing some staples, and since it is right where her glasses arm covers the scar in her hair line a ove the ear, it very likey was her glasses not the tinted window glass that cut her. Other than that she was fine. All 3 teenagers in the Olds front seat got more damage and 2 in back seat had pulled back muscles even all were wearing lap belts.

As for the bells and whistles in the new truck- yeah peopl buy bling. Hell over half the diesel pickup owners I see and know have then cuz they are cool. Dont tow a red wagon let alone haul anything other than 6 bags of groceries. When Diesel breaks the $5 per gallon mark, they will all be gone.

Oh yeah, remember Saturn’s no commision sales with factory set prices and no haggle buying- just sell it at the required profit and everyone gets a good deal. That seemed like smart economics- but people but into the sales bs and want to think they are the special one that beat the system. Smh. When I sold Mac tools- the upgrade sales pitch:
You bought this small Mac toolbox for $1500 4 years ago. I Mac holds it value unlike the cheap boxes. I will give you $1500 trade in on this bigger box that has msrp of $3500. On sale for $2999! And you know if you ever want to buy a monster box, you’ll get $3500 trade in! Your loosing money if you don’t do it! Do the math: It is like you are paying $1 less than you payed for the small box and can later get more than you paid for both when you sell it! How can you loose?

Truth is the Msrp is bs high to eat the trade in and even if the new tool box sale is just $1000 profit, I still sell his old box later for $250 more. That is EXACTLY how they teach you to do it. Snappy, matco, cornwell, etc- same gig.

I don’t like it. I call it lying. I showed people my actual cost. I told them the scam. If they qualified for financing that was no risk to me, paid cash, etc, I sold toolboxes for $100 profit. Then made another $100 on each used box I got if name brand. $50 craftsman and $25 everything else. I wonder why I was the #1 tool box sales guy the entire time I did it. Even the guys that didn’t buy the box from me and of course the ones that did, became my customers because of honesty, and oh man the rip off matco guy in my area that used to ve the #1 box seller hated me SO bad. He still flips me off when I drive past and wave!

Toolboxes, yeah lets keep them steel. Haha

In the article it mentioned tariffs and price hits- I say GOOD! Bring them on. Jack the price up enough people quit buying foreign aluminum. ALCOA can handle the volume and last I heard put meat and potatoes on their workers tables, not just bread or rice.
 
GM is coming out with a turbo 2.7l v6 for the full size trucks, so it's not just Ford doing it. The only way they can meet the BS cafe numbers oblamo signed in is to go with small engines, turbo's, and dfi. Trump is trying to reverse the cafe numbers and make them realistic, but the left is fighting hard.
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
GM is coming out with a turbo 2.7l v6 for the full size trucks, so it's not just Ford doing it. The only way they can meet the BS cafe numbers oblamo signed in is to go with small engines, turbo's, and dfi. Trump is trying to reverse the cafe numbers and make them realistic, but the left is fighting hard.
Click to expand...


Unless I am badly mistaken that's going to be a 4 cylinder 2.7 liter Turbo, based on what I have read. Motor code name is: GM 2.7 I-4 L3B.


The SPECS:

GM 2.7L L3B I-4 Turbo Engine Specs Type 2.7L I-4 Turbo GM RPO Code L3B Displacement 2.7 liters Compression Ratio 10.0:1 Valvetrain Dual-overhead camshafts, four-valves per cylinder, tripower valvetrain with continuously variable valve timing, variable valve lift and Active Fuel Management Valves Per Cylinder 4 Block Material 380 T5 cast aluminum Cylinder Head Material 356 T5 cast aluminum Firing Order 1-3-4-2 Bore x Stroke (in. / mm) 3.63 x 4.01 / 92.25 x 102 Air Delivery Single dual-volute turbocharger with electronically controlled wastegate; intercooling system. 22-psi / 1.5 bar max boost Fuel Delivery High-pressure direct injection (3000 psi / 20 MPa) and electronic throttle control; Active Fuel Management Ignition System: High-energy coil-on-plug Additional Features Continuously variable oil pump; electric water pump; engine oil cooler, automatic stop/start, Active Thermal Management, exhaust manifold integrated in cylinder head Assembly Site Springhill, Tennessee, USA
 
Ahh, literacy. I should try that someday. That was above, soon as I read that I went “oh yeah...duh!”
I remember thinking sounds like a hiway grocery getter gas engine of yester year. Gotta save them whales and trees.
 
BIGR said:
Unless I am badly mistaken that's going to be a 4 cylinder 2.7 liter Turbo, based on what I have read. Motor code name is: GM 2.7 I-4 L3B.


The SPECS:

GM 2.7L L3B I-4 Turbo Engine Specs Type 2.7L I-4 Turbo GM RPO Code L3B Displacement 2.7 liters Compression Ratio 10.0:1 Valvetrain Dual-overhead camshafts, four-valves per cylinder, tripower valvetrain with continuously variable valve timing, variable valve lift and Active Fuel Management Valves Per Cylinder 4 Block Material 380 T5 cast aluminum Cylinder Head Material 356 T5 cast aluminum Firing Order 1-3-4-2 Bore x Stroke (in. / mm) 3.63 x 4.01 / 92.25 x 102 Air Delivery Single dual-volute turbocharger with electronically controlled wastegate; intercooling system. 22-psi / 1.5 bar max boost Fuel Delivery High-pressure direct injection (3000 psi / 20 MPa) and electronic throttle control; Active Fuel Management Ignition System: High-energy coil-on-plug Additional Features Continuously variable oil pump; electric water pump; engine oil cooler, automatic stop/start, Active Thermal Management, exhaust manifold integrated in cylinder head Assembly Site Springhill, Tennessee, USA
Click to expand...
Interesting 'no external balance shafts' and wonder how they keep the vibes down on the 4 banger?
 
My sarcastic bone says - Gee, semis have been using aluminum for decades. DECADES! It's obviously, a bad idea because there are so many of those sitting along the roads, rotted away, no value, and with hardly any miles on them, right? I mean, all I see in our area is rotted out semis at 5-6 years old. Oh, no, those are steel body trucks. For the love of MIKE, the previous body style trucks already have holes rotted in the beds. IF they still have bumpers, they're trash. As long as we have government tyranny, we'll have rotted steel on trucks. Remove the government on roads in winter months, then we can consider using steel again. Again, ford got this one right.

I tip my hat to Ford again, on use of aluminum. Bravo!

(disclaimer - I am NOT a ford guy)
 
Will,
There is a good reason the roofs on the old turtle back HMMWV is steel.
Anything else would be destroyed, quickly!
The hoods will take abuse and stay in-tact.
It is amazing the abuse they will take and keep going.(the entire vehicle)
 
Oh yeah I get military using steel for the roof. But the real turtle back aka slantback was never used on civi hummers- go figure, squeak rattle and leak. But the soft top roll bars were different height than the solid roof ones to keep soft material higher. They could have done the roofs for civi units out of aluminum but choose not to. None of the military and civi roofs are the same afaik. They both can be fit to the other though.
 
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