Housekeeping: Merry Happy Holidays, 2020 Edition
The hellfire of a year that 2020 has been is almost over, and while 2021 likely won’t be a picnic — especially at first, as we wait for the pandemic to abate as vaccines are rolled out — I don’t think too many people are going to miss this year.
As for us, we’re going to spend the next week or so limping into the new year. There will be posts here and there, but even with Covid restricting our travels, most of us are taking some time off from the blog grind. Expect TTAC lite until January 4.
And as for you people out there reading, well, I GOT A LOTTA PROBLEMS WITH YOU PEOPLE! Just kidding, Festivus was yesterday and I have no grievances to air (by the way, that episode of Seinfeld was naturally re-run yesterday, and it’s one of the show’s better ones, even aside from the Festivus plotline). I just want you all to have a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season, whatever you celebrate.
Safe takes on a new meaning this year — it’s not just about not getting behind the wheel after too much mulled wine and spiked eggnog. Do what you need to do to stay Covid safe — mask up, wash or sanitize your hands frequently, avoid indoor and maskless crowds, and follow public-health guidelines if you’re getting together with anyone outside the household and/or traveling. With any luck, Christmas will be normal next year — even if normal means Uncle Stu complaining about his sciatica and Aunt Emma taking you to task for spending too much time on the “TikToks and ChatSnaps”.
Merry Christmas, belated happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, happy holidays in general, and a joyous New Year to you all.
May 2021 be full of horsepower and torque.
[Image: Ink Drop/Shutterstock.com]
Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Question for the B&B: Christmas present to my daily driver was a new alternator (installed yesterday, before the cold front rolled in). [Burst of rain got my wrenches 10 minutes before putting them away - sigh. Highly recommended: "Tub O Towels TW90 Heavy-Duty 10" x 12" Size Multi-Surface Cleaning Wipes, 90 Count Per Canister"] Here are the choices I was presented with: https://tinyurl.com/ybzzuwud I splurged on the TYC (new not remanufactured) 130 amp unit (very nicely packaged, came with its own test printout including output curve). [No core charge, will sell the old unit for scrap value, which for copper windings is not insignificant.] The stock alternator in my XLS trim was 100 amp. ->Rockauto provides us with this note on the "Info" page: "Tip: Alternators work best when operating between 30%-50% capacity. Upgrading to an alternator with higher Amp output than required may improve fuel economy and extend the life of your battery and replacement alternator." ->Question: Why and how can this be? (Initial intuition would say unlikely or even the opposite) Potential background reading: https://www.delcoremy.com/documents/high-efficiency-white-paper.aspx (see esp. the "Alternator efficiency map" in Figure 28) https://tinyurl.com/ycbc83hp Please help me understand - thanks in advance.
Ugh. The dreaded Christmas letter!
And the new year starts with the new virus detected in UK and new lock downs all around world. And all blame this time is on the president elect(?) - the Great Angry Mouse of the United States of Europe, Asia and America.
This year flew by for me. Likely because I wasn't wasting time stuck in traffic driving into an office where I just sit in front of a computer. Just wondering if management will allow work-from-home to continue? Doubt it... I expect a return to your cubical order once you get the vaccine to be the 2021 policy. I drove just 3,000 miles this year. Its almost laughable how little you need to drive when you don't have to slog to and from work 5 days a week.