This is not a political discussion, I know that the current affairs are driving oil prices to crazy heights.....
Today Don tried to buy a case of oil for his freshly rebuilt Midget engine.....he went to the same oil distributor I've used for years and where I last bought a couple cases of oil last summer for about $72 ea (about $6/quart) The company has been bought out by a much bigger outfit - Reladyne - and their system no longer seems to be geared to the small buyer like us, and even tho they claim they sell "a case at a time all the time", it turned out not to be true today for Don.
Their system is totally screwed up, requiring first a work order to produce an invoice, to accept the order into the system .......and I don't know what .....they never could get it to process and take his credit card.
While he was talking to me on the phone complaining about the terrible service I hopped onto Amazon (he's been a Prime member almost from the get go) and found the same oil - here's the kicker - Reladyne wanted $140/case of 12 today, Amazon had the same stuff for $99.
A $2 a quart increase since last summer is quite a bit...............but double?
Anyway, he canceled the invoice/order etc from Reladyne and Amazon is shipping it to him now.
But if $12/quart oil changes (or more?) are the future of classic car ownership, I can see why people might be looking at electric conversions - considering most classic cars get driven to C&C events at most now..... a short range like 100 miles really isn't an issue.
Doesn't work for me as I like to drive my cars, but maybe a more modern engine like a Vtec is the better answer, one that can use $25/5qt jugs of Mobil One oil from WalMart?
Dunno, I probably change oil twice a year on my classic so that's about $150 a year - it's do-able, but certainly not "friendly".
Maybe I need to get a more modern classic MINI altogether, like a nice low mile R53? 2002 MINIs are now 20 years old, in 5 more years they'll be considered antiques!
I'm glad I stocked up on oil last year! Now had I only had a way to store fuel...
The Pennzoil Ultra Platinum synthetic oil I buy for my wife's car has really jumped. I stocked up back in August for $24.97 for a 5qt jug from Amazon and I bought 3 of them. Just checked now and it's $42.80. Ouch! That's about a 70% increase.
You guys in the States would soil your nappies if you saw what we're currently paying for oil & gas.
I paid $1.80/liter (CDN) a couple days ago for high test / super /supreme, for the Bini.
4.55L/Imperial gallon...........3.8L/US Gallon
1.80 x 3.80 = 6.84 CDN for 1 gallon (US) of hi-test gas.
Add in converting from CDN $ to USD $, then 1 gallon of US gas, in US dollars is a (wait for it, please sit down)
8 dollars and 84 frickin' cents. ::) :-\
There are days I wish I was driving around the USA or Venezuela.
Don't get me started on oil.
Gasp
i have to build one more axle for the short side of my geo metro mini swap into my 75 german spec lhd mini
geo metro axles have the spline count as the classic minis do
im using geo inner cv joint and a mini outer cv joint
my short side axle needs to be 12.5 inches without the cv's on it....placement of the engine can change that number
but i saw online.....geo mini gets around 60mpg, so we will see soon
next is panels to be done on that car
anyways, my gas jumped up 19 cents today...20 cents
i havent even looked into oil yet for oil changes for my daily drivers
Quote from: BruceK on March 08, 2022, 01:01:12 PM
The Pennzoil Ultra Platinum synthetic oil I buy for my wife's car has really jumped. I stocked up back in August for $24.97 for a 5qt jug from Amazon and I bought 3 of them. Just checked now and it's $42.80. Ouch! That's about a 70% increase.
Amazon is having a sale today on Pennzoil and the price is back down to $23.97 for the Ultra Platinum Full Synthetic 5W-30 in a 5-Quart jug.
Crazy. I don't think these low prices will last long or come back again soon, so I am taking the opportunity to really stock up on this.
Edit: I thought just occurred to me. Pennzoil makes a big deal about it's synthetic motor oils being 100% made from natural gas rather than crude oil. Could that be the reason it's not jumped in price like other oils?
Don bought Kirkland (Costco house brand) full synthetic 5W30 10 qts for $32 (2 5qt jugs) so $3.20 a quart!
Given Costco's reputation for good selling stuff I told him to pick up some extras.....I can't imagine that it's not the same as some other brand just repackaged......and just as good.
Good question on the Pennzoil.....no idea.
Well, this is about gasoline but gasoline and oil are related, right?
So I'm inside a Quick Trip gasoline convenience store today, and the guy at the register next to me is pre-paying for gasoline with cash. I've heard people before say "I want 20 bucks on pump 3" and similar. But this guy tells the clerk "I want $170 on pump 10". WTF!?
What the heck was he driving? An aircraft carrier? I had to look. Turns out it was just a regular Ram pickup pulling a small landscaping trailer. I guess that's what a fill-up with diesel at nearly 6 dollars a gallon costs. Crazy times.
Imagine filling an 18 wheeler!
A lot of pumps used to be (and still may be) limited to $100. Once you hit that you had to go back into the menu and pay again to get more. Clancy has run into this many times. Most guys just put the $100 in and go on. I guess if the guy inside puts in on the pump you can get more?
Quote from: BruceK on June 09, 2022, 10:42:14 AM
Well, this is about gasoline but gasoline and oil are related, right?
So I'm inside a Quick Trip gasoline convenience store today, and the guy at the register next to me is pre-paying for gasoline with cash. I've heard people before say "I want 20 bucks on pump 3" and similar. But this guy tells the clerk "I want $170 on pump 10". WTF!?
What the heck was he driving? An aircraft carrier? I had to look. Turns out it was just a regular Ram pickup pulling a small landscaping trailer. I guess that's what a fill-up with diesel at nearly 6 dollars a gallon costs. Crazy times.
My truck has a 32 gallon tank, so it is $150 to fill it with regular gas. And yes I do run it until it empty, so it often a 31.5 gallon fill!
Quote from: MiniDave on June 09, 2022, 11:01:34 AM
A lot of pumps used to be (and still may be) limited to $100. Once you hit that you had to go back into the menu and pay again to get more. Clancy has run into this many times. Most guys just put the $100 in and go on. I guess if the guy inside puts in on the pump you can get more?
Here they have started doing a $170 credit card authorization at the gas station.