Bolt-On Truck Power
Aftermarket air intake manufacturers often claim large quantities of horsepower improvements but they often depend on the testing procedures and lots of other variables that aren’t typical of a daily driven truck. Most experts and truck owners agree, that 8-10 horsepower improvements and nearly up to one-mile per gallon improvement in fuel economy can be had with an air intake system that offers a high-quality, low-restriction air filter within a design that seals out engine heat.
There are essentially two types of aftermarket air intakes. Open element systems utilize a cone-style air filter that may include a heat shield to protect the filter from engine heat, but is open to the available air around the engine compartment. Sealed air intake systems have an enclosed air inlet box, much like the factory, but are typically larger in size to create additional air volume. Sealed systems isolate the incoming air from engine heat, dirt and moisture, allowing the engine to breathe higher volumes of cooler ambient air. The differences range in price, ease of installation, and performance gains. Keep in mind that manufacturers have a variety of testing methods, and will use optimum conditions to measure their power increases. So it’s always best to check with the manufacturer and with other truck owners to see what types of performance gains they are receiving with their vehicles.
IBM Study Quantifies the Pain of the Commuting Motorist
I.B.M. knows your pain. Not the pain of the frustrated desktop user or the stymied motherboard programmer, but of the commuting motorist.
And there is plenty of pain to go around in cities from New York to Nairobi, according to I.B.M.’s fourth annual Global Commuter Pain survey, which looks at the connection between traffic congestion and commuters’ emotional response to it in some of the world’s largest cities on six continents.
The survey, which began in 2008 and surveyed only residents of cities in the United States, has been expanded worldwide. This year’s survey is based on responses from 8,042 commuters in 20 cities. IBM compiled the results of that survey into an index of commuter pain to score and rank the emotional and economic toll of commuting in each city, with the highest-ranking number representing the worst.
The index suggests a big disparity in the pain of the daily commute, with Mexico City, at a score of 108, outranking all other cities surveyed and Montreal, at 21, reporting the lowest level.
