Diesel News – Did Electric Vehicles Sink A Cargo Ship?

Truck Of The Week

Derek Rose Is Back!

Former UCC winner and 5-second Dodge owner, Derek Rose, is back—and he’s bringing a whole lot more to the table this year. From fresh chassis work to a complete, all-aluminum Cummins, his infamous blue standard cab should get down the track pretty quick in 2022. The shiny Cummins, which sports a Fleece billet-aluminum block and a Wagler billet-aluminum head, S&S Motorsport wired, DDP injected and a MoTec ECM made 2,200 hp on the dyno without even being leaned on. Notice the “nitrous cannon” in the intercooler piping (yeah, it’s a real thing from HammerTech Racecars), and just look at the size of that Forced Inductions charger! Is it summer yet?!

Source: https://www.dnrcustoms.com/

Highlights

Was The Felicity Ace Sinking Caused By BEV Fires?

Much has been reported about Felicity Ace, the cargo ship that burned for six days before sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. But the real burning questions are: what started the fire? Was it the electric vehicles onboard? And is that why the fire raged for nearly a week? BEV fires are some of the hardest blazes to fully extinguish, so it stands to reason that a possible problem with one or more of the Volkswagen ID.4 electric crossovers onboard could’ve led to the carnage. However, with the ship and its contents now 30,000 feet under, we may never know the true cause…

Source: https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/2022/03/01/felicity-ace-cargo-ship-caught-fire-atlantic-sinks-luxury-cars/9329310002/

Crude Oil Prices Have More Than Doubled In 13 Months

At this point just over a year ago, crude oil was going for roughly $61 a barrel. Now, as we go to press, it has surpassed $130. With sky-rocketing crude prices, runaway inflation, and the mounting threat of a pending American recession, all you can really do is laugh. So here are the best fuel cost funnies we could find to try to help lighten the mood.

1. Gas Pump: “Do you want a receipt?” Customer: “No, I’d rather forget this whole experience…”
2. “Fuel costs so much I feel like I need to hold the pump handle with my pinky up.”
3. “Fuel prices have me thinking the speed limit ain’t half bad…”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-price-set-surge-further-iranian-talks-delays-2022-03-06/

Lug Nut Spikes FTW

Spiked lug nuts aren’t so silly now, are they? Call them a knee hazard, say they’re curb appeal killers, call them whatever you want, but they saved this truck’s wheels (and possibly some body damage). This Ben Hur chariot-style wheel spike scenario was brought to the attention of social media courtesy of KC Turbos. The backstory is that the truck wearing the spiked lug nuts was parked on a residential street and the other vehicle—being driven by an intoxicated driver—side-swiped the parked truck. The spiked lugs stopped it. Perhaps they could rename spiked lug nuts “wheel savers?”

Source: https://www.facebook.com/KCTurbos

The Many Faces Of Firepunk’s Pro Street Third-Gen

It was the first diesel truck in the 7’s, won three consecutive Ultimate Callout Challenges, and broke the Internet with its catastrophic engine dyno explosion back in 2017. It’s Firepunk Diesel’s ’06 Pro Street Dodge Ram and it’s worn many faces over the years. From compounds to now running a big single, and heavy duty axles to 9-inch replacements, it’s been transformed quite a bit through the past 6-7 years. Currently, a gigantic Wimer turbocharger (last rumored to be a 5-inch) is set up to blow through an air-to-air intercooler for the 2022 race season. How much deeper will this iconic 4×4 claw its way into the 4’s this year?

Source: https://shop.firepunk.com/

OEM News

Ford Takes Record 72,000 Orders In February

For the month of February, Ford took in more than 72,000 new retail vehicle orders, which is up an incredible 54,000 over just one year ago. Apparently the Dearborn-based automaker wasn’t kidding when it publicly announced customer-ordered vehicles as its preferred way of doing business in the future… On record level turn rates, 33-percent of Ford’s February sales were composed of previously-placed customer orders. FoMoCo has averaged roughly a third of its sales from previously-placed customer orders over the course of the last seven months.

Source: https://media.ford.com/content/dam/fordmedia/North%20America/US/2022/03/02/ford2022-sales-feb.pdf

Emissions

The Swiss Crack Down On Particulate Matter

Across the pond and down in Switzerland, they’re getting serious about testing DPF-equipped vehicles. Beginning January 1, 2023, periodic technical inspections for particle number-based tests (PTI-PN) will go into effect. The particle counter, an instrument that must be approved under Swiss Regulation SR 941.242, will be used to detect DPF removal, tampering, or other DPF-related malfunctions. Particle number limits for each vehicle are 2.5×10⁵ #/cm³ at high idle and no load, or 1×10⁵ #/cm³ at low idle condition. The new emissions testing inspection process follows the lead of fellow European countries Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Source: https://dieselnet.com/news/2022/03ch.php