On Sun, 18 Feb 1996, Bill Countie wrote:
> Hello all,
> I got sick of the pinging of the MP computer with Mobil premium
> gas and the implied promise of the octane rating to stay the same from
> summer to winter. So I did the unbelieveable, I replaced my MP computer
> with the stock computer. I noticed a few things at once. My performance
> was not was what it once once was, the acceleration above 3500 rpm was a
> bit more relaxed than it once was. I have never had my performance tested
> so my seat of the pants feel is my only guide. I'll let you all know what
> I find when I go through a couple of tanks. I expect a better fuel
> economy reading during the winter months as the gas is "CRAP" from
> November to April in my state (Massachusetts).
>
> 1994 Dakota 5.2l 5 speed (R/T in progress)
> (-MP computer for the winter)
> Bill Countie
> e-mail wgcount@husc7.harvard.edu
Bill,
This is off topic, but you reminded me of something that happend a long
time ago, so I though I'd share it with you.
When I was a teen, I spent the summers working at my Grandparent's
service station in the sleepy little lumber town of Dallas, Oregon. One
of our regular customers was a Mennonite farmer and inventor whose last
name was Franz (I guess that does away with the myth that all Mennonite's
are named Yoder). I was fascinated by Mr. Franz who obviously chose a
life style quite different from anything I had yet been exposed to (doing
your own thing was a few years off). His lush beard, black retro
clothing and plain, black transportation did little to hide the fact that
this was probably one of the most intelligent and forcefully persuasive
personalities I had met.
Because of my job in the service station, I became privy to one of
Franz's most closely held secrets. Under the hood of his black bumpered,
plain four-door transportation was a full bore, chrome and polish hot rod
engine! I mentioned Franz was an inventor. His 15 minutes of fame and
a fair amount of royalties came from the Franz oil filter. This was a
remotely mounted affair that came apart so that you could replace the
element with a common roll of toilet paper! Most of Franz's customers
were farmers or owners of industrial engines. Some racers even used the
Franz filter for it's supposed superior heavy service performance.
Franz invited me to church and I was a guest at his farm, getting to see
several other projects in his workshop. He tuned his engines to run on
the cheapest regular gas available (that's why he bought it from us).
When I questioned him about this (and the fact that he never completely
changed oil, just the quart that went into the filter with a fresh roll),
he maintained that you knew an engine was operating at peak efficiency if
it was operating on the verge of pinging. I don't know about that, but I
do know that no one tried to pass Franz more than once on highway 99W.
I never bought a Franz oil filter system (never seemed to have a reliable
supply of toilet paper either) and lost track of him after Vietnam. I
don't know if the filter is still being marketed or used or what happened
to Franz for that matter. Perhaps someone reading this does.
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