Lucerix Mirrors and blistering trip to Vegas....

[01_Duramax_Dually]

OK, Let me state that this Vegas commute I have been doing is getting old...Real Fast. My only challenge is to go as fast I can to break my previous personal best time.... :D

Well two things surfaced on this trip with the Lucerix mirrors.
1) As I am ripping along and I am getting pelted by bugs, they hit the inside angle of the mirror and then bug guts splatter all over the side windows. I love the mirrors but something needs to change because you cannot have a side window open as the guts will fly all over you.

2) Why is that companies have not figured out to make a mirror that does not trap water in it so after you are done washing your truck you get driving down the road and all the water comes out and makes a mess of the side of the truck.. Really annoying. The factory mirrors do the same thing :mad:
I got mad when I was in Vegas and this happened, so after washing the truck down I grabbed my Makita and drilled a hole in the bottom of the support towards the body at the lowest point and as I did this, at least 1/2 a pint of water came out...??? My wife was amazed!!! This would have ultimately came out later...

Anyway, put the truck to the test this weekend, Towing 11K trailer back, came through Mojave Desert around 1 PM. It was record highs. My rear view temp gauge said 101. I had all the brutal passes to cover. Truck ran like a rocket. Kept it at 70 all the way unless the grade was to steep to sustain it. My wife was with me and we had the AC on 3 all the time and never shut it down. The temp was 95-101 from Primm to Bakersfield Appx 250 miles). Motor never went over 200, the Tranny got to 200. EGT's saw 1200 going over Tehachapi. With all that said, still got 11.7 MPG.

Oh BTW..going to Vegas, averaging 80-85 most of it, I got 16.3 MPG...

MAN I really got tip my hats to GM on this set up...Now if they would just hire a Mirror engineer...LOL

Jeff

[mdrag]

01_Duramax_Dooley,

The Mirror Drilling 101 instructional class was offered right after Airbox Drilling 101 class, right? Did you attend these classes with SoMnDMAX? :D ;)

I've always hated the water retaining feature of the sideview mirrors as well... I've yet to own a vehicle that doesn't do this.

Great idea with the Makita drill. With my luck, I would choose the exact spot to drill that would cause an annoying high-pitched whistle at highway speeds - but then I wouldn't have to worry about deer wandering into my path... ;)

[ChevysRus]

Hey Jeff, what happened to doing 55-60MPH so you could check out the peak MPG???????????

How come you have been so lucky with that Red Truck no less and those CHP guys don't see you????

Did you get the Stealth Mode option on that truck LOL

Well glad you made it back in one piece. How were the Dyno numbers? All that you expected and more??

To many questions I know, Hey Mdrag I am sitting here in a hotel in Oklahoma City typing this and I just noticed at the bottom of your signature you are in Lawton, OK. Funny, I think that is South of here somewhere. I am here for a Trade Show at the Myriad Center. I should have let you know sooner, didn't bring the truck, rented a Boeing vehicle for this trip (well one seat anyway).

Anyway, Jeff, you keep drilling holes in that truck and it's gonna look like Swiss Cheese! Are you trying to cut down on the wind drag you keep experiencing at 85+ LOL

Take it easy, catch you guys later.

[mdrag]

ChecysRus,

Lawton is about 1hr 15 min (south) from Will Rogers Airport - the 75 mph speed limit on I44 is sooo nice. :D

I was planning a trip to OKC on Sat for the Hot Rod show, but heavy rain Friday night and Sat morning forced a change of plans... :(

[01_Duramax_Dually]

ChevysRus,
Well I tried that 55mph program....Ahhhh..for about 5 miles...then I said Ahhh Forget it!!!..I got places to go and 55 MPH is just not part of my plan...(besides the wife asked me what was wrong, why am I going so slow..? :D )

You know, the police officer thing kind of has me confused a bit also. A big Red barge, ripping down the freeway, in and out of cars, clocking 80-85 and no tickets? At one point towing back, I was going about 70-72 and a CHP pulled up along side me, thought it was curtains being I was going almost 20 mph over the limit, he reads the graphics on the side of the trailer, sped up a bit and looked at the truck, Gave me a "Thumbs Up", then pulled away from me. My wife said "Whats up with that?" I said "I dunno"... :D

Ahhhh Yes... the Dyno.....The good Ol dyno...He
(my sponsor and crew chief Gil of NRP Specialty Dyno) will not tell me the HP numbers. He said I do not need to know....LOL. He said just get in, drive it and shut up..LOL...HAHAHAHAHA. He also said "Put the wheelie bars back on and I should be real afraid"...Uh Ohhhh.... :D
On Thursday he called me when he was making a pull with Program #3, he said it broke both straps holding the car to the drums.. :eek: He has 5 programs, each has a more aggressive tune up...

So how is OK....? What you doing back there? Man you are so close to that DMAX Icon, Mdrag....What does that feel like...? Get Pictures and autographs, we all want to see... :D

MDrag, I am sorry on the "Drilling of Everything 101". I must have missed that class. Anything else I should be enhance with my Makita? I like this, Something has finally replaced the "Hammer" method...... ;)

Any of you Bakersfield DMax owners, or Central California folks for that matter, that want to come watch some wicked Heads Up Drag Racing, we will be invading Famoso drag strip this weekend April 19-21. This is not Bracket stuff. The cars are all door cars, primarily from the old Muscle car era. There will be Pro Street, Outlaw, Real Street and True Street classes.

Pro Street runs as fast as 6.89 at 200 MPH
Outlaw 7.50-7.80 at 185mph
Real Street 8.40-8.80 at 160mph
True Street 8.70-9.0 at 150mph

Jeff

[mackin]

01_Duramax_Dually,

Will it work with a DeWALT that's all I got???? :D :D
All kidding aside you are so right about mirror water retention.."SUCKS" ..I wash my truck blow them out with 120 cfm air pressure ,and they still drip splash all over.....
Did it work? Been tempted,somebody else finally did it......
smile.gif

You are lucky with the cops..They pull up along side of me and point to the shoulder every time ... redface.gif .... Thumbs up isn't want they want to do .........I want to wave with only one finger and it isn't my thumb...... :D
MAC :D :D

[01_Duramax_Dually]

Mackin,
Yes the drilling process worked excellent. Drains right out now. I never thought about what MDRAG said about some High MPH whistle after I drilled the hole, was to angry about water splashing everywhere I did not care....

You know now that I come to think of it, Maybe that was not a thumbs up the officer was doing, maybe he was pointing for me to pull over and I just ignored him so he gave up... :D :D :D ...

Jeff

[ 04-15-2002: Message edited by: 01_Duramax_Dually ]</p>

[sonofagun]

01,

I noticed all the bug guts on the side windows. Just washing them off is a pain. We don't get much window - down weather in San Antonio, but it wouldn't be pretty when we can. We do have toll booths and pass gates and the window has got to come down for that ---makes a real mess! I guess we can go for a 1/2 down on the road and see what happens. Some of the "bugs" we encounter in Texas must be prehistoric remnants "cause they is really BIG".

Good luck,
Bob

[Heavy Duty Neil]

Shoot, my stock factory mirrors splatter bug guts on my sidewindows too. Funny thing is, I never had this problem with my '99 reg-cab Silverado, but guts are all over my '01 crewcab. :confused:

[01_Duramax_Dually]

Son of a Gun,
Yeah it really is annoying. We do have nice enough weather to have the windows down. But you hit a Big bug and you are wearing it!!!

Plus as you said, when you roll down the windows it smears everywhere. I am trying to figure out some sort of air dam to stop this.

My 96 Dually with factory mirrors never had this problem. but my 01 had it with both styles.

Man you should see my modified winter front, it is covered with Bugs, they come off in sheets. My coolers are being saved from plugging with this mesh up front.

[BobW]

Drilling the mirror housing - where do the adjusting and heating wires run? My luck, i'd drill right into them.

[01_Duramax_Dually]

BobW,
They run through the top arm I believe. I used a 1/8 drill bit and drilled a hole right at the lowest point of the radius. If you drill slow, you will have no problems. It cuts like butter.

Regards