What vehicle to consider?

[overbore]

As a suggestion, we have a 95 Cummins Dodge 2500 4X4 that has no electronics in it. The fuel pump is manual, the shifter is 5 speed manual and the tires are a bit oversize and with our rear end , we get 22 mpg down the road. I put a Buck Stop steel front bumper on it that weighs about 200# so we should be first pace winner in any plastic car confrontations.

overbore

[Urban Survivalist]

I have a 93 Jeep cherokee and just found an ECM for $20 at a junk yard . I put it in to make sure it worked and had it in there for a week just to be on the safe side now I put my origainal one back in and placed the secondary ECM into my faraday box. My hope is if a EMP hits I can replace the ECM and still drive the jeep. I have a old distribitor and coil that still work that I will put with the ECM Just in case.

[lungs]

they are nuts to be traveling that far in this day of $4 a gallon gas, putting in 2 hours of unpaid overtime, risking their lives to road rage, dealing with traffic, pollutioin, etc. They are stupid to not either get jobs closer to home, or move closer to their work.

[baldsith]

Well the EMP thing is bothersome...so I am in the process of buying replacement parts that could be taken out and trying to EMP proof them in a grounded rubberized metal storage box...if I can find and old lead pan for a shower I will use that to line it also...I found a 1994 suburban that was an ex-forestry vehicle...had 76k on it when I got it...paid 1500.00 for it. Has no power windows or locks and has the third row removed. Has the rubber matt flooring and after going over it found that most of the internals had been replaced...like alternator, AC, power steering pump etc. When I dropped the trans pan to replace filter the tranny looked brand new. Only thing I had to do was replace the cheezy rims and tires and a little brake work. So far it's been a great vehicle for us. Has a 42 gallon tank and lots of storage room and its a 4x4...has the standard 350..4 bolt TBI engine so it's pretty easy to fix

[TheDogofWar]

lol a vehicle is essentially a faraday cage in itself. avoid complex IC computers and stop worrying about such nonesense imo. points, coils, give me a break!

[ssonb]

On the subject of diesel fuel storage life..A few years ago I was working with a fire dept maitainance and was tasked with checking out the emergency fuel storage and supply for the backup generators. Well to make a short story long someone said I needed to check the generator in the basement of the city hall. City hall?? generator?? basement?? After locating a key and entering a room there sat a large diesel genny and a 250 gal fuel tank. The first thing was to send off the fuel for testing,it was ok, next get the generator running also not a problem later the question was ask how old is that fuel?........the last time it was topped off was during the Cuban missle crisis and the date it was ckecked was after 9/11.

[Javin]

they are nuts to be traveling that far in this day of $4 a gallon gas, putting in 2 hours of unpaid overtime, risking their lives to road rage, dealing with traffic, pollutioin, etc. They are stupid to not either get jobs closer to home, or move closer to their work.

Right. So it's got to be stupidity on our part. Couldn't possibly have to do with the availability of jobs vs. costs of housing in the area. Newp. Only us stupid people commute.

[Javin]

On the subject of diesel fuel storage life..A few years ago I was working with a fire dept maitainance and was tasked with checking out the emergency fuel storage and supply for the backup generators. Well to make a short story long someone said I needed to check the generator in the basement of the city hall. City hall?? generator?? basement?? After locating a key and entering a room there sat a large diesel genny and a 250 gal fuel tank. The first thing was to send off the fuel for testing,it was ok, next get the generator running also not a problem later the question was ask how old is that fuel?........the last time it was topped off was during the Cuban missle crisis and the date it was ckecked was after 9/11.

Woooooww. I had no idea Diesel lasted so long. Makes me want to get a diesel engine (among other reasons). Thanks for the info!

[Matt In Oklahoma]

lol a vehicle is essentially a faraday cage in itself. avoid complex IC computers and stop worrying about such nonesense imo. points, coils, give me a break!

I have a friend who had lightening jump 4 ft from a car port it struck, run down the antenna and fry the wiring harness above the transmission. Indirect hit. I know lightening is tough but it gives me alot of doubts as to a vehicle being a faraday cage. If it's a farady cage then why can signals escape? IE: we use cell phones and get radio transmissions etc.
We have isolated signal devices in my job in commercial farady cages and signals dont escape. So this is what i'm basing my stuff on. I dunno, help me out here and explain the car thing

[tech]

A car body is more akin to an antenna than a Faraday cage.

HOWEVER, EMP effects have a tendency to be over stated, IMO. Does anyone know for sure? Nope, but testing has been done and many vehicles survived an EMP simulation (device gave out a pulse, but wasn't nuclear).

So, if someone says all computer controlled cars will die, they have absolutely no facts to back the claim...but I don't want a new car with 10 computers onboard!

[Matt In Oklahoma]

A car body is more akin to an antenna than a Faraday cage.
HOWEVER, EMP effects have a tendency to be over stated, IMO. Does anyone know for sure? Nope, but testing has been done and many vehicles survived an EMP simulation (device gave out a pulse, but wasn't nuclear).So, if someone says all computer controlled cars will die, they have absolutely no facts to back the claim...but I don't want a new car with 10 computers onboard!

The antenna was more of what i was thinking. The other thing that makes me wonder is while the lightening did burn up the wiring harness at the exit point nothing else was effected. Everything else works. That was a shocker to me, we thought everything would be cooked with all those new gadgets. I lnow it's not the same as EMP but still makes me wonder

[1Admin]

Their is so much unknown about EMP effects....

We've been discussing this a lot as a family. As I told my son- "we have based on preps around NOT having anything electrical working, having protected backups of important items, a hand pumped deep well, etc. If the effects are overstated, great. If not then we can at least do what we need to do."

Although a diesel CUCV would be nice at some point in time. ;)

[610Alpha]

Ditto what 1Admin said about getting a CUCV....good ol diesel. I worked on and drove a lot of those during my stint in the Army. The nice thing about military vehicles is that if you can read you can work on them...everything is spelled out for you in the manuals. Same goes for most of those Forestry vehicles those would be excellent vehicles for PAW.

[hua man]

How about a VW Bug? For clarification, to me a Bug is the old style, a Beetle is the new style. That said, I see many that tote the 4WD banner high. But I have seen Bugs move about in places the larger vehicles cannot fit into. Easy to maintain, can hold a suprising amount of gear for it's size, has been known to run on near rotten fuel, and will usually be overlooked by post-SHTF warlords. The lower profile will allow it to be camo'ed easier. Also, no computer.

[tech]

CUCVs aren't bad, but even they have a problem. The injection pump uses an electrical solenoid to allow fuel to flow. No power to it or a burned out solenoid, it is dead in the water. IIRC, there was a manual fuel cut available for the Stanadyne pump, but that's been years ago.

IMHO, a Bug, along with a few replacement items, would be an excellent choice for many Post-fan scenarios. Floating (provided the floor pan is intact) is another benefit. But for a large family, it may not be practical.

Just have to make the choice that is the best fit for your individual situation.