Re: Oil check and shifting gears.

[oofacts@earthlink.net]

Question one: Checking oil. Is this best to do with the car warmed up (run
car, turn it off, let sit 5 minutes, check oil) or just straight up cold
first thing in the morning.
How will my readings differ under the 2 circumstances?

Question 2: As I have no tach and don't yet trust my hearing to be a good
gauge, whats some good speed's I can use as a rule of thuimb for what gear
I should be in.
I have a 72  squareback with dual (unfortunately, Weber) carbs. Muir says
something like 0-10 1st, 10-30 2nd, 30-50 3rd, 4th
Now 30 is a very high point for 2nd gear on my car, as is 50 for 3rd. Not
screaming high-pitch high, but definitely racing the engine. My friend says
I wait too long to shift, but then he drives the car and I swear he's
lugging the engine when he switches to 3rd at 20 and 4th at 40. Then I
heard someone else say better to run the car high than to lug it., because
of the nature of the engine. Of course the manual says I can run the car in
4th gear all the way down to 30 mph but I cant figure out why. That must
have been when it was new. My listening rule-of-thumb has been to shift up
when the car sounds like it does when I'm doing 60 in 4th gear, again
noisy, but not screaming. Where this really affects me is downshifting,
because I've heard a few people say that downshifting is a better
alternative to braking (when there's space to do so). But Isince I live in
the city, is constantly downshifting from 3rd to 2nd wearing my
transmission?

I know these are the questions of a paranoid nervous obsessive compulsive,
but I hate the idea that I might be doing anything bad for the car, and I'd
like to be certain I can tell my friend "HEY, DAMMIT, YOU'RE LUGGING THE
ENGINE!" and know that I'm probably right.

Any advice?

Thanks, Mike