Too much time causes thinking

kb426 · April 14, 2020, 07:20:17 PM

The last 3 days have turned into winter again. While I've been doing menial tasks, I've had time to read and think. I read an article today about the vast decrease in air pollution in huge cities worldwide since the shut down began. My comparison in my little world has been the 32 with 1989 based eeciv, the 51 with 1996 eecv, the 72 f100 with 2007 advanced eecv and my wife's 2019 edge with a turbo 4. I have been around all of these in the garage while running. Each one is cleaner than the one before. My wife has started her edge and let it warm up with the door shut for about 10 minutes. When you walk in there, you can hardly smell it. If it's cleaner, does that mean that it's more efficient and able to produce more power per btu? Or is the converters doing their job well?

In my quest for the ultimate hot rod, I want the power train to be as good as we have now without durability issues. What thoughts do you members have about this?

58 Yeoman · April 14, 2020, 07:46:01 PM

I wish I had the money and the know-how to put fuel injection on both my old cars. They really reek when I run them. Even the old Cub Cadet will gas you out.

Crosley.In.AZ · April 14, 2020, 07:52:53 PM

I can bring my 1962 Falcon over to your garage.. about 3 minutes we would be unconscious

kb426 · April 14, 2020, 07:57:26 PM

^^^^^
LOL. Pleasant surprise.

idrivejunk · April 14, 2020, 08:10:51 PM

Injected junk reeks cold too. Cats have to be hot to work, so any improvement noticed over healthy carbed junk is indeed from improved cold start fuel management. Thats just my opinion and furthermore, I am not from the "warm it up" camp. Even just plain cable drive multiport is ready to zip away seconds after starting. Idling more than a minute is either a waste or because outside temp and wind makes waiting a minute to drive off unbearable. If it takes ten minutes to open the tstat idling, it takes two or three driving gently.

enjenjo · April 14, 2020, 10:43:56 PM

Quote from: "58 Yeoman"I wish I had the money and the know-how to put fuel injection on both my old cars. They really reek when I run them. Even the old Cub Cadet will gas you out.

You can install self learning throttle body EFI for not a lot more than a replacement carburetor. Or to go rally cheap, retrofit a 90s GM throttle body on your engine, plenty of them around yet.

chimp koose · April 15, 2020, 01:56:56 AM

I am setting the T to run on a quadrajet carb as it has about the nicest street manners carb wise . Once I have any issues ironed out with the car , one of my ideas is to then swap over to efi and overdrive , possibly with hydraulic roller cam as well . I have made the fuel tanks in a way that will allow in tank pumps to be swapped in without any major fab work . My balancer has magnetic crank trigger pickups already installed so computer ignition might also be an option .

Rochie · April 15, 2020, 09:43:40 AM

I installed FItech injection on my 57. I used their fuel delivery module which is supplied by the mechanical fuel pump. It was a straight forward install and the wiring is pretty simple. The computer also controls the timing. The car starts great, runs REALLY well (seat of the pants) and gets great mileage.
If I did it again I would use an in-tank pump.
Oh and my wife is happy there's no more gas smell in the garage!!!

chimp koose · April 15, 2020, 10:37:47 AM

Rochie that's the one I was thinking of going to in future .

jaybee · April 18, 2020, 05:39:48 PM

Quote from: "kb426"The last 3 days have turned into winter again. While I've been doing menial tasks, I've had time to read and think. I read an article today about the vast decrease in air pollution in huge cities worldwide since the shut down began. My comparison in my little world has been the 32 with 1989 based eeciv, the 51 with 1996 eecv, the 72 f100 with 2007 advanced eecv and my wife's 2019 edge with a turbo 4. I have been around all of these in the garage while running. Each one is cleaner than the one before. My wife has started her edge and let it warm up with the door shut for about 10 minutes. When you walk in there, you can hardly smell it. If it's cleaner, does that mean that it's more efficient and able to produce more power per btu? Or is the converters doing their job well? In my quest for the ultimate hot rod, I want the power train to be as good as we have now without durability issues. What thoughts do you members have about this?

My answer is yes. Every change made since the early 80s has allowed engines to make more power per btu. Hydraulic roller cams, bearing packages made to run lightweight oil, increased compression ratios with knock sensors to prevent detonation, variable valve timing, better port configurations, and the progression from carbs to throttle body events to multiport injection to direct injection.

Look at the Mustang. The Boss 302 was rated at 290hp gross and it was a screamer. It wouldn't get 20mpg if you pushed it off a cliff. The regular GT in current trim makes 460hp net and if your foot isn't in it all the time can get 24mpg in mixed driving...with almost the same displacement. It'll do that for over 200,000mi, in large measure because efi doesn't wash all the oil off the cylinder walls during cold start conditions.

Cats also matter, but they haven't changed over the years nearly as much as engine that feed them.

I'll also second the comments above regarding cold start warmup. Ever since I've had cars with EFI cold stumble isn't a constant enemy. I wait for the idle to start to come down and drive the first bit slow and gentle. They warm up way faster...and none of the other parts of your car really warm up until you're moving anyway.