At 04:26 PM 7/22/98 -0500, you wrote:
>At 03:50 PM 7/21/98 , you wrote:
>
>> Dodge is going in the same direction as everyone else; higher tech
>>and lower displacement. How original. Granted, the cause of all of this
>>is the EPA and govt pressure, but it still frustrates me. :-P
>
>Now let me get this straight. The only reason we have higher tech engines
>that are smaller lighter but with more power and better fuel economy is
>because of the government and the EPA?? (I'll bet the Japanese will be
>surprised to hear about that.) Damn that Chrysler Corp. for going along
>with that high tech fad. Give me a flathead straight-six with a single
>venturi downdraft carb any day. All this high tech stuff kinda takes the
>excitement out of wondering if your truck will start every morning.
>
>Mike (Removing tongue from cheek) Crumley
>
Heh heh heh! I knew I was gonna take some flak for that. ;-)
I like the high tech approach as much as the next guy... Heck, my last
car was about as high tech as they come; twin turbocharged, 5 valves per
cylinder, 300hp out of 3 liters, yadda yadda yadda. I don't think its
the right approach for a truck though. Seems like these new engines
(in general) usually sacrafice torque for HP. We don't want to have to
wind up to 7,000rpm before we start making power... Toyota already
tried that. ;-)
I also don't like how the keep bumping the displacement down; sure
the output stays basically the same, but if they would've left the
displacement alone, it could have been a "real" improvement; a nice
increase in power.
I see engines becoming more and more complex; as they do, there is
less and less that you can do to "hot rod" them. The additional
complexity also makes it much harder for newbies to break into modding.
As engines get smaller and more high tech, the old "no replacement for
displacement" saying rears its head. Sure, a small displacement, high
tech engine can be made to output tremendous amounts of horsepower, but
it costs a heck of a lot more than the same HP output on a larger
displacement motor.
Even with all the small displacement, high tech possibilities,
Mopar Performance is still building the HEMI. If it weren't for the
government pressure, I'd bet that manufacturers would be doing the
same thing they did in the 50's and 60's; making their engines
bigger and more powerful. How many hot rodders do you know who
want to swap out their engine for a smaller one? Probably not too
many. More displacement means more potential.
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ------------------------------------.
| Affiliations: DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA. RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.98@90.18), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
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