On Sun, 26 Sep 1999 SuperNagz@aol.com wrote:
> Thank you... I'm glad GM still thinks like me.. .and.. at the time I bought
> my truck, I thought Chrysler did too (with them keeping the 318 and 360)...
> but... now it seems Chrysler is going to follow in the footsteps and replace
> the real pushrod motors with OHC's (starting with the 4.7L replacing the 318)
>
I suspect that this is due to "environmental" pressures being put
on auto makers by the feds. If the govt would butt out, who knows
which way things would go? I suspect that each type of engine
has strengths or weaknesses which the other doesn't have. Plus, I
think a big factor is what kind of work you want the engine to
do. The drag racers seem happy with their pushrods, whereas the
Indy and F1 cars seem to have embraced newer technology. What
I think would be really interesting is if the sanctioning bodies
of all these different types of racing would butt out and let the
race teams use whatever kind of engine they want. Sure, keep the
trans am and Skip Barber type races around to allow low-buck teams to
be competitive, but I'd really like to see all these different
technologies shoot it out on a level playing field! I think there
are altogether too many stupid rules in place, both in motorsports
and our daily lives. :-)
Personally, for my own vehicles, I'll take an old fashioned
pushrod, any day. Especially if I'm the one who will have to work
on the thing! Hopefully, the pushrod won't go the way of the
dodo bird; I don't think that this technology has yet been pushed
to its limits. Plus, I'm just getting started in this whole
horsepower biz; don't change the rules on me in the middle of
the game! ;-)
Anyone happen to catch the article on the newstands about the new
Coates(sp?) heads? I think its in Hot Rod, but I'm not sure. A whole
new way of looking at the valvetrain; should be interesting to
see how this stacks up against pushrods and OHC engines.
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ----------------------------------------.
| Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota V8, '96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
`--------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
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