16 Aug
1998
16 Aug
'98
11:03 p.m.
At 11:40 PM 8/16/98 -0400, you wrote:
On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, Tony Duell wrote:
So are carburators. You just have to study how they work and learn what
part does what and when. I can make a Carter AFB do anything including
sing. You should hear two of those on a 426 Hemi at WOT!
And if you tweak the engine for more efficiency,
> A quick question... How many people know
how to work on their cars? How
> many drive older vehicles without as much "black-box" stuff?
- -
-
When I learn to drive I intend to get a car with
(as R.A. Pease said)
'the right number of computers controlling the engine - none' !
I'm kind of surprised to hear that attitude around here! ;) I've never
been able to touch a carburetor without f**ing it up. Fixing, let alone
tuning one, seems to be black magic.
EFI on the other hand is logical; if you can follow directions and run a
DVM, you can fix it! many of them automatically compensate -- no need to
swap out jets and
other mechanical parts by trial end error.
Yes but I can still swap a jet faster than I can burn an EPROM! The big
advantage of the EFI is that it's more precise than a carburator, can
monitor and adjust for more conditions and employs feed back sensors for
even more precise control.
And if you want to get hard-core and do your own mods, those "black boxes"
are just embedded microprocessors with a relatively small program. Many
are off the shelf chips w. documented instrution sets. A few talented &
adventuresome folks have even reverse-hacked some proprietary ones; like
Clark Steppler of Jim Wolf Technology who can make a Nissan EFI computer
do almost anything.
So back to the original question: cars are my main hobby, and I'm all for
electronics. My 122 cubic-inch Nissan econo-box turns mid 14 second runs
at the drag strip; akin to getting a MIP out of one of 'dem Altairs. Yee
ha :)
Yeah, just stuff in a P II mobo!
Another motor-head!
-wayne