A: If you compare the newer vehicles engine covers that you speak of, to the powerplant of an an electric vehicle, I think you will see the similarity. The Manufacturers are attempting to transition the driving public from internal combustion engines to electric motors by making them look similar.
Q: Lastly, what if i looked at a car parts magazine, and i saw a brand new fuel injection engine DESIGNED for an 86 el camino? Would this engine be easier to access than a fuel injection engine on a modern car?
I just really want to know, because i want to get into working on cars as a hobby after high school and college, but i need someone wit experiance to tell me how it really is.
A: Maybe that FI system you eyed in a mag is designed to work on your vehicle, it is still an aftermarket system that is inferior to factory installed OEM systems in many ways. First it will not be a bolt on installation, many components will have to be replaced, the fuel pump for one, and you will have to add a fuel return hose to your vehicle. It will be a TBI or throttle body injection which is really a carb at heart. It will not improve performance or reliability either. Stick with the carb, you have a great vehicle there and I see they are becoming collectible as well. Fix it up, keep it stock, it will be worth more when you want to trade up some day down the road.
FI is superior. The reason you see so many questions about why am I having problem is an increasingly ignorant population that doesn't do their own work, and won't take the time to learn about the systems. Not to mention the fact that there are no posts about vehicles old enough to have carbs! 99.99% of peoples daily drivers are fuel injected.
On any auto enthusiast forum out there, where carbs are prevalent, I can find many, many people who have all sorts of problems with carbed setups they can't fix.
Mechanically it MIGHT be simpler (when doing aggregate of parts, they are actually probably pretty close in overall numbers of pieces that the user can manipulate/access).
I disagree about your 1986 El Camino. If it's original, it has a crap TON of junk on it that modern motors simply don't. TVS, vacuum TCC apply, all sorts of other vacuum switches and one way valves, a mixture control solenoid, an O2 sensor, a barometric (MAP) sensor, CTS, and all sorts of other stuff I can't recall at this time. I've got an '85 Cutlass, I know for a fact that the spaghetti of vacuum hoses that thing came with are the same as your car, and ALL modern fuel injection is a ton cleaner.
Modern motors have covers to look pretty. A couple of screws and those covers come off. I get 40MPG on a FWD 4 cylinder that I can reach everything on while leaning over the center of the front of the car. I can't do that on my 1981 K5 Blazer due to the width of the engine. FWIW, that FWD crapbox has the same power to weight ratio as my 1985 Cutlass, but gets more than double the economy, and starts on the first try, no matter how long it's sat, or how cold or hot it is. It's also got 135K miles, never been to the shop, burns nor leaks any oil. The same cannot be said for the old crap. This coming from a guy who has two "old crap" GM vehicles, with (roughly) matching motors.
The '85 will be getting fuel injection. I want it to be enjoyable to drive, not work.
MNIB, not sure what you are talking about, NASCAR *does* use fuel injection, at least in some of the series. Hopefully that leads to further advances in FI that it provided to carburetion. Because carburetion is dead, people just don't know it yet. And street machines? Ever watched any of the various car building shows? FI is about 1/2 the swaps they do, for the same reason every consumer vehicle made today is fuel injection...it works, it works better under all conditions than any carb can hope to.
Lest the OP thinks I know not what I'm talking about, the G-bodies his vintage COULD come fuel injected, the 4.3L's from 1985-1988 in the G-bodies was FI. GM was just too cheap, lazy, and stupid to FI all their vehicles sooner...thus they had crappy power in most of their vehicles of the 80's, except of course the fuel injected Buick GN, and the fuel injected Camaro's and Corvette's, starting with Crossfire. Odd, the most powerful vehicles GM has ever produced have what in common? Oh yeah...rear wheel drive, and fuel injection.
Edit: Thumb down? I don't see any compelling, correct arguments that possibly support me being incorrect. Just because you don't like the answer, doesn't mean it's wrong. If 99.99% of the vehicles out there are FI, then 99.99% of the problems you hear are going to be about FI engines.
Hi simply the motor trade did make a decision some 29 years ago. not all manufacturers at once but over about a 5 year period. that was to turn what was an easy to maintain item like the modern motor car into something it's owners could no longer fiddle with. that is why it has in some cases more computers than a 747 jumbo jet. most have the two principle computers the engine management system and the body module computer. so it needs a diagnostic computer at the dealer to sort out any problems.
Gone is the day of poking about by it's owner.
so it needs to be a regular service and diagnostics check when things go wrong.
so this makes for a more reliable and more economic car or what ever.
volkswagen in germany followed by Mercedes and BMW along with AUDI where the first to do this the series 7 BMW has more computers than a 747 jumbo jet.
so when it gets beyond it's design life of just 8 years old. it c
becomes a MONEY PIT.
as will be the case with all cars today so time to be thinking along these lines.
The basic answer to your questions is the fact that the older engines were designed with few requirements for fuel economy or emissions standards but that's completely different with today's engines. As far as working on either fuel injection or carbs, maintaining either is like any other component, dependent on training and skill. There are those who would prefer carbs because that's where their expertise is while others would say FI for the same reason. Regardless of where you purchase an engine if its to be legally driven on public roads those same emission standards would likely have to be met depending on the state you live in so for the most part all that plumbing will have to be there.
The fact is, YOU are not supposed to 'work on' your car now.
The only reason petrol powered cars are 'injected' now is .....EMISSIONS. You cannot get a carburetor to meet modern 'clean' standards.
The thing is, fuel injection is not only superior to carburation it's also much more reliable. I agree that stuff is harder, sometimes impossible, to work on but I would rather that than go back in time to crude unreliable engines.
efi is pretty simple once you understand it. you get more power and better mileage also.
I know that fuel injection is harder to work on than carburetor. I really want someone who has experience with both kinds to give me the details on WHY this is.
Also, why do manufacturers make it so hard to get into engines now adays? If you compare what it looks like under the hood between my 86 SS E l Camino and my dads 06' Chevy HD 2500 Diesel, or even my moms 09' Hyundai Sonata, mu engine is all exposed and you can get to everything you need to, as opposed to theirs, which have a bunch of plastic covers on everything and the engines and all other components are compacted together to save space (i assume, or manufacturers are just getting cheaper). Also, they both have fuel injection engines.
Lastly, what if i looked at a car parts magazine, and i saw a brand new fuel injection engine DESIGNED for an 86 el camino? Would this engine be easier to access than a fuel injection engine on a modern car?
I just really want to know, because i want to get into working on cars as a hobby after high school and college, but i need someone wit experiance to tell me how it really is.
Thanks for the help, its really appreciated!
