Classic Cars: The Old Timers Way

Automotive Guide The Old Timers Way

By: David Atkin

Automotive Guide

I was chatting with this old boy about the L88 Corvette, and the ZL1 Camaro, he gave me a call from over 2000 miles away, to ask about an article that I had written, and this phone call spawned a new idea for another web site, but that’s a topic for later, we got talking about the differences between the old and the new, and all the changes that have taken place in cars over the years.

Some of them were advances, and some not what they bragged them up to be, form my point of view, I think the single biggest advance is in the machining processes that they have these days, a lot of people would disagree, saying that computers and electronics are the biggest advances, so as you see, there are at least two ways of thinking on this issue.

I'm not stupid enough to think that the computer hasn't played a huge role in the way that new cars perform, but without the engine, the car in useless, even with the computer, oh and without a transmission the car won't move, point made, the machining processes have allowed us to squeeze more power out of the engine it's self, and then after that the computers and electronics will do an awesome job of doing the fine tuning of the engine and transmission.

The machining processes have made it so we can run 10W30 oil in a transmission, rather then 90 weight gear oil, and this is a huge step in the right direction, in the old days, if we had dumped 10W30 weight oil in a transmission, it would have ran out of it like water from your kitchen sink, but these days we can put those light weight oils in a transmission and it works great.

You can bet that when I find the right 1967 Corvette to buy, the first upgrade it will get is a new 5 or 6 speed Keisler transmission installed in it, not only do I get the extra gear or two, but I don't have to run 90 weight gear oil in the transmission, it will shift smoother, and handle more torque and horsepower, I don't discount the computers and electronics, and what they have done for car, I just like to give credit where it's due.

Electronics have defiantly made it easier to make the horsepower these days, anybody can have a fuel injection on their engine these days, and it's not a hard installation, the worse part is the wiring, in the old days it wasn't easy for just anybody to have a fuel injection system on their car, in those days you seen them on the race track, rather then the street, because we didn't have electronic fuel management, it was all done by the fuel pump, and this meant a lot of work to keep it running, you not only had to be sure that your spark timing was right, but the timing that the fuel pump that delivered the fuel to each injector, we don’t have to worry about those things any more, it's all done behind the seens in the computer.

I've been in the automotive business for about 20 or 25 years, I have worked in all facets of the industry, from parts to restoration, all different makes and models, I just want to keep people interested in the old cars because it's where my heart is.

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Automotive Guide Tag : Classic Cars   Muscle Cars   Automotive Technology

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