One of my online newspapers today featured a 1978 AMX Javelin for sale, so I clicked on it. The picture of the engine compartment (above) surprised me first because it was so dirty, then for the unbelievable complexity of the wiring and hoses needed for a straight six cylinder engine. It made me think back to the 1966 Mustang I had and how very simple the layout was... engine in the middle with distributor on top and plug wires to the 8 plugs, alternator, radiator, battery, and that's about it.
Then I remember that the early 70's were when the EPA stepped in and ruined American cars with very strict smog requirements that we weren't technologically able to actually produce... hence the spaghetti array of vacuum hoses on the AMX. I then looked up a Mustang from the early 80's and the engine still seems like it has been wrestled to the ground and tied like Gulliver by the Lilliputians with vacuum hoses.
Today we still have quite a few contraptions under the hood, but most of the standards are met with computer control modules and exhaust modifications. There's not much room in the engine bay but everything seems to be engineered in a much better fashion than that 72 AMX... Thankfully we learn from our mistakes!
Autopartstomorrow
No comments:
Post a Comment