<VV> Corvair and OBD, EFI, etc

[Tony Underwood]

At 07:51 AM 8/16/2010, Tom Berg wrote:

>Even so, there's a limit to how much an old engine can be tuned for clean
>burning. And remember, inability to get the air-cooled engine to 
>meet government
>emissions limits is one reason GM gave for cancelling the Corvair.



...not heard that one.

All I heard was competition from the other marques who were making 
quicker and faster ponycars, including Chevy itself with the Camaro 
which was an offshoot of the 'Vair in the first place.   Let's not 
forget how GM was making less profit on each Corvair sold than 
anything else they made.

Oh, and that stigma about how Corvairs were "dangerous" (even if 
untrue) may have had something to do with the decision to quit the car.


But since the initial decision to cease production first came down 
the pike in 1966, long before the smog factor had become a genuine 
issue, it seems unlikely that any emissions issues were to have had 
any sort of serious effect on GM's decisions to kill the 
car.    Let's also not forget that the 'Vair was retrofitted with 
smog gear only AFTER the initial decision to cease production was 
made... and production still continued for almost 3 more years.



Other marques only (relatively) recently have dropped air cooled 
engines from their inventory because of the high engine temps that 
make it more difficult to control fuel mixtures/combustion temps 
along with the inherent "noisiness" of the typical air cooled engine 
which anymore is undesirable among all the car makers...




tony..