Boingers

[Clive Apps Techno-Logicals 416 510 0020]

> 
> In all honesty I think it is.  For all practical purposes, there 
> aren't any materials used in a 1998 production piston engine which 
> weren't used in cars 30 years ago, and in aviation engines even 
> further back.  In fact, if you plot fuel efficiency (BSFC) and 

not exactly
we now use ceramic coatings, better piston alloys, lots of high tech plastics,
better oil tech, better bearing materials, better gaskets, computer
modelled induction, etc.
not entirely unheard of 30 years ago, but alos not available in your off the
lot new car either

> specific output (per engine weight and displacement) of piston 
> engines used on production cars in this country, the figures achieved 
> by the very late 60's were as high, or nearly so, as anything made 
> today.

true, running 10.5-12:1 A/F ratios and up to 14:1 CR with 110+ octane gas
but your average cruiser back then was not as efficient as todays engines.
mose run of the mill stuff was producing around .4 HP /cu in by todays rating
systems, we now average in the .6-.7 range on plain models and over 1 on HP
models

>   	Then, we all know what happened.  Increasingly strict 
> emissions controls and restriction of allowable lead levels in fuel 
> lead to a precipitous drop in engine compression ratios, fuel 
> efficiency, and power output.  Vast improvements in the design of 

73 Olds 455 has to be one of the worst maybe 8 MPG on the highway,
most other engines in this size range were not much better either

> had 30 years ago.  Strap a modern EFI system on a 30 year old engine 
> block and you will see dramatic increases in performance and fuel 
> efficiency, without changing anything in the engine from a materials 
> science point of view. 

except the NOX ratings would be out ot lunch on the HP models with high CR

> 	Multi-valves per cylinder, alloy heads, pistons, and engine blocks, 
> variable valve timing, almost everything you can think of that most 
> people associate with "new" technology in piston engines, has been 
> used before on piston engines long before I was even born.  And if 

some of this stuff as far gack as the 30s, most before 50s

> you read some of the books on all the mind boggling array of weird 
> variations on piston engines that people researched in WW2, you'll 
> come to realize that almost everything anyone has ever thought of or 
> will think of has been tried where it comes to piston engines.

variable displacement was about the wierdest and most useful that turned
out to be impractical for real world use
variable gearing was also a good idea that turned out to be impractical
until very recently

Clive