3 ms·
Not a car guy. What's the advantage of fuel injection and why did they stick with it so long?
by interestica 3y ago
Not a car guy. What's the advantage of fuel injection and why did they stick with it so long?
- pests 3y agoFuel injection is electrically and computer controlled while carburetors rely on air pressure changes and is completely mechanical. Why did they stick with carbs for so long? Lots of reasons but a few: Fuel injectors allow for more power so giving every car a boost was a delibrate decision - NASCAR already has other speed-reducing technology on purpose. Switching also meant every team spending millions and redesigning their entire engine to take advantage of the new tech. Carbs had ossified so teams were pretty level on this front indepenent of money so switching also would give teams with money money a bigger advantage.
- aidenn0 3y agoFirst why they stuck fuel injection (FI) for so long: They banned FI after the 1957 Chevy came out with it (FI was not standard in the '57, but enough were produced with FI to qualify as "stock") and dominated NASCAR. One should note that even with a carburetor, the '57 was really good. They kept the ban for tradition I think more than anything else. When the banned FI, it was still rather exotic, but by the 90s, essentially all new mass-market cars were fuel injected. Carburetors are rather finicky; they rely on basic physics to maintain a proper fuel-air mixture and doing so over a wide range of temperatures and RPMs is hard. Since fuel-injectors are electronically controlled you can do a lot more with them, so they can maximize power and fuel-economy over a broader environmental range.