New Improves Old—After Teething

Lest readers think I am against all things new... today's revelatory post on progress.

Long before the general proclamations of the incipient death of the internal combustion engine (on the heels of the first powerful federal anti-emissions regulations in the late 1960s), the engineers knew most of the variables they would love to finely monitor and control to maximize various efficiencies and output, but did not have available components scaled and priced to go under the hood of production cars.

An American market auto engine in 1968 was still very straightforward, not reactive to (at the beginning) onerous mandates to cut sulphur dioxide and hydrocarbons. Fuel injection was for exotic cars and only very recently electronic (vs. mechanical), and the standard carburettor did not monitor much more than engine temperature (by various means) to control the automatic choke. There were no oxygen sensors, and the only incursion on traditional simplicity of late was the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve, to scavenge hot engine oil vapors and combustion blow-by gasses into the intake air for 'proper' burning instead of free venting to the atmosphere.

As Bosch began electronic injection ('fool infection,' per mechanics of the day), European engine compartments sprouted lots of sensors telling the 'brain' the temperature of heads, barometric pressure, throttle position, exhaust gas temperature, and others. Wiring and more plumbing overlayed the familiar old beast beneath. Early US manufacturer attempts to meet standards had us, into the early 1980s, pumping compressed air into the exhaust gas stream hoping for a bit of follow-on 'external' combustion, but it was tricky to get both categories of emission low; engines had to run a little richer and cooler to cut the sulphur during combustion, and the 'afterburn' had to deal with much less than full or ideal fuel combustion in the chamber.

The artificial pressure of legislation on innovation actually worked, with the invention of the rather elegant catalytic converter. It resimplified things and more directly and efficiently got the industry on track for meeting tightening standards. Cars were retuned for better fuel economy and power, and the exhaust was able to support support it's own substantial cleaning in this pricey new component of the exhaust system. And the entire industry knew that, if it could be made reliable and durable, EFI (electronic fuel injection) would let them finely control fuel-air mix and volume, thousands of times a second, responding to a score of relevant variables, each involving a sensing and electonic feedback loop to one or more interconnected 'black boxes.'

Underhood today, one sees mostly black plastic containing the overlayer of sensing, monitoring and controlling apparatus. Beneath it all, the old internal combustion engine guts have been continuously benefiting from advances in computer aided engineering, new materials and exceedingly precise manufacturing methods, so that we do not need to, say, replace that water pump at 60,000 miles.

There was a difficult era, from about 1975 to 1985, when the industry was scrambling to refine all the needed components, but the upshot is substantial. In perfect tune, the family sedan of 1970 would put its weight in hydrocarbons into the atmosphere three times in 12,000 miles of driving. A similar car now emits about 1/6th the waste and virtually none of it is sulphur dioxides. We would have been delighted then with 20 mpg on the highway, but now are expecting almost 50% better in a comparable car.

My fraternity brother George used to stand on the ground, inside the engine compartment of his 1966 Chevrolet Bel-Air straight six while tuning it up. Long gone are the days when you could look 'through' and see the ground.

I am glad that other fraternity brothers were improving computers, sensors and materials, and paying attention to combustion dynamics. While the death announcements of the infernal combustion engine were at least 30 years premature, societal attempts to limit fossil fuel consumption have always been on cue and all our collective investment in efficiency and alternatives may save the planet, if we are very lucky.