Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

NooDle said:
How is that even possible? They must have tried real hard to get power and torque down so low with such a big engine...
Is it ultra reliable though ( as in will do 1.000.000 miles) because otherwise why would anyone buy it?
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Sadly, no. What the 3.9 is is the ancient (came out in 1967) 318 cubic inch LA-series Chrysler V8 (no, it's not a Hemi) minus two cylinders. Due to an inefficient combustion chamber design and detuning due to smog and in the pursuit of getting more torque out of what they had left, none of the LA series engines made a lot of power in the 80s. That whole engine series was really crippled after the 70s; Chrysler was the last of the Big Three to re-engineer their signature V8s. Strangely, it seems that if they hadn't killed off the original Hemi engines in favor of the wedge-head LA-series, they might have been competitive again when better fuel injection came along without having to completely redesign the engines.

They tend to blow plenum gaskets and even when they're running properly, they're very rough. They don't make it past 150K much, due to the 89-91 throttle body fuel injection washing the oil off the cylinder walls on a cold start. And to be fair, when they finally gave it multipoint fuel injection and added the Magnum-type heads in 1992, the engine made 180hp/220lb-ft. Still shook like a cement mixer, though.
 
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Spectre, I think you're in league with my truck to make this into the biggest pain in the ass possible.
1) Damn thing stumbled and stalled out for no apparent reason.
2) Damned spark plugs are like, welded to the damn head. Hosed them down heavily with WD-40 and PB-Blaster yesterday - no help. The breaker bar might have to come out...
3) My fucking keys are stuck in the ignition now. It seems Lock and Accessory won't engage anymore.

Seriously. A coolant flush and new spark plugs should NOT involve cutting out the (useless and broken) aircon, replacing the fucking ignition lock, and at this rate, some helicoil action.
 
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Well I'm going to maybe try a couple of traders to see what they'd offer for the Saab tomorrow. I need rid of it, and I don't really want to have to SORN it again (its either that or I pay another ?210 or so for another month of insurance, and thanks to the change in law I can't just stop the insurance).

Such a shame its come to this, however a mate of mine did say if his Heinkel (the just refurbished kind) sells he'd be very interested in it.
 
It's sporty because it has a diffuser.

[video=youtube;LgyXD-CeMA4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgyXD-CeMA4[/video]
 
EyeMWing said:
Spectre, I think you're in league with my truck to make this into the biggest pain in the ass possible.
1) Damn thing stumbled and stalled out for no apparent reason.
2) Damned spark plugs are like, welded to the damn head. Hosed them down heavily with WD-40 and PB-Blaster yesterday - no help. The breaker bar might have to come out...
3) My fucking keys are stuck in the ignition now. It seems Lock and Accessory won't engage anymore.

Seriously. A coolant flush and new spark plugs should NOT involve cutting out the (useless and broken) aircon, replacing the fucking ignition lock, and at this rate, some helicoil action.
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Nope, not in league with the thing. However, you were the one saying that it'd be fine and you were near done with it. :p
 
Spectre said:
Sadly, no. What the 3.9 is is the ancient (came out in 1967) 318 cubic inch LA-series Chrysler V8 (no, it's not a Hemi) minus two cylinders. Due to an inefficient combustion chamber design and detuning due to smog and in the pursuit of getting more torque out of what they had left, none of the LA series engines made a lot of power in the 80s. That whole engine series was really crippled after the 70s; Chrysler was the last of the Big Three to re-engineer their signature V8s. Strangely, it seems that if they hadn't killed off the original Hemi engines in favor of the wedge-head LA-series, they might have been competitive again when better fuel injection came along without having to completely redesign the engines.

They tend to blow plenum gaskets and even when they're running properly, they're very rough. They don't make it past 150K much, due to the 89-91 throttle body fuel injection washing the oil off the cylinder walls on a cold start. And to be fair, when they finally gave it multipoint fuel injection and added the Magnum-type heads in 1992, the engine made 180hp/220lb-ft. Still shook like a cement mixer, though.
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but if it doesn't have power, doesn't have torque, uses a buttload of fuel, and is not reliable, makes a lot of noise, why would anyone buy this engine?
What has it got going for it?
 
NooDle said:
but if it doesn't have power, doesn't have torque, uses a buttload of fuel, and is not reliable, makes a lot of noise, why would anyone buy this engine?
What has it got going for it?
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Cheap. It didn't cost much and was in a truck that didn't cost much either. The Dakota and Durango (the SUV built off the Dakota) trucks were 'midsize' trucks in an era when you had much smaller compact trucks and much larger fullsize trucks with nothing in between. The Dakota was, on paper, a pretty good value proposition, being significantly larger than the competing Hardbody or Hilux and able to tow/haul more but without having to deal with the space or cost requirements of the full-size counterparts. Thing is... surprisingly few bought them, and as has been discussed here before, most of the trucks that mounted them have long since been consigned to the junkyard. It just wasn't that much more of a reach to be able to afford the larger and much more capable full sizer.

Eventually, compact trucks grew up to the size of the Dakota, while the Dakota couldn't get any larger without becoming a full-size and thus a direct competitor to the Ram (which would be stupid.) Compact trucks do lose out to the full sizers in terms of value for money now, which also spelled the end of the Dakota.

The engine was also mounted in the full-sized Ram pickups for a while but that was just a sick joke.

VW's Caddy/Pickup was a failure on the US market for similar reasons. Buzzy engine, no power, drank fuel.
 
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Spectre said:
Nope, not in league with the thing. However, you were the one saying that it'd be fine and you were near done with it. :p
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I was TOTALLY done with it - and then decided "okay, lets try to polish this turd just a little bit, for its own future good!" instead of just heading off to the damned inspection (whereupon the inspector would have gotten my key stuck and stalled the stupid thing out). The aircon delete worked well, and the coolant flush... Well, might take a few more days of cycling water through the sonofabitch to get it running clear, but it only overheats if you bounce it off the rev limiter for minutes on end now.

NooDle said:
but if it doesn't have power, doesn't have torque, uses a buttload of fuel, and is not reliable, makes a lot of noise, why would anyone buy this engine?
What has it got going for it?
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It wasn't as heinously fuel-consuming as the V8. You had to have a serious case of brain damage to buy one of these in the first place, honestly.
 
EyeMWing said:
It wasn't as heinously fuel-consuming as the V8. You had to have a serious case of brain damage to buy one of these in the first place, honestly.
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Yeah, and there was a V8 option in the Dakota... which was about the only reason you'd buy one, really. Even though it was the LA-series 318.

However, uh, it wasn't exactly that much better. The original sticker for the V6 4WD was 15/19, and the V8 4WD was 13/17; since the V6 TBI fuelling system tended to malfunction/run rich, it would often get the same fuel economy anyway. This also led to a lot of them failing smog tests when they got older and consigned them to the junkyard as well.

The big problem with all of this (and part of why the Dakota's sales were never very good) was that in 1991 you could get a Ford F150 full size 4WD manual truck with the invincible 4.9L/300cid straight six engine for not much more, and it got 15/18 for fuel economy while being able to tow/haul/cab carry a LOT more. If I recall correctly, the MSRP difference was about $1000 and you could get the Ford on sale for the same price as the V6 Dakota thus ending up with a much better truck.

Edit: As a comparison-
1991 F150 4.9L I6: 165 hp, 275 lb?ft, and had real multiport fuel injection as well as being extremely well geared for its engine - no, it wouldn't go over 90, but you really didn't want to in that chassis anyway, and it pulled like a m**herf**ker everywhere else. It would actually outpull some of the V8 configurations (and got better fuel economy than all of them) despite dating back to 1964.
 
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Like I said - brain damage. And I'm pretty damned stupid for trying to fix one, too.
 
EyeMWing said:
Like I said - brain damage. And I'm pretty damned stupid for trying to fix one, too.
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I think you could add up all the money and effort you've spent on fixing it and have been able to afford said Ford 4.9.....
 
AiR said:
It's sporty because it has a diffuser.

[video=youtube;LgyXD-CeMA4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgyXD-CeMA4[/video]
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It looks like a ten-year-old Hyundai Accent and sounds like a bag of nails. What does it cost? :p
 
Spectre said:
I think you could add up all the money and effort you've spent on fixing it and have been able to afford said Ford 4.9.....
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Would have a good run at a V8 F-150 or K1500, even. But there's a 1-ton or medium-duty in the future here, so working the "big truck" angle now would be pretty useless.
 
public said:
It looks like a ten-year-old Hyundai Accent and sounds like a bag of nails. What does it cost? :p
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What I love is the way is even the great "Sport" model (note the carbage spoiler straight from the factory!) doesn't get a radio as standard. :lol:
 
So the boss lady and I were out getting groceries and I noticed this in the candy isle. Had to get it (turned out to be pretty good)
e11974cf.jpg
 
captain_70s said:
What I love is the way is even the great "Sport" model (note the carbage spoiler straight from the factory!) doesn't get a radio as standard. :lol:
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buttt...it comes with leatherette sport seats w/ embroydery as standard :lmao:
 
I bet you ate the Veyron one the fastest. :p
 
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