I can agree with some of this logic, but the central issue is whether
the PI system could have met US EPA regulations. I think the answer is
No. Were any other manufacturers using it on their US cars in '68? Fuel
injection was a performance enhancement up until the later fully
electronic (e.g. Bosch L-Jetronic) systems were developed.
On 1/13/2013 2:54 PM, John Cyganowski wrote:
> Most of the reasons for the TR250 vs TR5 have been touched upon here.
>
> Bruce McWilliams had a large role in this decision. His job was not to cater
> to perfromance enthusiasts, it was to sell cars and in 1967 he had a big
> problem. The TR4 was essentially the same car that they launched in 1961.
> Okay it got IRS - whoopie! This was the muscle car era and the young men
> wanted power, not a noisey 4 banger. Triumph had thousands of unsold TR4s and
> something had to be done. A 6 cylinder was a step in the right
> direction. Mechanical fuel injection had been around in aircraft since WWII,
> but it was relatively new for automobiles. It is true GM offered mechanical
> fuel injection in the corvettes as an option. For mass production it had to be
> cheap and reliable. In 1967 it was neither. And it was not reliable until GM
> started coming out with electronic fuel injection in the late 70s early 80s.
> For Triumph, North America was the market for sportscars, not the rest of the
> World. The potential for a "black eye" and slow sales
> over service issues won out over performance. Time proved McWillliams
> correct. There were all kinds of fuel injection issues in the EU. It took theW
> company quite a while to sort out these issues. The Kimberly book goes into
> this a little bit. Now a days we know how to make the Lucas PI system function
> like it should but PI would have been a disaster in North America in 1968.
> Instead it was a contained problem in a relatively small market.
>
> John Cyg
> 70 Damson
> CC52927LO
>
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