Pick ups, New V Old

[Pat61]

I helped my buddy seed earlier this spring where I spent some time driving a 70s vintage Chevy pick up. Later on I drove a 2012 Chevy with the 4.8L and was flat amazed at the torque that thing generated at and below 2,000 RPM. That old 350 doesn’t even get motivated until about 2,300 revs. It was a reminder of how much power those old pick ups didn’t have. Whether or not the 2012 will be around in 40 years remains to be seen…

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[Gary]

I owned a newer Chevy pickup with a 4.8L before an i will admit it had impressive power. I no longer own that truck because I disliked the fact it was a pain sometimes to “bolt on” modifications to the engine and trans without the computer throwing a fit and to need to be electronically programmed to accommodate the new mods. I now own a 1974 Chevy truck with a 454(7.3L) it pulls so much it feels like the frame twists from a launch. I believe that if an old engine is properly built and tuned it can easily outdo a newer motor.
You need to keep in mind these newer motors are riddled with electronic nannies and emissions controls that rob your engine of its true potential. Fuel cutoff, eletronic throttle control, speed governors, rev limiters..the list goes on an on. Older trucks have raw unrestricted power and heavy cast iron and steel parts. I like that I can control my idle speed, my timing, and my fuel to air ratio all with the simple turn of a screwdriver.

[Joe]

carbs will never be as efficient as computer controlled fuel injection. It’s much harder to modify a vehicle with computerized fuel injection because a)they’re tuned to much finer specifications and b)the computer is set to look for a fine line of specifications and keep the engine operating within those specifications. To change anything you also have to change the specifications of the computer.

That said, I’ve owned several carb vehicles and several fuel injected vehicles and the fuel injected vehicles always ran much longer on less maintenance than the carbs. There’s a reason there’s no carbs on vehicles anymore and it has a lot to do with carbs simply being inferior technology. The only reason carbs are still around at all is because they are easy/cheap to work on.

There are also a lot of other engine differences between a newer truck and a vintage truck. Stuff like roller rockers and hydraulic lifters, cnc machining, etc. not to mention transmission differences.

the 2012 truck will easily outlast the 70s truck if it’s maintained properly. The problem is sometime down the road there’s going to be a major failure. With the 70s truck it’s simple enough to just drop an engine/trans out in your backyard and get the thing running again. Newer vehicles are much harder to tear down and rebuild like that (but it can still be done if you know what you’re doing). It’s not that the 70s truck is built that much better than the 2012 truck, it’s just that the technology progression of vehicles has advanced much faster than the average person’s learning curve. In 2027 when the truck is 15 years old and not worth much, lets say the transmission starts slipping and needs to be replaced/rebuilt. It’s gonna cost say 5k to get the trans fixed and the truck back on the road… but the truck is only worth 5k anyway… The only reason you would drop the cash for that repair is out of nostalgia. Otherwise it’s the better bet to just drop 5k on a new truck. When I was 17 I rebuilt the 289 out of my 70 mustang with a basic set of sockets and wrenches. No torque wrenches, no specialty sockets/bits, etc. It ran for 4 more years (about 57k miles) before the engine crapped out again. Heck, try to put an intake manifold on an engine today without a torque wrench… you’ll see what I’m talking about.

This is the reason most newer vehicles don’t last like older vehicles. Your average person simply doesn’t have the tools/knowledge to keep that 2012 truck on the road forever and eventually it’s just not worth it to fix it anymore.

[Dave]

I’d still rather have an old truck because of the reasons you stated cheap/easy to maintain/and yes more reliable.

[Joe]

I have no idea why people think that older vehicles are more reliable than newer vehicles. Yes they’re easier to work on but not always cheaper.

Personally I’d rather diagnose a misfire in a ’96+ vehicle over an old carb engine any day of the week.

I also hate having to tune my carb every time the weather changes.

Just give me a fuel injected, timing chain motor with a distributor ignition system and a 5 speed manual trans. That vehicle will go 400k every time with proper maintenance.

[Jeremy]

I like and have both newer and older for different reasons.

[Gary]

[quote=”quickNpainless” post=103709]I have no idea why people think that older vehicles are more reliable than newer vehicles. Yes they’re easier to work on but not always cheaper.

Personally I’d rather diagnose a misfire in a ’96+ vehicle over an old carb engine any day of the week.

I also hate having to tune my carb every time the weather changes.

Just give me a fuel injected, timing chain motor with a distributor ignition system and a 5 speed manual trans. That vehicle will go 400k every time with proper maintenance.[/quote]i have worked on both old and new and im sorry but i have to disagee with most of your points there. Misfires are easy to find on pre obd carsunlike you suggest. Call me crazy but i enjoy tuning my carb for different conditions. Makes me feel more attached to my truck just like the manual tranny and real throttle cable do instead of having an eletronic middleman.

[Author]

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