mmarshall

Ever try and start/warm-up and drive a 70s or early-80s CVCC motor to normal operating temperature (even with the foolproof manual choke) without the thing stalling EVERY time you tried to let the clutch pedal out. It often had to be virtually at normal coolant-temperature before you could move it at all. That's because the design of the engine used a small rich-mixture pre-chamber to fire a much larger, ultra-lean mixture in the regular cylinder. It worked fine for emissions (didn't even need a catalyist or unleaded gas).......but not-so-fine for drivability.

Fly4u

LOL! Immediately after my Audi 100 died I haphazardly purchased a 1978 (or '79) Civic with a manual choke as you state. Fortunately the warmup in SoCal environment was rapid. But mine didn't have a typical manual but rather a bizarre 2-speed manual w/o clutch. The shifter had lo/hi/neutral/reverse/park detents; to start the shifter was placed in lo and hi selected past IIRC 20mph or so. No tachometer was provided, so the shift was basically instinctual and accomplished before the little engine buzzed like crazy! Why on earth did I purchase that..... on the basis of legendary Honda reliability and a scarred relationship with my Audi. I also didn't have any stickshift experience since high-school driver training in an old Beetle. Unfortunately my lack of research resulted in the need for a valve-job a year later as those engines were notorious for blown head-gaskets at 50K or so. Live and learn!

mmarshall

Pulling out into relatively fast-moving traffic with those engines during warm-up and having them stumble or stall didn't generate very many LOLs.

My brother, my girl friend, and my brother's best friend all had late-70s Honda CVCC engines. I drove all three of them (and/or tried to adjust/work on them) at one time or another, and all three of them practically drove me nuts when cold.


Yeah....SoCal is a nice driving environment, except for the dense traffic.

The old air-cooled Beetle's clutch and 4-speed manual was actually pretty simple to shift and drive.....Many millions of people, around the world, for decades, learned to drive on a Beetle.

Where the old Beetle would get you was not in the transmission, but in the unstable handling/tire-tuck of the rear-engine/swing-axle suspension, noise enough inside to assault your ears, VERY weak heater/defroster (sometimes with exhaust-fumes mixed in if there was a leak, as the air passed over the exhaust-shroud), relatively high oil-consumption from the small hard-working engine, and having the gas tank directly in front of the driver/passenger, on the firewall.


Sorry you had those troubles, but if it's any consolation, the mid-70s VW Dasher/Rabbit and Audi Fox were probably even worse. You wouldn't believe the service-lines I used to see with those cars every morning, most of them under warranty (I worked for several years, at that time, in a Federal building just a few doors down from a VW dealership).

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Malaise Era Busters

1984 Buick Grand National


At first glance, the Regal seemed like an unlikely platform for the second coming of Buick muscle. It was a bit upright compared to the fastback Skylark of the early 1970s, but it was relatively light, and in all-black trim it looked suitably menacing. One of the first American performance cars since the start of the Malaise Era (other than the Corvette) to break the 200-net-horsepower barrier, the Buick did it with a turbo V6 rather than traditional V8 power. It mattered little. Performance out of the box was excellent and the car took to modifications quite with over 400 hp possible before things started grenading.

1985 Ford Mustang 5.0


Although the four-cylinder, turbocharged SVO Mustang of 1984 added a new level of sophistication (and a credible 175 hp) to the Mustang, it was never going to be a volume seller. The 5.0-liter V8 of 1985, with its better-breathing cylinder heads, new Holley four-barrel carb and more aggressive camshaft (in manual transmission cars) made 210 hp and threatened offerings from Chevy, Porsche and even Ferrari that cost thousands more. The Fox platform 5.0 Mustang was probably the car most responsible for ending the Malaise Era and bringing V8 American performance back to the masses. Someone should build a life-sized bronze statue of the damn thing. The LX model if you don't mind.

1985 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28


The second generation Camaro had an extraordinarily long production life, but by 1981 the car that had looked so fresh in 1970 (in spite of the fact that it shamelessly stole from the 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB) was looking tired indeed. The third generation Camaro was a fine effort that simply lacked performance when it was introduced for the 1982 model year. Chevy took care of that in 1985 when the tuned port injected LB9 305 V8 was rated at 215 hp (automatic only, sadly). Gone were the dark days of 1976 when a Mustang and Camaro could meet at a stop light and duke it out without anyone actually realizing that they were racing.

1986 Mitsubishi Starion/Chrysler Conquest TSi


The Japanese also got the memo that it was OK to be fast again. The Starion and its captive import twin the Conquest were pleasant enough sport coupes from a company that really hadn't produced a world-beater since the A6M2 Zero fighter plane. The addition of Porsche 944-esque fender bulges plus a hot 2.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that produced about 175 hp made the lightweight and slippery Starion an unwelcome sight to Porsche 944 drivers. Too bad Starions and Conquests are on the automotive endangered species list.

1986 Dodge Omni (Shelby) GLHS


The Dodge Omni was a rather unassuming front-driver designed by Chrysler's then-European arm Simca. Prime competition in the US was the Volkswagen Rabbit. And while it must have been tempting for Shelby to stuff a small block V8 into it, that clearly wasn't going to happen. No matter. Shelby's people managed to coax 175 hp and 175 pound-feet of torque out of the intercooled 2.2-liter Chrysler Turbo II. Mission accomplished. PR-savvy Shelby (who had no love for Ford by this time) participated in a famous Hot Rod magazine story that pitted a '66 Shelby GT350 Mustang against a GLHS at Willow Springs Raceway. The Omni wound up two seconds quicker in a lap and, unbelievably, a second quicker in the ¼ mile. In true Shelby bravado, GLHS stands for "goes like hell s'more" to distinguish it from the more common GLH model.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/08/29/malaise-era-busters/

mmarshall

Although this car DID have a good power-to-weight ratio (by 1980s standards), trust me, Hoovey, mechanically, just like most of the Omni-Horizon and K-car-based Chrysler products of the period, it was a poorly-built POS. I know. Me and my family owned several of them before we finally wized up and turned to Japanese designs.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

lmao! why am I being singled out?! I didn't write the article! Just posting

But yes it is a POS