early Ford V8 flathead motor catalytic converter?

[Karl Wescott]

Originally Posted by rockfla

This all reminds me of the Old Street Cars/City Bus story out in Los Angeles. They got rid of all the "old" street cars (that where "electiric" and environmentally friendly as we are told today about EV's) for diesel burning Buses (Thank you GM). THEN, years later the "smog" became TOO great AND the buses weren't being utilized as they didn't serve the needs of the riders....SO they go to "clean" energy buses (electric among them) and propose NEW better service routes AND when "someone" checked these NEW routes against the "OLD" street car service, the old track system overlaid the NEW improved system "perfectly". SO.....what was gained in the end......SHOULD have left well enough alone!!!!!!

At the risk of topic shift...


There is of course way more to the story about replacing street cars than simple chicanery of GM and Firestone.



The Pacific Electric streetcars system was suffering numerous woes. The system was wearing out and due to regulation of fares there was not enough income to re-invest in the system. The streetcars shared the public roads and automobile traffic congestion then resulted in horrible service due to "trapped" streetcars, which drove potential customers away. Increasing costs of labor, again with fare adjustment difficult (Track and electric system maintenance had to be paid by the company, not with expenses of street maintenance hidden in the city tax budget as could be done with buses).


Replacing the system with buses appeared "cheaper" than fixing the system and raising fares to a sustainable level. The consequences of quality of ride diminishing was not recognized or acknowledged.


GM did purchase other streetcar systems which they did keep running for some time, and out and out purchased and scrapped others. It was all done with classic GM bean counting strategic decision making.

[5851a]

When I started work they had a whole fleet of battery fork trucks. EPA standards said the fumes from charging batteries was bad. Company switched to propane trucks and that was ok. Now they are switching back to electric and that's supposed to be ok now? This is enclosed buildings and the early truck batteries were charged in 2 plant areas with ventilation to outside, new trucks have chargers everywhere.

[tjm73]

Back to the convertors discussion.


First. Government can't apply laws backwards and require emissions control equipment be added to cars built before emissions controls were required. Why? Ex post facto. Long established legal rule.


Second. Adding a modern catalytic (or two if twice piped) to an older engine will make it's emissions cleaner. Combined with a correctly operating PCV system and proper tuning you would have better fuel economy and less smelly exhaust. That's a win-win. Reduced emissions benefit everyone, young and old. Besides...modern cats do not cost much power. Maybe 3hp. Put it's a personal choice in the end.


A three way catalytic convertor in 1-3/4" pipe size costs about $100 bucks a piece.

[tjm73]

Originally Posted by 5851a

When I started work they had a whole fleet of battery fork trucks. EPA standards said the fumes from charging batteries was bad. Company switched to propane trucks and that was ok. Now they are switching back to electric and that's supposed to be ok now? This is enclosed buildings and the early truck batteries were charged in 2 plant areas with ventilation to outside, new trucks have chargers everywhere.

Battery technology changes. Modern sealed batteries are very different animals. You can't compare apples to oranges and make meaningful comparisons.

[B-O-B]

If it ain't broke don't fix it!!!!

[Ronnieroadster]

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Reminds me of something I heard back in the last century when the mandated emission devices were now on all new vehicles. Its a simple thing.

Its simple thing for those who care. The solution to pollution is dilution.
Simply add an a smog air pump to the exhaust belt driven or electric powered pump. The added air flow dilutes the exhaust gases cleaning them up with the added air injecting. Very simple and very effective.
Ronnieroadster