Electric vehicles (seasonal rambling) Featured

Yes, I was thinking of SUs, it's the only type I have much experience with.

IIRC this is extensively covered in a mentour pilot briefing on you tube. It may well be the first time the pilots had encountered FADEC in an emergency situation.

The pliots were convicted of manslaughetr

The pilot excused himself by saying the aircraft didnt respond to TOGA thrust demand. , The data showed it did at the correct rate. It jut was iunreessonable to go from idle to full power in the time allowed.

-- “The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

- Bertrand Russell

Strombergs didnt either. they were very similar to SUs with a damper pot, but a diaphragm rather than a piston

As will fuel injection with a broken temp sensor

Why I mentioned 'CD' specifically, Stromberg also made conventional downdraught carburettors, I don't think SU ever did.

Ah... Ok only ever saw the 'dashpot' type in both

What happened to firms which made carburettors? Their use in cars declined, and were entirely phased out by the mid '90s.

I believe that Weber still have a factory producing spare parts and bits for the enthusiast market.

At one time the firm was owned by Fiat, and it turned in to Marelli-Weber for a while - Marelli made various ignition bits like coils and distributors. They must have been rubbish though as Fiat stopped using them and went over to Bosch

Maybe not SU, but I know that some Ford Escorts and Fiestas in the 80s were fitted with a Ford designed vertical draught carb - a bit like a SU turned on its side

It occurs to me that the implementation of an accelerator pump does not require any particular design of carb

I imagine that "conventional downdraught carburettors" means fixed choke "Weber" style, in which case a lot of them were horizontal.

You may be interested to note that the "O" in the Weber model number, for example "40 CDOE" actually stands for the Italian word "Orizontale"

Also, I imagine that in some cases where an engine dies when the pedal is floored it might be on account of the manifold vacuum disappearing, causing the distributor to cancel the ignition advance.

I think theres too many variables in this equation to make any definitive conclusion, and in any case to test the theory you would need a car with carbs and an accelerator pump and some sort of ignition system that doesn’t use a distributor. When you find one you will probably discover that the ECU / black box has a vacuum sensor connected to it.

Anyone got a spare magneto ?

They all exist in china where they make carbs for chainsaws or in the USA where they yearn for V8s cart springs, solid rear axles and carburettors, because they *almost* understand them...

No, but adding a damper to the piston of a constant-depression type does pretty much the same thing, temporarily increasing the suction around the needle.

DCOE, I think. Normally one choke per cylinder. I don't think any normal production car came with these fitted.

There was also a compromise design, the twin-choke progressive, where the carb had two venturis of different size, the larger one only opening after the small one was full open. The Weber DCD was of this kind, I had one on a Sceptre, which I think was not original equipment.

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 20:39:42 +0000, Scott snipped-for-privacy@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote: [snip]

Another thought - is it true that all electric cars are rear wheel drive? Does this cause problems for a generation (excuse the pun!) that has only experienced front wheel drive? I seem to remember being taught that rear wheel drive vehicles are more likely to skid, especially in snow.

Certainly not universally true, though with most Teslas being rear-wheel drive (if not all 4) probably the big majority are.

My Renault 5 is front drive as are some other small cars that are based on the same platform. VWs however seem to be mostly rear drive even on the small ones. The new Ford Puma electric is front drive.

(believing Wikipedia)

nib

Well they are easier to fix if your on a dirt track in the middle of the Sahara.

I have a bit of experience of this, we owned a GMC Jimmy (same as a Chevrolet Blazer) in Oman from 1980 to 1987. It was definitely "cart springs, solid rear axles and carburettors", ours wasn't a V8 though, it had the smallest engine option, a 4 litre straight 6.

It was a tough off-road vehicle and reasonably comfortable at the same time, we had loads of fun and it **was** easy to mend when I broke it, which was quite often! :-)

The newly unveiled ID.Polo is FWD.

Good to know, having been taught to drive in an Austin 1300 when my dad had an Austin 1800 (we thought this was the worst car ever until he purchased an Allegro).

No. In fact most are FWD but there are a significant number of RWD ones out there.

I think the RWD ones are more fun possibly. I’m sure there is a learning curve to adapting to RWD if one has never driven a car with it before and I believe that some folk have been caught out by it.

Tim

Especially in cars which are also offered with a combustion version, the inverter / motor / reduction gearbox stack can directly replace the engine / clutch / gearbox stack, with both driving the front wheels.

AWD is also not uncommon - it's cheap and easy to fit a second motor to the rear axle. AWD is more likely to be offered as an option on upmarket cars, unlike combustion where you need a propshaft and differential so it's more likely only offered on off-road (4WD) versions. Tri/quad motor versions of some models are available for better power/traction.

Some hybrids also offer electric AWD - engine and motor drives the front wheels, and a second motor driving the rear wheels electrically, with no propshaft.

I suspect the ABS is better nowadays, so the car will cut power in order to avoid a skid. With independent drive to each axle you can do controlled power delivery via the motors, not just with individual wheel braking.

Theo

All Post Beetle V dubs are FWD.

RWD has better traction in the snow but is harder to keep in a straight line