[Big time]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Ever worked on a carburetor? They are not simple.

Yes but everything is one place unlike EFI in tank injection pump, undercar pressure regulators, underhood endless sensors, under dash computer, more underhood air valves and actuators, ad nauseam

If unrepairable you can easily unbolt the whole carb yourself, throw it away and bolt on a new one usually for less than the price of a new EFI injection pump, ECU or some other components.

Originally Posted by niky

The price of a car is often reflective of the resources used to build it. That a gasoline powered car can use more than its worth in fuel over its lifetime, even considering that taxes and profit margins on fuel are much lower, as it is sold in bulk, speaks volumes about where more oil is used in a car's manufacture.

(Also note the high level of plastic, rubber and steel recycling in a modern car.)

Yes but automakers can buy energy (oil, electricity) cheaper than the average Joe can do at the pump.

Also speaking of price as an indicator of energy spent in production a carburetor is cheaper than EFI.
And that was decades ago, before China began cheaply mass producing everything.
Imagine how cheaply priced would Chinese made carburetors today! Instead of deep cleaning you could just replace the carb every year or two. Used carbs could be sent to developing countries for they to clean and refurbish them.

Originally Posted by freebeard

It's not just that. Using your petro purchasing power to squabble with other folks is also WRONG.

I don't get it.
What did you mean by that?

Originally Posted by jamesqf

To the original point, EFI systems are much simpler than carburetors, especially the ones used on automobiles from the mid-50s on. If you've ever taken one apart, you'll have seen that they're a maze of passages filled with jets, valves, springs and such, which all have to be sized right - and clean - to function properly. Then you have to painstakingly adjust things by hand to get mixture & idle speed correct, except that 'correct' only holds for a particular elevation & temperature range. And don't even get me started on trying to balance multiple carbs...

I know but would ethanol clean burning compensate for that?

Originally Posted by jamesqf

EFI is brilliantly simple by contrast: a simple pump squirts a measured amount of fuel into the cylinder, while a sensor measures the exhaust and uses a feedback loop to correct the amount.

Theoretically is simpler. The implementation is way more complicated.
BTW Fusion energy is also simple in concept.

Originally Posted by elhigh

A high-altitude nuclear strike will cook your EFI while nothing short of a direct lightning bolt (or a solid whack with a big hammer) will disrupt the function of your carburetor.

Why worry about an atomic bomb electromagnetic field when programmed obsolescence will render EFIs unusable.
Programmed obsolescence is a weapon of (wealth) mass destruction...

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

The Finns (from Finland) pulled a Russian T34 tank, with German capture markings out of a bog where it had sat from 1944 to 2008. They had it running in 2 hours, on the fuel in the fuel tank and I think it was sold on ebay.

I had a 1971 Honda CB350 that sat from 1983 unitl 2011 (28 years), got it running fine, replacing only the petcock, fuel lines, float valves and seats. Even the carb float chamber gaskets were good. I even rode it on the original tires.

I doubt you could get an ethanol carbed vehicle to pass current federal emissions.

I do like the SU type carbs that had a single fuel delivery point without any accelerator pump, variable venturi type carbs are neat but I don't think they are even selling motorcycles (at least in Cali) with carburetors.

Drove the wifes Kia Sorento home yesterday from the DC area, most of the time the cruise was set at 69 MPH. Got home with the factory MPG gauge reading 33.3 MPG.

45 years ago I got that same mileage in my 59 Bug eye Sprite on average with a 998 cc engine and weighing just over 1000 pounds.

You could run a lot higher compression in an alcohol fueled engine. When was the last time an indy car was carbureted?

The DB601 engine in the WW2 era ME109 had direct fuel injection as did their pre war grand prix cars (not sure if they were direct injected or port injected).

regards
Mech

Good.
Now compare the resale value of the 59 Bug eye Sprite with the Kia.
Resale value / depreciation is often an indicator or very long term (10+ years) maintenance costs.
What you don't spend in fuel you will end up spending in repairs (if you keep it for many years) or depreciation (if you sell it quickly).

AFAIK the less depreciating mass produced car in America is the Jeep Wrangler not fuel efficient but God they are long-lasting and easy to repair. At least the previous generations were.