Get a Rad Era Daily and Save The Planet

Tom1200 said:

Next new cars are heavy; bloated even. Those Rad Era cars are lighter and easier on roads therefore we'll have less road construction which also contributes to pollution.

I gotta disagree with the part I made bold. Cars, SUVs and pickup trucks have a negligible effect on pavement and bridge conditions unless the pavement has already degraded to a point that it is failed (or the road isn't paved in the first place). It is large trucks weighing tens of thousands of pounds that cause damage and degradation to roads and bridges along with exposure to the elements.

In reply to secretariata (Forum Supporter) :

Et tu secretariata; pretty sure I already mentioned not injecting logic.

In reply to DjGreggieP :

I volunteer my civic for a k swap to test this theory 

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

So for all, breakthrough is when the feedgas goes through the catalyst system with much less conversion. 
 

Both the catalysts and the hardware and controls have improved a lot to better emissions. Catalysts now have a *lot* more surface and the coatings are much improved at conversion (and robustness) than the 80's. Hardware wise, compare the unheard NB sensors to modern WB sensors along with their control-much much better. 
 

If done well, FE can get better, but that's not something a diy'er would normally do. 
 

But if you had a '88 CRX HF that isn't bettered by much modern for FE, one could update the controls and hardware to make the emissions much better. 

In reply to 914Driver :

Mmmmmm station wagon goodness.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Other than liking Rad era cars and finding other justifications to dd them.... couldn't all this be accomplished by buying and dd'ing used Prius until the end of times? They're already in circulation, lighter then most Rad era cars that I like, and have plenty of knock on effects. 

I just feel like the cars that came right after the Rad era does all those commuter things better with better emissions. 

In reply to yupididit :

Again with the logic!

In reply to alfadriver :

I had an ’88 CRX HF. Wonderful car. Mine was powered by a JDM B16A, though.

Awesome on track, not so awesome on the highway. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Mine was dead stock. And averaged 55mpg on the Highway. 
 

And it was almost a Challenge car. Put 130k miles on it, after it already had 60k. Great car. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I briefly owned one and thought it was sweet as is.

I did have to spend about 2 hours getting all the vacuum lines routed properly.

In reply to yupididit :

You rang?

alfadriver said:

In reply to bumpsteer :

You can reasonably use the standard it was built to get an ideas of the emissions. 
 

Personally, my cut off is about '96 and OBDII. Prior to that, the standards were less and the reaction to failures was poor. Much worse when you get to the 80's prior to OBDI. 
 

But it's also important that the manufacturing emissions have gone down, too. Both for direct health and CO2. 
 

One thing that can be said- a persons can get a Rad car, and diy a really clean vehicle. It's not to hard for some basic targets that will be better than the early 90's. 

So what filly's would be in you stable having said all that???

In reply to yupididit :

Be advised it's a logic free zone.

Yes, my Rad Era build is definitely to save the planet. Or at least, I'll tell all my hippie friends that if they ask.

To be fair, I was VERY strongly considering a hybrid build, but I want to be driving the car in 6 months, not still working on the engineering.

In reply to yupididit :

My biggest issue with dd'ing a rad car is that they are no longer made. And most are not very available, too. 
 

I was always ok DDing a Miata as I could always get another, but not so much for the GTV. 

In reply to 759NRNG :

The thread question was about saving the world. So I was answering how to do it with a car that is +30 years old. And it's a lot easier to do with most rad era cars than 70's cars, since so many came with fuel injection. 

I used the "fixing old is better than making new" pseudo-logic to justify fixing this thing, and I've been dailying it since the Challenge this year. So far, so good. Mileage is on par with my Focus ST, and it's nearly as quick, is roomier, and more comfortable. I really do need to remove the stickers though...