If I want a car or pickup with no computer in it at all what options do I have
not a single electron
computers came with fuel injection. They were needed to perform precise timing.
see advice here: https://carkiller.com/scottykilmer/postid/290309/
You'd need to be looking at vehicles made prior to the 1980s.
What models still have parts made don't they discontinued them after a while?
What models still have parts made don't they discontinued them after a while?
None of them. When you're dealing with vehicles that are 40+ years old there will always be parts that are discontinued by the manufacturer and may not even be available in the aftermarket. Your best bet would be the most popular models from the Big 3 that sold millions of copies.
My 1979 Pontiac Catalina has no computers, there's a carburetor, not fuel injection. You're talking about 44-year-old cars that really shouldn't be on the road constantly, they're the gas hogs of gas hogs. I bought an alternator in my small town from an O'Reilly Auto. Catalinas are just badged GM B-Bodies, and they made millions of them. Forget about using one as a DD, they're WELL past their prime. Unless you know how to work on carburetors (I had no clue how to work on carburetor cars until I found this site), it may be an every once in a while car, otherwise you will spend an absolute fortune fixing little things.
Try a good used Toyota. Don't bother fixing up a carburetor car as a DD. You'll probably regret it, especially if you're not mechanically inclined.
I've never had any problems with the fuel injection systems on my cars even after decades and hundreds of thousands of miles, never had to touch them. Carbs always seem to need fiddling around with. I'd be very tempted to add aftermarket fuel injection to my carbureted vehicles if those systems weren't so expensive.
I like having to adjust a carb when it needs adjusted, once I got the hang of it, lol. There's just that feeling of nostalgia for a time I never lived. I like fiddling with stuff, though.
computers came with fuel injection.
That is true for the most part, but there were also mechanical fuel injection systems like the one available on the 1957 Chevy. The early electronic fuel injection systems used analog electronics rather than what we would recognize as a computer today.
To make things even more confusing, some carbureted cars made use of digital computers. GM adopted Computer Command Control (CCC) for their 1981 models. For that matter, the carbureted 1980s-vintage AMC Eagles I used to own had engine control computers that could adjust ignition timing on individual cylinders on the fly and fine-tune fuel fixture via an O2 sensor and feedback mechanism on the carb.
yep , there's always exceptions
A crude form of fuel injection was used in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The B-29 was the only aircraft able to handle it. The atom bomb was so heavy, they couldn't take-off with carburetors. It's hard to believe they had analog fuel injection at one time. Talk about geniuses, lol.
The first attempt at electronic fuel injection for cars I'm aware of was the Bendix "Electrojector" system. It was derived from aircraft fuel injection systems and was intended to be installed in the 1957 Rambler Rebel. AMC decided not to go with it at the last minute due to reliability problems - the owner's manual actually described operation of the system. Chrysler installed it in a handful of their cars but all of them wound up being converted back to carbs. The crude analog electronics of the time weren't up to the task. (An aircraft engine is running wide open most of the time while a car engine is constantly varying its speed.)
The Bendix Electrojector patents were sold to Bosch which refined the system and it was introduced in the 1968 VW "Type 3" cars, sold as the Squareback and Fastback in the U.S. To my knowledge this was the first successful automotive electronic fuel injection system. Still using an analog electronic control box it worked well but many wound up being converted to carbs as they aged because mechanics didn't know how to work on the fuel injection.
I didn't know that. My father-in-law has a 1960 Rambler like I've told you before. Those cars don't need to pump the gas a few times before you start it. Unusual for the time. Was there a fuel injection system on Ramblers back in 1960?
No, AMC became gun-shy about fuel injection for about the next 25 years after their experience with the Electrojector. (I'm sure cost also had a lot to do with it.) The company did not return to fuel injection until the debut of the Alliance in the early 1980s - actually a Renault and a truly terrible car that disappeared from the roads quickly. (The fuel injected 4.0 six which I think came out in 1987 was much more successful.)
I didn't know that. Thanks. Had I gotten into the Rambler first, it would have started right up, lol. Those 4.0 straight-sixes run forever. I saw an old Cherokee the other day that was rusted out, it still ran pretty well.
The first attempt at electronic fuel injection for cars I'm aware of was the Bendix "Electrojector" system. It was derived from aircraft fuel injection systems and was intended to be installed in the 1957 Rambler Rebel. AMC decided not to go with it at the last minute due to reliability problems - the owner's manual actually described operation of the system. Chrysler installed it in a handful of their cars but all of them wound up being converted back to carbs. The crude analog electronics of the time weren't up to the task. (An aircraft engine is running wide open most of the time while a car engine is constantly varying its speed.)
The Bendix Electrojector patents were sold to Bosch which refined the system and it was introduced in the 1968 VW "Type 3" cars, sold as the Squareback and Fastback in the U.S. To my knowledge this was the first successful automotive electronic fuel injection system. Still using an analog electronic control box it worked well but many wound up being converted to carbs as they aged because mechanics didn't know how to work on the fuel injection.
This is an interesting historical tidbit. It needs more attention, IMHO. Thanks for sharing.
Here's some detailed information on the Electrojector system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyflz7NM9MA
Note: "Uncle" Tony does use an expletive or two in this video so be forewarned if you're easily offended. Also he talks about "wax paper resistors" in the control box but that's incorrect, they were wax paper capacitors like you'd find in a 1940s-1950s radio.
Thanks!
How about the Dodge Ram 1998 5.9L 6BT Cummins? Before I went down the Toyota route, I was thinking of buying one here in the UK. Would have been a terrible decision, as I hear (even if I could get parts) the trucks themselves were not that reliable and suffered rust. But the engines (without the electronic fuel injection) were supposed to be mostly mechanical.
Had that famous Bosch pump. I forget the name. Apparently they released a different version in the same year of 1998, but the one with the mechanical pump was the legend.
yes mechanical injection. But it required electricity for the heater grid to start in cold weather.
Good doomsday truck. Too bad about the killer dowel pin.
Yeah I forgot about that, I thought they did easy fix for it though? I'd probably still be the guy that covered everything and somehow missed that and then the dowel pin dropped on the same morning as the bombs...