Ways You'd Improve the 1st Gen W

[Night Fury]

Oh and FWIW, in general, why the fuck aren't all cars direct injected? It just makes sense. Why the fuck would you inject fuel at a closed valve, or into the intake at all for that matter. Should be right next to the fucking spark plug.

[RobertISaar]

PFI is pretty close to the combustion chamber already, but DI injectors(and supporting hardware) are still expensive.

[Night Fury]

I'm sure fuel injection itself was plenty expensive over carburetors, they should've just done it right the first time.

 

One thing they did do right back then: Distributor-less ignition. It BAFFLES me that there are STILL cars being made with distributors.

[Breakdown]

Yeah all of my first gen W brakes SUCKED to the point of SCARY. Thats three, 89 GP, 91 CS and 91 GP. All horrendously bad brakes. Parking brake only worked in one and thats cause I replaced EVERYTHING and even then it was mediocre.

 

This came to an end in 1994!

[Breakdown]

Okay,

 

Keeping with the original premise, it's 1986 and you're on the design team . . . . .

 

1.) If the car is going to have plastic bumpers/cladding do the diagonal thing at the back to limit the horrible rear quarter rust issue.

 

2.) The cars got double-galvanized steel or something or other half-way up, make that throughout the car, I've seen so many rooftops wrecked. Also better paint, no mo clear coat problems.

 

3.) Cheaper struts (I just feel that ours cost too much and aren't really "performance" on these cars).

 

4.) Bigger, better brakes on the earlier models.

 

5.) Rear Calipers!!!

 

6.) Better one-touch down window motors.

 

7.) Bigger spedometers on some models.

 

 

The Turbo's are something that I would have not done.

 

 

It's not so much that they didn't have a time and a place in 1989 and 1990, but with the introduction of the GTP in 1991 and the similar B4U cladding etc, the niche market just got a little too overcrowded.

 

Aside from being lacklustre in sales and even more limited in numbers, if the Turbo's had run their course and been produced until 1996, I'm sure that you'd have a tonne of these things in junkyards and people trying to dump them on anyone that they could. Unless they did something to make them even faster, I'm not sure that they would be any more desirable than an Eagle Premier in the grand scheme of things. Their limited numbers and luxury appointments makes them more of a curiousity.

[Galaxie500XL]

Radio Shack sells bulbs that are a good substitute...but I'd have to wonder why an engineer would design a system where incandescent bulbs were SOLDERED in place, and therefore not easily replaceable.

 

My list of things to have done differently:

 

Redesign the plenum on the LQ1 to allow access to the rear valve cover without removing the plenum.

Redesign the convertible to eliminate the "basket handle", like the original Pace Car.

Hurst/Olds model with the TGP engine for the Cutlass

Optional 4-4-2 using a turbocharged Quad4 in the early years, transitioning to the L67 in the later years

Offer a Grand Prix convertible

[Crazy K]

cupholders everything else is perfect. j/k

[Twenty]

cupholders

 

Damn, beat me to it.

As mentioned, proper metal for the roofs, to match the rest of the car.

Better battery placement.

 

And on those equipped, louder supercharger whines.

[Night Fury]

Damn, beat me to it.

As mentioned, proper metal for the roofs, to match the rest of the car.

Better battery placement.

 

And on those equipped, louder supercharger whines.

 

No first gen W body came supercharged.

[jeremy]

cupholders

 

x232187871485715618374193487 ....hell, even the ones in my '05 suck...

[RobertISaar]

FWIW: the ones in my mom's 2000 SE sucked balls as well, unless it was an EXTRA wide container(1 liter) and short.

[Twenty]

No first gen W body came supercharged.

 

Sorry, I was thinking of later models.

 

But still.

[GnatGoSplat]

Oh and FWIW, in general, why the fuck aren't all cars direct injected? It just makes sense. Why the fuck would you inject fuel at a closed valve, or into the intake at all for that matter. Should be right next to the fucking spark plug.

 

You do get better HP and fuel economy with direct injection, but it's not without drawbacks. I've been seeing a lot of threads where intake valves and ports get all gunked up with crud and severely reduces performance at higher mileage (not even that high actually). This is because on a conventional EFI car, the fuel keeps those parts clean.

[pitzel]

On the 3.1L MPFI Cutlass Supremes:

 

a) Make the coils and controller more accessible;

Design the computer interface around something that's standard, ie: RS-232, not the proprietary stuff.

c) Better quality electricals/boards. Especially the digital dashes and their bad solder joints.

d) Better quality carpet glue that actually sticks;

e) Fuel pump access door;

f) More robust rear suspension, not that fibreglass "monoleaf" spring based system that is prone to failure;

g) Rocker panels that aren't hollow pieces of metal that just collect water over time and rust.

h) An oil pan gasket that can be changed without engine removal.

i) More robust internal (and external, for those 2-door models!) door hardware. That doesn't get all bent and plastically deformed in the wintertime.

 

Other than that, the W-body, at the time of its introduction, was definitely one of the most advanced platforms, car-wise, available in a mass-produced car. While Honda Accords, and Camrys, for instance, shipped with distributors, points, and all that icky stuff, GM was an aggressive early adopter of totally electronic, solid-state ignitions. The W-body design also was significantly ahead of the domestic and foreign competition when it came to actual fuel consumption, easily beating the EPA specs. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a car that costs less these days to keep on the road than a W-body, if you do your own maintenance, don't mind sourcing the odd part or two from a junkyard, etc.

Edited July 29, 2010 by pitzel

[pitzel]

You do get better HP and fuel economy with direct injection, but it's not without drawbacks. I've been seeing a lot of threads where intake valves and ports get all gunked up with crud and severely reduces performance at higher mileage (not even that high actually). This is because on a conventional EFI car, the fuel keeps those parts clean.

 

Much of that problem is because idiots insist on changing their oil far too often in those cars, often not using the proper spec oils. The first 1000 miles after an oil change is deadly on the PCV and the intake system because oil tends to be at its most volatile.

 

Once operators are educated as to the importance of not changing oil or air filters frequently, many of the problems with intake valve gunking go away or are greatly minimized.

[RobertISaar]

Design the computer interface around something that's standard, ie: RS-232, not the proprietary stuff.

 

at least it costs less than $12 to convert it to RS232 spec.

[pitzel]

at least it costs less than $12 to convert it to RS232 spec.

 

Please, tell me where I send my money to get such a cable .

[RobertISaar]

ME!!!!

 

well, it cost me less than $12 to make a serial port version...if you want a diagram to make it yourself, or hell anything off-topic, PM.

[Breakdown]

On the 3.1L MPFI Cutlass Supremes:

 

a) Make the coils and controller more accessible;

Design the computer interface around something that's standard, ie: RS-232, not the proprietary stuff.

c) Better quality electricals/boards. Especially the digital dashes and their bad solder joints.

d) Better quality carpet glue that actually sticks;

e) Fuel pump access door;

f) More robust rear suspension, not that fibreglass "monoleaf" spring based system that is prone to failure;

g) Rocker panels that aren't hollow pieces of metal that just collect water over time and rust.

h) An oil pan gasket that can be changed without engine removal.

i) More robust internal (and external, for those 2-door models!) door hardware. That doesn't get all bent and plastically deformed in the wintertime.

 

Other than that, the W-body, at the time of its introduction, was definitely one of the most advanced platforms, car-wise, available in a mass-produced car. While Honda Accords, and Camrys, for instance, shipped with distributors, points, and all that icky stuff, GM was an aggressive early adopter of totally electronic, solid-state ignitions. The W-body design also was significantly ahead of the domestic and foreign competition when it came to actual fuel consumption, easily beating the EPA specs. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a car that costs less these days to keep on the road than a W-body, if you do your own maintenance, don't mind sourcing the odd part or two from a junkyard, etc.

 

I'm a fan of the monoleaf, a big fan of the monoleaf. While extremely expensive to replace, as far as springs go in car's those were as close as you'll get to indestructable.

[Go4DaMo]

oh yes !! X 5165751321654654

 

i knew i was forgetting one of my pet peeves with these cars.

 

Where to put the hand brake on bench seat models??

[Psych0matt]

[Go4DaMo]

Much of that problem is because idiots insist on changing their oil far too often in those cars, often not using the proper spec oils. The first 1000 miles after an oil change is deadly on the PCV and the intake system because oil tends to be at its most volatile.

 

Once operators are educated as to the importance of not changing oil or air filters frequently, many of the problems with intake valve gunking go away or are greatly minimized.

 

This is the 1st I've heard of this. Can you elaborate? I always do 3,000 or 9 months, whichever comes first.

[White93z34]

The Go4DaMo time machine strikes again!!

 

Regular mcpherson front struts would be really nice. reinventing the wheel on the ones we have was a questionable move.

Doorhandles... enough said

Trashcan PMIII before it ever got approved

Use a MTX that can be rebuilt easier on the 3.4 cars

88-93 rear calipers. Go back to drum or find something better.

[RobertISaar]

.... what's weird about the front struts? the ability to drop cartridges into it without disassembling the strut? or the non-sealed factory cartridges?

[movielover40]

2 door - doorhandles, rear calipers.

 

For as big as the cars were they got great gas mileage.