K-cars

[Username1]

The Dodge Omni and their variants were powered by VW parts. And back then
Consumer Reports, if I'm not mistaken released one of their tests to the TV news
media that showed that if you were moving at highway speeds and took the steering
wheel and twisted to to one side and released it, the car would on it's own swing wildly
from right to left until it spun out. Tests on other cars showed that they would have
the steering wheel dampen out the flick and return to a center position, provided
you were still on the pavement. An unrealistic hazard in my opinion. I wonder
why the VW's that shared the drive train did not suffer from that symptom?

Maybe because of Chrysler's fun single finger power power steering, where a good
flick of the wheel with one finger often spun it from center to one of the far locks
quite easily.

The early Lean Burns were spark only, the last runs had feedback carburetors too.
But by the time FBC's came into the mix they had to get away from the name Lean Burn.

Speaking of no shift locks, my '86 Prelude has no shift lock, no signs it was defeated
by the previous owner either....


.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by Username1

The early Lean Burns were spark only, the last runs had feedback carburetors too.
But by the time FBC's came into the mix they had to get away from the name Lean Burn.

Neat.

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Dodge may have used VW engines, but I doubt they would have gone VW on the suspension and steering in a K car.

No, that was the Omni only. The Omni was pre-k car. I don't think the VW engine was ever offered in a K car. To the best of my knowledge, the K cars were entirely in-house, at least originally. Ah, the good old days.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by MadMan

Neat.



No, that was the Omni only. The Omni was pre-k car. I don't think the VW engine was ever offered in a K car. To the best of my knowledge, the K cars were entirely in-house, at least originally. Ah, the good old days.

There's a lot of information about the evolution of the various Mopar platforms on the website "Allpar". I generally follow it pretty close.

[mgross0]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

There's a lot of information about the evolution of the various Mopar platforms on the website "Allpar". I generally follow it pretty close.

The LH cars were the last of the 'in house' designs, even though the company was being controlled my Mercedes at the time. My understanding is that, in spite of what people claim, the current LX cars are really the old LH platform modified to accept the improved Mercedes suspension components and are not merely a warmed over Benz chasis. Of course, the dreaded NAG1 tranny is a Benz unit, and we all know how craptastic those things can be.

[MadMan]

Originally Posted by mgross0

The LH cars were the last of the 'in house' designs, even though the company was being controlled my Mercedes at the time. My understanding is that, in spite of what people claim, the current LX cars are really the old LH platform modified to accept the improved Mercedes suspension components and are not merely a warmed over Benz chasis. Of course, the dreaded NAG1 tranny is a Benz unit, and we all know how craptastic those things can be.

The LH cars were introduced in 93. I had a 94 Concorde, really loved that car. Huge, absolutely huge car for a fwd. I mean, you got in it, you were a mile away from your passenger, and enough headroom for Abe Lincoln with his hat on. Definitely prefer the interior to a Cadillac Deville, also fwd in roughly the same category. Anyhow, Mercedes takeover was from 98 to 08. And there are small but notable similarities between the LH and LX platforms. I'd say it's really an evolution. That having been said, they maintained their own teams of engineers and designers, I don't think it's entirely fair to say 'their last in-house design.' Maybe their last design that didn't involve Mercedes parts in any way, perhaps. Course there was a brief reprise when they were privately held and not associated with any other company. But Fiat had to ruin that.

Mercedes transmissions are actually usually pretty hearty things. But uh... in terms of performance... yeah. Craptastic sounds about right. In the late 80s - 90s, perhaps earlier, idk what possessed them to think that taking off in 2nd gear was a good idea.