318 MAX fuel economy builds?
Rat Bastid, you make some excellent points. I can see how poorly atomizing the fuel at the carburetor, having very poor velocity through the induction system, dumping unreasonable amounts of exhaust gas into the plenum, then trying to band-aid it by super-heating the plenum floor could cause coking issues. I suspect the coking was the carbon particulate in the EGR blending with the gasoline aerosols first, then burnishing to the plenum floor. Also, gasoline is a blend of hydrocarbons that vaporize anywhere from 156 degrees F (Hexane) upwards of 420 degrees (dodecane). Alcohol, on the other hand, has a fairly consistent vapor point of a mere 180 degrees. The heavy elements in gasoline (decane, undecane, dodecane...) make consistent vaporization more challenging. We are painfully aware of the lousy engineering that sprang forth from the OEMs in the 1970's & 80's. Point well taken.
There are certain people who believe that you MUST vaporize the fuel because of what someone wrote, and thinks it is THE factor in distribution (its not) and that you can never get the fuel too finely atomized and then vaporized too soon.
I believe in the case of your 1988 Ford, the fuel wasn't vaporized
soon enough! Vaporized gasoline cannot possibly coke up the plenum floor, only liquids can.
Its that simple. Guys run way too much engine temp on gasoline, which vaporizes the fuel too soon and kills some power.
Here I must differ in opinion (after all, both of us are merely espousing our
opinions). Engine temperature will have a significantly greater impact on in-cylinder vaporization than "vaporizing the fuel too soon". "Too soon" could happen in the carburetor, but that isn't influenced by engine temperature. It could possibly happen in the intake manifold, which is somewhat influenced by engine temperature. However, the only reason "too soon" might be an issue here is if Volumetric Efficiency at WOT is the primary goal.
To run with what you stated, there is a
right way and a
wrong way of doing things. I have seen where folks have heard about a concept, attempted to make it happen their own special way, only to fail miserably. I guess that is what you were alluding to earlier.
