March Of Technology

Having stood still for about 25 years engine technology leapt forward in the 1980s, with electronic and high-tech features coming along which, to some, marked the end of the classic era of motoring.

- Jack Grover

One of the decades which saw the greatest changes in motoring from the driver’s perspective was the 1980s. The growth of electronic and computer technology not only allowed new features to be designed and built but such systems were increasingly finding their way into cars themselves. At the start of the decade most cars used technology little changed since the 1950s but ten years later cars would be using systems familiar to the motorists of today and banishing features such as the choke, the distributor and the pushrod to the pages of history. So in this feature we’re going to look at some of the biggest changes in engine technology of that time.

BREATH OF LIFE

Engines are all about gas-flow – fuel and air mixture coming in, being burnt and the exhaust gases leaving. The more effectively this can be done the better for engine’s performance, driveability and efficiency. By the 1980s the motor industry had largely standardised on engines with single overhead camshafts driven by a rubber belt as a good compromise between cost, reliability and efficiency. Sportier cars often had twin overhead camshafts, one for inlet and one for exhaust valves, to provide bespoke timing and durations for each set and to allow for more efficient combustion chamber shapes. The old overhead valve ‘pushrod’ engine which dominated from the 1950s to the 1970s, was still around but largely confined to cheaper cars with old engine designs – the BMC A-Series engine, launched in 1952, was produced until 2000 while the Ford Kent engine (vintage 1959) is still in limited production today.