When John himself was a mod, we *needed* active moderation on this topic to balance out the perspective. It comes up rarely now, and I can always count on Josh to respond with (IMO) the correct response.

Josh, I especially appreciated you comments on this thread. You provided history/insight I had not heard before (third paragraph). Thanks.

I personally find this topic instructive and illuminating because it helps me understand more about the crap the US manufacturers foisted on the public in response to stricter emmissions standards during the 70s and 80s. Rather than do it right, they took the easy/cheap way out. It still amazes me that carburated vehicles were available until the late 80s... decades(!) after they first appeared on the street.

To me it's more challenging to understand and fix what's there. Simply taking off stuff you don't understand is the easy way out. I've reinstalled all the "smog" equipment on my Wagoneer so that I could legally register it. The old 360 runs about as well as can be expected from a "factory rigged" system. Ultimately EFI is the way to go.

Screw these hybrid junkers and their subsidies... there should be Federal program to retrofit EFI onto our oldies!