Re: Car electronics

[Simon Favre <simon@domain.elided>]

Scott Johnson, esteemed Spider FAQ Author chimed in with:

>However, it is my understanding that Alfas used bosch electronics for the 
>most part. The question is how far were the electronics adapted for 
>specific applications? 

Granted, Bosch will have sold a large number of Jetronic and Motronic
units to other builders that might be adapted to "future classics" like
Alfas. That's what I meant by relatively standard. There's still the
problem of what happens when Bosch has not been producing a particular
ECU for 20 years or so. In 20 years, the sensor technology may have
changed so much that "current" ECU's might not work with an aging 164
or Milano.

>Considering the large number of aftermarket mods available to electronic 
>cars, even Alfas, it would seem to me to be not *quite* as hard to create 
>reproduction units as Simon implies. This is not to say it will be easy, 
>it won't and it will be expensive.

Mods are one thing outright replacements are another. You can buy power
chips for current ECUs. These are basically PROMs that store the curves
a Spica unit uses a 3D cam surface for. ;=) The other chips inside the
ECU are generally made custom by/for each ECU manufacturer. There may
well be a small company that decides it can make money building generic
AFM/Lambda/crank-position based ECUs with kits to adapt their standard
sensors to replace the NLA ones. (Business opportunity??)

>Still, one of the primary advantages of electronic items is their lack of 
>moving parts and comparative durability. ECUs typically won't "wear out" 
>in the same way that mechanical components do.

Bets? ECU's do fail. There is a generic design problem in electronics
called electromigration that can cause any IC to fail over time if it
wasn't designed properly. Some manufacturing defects will not show up at
initial testing, but cause the unit to fail later, but before its designed
service lifetime. There are other parts inside an ECU that could fail.
Resistors, capacitors, even inductors can fail over time getting cooked.
Let's face it, the automobile is just about the most hostile environment
for electronics short of going into outer space or into a nuclear reactor.

>One of these days I'm sure someone will use up the last Bosch ECU. However,
>considering that even pre-war cars can still find NOS parts, that day may 
>be a long, long way off.

There's a huge difference in tooling costs for a piston, a brass fitting for
a Stromberg carburetor, or even a crankshaft, when compared to an IC. The
cost to reverse-engineer and make a batch of obsolete IC's could easily
run 20-100 times the original cost of the car, depending on complexity.
Given that these cars were mass-produced, they will simply never have the
kind of appreciation in value seen by an 8C2900B or even a 6C1750.

>(PS. I do agree about the glass dash note though. Engine ECUs seem to have 
>been designed for the rugged environment of a car, but for some reason 
>designers never seem to take the environment of the INSIDE of the car 
>seriously. Not many other places where people sit can be expected to take 
>temperature extremes of 160 to -50 F for years and years.)

What's even more scary is that some of these modern marvels have a computer
that decides whether or not your key is the right one to start the car!
What do you do when that one's NLA?

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