Python Fuel Injection

RockAuto has recently added Python Fuel Injection parts to the Rockauto.com catalog. Python Fuel Distributors, Fuel Injectors, Fuel Pumps, Idle Speed Regulators, Mass Air Flow Sensors, and Warm Up Regulators are now available. You will find these parts and more in the "Fuel/Air" and "Emissions" categories.

Python Injection, Inc. was created in 1991 and originally offered fuel management components exclusively for import vehicles; however, in 1998 they added extensive domestic coverage to their product line.

Interesting facts from Python:

• The first European car imported to the United States with electronic fuel injection was the Alfa Romeo GTV.
• The first Japanese car imported to the United States with fuel injection was the Datsun (Nissan) 280Z.
• The first mass produced automobile in the United States with electronic fuel injection was a 1975 Cadillac.
• The first electronic fuel injection system was developed jointly between Chrysler and Bendix in 1957. The technology was later sold to Bosch.

French Catalog

The RockAuto catalog is now available in French! Click the "Français" link on the homepage to open the French language catalog.

Forum of the Month

GalantVR4.org is the first and only owner's group in the United States dedicated to the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4. The group was born out of DSM.org (founded in 1995) the Diamond Star Motors club. GalantVR4.org is non-profit, ad-free, and fully member supported.

The Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 was created in part to meet homologation rules for the World Rally Championship with 2000 numbered examples arriving in the United States for the 1991 model year and 1000 for 1992. The VR-4's advanced features included a 16-valve, double overhead-cam 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, turbocharged and intercooled induction, electronic multipoint fuel injection, distributorless ignition, roller cam followers, hydraulic valve lash adjusters, all-wheel-drive, four-wheel steering, four wheel independent suspension, and ABS.

If you are the administrator or member of a forum and you would like to see your website featured in an upcoming newsletter and receive a discount code to share with your members, contact jessa@rockauto.com.

Repair Mistakes & Blunders

It was 1972 in Arizona (hot) and I had recently received a “promotion” that required me to wear a shirt and tie. My carpool partner and I were on the way home one evening in my 1960 Dodge pickup when the fuel pump went out. We were miles from any type of repair capability, plus as you can guess, not in proper car repair attire. The old Dodge was black and white two-tone and affectionately named “Sanford” from the TV series because most of the time it looked just like Sanford’s truck with all the junk in the back. The truck had a cowl vent for fresh air which was operated via a lever inside the cab. With no air conditioning in Southern Arizona, this was a critical creature comfort and turned out to be the saving grace of the situation.

Careful not to muss my new dress clothes (HaHa) I was able to pull off the rubber gas line from the carburetor and using a piece of garden hose from the junk in the back I attached it to the carb and then ran it out the edge of the hood and into the cab via the cowl fresh air vent hole. My buddy and I used the same garden hose to siphon gas from the tank into some soda pop bottles. We fashioned a small funnel from a cardboard milk carton and while I drove, he poured the gas from the bottles into the hose letting gravity take it into the carb. Any reasonable person watching this would have thought it a Three Stooges outtake with only two of the Stooges.

Not elegant or even safe (we spilled a lot of gas in the process) but it worked! Going slow, we were able to make it the few miles to my carpool partner's house where we later installed a new fuel pump. Talk about crazy! We have laughed at this event for many years and our wives still just shake their heads wondering how we are still alive or at least not burned beyond recognition.

Ron in Texas

Tell us about your most infamous auto repair blunder. Use your woe to help others avoid similar mistakes. Please email your story to flamur@rockauto.com. Include your mailing address and shirt size (large or extra large) and we will mail you a RockAuto "Do it yourself?" t-shirt if we publish your story (see the t-shirts under Extras in the catalog). The story will be credited using only your first name and your vague geographic location (state, province, country, continent, etc.) so you can remain semi-anonymous!

The Elusive World Car?

In June I toured the Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA) plant in Lafayette, Indiana. SIA builds the Subaru Legacy, Outback, Tribeca, and Toyota Camry. SIA is the only Subaru assembly plant outside Japan. It is the only place the Tribeca is built. SIA exports cars to 57 countries with most going to Canada.

The process starts with rolls of steel entering the stamping plant and ends with finished cars rolling off the final assembly line. The factory covers the equivalent of 71 football (US) fields. The paint shop conveyor alone is seven miles (11 km) long. Three thousand Subaru “associates” work two shifts.

In the paint shop, Subaru uses sprayers with 85% transfer efficiency and high tech water born paint. Feathers from female ostriches shoo away dust. The welding line is a dramatic display of sparks and waving robot arms. Die changes in the stamping plant take only 30 minutes. Automated carts deliver parts to work stations.

The 2010 Outback and Camry have 75% North American content. That means many Subaru original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are also making parts for the North American factories of Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, etc. as well as parts for RockAuto.com

The SIA plant was impressive, but Subaru’s competitors also have modern factories. Why are Subaru car sales doing relatively well in these tough automotive times? Subaru’s 2009 sales are down only 1% compared to 2008 and their share of the world car market has actually increased modestly to 1.9%.

My guess is that the success is the result of flexibility, having a “world car”, and knowing their customers. The name SIA is a proof of the flexibility. The “I” originally stood for Isuzu. Lucky for SIA, Indiana also starts with an I! After Isuzu, Subaru had a relationship with Nissan and then GM. Now Toyota owns 17.5% of Subaru. The Toyota Camry line at SIA builds 95,000 cars a year (SIA built 102,000 Subarus last year).

Subaru might have created the elusive world car long sought by Ford, GM, and other manufacturers. The same Subaru models are sold all over the world. The Tribeca is popular in Russia where it sells for around $100,000 US.

I used the RockAuto.com catalog to do a quick comparison of parts for the Impreza and Forester and found the two models often use the same differential bearings, fuel pumps, boxer engines, etc. So Subaru has a world car with different variations available to accommodate customers whether they are looking for a sports car or a wagon. Impreza and Legacy sales were up in June while Outback and Tribeca sales were down. Subaru was ready as customers’ tastes changed.

Subaru knows their customer niche and sends them a consistent message. Is the Pontiac LeMans a muscle car or a rebadged Daewoo economy car? Subaru does not often confuse their customers like that. In the US most Subarus are sold in the Northeast and Northwest. Subarus always have four wheel drive. Customers expect Subarus to be fairly priced even if they are not inexpensive. The typical Subaru owner keeps their car at least 7.4 years. Subaru customers want to be environmentally friendly.

The customers’ expectations are kept in mind starting at the assembly plant. Nothing from the SIA plant goes into a landfill. They reuse, recycle, compost, and incinerate waste to produce power. 300 of SIA’s 837 acres are devoted to wildlife. No female ostrich feather donors are ever hurt. Subaru marketing passes this environmental information on to customers.

Subaru might be a model for the successful car manufacturers of the future. Flexible about what cars they build in their factories, but not flexible about what their brands stand for or which cars carry their name.

(The numbers above are from notes I took during the SIA tour. Thanks to SIA for their hospitality!)

Tom Taylor,
RockAuto.com

Hello,

This is my pride and joy, a 1969 Dodge Charger. I have owned this car since July of 2000 and the only thing that I did not have to do to the vehicle when I got it was the body. It has been slowly restored over the years, adding more and more details such as reproduction stampings and inspection marks. I have achieved a level of restoration comparable to what the car would have looked like when it rolled off of the assembly line. Yes, I even left runs and orange peel in the paint.

The Charger features a 383 high performance 4 bbl engine with a 4 speed manual trans and Sure-Grip (Chrysler term for a limited slip differential) rear end. I drive this vehicle whenever I can to local cruise nights and car shows, but it gets trailered to events further away because it has reproduction bias ply tires.

I have a bunch of parts on this car from RockAuto.com and I can say, not only are their prices really great but the shipping is just as good. Since most of the parts on my car are all pretty much correct date coded to the car, I try and use rebuild kits from RockAuto whenever possible so I do not have to part with the original cores. A big thank you to RockAuto.com for keeping my Charger on the road and as reliable as it has been.

Thanks,
Brian from New Jersey

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