Air pumps, tattoos & rear engined cars

["McCarty, Richard" <RMcCarty@domain.elided>]

Hello All-
From what I understand about the older style of cat, they require the excess
air factor (lambda) to be greater than 1 (lean) to work effectively, thus
introducing the wonderful air pump to add more air to the exhaust stream.
This makes ( and I may of course be wrong ) the air pump superfluous when
there's no cat installed. Perhaps Alfa didn't want to change the engine
setup between California / noncali cars ?

Forget an Alfa logo tattoo - why not get a tipo plate tattooed somewhere
"under the hood" ?!

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Fiat-Abarths during this rear
engine / handing debate. I believe Abarth absolutely dominated the under 1
liter classes for years with his little special bodied, special engine
modified Fiats, which were almost exclusively rear engined. Maybe handling
is less of an issue when the car is almost the same size and weight as a
matchbox car?

Peace,
Rich M
AROC
72 GTV, with a beautiful mechanical computer under the hood

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